Felicity

Chapter 21. The Sisters Bond

Nearly a month had passed since the late Angus MacDuff's eightieth birthday party. He had been born on the Fourth of July and had always said the fireworks displays were in his honor.

That Fourth of July they were.

He had died on his seventy fourth birthday, right after the fireworks show that night.

Rosa had been in bed with him when he died.

Rosa died in her sleep a week after Angus' eightieth birthday party. She was seventy-eight.

All knew she was close to death so no one was shocked by her demise. But when a well beloved figure at the center of a small town dies it leaves an empty feeling in all. Everyone felt the loss.

None of the sisters were surprised to learn that Rosa's gravesite was next to their mother's. They had been best friends throughout their lives.

Margaret had charged Rosa with the care of her husband as she died from cancer.

The only man Rosa had ever loved was Angus. To all of the MacDuff's Rosa was family.

As had become their custom after major quandaries, events and setbacks the five sisters MacDuff worked things out as they drank single malt scotch in Wendy's hot tub.

The heavy sadness of the previous weeks was broken by one silly remark by Mo.

She broke a long silence when she said, "Well, Daddy got his threesomes back."

Her sisters tried to be outraged but settled for splashing water at her as they unsuccessfully tried to hold back their laughter.

They were down to contented smiles when Allison said, "You know, maybe that wasn't thunder I heard that week."

Their memories flashed back to the sound of the big bed as three bodies lost their inhibitions on it. The bed was directly over Martha and Allison's bedroom.

The new round of laughter lifted the weight of sadness off them for good.

A few minutes of smiles later Wendy asked Allison, "Did you sense the Jodie and Teri's relationship had come to an end?"

"Yes I did, although I also think it was on friendly terms.

Jodie did like the town and us so we may see her again and when we do I would not be too surprised to learn they had shared the same bed. I do think that the going out of their way to see each other part of the relationship is over.

Bobby sort of hinted that Teri saw a side of Jodie she did not like. My guess is she saw the hard-nosed businesswoman."

"That is very possible. No one becomes that powerful in any business unless they have that in them," Wendy said.

"But you are right; she does like Felicity and us. Bobby thinks she will be dropping by un-announced from time to time."

"Miss Jodie Foster certainly loved being in the hot tub with us." Amanda said with a giggle. "I still can't believe that my first pussy ever was that of an Oscar winner".

"We were shocked to see you go down on her. Are you going to keep doing that?" Martha asked.

"Yeah, I will probably go down on every Oscar winner from now on."

She was splashed with gusto.

Wendy was happy the tub had self-restoring water level capabilities; they had already splashed at least ten gallons of water out of the tub.

Martha looked at her little sister and said, "Amanda, I really hate to tell you this since you are such a brat, but that night with Jodie I noticed something I had forgotten. Jodie is as pretty in person as I had always assumed she was.

But you are prettier than she is."

Her big sisters raised their glasses to her as Amanda tried to contain her tears.

"Mo, where is Marie?" Allison asked a few minutes later.

"In Chicago at an art auction. She was caught by surprise by the commercial success of her gallery and needs to replenish her inventory.

She is making some headway into convincing Allen to put up some of his paintings. Edie says that the big one he will not let any us see is a masterpiece but there is little chance that one will ever go on display."

Martha added, "Jason is in Florida doing some photo shoots. All of his pictures in Marie's gallery sold. He took Maggie with him so I don't know how much actual work he is doing."

The sisters giggled and re-filled their glasses.

"We have another kid turning thirty next week. I don't like that at all." Martha whined.

"And another three weeks after that," Mo added. We are too young to have kids that are thirty."

"Tell me about it," Amanda said with a rueful smile.

The sisters prepared to splash her but decided she had a good reason to whine, her daughter Helen was the oldest of her generation.

"Hang in there grandma," Wendy said with some sympathy.

"And that's another thing, how come the brat has grandkids and three of us don't?" Martha asked.

"We are not applying enough pressure, Wendy said. "We need to join Bernice in her crusade."

"Agreed," Martha said. "Anybody with a pregnant daughter?

Amanda raised her hand wearing a brilliant smile.

"You would," Mo complained. Which one?"

"Both of them."

"Helen is pregnant?" Wendy asked with a joyous smile.

"Yes, and Charlene. Both are blaming the Jamaica trip. Both are due the same week sometime around spring break. Both expect to be back to work shortly thereafter.

Charlene might do that. But Martha, I doubt Helen will return until the following year. You know how she is. She will throw all her energy into being a Mom."

"Poor Roger, how is he handling it?"

"He is just as consumed with the idea of being a parent as she is. He takes away her French fries and is limiting her consumption of burritos and sweet plantains. He may be losing that last battle."

"We are all losing that last battle, Martha said.

"Amanda, sweetheart, you will have five grandkids and I have none. Give me Helen's," Wendy said as endearingly as she could.

That got her splashed by all but Mo.

The others noticed that Mo was doing her best not to divulge a secret.

"OK, spill it out," Martha said.

"I am not supposed to say anything until they tell you at dinner tonight," Mo said directly to Wendy.

Mo's daughter Karen and Wendy's stepson Mike were coming to dinner that night.

As soon as that statement sunk in Wendy screamed as she happily splashed the water in front of her. All understood the importance of the news to Wendy, all hugged her in happiness, and to stop her from splashing any more water.

Mo admonished her, "Act surprised tonight."

Martha got out of the tub, picked up her phone and sped dialed two numbers and gave the same order to both recipients.

"Get pregnant. Now!" she ordered Rhonda and Carly.

Martha hung up on them before they had a chance to say anything.

Her sisters applauded her as she returned to the tub.

Big, wide grins adorned the sisters for a while.

"Mo, how are you coping with being a grandma and emergency babysitter?" Wendy asked.

"Love it. Marie and I have pretty much decided to let them run roughshod over us. Grandmas have no discipline duties; it says so in the Bill of Rights. Spoil the grandchild and forget the rod it says."

"It works for me," Allison said.

"Me too," Amanda added.

"Mo, how surprised were you when your engagement lasted just a week and a half?" Martha asked.

"Flabbergasted. To have the whole ceremony set up in ten days complete with her daughter and granddaughter from Europe and her friends from Vegas was just mind-boggling. All of you seemed to enjoy my near hysteria."

"Yes, we did," they all said.

Mo managed to splash water on each sister before being overwhelmed by the retaliation. After the water receded from her she lifted her hand for the eighty-seventh time and showed off her wedding ring.

Allison asked Wendy. "Are Sophie's and my rings ready?"

"Yes, you will have them for your twentieth anniversary. Are you sure you don't want a ceremony?"

"Yeah, we are sure, I got them for us because all of you have them and not everyone in this town knows our relationship. Sophie does not like to be the center of attention anyway as all of you know."

Wendy said to Allison, "The two of you need to do a good scouting job on Jamaica for the rest of us when you go next weekend. What Mo and Marie and the kids did apparently consisted of eating, playing nude on the beach, and fuc... making love. Find out what else is there. And don't get in any trouble."

Allison countered, "We are sophisticate ladies of great reserve. We would never cause trouble."

Her sisters held it together for a few moments then burst out laughing. Allison feigned being insulted and attacked her sisters with hurricane waves.

A few smiles later Wendy asked, "Martha, did you ever envision part of downtown as an arts district populated by mostly gay entrepreneurs?"

"No, although I am very happy that the old hardware store is now a dinner theater. George and I have been there several times. The last time we were there George was pulled to the stage to play the part of a murder victim.

During the play they kept moving him around. Once George moved about six feet from where he was and the guys pretended to look for him for several minutes. It was hilarious. George got an ovation.

All of you need to join us. They are doing "The Reduced Complete Works of Shakespeare" on Labor Day weekend. They have already recruited George to play all of the corpses."

"You know, you are a really bad influence on George," Mo said.

"Yeah," Martha said with a dreamy smile.

Another gallon of water left the tub.

"It's a good thing Inga has the ladies gym open. Between Mike and Janie's food we need all the help we can get," Mo said.

"And Pedro's," Wendy added. "Those Puerto Rican seafood empanadillas are bad enough but those fried sweet plantains have to be illegal."

"And the mofongo," Mo added. I do wish it wasn't next door to the gym. There is no net gain to the exercises when we go there and pig out afterwards."

"I do wish Inga would cover up the display window though. A person of my position of importance should never be seen sweating," Martha said.

Splashes from every direction made her briefly disappear.

"You know what was strange. Meeting a guy from Allen's previous life," Wendy said.

"Who is that?" Amanda asked.

Mo answered, "Wilson, the florist. The tall skinny one, not Fabio."

"Not Fabio, Franco, he just acts like he is Fabio." Wendy corrected.

"Wilson was in Jana and Inga's pool when we were walking from Carly's yard to Paula's. Allen, Edie and Ruthie were there and Edie introduced him to us as Allen's good friend from days gone by. It was surreal."

Mo said, "But we learned why Fabio is so fascinated by him. His cock is huge."

Wendy slapped her shoulder so Mo amended her statement by stating, "He is magnificently endowed."

The sisters silently wondered about Wilson's cock until Amanda asked Mo, "Why were you going to see Paula?"

"Just to say hello and to make sure they had everything they needed. She is almost ten years older or almost ten years younger than everybody so we wanted to reassure her that she had friends on both sides of the age gap. I also wanted to see some of Paul's power point lessons"

"Were you two nude?" Martha asked.

"Well of course. It was Sunday afternoon and we did not want to be rude," Wendy answered.

"How did Mo make it past Inga? Allison wondered.

"She didn't," Wendy answered.

The splashes towards Mo were affectionate.

"Is Paula as nice as advertised?"

"Ask Wendy," Mo said. "I was somehow delayed at the pool but when I got to the house Wendy was flat on her back on the couch and a naked Paula was draped over her.

Even after Paul had shown me some of his power point presentations they were still at it.

Paul and I went on to Jana and Inga's and relaxed in the pool. While there we asked Ruthie why she was never in her new home and she said she hadn't found her bedroom yet."

Everyone laughed and smiled for a while until Martha remembered their previous conversation and asked Wendy, "Well?".

"Paula's nice," Wendy said with a straight face; which was soon covered by a tsunami.

The attack stopped suddenly when the bench bubblers came on. The sisters adjusted their position on the benches and closed their eyes.

Ten minutes later after each of the sisters had allowed a moan to escape their lips the bubblers cut off. They refilled their glasses and silently toasted each other.

Amanda broke the silence when she said, "About our two blocks on Seashore Drive..."

"Give it up, we are not going to sign off on a Holiday Inn," Martha said.

"No, no. I now agree with you guy's on that. But the town does need more guest rooms and I though, why not some bed and breakfast homes? Designed like southern homes, picket fences, flowers and so on. They would look good there."

"Who would own them?" Wendy asked.

"We would and we would hire kids from the City University's hospitality management school to run them. The university is always looking for good places to send them out for their practicals. Ben says that everyone they have sent him for The Seafoam he would have hired if had a place for them"

"How many houses?"

"Twelve, six on each block; two stories, ten guest rooms each and an apartment for our managers. Each B & B would have a big covered patio, a flower garden with benches, and an adults only corner with a hot tub," Amanda answered.

"We lost a lot of business to other towns during the Melody concert and the night after because we had no place to put them. The B&B's will almost double our guest capacity and during concerts the new La Quinta by the highway would still do well."

After a few moments of silence Amanda's sisters looked at her and smiled.

"When did the brat become a shrewd business woman," Allison asked.

"I don't know and I don't like it," Mo said as she splashed Amanda.

Martha said to Amanda, "Flesh it out and bring it up again at our next corporate meeting."

Their corporate meetings were once a month and rotated among their homes. Most meetings were pure gossip sessions.

The next one would be at Mo and Marie's house.

It has a big gazebo and any real business usually took place there because the gazebo had a big table and wi-fi.

Marie always had Chef Mike provide excellent food for them

Unknown to most in town the sisters jointly owned several parcels of land throughout the county. The land that Ben had purchased to build Felicity Center had been purchased from them after he had convinced the sisters that he would come through with his promises to reinvent the town.

The consortium headed by Harry that purchased the land for all three of the Cloverleaf Estates was purchased from them.

They still owned most of the undeveloped land west of Felicity Boulevard all the way to the county line, the most appealing of which were the two blocks directly across from the beach park.

MacDuff Interests Group had assets worth hundreds of millions.

After inheriting it from their father the sisters were the MacDuff Interests Group.

Martha added, "When we meet at Mo's bring drawings and cut outs from Southern Living, Better Homes and Gardens and so on so we can decide what kind of home would look natural there.

Everyone bring your questions and ideas then. Wendy, you will need to bring Jim in on this. Sam too I think."

Mo said, "We need to meet earlier and do the business first. If we have lunch first it may be an hour or two before we have Amanda's full attention."

The meetings at Mo and Marie's were entertaining thanks to the byplay between Amanda and Mike. All knew that Amanda's next pussy would not be an Oscar winner but an award-winning chef.

Her sisters gently splashed Amanda as she blushed.

"Martha, you will soon be only one to have escaped Mike, I wish you luck," Mo said to her.

The sisters immediately saw the tell all-smile on her face and splashed away as they laughed out loud.

After the deluge Amanda said, "Bringing in Sam and Jim to the meeting is a good idea, they would keep us from going too wild with our plans."

Her sisters again changed their minds about drowning her and just nodded. Then they splashed her.

Amanda was beaming. Her sisters had approved a business plan from her, a rarity.

Her sisters were waiting for her to gloat so they could drown her again but Amanda remained silent, much to their disappointment.

Then they splashed her again anyway.

A few minutes of silence interrupted by a few giggles later Amanda asked Martha, "How was Hot Springs?"

"Fabulous, we had thermal baths and massages that rejuvenated us each evening."

Mo said to Martha, "You know, for old people you and George sure fuck a lot."

More water was splashed and once again all wore big smiles after the altercation ended.

Amanda said, "I have been very busy lately. A bunch of people moving in and nobody leaving town. Half of the third Cloverleaf Estates is sold and not a single home is finished."

"Who is buying out there? Martha asked.

Some of the gay guy's are. Some have asked for backyard gates to the neighbors. Wilson and Franco have already paid for their house. Two of the guys from the Playhouse bought one. The other two have wives that work in the city so they will be commuting for a while but the wives are already looking for work in Felicity. Oh one of them works in a TV studio, remind me to tell Carly or Robby.

Wederman has moved into his playhouse building but has decided to stop acting and is looking for his replacement."

Wendy said, "Joyce and Valras' sons are very talented. I will tell them of the opportunity."

"Leslie likes them. They seem to be good friends," Amanda said.

"Is Petra the younger still staying with her?" Martha asked Wendy.

"Yes. They are putting on a show that they are looking for a place for her and her mom to live but are having the worst of luck. I doubt they will find a suitable place in the next twenty years or so."

"That would be nice," Mo said. "Getting dumped by Beth like Leslie was made me angry, especially to do it on Felicity Day during the luncheon. I am also mad that I did not see it and offer some help."

"It was your engagement day, you were distracted. Thankfully Marina noticed and helped her through it. Karen said it took her two nights," Wendy said.

"Petra the elder still with Edna?"

"Yes. Edna says she likes Petra in her home so she can take care of the aquariums while she is gone with Ruthie. Petra says she likes taking care of the aquariums. Both know they are not fooling anybody."

"Is all of Cloverleaf one and two sold?" Allison asked.

"No, there is still W 1, the only two bedroom house in the bunch. The couple that opened the Starbucks came by to look at it this week so I have hopes. The house involved in the scam is being held by the court until the mess is straightened out. That may be a while."

"Anyone know of anything else we need to talk about? To gossip about?"

"Yeah but they are here," Mo said.

She was gifted with the last tidal wave of the afternoon.

As they left the tub and dried themselves off their giggles continued unabated. They went inside and all jumped into Wendy's bed. After just a few moments they began to try to push one another off the bed just as they had done as kids.

All her sisters ganged up on Wendy so she hit the floor first.

As she stood she saw a smiling Jim standing there with a towel around his waist. He had been in the shower. All the tits and pussies were exposed.

He said, "Oh wow. Which one do I do first?"

Wendy launched herself at him and they were suddenly wrestling on the floor. Encouraged by her sisters Wendy soon had Jim pinned down.

Then her assault suddenly stopped, the sisters heard a deep moan.

They saw that Jim's towel had come loose.

"Oh man, you were winning." Mo groaned.

Amanda said, "I'm leaving. I'm too young to be exposed to this."

She was sprinting towards the door before the others jumped out of bed. She grabbed her t-shirt in full stride and easily beat them to her bike.