Thanksgiving was a happy time for us this year. Friends and family joined us and we had a wonderful fellowship. My old marriage was well on the way to being fully resurrected, and new babies were coming. Life was good, very, very good, and could only get better.
After Thanksgiving, the Park closed for the season, and I wouldn't have to return to work until mid-February to do my winter shift. I now had the equivalent of four months paid leave to get started on my Quest to find Paul Koorstis. I had no idea where to begin, despite my brave words to the aunts, and asked Dad where he thought I should start. He suggested I go to the Registry offices in the counties where we thought he may have lived, and do a name search.
This was pre-911. That event had far-reaching effects even in Canada. In 1985, anyone could go into any Registry and for a small fee you could look up information on anyone or anything you wanted. Now it's restricted to property searches, and even then there are restrictions. Searches on people are difficult even for the actual person themselves.
The first few days I was off, I spent around home, catching up on all those small jobs that were left undone over the summer. I was planning on getting into horses through the influence of my friend and hunting partner, Bob. In the twenty years since Dad last ran stock, the fences had deteriorated badly, and the fence lines had become overgrown. I always found it odd that Dad lost interest in farming at the same time I lost the girls. He claimed it was the work and depressed markets, but I often wondered. Now that it looked like we had Carol back at the very least, his interest seemed to reappear. He took great interest in scouting around the fences and making suggestions. We finally decided which fences would go back up to secure pasture, and those fence lines were put on the list of locations to clear and cut for firewood when we started cutting in November. The actual fence building would be done in the spring when the ground was soft enough to dig.
I had to plan with my tenant farmer a crop rotation that would allow me to grow enough hay to feed four to six full-size draught horses. We also needed to rework the land use agreement with him so he would take the hay off for me, such that I wouldn't have to buy expensive equipment. Kenny, the tenant, was happy to work out a new agreement, and we came to an arrangement that benefited both parties.
Ben called the day after Thanksgiving while Carol was at their office. She still had quite a bit of paperwork to do. The company was still a working one regardless of being up for sale or not. Payrolls still had to be met, jobs bid on, and bills paid. Ben had an excellent field staff, but his office was undermanned without Carol going in at least a couple half-days per week.
Ben and Carol had no secrets at all any more and talked openly now about his illness and how fast it was progressing, but Ben still liked to call me privately for man-to-man chats. We were becoming very close despite never having actually met. If I told him something interesting he passed it along to her, as Carol now knew about our conversations. She often left a message with Ben if she'd forgotten to tell us something on her weekend calls, or something couldn't wait until the next one. Due to costs, we had all agreed to keep the calls to once a week except for emergencies. Besides, limiting ourselves to once per week gave us something to actually talk about and to genuinely look forward to. Ben usually called me on Tuesday's around noon our time and we called Carol Saturday evening between eight and nine. Ben often participated in the weekend calls, and he and Diane became good friends, too.
This Tuesday, Ben sounded unusually weak, and when I asked him about it, he said he was still tired from the weekend. They had held Thanksgiving with his sons and their girl friends. It had been a busy time, he said, and left him exhausted. I was very concerned about him, but he said a little rest and he'd be fine. He said the pain wasn't as bad as it had been, and his doctor had changed his prescription. He thought maybe the new prescription had something to do with him being tired and sleepy. I didn't like the sound of that; it sounded to me like Ben was on a pretty heavy narcotic for his pain, and was brushing it off with me. He was upbeat, though, and went on about the change in Carol and how well she looked as a pregnant lady.
He asked about some of the more specific details of my marriage to the girls, and I regaled him with some of the funnier things we'd done or had happen, whether it was during some torrid lovemaking or not. Ben was one of those friends you could get into stroke-by-stroke detail and not feel embarrassed. We had a few good laughs. I think he was trying to make the full connection to us, and he was certainly succeeding from my perspective, at least. He didn't have much news, just wanted to visit. I had some news, and told him what Roy told me about Scott being in deeper trouble than just what he did to me, and that he had disappeared. Just before we hung up, he thanked me for Beth's phone number. He said he'd called her to arrange a meeting and when he mentioned she was referred to him by Lori Lloyd, she couldn't make one fast enough. It seems Mom was very highly regarded indeed among the Wicca, and mere mention of her name seemed to open doors. I hadn't known this about Mom, but then I hadn't followed her career as a Priestess all that closely, either.
Once Dad and I got the plans for the pasture fencing done, and I got caught up on the little jobs around the house (you know the ones -- leaky faucets, squeaky hinges, etc.), I was able to concentrate on the future. One of the issues to be resolved for the future would be sleeping arrangements once everyone was home.
Diane and I talked about it and I ordered a king-size bed for our room. We moved our old queen size to the spare room. When it was brought in originally, we had to remove the banister to get the box spring up. I wasn't doing that again — we had completely refinished that banister and railing while we had it out, paying big money to have it professionally done. Strangely enough, the king size, with the box spring built in two halves, went up the stairs easily. The bed was reasonably priced from a company that specialized in beds, that also delivered and installed it for free, but the linens cost a small fortune. It was hard to find a plastic mattress cover to fit a king size bed, but we finally did. It wouldn't do to pay the money we did for a big bed and ruin it the first night we used it... The first time we slept in it, Diane and I felt lost in what seemed like a half acre of bed. We both agreed we needed at least one, and preferably two more female-type bodies in it to make it cozy.
We ordered two sets of bunk beds, each of which was actually two small singles stacked, for Rhiannon's room, as a temporary measure. Our thinking was that having them all sleep in the same room would let Riekie's kids get to know our two a little better. When the beds were delivered, because the kids were still so young, we decided against setting them up as bunks as unsafe, and instead arranged the room as four small singles. That's the beauty of that big old house. The bedrooms were as large as the downstairs rooms. We were able to set up the four beds along one wall with just enough space to walk between them. It looked like a barracks when we finished. Each child had a small chest of drawers on the opposite wall facing their bed. I also installed a second bar in the closet at waist height, doubling the hanger space for kids' clothes. It was tight, but it would work in the short term
I don't know why, but we just assumed Riekie would have custody of her children, and we based our preparations on that. They were all still small and could make do in the reduced space. As they got older, the kids were all going to want to have more space, and then there were the new twins to consider as they got older, too. We kept the spare room for use as a guest room, but sooner or later we would have to incorporate it into family use.
We would be moving Jenny into the kids' room soon as we needed her room as the nursery again. We made some tentative plans how to arrange it, but wanted to discuss it with Carol too. After all, they were her babies and we still had several months to set it up! Again, we weren't sure if Carol and our twins would be with us while they were still infants requiring a nursery, but a little forethought can prevent major upsets.
We even got new furniture for the big living room. Diane had been complaining for some time about the state the old was in. Mom had left it for us when they moved to the new house, but it was now old and beat up. We got a sturdy set that would stand up to kids and pets, and the couch folded out into a double bed for when the house was full of guests.
I know, maybe we were getting a little ahead of ourselves, but Diane and I got caught up in our enthusiasm and optimism for the future represented by the new twins Carol was carrying. We made our plans and changed the house around as if everyone would be home almost immediately. Once again, the Regiment's motto seemed appropriate — Paratus!
Diane's birthday in the second half of October got me thinking, so I paid a visit to my jeweler friend. I described what I wanted, and he promised he'd have my gifts ready in time. As always, he was as good as his word. Well! You should gave seen the look on her face when she opened her birthday presents! She was overjoyed! I did go a little overboard, but the thank you I got that night left me almost bowlegged for days. She got two gifts — a heart-shaped silver locket with a small moonstone set in the face inscribed inside with 'Diane Marie, I Love You Forever, David', and a silver bracelet to match. She knew they matched the ones Carol and Riekie had, and was tickled pink that she now had the same as them. Like them, they became permanent fixtures on her person.
I finally got some time near the end of October to start my Quest in earnest. I visited the Registry office in the small city near us where Paul Koorstis was last rumoured to have lived. This allowed me to kill two birds with one stone. It was also the Registry where Diane's birth certificate was filed. I took her completed application with me to get her replacement document.
I also wanted to track down her biological father, Paul Curtis. I had an idea she should get reacquainted with him, especially after the trauma caused by her step-father, but I first wanted to talk to the man and learn, hopefully, some of the details of his estrangement from Diane's mother. Shirley would rarely talk about her previous marriage, but Judy, Diane's older sister, retained warm memories of their father. Diane had been too young to remember much except she had felt loved. I had always suspected Shirley of complicity or at least a conspiracy of silence over the girls' abuse, and wanted to learn more.
As I found out later, when I asked her why she really wanted her birth certificate, Diane told me she had similar thoughts about her mother, especially the way Judy's pregnancy had been handled, and was exceedingly angry with the woman. From Diane's perspective she had obviously known about the abuse, and done nothing to stop it, whether out of fear of Pete herself, stupidity or culpability. Both Diane and I favoured the latter.
I never cared for Shirley much myself — she came across as a bubble-headed ninny who never seemed to have an original thought of her own, but also seemed devious. She'd never look a person straight in the eye. Even after Pete was dead and gone, Shirley wouldn't talk about the abuse, and on one occasion I heard her make a snide remark about Judy that she brought it on herself, and she should just keep her mouth shut. Anyway, Diane thought she needed it to give to our lawyer to divorce her mother! Even though she was an adult, and didn't really need to divorce her mother, she had decided she wanted ALL ties with the woman severed.
Wanting to get Diane's documentation out of the way first, and figuring the information on her father would be the easiest to locate, I started with that before I looked for anything on Paul Koorstis. This Registry wasn't computerized yet, and all their files were real hard copy.
After I showed the application to the clerk and paid my fee, she brought Diane's file out and started typing up the new birth certificate. I leafed through the file looking for anything that would help me find her father. We knew he still lived in or near the city, but that was all. Shirley had always maintained it was a bad split, and he ran off and hid, but she saw him around enough to know he was in the area. Sure enough, his last known address was there on Diane's birth registration form. There was some other interesting stuff, too, that maybe should not have been in her general file. I found an interesting document and asked if I could get a photo copy. The clerk, too busy to check what I wanted copied, just pointed at the coin operated copy machine and told me to do it myself.
When she finished with Diane's certificate and handed it to me, I had her pull some other files I was interested in as part of my Quest. It cost two dollars per search, and was worth every cent. One of the documents I searched was the property listed as Diane's father's last known address, and lo and behold! He still owned it! Whether he still lived there, or if he rented it out now, was another question, but there was a current phone number listed for the owner on the tax roll, which I quickly noted down and I also noted that the taxes were up-to-date. I was amazed at how easy it was to locate Diane's father. I hoped talking to him would be as easy. Locating Paul Koorstis might not be so easy, but I was hopeful now.
I had the clerk pull a few more files and documents, and checked them all closely. What I found was very promising, but it was getting late, the office was closing, and I wanted to call Mr. Curtis before returning home. Satisfied, I copied a couple more documents I thought might be useful, and left to find a phone.
I found a pay phone just outside the building where I could talk privately, and dialed the number I had written down. A pleasant sounding male voice answered the phone. I detected a bit of an accent I might have placed as Irish, not surprising with a name like Curtis. I asked if this was Paul Curtis, formerly married to one Shirley Boyde. He said he was, so I identified myself by name and as his youngest daughter Diane's husband; would he see me? He was very courteous and also curious and said yes, 'would you like to come over now?' I asked directions, and the address he gave me was the same one! He'd never moved! Shirley had lied, I figured so the kids wouldn't try to find him, not surprising to me at all. She hadn't counted on someone like me finding him.
I knew the area of the city Paul Curtis lived in, and found the house easily. It was a nice, well-kept smaller home, and reflected pride of ownership. Mr. Curtis answered the door promptly and greeted me warmly. He looked vaguely familiar, and I was surprised at his apparent age. He looked to be a man in his sixties. Given Diane's age, I thought he'd be younger. His handshake was warm and firm. I recognized where Diane got her lively brown eyes from, and other similarities. Paul's eyes held old pain of a deep loss, and I warmed to the man almost instantly. When he asked me in, I was pleased to enter his home -- not a house, a home. There was warmth and good humour inside these walls, and I relaxed at once. Once I was comfortably seated, he asked me why I had looked him up when he'd had no contact with his children since Shirley left him twenty seven years before.
I told him I had a feeling there was more to him than I'd heard, and I was curious. I also told him Diane wanted to know more about her origins because of some recent developments in our lives. I then went on to tell him about Pete's abuse, and that I suspected Shirley of complicity. He was outraged that his daughters had been treated that way, and said it didn't surprise him about Shirley. He thought she was someone different when he married her, but she quickly changed after the girls were born. She became, for lack of a better term, a 'loose woman'. He was a much more tolerant man than me, putting up with her many indiscretions. The end came when she took up with 'that boorish Polish immigrant who dominated her completely'. They separated and divorced quickly, and she never even asked for child support. He had tried to see his children on different occasions, but every time was slapped with a restraining order on some cobbled up charge, and he never saw them again. He was so disillusioned with women, he never remarried. We had quite a long conversation, and I was impressed with this lonely man. I sensed he missed his children very much.
I asked him if he'd like to meet his daughter and grand children. His eyes lit up at the mention of grandchildren, and he said he'd like that very much. I invited him to dinner on Sunday, and he graciously, almost eagerly accepted. I gave him directions to the farm, telling him to arrive early so he could meet the whole family, including my parents, and gave him our phone number if he got lost.
I really liked this gentleman, and thought he'd be good for Diane. Then I showed him the document I copied from Diane's file and asked him to verify the information on it. He showed no hesitation and confirmed the information was accurate. He did ask why I was so interested, and I said it had caught my eye when I looked through Diane's file, and was intrigued. I was already way later than I expected, and Diane would be getting worried; I asked if I could call her to tell her I was OK. He let me use his phone to call home. I just told Diane I was running late and not to worry. I then confirmed our Sunday dinner date with him, and left.
Diane and I had talked about the possibility of seeing her real father, but we doubted it would ever really happen. When I got home, I had to pry a couple happy kids off me before I could get near my sweet wife. She was a little miffed at me for being late for supper, but glad I'd called to let her know. After supper I helped Rhiannon with a school project and helped her with her spelling. Jenny wanted to cuddle on my lap and have a story read to her. She had her favourite Dr. Sousse book in her hand as she crawled onto my knee, already in her jammies. I didn't get halfway through the story before she was sound asleep. She fell asleep at almost the same point in the book every night... I carried Jen to her bed and tucked her in, giving her a kiss when she reached pudgy arms to hug me. Happy, she settled down into a sound sleep. Rhiannon went off to nod-nod land a little while later, tucked in by Mommy and Daddy.
With the kids in bed, I sat Diane down and told her about my day at the Registry office. She was glad I'd made progress on my Quest, and then I dropped my bombshell on her.
Very nonchalantly, I said, "Oh, by the way, Hon, we're having a guest for dinner on Sunday. I want Mom and Dad over, too, to meet him."
"Now who've you invited, David? You're always bringing people home." Yeah, I have a bit of a reputation for picking up strays.
I told her, trying to act very casual, as if it was truly unimportant, "Oh, no one special, I think you'll like him — it's your father."
Diane's jaw clanked off the floor. There was a brief silence as she collected her wits, then with obvious effort, she gasped. "My... my father? My real father? How... ?"
"Yes, Honey, your real father. He's a very nice man, and he wants to see you very much. Your mother and Pete wouldn't let him see you after they split up, although he wanted to very much. Any time he tried, they came up with some legal block, and eventually he gave up, but he never forgot. To show you how devious they were, remember your mother saying she had no idea where your father was, and that he was hiding from paying support?"
"Yes, she tried to turn us against him, but Judy remembered enough to keep us from falling for it completely."
"Well, he still lives in the same house you vaguely remember. He worked at the same job from which he just retired after thirty five years, and kept all his old activities and friends. He claims, and I believe him, when they divorced, your mother never asked for a cent of support -- she wanted the split to be complete. He never tried to hide from anyone because he had no need. He was in plain sight the whole time; it was your mother and Pete who hid you from him.
"So, do you want to meet him, or will I call him and cancel out? He's really looking forward to meeting his grandchildren. You should have seen his eyes light up when I mentioned them!"
"I don't know what to say, David. This is so sudden. I've always wanted to meet him again, or at least I thought I did, but now I'm scared."
I hugged her to me and kissed the top of her pretty head. "I understand. I shouldn't have done it without talking to you first, but when I found him so easily, I couldn't resist. I just knew there was more to him than your mother told you."
"That's OK, David, sweetheart, it was probably the best way to do it. Now I don't have to worry about should I or shouldn't I? Now it's just waiting nervously for the moment and making sure everything's perfect for Sunday dinner."
Typical of the female of the species, she had to make the proper social impression on her guest. Then she squealed in delight! "EEEE! Just wait until Carol Anne hears about this! She's just gonna simply die!" She got serious again. "What will we tell the kids, especially Rhiannon? She remembers Pete as her grandfather."
"Jenny will be no problem. She'll just meet her Grandpa. We'll tell Rhiannon the truth. After what she heard last month, I don't think you could shock her any more. Too bad we don't know how to contact Judy. I bet she'd want to meet him too." After her revelation last Christmas about their step-father abusing them Judy and her husband Jim had virtually disappeared.
Diane giggled. "You're probably right. With her Sight, Rhiannon might even know already. Yeah, I wonder where Judy is? I know she said she had to get away to sort things out herself, but it's not like her to stay away this long without even a phone call."
"Well, I don't think they're dead. Somebody would have called us for sure. I bet Jim took her to that hideaway Merle Waggar and he built in the North Country. Only Waggar and his brother Bob might know for sure, and they're not talking. I saw Bob the other day, and he said he hadn't heard from them, but I got the feeling he knew more than he was telling. Remember, Judy loves that place because it's so remote with no phones. We won't see or hear from them until she's ready, and I don't think there's any point in sending a message with Bob."
Diane sighed, "When she does show up, it's gonna be a shock to her, that's for sure."
Rhiannon didn't know — from her Sight, anyway, so when she got home from school the next day, we told her about her 'real' Grandpa coming on Sunday. She took it like a trooper, and looked forward to meeting her grandfather. I told Mom and Dad the next day, too, and made sure they would be there on Sunday as well. Mom saw Diane every day, and was there for her if she felt nervous or worried.
We all waited for the weekend in suspense.
Thursday was Hallowe'en, and the kids got all dressed up. We took them over to my parents' then Heather's, and from there into town to do their trick or treating. They scored big time on candies and other treats. When they got home, Diane and I confiscated their booty to be rationed. They had a very good time and were cute as buttons in their costumes.
Saturday night, we called Carol, and told her our latest development. She was ecstatic for Diane, and wished she could be there, too. Ben hadn't called on Tuesday, and I was worried. Carol said he was ill on Tuesday, and didn't feel up to it, but he seemed better today. We asked, as we did every time we talked, if there was any more word from Riekie. The last we'd heard was a quick note of ecstatic congratulations acknowledging receipt of Carol's 'WE DID IT... ' message, and a couple short notes saying her divorce was proceeding as quickly as the Manitoba courts would allow, and that she was getting impatient -- not much, but enough to keep us all buoyed up in anticipation. Ben came on toward the end of the call and told me he was talking to Beth regularly, both on the phone and in person. He'd been well enough a couple times to go to her home and meet with her. He said he was learning a lot, and was very impressed. We all hung up on an upbeat, with Carol making us promise to call her tomorrow night despite it not being a 'scheduled' call, to let them know how things went. We ended with a lot of 'I love you' and noisy phone kisses.
Sunday afternoon arrived. Mom and Dad were already at the house, and we all waited nervously for Diane's father to arrive. Finally an unfamiliar car pulled into the lane and stopped next to my truck. Paul Curtis got out of the car as I walked out to greet him. We shook hands warmly, and I escorted him to the house to meet his family. Before we went in, he got a bag of something from the back seat and a package, obviously flowers, from the florist's logo on the wrapper, but I couldn't see what kind they were.
When we entered the house, Diane and the kids waited in the hall, and Mom and Dad stayed in the living room, being discrete until Diane and the kids had been introduced. When Paul Curtis met his daughter, he sucked his breath in and held it, something she did when faced by something momentous. When he released his breath, he uttered one word. "Beautiful!", then he shook his head as if emerging from a dream and apologized for forgetting his manners.
I introduced them one at a time. Diane couldn't take her eyes off her father. She was very nervous then a tear showed in the corner of her eye. She didn't wait any longer. She ran to her father, threw her arms around his waist and cried, "Daddy!" She recognized him after all those years, and it was a happy recognition! The kids, seeing their mother's reaction, each grabbed a leg and called him 'Grampa'. Paul Curtis had tears in his own eyes as he enfolded Diane in his arms and kissed the top of her pretty head and whispered, "Hello, Muffin."
Diane finally broke from her father long enough to actually act the hostess, and called Mom and Dad out to meet her 'Daddy'. These introductions went exceedingly well. Paul and Dad hit it off immediately, and Paul made Mom swoon with his compliments. He then produced the flowers for Diane, but told her she had to give one to the beautiful lady she called Mom. Diane opened the wrapper. There were thirteen yellow roses, both her and Mom's favourites. Both women were ecstatic. Then Paul reached in the bag and handed Diane an old teddy bear, saying, "This was yours once upon a time, Muffin."
She almost grabbed it, she was suddenly so eager, and clasped the bear tightly to her breast, tears of joy streaming down her face. "Rascal!"
Well, at least I learned the origin of a pet name!
The rest of the day was a huge success. Diane and Paul reconnected as father and daughter. I thought Dad might feel left out, but Diane made it clear she now had TWO fathers, and made both men extremely happy. The kids loved their new grandfather, and having two grandfathers now, there wasn't any fighting over who was sitting on Grampa's or Poppy's lap. By some unspoken tacit agreement, they just switched wordlessly. Kids!
Diane's dinner, served at the big dining room table was another huge success, but Paul did complain just before dessert with a laugh, saying he'd have been happier in the kitchen. Diane hugged him as she got up to clear the dishes for dessert. "Today, you're special, Daddy. After this, you're just another member of the family and you'll get the normal kitchen treatment including Hamburger Helper!"
After supper, Mom rose and indicated quiet. We all became silent, even those rambunctious kids of mine. Mom raised her arms and declared, "Let us thank the Goddess for this day! Father and child re-united, good food, good friends, and a family becoming whole again."
The rest of us bowed our heads and quietly said our thanks, but Paul sat there with a stunned look on his face.
I thought I heard him whisper to himself, but wasn't sure if I heard him right or if it was my own wishful thinking, to help explain Diane and Rhiannon's Old Blood and the talents they had. "The Goddess? It can't be! It's been so long!"
I took pity on him, and explained that in this house, we served the Old Ways and venerated the Goddess. If that offended him, we were sorry, but we were tolerant of our Christian neighbours, even if they weren't of us. He smiled and simply said. "To each his own. I have my own beliefs, too."
Too soon it was time for her father to leave. Diane didn't want to let him go, and clung to him. She'd found something she thought she'd lost as a child, and now that it was re-found, didn't want to lose it again. She extracted a promise that he come again next weekend, and he was to stay over from Saturday. And so Paul Curtis became a fixture in our lives every weekend. Diane called him during the first week and told him in no uncertain terms he was to come Friday night, and stay 'til Sunday, so she and the kids could get to know him better. So much for my darling wife being scared to meet her father.
And what of me? I got loved into immobility for finding her father and returning him to her. It was so good, I began to cast about for other good deeds I could perform for her... <Grin> Only one problem — I had a new bunkmate, name of 'Rascal Bear', not to be confused with 'Rascal Sweet Prince'. Diane took him every where except the shower, Rascal Bear, that is. Rascal Sweet Prince got sent to the showers a lot...
That night, after Paul left, we made our special call to Carol to let her know how things went. She could tell as soon as she answered the phone by Diane's squeal of glee and the happy chatter of the kids. We were on the speaker phone, and my folks were there, too. Carol was overjoyed at how well things went. She put a little damper on things when she asked if he knew about ALL of us. I told her it was a little soon to break that kind of news to him, but I was sure he'd be OK with it, and to trust me on this. I'd know when to tell him.
I noted that despite our good news and how happy she was with it, that Carol seemed a little preoccupied. I asked for Ben. He couldn't come to the phone. He was in a great deal of pain tonight, and she had had to give him extra medication. He was sleeping now. She said Beth had been over earlier and spent quite some time with Ben. He seemed a lot happier after she left. Carol said it was the first she'd actually met Beth, and liked her. Mom told Carol if she thought she needed some spiritual guidance or just a shoulder to cry on, that Beth would be good for her, too, and could also work with her in her pregnancy. Carol liked that. She said she was starting to get some morning sickness, but not bad. We ended our call on a slightly more sombre note than we'd started with, but there was the usual chorus of 'I love you!' and the noisy phone kisses. Diane switched to the standard phone to say her own goodbye to Carol. Those two were getting VERY close, and I loved it.
Tuesday, Ben was well enough to call me again. He quizzed me about Diane's dad, and accepted my word that he was a GOOD man, and he'd be OK once he learned of the marriage situation. Ben said they'd received another note from Riekie saying things were progressing, and it looked like she'd be finalized by Christmas like she wanted.
November was a busy month. Dad and I cut wood and cleared the fence lines every day. We did take some time out the first week to do some deer hunting. I got a nice buck, and Dad bagged a doe (Better eating, David!), filling the freezer for another year. Our whole family loved venison, and we hoped My Girls would remember their taste for it when they came home for good.
Remembrance Day fell on a Monday. Remembrance Day falls on Nov. 11 each year, and the whole country stops for a two minute silence at 11:00AM local time. It marks the beginning of the Armistice that ended the fighting in WWI at 'the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month' in 1918. Dad and I took the time to go to the Legion service at the Cenotaph to remember the fallen in all the wars Canada has fought in. Dad was a veteran of WWII, and thought it his duty to attend. I feel it is my duty as a citizen to participate and remember those who fought for freedom and those who have fallen keeping the peace in recent times. As I said my Dad was a veteran (Air Force), and he raised me to respect the Flag, love my country, and tell all those bleeding heart lib-left jerk-offs to eat my shorts.
It's not a full-blown holiday, but all Federal and Provincial Services are closed for the day. Hell, they even close the Beer Store and the Liquor Store! It's a day of military pageantry and solemn services. It is generally felt that Canada came of age as a Nation in the crucible of the Great War, at places like the Somme and Vimy Ridge. It also serves as our Veterans Day, and we celebrate those who have served and continue to serve their country. The red poppy that symbolizes remembrance and was immortalized in the poem 'In Flanders Fields' by John MacRae, is sold on every street corner, and most small stores by members of the Canadian Legion, the Veterans' private organization, in the country for a couple weeks before the main day. I usually get one for every jacket and hat I own. The proceeds ALL go to helping Veterans. The number of veterans able to attend dwindles each year as old soldiers succumb to injuries, disease, and age.
Paul was there every weekend, and pitched in to help Dad and me on the Saturdays. He and Dad became fast, firm friends. Diane's relationship with her father deepened, but she kept a special place in her heart for Dad, too. She was still one of His Daughters.
We kept up our weekly calls to Carol, and Ben called me every Tuesday when he was able, but I sensed he was starting to fade. We could feel the strain on Carol, especially when she had to deal with the morning sickness, and it broke our hearts we couldn't be there for her. Ben kept a brave face, as did Carol, but I began to wonder just how long he really had. The business finally sold for a very good price, and Carol didn't have to go into the office anymore, so she was able to devote more time to nursing Ben. He seemed to rally near the end of the month, and sounded more like his old self. Carol said Beth was a help, too, and had given her some herbal preparations that eased the morning sickness a lot.
About the middle of the month Diane informed me she was going off the Pill, saying, "We wanted more children, even before Carol Anne got pregnant. I don't want our next one to have as much age difference between him and Jenny as there is between her and Rhiannon. Besides, Carol Anne can't have all the fun..."
Diane had been on the Pill our entire marriage except for the times we had the two children. She appeared to have no ill effects from them, and as we were now sure she was a Princess, realized that this would be good news for Carol and Riekie, too. To the best of my knowledge, neither had tried it after Dad recommended against it after Carol's extremely negative reaction to prophylactics. Carol certainly had never been on the Pill because in her mental state there had been no need. I wasn't sure about Riekie. Married, with two children, and her medical background, I suspected she was well aware the Pill was safe for them, and probably used it, because they never had any other children.
Also near the end of the month, I called the aunts and invited them for a weekend at the farm. Diane had been bugging me to have them up ever since the funeral. It was time for them to meet the family, and what better time to do it than during the Christmas season? They were hesitant about the long drive, but I had the time now, so I said I'd drive down and bring them back. They didn't want to ride in my old truck, so I said I'd bring Dad's new car. They finally agreed, and I set a date for the second weekend in December. I'd come down Thursday, stay over, and we'd leave Friday morning. They could stay as long as they liked. We caught up on all the news, which wasn't much because Carol had been calling them once a week, too, but I did tell them Diane had got back with her real father. He was part of the family now, and they'd meet him while they were here. They asked about my Quest and I told them I was making better progress than I thought, but didn't have any real news yet. With that, we hung up.
Paul was a regular every weekend now, and the spare room became his. He always made himself scarce with Dad when we made our weekly call to Carol, sensing it was a private thing.
The last weekend of November, I told the girls and Ben during our Saturday night call that next weekend was to be the tell-all for Paul, and Carol was to set it up by making some obvious remark over the phone that would make it clear there was more to us than a friendship that had us calling each other once per week. We would be on the speakerphone for a change. We had already introduced Carol and Ben the week before as very special friends, so he could be with us when we called next week.
Carol announced that she was starting to show noticeably now, the morning sickness had eased considerably, and her doctor said she was doing very well. Ben said she was still glowing, and he still couldn't get over the change in her. Ben seemed somewhat better, although very weak, and we ended on a high note with many an 'I love you' and the usual noisy phone kisses. Carol and Diane had their now usual private moment at the end of the call, and as usual, it ended with sweet nothings and a tender phone kiss. Those two were hopelessly in love.
Diane and I could hardly wait for the next weekend to come. We were looking forward to being able to share our whole life with her father and the opportunity to be completely open with him. Our lovemaking that week was extremely intense and noisy. Even when Paul was there, we never stopped showing our love for each other, and some nights had been rather loud. The first time Paul had experienced our loud, joyful lovemaking, we'd got a very raised eyebrow at breakfast, but now we'd just get a chuckle and a "Good night, eh?" I overheard him talking to Dad one day, and whatever he said, Dad just replied, "You don't know the half of it."
That week, Dad and I finished the wood for the season. We'd haul it up in the spring. We'd made good progress on clearing the fence lines, too, and they were almost ready to run the new electric fence in the spring.
Paul arrived as usual Friday night to hugs and kisses from Diane and the kids. He simply beamed when Diane said, "Good to have you home again, Daddy."
Friday nights had become Paul and Diane's night to be together, and would often find them just cuddling on the couch. She looked so much like a little girl at those times, my heart melted. I borrowed Dad's camera and captured some of those images on film. I sent some of them to Carol. She told me she switched one of those for her favourite erotic photo because it made her love Diane even more, just as it had me.
Saturday, Paul helped Dad and I finish clearing the last fence line. The weather was starting to get quite cold, and we were glad to get back into a warm house. Diane and Mom had a nice hot supper waiting for us, a nice roast of this year's venison. Paul had never eaten venison before, but declared he loved it. He went back for thirds on the meat, so I guess he did.
We called Carol a little earlier than usual so the kids could be in on it. We had told my folks and Rhiannon earlier in the week that tonight we were going to let Paul know everything. We weren't sure how he'd react, but in for a penny, in for a pound.