Intersecting Lines Book 3
36 The Farm Visit
Olivia's viewpoint
If there was a place farthest from New York, I think I'd found it. Cheyenne in Wyoming was everything NYC wasn't; flat, low, wide open and full of farms.
Nat and Ana had insisted we come with them for the weekend, 'to submerge in home and family' as Nat put it. I'd wanted to object, but Jane just looked at me and shook her head slowly.
"Liv, just go with the flow on this, trust me" I'd frowned and let it drop at the time but cornering her later I'd asked what was going on. She'd just smiled a bit and leaned back against the bench in the kitchen. "Liv, I kinda felt the same way before we visited, but Nat's family are pretty amazing, I can see now why she turned out the way she did. Maura loves it out there, she's never really told me what Christie said to her but she can't wait to go back" She shrugged and continued. "It feels a lot like family there" I frowned.
"Alex is my family, you know that" Jane nodded.
"Yep, and me and mine are Maura's, 'specially given her parents don't approve of us being together, but there's something about Peter and Christie, Nat's parents, that make their place feel like being home" She shrugged. "Besides, Alex and Maura have already agreed, so it's not like we have a choice" I grimaced.
"Whipped, I swear, if I didn't love her…" Jane just nodded, a rueful smile breaking through.
"Yeah, I know" She shrugged. "Besides, they want you to meet their parents before we head out there again for the wedding, so…" She let it die off as I nodded. Nat and Ana would be getting married in Wyoming and they wanted us there so we we're be heading out into flyover country, no dodging it.
That had been three weeks ago, now here I was, somewhere in the middle of the endless Mid-west farm belt. Looking around, once we got away from Denver with the Rockies close, everything was flat; the sky seemed enormous, reaching from one distant, empty horizon to the other. It was pretty overwhelming for a kid from New York, all that vast, open, empty ground.
In the terminal we were met by two people I recognised from a Skype chat last Christmas and photos at Nat and Ana's place, Natalie's dad Peter; late 50s, tall, fit and tanned, blue eyes and blonde hair with a few early streaks of silver, the other was her sister Lauren. Even if I hadn't seen her picture I'd have known; way too similar in looks to Natalie, the same thick blonde hair, clear blue eyes, she was an inch or so taller than Nat even, as gorgeous as her sister.
Natalie threw herself into her father's arms as Ana hugged Lauren tight, both babbling delighted greetings before swapping partners, as Jane and Maura stood there, smiles on their faces, while Alex and I exchanged a glance. Finally they came up for air long enough to talk.
"I didn't know you'd be here…" It was Natalie. "…how come you made it?" Lauren smiled.
"When I spoke to mom and she told me, I had to be here, so I took some time off, got in yesterday and wanted it to be a surprise" Natalie and Lauren exchanged another hug as Ana grinned.
Meanwhile her father had dragged Maura into a hug, not quite as bone crushing as the one he'd given the others, but pretty close. I was surprised to see him kiss her cheek and her do the same as she smiled happily. I glanced at Alex to see her holding herself very still, that look she has in the courtroom when she's just been surprised by the defence but doesn't want to show it.
Maura stepped back as he turned, pulling Jane into a hug as well, maybe that was what they did instead of handshakes out here? Meanwhile Lauren was doing the same to Maura, then standing back holding her at arm's length, looking her over.
"Jeans Maura, I swear we're a bad influence" Maura just smiled.
"I believe the saying is when in Rome…" She smiled, obviously pleased at remembering the aphorism. Nat turned to face us.
"Dad, Lauren, these are our friends Alex and Olivia" I braced for a hug but instead he reached out his hand as I found myself appraised by a set of clear blue eyes.
"It's a pleasure to me you both. We've heard a lot about you both…" He nodded at Ana and Natalie. "…from these chatterboxes" His hand was work-roughened and warm, a lot of strength there but his handshake was gentle. Turning he looked Alex over then ran his eyes over me before speaking. "I don't know what they're putting in the water these days but it's turning out beautiful women" He smiled at Alex's blush as they shook hands. Lauren smiled as we shook hands too; she really was beautiful, just like her sister.
"Welcome to Denver, you're going to love it out here" She turned and smiled at Alex as they shook hands. "You need to keep an eye on her..." She nodded in my direction. "She's gonna turn heads, well you both are" I could feel my cheeks warm as Alex's blush deepened. Before we could reply Peter rescued us, laughing.
"Stop embarrassing our visitor's girl. C'mon, let's get your bags and head on home; there's food waiting for us"
We ended up splitting up, with Ana, Maura and Jane in one SUV driven by Peter while Lauren drove Natalie and us in another for the hour plus drive across the state border to their place.
As we drove out of the Denver suburbs and up the CanAm Highway, the feeling of open space grew even more evident as the mountains visible in the distance fell away, the highway stretching out to the horizon behind and in front of us, with only some trees and power lines to break the clear line where sky met ground. I actually found it a little intimidating to be honest; I'd always been a child of the city, this much wide open empty space felt oppressive, as ridiculous as it sounded, I could feel it weighing down on me.
Lauren and Natalie chattered away, happily dragging us along in their conversation; apparently Lauren was a physical therapist, working with veterans who'd been injured, many of them in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Based in Washington DC, she casually mentioned she'd seen us on television during the trial and thanked Alex for defending gay people, especially gay girls, in the courtroom. It seemed like Alex's work had really made an impact far and wide.
We'd barely crossed the Wyoming border when we'd followed the other SUV and turned off the highway onto a secondary road, then onto another which had wound between large farms, lots of cattle and horses, though there were also a lot of wind turbines, something I hadn't really expected. Turning off the road into a long gravel driveway we'd driven between fenced paddocks full of cows and pulled up in front of a well-maintained and surprisingly large old-style wooden house. Getting out of the car we found a blonde woman waiting for us, older but still lovely, you could easily see the resemblance, plus where Nat and Lauren's looks had come from.
She was immediately engulfed in hugs and kisses from Nat and Ana, it went on for a few seconds with whispered words all round before she disentangled herself from the crush and held her arms out to Maura.
"Come here dear one, it's been too long" Maura quickly stepped up to the porch and was engulfed in the same loving hug that Nat and Ana had just received. Finally it ended and she turned to Jane. "It's lovely to see you again Jane" They exchanged a smile before Christie held her arms out. "Oh come here you" Jane's smile widened as she stepped forward and another round of hugs, only slightly less crushing than the previous ones, ensued before Jane stepped back, smiling a little shyly, getting a sly grin from Christie before she turned her eyes on us.
"You must be Olivia and Alex" I nodded as Alex spoke up.
"It's lovely to meet you Mrs Dearing" She got a mock scolding.
"Don't you Mrs Dearing me young lady, that's for old folks" she held her arms wide. "Come here Alex" Alex stepped forward and got wrapped in a slightly less enthusiastic hug, but only by degree, Christie whispered something in Alex's ear that made her smile and let her go as they smiled at each other before she turned to me.
"And this has to be Olivia" I got a lovely warm smile and before I knew it I was wrapped in a 'mom' hug, all warmth and back rubs and comfort. "It's so good to see you Olivia, I've heard so many wonderful things about you" I could feel my cheeks warm slightly and stepped back.
"That's Nat, she can't help embellishing everything with her PR spin" At my comment I got a sceptical look.
"Perhaps" She smiled and shrugged. "Perhaps not" She looked to her three daughters and husband. "Get our guest's bags inside please, there's coffee and hot apple pie waiting in the kitchen, the sooner everything's settled the sooner we get to it" I went to help but Christie shook her head.
"No dear one, that's their job, you're our guests so I'll show you your room, the bathroom, that sort of thing, then we can catch up with them in the kitchen" She ushered us and Maura and Jane inside into what was a warm, homey house, one that felt like something from a family television show, plenty of rooms, plenty of space, lots of pictures of Nat and Lauren growing up, plus more recent ones, I spotted a candid one of a younger Nat interviewing someone on camera, another of Lauren, surrounded by a group of men and women in military uniforms, and there were a few obviously recent ones of Ana too.
On one wall in the main hall I saw a collection of three portrait shots, one of Nat in a LAPD Air Wing jacket and LAPD ball cap smiling at the camera, a formal portrait of Ana from her Army days looking older than her years in a full dress army uniform, her hair in a tight bun and medals on her chest. Next to it was a shot of Lauren in a medical white coat with her name on the breast above the Johns Hopkins Crest, all in all it looked like a house owned by proud parents. One in the family room above the fireplace was obviously new, it showed Nat, Ana and Lauren grouped around Maura and Jane, all warmly rugged up outside in the light of a fire; they were all smiling, relaxed and cheerful.
We were shown our room, complete with big double bed piled high with doona's and covers and pillows, window looking out over the fields; the pot-belly combustion heater in one corner of the room attesting to how cold it got in winter here, then into a bathroom with a shower, an old-fashioned claw foot bath and a huge assortment of towels folded and waiting as Christie explained that while the house had plenty of bedrooms, one doing double duty as her and Peter's offices and another as a library, there were fewer bathrooms so we'd be sharing one with Jane and Maura.
We were then led into a large and welcoming kitchen, the room filled with the smell of fresh-baked blueberry pie, I couldn't help it, my mouth started watering at the aroma, looking to Alex I saw her surreptitiously licking her lips and swallowing. Christie must have noticed as she started laughing.
"Now that's exactly the response a cook wants to see. Help me get the coffee mugs and plates set out and as soon as the other's get here we'll get started" she directed as I noticed a high end coffee machine on a bench top off to one side, Christie must have seen me as she explained. "That's a present from Ana and Nat, they've turned into quite the coffee snobs nowadays" She grinned. "Wouldn't be caught dead drinking instant coffee these days" I smiled as Alex spoke up.
"Nothing wrong with good coffee" Christie cast a side eye her way from where she was pulling a large apple pie out of the oven, sending even more mouth-watering aroma's through the kitchen.
"So you know how to drive the contraption Alex?" Alex nodded, getting a smile. "In that case if you don't mind, I've switched it on but it needs to be prepared and I don't normally use it" She shrugged. "Normally Ana is the one driving it but if you'd like to get it going…" Alex and Maura exchanged a look and smiled before Alex replied.
"Sure" They headed over to the high-end espresso machine and got it up and running as happy voices filtered in from down the hall, shortly after footsteps announced the Dearing clan as they piled into the kitchen, Nat already speaking.
"Oh yeah, pie!" she was already making a bee line for the pie with a happy smile on her face when her mom spoke up.
"Oh no you don't young lady, see to our guests first" Nat threw her mom a filthy look and stuck her tongue out, unfortunately Christie saw it. "Just for that, you get the last piece" That got smiles and sniggers from everyone else as Lauren pulled a big bowl of whipped cream out of the refrigerator and headed for the table, even as Ana drifted over to the coffee machine, joining the barista's there, they soon had a production line running and coffees being handed out as Christie expertly sliced up servings of blueberry pie for Nat and Lauren to dish out.
For a few minutes there wasn't much talking, just appreciative noises as we ate what turned out to be really great, old-fashioned home-made blueberry pie with fluffy pastry, lashings of rich whipped cream and good quality coffee. I had to say, it was worth all that endless sky and openness to sit down to something like this, good food, good company and a feeling of home. Watching Christie and Peter with Nat, Lauren and Ana, I have to say I felt a little twinge of jealousy, this was the sort of home I'd wanted to have when I was growing up, full of laughter and happiness and love.
Alex must have noticed it, she reached out and laid her hand on mine, grabbing my attention, the warm smile she turned on me soothing me, no matter what my past, this was my perfect present, she was perfect and I was perfectly happy here with her.
It turned out the pie was substitute for lunch, with us scheduled to have a big dinner. In the meantime Nat, Maura and Alex had gone riding with Lauren while Jane and Ana had gone shopping with Christie for some extra veggies and other stuff for tonight's dinner, apparently Peter had meat slow roasting on a rotisserie over a fire pit all day, leaving me at a bit of a loose end, I didn't ride, not horses anyway. I'd offered to go shopping but Peter had asked me for a hand so I followed him out of the house and into one of several barns scattered around the house where he didn't beat around the bush.
"I understand you like classic cars Olivia?" he asked as I nodded agreeably.
"Yep, bought a 65 Mustang convertible years ago, don't get to drive it as much as I'd like in New York's traffic" I said, drawing a nod.
"Only been there once myself. I was in the Wyoming Air National Guard. Got called up for Desert Shield back in 1990, shipped out for Saudi Arabia and did the whole Desert Storm op. On the way home we came back though the east coast and had two days transit leave so a few of us went to visit New York" He said then shrugged. "Did the tourist thing, place felt a bit like a disturbed ants nest to be honest" I smiled, not a bad description actually, especially for someone from out here.
"Anything you did like?" My question drew a wide smile.
"Yep, looking down those big long streets lined with skyscrapers, I finally got to see how Spiderman could work, you really could get everywhere swinging from high buildings" I had to laugh, that wasn't the answer I'd expected at all. He grinned at me, before turning into the rest of the barn.
"Given I heard you like classic cars I thought you might like these" He led me towards two mounds covered by sheets. At his gesture we pulled the sheet back on the first mound together, revealing a small creamy-white sports car. Stepping back I saw the wire spoke wheels, definitely an old English car, maybe from the 60s. Walking round the rear I smiled at the Jaguar badge.
"Nice" He smiled.
"1959 E Type Jaguar" He ran his hands over the paint, walking towards the front. As I followed him I could see the car was minus the right hand side wheels and looking inside some of the interior was missing. Peter lifted the long hood, showing a partially assembled engine. At my raised eyebrow he smiled. "It's actually rebuilt from two badly damaged donors, it's a gift for Lauren's 30th birthday" I nodded, leaning on the car and inspecting the engine bay, smiling; it may have been in pieces but every part there gleamed like new, looking closely at the body you couldn't see any sign of where one car ended and the other started.
"All your work?" He nodded as he explained.
"Pretty much, except for the body rebuild, I got a buddy in town to do that for me, it's not something I'm comfortable doing but Tony's an artist at it. I restored Natalie's MGB for her birthday, only fair that I do the same for Lauren" He smiled. "Have a look at this one" He led me to the second, smaller sheet-covered lump, which turned out to be an original 1960s or 70s Mini, also partially restored. I looked up and smiled.
"A present for Ana?" He returned my smile and nodded.
"Hopefully it'll be finished for her 35th" I wandered around the little blue Mini, seeing the Cooper S badge on the trunk, the spotlight-laden bars across the front, it too was partially restored.
"That's a damned nice pair of birthday presents" He turned to look at me.
"When we started turning more and more of the farm over to the wind energy people we had to scale back some of the farming we were doing" He shrugged. "I had time on my hands and this keeps me busy" He turned and walked over to a workbench, bending over to open a small bar fridge, digging out two beer bottles before walking back to me and handing one over. We twisted open the tops and tapped our bottles together before taking a sip. I smiled at the taste; it was nice though I didn't recognize the label. Peter smiled as he saw me frowning at the bottle. "A micro-brewery here in Cheyenne makes them, not bad eh?"
"Not bad at all" I said, we stood there for a moment before he spoke again, indicating the Mini with the hand holding the bottle.
"The Jag's worth a lot more but this one has a bit of a pedigree, it's one of the backup stunt cars they used for the original Michael Caine movie the Italian Job" I nodded, I remembered that movie, it was a true classic; Peter saw my nod and smiled as he continued. "It was brought to the US to promote the movie and ended up in the hands of a collector" He shrugged. "When he died it passed through a few hands before it turned up in a deceased estate auction about two years ago. I watch the auction notices online and decided to make the trip down to Texas where I crawled all over it" He grinned at me, obviously pleased as punch at the story. "I checked the car's serial number and realised what it was, so I was prepared to push hard on the bidding" He winked. "The auction house hadn't done all their homework; they had it as a Mini Cooper S, a classic but not famous, with a lot of the mechanicals badly rusted and corroded, plus most of the bidding interest was in a couple of beautiful Ferrari's so I was able to get it for an almost reasonable price" I smiled at his good work.
"Nice one" He nodded.
"I had to hire a trailer to get it back here from Texas, then there was a hell of a lot of work needed to get it to the point the engine would turn over, plus a lot of the parts needed to be sourced, some couldn't be found for love or money here in the States, well not at anything like a reasonable price and bringing in the parts from England was a quick way to go broke, what with postage costs from there, so a friend of mine in town machined replacements" He shrugged. "It won't win car competitions as it's not completely original and genuine, but Ana will be getting a car that's reliable, goes round corners like it's on rails and that's as fast as a scalded cat"
At his wave we wandered over to the car and he lifted the hood to look into the Mini's engine bay. I saw it was spotlessly clean but still obviously needed work, as he looked up at me and spoke.
"You work on your Mustang or just drive her?" I shrugged.
"Work on her when I can, don't have as much time as I used to" He looked at me for a moment and then smiled.
"I've got a couple of jobs a second pair of hands would help with" He raised his eyebrows at me. "Not exactly something I can ask Ana to help me with, you up for it?" I thought about it for all of two seconds.
"Sure"
The next few hours passed quickly as we worked on getting the gearbox of the Mini in place. Peter turned out to be a good listener; he seemed to just encourage you to tell him anything, never pushing, occasionally asking a question to keep the conversation going. Before you knew it we were both elbow deep in grease in the Mini's engine bay as we talked about all sorts of things, his history, mine, how he'd met Christie, how I'd met Alex, stories about Lauren and Natalie growing up which led to him asking and me telling him about growing up. I guessed that he'd heard some of my back story from Nat and Ana so I told him the truth, at which point he'd stopped working, just resting on the bodywork and listening. I looked up but there was no judgment there, just compassion. With a nod he stepped away after I'd finished, wiped his hands and wandered back with two more beers, opening one and handing it to me as he spoke.
"Olivia, I find it hard to comprehend a mother not desperately loving her daughter, I understand the issues with how you were born, but you weren't responsible" I swallowed at his words, spoken without rancor or judgment or pity.
"She didn't see it that way" I eventually said, drawing a nod.
"Like I said, I don't understand it, but everyone's different" He shrugged. "From all that the girls have told me about you, you're one hell of a person, they speak very, very highly of you" I looked up at him but he was looking into the Jag's engine bay as he continued. "Nat and Ana both have excellent judgment, I trust them implicitly and all they're telling me is that you're someone anyone would be proud to call their daughter" I tried to speak, but there was a sudden lump in my throat. Peter must have seen it and nodded slowly, taking a sip from his bottle then continuing. "Olivia, I have three daughters, two we raised and one we kinda adopted after her dad died, with Christie they are the most important things in my life, all I care is that they're happy"
"They are that, well Nat and Ana" I shrugged. "Can't say about Lauren" He smiled, a little lopsidedly.
"Lauren will be, she just needs to find the right person and settle down, same as Nat has" I tipped my head at that comment, thinking back to Lauren's comment in the car, thanking Al for defending gay girls.
"You'd be happy if she brought home a girl too?" He shrugged.
"If she was the right person, treated her right and made her happy, I would be" He looked at me. "One of my relatives asked about that, said it meant no grandkids, but I'd already had that talk with the girls, they set me straight that being gay didn't mean no kids and I was happy to do the same for my cousin" I smiled, a little wistfully.
"Not everyone's so accepting about their daughter being with a woman" He nodded slowly.
"Like Maura's parents, Alex's too I understand" At my sharp look he smiled. "Nat and Ana care about you, they were not real happy about the idea that a mother or a father wouldn't love their kid, especially about who they loved" He shook his head as I smiled; his daughter and her partner were great people, looks like they had good parents too.
"They're good friends" He nodded slowly.
"I'd be disappointed if they weren't, that's not how they were raised" He shrugged. "They all turned out okay, better than okay in fact. Olivia, I could not possibly be prouder of my daughters"
"You're lucky" He nodded.
"That I am" He looked my way. "In a way I'm super lucky, I have three daughters now and Ana's just like Lauren and Nat" He stood up from leaning on the Jag's fender and stretched back, obviously his back was a bit tight. He groaned a little as he bent way, way back then gave a little half smile, obviously that had helped, before he looked back at me. "Ana's dad and I talked a lot, on the phone and via email after they got together. He was concerned about his daughter, not about being with Natalie, just making sure that if anything happened to him that we'd look after her" He looked at me. "I wanted the same thing in case something happened to me and Christie" He took a pull on his beer. "I never actually met Tim in the flesh but he was a good father" He shrugged gently. "Look at the daughter he raised…anyway we agreed that for all intents and purposes we both had three daughters and that we'd treat all of them as our own flesh and blood" I nodded as he stood there watching me.
"So that's how I ended up with three daughters" I nodded and took another sip of the beer, it was nice, but I could tell it had plenty of alcoholic content so I was pacing myself then spoke up.
"Looking forward to the wedding obviously" He threw me a grin.
"Heck yeah, about time they stopped messing about and made it official" he said. "Christie's excited as anything" He glanced my way. "She was also excited to meet you and Alex, she'd heard so many good things about you both, first from the girls and later from Maura and Jane" I smiled, a little embarrassed.
"I hope we lived up to the hype" I pulled a face. "Mind you it is Nat, she can't help putting her PR gloss on everything" Peter just looked at me and smiled, slowly shaking his head, until, at my questioning look, he explained.
"In all the years that my daughters have been living away from here, they've only brought five people home. Natalie brought Anastasia home after they got together, seeing how happy they were, how good they were for each other, we had no problem accepting her"
"I'm surprised, I mean wasn't it hard, seeing her with a woman?" I asked, he pulled a face at the memory then replied.
"Initially Christie and I were surprised, but once we got over ourselves, well we could see how good they were together, how happy they were, at the end of the day that's all we could possibly ask for, that our daughters are happy" I nodded, thinking about how lucky they were to have parents like them, even as he continued. "The only other people they've brought home are Maura and Jane and now you and Alex" He smiled. "Looks like they have good instincts…and better friends" I looked down into the engine bay as I felt my cheeks warm a little, even as he continued.
"It's like Maura's parents, them not accepting her and Jane together" He shook his head slowly as I looked up at him, not surprised that they'd told him all about that, he'd just proved that with me; he'd been able to draw all sorts of things out of me simply with a gentle word and a soft, encouraging smile. Peter might have made a good therapist; god knows he knew how to listen as well as give good advice. "I cannot understand a parent turning away from their daughter for being happy. God knows seeing Nat and Ana happy is one of the great joys of my life, Christie's too" I nodded slowly.
"I know what you mean, Alex's parent's didn't approve of us being together either" I shrugged. "They had plans for their daughter that didn't include me"
"I can kinda understand that, if it was like Maura, her parents had some expectations about marrying the right person, from the right slice of high society then turn into a baby factory, all the while being quietly miserable doing it" I glanced at him sharply, that had been a very…informed comment, drawing a shrug. "Christie is very fond of Maura, and it sounds like her and Alex were supposed to have the same destiny, until fate stepped in"
"Al discovered she was gay young, then spent most of her life hiding it, I think it was a relief when she didn't have to hide it anymore" He nodded slowly.
"Yeah, Ana's told me a little about being gay in the military in the age of don't ask, don't tell" He pulled a face. "The military's a very traditional place, makes sense I guess, so they don't change all that quick, and gay soldiers are still seen as an issue" He looked over at me. "Can't help when the bulk of the military's made up of macho alpha male warriors"
"From what I understand she was making it work, at least till she had to walk away and even then she made Major in spite of everything" I commented.
"Point, but she was happier out than in after everything that happened" He shrugged. "Not that she's complaining, that experience with the army is the basis for who and what she is today" He smiled. "The Bureau's a little more forgiving to gay women" I nodded.
"The NYPD and the LAPD too" I smiled. "Plus Al works with another DA and she's gay too"
"That'd be the other DA during the trial?" I nodded and he continued. "Yeah, saw her, she and Alex did a damned good job, despite everything that happened" I looked down into the engine bay, seeing thee gearbox now firmly seated in place and bolted in, a nice piece of work well done, if I say so myself.
"Yeah, happy to see that all behind them"
"I understand, it must have been hard for the others, to have people come after them, to want to hurt them, something I understand you're not unfamiliar with either" I looked up, wondering how the hell he knew about that. He must have seen the question in my eyes because he held his hand up. "Jane and Ana told me, they're awfully proud of their best friend, that's she's someone who'll do anything for the one they love, just like them" I played it down.
"It was him or me, well me and Alex" He nodded slowly then reached out his bottle towards me in invitation, I tapped mine and he spoke.
"To protecting the ones we love" I nodded and we sipped our beers for a moment, we stood there for a few seconds, in the quiet barn, before he spoke again.
"We would love to have you back out here again" He shrugged slightly. "Like I said Christie's very fond of Maura and think's Jane is great, I've no doubt that by the end of this weekend she will have much the same opinion of you both too, based on everything we've heard and seen" I flushed a little at that even as he continued.
You'll always have a place here Olivia. Now I know you and Alex have a life of your own in New York and now LA and I understand that, but a small part of that life can be here in Wyoming. Christie and I would be honored to know that you would feel comfortable visiting us whenever you want" I wasn't sure how to take that, so I bought some time.
"Thank you, that's really kind, especially when you don't really know us" He turned that down straight off.
"Like I said, Natalie and Ana have excellent judgment, Lauren too; most of that comes from Christie; she's always been really good with people. Christie thinks you're both wonderful and wonderful friends to our daughters, so that kinda makes it unanimous amongst the Dearing women" He leaned back and regarded me as he continued. "Now let me tell you a little something I've learned over the years Olivia; when it comes to arguments, I don't win too many with Christie and I sure as hell ain't going up against all four of them, not on something they consider important" He took a sip of his beer then looked over at me.
"They all consider you and Alex very, very important"