El Rancho del Corazón
33 Settling In
I DIDN’T LEAVE for the ranch until Sunday. After Heaven left, I called my local casa hearthmates. Cassie and Josh were excited about having started classes this week and were already flooded with homework. Mary was on her way to go back-to-school shopping with her mom. Nikki pulled into my drive ten minutes after I called her.
I’d just put clean sheets on my bed and had a load of dirty sheets and towels in the washing machine. Nikki rushed me when she came in the door and kissed me frantically.
“I knew you came for the funeral yesterday but I didn’t think you’d call me,” Nikki said as she dragged me toward the bedroom. She started up the stairs and I pulled her back to go to the downstairs master. “Oooh, kinky. We’ll make love in your parents’ bed,” she said. I laughed at her.
“As soon as we all moved out, Mom, Anna, and Dad moved upstairs. They love the shower and each having their own sink. So, this is now the official guest room,” I explained.
“And have you been entertaining?”
“Honey, you know that what goes on in my bed stays in my bed,” I said, as I started pulling her pants down and found no underwear. “Going commando?”
“I’m an anarchist. Now get me in your bed and let me stay in your bed,” she laughed.
Wow! Nikki and laughter. When I met her, that was an unknown combination. I pulled the sheet back and she jumped on the bed, holding out her arms to me. I kissed her again and began the ritual tracing of her rose tattoo with my tongue.
“Yes! Yes, Brian. Make love to me in every way possible. Kiss me, tongue me, fuck me. Put it in my mouth. Hell, put it in my ass. Courtney likes it, it can’t be too bad.”
“You are a wild and crazy girl today. What’s got into you?”
“Nothing yet, but I’m hoping you change that pretty quickly. I just… I’m so happy you called me. I wanted to make love with you all summer and then I waited until the night before I left and have been kicking myself all week for waiting so long. And then you called. My boyfriend called me and I get to make love to him again before I leave tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? You’re heading out?”
“Yes. Mon père agreed to tow a U-Haul so that I can take my bike. I can’t believe I’ve got so much shit going with me to college. That doesn’t even count what I left in Bloomington!” she said.
“You left stuff in Bloomington?” She got serious all of a sudden, just as I was swabbing my cock through her wet slit.
“That’s okay, isn’t it? Rose said it would be okay. You said it was our home, right? Please say it’s okay.”
“It’s way more than okay, Nikki. I’m glad you left stuff there. Did you see The Goodbye Girl?” She nodded. “When he leaves, Dreyfus stops at a phone booth and calls Marsha Mason. He asks her to get his guitar tuned while he’s gone. All of a sudden, she knows he’s coming back because he’d never leave his guitar behind. That’s how I feel knowing that you left things in Bloomington. You’re coming back.” I pushed into her and she squealed.
“I’m coming back. And I’m coming. And I’m going to come again! And again!” She thrust up at me and grabbed my head so she could kiss me more.
Nikki. Who’d have thought?
She spent the night with me and we reluctantly parted in the morning so she could load the bike in the U-Haul and take off. It was 950 miles from Brown to IU. Nikki had determined she could make it in two days easily by stopping for the night anyplace between Wheeling and Columbus. At every school break, she’d be hunched over the gas tank on the freeway.
I made a big hit when I pulled into the ranch with the horse trailer Sunday afternoon. Rose’s parents had pulled a trailer in as well. They’d been storing a bunch of stuff for several of the girls, including some badly needed furniture and dishes. I was surprised to find that Hannah’s and my bikes were included in what they had. I hadn’t even thought about that. Rex and Maria were taking the fearsome foursome back with them. Mrs. Kelly was taking Theresa, George, Rich, and Nancy. We all had a good hug and suddenly the ranch was a lot quieter. Hannah had put a bridle and bareback pad on Silk and was gone before I had the other horses out of the trailer. Sam had Rika in tow and Jennifer and Courtney were both fussing over Jingo, who loved the attention from his girls. I looked at the equipment shed as I put the tack in it and decided I needed to check the roof to make sure it didn’t leak. All we had in it so far was our tools and our lawn mower. We had to buy a pretty good-sized machine to chop down the grass in front of where the house had been. I estimated that we mowed nearly two acres around the houses and barn.
Mom, Anna, and Dad said they’d covered everything they needed to with Ron on Saturday, so they had loaded the camper on the back of the truck and were getting ready to pull out. Mom was riding with Dad and Irene Nowicki was riding with Anna.
“They’ll probably not get here to start the demolition until after Labor Day,” Dad told me. “The fire marshal said that he couldn’t get the fence company out until then and Ron doesn’t want to leave the site open once the fence comes down. Ron will remove everything, right down to the foundations.”
“You mean we’ll just have a hole in the ground?” I asked.
“Well, that hole, once they remove the rubble, the utility lines, and cap the well, should be about the same size as that pile of clay out back,” Dad laughed. “You can get your wheelbarrows shuffling, can’t you?” I guess my mouth fell open. “Don’t worry. We told Ron to fill with that first and then they’ll bring in clean fill for the top. We didn’t think the dirt needed to be sodded, but Ron will seed it. It’s just going to be another big patch you’ll have to mow.”
“Is Anna going to rebuild?” I asked.
“Well, now that you kids have a place to live, there isn’t as much urgency to put a house back on that plot that will be big enough for you all. We’ll be spending some time deciding what and when to rebuild. You’ll all get input.”
We walked back out front. I hugged the moms and Dad and Liz’s mom and they pulled out. It was a little eerie to be standing out in the yard alone. I hadn’t even been in the house yet.
Sunday night with twenty-two of us sitting around the campfire was the end of peace and quiet. Twenty-two sounds like a lot of people, but we’d been used to close to forty scurrying here and there, the sounds of hammers, sanders, trucks, and saws, and activity everywhere. Our four casas sitting around a fire on the night before classes started seemed pretty calm. About ten, Lamar, Lionel, Renee, and Sugar left with promises to look for us on campus. Sugar managed to get a job at K-Mart and was pretty pleased. Renee and Lamar insisted they weren’t actually a couple, even though they dated a lot. Renee was living at the same sorority Sora joined. Sora was determined, though, that she would stay out at the ranch, at least this semester.
Brenda started the ritual. She, Carl, and Louise said they were headed to bed and all came to hug me. Brenda, however, gave me a kiss that was an inspiration to everyone else.
“Girl, save some of that tongue for me,” Louise laughed. She reached up and gave me a quick peck on the lips. “Not yours. Hers.” The three wrapped their arms around each other and headed for the bunkhouse.
Doreen was not about to let that go unchallenged and wrapped me in an embrace that threatened to be sex in front of the fire with everyone watching.
“Try not to forget about visiting Casa del Agua after school starts,” she said. “I’ve been talking to your sister. We might have to start planning.” Oh crap! My cock jerked against her. “Oh. You are planning, aren’t you!” she giggled.
“You know, I’m going to be right there watching,” Rhiannon said as she gave me a dreamy kiss. “And helping. Maybe we’ll start around Christmas, but we’d better get some practice in soon.”
“I know I’m not one of your amiga,” Sandy said as she faced me, “but may I have a kiss like that? Just so I know what gets my compañera’s engine running?” Holy shit. Sandy kissed a lot like Renee. There was no way to resist her lips and her tongue. She molded every part of her body to mine and I was aware of exactly what she was pushing against my chest and against my cock. “Mmm. Yeah. That’s very helpful, Brian. Thank you for the lesson. And, just for the record, I’ll be watching, too.” Crap! She wrapped an arm around Doreen and the three girls headed to the bunkhouse. Doug and I bumped fists.
“You might have just signed my death warrant,” Doug said, nodding toward the three girls’ swaying butts. “I just want you to know that if I don’t make it to the first day of classes, it’s your fault.”
I looked around and realized I was the only one left at the fire. Well, the embers. I made sure it was covered and poured water into the mud and ashes. We were hyper-sensitive about making sure the fire was out. At least the chain link fence would be gone in a week or so, and we would no longer be looking at the burned-out rubble from the old farmhouse. I turned toward the barn. The horses were drowsing by the fence. The sky was clear. There were a million stars out. I stepped into the shadow of the barn so I couldn’t see our big light and just stared up into the sky.
An arm wrapped around my waist and I jumped a little. She surprised me, but it wasn’t an unpleasant surprise.
“This could be our special time together, too,” Hannah whispered.
“Any time we are together is a special time,” I sighed, wrapping my arm around her shoulders.
“You’ve been out here a long time. We were worried.”
“And they sent you to find me?”
“No. I came out to check on the horses and make sure they were comfortable for the night.” She hugged me and we laughed. “Silk and Jingo like it. Rika isn’t so sure yet. She’ll adapt. Are they okay without a barn?”
“They’ve got a shelter. We need to do a little work before the weather gets bad, but remember, we’re in a much milder climate down here. No lake effect,” I said. I looked up into the sky one last time.
“Come in to bed, Brian,” she whispered. “Heaven will always be there watching us.”
I spent the night snuggled between sisters. The girls had rearranged the mattresses and taken down the harem drapes. Our bedroom loft looked more like a dormitory now. They explained to me that this arrangement was also just temporary, but they thought we might need to spread out a little in order to get a good night’s sleep before our first day of classes. It worked. I was out by the time I hit my pillow.
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