El Rancho del Corazón
41 Corn Silk
IT TOOK US until six to get to the cars, get packed up, and get clear of the parking lot so we could all go home. Doreen followed me home and up the stairs to our bedroom. It was still set up with the monarch’s bed, though I thought that setting would be rearranged shortly. My hearthmates were planning something for Thanksgiving.
Even though Doreen didn’t live with us, she was completely comfortable slipping in to make love and even sleep with us overnight. I thought, in fact, that I was seeing her more frequently with us on the weekends. I glanced around and saw Liz was also nearby, so it wasn’t just a swap.
“Is there a lot of demand for you tonight?” Doreen asked me, but spoke to the room at large. Everybody grinned and invited Doreen to stay.
“I’d like a little cuddle time later,” Elaine said. She was waiting at the house when we got back from the ballgame. “Friday night and Saturday morning rehearsals suck. I don’t get to be here with my family.” I opened my arms and Elaine came to give me a warm kiss. She sighed. “I’m good till later. I think Doreen has something that can’t wait.”
“Let’s shower, darling,” I said to Doreen. “It was cold in the stadium, but we were packed in so tightly and jumping around so much that I feel all sweaty and grimy. I’m glad my voice has a week to recover before I have to film again!” I led Doreen to the shower and we took time to lovingly wash each other. We didn’t get off in the shower, but were definitely primed for bed. Several girls were making their way through the showers and downstairs for food and evening relaxing. We had a big, comfortable house and we made use of all the little staged areas. No one was going to study tonight. As Doreen and I made love on the big bed, others of my hearthmates would stop for a few moments to pet or kiss us. When we’d come and I rolled to the side so she could breathe, Liz cuddled up behind Doreen. It was unusual to see Liz cuddled with another girl, especially since Nikki left.
“Hey, Red. What brings you into our little clutch?” I asked.
“Dor is my, like, amiga-in-law. Of course, I want to cuddle her when she’s glowing with satisfaction,” Liz laughed. She left a string of kisses along Doreen’s back. “Besides, I want to be here when she asks.”
“Asks? What are you asking, Doreen?”
“Well, for one thing, I was wondering if you could make a birthday cake for Sandy. Tomorrow is her twentieth.”
“Of course! Do you want me to make it tonight?” I asked.
“No. We won’t celebrate like that till afternoon. But we want everyone to come over to our little bungalow for birthday cake and ice cream,” Doreen said.
“You’ve got it, love.” We laid there and just had occasional smooches as we all three petted each other.
“Go ahead,” Liz whispered, nudging Doreen.
“I… Well… Brian, what we talked about? Remember?” Oh! Oh, man! Oh, holy night! She’s going to ask. “Betts says they plan to start working on the next baby this spring. So, like March. Brian, will you get me pregnant then?”
“Um… Doreen, this is a really big decision. I… I really want to make a baby with you. But it affects the whole casa. We’re all pretty young.” I was muttering and rambling.
“Let’s go downstairs and talk to everyone,” Liz said. “We already talked about it in Casa del Agua.”
We didn’t bother to dress and when we got downstairs we found that no one else had really dressed after their showers, either. There were a lot of blankets around and people curled up together in front of the fireplace. We’d bought a bunch of Polar Fleece blankets to cover the chairs and cushions so we could comfortably plop down naked. Sam and Hannah moved out of the big cuddle chair, and smoothed out the blanket for me to sit down and hold Doreen in my lap as Liz hugged us close on the arm of the chair.
“Everybody, we’ve got something to discuss,” I said. Rose came running to the chair and hugged Doreen.
“When?” she demanded.
“This spring,” Doreen whispered.
“Yes!”
“Wait. How did you know what we were talking about? We haven’t even asked,” I said.
“We’re all anxious,” Rose said. “Hearthmates, Doreen wants to get pregnant this spring.” Doreen turned her face to my chest and I could feel her hot blush against my skin. There was a cheer from our hearthmates.
“It’s kind of a big deal,” Doreen said. “Because, even if you all agree, she would be Brian’s first child. Unless someone else is going to get started. But maybe Brian wants one of you to bear his first child. I don’t want to be selfish. I just want a baby. And I love Brian, too.” There were tears running from her eyes but she wasn’t sobbing. It was just emotional. Everybody started talking excitedly and it gave me a minute to think before I had to respond.
Did I want Doreen to be the mother of my first child? Well, Hannah was definitely out of the running, incapable of having children. Elaine was the oldest in our casa and she was set on having a career first before children. Sarah and I had never discussed children and she’d carefully avoided making any long-term commitments to me. She was my compañera but, like Sora, she was not my cónyuge. Rose, Samantha, Whitney, Jennifer, Courtney, Liz. I knew none of them wanted to start a family before they got out of school. Of course, Liz was only on a two-year course, but I didn’t think she took the idea of being a mommy very seriously. If I got Doreen pregnant, she would be the only one for a while. I didn’t want her to wait until everyone else was ready. Yeah. Doreen was going to be the mother of my first child.
We had a nice birthday party for Sandy, but it didn’t include twenty blow jobs—or the female equivalent. Adam came out and joined us and got Whitney and me to work on forms with him. We ribbed him about the fumble yesterday, but we didn’t dig at him too much. He’d have had to be superman to keep the ball the way he was tackled.
And then it was back to school and the unending pressure of classes and getting the show written and taped.
And remembering who I was sleeping with each night.
Living together had certainly had an effect on our sex life and I couldn’t say it was a positive one. Well, maybe it wasn’t living together that did it—at least not entirely. It was everyone’s schedules, trying to run our household, taping the show, trying to have some semblance of a college social life, homework, maintaining the ranch, cooking, cleaning, riding the horses. We were responsible for everything in our lives and we even had to arbitrate a few disagreements that threatened to turn nasty.
There were some hurt feelings when it looked like we were expecting Hannah to cook and keep house since she wasn’t in school. We had to make it clear that she had a fulltime job and wasn’t the maid. And Sora wanted out of home responsibilities because she was spending more time at the chapter house. Jennifer and Courtney had pledged and that was eating into their time as well. Then Whitney’s basketball practice started in earnest and she came home hungry about seven at night. It seemed that forms and breakfast were the only times the whole casa got together. We needed a family meeting, but the only family time we got was Sunday afternoon when everyone was too exhausted to talk.
We made it through. We found out the other casas were having the same problems. It just took time to work through the issues, and a lot of love to show each other we cared. Maybe we weren’t making love as often, but we were hugging each other more and the circle in front of the fireplace was getting closer.
Friday, October twenty-sixth, I sat in biology. There had been a subtle shift between the coeds and Dawn sat beside me, but Cathy was on the other side of her instead of next to me. Dawn often got my attention by touching my arm, even when Cathy had a question. We decided to study together at the chapter house every other Wednesday after class.
“Brian Frost,” the class monitor said. I glanced up. I didn’t even remember the professor mentioning her name at the beginning of the class. There was a teaching assistant and two class monitors who apparently helped with only this section. She was shapely, very dark-skinned, and very obviously not wearing a bra under her T-shirt. I forced my eyes farther up to her face. She was grinning at me. “You never did grow much, did you?” she said.
That was a hell of a thing to say to a student out of the blue. I was a little put off, but she said it like it was a private joke between the two of us as she handed my midterm back to me. I glanced at it and was pleased with the mark.
“Thank you,” I said. I still wasn’t sure about that last remark.
“Be sure to read the comment on the last page,” she said as she moved on down the row, handing out exams. I flipped through the exam. On the last page was a comment at the bottom. I about choked when I read the two words. ‘Corn silk.’
I begged off walking with Dawn and Cathy to my car and told them I needed to speak to the prof. They took off, and I waited outside the auditorium until she came out.
“Angela? Angela Kimes?” I called. She turned and grinned at me.
“How ya doin’, Brain Trust?” she asked.
“I can’t believe it’s you!” I said. “I didn’t recognize you and they never told us your name in class.”
“I got unfinished business with you,” she said. “I went back to that camp ready to find out the secrets of life, and you never showed up. After the next summer, I gave up on you and didn’t go back again.”
“You figured out what it was like? I always regretted not getting to camp that summer.”
“Well, I found out they make them bigger, but it didn’t hurt too much. Want to go have dinner?” she asked.
“Why don’t you come home with me and meet the family?” I asked. “My ride is waiting for me and you will be welcome.”
“It’s safe? You aren’t taking me someplace to turn me into your wanton sex slave, are you?” she teased.
“Not unless that’s what you want,” I laughed. We walked to the car. Rose, Jen, and Court were waiting.
“Dawn told us you had to stop to talk to the professor,” Rose said. “What subject do you teach?” she asked Angela.
“I’m… actually…” Angela stuttered a little bit before I stepped in.
“Cónyuge, for that I am not going to introduce this beautiful young woman until we get home. We will ride in the back seat. You three can get us home and gossip until we have everyone together,” I said. I opened the back door and ushered Angela into the third row. “I’m not going to clue you in before you meet us all, either,” I whispered. “But, I promise this will be fun. By the way, did you become a nudist?”
“What do you think?” she laughed. “I’ve barely got a T-shirt on.”
“You’ll get along great at our house.”
“You’re not! Really?”
“Well, let’s just say that when we’re at home we’re pretty casual about whether or not we’re wearing clothes. Except when we’re filming. Saturday morning, everyone dresses,” I said.
“What are you filming?” she asked warily.
“Chemistry experiments.”
“We have company!” Rose shouted as we entered the front door.
“Ack!” Hannah and Samantha shouted and ran bare-bottomed toward the stairs.
“Don’t bother to dress,” I laughed. “Angela’s clothes are likely to fall off before we finish introductions. Everybody come here I want to introduce a long-lost friend.” The girls reversed and grabbed blankets. Sora and Liz came downstairs in their robes. “Let me present to you Miss Angela Kimes. It is still ‘miss’, isn’t it, Angela?”
“Oh yes. I haven’t found a boy to measure up to you yet.”
“That’s really sad,” I laughed. “Considering your frame of reference. Angela, these are my cónyuge, Rose, Liz, Samantha, Jennifer, and Courtney. We’re missing Whitney because basketball practice doesn’t get out until six. And Elaine won’t get here until tomorrow afternoon from Indy. This is my novia, Hannah. And this is my compañera, Sora. Not living with us on a regular basis are Nikki, Sarah, Cassie, Mary, and Josh. We call ourselves Casa del Fuego and this place is El Rancho del Corazón.”
“You all speak Spanish?” Angela asked.
“Only Courtney and Whitney,” Rose answered. “So how do you know Brian, besides being his professor?”
“Ladies, this is Angela Kimes. Angela. Of corn has sex.”
“Oh my God!” they squealed.
“You told everyone that story?” Angela laughed.
“Not only these, but I need to take you across the yard to introduce you to Doug and Carl. I explained the birds and the bees to them with that story!”
“I’ll call and invite them over,” Hannah said. She ran to the office, dropping her blanket on the floor. Sam picked it up.
“I don’t think she ever got dressed today at all,” Sam explained.
“It’s too bad Cassie isn’t here,” Rose said. “She almost told Miss Polly about corn and sex on television.”
“What is all this about television?” Angela asked.
We explained about the show and walked her over to the kitchen while we caught up. There was some commotion at the side door and the bunkhouse residents came in. I noted that Hannah, Samantha, Sora, and Liz had all slipped shorts and T-shirts on. The front door opened and Whitney came in. She didn’t even stop to say hi to anyone else. She just marched up to me and put her arms around me.
“I need a hug,” she said. I gladly gave it to her and then turned to introduce everyone who had just come in to Angela.
“I thought she was some kind of giant, the way you described her,” Doug said.
“I was less than four feet tall,” I said. “Everybody was a giant.”
“When I met Brian, I was already as tall as I ever got,” Angela laughed. “Developed early and then stopped. He caught up with me. Barely.”
We had a great time and invited Angela to spend the night in the guest room, which she accepted. Of course, we were all outside at six-thirty doing forms in the nude and trying to keep from freezing. Angela came right out in the nude with us and worked out. Then we ran for the house and started breakfast.
“Okay. It is officially cold out,” I announced. “Tomorrow we move forms inside. We’ve got plenty of room if we move the dining table toward the kitchen. This whole end of the big room is empty.”
“Thank God!” Rose said. “Why do you think we left it empty?”
“Company’s coming!” Hannah barked out. “Everybody get dressed. Brian, go shower!”
“Yes, dear. Who’s on the menu?”
“We have Betas today. Samantha! I need you in the prep room! We need onions chopped. We can’t wait for Elaine. She’s out until Halloween. Come on, guys. Camera crew coming in!” she yelled. We all ran to do her bidding.
It was like this every Saturday morning. We worked out at 6:30, ate breakfast at 7:30. Camera crew arrived at 8:00. Guest audience and girlfriend at 8:30. We started filming at 9:00. We were getting pretty good at it. Angela was still standing in the middle of the room naked and I started to go tell her where to shower and dress. Rose was ahead of me. I watched them turn and head toward the guest bath. Now that was a sight worth pausing for.
Like Adam, Angela was going to become a regular visitor.
Well, maybe not exactly like Adam.
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