Thanks to everyone that has been following our story. Comments are always welcome. Votes always appreciated.
The rest of August became a very normal month.
The women worked, the kids played, I visited.
Jeannie, of course, continued at the shop. Mrs. Patrick adjusted her hours so she would be home at a more reasonable time. Partially, it was possible because she brought in an assistant for Jeannie. Just bragging here, My Jeannie, with her warm personality, had doubled sales in the first eight months. Mrs. Patrick could afford more help.
Madge had called Rose Johnson; the Realtor, Monday afternoon. Wednesday she had the latest listings and maps of the area, with instructions to learn her way around. On Saturday and Sunday, she was assigned to Open Houses, mostly to answer questions. Mid-August, she made her first sale. That did her ego a world of good. That night she was strutting in the bedroom, nude, recounting how well she negotiated the deal. Quite a sight!
Brady's crew finished the spa and roof by the tenth. The girls and I celebrated in the spa that evening with champagne. Followed by a round of blow jobs and pussy eating. A good night indeed.
The Dervishes kept us busy. About every third day, I'd take them down to the lake, they'd fish, paddle around in the canoe. On the hotter days, we'd splash in the shallows. The rest of the time, if I didn't have them on the computer or reading, they'd be biking all over the upper reaches of the property (they weren't allowed out of sight of the house). One day they got curious about the stand of trees upslope of the house. We found the tree house my kids had built twenty five years ago. Well, a little of it, anyway. They wanted their own, so we hauled wood up there, and I let them build it themselves. Ugly thing, but they were proud, and so was I.
***
Mid-month I dropped in on Carl; he'd gotten John Biddle to convert his tail gate to a lift.
Biddle had a farm up the road from the Jepsons; did welding, shoeing, anything to bring in spare money. He did a nice job for Carl; they found a surplus one over in South Prairie at a fair price. A week later, it was good to go.
Carl got his chair, called me over to see it. Damn, I hadn't seen him that happy in a long time.
While I was there, I noticed a dog around the house. It came over, checked me; probably smelled Bogart. She looked like a Cattle Dog, "Man, what are you doing with a high energy dog like that?"
"Some son-of-a-bitch, abandoned her. I watched him from my window. Came to a halt, put the dog out, and took off at high speed. Low lifes like that should be left in the woods. Way out in the woods."
"How'd you get her up here?"
"Hobbled down to the road with a pack of hot dogs. Just figured I'd give her somethin'. She followed me back to the house."
"What are you going to do with her? Does she always pace around?"
"I dunno what I can do with her. Yeah, she paces. I know she needs exercise, but I can't do it. Marie walks her at night, but it's not enough. Can't keep her, sure ain't takin' her to the pound. Just don't know."
"How about I brought Jeannie and the kids over to visit? You haven't seen them since the barbeque."
"Squid, you're up to somethin'. Ya got that look."
"Not me Jarhead. Just bein' neighborly. But don't get rid of the dog yet."
***
The following Monday, we went over to visit. I'd filled Madge in, but left Jeannie in the dark. I wanted to see her honest reaction to the dog. I was one hundred percent certain about JD and Clark.
We all trooped in, Madge and Jeannie fussing over Carl, the boys and I standing back. He was saying it was too bad Marie had to work, when this orange streak came flying in from the kitchen. She ran straight to me, then spotted the boys. She was all over those kids, sniffing, wiggling, rubbing against them. She must have been used to kids, she didn't jump on them. Madge and Jeannie complimented him on his dog, which gave Carl a chance to tell his story. Next thing I know Jeannie is on her knees, talking to the dog!
The boys were jumping around asking if we could have her, Jeannie is giving me calf eyes, and Madge is choking back laughter.
I let them talk me into taking the dog. "Well, we'll have to come up with a name."
"She had a collar on her, said her name is Katie."
"What do you think? Madge, Jeannie, boys? Do we keep her Katie?"
Madge looked over at the dog and just said, "Katie?"
The dog went straight to her, tail wagging a mile a minute.
Katie it was
***
We still had one more vote to go on Katie: Bogart. If he didn't accept her, it was no-go. I explained it to the boys very carefully, and very fully. Bogart has seniority.
Not to worry. The dogs circled, sniffing, doing dog stuff, then Katie lay down on her back. Bogart checked her again, nudged her. She jumped up, started running around, challenging him to play. Soon the two were running all over the yard. She was accepted.
I got an appointment at the vet for the next day, I wanted her thoroughly checked, shots, everything.
The vet trip was just that, a trip. Not only did I take Katie, but the boys, and Jeannie, AND Madge. I couldn't even leave them in the waiting room. Doc Privett wondered what was going on. "I've got me a posse."
"Looks more like a herd."
He checked her over, said she was about a year old, had had a litter. Recommended spaying. Other than catching up on shots, she was fine.
We celebrated with cones at Sundgrens. Jeannie and the boys spotted dog leashes and collars, bought new ones for Katie, toys for both dogs.
***
Over the next week we put Katie through an extensive training course. I wanted her to walk on leash with anyone, especially Clark. She took to training quickly. That dog wanted to learn.
Unlike Bogart, who slept all over the house, Katie slept mostly in my bedroom. Madge and Jeannie were concerned. They hoped she would want to be with the boys, I explained she was still insecure, as she got comfortable, she'd move around. (I was tempted to say 'sleep around', but thought better)
***
While all this was going on, Jeannie took the boys to school for registration. JD was going to third grade, Clark, first.
When she returned, she looked upset. "What's up, Honey? How did it go at school?
"Signing up was alright, but when I gave them our address, the clerk asked 'Isn't that the Murphy place?', and gave me the strangest look."
"Did she say much else?"
"No, but her face screwed up all funny."
***
As we neared the end of the month, and Labor Day, I sat everybody down for a talk; I had been doing a lot of thinking about the future. Some decisions had to be made and I wanted input from the women on things that affected them. Also, I didn't want anyone feeling blind sided by my kids coming. For the time they were here, I needed the boys to double up. That was the easy part. They understood the need, worked it out for me. Once that was done, I sent them out to play, explaining we were going to get into the adult discussion. "You know, the boring part."
After they cleared the room, I began, "You know I invited the kids up for the weekend. Not just to meet you, but to also help me with some legal aspects. I'd like your opinions on some things I have in mind. Let me lay this out, then chime in; the very first thing I want to do, is make us as legal as possible. If I can't marry both of you, then I want to be as close the law will allow.
Secondly, Knowing I won't out live you, I want to provide for the future..."
"But, Josh..."
"Wait, let me get this all out. Third, I want to provide for JD and Clark. They're smart kids and I want to be sure they can go to college if they want. That's the gist of it. Now you can speak."
For once, Jeannie led off, "Aren't you worried about what they will think of us? The three of us together?"
"No. Remember, they were raised in this house, with all those books, and the discussions Naomi and I had. I don't think it's a problem."
