Chapter 1 - Planning
Darcy and Monitor decided to wait until after the opening of Aunt Nita’s new diner to have their wedding because there was just so much going on and while they were both anxious to get married, they didn’t want their wedding to be pushed aside in importance.
Plus, Darcy had talked to Toby and at first he had been very upset about them going away for a week without him. To a toddler, a week seems like a long time. It was actually Chopper that convinced him that Darcy and Monitor were not going to leave him forever and that he would have all of the brothers doing things with him.
“Don’t you want them to be happy?” Chopper asked him as he sat in the middle of the kitchen island counter “helping” to make cookies one day. Chopper had agreed to “baby sit” while Darcy was in the dining room helping to prepare wedding stuff and Monitor had been in his office working. Toby liked to help Chopper and Chopper loves kids, so he didn’t mind.
Toby had looked at him like he was crazy. “Of course.” Toby said indignantly. Chopper almost laughed because he acted so grown up.
“Well, honeymoons are only for big people. Little boys can’t go there and you are hurting their feelings by crying and carrying on and making them feel bad because they can’t take you with them. It’s going to make them sad if they can’t go because they might never get a chance to go again.
They know you are safe here with all of us. You can stay and help with Aurora and help me make cookies and if you are really good, maybe we can plan something for when they get back. They are coming back, Toby. Darcy and Monitor love you and will never leave you behind. Okay?” Chopper told him.
“Okay.” Toby said sadly but he knew he was right. He didn’t really understand why he couldn’t go but decided he would stop trying to keep them from going because he did want them to be happy.
~~~~~~
Atlas and Monitor had gone to work out earlier so both of their women had come to check on Sasha this morning. Autumn knew that Sasha was going to want to take a shower and Darcy knew she would need her bandage changed which meant she would need help with wrapping her breast, so after she had asked Brandi to watch Toby for a few minutes she had gone to check on her.
Sasha had already finished her shower and Autumn had helped her with her hair but had forgotten the cream for her wounds so she had pulled on her outer clothes and they had gone to the infirmary. That’s where Darcy found them and she had brought another “wrap” with her.
Sasha was so happy to have found this alternative. It really took a lot of pressure off of her shoulders and ribs. Darcy helped her put on her “bra” and then Sasha pulled her shirt back on. The three women left the infirmary to go down to breakfast when they ran into Guardian, who had come looking for his lady.
As she stopped at her door she said, “Just let me get my purse. From what I understand, the ladies want to go shopping as soon as breakfast is over and I don’t want to have to hike this hall twice if I don’t have to.”
~~~~~~
When Guardian went to collect Sasha for breakfast the next morning, he thought that maybe she had overslept or maybe was in the shower, when she didn’t answer her door. So he started to hike down to get coffee when she came out of the infirmary with Darcy and Autumn.
“Good morning!” She greeted him cheerfully.
“Good morning. Is everything okay?” Guardian asked. “Morning ladies.” He greeted Darcy and Autumn.
“Morning. Now that you have your man with you, we’re going to head on down to breakfast.” Autumn said and everyone noticed how prettily she blushed at that. Guardian had a big smile on his face!
“I just need to collect Toby from Brandi and Needles.” Darcy said and detoured over to pick him up.
Guardian stepped into Sasha’s room behind her and pushed the door closed. “Hey. Can I get a good morning kiss?” He smiled at her.
Sasha went to him willingly. “I dreamed about you last night.” He said softly when he finally pulled back in need of air as he held her close.
“Was it a good dream?” Sasha asked coyly as she watched him through her lashes.
“I think it was a fantastic dream. One of the best dreams I’ve ever had!” He grinned at her.
She wasn’t going to tell him that she had dreamed about him too and parts of hers had been naughty so she was thankful when someone knocked on the door and called out “Breakfast”.
They walked hand in hand down to the dining room and got in line to make their plates. This morning they sat with Amanda, Michelle, Jason and Michael and Sasha found out that the girls had just arrived at the clubhouse so they were being included in the shopping trip this morning. Tori and the others had bought them jeans and t-shirts that fit okay but the shoes they had bought didn’t fit and they needed bras.
“We’ll need to get shoes first since all we have to wear are flip flops. The shoes Tori and the other ladies bought were too small.” Amanda said.
The guys were getting a kick out of listening to the girls talk about going shopping. They sounded like carefree teenaged girls and it made them feel good. All of them had been through some horrible shit, Amanda and Michelle more than Sasha but her life hadn’t been a bowl of cherries either.
The wedding plans were a main topic among all of the women who were looking to do some shopping for Darcy today too. They had all planned to get her sexy nightgowns and lingerie but being that there were so many of them now, they decided they also needed to do something else besides that.
As soon as breakfast was over the men brought forward the SUVs for the women. Everyone loaded up and headed for the mall.
Tori and Gloria wanted to go to the maternity department at Sears so Apollo and Flash stayed with their women. Monitor had brought Toby with them today in his stroller because he had promised Toby he could go to pick out a teddy bear for Aurora, so he and Toby took off for the toy department.
Darcy, Sasha, Guardian and Marcus went to the sewing notions department. Darcy had been watching HGTV and youtube on how to sew and make clothes. She had no idea how to use a sewing machine but was determined to learn. She checked out the sewing machines but decided to wait until they could go to Walmart since the machines in the mall were kind of pricey and fancier than what she felt she needed.
They did find notions and fabric that they thought they wouldn’t be able to get at Walmart and Darcy showed Sasha what to look for. She had been checking out ideas online and a few tutorials that made it look easy and she was very anxious to learn how to make all kinds of things. They got enough fabric for Sasha to have 6 “wrap bras”. That was the only thing Darcy had ever learned to “make” and they really didn’t require any sewing, just cutting.
Since Buster had forced her to learn to sew, she had become more interested in it and she was delighted to learn that Michelle said she knew how to use a sewing machine. “My grandmother taught me how. I used to make doll clothes out of her scraps.”
“Good. You can help me pick out a machine and then we can learn to use it.” Darcy had been so excited.
Kalehua and Misty took Amanda and Michelle to exchange the sneakers and told them to get some snow boots too. The shoe store was where Darcy and Sasha caught up with them and both Darcy and Sasha got snow boots for themselves. All of them were going to need coats too! Amanda and Michelle were very conscious of how much they were spending, hoping that what they were spending would not come out of Jason and Michael’s pay checks and were very relieved to find out that the club would be covering their expenses until they were officially claimed as an ole’ lady.
By the time they got home, Apollo was questioning having the new women in the house but then realized that so far all of the women are love matches for the men. He was going to have to talk to Tori about covering the bills for Amanda, Michelle and Sasha because Jason and Michael haven’t been here that long but he was going to have to talk to them too.
Guardian has been here longer plus he had money from the sale of his mom’s house. He decided that he wasn’t going to point fingers but remind all of the men that the holidays are coming and the women are going to be doing more shopping so they need to get their finances in order. Thankfully all of the women had been spending consciously today and no one had been extravagant or bought “want” things but had kept it down to only what they needed.
Most of them went home and when they got back to the clubhouse, Chopper had kept the food from lunch warm for them and everyone who had come back immediately went to wash up and eat.
Darcy, Monitor, Toby, Sasha, Guardian, Michelle and Michael headed to Walmart to look for a sewing machine. They got sandwiches at Subway for lunch before they did their shopping.
They found an inexpensive sewing machine and Michael surprised Michelle and bought her one too. She got so excited when he had put one in her cart, she had squealed and kissed him right in the middle of Walmart. She could have asked for the moon right then and he would have asked to borrow money to buy her anything she wanted.
While the men were waiting for the ladies to look through the lingerie department for a bra for Michelle, Monitor asked Guardian and Michael, “Have you guys bought their engagement rings yet?”
The blank expressions on the two young men’s faces told him they hadn’t. “You better start saving your pennies because they are not cheap! But remember, that is the one piece of jewelry that she will wear for the rest of her life so you want to get her something nice.” Monitor told them.
“How do you find out their ring sizes without telling them why you want to know?” Guardian asked.
“The other women will help you. I’ll talk to Darcy about it. I bought Darcy’s ring at Kay’s Jewelers. They have some pretty rings at a reasonable price. But you know what? Let’s wander over to the jewelry counter and pretend like we are looking. Don’t even think about buying their rings here but if you play it right, you can get not only their ring size but find out what kind of style they will like.” Monitor suggested.
“Style?” Michael asked. “Oh lord! Maybe I shouldn’t have bought the sewing machine. I mean it’s only $70 but my savings account is not that big either.”
“Well, talk to Sarge about working more. The more you work, the more you make.” Guardian said.
The women came away from the lingerie department with looks on their faces that told all of the men they were curious about why they were looking at Walmart jewelry. Monitor quickly pulled Darcy over to the side and whispered that Guardian and Michael needed help finding out what style the girls would like and their ring sizes.
“Got it.” Darcy smiled at him. She nonchalantly went over and said “Oh, how pretty. It may be cheap junk but some of it is very pretty. Which one do you like, Michelle?” Darcy asked since she was standing the closest.
Both boys tried to look like they weren’t curious about it and pretended to check out other things but stayed close enough that they could see and hear what was going on.
Both girls looked over what they had to offer and Michelle said “Well, that one is pretty but the diamond is a little too big and the setting doesn’t look very sturdy. I just want something simple with a plain gold band. You don’t really wear the diamond part all the time, do you?”
“Some women do, but I agree with you. I might take off the diamond part if I’m working but once that wedding band goes on, it should stay on always.” Darcy said.
“I want something like this one.” Sasha pointed out one that was a little fancier but wasn’t really extravagant.
“That’s beautiful. What size do you wear?” Darcy asked.
Neither of the girls knew what size they wore so Darcy got the sales person’s attention and asked to use their ring sizer. Michelle wears a size 7 but Sasha wears a size 5 ½.
Now that they had the information, Monitor finally called a halt to the shopping trip. “Come on gang. It’s going to be getting dark soon. Apollo is going to have kittens if we stay out after dark without extra guards. ” Monitor said.
“Why does he mind if we are out after dark? I mean, what difference does it make?” Sasha asked.
“It’s harder to see snakes in the dark.” Guardian said and saw Michelle move closer to Michael, who looked around too. Sasha started to make a comment about snakes going to sleep when it gets cold but Guardian whispered that he would explain more later and then she noticed that Michelle and Michael looked very nervous so she just nodded and let it drop.
They all loaded up and headed back to the house. None of them could explain it but the hair on the back of their necks was standing up and the men, especially Monitor, were extra alert. He felt extra nervous because he had not only Darcy and the other women with them but Toby as well.
He drove carefully but as quickly as possible back to the compound. He felt a great sense of relief when they finally pulled into the parking lot and the gate closed behind them just as the sun began to set.
Darcy and Michelle were so excited about having the sewing machines that they almost didn’t want to go to dinner but Toby kept pulling on Darcy and saying he was hungry and she finally gave up and they all walked down the hall to dinner.
Everyone enjoyed their meal but as soon as it was over, Apollo called for church. Sasha, Michelle and Amanda were a bit confused but Tori and the other women came and took them to the living room where the ladies hang out.
“Might as well get used to it, girls. They go in there and shut that door and all we can do is wait for them to come out. Because I don’t think this is a mission meeting, I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. I know that Aunt Nita called earlier so I’ve got a feeling it’s something to do with this weekend and the diner.” Tori explained.
All three of the girls felt relieved. “Tori, are there any jobs for us here? I want to make some money so that I can save up for a breast reduction.” Sasha said.
“Well, once you are claimed by one of the men, you don’t have to work unless you want to. They will provide what you need. Now, Michelle and Amanda, for you, your men are only prospects so their earnings are not as high as a patched member but I can’t tell you what anyone earns because I don’t know. I just know that patched members earn more than prospects.
If you really want to work, I’m sure we can come up with jobs for you, especially if you can sew or don’t mind cleaning. Come to think of it, Aunt Nita is going to be needing people to work in the diner once it’s open too.” Tori told them. She wanted to talk things over with Apollo but in reality it was up to her what the women did. She needed to get together with Sally to learn more about her duties too.
She knew it would be rough if the girls had to commute to work and Apollo didn’t really want the boys commuting so that meant he wouldn’t allow the girls to commute. But what was the alternative? Tori knew for herself that if she didn’t have so many responsibilities to the club, she would go stir crazy just sitting and doing nothing all the time.
In church………….
As soon as all of the men were in the meeting room, Apollo banged his gavel calling the meeting to order. “Guys, I know it’s a bit early in the year to be talking about it but we need to prepare for the holidays that are coming fast, not only as a club but as individuals.
Since the beginning of the summer, we have added a LOT of women to our family. As all of you know, shopping trips have gotten to be more often and our expenses have gotten larger and frankly, I need some ideas on how we are going to keep up.
I know some of you unclaimed men are going to say that this doesn’t concern you and maybe not right now, but don’t give up hope guys!” Apollo said and several good natured, smartass remarks went around the room along with shouts of laughter.
“Seriously guys, Christmas is coming fast and you had better start thinking about what you are going to do for your women. I know I’m totally lost when it comes to finding something for Tori. It’s our first Christmas together and that’s true for all of you who have found your women. For those of you that haven’t, hey there are still over two months left in the year!” Another round of laughter went around the room along with wishes of good luck to the unclaimed men.
“Seriously guys, Aunt Nita’s diner is done now. She got her certificate of occupancy and she’s hosting a “Thank you party” Saturday and everyone is going. Now that means the house is going to be empty so we are locking it down tight before we go but we’ll be leaving well before dark to come home.
Tomorrow, Atlas, Sarge and Guardian, I want the prospects to get this place ready for lock down. They need to learn how to do it. We don’t go away as an entire club often and if it was for anyone else but Aunt Nita, some of us would be staying behind but I’m not chancing her wrath by leaving anyone behind.
She said she wants to eat at 11:30 so I’m going to post a list of who will be going up early to help her get set up and who will stay behind to make sure the compound is secure. Because the women will be riding in the SUVs, I’m driving one and Flash will drive another and Monitor will be driving the one with the babies and their mothers. The rest of you can choose to either ride in SUVs, vans or on your bikes, I’ll leave it up to you whether you want to freeze your balls off or not.
Robert, I’d like it if you can go in the first wave so that you can be there to bless the new diner. (Robert nodded in response) Since many of the women have not been up to Haven before, we’re going to do a slow drive through town so that they can see what it looks like.
Next, I hope I don’t need to tell you that Aunt Nita is hosting a party for us in appreciation for our help in getting the diner up and running so fast. That does not mean we are going to walk out of there leaving a mess!
Make sure you thank her and remember to tip your waiter/waitress, namely Billy and Nicole! Don’t make more work for them by making them run for silly stuff. You are not crippled, but will be if I catch you giving them a hard time.
I’m not sure if she’s going to do it where she delivers the food or if it’s going to be done in a buffet set up like we do here. If she does the buffet style, remember that everyone has to eat so don’t make pigs out of yourself on the first trip. If there’s not enough for seconds, which would surprise me knowing her, you can order pizza later!” Apollo said.
Chopper, who was included in this meeting, added, “You can plan on that for dinner Saturday night since I won’t be here to cook for you!”
“Prez, Misty asked about work and she told me that several of the women have asked too. They are bored just hanging out all day every day. Does anyone have any ideas or anything planned for them to do?” Scope asked.
“I’m glad you asked. Tori wanted to work until she found out how much was involved in her duties as queen for the club and then we found out she was pregnant, which has slowed her down but she’s doing the best she can. We men don’t realize how much is involved with that job.
With the holidays coming up, they are going to be involved with decorations and such but that doesn’t produce income for them and Tori has stated that it’s a topic that bothers the women. They want to be productive and not a burden to the club or us husbands.” Apollo said.
“Commendable.” Riggs said.
“Grateful.” Flash said. He was always one to carefully watch his finances and even though he didn’t complain about it, Gloria was spending money on the baby now and the expenses were mounting.
“Well, before we can formulate a plan for them, we need to find out what their interests are. Katie and Evelyn have their jobs. And Autumn is the nurse for the club. Do any of the other women have interests or skills they can work away from home or better yet that they can do here and perhaps sell? Granted, Autumn went to school to be a nurse and none of the other women are as trained as she is but that doesn’t stop them from being able to help out in the infirmary with some training.
Chopper has Evan but as the club grows, it becomes more work than even the two of them can handle and I’m sure they would appreciate the help. Our problem is that they will rightly expect to be paid for their efforts and that is where we run into trouble. We need to figure out a way to bring in more income and it would be great if we could work it so that we kill two birds with one stone.
There are currently 16 women in the house full time. Evelyn, Katie, Autumn and Tori are already “employed”. That leaves 12 women. Flash I don’t expect Gloria to work because she’s pregnant. Also Darcy has Toby and Brandi has Aurora so that’s 3 more down. That leaves 9 women.
If they would agree to take over the clubwhores jobs, they could rotate and we could kick our maid problem to the curb and just pay them for keeping the house clean and you unclaimed men can just go to town when you need relief or invest in vaseline.” Apollo teased.
“Now, the next thing I want to discuss is something new that I’ve just started investigating but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.
It’s always bothered me that while we accept boys over the age of 15 to prospect for the club, we’ve kind of always turned our backs on teenage girls and young women.
Well since Jason, Michael and Guardian have now found their soulmates in young women whom we normally would have sent to the group home, that’s changing and in my opinion, it’s something we should have done long before now.
Recently I found out that Matty and Noah’s new father sits on a board that awards grant money to organizations that they deem worthy of receiving funds to help with things they need, especially if they have to do with children.
Now I don’t know if we are going to qualify or not yet but he’s going to put a proposal to the board to award us some of those funds out of money they have left over for this year. It might not be enough to do the entire project right away but he seems to think it will at least get us started.
If this goes through, it’s going to mean building a smaller and separate version of our building expansion that we already have planned for next year.
This new project will have multi-use classrooms, living, dining and kitchen spaces much like our ground floor main rooms now but on a smaller scale. Sleeping quarters will be on the second floor and while I don’t want jail cell types of rooms, they will not be as lavish as our bedrooms now. These rooms are to be functional but not so comfortable that the girls will treat them like long term residences.
There will be a secure room downstairs in their basement like we currently have for when we go into lockdown. It’s very likely that we will hire outside staff for things like a nurse to be on duty 24/7, possibly a house mother like there are in college dorms, a cook to train the girls how to cook and maybe even some teachers. That’s an area I’m hoping our women can do.
We all assume that females just instinctively know how to take care of a baby but that’s one of the big reasons so many girls out there nowadays don’t have a clue what it takes to not only have but to care for a child.
Some of these kids, boys and girls, are running around making babies without any thought of what happens when they have unprotected sex and end up with a kid that they can’t take care of. Regular schools aren’t equipped or aren’t able to be blunt about not only how babies are made but about how to take care of a baby once it’s here. Hell, most of them can’t even take care of themselves.
And schools are seriously dropping the ball when it comes to teaching kids the basics. Too many kids are just being “passed on” because of overcrowding and teachers are burned out or the fact that too many teachers just don’t give a damn anymore and just think of themselves as babysitters for a paycheck.
Now this brings me to something else. We’ve kind of slacked off on making sure the prospects are getting their highschool diplomas’ or GEDs. Sarge, you need to schedule time for the boys to do their online classes as well as time to study until they achieve their GED. They need to understand that it is mandatory and that it may mean their prospect time will be extended beyond the standard 6 months. I also need to know where each of the prospects stand in their training.
Trainers, I know you guys normally keep the information in your heads and as much as I hate paperwork, I just don’t have the time to be able to stay in the gym to access their skills and I need to be able to see where each of them stand.
We’ve got a bunch of them that are already 18 and will be eligible for their patches in January but only if they have graduated or achieved their GED and passed their training and have earned the right to receive a patch and will be allowed to join our family.
We need to make it clear that just because they are 18 and have been here for the required 6 months, that doesn’t mean they automatically qualify for a patch. The executive committee will be coming up with a test that every prospect is going to need to pass.
It will include not only their completed high school diploma or GED certificate but proficiency in guns, including maintenance and shooting with both a pistol and a rifle. The different levels of using a knife. Their boxing, weight lifting, etc. We need to start up the defensive driving and riding course again. We’ve gotten very lax with that one and with as many women as we have now, we need all of the prospects to know how to get them home safely since they normally do the driving when the women go out.
This winter, I’ve decided that I’m going to hold a club wide competition that we’re all going to participate in that will include the same skills that we have been training them to do and compete against each other. This competition will not be just for the prospects.
I propose that all of the members of this club will compete to prove your skills. Patched members competition will be on an advanced level so you had all better work on your skills. From what I’ve been hearing, Billy, who has not been here for months, has been scaring the crap out of some of you with his stealth skills.” Apollo said.
“Yeah, I almost squashed him the other day for coming up on me without announcing himself and making me jump and spill my coffee.” Atlas admitted. “He’s also gotten to be pretty badass with a knife and gun, both a pistol and a rifle. He goes out back of Aunt Nita’s and practices on his break almost every day. He’s also teaching Nicole how to do some of it.”
“I’m not going to say Nicole is not allowed to learn and that’s a fight for between her and her parents. Riggs, where do we stand on clearing the land for the cabins Aunt Nita wants for her workers?” Apollo asked.
“The trees are down and most of the stumps have been cleared but I’m not sure we’re going to make it to put the water lines in. She wants gas lines for them as well and that has to be done before we can start building and with as cold as it’s been, I don’t think we’re going to make it, at least not for all of them.” Riggs said.
“She’s still doing the duplexes, right?” Apollo asked.
“Sort of. They will be staggered corner to corner instead of side by side. I’ve already told her that we could move faster and get more done if she would just do one long building of rooms that are side by side but she seems to be leaning towards making individual cabins.” Riggs told him.
“Monitor! When is your wedding?” Apollo asked.
“Sunday afternoon. That way Aunt Nita and her crew can come. Plus we’ve finally convinced Toby that we are not going to leave him forever so we’re not going to waste time and go before he and Darcy change their minds and I end up spending my honeymoon at Disneyland with a two-year-old and Mickey and Donald.” Monitor replied and of course there was some good natured ribbing and comments made, some with cartoon character voices, along with lots of laughter.
“I have something I need to talk to you about so hang back when we’re done, please, Monitor.” Apollo said then added. “Does anyone have something they need to discuss in church?”
When no one replied, he added “Remember, talk to your women about whether or not they want jobs and if they do, what do they want to do. Please remember, I need an assistant!” Apollo banged his gavel.
