Feb. 7th, 2005, 6 p.m. Callan:
"Ralph." Sean smiled into the camera on the laptop. "Dia duit." *May God be with you*
"Sean." Ralph smiled. "Dia is Muire duit." *God and Mary to you*
"I know you were here less than two months ago, but it sure seems longer." Sean told him.
"It is a rude awakening each morning to be here instead of Callan. While I really don't want to speed up their education, part of me wishes they'd hurry and graduate so we can move back." Ralph laughed.
"Aye, though I think we might have lost Walter to America as far as a place to live." Sean sighed.
"Don't count on it yet. Paige is still pretty keen on moving back to Ireland and Walter will follow no question." Ralph grinned.
"She's surely got his heart cradled firmly in her hand." Sean nodded.
"Louise said you had some concerns about the barn for the wedding?" Ralph asked.
"Ahhh, I wouldn't call them concerns. Just trying to figure out what to do with the animals in it. It can take a good bit to get the scent out of it. Hay's bad enough without adding any animal smells. But I was looking at the quarantine pen and I think I'm just going to expand the old shack and put them in it." Sean explained.
"You know you are like my brother Sean, so don't take this the wrong way. Do you need anything to help get it done?" Ralph asked.
Sean chuckled.
"No Ralph, but thank you. If I need a hand I can get William to come over and help me." Sean told him.
"Well, if you are sure, I really don't mind helping. I've also contracted with the O'Connors to work on the barn. They should contact you in April about setting up a schedule to get the barn ready for the wedding. Depending on the weather they should be ready to begin work around May 13th." Ralph explained as he picked up a piece of paper with the information on it.
"That should work out well." Sean nodded. "I should have the animals out by the first weekend of April. Are you still wanting to use the lot next to it for parking?"
"If you are still okay with it. I've contracted landscapers who will come out and pack the ground after clearing everything. And I've got a company coming out who'll park and fetch the cars for the guests. Oh and I'll have additional insurance on both properties so if anything does go wrong, we're protected." Ralph told him as he read off different information.
Sean chuckled.
"I had it much easier when Megan married." Sean continued to laugh.
Ralph joined in laughing.
"Oh speaking of that. Paige had a thought for you." Ralph grinned.
"Oh, I'm not going to like this am I?" Sean grinned.
"Maybe, she thought with how the barn looks in her designs, you should consider opening it up permanently as a wedding venue." Ralph told him.
"What?" Sean half laughed. "How does she think that would work?"
"Actually, I asked a friend of mine about it and she was rather impressed with what Paige wanted and the business plan she had worked out. When I told her what all I was doing to make it easier to hold there, she seemed to think Paige was right. She ran out some numbers based on the plan and I'm quite impressed. I sent the whole proposal to you earlier today. Look it over and if you are interested, I'd like for you and Louise to go into business together with us." Ralph explained.
"Are you serious?" Sean asked as Louise walked into the room.
"Paige's idea is very lucrative, Sean. So I'm very serious." Ralph nodded. "The O'Brien Wedding Venue would be a serious investment. You'd be able to scale back all the farm work, to whatever you thought would keep you happy and as busy as you want. Her idea includes building some bed & breakfast type structures on the property."
"Oh, I don't know Ralph." Sean said while scratching his head.
"Just think about it Sean, read the information when it gets to you, that's all I'm asking." Ralph told him.
"That really sounds interesting Ralph." Louise said as she pulled a chair up and sat down.
"Good evening Louise." Ralph smiled. "I'll tell you it beats Paige's other idea for you."
"What was that?" Louise asked curiously.
"She had to take a science class as part of her semester and she elected to take Earth science. And while doing the soil component she realized that your farmland would make an excellent vineyard. But when Walter told her how much it would cost to convert she decided against it." Ralph explained.
"Grapes?" Sean said shocked. "Why would she want me to switch to grapes?"
"She figured it would be easier on you physically." Ralph smiled. "As well as being very profitable financially."
"Ah, that girl. She's too sweet sometimes." Louise said.
"Alright, well we'll go over the paperwork when it gets here. I promise." Sean nodded. "And I'll make sure to have the animals moved out long before the O'Connors are ready to begin."
"Thanks Sean, you and Louise take care of each other. We'll see you again in June if not before on the computer." Ralph grinned.
"You guys take care too." Louise told him before they hung up.
Wednesday, March 16th, 2005:
Walter was in the posh conference room of the Hotel Veritas with the leads of the self-driving cars. He always hated these meetings. But with Harvard on spring break, and Paige sleeping so soundly, he didn't have the heart to disturb her. And here he sat at nearly noon, bored and growing angry. Everyone knew he was the man when it came to the project. Richard refused to try and influence his decisions, as long as Walter kept them on schedule, and earning awards, Richard was happy.
The last minute meeting was yet another attempt by them to get Walter to back off on the rigidity of the code for the cars. He sat there drumming on the desk with his fingers as they presented "new evidence" supporting their position. But it was the same old, tired excuses they'd given him at least three times before, just expressed differently. He was mentally calculating the oxygen molecules the "experts" were wasting just breathing. His phone vibrated and he reached into his suit pocket completely ignoring the current speaker.
The speaker frowned as he tried changing his tone and inflections to try and make Walter pay attention.
Walter looked and saw he had a message. Clicking on it, Paige's name came up. "Where are you? I NEED you, NOW!"
Walter's eyes went wide as he stood up instantly and shoved his phone into his pants pocket and then grabbed his laptop and shoved it into his backpack.
"Uh, Walter?" One of the men called to him.
Walter threw his backpack over his shoulder and was running for the door.
"Walter!" The guy called out louder but Walter flew out the door.
Before he had even gotten out of the conference room he had already calculated how long it would take him to get to his car, pay to leave the parking garage and drive home. He knew he could run home and save two minutes and fifty-two seconds. So what was a genius to do? He ran. He saved a few more seconds dodging across the intersections against the light several times. As he ran down the street they lived on he knew it would take three point six-five seconds to run up the sidewalk steps to the yard and only two point one-eight seconds to run up the hill.
He ran up the slope of the hill and down the walk that went around the side of the house. He leapt off the top step to the basement and landed eight steps down. His keys were already in hand and quickly pushed into the lock. He turned it as he turned the handle and he entered.
"Paige?!" He called out half scared something was wrong but panting desperately. As his eyes adjusted to the dimmer light he noticed red candles all about the room, burning. His hand pushed and the door closed as the lock engaged again.
"Bedroom." Paige said with an odd note to her voice. Soft music Paige enjoyed listening to when she was in the mood for love was playing in the background. But it didn't register with Walter.
Walter dropped his backpack and tiny flower petals fluttered out from the air movement generated. But Walter took no notice as he moved quickly past the entrance where her detail usually stayed. He moved through the living room and towards the hallway to their bedroom. As he walked more petals fluttered, but still his attention was hyper focused on Paige. He had to be sure she wasn't hurt.
Walter inhaled sharply as the door pushed open and he found Paige lying on the bed, wearing next to nothing.
Paige grinned wickedly at the look on his face as Walter swallowed several times. She crooked her finger at him.
"Come lover, it's time." Paige said huskily to him.
Walter's hand came up and mindlessly pulled his tie loose and off. His other hand was working the buttons of his shirt at the same time. As he took a step he pulled the dress shirt off and dropped it before he began pulling his t-shirt off. He kicked his shoes off as he climbed up on the bed.
Paige grinned as she watched his every move.
Walter paused as he reached her feet and began kissing his way from her left ankle up to the short hem of the see-through negligee she wore. Her legs spread as he moved ever higher up on the bed.
She grinned even bigger as she heard him growl as he pushed the hem up past her mons. As his lips and tongue teased her soft flesh, his fingers moved up and began to spread her flesh open. Paige moaned in delight at his efforts.
"Enough play for now lover, I need you." Paige told him.
Walter either didn't hear or care as he continued to make love to her with his lips and tongue. Paige moaned again as two of his fingers pushed past her flesh and entered up inside of her.
Walter took her over the edge quickly.
Paige frowned as she heard a ringing noise. And as she woke up more, she realized it was her phone.
"Hello?" Paige said softly as she answered the phone. "Mom?" Paige was confused after they had passed out from making love. "Oh, dinner? Sure, umm, we might be a bit late." Paige said quickly as her mind tried to catch up with her. "Oh, we already are?" Paige giggled. "Sorry, umm, yeah, we got distracted with…something. Give us a little while. If you want to make two plates for us, so you can clean up, that's fine." Paige smiled. "Thanks Mom." Paige said as she hung up.
"We're late for dinner." Paige said dreamily as she rolled over on top of Walter.
"You had me worried something was wrong at first." Walter said softly as they both lay there for a few minutes.
"Nope, I just knew I had ovulated in the last twelve hours or so and so we had to make love. I guess we should get up and get ready to go upstairs. Where were you anyway?" Paige sighed before kissing Walter.
"They called for a meeting, so I was at the hotel Veritas." Walter said while hugging her. "I didn't realize we had been in here that long." Walter said as they got up.
Paige just grinned as they went into the bathroom.
60 minutes later:
"Where's the car?" Paige asked as they came out of the basement.
"I left it at the parking garage." Walter told her.
Paige laughed.
"You ran all the way here?" Paige shook her head as he nodded.
Wednesday April 6th, 2005, 7 a.m., basement apartment:
Paige walked out of their bedroom after getting ready for class and saw Walter sitting at the table working on the next update for the self-driving cars.
"Good morning lover." Paige said as she slipped an arm around Walter's neck and hugged him.
"Good morning my love. How are you feeling?" Walter asked as he pushed back and turned so she could sit on his lap.
"How do I feel?" Paige looked at him seriously for a moment. "That is a very interesting question. I feel many things, happy, elated, content, hopeful, playful, optimistic, cherished, proud. Any of those you want to talk about especially?" Paige grinned.
Walter's eyes narrowed as he looked at her. Her answer was a unique answer, she'd never given him an answer even close to it before. His brilliant mind ran calculation after calculation and then his eyes opened wide.
"Are you?" Walter got out before Paige grinned and started nodding enthusiastically as she pulled the test stick out and Walter saw the test indicating she was pregnant.
Walter hugged her tightly as they kissed deeply.
"When do you want to say something?" Walter asked as they broke their kiss.
"Not until after the honeymoon. So play it cool." Paige told him.
Walter nodded even as he felt the nervous energy welling up inside of him. Paige had been practicing with him for the last month just for this moment. Walter closed his eyes and began the breathing exercise she had given him.
Paige smiled as she saw him actively doing what she had explained for him to try and hide the truth. She got up and called her doula and scheduled an appointment for after her last class to get an official test result to be sure.
"How are you feeling Walter?" Paige asked as she hung up.
"Centered." Walter smiled as he opened his eyes.
"Then let's go get breakfast." Paige grinned.
William had come over after work with Megan for dinner. As they finished, William, along with Sean, took the last of the supplies for the new stable out to the quarantine pen using the car Walter had given William and Megan with a trailer.
They'd spent the last two weeks working as they had energy to get it built. Several times Sean complained to Louise about his pride, he was definitely feeling his age after working all day in the fields. He should have just let Ralph take care of the whole thing.
As Sean began putting up the repurposed door, William began applying the final coat of paint. Sean had worked out the design carefully, minimizing the floor space so they wouldn't have to build a very big stable. The gates to each stall just cleared the walkway between the stall and its counterpart on the other side of the walkway.
Sean and William grinned at each other as they worked. It had taken a little while but Sean had finally warmed up to William.
"It looks like a fine stable Daddy." Megan said as she walked out with Louise and Louise was carrying little Patrick. It shocked both men that she had come out there, but thankfully she was wearing the braces Happy had made for her.
"If you wanted to come out here girl, you should have said something. We could have brought you out in the car." Sean complained.
"And who would have helped Mother with the dishes? You might be feeling the effects of age Daddy, but you're not the only one. Mom does too." Megan told him pointedly.
"Aye, I know she does. It is why we've been seriously considering Ralph's investment idea." Sean smiled.
"Really?" Megan looked from her Dad to her Mom in surprise.
Louise nodded.
"If the business model works as well as Paige's plan indicates, it would be an excellent opportunity for you and William to get involved with us on it as well." Louise told them.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! There is a new link on my profile page. I had wanted to get a wedding picture done for the story and thankfully one of the artists I've used before was interested and willing to work on it on a monthly basis as I can't afford to have it all done at once. lol But anyway, the link is to the first of the picture of Walter & Paige, they look so cute! It'll take 4 more months to get the whole thing done as she'll add 1 couple each month to it.
Railman - So good having you back with us! Yep, Jeremy let the little green eyed monster win and now he's lost big time. I just hope Ralph had the good sense not to let Happy hear the full message what Jeremy said...I don't think they would be able to stop her in seeking revenge. lol
Chipbass - Thank you brother! Yup, definitely Walter to be worried over bonding with his child(ren). Happy might not be like the show's Happy, but she is definitely has a fuse you don't want to light. lol And damn straight her "exploration" will be on her terms, count on it! lol
Pearliegirl - Thank you! So glad you are enjoying Happy and Toby, hehe As for the development between them and the Muse, good luck with that! lol She's definitely got a mind of her own and she's about as stubborn as Happy! lol
LouBe - hehe A little bit better! But he is Toby, I got a feeling he'll put his foot into it again. lol I would have loved to have seen that too! Walter is definitely not the person you want to be opposing in an argument, unless you really had a big ace up your sleeve! Hrmmm...I don't know...So far the cars seem to be okay...is there something I'm missing? *cackle* Paige definitely had entertainment on her mind that night and that day! lol When I was doing some research trying to figure out what Paige might do to ensure getting pregnant it did come up that there are doulas who specialize in fertility as well as ensuring a healthy delivery. I had always thought they were involved after getting pregnant, but apparently some do help conceive. So glad you are excited for our little bundle of joy to arrive!
To the Adventure! -Tim