Chapter 5

I awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking and followed my nose to the kitchen where all four of my brides were working together to put a breakfast-fit-for-a-king on the table. My wives can COOK. Holy cow, they are amazing.

I should have paid closer attention, but Ruth was closely watching my every move, and building a catalog of my likes and dislikes, as well as keeping up with what I like to eat, and what I don't. I know this because I asked, "How did you girls know that these are among my very favorite things to eat?"

Marian apparently was in charge of dealing with the brain dead man of the house, because she paused her mixing of some kind of muffin dough to say, "Really, Noah. Aunt Ruth has been keeping us alert to your habits, so we can be good wives and anticipate your wants and needs.'

She was just a tad bit exasperated or at least acting that way, and because she was having so much fun at my expense, I made my first huge mistake. "Well, if you are going to give me grief, I guess I'm going to have to turn you over my knee and give you a good spanking."

Much to my horror, Marian went rigid and turned white as a sheet. As she started to tremble, I caught her in my arms and hugged her to me, cuddled her, and whispered words of love and comfort into her ear, while kissing the side of her face.

She was terrified, and it was my fault.

Ruth came to help, but I got myself into this mess, and was determined to dig my way out. I pulled Marian onto my lap and sat us both on the nearest sofa, stroking her face, kissing her neck and cheeks, and gently promising to never scare her with that specific threat again.

When she had control of herself, she turned to me and through her tears said, "My father used to spank my mother and me. He loved to call us into the front room and make mother undress me for my beating. When I was little it was just a hard spanking with his hand on my bottom through my underclothes, but when I started to grow up, he wanted to spank my on my naked bottom.

One day he slipped his fingers across my ... on my ... where ... where men like to touch women, and Mother told him to quit it. That I was too young.

"He started screaming at her and took off his belt. He made her undress until she was naked just like me. He pushed her faced down onto the floor and kept her there with his boot while he whipped her back and bottom. Mother kept her hands over her ... covering her ... you know ... her ... THERE, but he hit her in the head and told her to put her hands on the floor.

"When she did he hit her right between her legs, and she screamed the worst scream I've ever heard. It made me scream, and he hit me across the face with the belt, and then he pushed me down beside her, hitting my back and bottom so hard. It hurt so bad, and I begged him to stop, but he was like a crazy person.

When Mother stood up and grabbed his arm, he threw her on the couch and took down his pants and just ... Did it to her ... right there ... in front of me ... He looked at me the whole time with such hatred in his eyes..." She was quiet for some time after sharing her ugly secret.

Then she looked at me and nearly smiled. It broke my heart.

"Noah, it was just a few days later that your father came and showed the men how to have the three of us, Mary, Martha, and me, marry you to satisfy the laws of the church, and sign a bunch of papers in front of a judge, tying our lands to yours. I know he died the next week and you had to come and deal with all of us, but he is the reason our land is safe.

"If your father didn't come with the idea of marrying me to you, my father would have ruined me forever..."

So that was the big secret. We were all four in an unbreakable trust to keep the family lands out of the hands of the corporation.

I needed to see a land rights lawyer.

When Marian was recovered, we joined the others for the breakfast they kept warm so we could all eat together. Ruth looked at the three younger girls, and said, "You ALL need to stop thinking Noah is like the others. HE ISN'T and you are disrespectful thinking that he is. You will not disrespect our husband ever again.

"Do each of you understand what I've just said?" Her look could peel the paint off the house it was so hard.

They all agreed with much head nodding and scared looks. I think Ruth's pronouncement sacred them more than my playful threat to spank Marian scared her.

Things were back to normal by the time we finished eating, and I went to find the right kind of law firm in North Dakota. Tom was on it and had a name and phone number in minutes.

"Thank you for calling, Edgerton, Crourshore, and Collins. How may I direct your call?"

The receptionist knew just the right associate for me to speak with and put me through immediately. "This is Helen, how may I help you?" She sounded professionally cheerful but not all that happy about it.

"Hi. My name is Noah Guthrie, and four of us need a land rights lawyer to create an unbreakable trust to protect our farms from developers. Do you do that, and can you help me?"

Helen Eglin was only too happy to help, because helping me at four-hundred and fifty dollars an hour was what rang her bell. She took good notes, went away to consult with another lawyer, came back, and said, "How soon can you be here to sign some forms, pay the upfront fees, and let us get started?"

I just happen to own a G-650, and could go there anytime I wanted. "How about tomorrow at eleven A.M.?"

She loved that idea and agreed to meet with all four of us at once. I informed the girls that we were flying to Minot to see a lawyer that would guarantee the land would never be taken from the hamlet, and they all looked terrified at the thought.

"Wow, Noah. This is your airplane?" Martha went straight to the heart of the question. She'd never been in a plane, never even been near one, and now wanted to know every detail about mine.

"Yep. You can get comfortable, because it will take a few hours to fly back to Minot."

"Why aren't we going straight to the hamlet?" Ruth was being the logical one.

"Because the outsiders the elder warned us about might try to kill us to get us out of their way, and that's where they'd be looking for us. We'll fly to Minot, see the lawyers there, and be gone before anyone figures out that we were ever in the area."

As I thought about the problem, maybe I should have flown the lawyers to meet us somewhere neutral. Instead of changing the plans, I called and ordered bodyguards and an armored Suburban to meet us in Minot. It never hurts to take precautions.

After making arrangements for bodyguards and a driver I had an ugly thought. What if the law firm was so accommodating to me was because they work for the other side? That got me on the phone with my lawyer, Tom, back in Asheville. I went back and sat on the bed while I made a few calls.

"Hey, Tom. You helped me find a law firm in North Dakota, and it just occurred to me that there can't be too many high-brow firms there, and what if this on has the phosphate company as a major client?"