What Were They Thinking?
40 Empty Nest
RHIANNON WAS SO ENTHUSIASTIC that I joined her Friday on a trip to Nappanee and we spent the afternoon pricing out the new construction.
Of course, it wouldn’t be possible to order the house yet. That would have to wait until the insurance company settled. But it gave us an idea of what it would actually cost to replace the house. It would be a point of negotiation with the insurance company. I was impressed.
Saturday morning after Betts headed for the airport with Maddie and Addison, Hayden, Marilyn, and I loaded in the camper and went down to the ranch. We didn’t want it deserted over the weekend while Doug and Doreen were off at Spring Mill. It was just one night but with no one else at the ranch we didn’t feel we needed to restrain our voices. Or our location. Hayden built a fire in the firepit and we spread blankets on the ground. We made love under the stars in every combination we could think of. The fence around the burn-out was depressing but having seen the way Brian, Rose, and Jennifer responded to the rest of their hearthmates and took courage and strength from them, we did the same with each other.
Perhaps that is one of the strangest aspects of a relationship. I’d always thought of giving and taking love, comfort, and encouragement to my mate or mates. It was a new experience to have courage and strength multiplying itself within us as we shared our bodies and souls. Like Casa del Fuego, we three would face the new day and come out the stronger for it.
We met Doug and Doreen when they returned to the ranch and talked about security. We’d seen how incredibly dark it was out here in the country as our fire died during the night. Hayden suggested that Doug have Ron Filmore install a security light on the construction power pole.
An idea in motion takes on a life of its own and often all we can do is hang on for the ride. We’d seen that with the dating group. It had grown into something different than any of us expected. But we saw it was also true of the ranch. When Brian first proposed renovating the barn enough that it could be lived in, I was skeptical. I thought we should put the money into re-building the house. Only there was no money.
Six of the clan were living at the ranch in the new duplex bunkhouse. As many as possible were moving down after Independence Day to spend their time on-site figuring out how they could live there. Hayden had left the camper and the Millers had left a travel trailer. I even investigated what it would cost to move a couple of mobile homes onto the property.
Everything took money. I met with Rex, with Jean Duval, with my ex, and with John Clinton, the banker. Every idea came down to the same things—money and collateral. Hayden and Marilyn had modest savings. They considered mortgaging their home to help fund a project. Other parents hemmed and hawed around the idea. Most had already put up $5,000 as an investment in the production company and were seeing the idea of actually having a production come out of it slipping away. No studio, no production.
Sly fielded the idea of a camp at the ranch for part of the summer so the younger clan could get more training in self-defense. That idea was met with enthusiasm from many quarters.
Then Brian activated the calling tree and invited all parents to the ranch on Saturday. He said they’d found a solution to the housing problem and wanted the sage advice of their elders. We all went, hoping to get a tour of the bunkhouse now that it was fully occupied and were guardedly excited to hear about Brian’s plan.
That boy never does anything halfway.
We’d done our research as well. A bank loan to do any work at the ranch was out. Even pricing out the manufactured house Rhiannon had designed would run $150,000 by the time we added in the foundation work and finishing crews. And the design kept changing. Every time one of the kids had seen it, they’d suggested an improvement to the livability of the house. If we rushed into construction this summer, we’d be building something that hadn’t settled into a good design and that put us heavily in debt. Me. It would put me heavily in debt and Hayden and Marilyn hadn’t signed up for that.
We could get a double-wide mobile home moved onto the property for about $25,000, including delivery, hookups, and foundation work. The problem with that was no one was lending money to buy a used mobile home. Art, my ex-husband, looked at his wife Teri during one of our group meetings. She nodded.
“Private financing,” he said. “It would take some work, but you could raise the money through private financing if there was a suitable return guaranteed. It’s risky, but at the moment I don’t see any other options.”
“This is the part that I came up with, so I have to make the presentation,” Brian said when everyone gathered together. “The only thing I really care about is keeping my family together and getting us all to school this fall. The part I’m taking the blame for is the part about how to get the $75,000 that we need. I did a little research, but bankers don’t really talk to kids. I had to pretty much lie about what I wanted in order to get information. The ranch property itself is currently valued at $2,300 per acre. That’s $92,000, give or take a little depending on whether it is tillable or residential. But that’s what the county recorded as the value of your purchase, Anna Mom. An 80% mortgage on the land would yield $73,600. That’s close enough to the $75,000 estimate that I’d be willing to front any extra out of my own savings if necessary. The payment on that would come out to about $800 a month on a thirty-year mortgage. Nine of us plan to live here full-time, plus an additional payment from Hearthstone Entertainment for its use of the kitchen and to pay for utilities. We had all agreed to pay $100 in per month as rent on the house. With the payments that we were to collect, we would have $1,200 per month and pay Anna $1,000. The other $200 was intended to go to utilities. The same payment would provide the mortgage payment and a couple hundred as profit to Anna. Unfortunately, of course, we can’t take out that mortgage. Only Anna can.”
There we were, back at the $75,000 number. I was willing to take the loan and guarantee it with the property, but I still didn’t know how to go about raising the funds.
Rex explained that we couldn’t get an 80% loan on raw land. Even if it was producing, the banks wouldn’t lend more than 50% loan to value and the interest rate would be higher. Brian was crushed. I wondered how much dirt we could shovel onto these kids before they realized they were buried.
“I believe that Rex and Anna and I could put together a package that would be quite attractive and might not delay getting started,” Jean Duval said. Rex had turned to me as soon as he finished his explanation so I didn’t catch everything that was said.
“Anna, we have the $75,000,” he whispered. “The lender wishes to remain outside the arena of common knowledge.”
“I can’t take money from Art,” I said. I had a reasonably good relationship with my ex, but I just couldn’t fall back on him at a time like this, even though it was really to help his daughter and her friends.
“He was willing to put up some of the money but we have another source who is offering unbelievable terms.” We turned as Hayden was describing the terms to the kids.
“…loan of $75,000 at a commercial lending rate. That is currently 10% but it rises and falls with the market. You need to know that the interest rate could be 15% in two years, or it could be 5%. We don’t know. The investor will carry the loan for six months, interest free. That means that if your show suddenly started reaping big profits or if you came into a lot of money, you could pay it off at the end of six months for $75,000. It’s pretty generous.”
“It’s not free,” Rex said, turning from me. “Everyone here wants to believe in you. We voiced that with our investment in your production company. But lenders require security.” He turned to me. “That’s where it all falls on you, Anna. Are you willing to put the farm up as collateral for the loan?” he whispered. I nodded.
“What do we have for security?” Brian asked. “When it comes down to it, even what we own we mostly owe to our parents.”
“That’s true,” I said. “That’s why I’ve put the farm up as collateral. I’ll guarantee the loan.”
“Excuse us,” Rose said. “We need a casa meeting. We’ll resume in a minute.” She grabbed Brian and all fifteen in the casa headed for the barn.
Marilyn slipped up beside me and wrapped me in her arms. I leaned against her.
“You all surprised me a little,” I said. “When did the funding come in?”
“During dinner. Now that the kids are gone, you should know that John Clinton has agreed to put up the money. He just didn’t want to be seen talking to you about it. He really doesn’t want the kids to know it’s him.”
“John? He has that kind of money? His daughter isn’t even planning to live here.”
“Something happened during our break. He talked to Brian and came out changed. He wouldn’t tell me what had happened,” Hayden said. “John comes off as being a hardcore conservative banker and religious fundamentalist. But he is a good man and loves these kids as much as all the rest of us do.”
“I need to thank him.”
“That can wait until we go into town tomorrow and sign the papers.”
Saturday night and Sunday morning were emotional times. Most of the parents headed to town for the night, or went all the way back home. Those few who stayed at the ranch could hear love cries throughout the night, including one that echoed and was amplified by the barn. It was inspiring and the three of us rocked the camper.
Signing the papers that Rex, Jean, and John drew up was accomplished Sunday morning, calling Brian and Rose in to sign for the Casa. I could see the fear threatening to overwhelm them. It was one thing to have the project and a potential home on one side but another thing to have looming debt on the other.
And the younger generation had begun to arrive at the ranch. Sly had conceived of a training camp but the kids were all determined to help on every aspect of the barn conversion, in addition to their self-defense training. Sly had to return to Mishawaka for a job in Chicago so Hayden and Marilyn were riding back with him. Lily and I were going to be camp moms for the week. That surprised our children.
“We’re riding back with Sly,” Marilyn said to her son. “Anna and Lily will be staying with you this week.”
“They will?” You could see a new level of panic spinning up in Brian’s head. We were going to be watching him.
“Don’t panic, son. I think you’ll like it in the long run. I’m leaving the truck. Anna and Lily will stay in the camper. Some of the parents of the younger kids were concerned about not having an adult onsite.” Hayden held up his hands. “Yes, you are an adult. But try to understand the concerns of other parents. Most of these kids have never stayed away from home. Certainly, none of them have gone to a work camp. We’ll rotate a couple moms in the camper each week.”
“And we cook,” I said as I hugged him from behind. “Brian, you have thirty kids on your crew. Wouldn’t it be helpful to have a couple women who had nothing better to do than cook for you all day?”
“Anna, we’d never ask you to do that. We’re trying to rotate in and out of kitchen duty,” Brian said. They so wanted to take responsibility for everything.
“We know you didn’t ask, Brian. We’re volunteering,” Lily said. We draped an arm across his shoulders from each side. I think Brian was still just a little afraid of Lily. “We think you should still assign two kids a day to kitchen duty,” she continued. “But with both Anna and me here, we can be a constant and have both kitchens operating. And we can shop, since we have credit cards.”
“What do you mean, ‘shop,’ Mama-Lil?”
“Brian, you’ve proven yourself. You care for everyone. Jennifer told me you almost turned down the offer of the funding because you didn’t want to put me at risk,” I said. “But the parents all feel some responsibility, too. We don’t think you should personally have to pay for all the food for everyone here this summer.” It wasn’t difficult to see that Brian had been using his own earnings from the show to buy food for everyone. All the parents had agreed that they needed to pay for food for their kids who were ‘going to camp’.
“Do you think we couldn’t figure out that you were planning to spend your own money to feed everyone this summer?” Marilyn asked. “And that you planned to stay up late at night to plan menus and get up early to bake bread? Brian, we all want to help, and some of these kids still need a mom around.”
“I think I’m one of them,” he said. “Thank you.” We all hugged him.
The week at the ranch was an eye-opener for both Lily and me. The clothing option of choice was ‘as little as possible’. That sounds like a great, carefree environment, but it seemed half Lily’s and my jobs was putting Band-Aids and mercurochrome on cuts and scrapes that wouldn’t have happened if the injured party had been wearing more clothes.
“These kids are hard workers,” Arnie Thornton, their advisor, said as we sat watching them all take a break. “But as much as I appreciate the display of flesh, they need better clothes while they’re working. Not necessarily every job, mind you. I’m not a cruel man. But when they start carting sheets of plywood and getting two-by-fours up to the loft, they are going to wish they had something on top besides a bra.”
“Whenever one gets a cut or scrape, she starts wearing more clothes,” Lily laughed. “You would think the message would filter through to the others.”
“You should see them in the morning when they do their exercises,” I added. “I think that if Lily and I weren’t down there exercising with them none of them would wear anything.”
“Like a bunch of two-year-olds only with more organization. You’ll stay for dinner tonight, won’t you, Arnie?” Lily asked.
“I can hardly resist your cooking. Do you mind if Mabel joins us?”
“Please invite her!” We’d not yet met Arnie’s wife. He’d made a comment about keeping her well away from the sights he was ‘exposed’ to each day.
As predicted, as soon as the kids called it quits for the night, they all stripped to their swimwear and hit the outdoor showers. There were only four showerheads out on what was once the RV pad, but all forty kids crowded under them as much as possible.
Mabel proved to be unfazed by the display.
“I taught PE for thirty years,” she said. “I’ve seen it all before. Did Arnie tell you where his heart pills are?”
We could hardly wait for Maria and Eva to get to the ranch Sunday so we could get home to our husbands and my wife. Lily was good company, but she just wasn’t Hayden and Marilyn. I think Lily felt similarly. I wasn’t Sly. He’d come down the day before and had led the kids on some ‘field exercises’ as he called them. Lily had joined him at the hotel last night and I was feeling very lonely. As soon as Maria and Eva arrived, Sly took Lily and me home.
“Hello?” I called into the quiet house. Footsteps came from above and pounded down the stairs.
“Anna-love!” Marilyn cried as we threw ourselves at each other. Oh! What a wonderful welcome home. We tried desperately to pour every ounce of our love into that kiss. Then we discovered there were more ounces of love to pour into the kiss with Hayden when he reached us.
“Oh, what an exhausting week,” I said as we sank into the recliner in a lover’s knot. “I am so glad to be home!”
“Did you hear that, Hayden? Our cónyuge has come home.”
“It really is,” I sighed. “The whole time I was in Bloomington, I thought of being here. I don’t remember ever thinking that when I went on vacation from Kokomo. It was the place I lived for fifteen years and yet, this is what I think of as home.”
“It kind of gives us a glimpse of what the kids are feeling, doesn’t it?” Hayden said. “They’ve left the nest and have gone home.”
“You could see it this week. Not a single one of them slacked off. Oh, they don’t work around the clock. I think one of the smartest things they’ve done down there is get a cowbell. It rings to call everyone out to forms. It rings again after breakfast to call people to work. It rings before and after lunch. And it rings to call an end to the workday. Everyone knows that between bells, they are working. I think it is not just Casa del Fuego, but the entire clan that is looking at the ranch as their home.”
“John and Bea came over one evening for dinner,” Marilyn said. “We were just wanting to thank them for putting up the money. John said that he’d come to an understanding that he lacked before. He still struggles with some of the lifestyle issues and thinks they are a little too lascivious. But he said that with a little help from Brian, he realized that our homes—where we’ve raised our children—are not truly their homes. Home is where they establish their own families with their own partners. That was when he decided to fund the project. Because Cassie is living in his home this year, but next year the ranch will be her home.”
I guessed that was all true, but I was being a little distracted by Marilyn unbuttoning my shirt as she talked and Hayden slipping his hands under my suddenly loosened bra. Marilyn was continuing to undress me while Hayden captured my lips with his and my nipple with his fingers.
“Here?” I squeaked. “In the family room? What about…”
“Shh,” Hayden said. “Listen.”
We all stilled ourselves and just listened to the sound of the house and let it sink in.
“We’re alone,” Marilyn said. “Our children have moved on. This is our home and we can make love anywhere in it that we want to.”
“We have an empty nest,” I sighed.
“No,” Hayden said as he dipped his head enough to lick my nipple and Marilyn stroked her fingers through my sparse blonde bush. “We have a nest filled with love. And it’s so full that those of us who live here will have to take extra large portions each day. I love you, Anna.”
“I love you, Hayden. Do you have a large portion of love to share with me?”
“I think he does if we can just get your jeans the rest of the way off your tight little butt,” Marilyn laughed as she slipped out of our tangle to pull at my jeans and get them off. My panties conveniently went with them. My hand slipped into Hayden’s lap and I realized for the first time that the two were dressed in only their bathrobes. That awareness was joined by the feeling of Marilyn taking a long and leisurely lick up my slit.
“I love you, Marilyn,” I gasped.
“And I love you,” she answered before sliding her tongue through my juices again. “And I plan to love you in every single room of our love nest!”
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