I must thank my team. Harddaysknight is my mentor and gives me critical review. SBrooks103x also gives me a pre-post read. My editors are Girlinthemoon, Hale1 and GeorgeAnderson. I thank you all.
Oliver sent Ben with Kane and Bannon when they got to George Town. He gave him money and told him to buy fresh vegetables and any fresh herbs he might find. He took him aside and told him to buy clothes for the girls. He gave him a great deal of money and a credit card.
"They left all their stuff in Nassau, and if we want them to stay we need to get things for them. See if you can find out their sizes and don't let them know you're buying the stuff. Get one of the clerks to look them over and tell you what they will need. Have it delivered to the boat and put in your cabin so they won't know. Then when we get back out to sea they'll have to take them. It might embarrass them if we just try to buy things from them. I have the feeling that they don't have much money. If they see anything while you're shopping that they like but don't buy, you slip back and buy it for them. Have it delivered to the boat. You understand, son?"
Ben could hardly contain his excitement at the prospect. He left at once, walking between the girls and holding their hands. He looked back at Oliver and winked.
Oliver walked to the police station and asked the man at the desk where he might enquire about people looking for work. He was directed to a certain Mr. Cali who would be able to help him. It turned out that it would require a small fee but Cali would be able to find all the people he needed except for the estate manager.
"These people work very hard and they can do all the things you want, but they cannot manage other people, schedules or money. I am sorry, sir, but you need someone with an education for that, and I just don't have anyone like that available. Perhaps you might find someone in one of the larger cities. These people won't take orders from one of their own."
Oliver was disappointed, but after he met the people Cali brought in he was very satisfied. He realized that he wouldn't have room for all these people in the house and that living quarters would have to be constructed. Cali knew just the people to do such a project, and Oliver recognized some of the names of those who had worked on the restoration and modernization of the castle.
He arranged to take the Captain and mechanic along to sail
The Nimbus
and he was introduced to a slender young black woman named Monique, who, along with her 8-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, would cook and take care of the house. They would live in the house until their quarters were finished. Their wages seemed ridiculously cheap to Oliver, and he immediately gave them a 25 percent raise in his mind. He suspected that Cali was getting a cut of their wages and determined to put a stop to that immediately.
He took them down to
The Nimbus
and saw numerous packages being delivered. Ben was on the job. He left Captain Jimenez and the mechanic; a small Hispanic man named Perez, to familiarize themselves with
The Nimbus
and got the two women into their cabin. They were overawed by the vessel and worshipped Oliver immediately. Packages kept arriving, and soon Ben's cabin had large stacks of items inside, wrapped in brown paper with strings.
In an hour, he returned with the two girls and they started for home. Once Great Exuma disappeared over the horizon Ben could no longer contain his excitement. "Dad, can we tell them now?" He was like a kid at Christmas.
"Tell us what?" Bannon wanted to know.
He took their hands and led them down the winding staircase to the large seating area below. He made them sit on the large, circular white sofa and began carrying packages in and stacking them on the round coffee table in the center.
Oliver helped carry the packages and got Elizabeth to help as well. He introduced the shy little girl to Kane and Bannon.
"What are all these packages, Oliver?" Kane asked him.
"They're for you and Bannon," Ben told them excitedly. "I got them for you while we were shopping."
"I wondered where you kept disappearing to," she told him. "There are so many."
"Yeah, Dad told me that you had left all your clothes and things back in Nassau and that if you were going to stay with us you would need things. I really, really want you to stay so please let us give you these things."
Kane was very uncomfortable and reluctant, but Bannon jumped in right away and soon had piles of paper spread all around while she held things up to herself and Kane. "Look, Kane, here's that wrap around thing you liked. You said it was too expensive. And they got that necklace with the shark's teeth on it I wanted. They got us bathing suits and look at this really nice underwear."
"How on earth did you know our sizes?" Kane asked Ben.
"I got one of the girls to follow you around and look at the sizes of the things you looked at. She had to guess on some of the things. but I asked her to pick out all the things she thought you would need to stay with us for two weeks."
"That was very clever, Ben. I don't know what to say," Kane told him.
"It was Dad's idea, but I did it. I talked to that girl and paid her to help me."
"Thank you, Oliver. I can't believe you did this. You're the nicest guy I've ever met. Thank you, Ben." She bent down and kissed his cheek. "I was going crazy in these clothes. They're dirty and salty and I can't wait to get out of them."
She walked over to Oliver and hugged him. "Bannon, let's get a shower and put on some clean clothes. Would you guys mind helping us carry this stuff to our cabin?"
They made piles and carried them into the girl's cabin, and they hung some of them up and put the rest in drawers. Kane shooed them out and the girls showered. Oliver and Ben put the wrapping paper in the trash and Monique sent Elizabeth in to tell them dinner was ready.
She knocked on the girl's door and stuck in her head to tell them as well. In five minutes, Kane appeared wearing a little black dress. It had no shoulders and her tanned skin was flawless. She was barefoot and the effect was stunning. Bannon was equally beautiful in a pale yellow sarong and a yellow button up shirt with the tails tied up leaving her midriff bare. They ate outside on the deck with torches lit and planned the girls vacation.
Oliver offered Kane his arm when she told them goodnight and walked her to their cabin. She kissed his cheek and blushing a little, she and Bannon closed the door.
The girls were very excited when they arrived at Darby Island the next morning. They left the two crewmen aboard
the Nimbus
; they would be living aboard until their quarters were finished. Oliver got a golf cart out of a shed at the marina and they drove up an asphalt path for three miles and the castle came into view.
The girls squealed with excitement when they saw it. "Jesus, Oliver, you're such a liar," Kane punched his shoulder. "You said you didn't live in a castle."
"That's the servant's quarters," he laughed. "Wait till you see the palace. Seriously, though, I wanted it to be a surprise."
He pulled up in front of the door and dropped them off. He left them with Ben to look around and went back for Monique, Elizabeth and their things. The girls ran from room to room in excitement and Ben showed them where they would be staying. They each had their own huge bedroom and bath on the third floor, with curtained doorways leading to balconies with stairs winding down to the gardens. It was very warm outside, but the sea breeze, blowing through the curtains made the rooms very cool. Ben took Bannon away to show her his room and Kane wondered back down the stairs to the huge living room. She found the refrigerator in the kitchen and got a glass of cold water. She took it back to the living room and sat on the sofa. She kicked off her shoes, put her feet up on the sofa and leaned back and closed her eyes. She could hear the sounds of sea gulls and waves crashing on the rocks at the foot of the cliff. The cool breeze rustled the curtains and she heard the front door open. There was no sound for a moment and she opened her eyes. Oliver was getting a light throw out of a chest. She closed her eyes again and felt him put it over her. She felt his lips brush her forehead. He turned away with a sigh of contentment and went out to the golf cart. He carried their things up stairs and came back with Ben and Bannon. He held his fingers to his lips and pointed at Kane.
They quietly carried the things upstairs and put them away. Kane slept for 20 minutes. She stretched and drank the rest of her water. She got up and heard voices out back. She walked through the curtains and found them sitting on the patio looking over the garden.
"Oliver, I want to go to the beach," she told him.
The kids were instantly in favor of the idea and ran away to change clothes. Kane followed at a more leisurely pace and Oliver went and packed a cooler for the trip. He went and put on trunks and a t-shirt. Two white gold goddesses waited for him at the bottom of the stairs. Their deeply tanned skin contrasted with that light hair. He stopped when he saw them and nearly dropped the towels he was carrying.
Kane had on the red sarong she had admired and a red t-shirt with a tweety-bird on the front. Bannon had on a white tennis skirt and a bikini top. She was as cute as a button.
"I think Oliver likes us," she told Kane. Kane blushed and picked up the cooler. "Well, stop staring and take us to the beach," she told him.
He laughed and walked down the stairs. He gave Bannon the towels and took the cooler from Kane. They went outside and Ben was waiting in the golf cart.
"Do you think I could drive the cart?" Bannon asked.
"I don't see why not," Oliver told her. "Just pull up on that shifter there and push the accelerator."
She drove them back to the marina and along the beach to a secluded inlet with a large coral reef across the mouth. Oliver set up a large beach umbrella and Ben and Bannon claimed it and sat down with sodas. He put up another and he opened a beer and gave it to Kane. She lay back under the umbrella and sipped her beer. He sat beside her and took off his t-shirt. It was her turn to stare. The man was huge! He didn't have an ounce of fat anywhere on him. Muscles rippled under his skin and he was smooth. He had no body hair and his skin looked like it had been oiled and stretched over his muscles. His large veins stood out under his skin and she had never seen anyone who looked so fit. He put the guys at the gym where she worked out for volleyball to shame.
He glanced at her. "You're embarrassing me," he told her.
