Three Bears

It seems that no matter how hard one tries to catch every mistake, some slip by, things you pick up in another's story, but overlook in your own. For those who take the time to offer insight via email, please know it's something I appreciate and take to heart. Once again, thanks for all the positive feedback.

This is not a stand-alone story, if you haven't read parts 1and 2 this will make no sense.

Three Bears

part three

After putting Belle out to pasture I decided to take the truck to the clearing and bring back a load of wood. The afternoon was lazy after that, I did an oil change on the truck, went over and laid out a plan for the next weeks deliveries according to location, then settled in with a good book after supper. It was difficult to concentrate when all I could do was remember seeing Hannah's breasts and then inside her panties. Her dark black wiry bush, the aroma of her excitement, the feel between her legs, so warm, smooth, the lips of her pussy seemed to be all puffed up.

Lying in bed I kept mulling over and over in my mind that I was forgetting something, but what? I couldn't stop wondering what the special occasion might be, had she told me something that I didn't remember, was there somewhere I was supposed to be, what was I missing? It was somewhere in the night that I sat straight up in bed, looking at the clock it registered 3:13, I knew what the special occasion was. Hannah's birthday, I knew then and there that I was going to need to make sure I made her a part of my daily existence, I'd been on my own long enough and needed to change not only my thinking but how I lived. I needed to make sure I thought of her in all my decisions.

I didn't sleep much after that. Following breakfast I tried to think of what I could get Hannah, she'd told me her birth date right after we started going out, but I'd foolishly let it slide and now she would be disappointed I had forgotten. I needed to do something, anything to show her my love. The grocery store sometimes had nice bouquets of flowers, maybe they would have some roses. I was sorely disappointed as I stood looking at the wilted pawed over remnants of what had probably been nice bouquets when I felt a tap on my shoulder. As I turned, I realized it was Mrs. Avery, the lady who owned the flower shop and that I had delivered wood to for over two years.

With a friendly smile she spoke, "Good morning, Bo. I'm surprised to see you by the flowers, well, what used to be flowers. I usually supply them each Monday and Thursday, these are looking pretty rough. Why do you need flowers?"

"It's my girlfriend's birthday and I forgot so I wanted to get her something to say I love you even if I forgot until three o'clock this morning. I think I'm in trouble."

With a quizzical look she asked, "I didn't know you had a girl. Who is she? Is she from around here?"

I wasn't sure what to do, Mrs. Avery had never been anything but kind to me, so I answered.

"It's Hannah Johnson, we've been going together most of the summer."

She looked astonished, "You mean Everitt and Molly's Hannah? Oh my gosh, how exciting?"

"I know, I've been invited to dinner later and I need to do something, anything."

Reaching out and touching my face she smiled, "Good for you Bo. Hannah is one of the good ones left in town. I'm not open Sunday's but I have some roses left over from an order earlier this week, they'll last several days. I can sell them to you cheap and I think I have a few stuffed animals left, maybe one of those will work."

I needed no time to think about the offer, I accepted immediately. While Mrs. Avery arranged the roses in a box along with what she called greenery I poured over the shelf of stuffed animals. I found what I thought Hannah would like, a brown bear about fifteen inches high holding a red heart with the inscription "Yours Forever" embroidered in white. When I brought it to the counter Mrs. Avery smiled.

"Perfect Bo, she'll love that."

It was already ten fifteen, I wanted to take a shower and put on my nicest clothes, of which I didn't have many. Hannah and I usually went casual, or I was in work clothes, I didn't see a need for anything fancy, that was until today. I had a pair of nicer dark grey slacks and a white shirt, in what used to be the old man's closet I found a tie, I had no idea how to do it up, but I had one. I remembered that in one of my many books there was a diagram of how to tie a tie. After twenty minutes and six failed attempts I succeeded, it was now eleven thirty-five, I needed to get my butt in gear.

Mrs. Avery had been kind enough to wrap the teddy bear and give me a simple card to go along with the roses and bear. The total had come to slightly over $30, but in my mind, Hannah was worth every penny. As I walked to the house with the roses under my left arm and the teddy bear in my right-hand Hannah was standing at the screen door holding it open. Once on the porch and the screen door closed, I handed her the box of roses, she sat on the swing tearing the box open in a flurry. She squealed and threw herself into my arms.

She was speaking barely above a whisper, "You remembered, I love you so much Bo. You look so handsome. What's in the package?"

With the wrapping paper on the floor and the bear clutched to her chest she leaned in for more kisses, just then the door opened and out stepped Molly.

"He remembered mama, he remembered."

Molly grinned, "I told you he would. Come inside now, I need your help in the kitchen. Bo, Larry is in the den with Everitt, he wants to talk with you. It's okay, nothing's wrong, just go see them."

My heart was beating a mile a minute, I didn't want to speak with him, I didn't want to say everything was okay, because it wasn't. The look of panic must have been on my face, Hannah put her hand on my cheek.

"It's okay baby. Take a deep breath, daddy's in there, it'll be okay."

I took a deep breath, put my shoulders back and stepped through the door on my way to the den. As I entered the den Larry looked nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof, I felt sorry for him, and at the same time I didn't. I could have been killed because he thought he needed to intervene between Hannah and me. I wasn't ready to forgive and forget. Everitt stepped forward and shook my hand, Larry looked like he didn't know what to do until Everitt motioned toward extending his hand. The handshake between Larry and I was a simple gesture, nothing more, then Larry spoke.

"Listen man, I know you probably hate me, and you have a right to, but I swear I didn't know he had a gun. I'm not asking for you to forgive me, in fact I'm still having a hard time coming to grips with Hannah and you being together, but mom and dad say you're good to her and she loves you. So, who am I to get in the way? I'm just trying to say I'm sorry and in time I'm sure we'll find a way to get along."

Larry left the room, Everitt motioned for me to take a chair.

"He means well Bo. I told him he needed to start making it right with you, hopefully I didn't put you in a sticky situation. And I pray he's right, that you two will find a way to get along. But enough of that. Clarence wants to retire on January first instead of the end of January. Can you start in a week? That'll give him a month to train you."

I was chuckling to myself internally, could I start in a week? Hell, I'd have started the next day if he'd asked. Things were looking my way for the first time in a long time. I had a girl, I had a job, and I had money in the bank, not a fortune, but money none the less. I could still do firewood deliveries nights and weekends, or maybe Everitt's nephew would want to go to work for me? Imagine that, me, a businessman? I laughed to myself. Molly shouted out dinner was on the table.

With dinner finished, it wasn't long before Larry and his family left, we four sat in the living room making chit chat conversation. I could see Molly fidgeting in her chair, something was up, and it was obvious. She finally put her hand up in a stop motion and scooted forward to the edge of the cushion.

"We need to have a talk kids. We need to know how serious you two are. Bo, you'll be starting a decently paid job soon and Hannah your schooling is only a year long. That will put us into the fall season next year. Are you planning to get married right away, are you gonna wait a few years? We need to know."

Hannah moved her hand to my thigh just above my knee, Molly's eyes got big, but she said nothing. I knew what the gesture meant, she'd done it before, it meant be quiet and let her do the talking.

"We aren't sure, we've just begun talking about it in little snippets, nothing of any great length though. Why?"

Molly looked at Everitt, they both nodded, Molly continued, "Because we don't want you two running off somewhere for a quickie wedding. You're our only daughter Hannah, we want this to be special. The town is already being turned on its ear because a black girl and an Indian boy are going out. Can you imagine how miserable the dimwits who still live in the past will make your lives if you sneak off and get married? Get married here, do it right, show all of them, black, white, and any other color that you're in love and they can go pound sand."

I think you could have knocked Hannah and I over with a feather, well, me for sure. Hannah looked at me with a grin, I looked back doing the same.

"How'd you know that's what we were talking about mom? We don't want to wait a year, but we also know Bo needs to be settled into his job and I need to be closer to finishing my schooling. We need time, it's a big decision for us. Can you wait until somewhere close to Christmas for an answer?"

Hannah had been holding the teddy bear in her left arm the entire time, standing she reached for my hand announcing we were going to be on the porch. It wasn't what one might call cold, but the late afternoon air had a nip to it, I put my arm around her shoulders and held her tight. She grabbed the blanket that was always on the swing, put it over our legs and squeezed the bear to her chest. We gently rocked back and forth for what seemed a long time before either of us spoke, it was she who broke the silence.

"That was a lot, wasn't it? A penny for your thoughts."

I was slowly nodding my head, "It was, and completely out of the blue. I never expected to hear that from your folks. We should think about what they said though. Isn't there a verse in the Bible where it says it's better to marry than burn in sin? Or something like that? I know you wanna be a virgin when we get married and I respect that, but I have to admit it's getting harder and harder to keep my hormones in check."

Sliding her hand under the covers she placed it onto my stiffened cock, rubbing a little at first and then just holding it through my slacks. Lifting her head she kissed me deeply and with passion.

"I want you in me as much as you want to be in me, but we need to wait. Please. You're the only man I ever want to give my body to, and I want that first time to be on our wedding night. Maybe it sounds old fashioned but that's what I want. I know it's hard to not get naked and screw, it's just as bad for me, maybe we'll need to get married sooner."

There was another ten minutes of silence before I answered. "I'll do anything you want Hannah, if it means that much to you then that's what we'll do. We'll wait. I want to make you happy. As for getting married sooner. How soon? Will you live with me? Will we have to get a place in town for you to feel safe? Will it be an issue at Dr. Walton's office if you get married before you're done with school?"

It had been minutes of silence before the door opened, Molly stepped out and sat across from us.

"Kids, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put you on the spot, will you forgive me?"

We both nodded, Hannah spoke, "It was a lot to take in mom. At the same time I'm glad you brought it up. Those are all things we need to think and talk about, but not today, we'll do it in our own time. Okay?"

When she walked me to my truck later that evening she walked to my side, her signal letting me know she wanted more than a kiss and a cuddle. The town still hadn't fixed the streetlight and it was dark enough that she would want to do some dry humping. After two or three minutes of kissing and grinding our bodies together she pulled back.

"If it isn't raining tomorrow let's go for a picnic, something simple, but somewhere we can be alone with no phones or people suddenly appearing. I'll have mom drop me off and you can pick me up after my last class. We'll go straight from there. I'll throw some jeans and a flannel in my backpack, I can change in the bathroom."

Sounded good to me, "I'll get some chicken and deli stuff at the store. Should I get some sparkling grape juice like last time?" She nodded. "Okay, I'll put extra blankets in the truck in case it gets chilly. I'll be in front of the tech at 4."

Sitting by the river the next day we talked, mostly about what Molly had brought up. As dusk set in we hunkered beneath a blanket snuggled together looking at the sky. After a lengthy conversation we had reached a conclusion. We would get married in the spring, I would be past a probationary period and considered full time with benefits by then, she'd only have a few months of school left and it would give her folks time to prepare. She'd spoken with doc Walton, and he didn't care, he told her he liked the idea of her being a married woman, she'd be less likely to bolt for the big city after she had experience. What he did ask was that she not get pregnant right away, which fit our plans, we wanted to be twenty-one before we would start thinking about a family. We both knew people who got married and didn't take the time necessary to know each other before adding a baby, most of them didn't turn out well.

Just before we left the picnic area she had turned on her side and put my hand on her mound whispering, "Don't move it around and I can't let you in my panties, just hold it there. I like knowing I'm your woman. Hopefully this will tell you I'm all yours until we can make love."

A week later I spent an entire morning going through all the forms at the window factory and the afternoon viewing safety and policy films with three others. By the end of the day my ass was numb, I was fighting sleep. I hadn't been this sedentary since, school I think, a long time anyway. Everitt found me as the last film ended and took me to the cafeteria.

"Things will go better tomorrow Bo, you'll be with Clarence all of this week, he'll get you certified on the forklift and next week he'll show you how things are done. I want to give you a heads up so you're aware and not caught off guard. I know you and the Weeks boy have had differences and you've always come out on top. But he now works on the window sash line and his father is the daytime supervisor of that department. Bo, they're gonna do everything they can to make you hate it here. Learn to ignore them."

I was a little confused, "But if I'm a driver and they work on a line how would they make my life a misery?"

"Mark my words son, there will be comments, nasty remarks, I wouldn't put it past his old man to purposely mess up an order and find a way to blame you. He can only do so much, so what I need you to do Bo is keep your head in the game, you'll be the winner in the long run."

I took his words to heart and determined I was not going to let him down. He had vouched for me, it was my responsibility to make sure my behavior didn't reflect on him negatively. The rest of the week with Clarence went well, he had me certified by Thursday and though it was against the rules he rode alongside me for the first few pickups and deliveries. Like he said, "what are they gonna do, fire me?"

Friday went well, I was feeling good about myself for the first time in a long time. It wasn't a high paying job, but it was adequate and more than I was making selling firewood. I could put money away and be a good husband to Hannah.

With knowledge of how the system worked they had me coming in an hour earlier the following week. It was just before noon that I made my first mistake, the line supervisor caught it right away and helped me remedy the situation. I'd delivered the wrong pallet of materials to the wrong line, not a big deal in his eyes. However, Mr. Weeks decided to involve himself in the situation, chewing my ass, calling me stupid and a no count worthless bum. I sat and took it all in stride, he didn't sign my paycheck and at the end of the day it would all work out.

The rest of my day went well all things being considered, no more mistakes or wrong deliveries. I saw Everitt on the floor just before quitting time, he signaled for me to stop.

"I heard Weeks got in your face this morning. I was also told you took the ass chewing without blowing up, or even answering back. That was good Bo, he was looking for any reason to talk bad about you. Don't lose heart, you don't answer to him, you answer to Ralph Patrick in the warehouse. He's out for a few weeks, but if Weeks continues, get him involved, he's good people."

I was momentarily confused, "I thought Mr. Weeks was a deputy sheriff."

Everitt tapped my arm, "He was until several months ago when he got fired. Word is he was caught pilfering evidence, you know, drugs, money. He should have gone to prison, but I think he had enough dirt on others that he got away with just losing his job. That's why he's here."

The next two days seemed to sail by, I would see or talk with Hannah every night, she was so excited for me. By Friday I felt things were going smoothly and that I had begun to fit in, that is until the end of the day when I was washing up in the men's locker room. As the door opened in walked old man Weeks with his kid, the others washing up quickly left. I wasn't sure where things were going, but I sensed it wasn't going to be good for me. The old man spoke first.

"Listen Tonto, if you think you're gonna come in here and take some white guy's job you're sadly mistaken."

Darryl added, "You may have caught me off guard last time, but today you get your measly injun ass kicked. You'll be lookin for another job when you get outa the hospital."

I was standing and ready, if it was a fight they wanted, it was a fight they would get. I may get my ass whipped, but they'd damned sure know they were in a fight. As they approached me one of the toilets flushed and a stall door opened. Walking out with his belt in hand was the mountain of a man that had confronted the Weeks boy at the pizza place earlier in the summer. Only today he didn't have a little one hugging his leg. Walking to the old man he took him by the shirt collar.

"Listen Weeks, I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told your worthless kid. If you fuck with this guy, you fuck with me, me and about a half dozen others who don't much like you or your kid. You walked around like you were big shit as a deputy, well you're nothing here Weeks, nothing. You got the supervisory position because people called in favors. If working with an Indian is that hard for you, then quit."

The kid stupidly started to say something, when the guy turned toward him, he wisely shut up.

He put his finger in Darryl's face, "A word to the wise sonny, it's you who needs to look for another job. Bo aint leavin, you are, I'll make it my goal to get your ass fired, and with 27 years here, I'll succeed."

Both left without another word, the big guy looked at me and extended his hand. "I've been gone the past two weeks, that's why you answered to Clarence. I'm your boss, Ralph Patrick, Clarence said you're doing well, good to have you on board. They won't bother you anymore, just glad I needed to take a crap before I went home."