Finder's Keepers

"Ok. I don't have an answer right now. I have been thinking about the question a lot since we left Orlando."

We kissed. It started soft and gentle. I held her face in my hands and she tilted her face up to mine. Sometime during the kissing her arms went around me and she held on. I liked how her body felt, pressed against mine. I'm six foot three. She was a little taller than Momma so I guessed she was about five foot six or seven.

When the kissing ended we went into the house and Momma had two pieces of pie and two cups of coffee on the table. She was sitting. Waiting.

We sat and Momma began. "Seems like we've talked all afternoon and evening. One discussion we haven't had. When Pete called home he asked if I'd change the sheets on his bed. I guessed that was his way of letting me know the two of you were intimate."

I started to speak. Momma moved her hand just enough for me to understand she wasn't done.

"I thought about having the two of you together without being married, in my house."

She took a breath. Mira and I waited. She reached out and put a hand on top of ours. "I had pretty well decided Mira would be in Matt's old room. Then you arrived. Mira you can have Matt's old room if you want. You can sleep with Pete in his room, if that's what you both want. In the morning we go back to being a working farm. I'll give you the tour after breakfast."

Momma stood up, kissed us both good-night and left us. We washed the dishes and put them away. When we walked down the hall I pointed to the door to Matt's room. "That's the room Momma offered you." I pointed farther down the hall. "The first door there is the bathroom, the second is my room."

"What do you want, Pete?"

"I want you to be comfortable. We've slept together and I think it was obvious I liked it a lot. That was sharing a hotel room. This is home. I intend to love you. If it takes months until we can say I love you to each other, I'm Ok with that. When I say it I will mean it for the rest of my life, a ring, a ceremony and a life together. In the scheme of things, tonight isn't so big."

Mira's eyes were full of tears that hadn't fallen, yet.

"I know what I want. I'm asking you what you want. Talk to me, Pete."

"I want you in bed with me. I wanted it last night and the night before. I'll want it again tomorrow night and every night from now on. Momma taught me to live like I have what I want and the odds get better that it'll be there. I want you, Mira."

"Then let's leave the door to Matt's room closed. I think I want to open that door." She pointed. We took the four steps and she opened the bathroom door. She smiled at me and said, "I'll be a few minutes. This is just a visit. I'm sleeping in there." She pointed to my door.

We were quiet, I think. We enjoyed our first night in our bedroom, our bed. I gave her permission to make some changes to the room if she wanted to. I asked for a minimum of frills and lace.

At five the alarm sounded and we were up. Mira dressed and went to help Momma in the kitchen. I met up with Dad headed for the barn.

We turned some of the animals out of the barn, cleaned their deposits from the night and put out feed for those who needed it. It was a ritual, requiring no conversation. Nothing was said between us until the bell rang telling us breakfast was on the table. We washed at the sink behind the house and Dad said, "Thanks, son."

"For?"

"Must be something about having a pregnant woman in the house. There's more affection all over the place."

I had to agree. What I said was, "You're welcome."

We went in to breakfast. It was the regular breakfast, only it was different. Same eggs, but they tasted different. Same toast, but different. It had never been cut before. The toast was cut into triangles. The grits were still grits. Momma kissed us both and Mira did too.

Breakfast conversation was about what needed to be done that day. Mira mostly listened. When breakfast was almost done Momma said, "This afternoon Mira and I are going shopping. She needs things, like clothes."

"Are you inviting Beth along?" Dad asked.

"I don't think so. This is part of Mira and I bonding. When it gets closer to time for a birth we'll go shopping for the baby with Beth."

"Ok. We'll be busy all day. You two enjoy." Dad stood to head back outside. Mira and Momma kissed him. He said, "A man could get used to being treated this way."

Mira responded, "Good. Go ahead." Then she and Momma kissed me and we went out to work. I drove a tractor all day, turning the soil before winter. Harvest was over. It was a warm and sunny day. No hint of the winter to come. I kept the windows and door open on the tractor. A nice breeze kept me comfortable. I kept thinking about Mira, Mira and me, Mira, me and kids. I liked the thoughts.

At lunch time I saw Mira on our four wheel ATV headed for me. When she was half a mile from me she stood up, peeled off her shirt and bra, sat back down and continued to me. I loved lunch. It came with food, too. She redressed before she headed back. I had loved the Honda ATV even before we got it but now I thought every farm should have one. If Honda used her in their ads they'd sell even more of them.

As I went back to work I thought about Mira some more. She was built perfectly for a farm wife, in my opinion. Strong, good skin that wouldn't burn too easily and the perfect sized breasts. Not so big they got in the way but big enough to make life interesting. I wondered if Momma had ever delivered lunch to Dad without her shirt. I couldn't picture it.

"I am a lucky man." I said, out loud.

When the six o'clock news came on the radio I stopped the tractor, disconnected the disc harrow and headed for the barn. Listening to the news seemed to surprise me. All day on a tractor under a bright sun, who would believe we were at war somewhere, that billions of dollars were being squandered by people who ought to know better and that toys were being made with lead paint. It might as well have been a radio station on another planet. Didn't sound like where I lived.

Dad had been working on the pig pen. We had six sows that weighed about six hundred pounds apiece. When they wanted a back scratch they rubbed against the railings and bent them, broke welds and occasionally one of them broke things and got loose. He couldn't work there all day and just wash his hands before dinner. When I parked next to the barn he was standing under the spray from our outdoor shower. There had always been a big sink out behind the house for washing up. When I was about six Dad and I poured cement and installed a shower by the sink. I loved taking showers out there, until the weather got cold enough to call it winter. I'd never seen Momma shower there, just Dad and my brothers.

I stripped down and when Dad finished he left the water on. I stepped under the spray and enjoyed a great shower. On the back steps were two piles of clothes, one for Dad and one for me. We dried off and dressed before we went inside for dinner.

The house smelled wonderfully. My nose kept feeding data to my brain so I could identify what we were having for dinner. I got close but missed. I guessed Cajun food, it was, but I didn't say jambalaya. We started with a salad then the jambalaya. Dad tasted it first, looked up and said, "Momma, this is great! Not very much like you usually make it, but ever so good."

"Mira made it. She added some things I never add. I like it this way." Momma said.

Dad looked at me. I took a big bite and chewed slowly. This was important. "Mira, you didn't tell me you were a gourmet chef! Emeril could take a lesson."

Dad smiled. Mira got up and came to me. I got a kiss as my reward. She went back to her chair and sat back down, beaming.

Two bites later I said, "Dad, did I tell you how good the jambalaya is? It's better than we can get in town. It's better than we had in New Orleans last year!"

Mira laughed and gave me another kiss. Dad took a bite of his salad and said, "This salad is incredible! Son, have you tasted the salad?"

Momma and Mira laughed and Momma said, "You're both pretty transparent, you know. You'd say anything to get kisses." She got up and sat in Dad's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him.

When he went after kiss number three I said, "Maybe someone needs to go to their room."

Mira smiled and said, "Yeah, us."

I stood and took her hand, "Leave the dishes. We'll be back in a little while to do them." I said. We went down the hall and into our bedroom.

I heard Dad's laughter as the door closed.

"Your Momma got angry with me today." Mira said as she undressed.

"What did you do?" I asked as my boots came off.

"I called her Mrs. Evans." Her jeans dropped to the floor. I saw a blue thong, a tiny blue thong.

"Lots of people call her Mrs. Evans." My jeans came off.

"She said, You're family. I'm not Mrs. Evans to family. You can call me Emma, Em or Momma. Don't call me Mrs. Evans, please. It makes me sound old."

"So, what did you decide?" I pulled her to me and her breast went right into my mouth. She was the perfect height to be a farm wife. This farm. My wife. Her hands held my head as I gave my attention to her breast.

"When we left the store I said, "Thanks, Momma." She stopped right there in the mall and hugged me. I didn't know what to do or say.

When I changed from her right breast to her left I said, "You did and said the perfect words. Ever since I called her from Orlando she has been so happy."

My fingers slipped into her very wet place and she moaned. "I'm happy too."

We joined gently. No hurry, no rush. Every time we had joined we had been in the missionary position. As we held each other afterwards Mira said, "I love how you take care of me... but,"

"But what?"

"But there are other positions, other activities, and I want to do all of them with you."

"I've never been with a pregnant woman before. I don't want to hurt you or the baby."

Her hands found my penis and inspired it to grow. She asked, "Think it would hurt the baby if I sucked you for a while?"

"You want to?" Every time I had ever approached someone, thinking they might suck me, whoever she was accused me of being a pervert. Result was, I was thirty-four and no one had ever sucked me.

"Yes, I want to. It's a way to give you pleasure." She moved and I watched as my cock slid into her mouth. I had to concentrate to keep from spewing right then. When she looked up at me with my cock in her mouth and smiled, then winked, I lost all control and filled her mouth.

She swallowed all of it. She cleaned me up and said "Thank you" when she let my cock slip from between her lips. We snuggled together on the bed for a while and she asked, "You think it would be Ok if sometime I joined you in the shower out back?"

"I don't know. If there were a time when Momma and Dad were gone, I'd love it. I've never known Momma to shower out there. Maybe you should ask her. While your asking questions, ask if she ever took Dad lunch bare chested."

"You liked that?"

"I think I made that obvious."

"It was Momma's idea." I sat up and looked at Mira in shock.

"You're kidding!"

She shook her head and said, "No. She said it would get your attention."

"It did!"

"We still need to do the dishes. Pull on your jeans and let's get it done."

We dressed in minimal clothing and went to the kitchen. The dishes were in the sink, soaking in water. We did them quickly and put them away. Mira led me outside where we sat on the back porch. The night was very dark. No stars were visible. The light above the barn door was on and cast light on the doors and for about ten feet in front of the doors. The Jenkins farm was two miles away in the direction we were facing. I could see the light on their barn. We sat and let the night swallow us in silence for a while.

Mira scooted closer to me. Close enough that she was touching me from her knee to her shoulder against the side of me. I held her hand in mine.

"I wish..." She stopped.

I waited.

When I couldn't wait any more I prompted, "You wish?"

"I wish I'd met you when we were eighteen."

"If we had met then you'd probably have three kids by now."

"And a past I could be proud of. Instead I come with lots of baggage."

"Have you ever been to a bus station?"

"Sure, lots of them."

"A train station?"

"Yes. Why?"

"An airport?"

"Yes! Why?"

"In all those places have you ever seen someone with their baggage glued to their body? Stuck to them so it couldn't, wouldn't, come loose?"

"No."

"Ever heard of someone losing their baggage?"

"Yes. But..."

"But, your baggage is private. Matt and I are the only ones who know your last name. There are probably a thousand women in America named Mira. No one needs to know anything beyond what we tell them. You were attacked and beaten by some men in a small town. Matt and I found you, rescued you and now you're here. All the rest of the baggage is a lost suitcase in an airport in Tibet."

"Tibet?"

"That's about as far from South Carolina as it could get."

"You mean you don't want all the details of my crazy life? You may not even like me when you know everything."

"Then develop amnesia. Don't tell me about things I can't change and you can't change, unless they mean something between us. If the man who got you pregnant was black, had a genetic problem, was retarded, we need to know. If he was drunk and had a beard, we don't need to know that. Does that make sense?"

"What if I've been in bed with fifty men?"

"I want to know where you found a bed that big."

She punched me. I said, "Everyone our age has a history. We make it mean things. Before I met you I had been in bed with less than a dozen women. I made that mean I was a novice and would disappoint you."

"You didn't. You acted like I was fragile."

"I've never had sex with a pregnant woman before."

"I know. For the record, you're a good lover. I'm here on the porch with you because... I'm here with you because you care. You found a family to love my baby. You haven't judged me for getting pregnant, for getting beat to a pulp, for screwing up my life so badly I was found naked tied to a power pole. I'm here because you and your brother treated me like I deserved the care and respect you both gave me."

"I'm glad you're here."

"You didn't let me finish. For the first three days I thought you and Matt saw me as a charity case. You were on a mission to save me. I was grateful! You did save my life. Then, while we had dinner at Epcot I realized that wasn't it. Your Momma and Dad taught you both to be stand up men. You took care of me, saved my life because that's how you were raised. I took you to bed the first time because I didn't know any other way to say Thank you."

She crawled into my lap and held me as we kissed.

"That kiss is not like the first ones. I've decided that I love you. I choose you. You can take your time deciding to love me, I'm not going far from this farm. Toss me out and I'll move in with Beth and Tommy until the baby comes. I'll find a job in town and every day I have off I'll come out here and love you, your Momma and Dad. I want you, as my man for the rest of my life."

I sat quietly for a few minutes, holding Mira in my lap. Then I spoke.

"We haven't known each other very long. Some in town will say not nearly long enough. I don't know anything about how long a romance should take to become serious. I started thinking of you as a possible wife as we walked around Disney. The longer we've been together the more I've been thinking in that direction." I paused. "Would you stay right here for a minute? I need to get something from the kitchen."

Mira got off my lap and sat beside me. I went inside, quietly opening and closing the screen door. When I came back I had the calendar from the kitchen wall in my hands. I handed it to her, along with a pen and a flashlight.

"What's this for?"

"Momma keeps track of everything important on this calendar. Look forward and see if you can find a date you like for the wedding. Probably shouldn't pick a date that conflicts with anything already on the calendar."

"You mean it? We're getting married?"

"Unless you'd rather have Matt!"

"He's never going to let you forget he slept with me first!"

"He can tell all his friends at school that he found you first, he slept with you first, and he lost. Pick."

She looked and picked a date in November, a Saturday. I had her write the word wedding in the square for that date. I returned the calendar to the kitchen and when I came back Mira and I kissed and she asked, "When do we tell Momma?"

"Any time you want. Wake her right now, if you'd like. If you don't tell her by Friday I will tell both of them at dinner."

We walked quietly to our room and when the door closed Mira said, "She knows."

"She always knows. I have surprised her twice in my life. When I was born she thought I would be a girl and when I called her from Orlando. When she told you not to call her Mrs. Evans, she knew you would be Mrs. Evans."

"Mira Evans. I like it." As we settled in for a few hours sleep I liked the way Mira Evans sounded and felt too.

At five the alarm sounded and our day began. When Dad and I came in for breakfast it was French toast, scrambled eggs scrambled with crumbled sausage in them and cranberry juice.

Dad looked at it all and asked, "Is this a holiday? Someone's birthday? Why the fancy breakfast?"

Momma said, "You have nine weeks to go shopping. You need a nice suit."

"A new suit? Suits are for funerals, graduations and... Oh my God!" He turned to me and said, "We were in the barn for over two hours. You didn't say anything!"

"I gave Mira until Friday night to tell you both. If she didn't I would tell you then."

Breakfast was a celebration. Mira told us the story.

"I came into the kitchen and started the coffee. Momma walked in and asked, "What happened?" I asked what she was talking about. She held my shoulders and looked at my face. Then she said, "He asked you last night, didn't he?"

"You admitted it?" I asked.

Momma spoke up. "No. She walked to the calendar and handed it to me. I flipped pages and found one word written in November. The word is wedding!"

When breakfast ended Dad and I went outside and back to work. Momma and Mira were busy all day. Mira brought me lunch and food at a little after noon. When the six o'clock news came on the radio I was surprised we weren't part of the announcements.

Momma and Mira told us all about the plans they had made and what they expected from us. We agreed to everything. Dad and I would get new suits. I would drive down to Orlando and bring Matt home for the wedding weekend. He would take the bus back to college. I called Matt and spoke to him about the plan. Two hours later he called back and asked if Jeremy could come to the wedding. Jeremy had a car and they could make the drive together. Momma said she would have room for them, since Mira and I would be going on a honeymoon after the ceremony.

Just before he hung up Matt said, "You know, big brother, I saw her first."

"Yes, I know. You let her go."

"I slept with her first, too."

"And, I have her now, little bro."

We were in bed when a knock came to our door. I said, "You can come in." Momma opened the door and asked, "What colors will we use? You'll be pretty big for white."

"Momma, Let's both wear lavender."

"Why lavender?"

"It's Pete's favorite color."

"It is? I thought his favorite color was teal."

I said, "Teal for most things, lavender for certain lacy things."

"Oh! Sorry I barged in. We better get some sleep. The animals don't care that a wedding is happening."

During the next few days word made it around town. It's a small town. I was pretty sure word had reached every woman in town by lunch time the day after we picked a date. Momma had called and booked the legion hall for the reception.