What Were They Thinking?
Part VIII: Anna Pratt’s Story
“Hey, Mom?” We heard the voice from the door and all smiled. Whitney walked into the room, still ramrod straight and tall as a tree. She’d coached the local boys’ basketball team to two straight state championships and was the only woman coaching a boys’ high school team in the state. I didn’t think her weight had varied by a pound in twenty-five years.
“In here, Whitney.”
“Dave just called and he’s in Indianapolis. He said you didn’t have your phone on.”
“Well, we’re just chatting, love. I didn’t want to be interrupted.”
“You should probably all plan to be interrupted big time soon,” Whitney laughed. “Matthew and Ellie are on their way as are James and Celeste. That’s four more greatgrandkids and four more great-greatgrandkids inbound. I’m sure more are on their way.”
“It’s hard to believe that Brian has grandchildren,” I sighed. “We’re not that old!”
“Jenny Lynn is finishing her freshman year in college,” Marilyn sighed. Jennifer had openly declared that Jenny Lynn was her daughter and the only grandchild I could expect from her. She had both Courtney’s beauty and brains. Brian could scarcely keep up. I wondered if he had any idea what starting his little dating group agreement would lead to.
“Part of Corazón’s Wedding Day,” John laughed. “Like you. After so many years, why did you and Marilyn finally decide to marry?”
I smiled and took my lover’s hand. My wife.
39 The Happiest Day
I THINK I CAN NAME the four happiest days of my life, though I’ve had far more happy days than sad ones. The first was when I held my own baby daughter in my arms for the first time and realized I was a mother. It wasn’t just the culmination of labor. I knew I was never going to be a college student or a high-powered attorney like Art. Pregnancy changed the course of my life and the fruit of that change was my daughter. Not everyone is supposed to be a full-time mother. I truly believe that. But it was right for me. All I wanted in the world was a happy child.
People had always told me how much Jennifer looked like me. We were both blonde, five-four or five-five, and… um… nicely shaped. That’s another thing I credited Jennifer for. She kept me young. Maybe I found myself competing with my daughter a little bit. My vanity said I should be the prettiest girl in my home. Well, I was barely thirty when Jennifer hit puberty and I didn’t want to look like the mother of a teenager.
I had no idea what kind of a path she would lead me down until the day I met Hayden and Marilyn at Starbridge Dude Ranch when we went to pick up our children and discovered they had been there together. That started me on the path to the second—in chronological order—happiest day of my life.
On Memorial Day weekend, twenty-nine years ago this weekend, I joined hands with Marilyn and Hayden as Rose wrapped a pale blue thread around our wrists and we were handfasted. I will cherish that day and every moment of the eleven years we three had together. I knew love like I had never known it before. It was the moment that I knew the true meaning of what Jennifer, Courtney, and Brian had declared for themselves nearly a year before. Being cónyuge in this clan was not a temporary thing. It was not something our children did to legitimize their love affairs. I was mated for life.
Ten years later, the third happiest day of my life came when I held our granddaughter, Jenny Lynn, in my arms. Of course, Hayden, Marilyn, Bill, and Crystal held the bond by blood, but I knew for a fact that she was as much Jennifer’s daughter as Brian’s and Courtney’s. I counted all Brian’s children as my grandchildren, but there was something just a little special about holding Jenny Lynn.
When Hayden passed away just a year-and-a-half later, Marilyn and I… I can’t even describe the level of devastation. Marilyn had been with Hayden four decades longer than I had. They’d grown up together. How could I even compare my grief to hers? But my fear…
I was so afraid that with Hayden gone, she would no longer want me. I loved her… I do love her to the bottom of my heart. I was afraid I would lose both of them.
She wasted no time in pulling me to her beautiful bosom and clinging to me as I clung to her. That night, surrounded by Brian and Jennifer and Dani, she whispered in my ear as we lay together, “Till death do us part, beloved. Please, never leave my side.”
And I never will.
It took a few years to make the leap and declare it publicly on the fourth happiest day of my life. Corazón’s Wedding Day, as that Christmas Eve has become known. We stood with the other couples in front of the fireplace in the barn and Rose declared us married. I’m still a little giddy. Women of a certain age aren’t supposed to be giddy. Oh well.
How we got to that day, though… That’s a longer story.
Jennifer and Courtney were a year ahead of Brian and most of the Mishawaka clan even though they were near the same age. We were living with the Frosts when Brian graduated. There was a certain… joy in Mudville that went beyond getting out of school. Hannah was glowing. The two of them looked stupid in love. And occasionally there was a cry from upstairs that made their situation obvious. Marilyn and I dragged Hayden to bed every time they screamed. That sort of thing is contagious. We were all relieved to call it a night and bury ourselves in each other. Literally.
We were roused from sleep Tuesday morning by a call from Sheriff Donaldson telling us the ranch house had burned to the ground. I thought I’d done a good thing for both the kids and myself when I bought the ranch and leased it to them so they’d have a place to live when they came to college.
The three of us had talked about what I was doing in one of our most serious discussions ever. I sold my house when it was clear to me that being with Hayden and Marilyn was not temporary. We were making a new family together. Of course, there were all kinds of legal things we had to do to protect ourselves and our children since we couldn’t get married. I talked to Rex Davis for hours to see if what I wanted to do was even possible. Sending the kids to Kokomo to clean and paint my house over spring break had shown me that they were, indeed, as responsible and caring as we all thought. Rex said that incorporating their Casa would not be difficult and that as a corporation or LLC, they could lease the property from me. I’m sure they had no idea how many times the three of us had been to Bloomington to find the perfect place for them.
This trip, however, was as sad as our Memorial Day weekend trip had been joyous.
Jennifer, Rose, and Brian took Hayden and me to Bloomington and I watched as the fire in their eyes became smoke from the ashes. It broke my heart. It was my life savings and the insurance adjuster smirked as he said, “Total loss. Value, $50,000. Recommendation, no payout due to arson.” I’d paid $150,000 for the ranch out of the proceeds from the sale of my Kokomo home and got replacement value insurance. This asshole was offering nothing! Hayden took me in his arms as I wept. That might have been the only thing preventing him from charging after the bastard.
I believe there is an unwritten code among men. Perhaps it is one of Brian’s famous unwritten rules. I could see Brian tense as if the adjuster had offered him a personal affront. But I was Hayden’s woman. Brian deferred to his father in the matter of defending my honor. I’m sure that if Hayden had nodded once to his son, the adjuster would not have made it to his car.
Hayden and I had had a loving night in our suite. Brian, Jen, and Rose were in the second bedroom. We’d been on the phone getting organized for half the evening. I was comfortable with Hayden and let him take control of my body. We are a threesome but just by virtue of the way life works, he and Marilyn had many more opportunities to be together without me than I had with either of them alone. I’m sad to say that night was one of Hayden simply comforting me. I was a wreck after the insurance adjuster left and we spent a long time that night cuddled together talking to Marilyn with the phone held between us. Much like Hayden and Marilyn had done so many nights talking to me during our courtship.
We both sighed deeply when we finally hung up. We missed our lover. Hayden held me and kissed me. I wanted nothing more than to forget for a moment the smoldering ruins of the farmhouse and the look of disappointment in our children’s eyes. I found that moment in his arms and opened myself fully to my lover. I pulled him over me and hugged him as he entered me. I wanted to feel his weight pressing my body into the mattress. He was strong and covered me fully. I held him as he moved in and out of my vagina, whispering to me that it would be all right. We would recover. We would not let our children suffer.
I climaxed shortly before he did and we fell into exhausted sleep.
I am thankful for all the support we had. Rex Davis came down the next day and we started a suit against the insurance company immediately. The fire inspector came back with his report on how the fire started.
“Even though I found no direct sign of a malicious act against your property involving fire, there are questionable bits that require some lab work. In other words, while I don’t think at the moment that it was arson, I was told about your confrontation with the adjuster yesterday. I’m securing the site so that you can request a State Investigator for a second opinion. It’s likely your insurance company will want an independent investigation, as well. What I found last night as I was crawling around in the cellar was what appeared to be rat-chewed wires. The question remains as to how that contributed to the fire starting after the power had been on for two weeks. The lab work will reveal if there were any unexpected substances on or near the wires.”
The summary was the kids would be without a house in the fall.
“Are you a good man, Mr. Filmore?” I asked the contractor who was working on the foundation for the bunkhouse. Hayden and Rex were waiting to head north. We’d leave Rose, Jennifer, and Brian in Bloomington. I understood Doug, Rhiannon, and Doreen were on their way down for the weekend. We needed to secure the property and start planning for the future.
“I like to think so, Mrs. Pratt. Like everyone else, I have my flaws but I’m honest in my dealings.”
“I can see that you have begun to adjust to having teenagers as your customers.”
“It threw me for a while. I had to remind myself that they had the backing of their parents and you don’t get that kind of trust if you don’t deserve it,” he said.
“It’s true. They do deserve it. That’s why I’m going to ask a favor of you.”
“What can I do for you, Mrs. Pratt?”
“Not for me. For them. That smoking basement was going to be home to a dozen kids this fall. Now they are homeless. If there is anything you can do to help them… I don’t mean financially or by providing anything unusual… You have knowledge of the area and experience in dealing with housing. If you think of anything that would help them remediate this situation, please let them know. We’re going to do everything in our power to get this mess cleaned up and rebuilt, but it won’t help them this fall. We’re all going to be working out how to get them operational, not just a place to live, but we have a lot of money tied up in the television production they are planning. They’ll come up with ideas. Some of them will be far-fetched and some might be feasible. If they come to you with an idea, all I’m asking is that you listen and don’t jump to conclusions before you hear them out. This is an unusual clan. They have skills that are way beyond their years but that haven’t been tested yet. They need to hear good advice and not judgment.”
“I understand what you are saying, ma’am. No matter how harebrained the scheme, listen and don’t judge. Something good might come of it. I’d like to keep the doors open to do more work out here. I can see that you could build an entire development like they did southeast of here. If so, I want to be involved.”
“There was a certain charm to the ranch that we would hate to lose but it’s always possible that we’d build another bunkhouse or maybe even move a mobile home out here to house them temporarily. I appreciate your efforts.”
As soon as we got home and I’d held Marilyn in my arms and hugged her to me, I found my ‘other daughter’ and held Courtney. I thanked her over and over for how well she was managing the phone calls, messages, and general communications. Having her coordinating the house for Marilyn took a great burden off all of us. And, of course, others in the clan had been sticking close. Samantha and Hannah—I can never think of one without the other—were starting their training at the studio, determined to be ready as soon as they could get to Bloomington. Hannah had done such a good job of presenting the business plan for the production company and getting investment capital lined up to fund their operation that she was not about to let anything stand in the way of completing their dream. She knew she didn’t control everything but she was proceeding as if everything was under control.
Two other of Brian’s closest cónyuge had not left the house since graduation. Whitney and Liz had simply brought a suitcase each and moved into Brian’s bedroom. Whitney had to be in Bloomington for summer training camp in just a week or two and Liz had simply said, “Brian is my cónyuge. Wherever he goes and whenever he goes, I’m going with him.” That little redheaded spitfire was a force to be reckoned with. I was happy to find that several of the girls were accomplished cooks and kept us fed during the tense days that followed.
When Brian got home the next day, he brought Rhiannon with him. There was another force to be reckoned with. Since the decision to build the bunkhouse, Rhiannon had worked closely with the manufactured housing company in Nappanee to customize their home. She was the one who had found the company and chose the design. And she had a catalog of their home designs along with a company manual on what could be customized.
She had already chosen a handful of designs that could be used to replace the farmhouse and had specifications for accommodating a dozen people and a kitchen/studio.
While she unrolled drawings on the table in Brian’s room, Courtney, Jennifer, and Brian came stumbling up the stairs shedding clothes as they went. I was going to leave but Rhiannon was calling my attention to more details and I got distracted.
Until first Jennifer and then Courtney started squealing. I looked up at them. Courtney was between Jennifer’s legs, lapping at my daughter’s sex like… well, like I did Marilyn. But behind her, Brian’s ass muscles were clenching and releasing as he plunged into Courtney’s butt. The sight made everything from my waist down quiver.
“I should not have been here for that,” I said. Rose and Rhiannon flanked me at the drafting table.
“Aren’t they incredible?” Rose said.
“It makes my butt twitch,” Rhiannon sighed. “I don’t think I could do that. But it was so sexy.”
“Anna, what are you doing spying on your daughters?” Brian said with a grin. “That is very naughty of you.”
“Brian…” I could feel the temperature rising in my face and just knew he wasn’t going to let this go easily. “We didn’t know you were going to do… that!”
“Oh. But you knew we’d be doing something, didn’t you, Mommy,” Jennifer giggled.
“Don’t you dare… tell Marilyn,” I whispered. What was I thinking? I’d never recognized a dominant and submissive role within our threesome, but when I saw Brian dominating Jennifer and Courtney like that, my first thought was not Hayden, but Marilyn.
I’d been preparing capons in the Römertopfs for dinner and managed to get them in the oven before the kids came down from Brian’s room. From the sounds upstairs, Rose and maybe Rhiannon were getting into the action as well. Before they finished, I poured myself a large glass of white wine and disappeared into the bedroom. I hate to say it, but before Marilyn and Hayden got home from work, I’d had a crashing climax on my own fingers.
I was still a little twitchy when we sat down to eat.
“Mom,” Brian said calmly. I just knew he was going to tell on me and could feel my face heating up already. “Hypothetically speaking, what would you do if you caught one of us, say one of the girls, spying on you and Dad and Anna while you made love?”
“Hypothetically speaking? Brian, has someone been violating our privacy?” Marilyn asked sternly.
“Oh no, Mom. Not that I know of. Of course, there’s a lot that goes on in the common areas of the house. I’ll bet you’ll be glad when there aren’t so many others around to limit your activities. But I was just thinking about our anticipated living arrangement in Bloomington and thought we might benefit from our parents’ knowledge about how to handle a violation of privacy, as you put it.”
“Well, I can certainly see your point. We’ve always assumed certain rules of privacy here at home. You should probably make sure that it is one of the explicit rules for your casa,” Marilyn said. She turned to look at Hayden and me. I held my breath. Marilyn cocked an eyebrow at me.
“You know that I’m not above corporal punishment when it’s appropriate. Of course, with Courtney that’s not really punishment. But with Jennifer, even the threat of one hard smack on her bare bottom is enough to send her into paroxysms.” Jennifer jumped and squirmed in her seat, an act that I nearly mirrored.
“You beat your women?” Marilyn asked.
“Oh no, Mom. Well, occasionally I get a good punch in on Whitney, but usually it’s the other way around. As a general rule, I think you and Dad had it right when you punished Betts and me with love. We always felt so ashamed at having let you down,” he said. “But, I’ve just begun to realize that different people are simply wired to respond differently to… uh… different stimuli.”
I couldn’t take it any longer, the brat!
“Stop it! Stop! I confess!” I said as I stood up. “I didn’t mean to do it. I just followed Rhiannon and Rose upstairs to the drafting table to look at Rhiannon’s plans and they… Jennifer, Courtney, and Brian… were on the bed and he…”
“Anna,” Marilyn said gently. “The children. Please sit and finish your dinner. Hayden and I will discuss this with you later. In our room.” She glanced around and said firmly, “In private.”
Later, in private, I related what had happened when the kids got home from Bloomington and Rhiannon dragged me upstairs. Every time I tried to redirect the conversation to the house plans, my lovers brought it back to my ‘voyeurism’. We all laughed about it but then Marilyn surprised me.
“So, you think you need to be punished?”
“Marilyn? Really? I… I didn’t mean to… I mean… If you think…” Hayden pulled me over on top of him and smashed his mouth against mine. I was gasping for air as our tongues tangled. I felt Marilyn swipe his cock through my wetness and he plunged up into me. “Ohhh!” I moaned. “I thought…” I wasn’t sure if I was happy or disappointed as I relaxed from the thought of being spanked. I don’t think I’d ever been spanked and learning that my daughter got turned on by anticipating one hard swat on her bare bottom…
“Ow!” I cried as my butt cheek flared under the swat Marilyn gave me. I slammed down on Hayden’s cock with such force that my clit smashed against his pubic bone and the moment of pain was replaced by a massive orgasm in which Hayden joined me. I was clamped down so tightly on him that I felt every pulse of his penis in my vagina.
And then Marilyn, my sweet lover, dipped her head and licked me all the way from my joining with Hayden up and across my little star.
I came again.
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