Advisory: this chapter does not contain incest; I categorized it as such just to keep the story together. If you haven't read part one, some of this won't make much sense. I urge you to read pt. 1 first, then enjoy this. jb7
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It was just past 10 AM when the couple left. By noon Rick had breakfasted, and arranged for someone to box up his possessions and cart them to the lake house. He had packed his clothes and the few valuables and knick knacks he wanted, then packed the cases in the MG and was on his way.
As he pulled into the driveway, he was again impressed by the sheer beauty of the scene before him, terming it in his mind "magical." There was a palpable sense of peace and well being about the place. Pulling into the parking area behind 'his' house, he saw the sisters emerge from their cottage. He waved and started to unfasten the straps on the luggage carrier. Each of the women grabbed a box or suitcase to carry in. Rick lifted the last two from the boot and followed them into his new home.
When he got into the house, he found Patti and Micki were already upstairs, unpacking his clothes, Bobbi and Stevie were putting the knickknacks he'd brought with him around the house, giving it a sense of himself. It already was feeling like home. Bobbi looked at the two boxes he was carrying and raised her eyebrows, questioning him about their contents.
"My word processor and some LPs I brought that Sharon won't want. She won't be joining me here in the foreseeable future."
"I'm, we're all sorry, Rick. Is there anything we can do for you? Would you like one of us to go shopping for you, with you? Why don't you plan on joining us for dinner tonight? Then we can tell you our stories, the how's and why's we're all here, and you can tell us yours. Okay?"
"That's fine, and I guess I could use some help shopping this afternoon. It's been years since I've set up from scratch alone."
"I'll come with you. The others say I'm a disaster waiting to happen in the kitchen when it comes to anything other than making a salad or cleaning up."
A few hours later, he was mopping up some home made Bolognese sauce with fresh baked Italian bread, washing it down with one of the best Chianti wines he had tasted in years. "Wow! I haven't eaten that much of that good in forever. Which of you do I thank for such a delicious meal? I know it wasn't Bobbi. She was with me all afternoon."
Stevie grinned with pleasure as she answered, "I did the pasta and sauce; Patti made the bread and chose the wine, while Micki picked the lettuce and veggies for the salad."
"You all could open a restaurant in the city and be a four star the day after you open."
"Sounds inviting, but we'd rather just do for us and our friends." She paused to take a sip of wine. "Would it be too much to ask what happened with Sharon?"
Rick's shoulders slumped and he sank back in his chair. "No. I just don't have a good answer. This is supposed to be my wedding night." He gave a short, bitter laugh. " We had the wedding rehearsal last night and had finished dinner. Sharon's step father had just started to give a toast to the occasion when his son, her stepbrother, appeared. He'd been missing in South America for nearly six years, given up as dead, lost in a mudslide along with half the village he was working in. He and Sharon were engaged when he disappeared. Her greeting left no doubt the feelings were still there.
"And then, as I was leaving, strangest damn thing...an older woman, looked like she could have been your mom, jumped in my car. Then I don't remember anything until Sharon was ringing the doorbell this morning."
Bobbi looked at her sisters. Each gave a barely perceptible nod. "Rick, how badly disconcerted will it make you to learn that the woman who jumped into your car last night at Giorgio's Steakhouse was, in fact, me; that it was me who directed you to the park where you were milked of your seed, and then drove you home, and left the deed on your coffee table?"
Rick sat, dumfounded, as he recognized the details he only now remembered. "H... How... Howdidyou...?" he stammered.
Stevie handed him a glass filled with Jack's Tennessee and a splash of water. "Here," she said. "Drink up; you'll need it."
Bobbi continued, "Would you care to hazard a guess about our age?"
"You're going to try to convince me you four are over seventy?"
"Thank you, but we are actually over twice that. Our father was murdered in 1865, two months after our eighteenth birthday."
Rick tried to quickly do the math. Patti helped him, "163."
He sat there, unbelieving. "You're shittin' me! There's no friggin' way..."
"I know it's hard to believe," piped in Micki. "Would you believe us if one of us showed you?"
"Micki..."
"It's okay, Bobbi. I just will miss out on the ceremony tonight, and need to tap into my reserve, but I'm sure we'll be able to replace it. I'll just have to be first tomorrow night so I can possibly get a double dip."
"If you're sure. Well, Rick? Micki is offering you a once in a lifetime opportunity. Would you like to see how we look without the enchantment of the lake? Do you want to see a hundred sixty-three year old woman?"
He sat there, mouth agape, shaking his head no. "Ho...How? Who are you? What enchantment? H...H...How?" He saw the whiskey in his hand and drank the whole glass. "How have you lived so long, stayed so young looking?"
"It is, as they say, a long story. I'll keep it as short as I can and still make sense.
"Without putting too fine a point on it, our father, Judah Cartoffel, was a warlock, a male witch. Quite a powerful one, it turns out. In the Spring of 1845 he was traveling throughout the Western Plains, east of the mountains, trading with Indians. He would use his ability to convince the natives his goods were worth more than they actually were. In a Shoshone village, he noticed a white woman, dressed as a native.
The young Indian watched with satisfaction as the old trader stirred the red and yellow ochre powders into containers of rendered buffalo fat, creating face paint for ceremonial occasions, or for battle. When the trader was done, the brave pointed to some brightly colored beads he had decided his woman needed. The trader placed them next to the face paint and looked up at the brave.
Behind him, passing through the camp he saw a slender woman with hair the color of a ripe wheat field. When she glanced his way he saw she would have been pretty except for her broken nose. He looked back at the brave and muttered something under his breath. The brave said, "Enough for five skins?"
"Six," replied the trader.
"Five," returned the brave.
"Five," agreed the trader, "plus some information."
"What?"
"Who is the woman with the yellow hair?"
"You need to ask Chief Running Bear. She belongs to him. Lives with old warrior, Black Elk."
"Appreciate the information. May the mother of all bless you with sons."
When the young brave left, the old trader packed up his goods and made his way to the fire of Running Bear. After the greeting ceremonies had been completed, Running Bear asked why the trader had come to see him. "I want to know about the young woman with yellow hair."
"My burden? I should have left her on the prairie where I found her," the Indian chief replied. "I was leading a hunting party three, four suns to the south. That was the last year the river over ran its banks, ten winters, no, twelve winters past. We came on a wagon train which had been attacked and burned. She was the only survivor, four, maybe five winters in age. I brought her back to our camp. She has been a major source of problems since.
"She needed beating often by the women of the village until she learned to understand our ways, and enough of our language to get along. When the children saw her being beaten, they would join in, and then they started the beatings when there was no one to stop them. That went on until she learned to fight back.
"I know she can understand and speak our tongue, but when young men approach her, she jabbers back in some other talk. One fearless brave asked for her to be one of his wives. I thought it a good match. When he tried to take her to his blanket, she fought him, made him look small. It took four of his friends to hold her down for the deflowering, and she still resisted. He was angry and hit her, broke her nose. The next day, he returned her, looking worse than her.
"After that no one else would want her, so I gave her to Black Elk to cook and keep his camp. He is too old to make any other demands on her. Why do you ask?"
"My fire needs tending, my blanket gets lonely. Sometimes I long to hear the talk of my people."