Fair 10

Disclaimer: Not mine.

The rush of emotion through Marron almost melted her. He had come to share this ordeal, to give her his strength and sureness. She was not alone.

She moved over and he calmly sat beside her, taking her hand in his as he gave his attention to Rev. Empitsu.

It took awhile for Marron to organize her thoughts and emotions enough to make sense out of the preacher's words. But her awareness was caught by how still that diverse congregation sat. There were no rustlings, no coughs, no whispers - just dead silence.

Their sermon was on being one's brother's keeper; the responsibility and the privileges, and the direction such responsibility should take. It was constructive help. The preacher's voice was pleasant. He spoke as an adult to adults. He said what he had to say in fourteen of the allotted twenty minutes, and when he was finished, he stopped.

When the service was over, he said, "We are just a little early. Let's try to use this time for fellowship." Then he blessed them all.

He went to stand in the door to greet them all, and spoke to each one of them as he shook hands. Had he wanted to, he couldn't have made the rest leave, not until they heard what he said to Marron and her lover. The congregation edged around, trying not to be crowded out of earshot. They made idle conversation with the people they saw almost everyday, and to some everyday was far too often.

"Good morning, Marron." Rev. Empitsu smiled and took her hand. "And?" He waited to be introduced to Trunks. Then he shook Trunks' hand and said, "I am curious-" And ears strained. "About a project you may be implementing here in Peach. How may I help?"

"When do you have time?"

"Next week?" They nodded to one another in agreement. Then Rev. Empitsu said to Marron, " Wonder if you could help me. I have an aunt who is writing a piece about small towns and she needs a place to stay in Peach. Could you help her be settled here?"

Marron smiled, understanding exactly what he was doing for her. She said, "Would she mind staying at our house?"

He took her hand. "She would be delighted. My thanks."

Trunks touched the reverend's shoulder. "Dinner next Sunday? You would have the opportunity to see how your aunt is coming along."

"Excellent." Then he looked beyond Trunks and said his usual greeting to her. "Well, Henko, how did I do today?" He smiled as he anticipated what on earth Henko Taido would reply.

As they left, the ordinary comments given them were as if there had been no censure. It was an amazing thing. One man had done it. No, two men. While Rev. Empitsu had helped her, it was Trunks who had come to her. Marron was bordering on tears all the way back to their house.

So was Trunks. His sudden realization of what she thought she might face, alone, had made him frantically scramble to find a clean shirt. He'd had to sit in church biting the inside of his lip to control his own hostile, protective emotion. Then to hear such a sermon. But the crowning incident had been when Marron welcomed Rev. Empitsu's aunt to "our" house. Whether she knew it or not, she had told her pastor that she and Trunks were an accepted unit. Did she realize she'd said that?

He took her hand as they walked down the street. "You said 'our' house."

"Did I?" She was still recovering from all that had occurred that morning. "Well, you've been at the house longer that I have this week, and you've certainly made yourself at home! I've found it impossible to evict you."

He squeezed her hand. "Do you still want to?"

"I suppose one can become used to anything." She grinned, for she was recovering. "I've grown accustomed to your face."

He guessed. "You thought you were going to be burned at the stake."

"I was terrified."

"You didn't give me a clue until that porch 'curtain line.' You're supposed to tell me when you're worried or scared or need some help. I can't guess right all the time."

"You came."

"I'd have been there all along if I'd had any idea. Don't ever again leave me in the dark. Tell me."

"I didn't believe I had the right."

"Ah, Marron, I wish to Kami I knew how to convince you. Know I'm trying."

"Me too."

Rev. Empitsu's aunt called not long after that and asked when it would be convenient for her to arrive. Marron said, "Any time. Whenever it's convenient."

So Erasa Empitsu came just after three that afternoon. She was a surprise. A preacher's aunt sounds like someone small, old and prim. The woman who came was tall, younger than forty, and she moved with a great flair. Marron took one look at her and decided that the preacher hadn't meant his aunt as a chaperone but as competition! Marron bristled for all of four minutes.

Erasa wouldn't allow anyone to help her with her soft carryall or shoulder bag. She said, "Just point me to my room." She did allow Marron to lead the way to the last bedroom. Erase stood and looked around. "Looks like my own room. A woman who wasn't interested in possessions."

Marron looked around her mother's room in some surprise. "Yes," but she'd only then realized it.

"How nice of you to have me. This is a fascinating survey I'm working on. I do hope I'm not in the way."

"Did you fly in today?"

"Oh, no. I was visiting my nephew this week to inspect his new congregation."

"You are kind to come. Your nephew was the soul of kindness. This situation could have caused all sorts of complications, but he defused it nicely, and I appreciate your part in it. Are you actually doing a survey?"

"Actually." Erasa grinned. "Of course I hadn't planned to go this far south, but it will be an interesting contrast to the original premise."

She was easy to be with. She teased them. "You have to know you're not supposed to live in sin. And to try it here? Utter madness." She shook her head. "It's about the dumbest thing a woman can do in this place. She loses, no matter what."

Trunks complained with finely drawn indignation. "I am trying to rectify all this, but she's very stubborn. I am the wronged one. This Lorelei! No, wrong book. This Jezebel."

She? Marron Chestnut, a Jezebel? How amazing!

Trunks was going on. "She led me astray."

Marron gave him a very patient look. He was sitting there sprawled like a pirate, contriving to look innocent! She intoned primly, "I don't think one week is long enough to know a man before marrying him!"

Erasa exclaimed, "A week?" And she laughed. I thought, when my nephew called, that I was in for a dull time. You must admit central Mango is not like Pineapple City."

Marron could see how Erasa would think that. "It's like Trunks and Sharpener. Quite, quite different." She rested her eyes on Trunks.

Erasa inquired, "Sharpener?"

"Sharpener Staedler?"

"Oh?" Erasa raised her eyebrows in interest. "Connected to the artists?"

"No." Marron smiled at the thought. "His mother was Marka Staedler. Although if the Staedlers could see Sharpener draw, they would claim him."

"He's that good?"

"He's a lawyer," Trunks explained. "Somehow he'd slipped my mind. I wonder if my subconscious deliberately deleted him. When does he get back?"

"Sometime this week."

Erasa guessed. "Sharpener is the local you're usurping? This does get complicated."

Trunks said. "He's out of it."

Marron replied, "There's never been any commitment."

Erasa's eyes sparkled. "But he'll be surprised."

Marron discounted that. "He's never surprised."

But he was. When he arrived, he was certainly surprised.

Early Monday the helicopter blades whipped overhead and Trunks jumped from the breakfast table saying, "Great, they're early!" He went out of the house into his car, and left, leaving Marron to explain to Erasa who was coming and why.

This time Videl was with Gohan. He was so proud of her as he introduced her around. "She can stay here with me?"

"Of course. Trunks can take the morning room with Goten."

"Goten?" Trunks questioned. "Don't do this to me!"

"And you and Videl can have that room upstairs."

Gohan agreed. "Fine."

"Oh, no," Videl protested instantly. "We'll go to a hotel."

"It's been closed for." Marron tried to remember. "Oh, for a long time. This is no trouble. How long can you two stay?"

"Two days. My mother and dad are staying alone with the kids and they say that's as long as their sanity will survive."

Erasa asked, "Shall I take her up? We'll get it organized. Sheets in the hall closet, right?" The two disappeared.

Gohan said, "I've seen only glimpses of the town, but Videl will wallow in it. She loves old things, except for me. She's working on making me old. She's pregnant again." He gave his head one shake. "It's too soon."

Marron exclaimed, "The town will go crazy! We don't have any babies here. It will be wonderful!"

Goten said, "I think I'll look at that empty house down the street." There was the sound of the screen door opening and he added, "Well, hello, Paresu, I was just talking about you!" He went toward the front door and Paresu, both his hands out to take hers.

The three looked at each other. Goten hadn't said anything about Paresu. After one meeting was he already thinking of her in that house?

Realization startled Marron, who asked, "You're all going to live in Peach?"

"Oh, yes," Gohan replied. "This prairie will be the new Silicon Valley."

Marron turned to Trunks. "It's going to be high tech?"

"A beginning. We have good universities close enough. Good research and reference and problem solvers. But we're also considering the manufacturing of soft goods, and then we're investigating using this central location as a distribution center for supplies and packaged products. We're selecting the goods to be gathered, stored and distributed. We'll use the abandoned schoolhouse, and its gym, to begin with. Come into the study. Got those plans, Goten?"

Goten turned from looking at Paresu and said, "Huh?"

"The plans?"

"Oh, yes. Right here." He looked around. "There?"

All six moved into the study. Indicating Paresu, Gohan asked, "Has she been cleared?"

"By me," Goten replied. Then he took Paresu's hand and smiled at her.

Trunks said as he unrolled the plans on the desk, "We're going carefully. I believe this could go quite well."

"Diversified, in the way we've planned." Gohan mentioned, "We can use all sorts of skills."

"It's exciting." Marron looked at Trunks with shining eyes and he smiled at her, quite pleased.

"This shows how we can adapt the school to our needs."

The building was a twelve-grade, consolidated school built in the anticipation of a post World War II baby boom that never actually occurred. The exodus from Peach had already begun. But it was well built, and it could lend itself well to Trunks' projects.

There were one floor blue prints with very little modification. One central stairwell converted to a conveyor belt, with a lift on the outside wall at the landing for loading from or to the belt. There were new openings between two rooms, but very little else had been changed. They had the cafeteria, the lavatories, and the offices already there. It was simply a matter of adapting to the place.

In the next two days as the three men worked in the study, Henko Taido miraculously kept the paperwork in tidy order. Paresu took Erasa and Videl around the town. And Marron came in with Mrs. Shougeki to help, which the lady did with enthusiasm. She planned the meals, shopped and cooked. The six residents cleaned up. Erasa and Videl saw every resident in town. They compared impressions and notes, and laughed and chattered. Videl found the house she wanted and Gohan agreed with the choice.

Marron took them out to the Haven Farm pond, saying she'd asked permission from the family who lived there. But she didn't mention that she owned the farm. There they splashed and swam. So at night they went to bed early, feeling pleasantly weary and filled with the glow of accomplishment. The house was quickly silent.

Marron's bed was enormous. She slept heavily, her door unlocked, but Trunks didn't come near to her. He acted as if he never had. He took her hand in his as they stood together; he kissed her in front of the others. But the kisses were chaste, and his touches were respectful, while his lion eyes smoldered and threatened.

For as long as she could remember, Marron's house had always been a calm house. Until just ten days before, she'd lived there for years, quite alone. It had been quiet, serene. That was the past. There was a computer set up with its printer, and it squeaked and belled and clicked. The phone rang almost constantly, and other lines were installed. There were now phones that had buttons on them to change lines and to put people on hold and to talk to several at a time. It was all amazing. Very un-Peachlike.

It was a complicated period, and even as Marron found time to work on the committee to coordinate the preparations for the Peach county fair - scheduled before the end of the month - she would listen wherever there was conversation being held, but not much of it made any sense. They said a crew was working at the school, beginning the alterations, and it would be cleaned before they moved everything out of there.

Marron divided time with Erasa and Videl, and her cousin Paresu was always around. Marron could only smile tenderly over Paresu, for she was so in love with Goten. For Paresu there apparently wasn't any of the questioning or the timidity that had plagued Marron. Paresu and Goten took up their lives exactly as if they'd just been separated for a long time, knew each other perfectly and simply had diverse experiences to share. It was a marvelous thing to see.

Videl and Gohan left on Wednesday morning. Videl had a book of room measurements and some soft toys Trunks had told her she'd find them displayed at the wooden-floored general store. They were made locally, and as Trunks had discovered in his initial searching out of the town, it was a cottage industry, which might be expanded. Marron decided things aren't always apparent even right under one's nose.

So there weren't quite so many of them in the house when Sharpener finally came by. And he was surprised. He came to the door dressed in a casual suit with a summer tie, and he looked nice. In that setting he was pristine and excessively tidy.

Marron came into the entrance hall unexpectedly, en route to somewhere. She was in shorts and a rather skimpy halter Videl had forgotten. Marron was barefooted, which had become quite normal for her. She said, "Sharpener!" as he exclaimed in some reprimand "Why. Marron!" His tone raised Trunks' hackles, and he had the feeling - if it came to it- that he could very well wipe up the floor with Sharpener. With some pirate-like swagger, he went over and put his arm around Marron in a deliberately possessive claim, which the other man could not ignore.

Sharpener looked around like a visitor from some other planet who did not like where he'd landed, and he said, "Marron, I don't quite understand."

In all honesty, Marron replied, "Frankly, neither do I. This is Trunks Briefs, whom I met at a county fair over in Apricot."

Sharpener could not believe that. He nodded stiffly as Trunks deliberately let his ignored hand hang out there in space as he made a point.

What might have happened never did, for just then Erasa Empitsu came down the stairs - wearing a short-sleeved, sea-green shirtwaist - looking like a perfectly civilized woman. As she advanced into the center hall, where the three mute mannequins were standing, Erasa said, "Hello. You're Sharpener Staedler. I'm Erasa Empitsu, Marron's chaperone." She smiled like a woman in charge.

Somewhat mollified, Sharpener said, "Well."

But then Trunks put in, with a lazy barroom-demolishing pirate's voice, "The preacher stuck her in here to salvage the situation and try to save this Jezebel's reputation."

Sharpener gasped, but Marron laughed.

Trunks then grinned at her in delight, for he'd had no idea how she would react to his outrageous statement.

So Erasa agreed placidly, "Too true." Then she said to Sharpener, "Are you the son of Marka Staedler?" As she very well knew.

He turned away to leave, but he hesitated. "Why, yes."

I saw some of her paintings in a gallery in Pineapple City. They were magnificent!"

"Really! You're very kind."

Erasa flicked a quick look at Marron to judge her next move. And Marron grinned. So Erasa said, "Have you time for tea? Mrs. Shougeki has made an old-fashioned nut cake that begs for attention."

"Well." He cast a cool glance at Marron. She smiled. So he said, "Why not?"

"Assuredly." Erasa took his arm and led him into the dining room, where there was a cooling fan, and said, "Do take off that jacket and tie. We're quite casual here."

In the hall Trunks and Marron heard Sharpener reply, "I did notice that."

They heard Erasa's explanation. "It was as if lighting struck them, you know. No one can fight such instant attraction."

"At a fair, did she say?"

"Yes. Most romantic."

"Ah. You've a romantic heart."

"Never," Erasa denied. "One lump or two?"

In the hall, Trunks took Marron's hand and led her into the study. Phone, computer and printer were all going. Henko Taido was a serene pool of efficiency who gave them only a glance, but Trunks took Marron to the table set up against the wall. "It will be easier when we get into the offices out at the school. I want you to see these."

He lifted a covering revealing blueprints. "Can you understand blueprints?"

"Yes."

"Okay. This is a rough to show how the school building will be incorporated into an expanding unit in perhaps five years. And this is how it will be demolished and the space used for this plan in about ten years."

When she had studied and compared them and understood some of it all, she said to Trunks, "I can't believe I've known you for not quite two weeks. Look at all that's happened."

"There's much more that could come."

"That will be good for Peach."

"That's the purpose of building here. But, Marron, the town did suit. The odds will be great, and chances are it could become spectacular. That's why Shicho Machi must be involved. The town will need city planning so the expansion of Peach is controlled and supervised."

"That scares me."

"Why?" The word was only to encourage her to tell her fears. He worried constantly that perhaps she didn't want Peach to grow.

He said, "You could become very wealthy and want to move to other places. To live the fast life."

He smiled down at her and was amused. "No."

"Are you going to buy a house in Peach?"

He replied very seriously. "I have a house in Peach."

As happened more and more often, Trunks was called to the phone. Marron went up the stairs to her room to sit in a window. She loved Trunks, and she would marry him. He planned this amazing thing to happen in Peach, and he would need her. Her help.

He needed her. She would give all she could to make this project a success. She would give both farms but not the Haven Farm. That would eventually go to her father's second family in Vladivostok. She couldn't gamble their heritage. But the other two farms were hers. She would give them as a security to any loans Trunks needed. She would go to the bank and arrange things with Mr. Ginkou. Poor Mr. Ginkou.

But when she went to the bank that afternoon, and she asked not to have to endure the lecture about the Perils of Meeting Adventurers, Mr. Ginkou smiled and very easily agreed to everything. He even helped her to understand exactly what "acting as surety" entailed. After that she went to her lawyer to have a deed drawn up giving Trunks the meadow behind the school for his helicopter pad.

She returned home to find Sharpener had left. Erasa called Sharpener a "fine man."

The rest of the day and the next, Marron searched for the right time to be alone with Trunks. The opportunity didn't come by until late Friday afternoon. She was almost wild with frustration, but then she heard he'd gone out to the school and was alone there.

Since the phones were now installed at the school, she called and suggested she bring supper. He was pleased, since he was almost through for the day. Gohan had already left for the weekend. Goten and Erasa were going to Paresu's and meeting Sharpener there. Erasa had smiled s she mentioned that and explained, "One never discards a perfectly good man. One finds a place for him. I've just met a woman from Pineapple that he should meet."

Mrs. Shougeki divided the fried chicken into a picnic basket and added the other edibles. Marron chose wine and added a large bunch of seedless red grapes and carried them out to Emma. Then she ran up the stairs and put on the long cotton dress from the Apricot fair. She combed her hair perfectly, and in it she stuck the last two of the peacock feathers.

She called the family who lived on the Haven Farm, and the people who lived on the other side to tell them she would be at the pond, they would have a small fire, and she would be careful of it.

She picked up the deed and in its heavy vellum envelope, hesitated then took the Paw Prints quilt and, stepping into her moccasins, left her room. In leaving, she abandoned a kind of life she'd thought she'd always live.

Trunks was watching for Marron from the window as she drove up the school. He saw her get out of Emma and when he saw what she wore, his heart stilled. What was she up to?

She moved quickly and was obviously nervous. She straightened her dress and moved a lovely arm up as her hand checked the back of her hair. Against the late sun he caught a glimpse of her silhouette within that cotton gown.

He heard the door as she came into the building, and he stood against the window's light so his expression wouldn't betray him and spoil whatever she had planned.

Her steps were silent. She simply appeared in the door, her color a little high so that her moon-skin cheeks were faintly tinted. Her blue eyes were enormous as she looked at him. She said in greeting, "Ready?" She was a little breathless. And he knew whatever she had planned, she didn't want to tell him there.

His thumb moved the ring on his finger. That big lumpy ugly green stone. He kissed her in greeting, and then he said, "Come look at what we're doing." He took her hand and he showed her holes in the walls and landing windows canvas covered, and a lot of plaster dust.

She saw he was pleased with the project. They went back to his office-to-be, where he had a desk and a file desk drawer. They went out of the building and got into Emma. He asked, "To the pond? Did you call for permission?"

"Well, as a matter of act I did so we could be private and have a small fire. I would like you to know I own it. It's the Chestnut Haven Farm. I have two others." She looked at him. He didn't appear impressed. Had he known?

She felt no qualms. No threat that he might know she could be considered an heiress. She knew he gave her his loyalty and his love, and he was no muttonhead. His plans for Peach showed great thought and planning. If he married her for her money, he would use it as well. He needed her.

She had never been needed. She gave him a shy grin as she got out to open the wide, balanced wooden gate and waited for him to drive through before she closed it.

They parked Emma, and because he was a careful man, he scanned the area before they carried their hamper, cooler and the Paw Prints quilt down through the trees to the pond. He was silent, waiting.

"When I leased the land surrounding the Haven Farm, I reserved the pond and the area around it. We allowed the trees to grow," she said gesturing. "And it's mowed several times during the summer so the bad weeds don't flower and seed. We bought in pebbles because I hate mud, and the bottom growth is cut back."

He stood alert, his eyes on her. She ached with love for him. From the basket she took a heavy vellum envelope and stood up. He watched her, knew the envelope in her hand held some meaning, and he looked into her eyes, her face quite solemn.

Her voice a little uncertain but very grave, she said, "I am come to you, my lord, to petition you to marry me. I have brought a gift as a token of my dowry." She came to him to hand him the envelope.

"Marron?" He questioned in wonder. He went to one knee, accepting the envelope by taking her hand and kissing it. "You will marry me?" He rose to hold her, and then he gently took the peacock feathers from her hair before he removed the pins so that the mass floated free. He moved to take her in his arms, but she stopped him and asked that he look at the deed to understand her gift of the meadow.

She told him, "I pledge two of my farms to you. As surety for loans. I have begun to realize how big your dream is, and that you'll need money. I can't commit the Haven Farm. That goes to my two little half-brothers and my father's new baby out in Vladivostok. It's their heritage. You do understand that? I would give you anything. There's the house in town."

"Marron." He was stunned. It hadn't occurred to him she didn't realize. "My love, I'm not marrying you for your money. I have enough. We've plenty to handle this project. We were looking for a place. That's why I was on the road when I saw you and followed you to the fair. We had been considering such a project. Meeting you only hurried it along."

She just looked at him dismayed. "Then you don't need me?"

"My Kami! Don't you know yet?" He held her almost savagely as he groaned. He kissed her then, with all restraint gone. He laid her on the Paw Prints quilt and he made love to her that was wild and filled with his need, which rent her universe and left them spent to lie murmuring of their love.

Eventually, they swam in the spring-fed waters, the summer light penetrating deeply to reveal her form to him and his to her. They played silently like mated otters as their sleek bodies moved in their caressing pleasure.

Like Adam and Eve in a paradise, they built their small fire in the clean metal lid of an old bin, and with some ceremony they burned the last of the peacock feathers. Leisurely, they ate, with their private silent laughter. She fed him grapes as he lay with his head on her lap and they shared their wine.

Marron said, "I had never done anything like that, going off and taking up with a stranger."

He replied, "I knew. But I also knew you were searching for something. You knew there was something you were missing in your life, and I knew it was I."

And finally, sitting on the Paw Prints quilt, she said to him. " Can't believe you're here with me. It's like a miracle."

"To me too," he said very seriously. "It was the ring," he explained with a smile. Then he added, "And the Quest."

"Quest?"

"When I won the magic ring, I told you I was invincible, and asked you to set me a Quest. You spoke of Peach dying. So I had to do something about that for my Love."

Still amazed, she stared at him as her lips parted. But he reached for his trousers and took something from the pocket. "I just got this today. It's our logo. This one's yours.' He held out an enameled emblem on his palm. It was a large Q and inside the Q were two letters: MB. "Do you see?" He pointed it out. "The Q is for Trunks' Quest, and the MB is for Marron Briefs."

She held it in her hand, realizing how long it had taken for it to be designed and enameled. How sure he had been of his love. She reached for him. "Oh, Trunks!" He gathered her to him to hold her closely for a long, cherished while, before he made love to her, there on the Paw Prints quilt. Her pirate. Her knight. Sweet, tender love.

Whew! (wipes sweat from forehead) I've finally finished!

More stuff to be addressed before we also live happily ever after.

"Shougeki" means snack, which suited her perfectly since she was always preparing something to eat.

Staedler is a famous brand name of drawing materials. Pencils, erasers, sharpeners, markers (Marka, teehee) and drawing boards. They have everything! Unfortunately, mine are lying unused here because I only get to go home to them on weekends. to eat real food. Dorm food is horrible. Even if the anime characters slurp down their instant yakisoba with gusto, you'll start avoiding it like a plague sooner or later. Mine was sooner.

What else? I'm really glad you enjoyed reading this. Thank you sooooooo much! I'd give you hugs but that's a little bit difficult. :)

Virtual hugs to:

Bloodlust Night

Lil Melfina64

Araiey

Aerith Gainsborough

Litesea13

Marron12

Princess of Despair

Mara-Jade-is-Vegetas-Sis

BishounenChaser

I won't tell

Sandy

Lily

Kitsune

Winged angel
That's all for now. I hope I still see/read you in the other fic Helpless.

Doumo arigatou gozaimasu! Mata ne!