Incest Justin Thyme by Callicious

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Tossing her into the air and catching and then cradling her in his arms Jeff carried her toward the bedroom. Joanne cuddled against him kvelling in his strength and love. She felt moisture gathering in her pussy in anticipation of what was to come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grandpa looked over Rosemary's shoulder as the door swung slowly open. The room of course was dark, and nothing could be seen until the door was fully opened. "Justin, go grab that light, son. We can't see anything."

I hurried down the corridor and dragging the cord behind me carried the light toward the door.

Rosemary gasped, and Grandpa muttered "Land sakes o' Goshen!"

When I could see in the door after they stepped in I saw a set of shelves on the far wall lined with dated ledgers, but that was not what had our attention. In the corner, at the end of the shelf was a double stack of gold bars shining in the light. Each bar was about half an inch thick by about two inches wide and four inches long. Each stack was five bars high, and there were three rows. Thirty bars of gold! On the floor were two wooden crates that looked to be full of more bars.

Grandpa regained his equilibrium first and said, "I think at this moment we had better close this room back up and go get some lunch. We can decide what to do about it later, but for the moment nothing needs be said to anyone outside the four of us! We will call a family meeting for Wednesday evening when your folks get home, and Michael, that includes you."

Michael shook his head. "No sir, I don't need to be there. None of this is mine, nor do I covet any of it. You all are the ones who own the house. It belongs to you."

Grandpa stood and looked at Michael carefully, and I could see his 'lawyer' face setting in. "Now you listen to me, young man, and you listen good. I only want to say this once, and I don't want to hear you arguing the point. You are the one who found the entrance to this room. Might Justin have found it later? Possibly, but based on what happened so far probably not. No one else found it in a hundred years. You have been involved in this from the beginning, and you can consider this a bonus for being the kind of person you are. What you choose to do with the gold is your decision, just like I told you on the reward I intend to negotiate with the railroad. I am going to do all I can to keep your name out of the public eye, but I am not going to keep you from benefitting from what you made possible. Are we clear on this?"

"I feel funny taking it. I have all I need, and more, from what I've already done. If I don't want to, I don't have to work another day in my life. This would just add on to what I already have."

"Son, I appreciate what you are saying, and I wish a lot more people had your attitude. Trust me; you can do a lot more good with the money than you ever can without it. Like I said, what you do with it is your choice, but you will accept it. Understood? Your answer is 'Yes Sir.'"

Michael shrugged and said, "Yes Sir." We all grinned and trooped back out the door. Michael lifted the iron bar back into place and Rosemary carefully locked the padlock, then she handed the keys to Grandpa for safe-keeping. Lunch was going to be a festive occasion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steph and Susie sat in the sun of the stadium for nearly an hour before an administrator turned on the PA system and announced school was closed, and they were free to go home. He also announced it would be closed the following day for replacement of the air conditioning unit, that an email would be sent to all concerning the following day, whether or not the school would be in session. A ragged cheer erupted from all of the kids and they poured from the stands and headed for their cars. Those who didn't drive wandered around aimlessly trying to find a way to go home.

"I wish Rosie and Justin didn't go up to the house today. I could use a good swim and some sun," Steph said as the two girls walked out to her car.

"You know we can use their pool anyway. Mikey isn't here today either. I hope they don't stay up there too long. I haven't seen him since Friday."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Oh, you poor baby!" Steph teased and dodged a swat. "I know we can go over there. I just always feel a little funny wandering through their house when they aren't home."

"Yeah, I know, but you know they have said to make ourselves home anyway. I could use some sun. Let's go."

After quick stops at home to grab swimwear and a towel the girls drove to the Thyme home and let themselves in through the garage. The code had been given them a long time ago. They quickly pealed down to their bikinis and dove into the pool for a few laps before getting out to lie in the sun for a while.

"Hey, Susie, I haven't seen you wear that suit in a long time. What's the matter? No guys around?"

Susie just shook her head. "Since I've been with Michael I've learned I don't really need to flaunt it. As far as I'm concerned, I'm his, and I don't need to show off to other guys anymore." She gave Steph a saucy grin. "Don't worry, when the time is right he will get a lot more than just a sexy bikini!"

"I know. Isn't it funny how that works? Remember that suit I got that was mostly string? I got it to try to catch Justin, but I don't need it anymore either." She shrugged her shoulders. "As far as I'm concerned, when he's around I'd rather wear nothing at all, but I don't feel like showing off to any others. Not that I ever did that as much as you did!"

"Hey! Don't make me out to be that bad! I never did all that much!"

"Yeah, I know. It was mostly for Justin. Isn't it funny how that worked out for both of us? Rosemary, too."

"Tell me, what's it really like having sex with Justin? Sometimes when I'm around Michael I just want to drag him to bed with me, but he won't even consider it. I can't even get him to make out with me!"

Stephanie paused for a couple of minutes before replying, making Susie wonder if she had gone too far in asking. "Honestly, it is the most wonderful thing I have ever done." Unconsciously her hand started stroking her upper leg as she gazed unseeing into the sky. "I can see where it could be bad if you didn't have someone you really cared about, or someone who didn't care about you, but when I'm with him, well . . . he just makes it so wonderful." Her nipples were beginning to push out through her bra as she thought of Justin. "You know how Justin is, always thinking of others, well he's the same in bed. It isn't about him getting off, but he will leave himself hanging just to make sure it is good for me, and I know he does the same for Rosemary."

"Of course, we both try to make it really good for him, too. It's a two way street, and I'm really wishing he was here with me now." Now her hand had crept up to caress her belly, and to toy with the top of her bikini panty. "If I know Michael as well as I think I do I think he will be the same way, but don't push him. It is worth waiting until both of you are ready."

Susie's hands were wandering across her own body also as Stephanie was talking. "Sometimes I don't think I can wait! I've about worn out "Fred", and some nights it just isn't enough. How did you know when it was the right time?"

Stephie sighed as she remembered. "Well, you remember when we caught Justin and Rosemary after the fact."

Susie giggled. "The look on their faces was priceless!"

"Well, you remember how Rosie told us she liked to go naked around the house when she was under stress." Susie nodded. "It all started the night of the accident. Since Mom was gone the Thymes took me in. I couldn't climb the stairs that first night, so Justin picked me up and carried me. I was half loopy from the pain meds, or it might not have happened. I know I wouldn't have had the courage, but I was hugging him and holding him tightly. I had on a hospital robe because my clothes were ruined, and I didn't have on a bra, so I kind of rubbed my boobs on his chest, and the robe opened up a little bit and Justin could see one of my tits. He looked away really quickly, and I was embarrassed, but really turned on by it, too."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"He would have set me down at the top of the stairs, but Rosie told him to carry me on into her bedroom and set me down on the bed. I know she saw what was going on, and it hurt her, but she was trying to get the two of us together. When Justin laid me down on the bed the robe popped open again, and he could see both of them. His eyes were really big, and I closed the robe, but I didn't get in a hurry to do so. I blame that on the meds, but I'm really not sorry! His cock was so hard I thought it would poke a hole in his shorts!"

"The next morning he got up early and made coffee, and his parents both left for work stuff. Rosemary snuck downstairs, trying not to wake me, but I woke up anyway, and I got to thinking about you and couldn't go back to sleep. I know she was really stressed, too, because she snuck out of the room naked, with her clothes in her hand. After a few minutes I gave up sleeping and decided to get up and get another pain pill and some coffee. I was able to make it down the stairs slowly, and they didn't hear me coming. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I saw Rosemary naked, but Justin had his clothes on. It's funny, I didn't see it, but I heard it when Justin reached into the cabinet to get a coffee cup for Rosemary he was looking at her and dropped the cup and broke it all over the place." Susie giggled at the thought.

"Anyway, Rosemary told Justin the day was going to be a 'nude day' and asked if he wanted to join her. I really wasn't trying to snoop, but I had sat down on the step to rest and they still had not heard or seen me. Justin stripped off his clothes quickly, and then Rosemary hugged him, with his cock up against her belly. Then he sat down again to drink his coffee, but Rosie turned his chair and straddled his lap instead of sitting in another chair. She scooted up against him really close and started kissing him, while he started kissing her back and caressed her body all over with his hands. She started rocking against his cock, and it was only a few minutes before she stood up enough to get it inside of her and sat down on him. I watched the two of them making love, and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. It wasn't just two people having sex, but they were sharing love. When they were done, I said, 'That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.' I thought they might jump up and try to hide, but they didn't."

"Rosemary told me she had decided it was going to be a nude day, and that Justin had decided to join her, but she didn't know if he would stay that way with me awake, but he did for a few minutes before he had to go to work."

Susie was rubbing herself through her bathing suit without even realizing what she was doing. "That's the hottest thing I've ever heard."

"Justin's boss closed the store early that day because they hadn't had a customer, and he let the guys go home. Justin forgot I was at the house, so he didn't call to say he was coming. I had decided to try going naked, too, since Justin was gone, and Rosemary is right. It does feel really good and free. I've started doing it at home when Mom isn't there, too. Anyway, I was lying on the couch when Justin walked in the door, and I screamed. He really quickly turned around, but he had obviously seen me!

Rosie came running in to see what was wrong, and was going to get my clothes for me, and Justin was going to go to his room, but I decided I had seen him that morning, and he had already seen my tits, so I said he could turn around, that I didn't care. He was a real gentleman about it. He said he didn't want me doing something because of the pain meds that I would be sorry for later. How many guys would do that? Anyway, Rosie asked if he was going to get naked too, and he said as long as I didn't mind him staring at me he would, that he knew I liked staring at him, and he liked staring at Rosemary. Then he got really serious and said, 'Just because we are naked doesn't mean I'll do anything to you,' and Rosie said that just because we were naked didn't mean sex necessarily, that the morning had been different."

Anyway, we all sat around and talked for a little while, and the three of us cuddled on the couch until the phone rang. It was their Grandpa wanting to meet with us about the accident. I said I had to get a shower first, so Rosie told Justin to carry me up the stairs. I could have made it, but I wasn't about to turn that down! I made sure to rub my tits on his chest while he carried me and it felt really, really good. Rosie pinched his ass once when he was picking me up, and he jumped and lifted me a little higher so my tits were in front of his face, and he grabbed one in his mouth and sucked on it for just a moment and then kissed it. I told him, 'You can do that anytime!' and he said I plan to, and did it again. I swear I felt it all the way down in my pussy!

He set me down at the top of the stairs, and Rosemary told him she thought for 'safety' sake he should help me take a shower, and since she needed one too we all got in there together. We all washed each other, and just had fun together. We were getting ready to get out when Rosemary told me I missed a spot and put some body wash on his cock. She told me I needed to scrub it really good." Steph got a big grin on her face as she said, "So I did! It was only a couple of minutes and he was spurting all over me, on my tits and belly, so I pointed him at Rosemary and got her too. We rinsed off after that and got out, and he dried the two of us off, and we dried him."

"I thought that would be the end of it and we'd go get ready, but he picked me up and carried me in to Rosemary's bed and laid me down and then started kissing me and sucking and plucking at my nipples, then he got on his knees and put his head between my legs. I tried to stop him, but he started eating out my pussy. I have never felt anything like it! It was just a very few minutes and I had an orgasm like I never had before! It was so strong I passed out for a few minutes. I knew then he could have anything he wanted from me any time. He wasn't looking for anything for himself, but just made it wonderful for me."

Susie's hand was inside her bathing suit now, furiously rubbing her pussy while the other hand had pushed her bra aside and was feverishly plucking and pulling at her nipples. She moaned with arousal.

"It was a couple of nights later, the last night before Mom came home with Paul, that I was staying over at their house. Justin and Rosemary had just been down to see the house, and Rosemary asked Justin to come into her room so we could talk about it together. He was concerned about getting caught, but Rosie said their mom was gone for the night, and it would be OK. She told him to just strip down to his boxers and we were going to get ready for bed. Justin watched her as she undressed, and his cock was really hard. I already had a tee shirt on and was ready. We all got in the bed with Justin in the middle and snuggled while we talked about the house and other things. I had already pulled my shirt up so I could snuggle my boobies against his chest, and somehow his boxers had come off. Rosie was naked on her side of the bed, and I couldn't take it any longer."

"I asked him if he would please make love to me, and I pulled off my shirt and climbed on top of him. Rosie held his cock up for me so I could get it in, and I just slid down all the way and just laid there with his cock in me and just felt 'full' and complete. It was the most wonderful thing ever, and I will never give him up for anything. I almost got us in trouble, because it felt so good I got a little bit noisy when he made me come, and he made sure I came before he did."

All Steph heard from Susie was a guttural "Uuuunnnnh," and saw her body quivering in the other chaise longue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Rosemary and I sat in the back seat of Michael's Escalade as we drove to lunch. Her arm was through mine, with her hand in mine and she was leaning her shoulder against me. Her excitement was obvious. I know she wanted to talk about things, but Grandpa had said to hold it until later, and she was doing so. I was a little uncomfortable that Grandpa or Michael would think the way we sat was funny, but thought they would just chalk it up to brother and sister, with sister excited about the gold.

Grandpa finished talking on the phone and put it in his pocket. "Wednesday evening at seven thirty OK? I got hold of Pete, and that will work for them." He glanced back at me and said, "I'm sorry I can't do better for you, but your Grandmother insisted on doing a lasagna."

If Grandma was doing lasagna I'd crawl if I had to, to get there! "Michael, you are in for a treat! Grandma makes an awesome lasagna! You had better come hungry!"

Grandpa drawled, "Well, I don't know about awesome, but no one has ever broken a molar on one either." He grinned back at me. "My grandkids seem to enjoy it though, and I make it a point not to be late for dinner."

Bill's Restaurant was quite busy when we pulled into the parking lot. Grandpa was worried we wouldn't be seated in time to eat and get back to the house in time, but a phone call changed that. Grandpa answered and said, "Yes, Sir," three times and hung up. "That was the CEO. He made a quick stop in Provo to pick up the Corporate Counsel, which doesn't surprise me at all, and he'll be half an hour to forty-five minutes late. He apologized for the delay, and it can't be helped. In the long run it will probably make it easier all around. His attorney and I can hash things out and be certain they are done right so we don't have to go back and redo them later. That being the case, we can have a relaxed lunch and not have to worry about time." We all got out of the car and made our way to the door.

Debbie, our waitress from an earlier visit to Bill's and one of our prospective tenants, hurried by with a large tray of food as we walked in. "Hey, Justin, Rosemary. How are you guys? Let me see if I can get a table for you in my area, K?

I nodded, and Grandpa gave me a look. "I'm amazed she even noticed Rosemary was here. She sure has eyes for you!"

"Come on, Grandpa. Nothing of the sort. Besides, she's going to be a senior." Grandpa just snorted and grinned when Rosemary dug her elbow into my ribs.

We waited for about fifteen minutes while three other couples and a group of four were seated before a harried hostess offered to seat us. Rosemary quickly asked if it was in Debbie's area, and said we would wait if not. It wasn't, so another group of four right behind us was seated next. We could see a group standing in Debbie's area, and knew we wouldn't have to wait long anyway.

Debbie hurried over to our table right after we were seated and took our drink orders. "I'm sorry I don't have time to talk right now. As you can see, we are buried today! Mom sent back the contract and my deposit Saturday. I can't wait to get out of those dorms! Be right back," and she hurried away.

Grandpa ordered a Reuben sandwich, and looked at me in horror when I ordered a Feta Cheese omelet and asked for extra feta cheese to be sprinkled on my hashbrowns. Michael said, "That sounds good," and changed his order to match mine. Rosemary just got a hamburger and fries. Grandpa said, "At least I have one grandchild with taste!" Grandpa hates feta.

"I've been thinking," Grandpa said after Debbie left with our orders. "When the railroad people come today I'm thinking it might be a good idea to bring them in through the front door rather than through the carriage house. We'll need to use the carriage house exit for removing the cases, but it might set things up a little better to bring them in the front way. What do you guys think?"

Rosemary spoke up first. "I really think you are right, Grandpa. Coming in through the carriage house is kind of depressing, and I think it would make a lot better impression if we let them see a bit of the house."

Michael agreed. "These are corporate types, white-collar office people. They aren't going to be accustomed to seeing things from the back side like most of their blue-collar employees. I think bringing them through the front door will set the stage best for your negotiations with them." I just nodded.

Grandpa nodded, and no more was said about the subject. Instead, Grandpa asked Michael what his thoughts were on the development of the carriage house apartments, and we all discussed them for the remainder of lunch. Clearly in Grandpa's mind they were a done deal, regardless of Mom's reservations.

Michael dropped us off at the house after lunch and then left to be on hand when the railroad people arrived. They were landing at the Deer Park airport on the north side of town rather than using Sky Harbor and having to deal with all of the passenger jets. It was just much simpler to get in and out, plus much lower landing fees.

Since we hadn't stripped the carpet from the library yet, and it was a nice soft pile Grandpa decided to lie down and take a short nap while we waited. Rosemary and I decided to take the opportunity to run up to my room and take a 'nap' of our own. All day long Rosemary had taken every opportunity to brush against me or to lean against me when she didn't think anyone would think anything of it. Once, when we were down in the basement and Grandpa and Michael were busy she even flashed me. This was of necessity going to have to be a quickie, but I wasn't about to turn it down!

[Ramesh_Rocky]

We hadn't any more than cleared the top of the stairs on the second floor when she stopped suddenly and making sure I was watching quickly stripped, and then with me closely behind ran on up the stairs to the third floor and on up to my garret. Of course, I watched her ass as it swayed all the way up the stairs. She stopped at the top step suddenly, and I almost ran her over, then she bent over spread legged and looked at me between her legs. "See anything you like, Justin?"

I licked my lips and nodded. "Good." She grinned at me and winked, then made her way to my bedroll and quickly unrolled it. "Hurry. I really need you today! I don't know why, but I've been horny all day."

Even though we slept together last night, and had sex twice she was acting as if it had been much longer. I quickly dropped my clothes to the floor and crawled onto the sleeping bag next to her, but she wasn't having that. "We don't have time for foreplay. You know Grandpa. He's liable to think of something and come looking for us. I just need you."

I crawled between her legs, which were open and waiting for me, but looking at her sexy body I was overcome once again with her beauty, and how fortunate I was to be able to make love to her. Sister or not, I love Rosemary totally and I'm overwhelmed every time I have a chance to be with her. First of all I bent down and placed a kiss right on her clit, causing her to jump and hiss as she sucked her breath in between her teeth. I knew I didn't have the time to eat her pussy the way I wanted to, but I did take the time to stick out my tongue and trail it slowly up her crease until I got to the clit, which I sucked in between my lips and I fluttered my tongue across it. She was already wet and ready for me, and although time was of the essence I had to make one more stop. I slid forward and took each of her nipples in my mouth and treated them as I had her clit.

She reached down and grabbed my cock while I was teasing her nipples and rubbed it up and down her pussy, coating the head with her juices, and then she lined it up with her opening and scooted herself down on the sleeping bag forcing me inside. I didn't need any more urging, but began stroking in and out, enjoying the moist warmth that enveloped my cock. "That feels so good, Justin. Just like that! Oh, you are going in so deep! Oh, oh, that feels soooo good! Can you hold just a little longer? I think I may come. It feels so good . . . , so good."

She was moving with me, rocking her pelvis trying to get me as deep as she could. I looked down at her, which was a mistake if I wanted to hold out much longer. I saw her breasts pointed up at me, with her excited nipples extended out like pointers showing the way. I bent myself down as far as I could and still be able to give her full penetration and grabbed her right nipple in my mouth and sucked it in, then I nipped it lightly with my teeth and dragged them down to the end and let her nipple pop out of my mouth, but I followed it up with a flattened tongue that stroked it firmly across the very end, which I knew drove her crazy, and that was all it took. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she arched her back and groaned her release. I kept holding back as long as I could, but to be honest, that wasn't very long and I plunged in as far as I could and released. I could feel my toes curling from the intensity, and I collapsed on top of her, gasping for breath.

I could feel her boobs smashed against my chest as she struggled to regain her breath also, and I quickly raised up on my elbows to keep from crushing her. I looked down to see her smiling up at me, a contented, satisfied look on her face and was overwhelmed that I had put it there. I suddenly realized I had not even thought of Stephie once! My mind went into a turmoil. How was I able to do this? To love two women as completely as I did? Did that mean there was something wrong with me, or was it something better than most. I bent down and kissed her lips gently and said, "Thank you. You mean the world to me."

"I know, and you are the same. I love you." I kissed her once again, but the spell was quickly broken.

"Justin!" It was Grandpa calling from the second floor.

"Be right there!" I called back and quickly scrambled into my clothes, using my underwear to quickly wipe myself off, and then pulling on my shorts without them, and grabbed my shirt and hurried down the stairs before Grandpa could come up. Rosemary grabbed her clothes and scurried to the bathroom to wash quickly and then to follow in a few minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Aren't we a couple of silly birds?! Here we are like a couple of love-sick birds moaning about our boyfriends being up at the house. There is nothing to keep us from going up there, is there?"

Susie lay there still trying to get her breath after her powerful orgasm. "They have a meeting with somebody about something really important, but I don't know what it is."

"Well, is there any reason we can't let them have their meeting and then be there when they are done? You haven't seen the house, yet. I really want to show it to you. You aren't going to believe where we are going to live next year! Let's get some clothes on and go!"

"Works for me. I'll get to see Mikey, too. I've really missed him, but I can't tell him about the dress or anything. I really can't wait to see his face Friday night!"

The girls got up, grabbed their towels and other paraphernalia, and headed for the house, although Susie walked on rather wobbly legs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeff and Joanne lay in their king-sized bed cuddling and enjoying their post-coital glow. Joanne's ample breasts were soft against Jeff's chest as she nestled her head on his shoulder.

"I'm really glad you decided to take the day off today. The team can get by without you for a day."

Jeff chuckled and gave her a squeeze enjoying the way it pressed the softness of her breasts against him. "Well, since spring practice ended yesterday I have a couple of days before I have to get working with some of the kids again. That means I get to spend the day with my favorite wife."

Joanne jabbed a finger in his ribs, making him jump. "You keep it that way, Buster!" She sighed and tried to nestle even closer. "I keep thinking about Michael and Susie. I really like that girl! The only concern I have is how they are going to handle religion. Michael promised her he would not pressure her to change, and he hasn't been as faithful to services as I would like to see."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"I know, honey, but we can't live his life for him. He has to make those choices for himself. She's a good girl, and you know she loves Michael completely. She'll be good for him, and I think we can let the religion side of things take care of themselves."

"She's a lot different than all of the girls that chased him up here! I really miss having him around the house, but I think his moving down to Tucson was a wise decision on his part. You should have seen her eyes when Carole laid the gown in her lap. You could see she wanted it desperately, it is a beautiful gown, but she thought it was too much. She isn't one who likes a lot of fuss made over her. Remember Connie, and the way she was after Michael?"

Jeff groaned. "She was a piece of work! It didn't take Michael long to figure her out, though." Jeff laughed. "Remember Michael telling us how Susie gave him fits because he bought that CTS to transport her because she couldn't get into the Escalade? Just wait until she finds out he really bought it for her!"

Joanne giggled at the thought. "She is going to be spoiled, whether she likes it or not! That girl has him wrapped so tightly around her finger it isn't funny, but she doesn't take advantage of it. She has very special parents. Speaking of Michael, I wonder what he is up to today. Why couldn't he tell us what was going on? And what is he doing that we will see it on the news?"

Jeff just shrugged. "Whatever it is, he seemed to think it funny we would find out on the news. For one who is publicity shy as he is, he's enjoying it." His massive hand slid up from where it had been caressing her side and cupped her breast and began stroking it, which brought a purr of contentment from Joanne.

"You think you're twenty again, or something?" Jeff grinned and kissed the top of her head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Grandpa, what do you need?" I was a little breathless from running down the stairs to keep him from coming up.

"I just got to thinking. Sam Johnson was a major stakeholder in several of the railroads out here, but we haven't found anything to indicate it. I think it would be wise if we were to go back to the lower office and go through some of his paperwork. There is likely a collection of stock certificates or such that we might want to discuss with the railroad people today." He looked at me searchingly for a moment before continuing. "I don't know if you've thought about this, but you are likely to be a rather wealthy young man before all of this is through. And by the way, I'm not trying to leave Michael out of this. I just thought about it after he left."

"I know you aren't trying to short Michael, Grandpa, and yes, I've given a good bit of consideration to how to handle all of the money that seems to be coming my way. I wasn't looking for it when we found it, and I've never had any real aspirations to being rich. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it, but I'm not going out and doing anything rash, I promise you."

"OK, good. Money can be destructive, as well as being a blessing, and sudden money, particularly when you are young can be especially destructive. You don't have to look far to see examples of that in Hollywood or professional sports. You have a good head on your shoulders, and you've been raised right. Just think long term consequences before you make any decisions, and it would be good for you to find a good counsellor to work with you."

"I thought I'd depend on you a lot."

"Well, I'll be happy to help you all I can, you know that, but you will need more than I can give you. I'll be happy to recommend some people if you like."

"I'd be grateful."

"OK, now, if your sister decides to come down we can go on down to the cellar and see what we can find."

"Do you want to use the ladder, or would you rather go down the stairs to the first floor?"

"Oh, the ladder will be fine. I'm kind of curious to see the doors, anyway."

I texted Rosemary to come down the ladder from upstairs and then led Grandpa to what was now her room and showed him the door. I told him the latch was one of the peg boards for clothes and he started tugging and twisting both, but didn't find it. I showed him how you lift the pegs on the left side and the door opens, leaving him shaking his head. "I'd like to meet the guy who designed all of these doors! I should have thought to lift the pegs, because if you hang clothes on them that would pull down, which would accidentally open the door if you weren't careful. One doesn't think about lifting them intuitively, though."

We stepped through the door and closed it behind us before descending the ladder into the lower office.

The three of us went first to the desk and started looking through drawers and checking files, but we found nothing there. There were a number of files dealing with day to day operations, with mines mentioned a couple of times, but nothing of any real significance to us. Grandpa scratched his head as he looked at the desk. "Does anything about this desk look strange to you kids?"

"It looks like a desk to me. I don't see anything unusual. It isn't ornate or compartmentalized like the one upstairs is." Rosemary nodded her head in agreement.

"We've already seen Sam was secretive and careful, even creative in the way he hid things. It wouldn't be unlike him at all to have someplace hidden on these desks." We carefully pulled out drawers, checking for false bottoms or other compartments, but we didn't find anything. "There's a possibility he kept them in the other room, but I didn't see anything that looked like a file down there, but it won't hurt to take another look."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Grandpa pulled the keys from his pocket as we walked down the passageway, but just as he was ready to unlock the padlock his cell phone rang. "Hello."

"Michael here. We're about ten minutes out. They got in early."

"Thanks. We'll meet you upstairs." "Well, kids, I guess we'll have to do our looking another time. What do you say we meet in the library? Justin, could you grab a few clean five gallon paint buckets for us to sit on? I should have thought about bringing some folding chairs."

I climbed the ladder to the second floor while Grandpa and Rosemary made their way to the front door to meet our guests. First of all, I grabbed all of the empty fives we had and carried them downstairs. No point in dragging more full ones than were needed. I had just gotten back downstairs with two full ones when I heard Grandpa open the front door and call out, "Welcome."

Three gentlemen carrying briefcases got out of the car and started for the door. Michael followed along behind. "Good afternoon, sir. I presume you are Ben Thompson?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you for taking my call and then for coming."

"Well, if what you have to show us is what I'm hoping it is I'd have been crazy not to come. By the way, I'm Ben Jorgenson, and this is Pete Fleming, our Corporate President, and Charles Weigle, our Counsel.

Grandpa shook hands with each of the men before saying, "You've already met Michael Borden, one of the discoverers, and this is my grandson, Justin Thyme, the other discoverer, and part owner of this house. Rosemary Thyme, here, is my granddaughter, and also partial owner of the house. Unfortunately, my son-in-law and daughter, the other owners of the house are not able to be present, but they are not a part of the discovery. Would you please come in?"

We all made our way to the library, where Rosemary brought a tray with coffee and cups. Michael followed behind her with some sodas and bottles of water. "What a magnificent desk!" said Ben Jorgenson. "That is phenomenal! Would you be interested in selling it? I would love to have such a desk in my office!"

"Thank you, sir, but no. For one thing, you cannot remove it from the room without breaking it apart or tearing out the doorway," I answered. "Besides, I kind of like it myself." I gave him a smile to soften the words.

"I've never seen the likes of it, have you, Charlie?"

"No, I haven't, Ben. It is exquisite. Even the "Resolute" desk in the White House doesn't match it. I don't have a room in my house that it wouldn't overpower. Would you mind if I take a look at it, Justin?"

"Charlie is our antiquarian. I doubt he has a stick of furniture in his house that isn't a hundred years old."

I just nodded and held my hand out toward the desk in invitation as Charlie said, "Not quite. My wife insisted we sleep on something a bit more modern." He grinned at me, "For the rest it's probably close to true. I just love the workmanship one finds in some pieces, and like I said, this one is exquisite."

As he approached the desk, Grandpa said, "Please excuse the Spartan accommodations. The kids are in process of restoring the old house, and I didn't think about bringing any chairs up with us today. They've been sleeping on the floor and I don't know how else they get by, but it's nice to be young."

Pete Fleming, who had up to this point remained quiet said, "I've sat on a lot worse when I was on the track laying team back during college." He responded to our surprised looks by saying, "My dad made me get a 'real' job while I was in school. He said too many people get into management who have no idea what they are managing. The experiences I had then have paid off very well since I moved into the offices. In fact, when we have interns come to work with us I make the ones that have potential to stay around spend at least a summer on a rail job of some sort. Something besides sitting at a desk." Ben was not quite as happy to sit on a bucket, but did so without complaint.

Charlie ooohed and aaaahhed over the desk even as Grandpa turned the meeting to its original purpose. "Well, gentlemen, the reason I interrupted your vacation and everything else you were doing was because of the find my grandson and Michael made. Samuel Johnson disappeared on the very night he had a meeting with some government people investigating the railroad, and some of the military, who were looking into using the railroad in support of our troops. That very day he had received shipment of $50,000 in gold coin for dispersal to Southwestern Railroad of Arizona shareholders for the merger. Is this your understanding?"

Ben agreed.

Charlie interrupted. "Sorry, Ben, and Ben, but Justin, you need to take a look at this!" I walked over to the desk and saw where he had pulled on what looked like a support column for some cubbyholes. It was a hidden drawer that was filled with old papers and forms! "A lot of these old desks have such drawers. You just have to know where to look for them."

"Thank you, sir! We'll check those out later. In fact, we had just been looking for something of the sort when Michael called."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Grandpa nodded at Charlie and me, and then he continued where he had left off. "There was some thought that Johnson perhaps absconded with the funds, although much of the money was coming to him anyway; and one of his managers, a Henry Murray, also disappeared that night. Something that mitigated against that theory is an empty buckboard and team was found in the carriage house, and no horses were missing. Well, gentlemen, we have found Mr. Johnson, as well as Mr. Murray, and it is pretty clear Mr. Johnson gave his life defending those trunks. It appears Mr. Murray found out about them somehow and tried to hold up Johnson in a secret room under the house that no one knew about, other than Johnson and Murray. Murray, it appeared, was working with Johnson on some mining properties that he would have tried to take over as well. Shall we go have a look, and then we will check out those two cases and see if they hold what I believe they do."

Grandpa led the way to the closet and called me. "Justin, would you please open the door. I've forgotten already how to do it." I slipped past him and quickly twisted the rod before anyone else could see it. Grandpa, that sly fox, had forgotten nothing, but he didn't want to give away our secret either.

Grandpa stopped them before they descended though. "Gentlemen, can we have a gentleman's agreement between us? I didn't bother drawing up a non-disclosure document before the meeting because I really didn't think it necessary. May I have your word you will not reveal where and under what circumstances this was found? A 'secret room at an undisclosed location' would be quite adequate, I believe." All three of the railroad men nodded in agreement. "The Sheriff was here this morning, and removed the skeletons of the two men. I'm sure some of it will leak out, but we would like as little publicity as possible, especially as the kids, here, are renovating the house and will be providing student housing for girls here. We don't want to scare any of them away."

That brought grins to the men's faces, and Grandpa followed me down the ladder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stephanie and Susie were making good time up I-10 with little traffic until shortly before they reached the Metro Phoenix area. They were held up for a while by an accident by Sky Harbor Airport, but not for long.

"I still think we ought to give them a call and let them know we are coming," Susie said. "We don't know how long the meeting is going to last, and I know Michael wouldn't be happy if we interrupted."

"Oh, don't be silly. If we see another car at the house we won't stop. We'll go by Bill's and get some lunch and come back."

"I guess, but I'd feel a lot better if we called."

From the airport on traffic was smooth and they made good time, and turned onto our street. Susie sat open-mouthed. "Tell me that's it! Holy Cow! That place is huge, and beautiful!"

"That's it! That's home for the next four years, girl. Now, is it everything I told you it would be?"

"That's what you said, and more! If the inside is anything like the exterior it is a palace!"

"Well, I'd not quite call it a palace, but mansion fits the bill nicely. They must be done. I don't see another vehicle. I'm glad we aren't too late. It would really bite it to get here and they are gone already!" Stephanie parked next to the Escalade and the girls jumped out of the car excitedly and hurried up to the front door, where Stephanie rang the doorbell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mary Winters sat in the cafeteria for lunch, and caught herself looking around for Tom, but he wasn't in the room. She scolded herself for even looking, but Stephanie's comments had struck home, and she did find herself somewhat interested in the man. It had been a long, long dry spell, with nobody in the long ten years since her husband's death other than Paul. Her experience with Paul had not been particularly good, but it had been just enough to reawaken the hunger.

She picked disinterestedly at the tuna salad on her plate, and pushed it around as if trying to find something good about it. Actually, she didn't dislike the tuna salad as prepared by the cafeteria; it was more of a dissatisfaction with life in general. She had taken a good look at herself in the mirror before getting ready for work in the morning, and wasn't unhappy with what she saw. For a forty-eight year old woman she thought she had maintained her figure quite well, and her breasts, while not large, had not sagged appreciably. She ate carefully, partly because of her medical knowledge, but also because she wanted to keep herself looking good. A part of it was Brad. She never left the house without saying goodbye to his picture, and she wanted to be certain she would please him if he could see her. She recognized it was foolishness, but it was what it was, and she didn't plan to change.

[Ramesh_Rocky]

The biggest fight she had with Paul was when he wanted to take down the picture and the flag when he moved in. She acquiesced, but felt guilty as she did so, and the first thing she did when Paul was taken away, even before starting to clean up the mess, was to replace Brad's picture, and apologize to it. She solemnly promised never to let it happen again. At last, finished with her tuna, and needing to get back on duty she rose from the table and turned for the door just in time to see Tom coming in. He gave her a great big grin, which made her heart lurch, and then he waved across the room. She smiled back and waited for a moment by the tray return line until he had passed through the serving line. "Hi, Tom. Say, would you like to come over and have dinner with Stephanie and me this evening? Nothing fancy. You have to take whatever I can find." Now where in the world did that come from?!

His face brightened considerably. "I'd love to. Thank you! My cooking is not worth mentioning, and I get tired of talking to myself. You two are a welcome change. Can I bring anything?"

"Oh, no. That's not necessary. I just thought it would be nice to have someone else in the house, too, and I know Stephanie really wanted to talk with you some more."

"Fine. It will be six or so before I can get there, would that be OK?"

"Perfect. See you then." And with that Mary walked from the cafeteria with a bounce in her step that had not been there when she trudged in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I heard the doorbell ring as I got to the bottom of the ladder, and Grandpa stopped, irritated at the interruption. Rosemary called out, "I'll get it. Go ahead," and Grandpa stepped off of the ladder. Ben followed, with Pete and Charlie right behind. Michael started down the ladder when Rosemary called to him. He called down the stairs to say he would be right down and returned to the front room.

"Susie! What are you doing here?"

"We thought we'd sneak up and see you and Justin. They had a fire in the air conditioner at school, and school is out tomorrow, too. You guys are through with your meeting aren't you?"

"Actually, no. We're just getting started."

"Oh. I'm sorry! We didn't see another car, so we thought they were already gone."

Rosemary spoke up quickly. "Why don't you go on to the meeting and Steph and I'll show Susie the house. I don't have to be in it anyway. Just tell Justin to let me know what happens."

Michael nodded and gave Susie a little hug and kiss. "That will have to do you until later, Little One. Love you," and he turned and hurried away. He carefully closed the secret door and scurried down the ladder to find Grandpa waiting impatiently for him to arrive.

"What's the problem, Michael?"

"Oh, no problem. Susie and Stephanie decided to drive up since school was released because of a fire in the A/C. Rosemary is going to show them around the house, and we can proceed."

Grandpa nodded. "Thank you." "Now gentlemen, I'll turn this over to Justin and Michael to tell you what they found."

Michael waved at me to go ahead, so I cleared my throat and began. "Well, it's like this. We had been trying to figure out why one set of bookshelves looked a little funny up in my room up in the turret room up on top. Michael suggested Sam Johnson had an escape route, or perhaps a safe room with a secret entrance. We looked all over for a latch and were about to give up when Michael found it. My room is at the top end of the ladder we climbed down. When we climbed down here we found Sam Johnson sitting here at the desk, with a revolver in his hand. He had been shot through the left shoulder, upper chest area. Over there, in the corner, Murray was sprawled on the floor with a revolver in his hand. He had been shot through the head, right between the eyes. Am I leaving anything out, Michael?"

"No, you pretty well have it. We left right away and called Ben Thompson, here, knowing we needed some advice." He gestured at Grandpa. "I was not able to return with them when Justin brought Ben, but that is when they found the two chests I believe you gentlemen are interested in. Is there anything you'd like to add, Ben?"

"Nope, I think that takes care of it. If you gentlemen will step around here with me I'll show you what we found, and where, and then we will see about checking it for contents, which we did not attempt before calling you." Grandpa led them into the corridor and showed them the loosely piled tarpaulins, and told them the tarps were what had tipped him off in the first place, as Johnson was very particular about everything in the place, from what we could see in the cellar, and from the layout and design of the house itself. When Grandpa pulled the tarps aside you could have cut the silence with a knife. "These, gentlemen, are I believe what Mr. Johnson gave his life to protect, and unfortunately, his good name also, as no one knew where he was. Justin, Michael, you guys are a lot younger than are we. How about the two of you grabbing one of these and set it out on the desk for me."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

When we went to pick one up I understood why he suggested both of us pick it up. The case weighed nearly a hundred pounds!

Between us we got it up on the desk and Grandpa pulled the key ring out of his pocket. "I don't know if there is a key on this ring that will fit the chests or not, gentlemen. Sam Johnson had this ring in his pocket when he was killed." He picked out a couple of smaller keys and tried the first one, but it would not fit. Everyone held their breath when he tried the other key, which slipped into the slot and turned with a soft 'click'. Grandpa stepped back from the chest and gestured to Ben. "Would you like to do the honors, sir?"

Ben Jorgenson's hand was trembling as he reached for the lid. Fifty thousand dollars doesn't sound like all that much money these days, but at the first of the twentieth century it was quite a lot! Ben opened the lid and we all could see short rolls of $20 gold coins, quite a lot of them, in fact. Ben Jorgenson pulled one roll of coins from the case and hefted it in his hand before passing it along to the other two gentlemen, who each looked at it reverently, before looking up at Grandpa, and then over at Michael and me. Ben's voice was hushed as he said, "Thank you very much, gentlemen. Your honesty speaks well for you."

Michael shrugged and said, "It's the right thing to do. I always try to do what's right, although at times I fail." I nodded in agreement.

Grandpa interjected, "The reason we called you and are returning this is not for the reward offered by the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad, but because we think it is the right thing to do. Actually, under Arizona law the kids are entitled to half, as treasure trove, but none of us believe that to be the right way to go about things. The reward offer however was never rescinded, so it was carried over to the Southern Pacific, and then to the U.P. in the merger."

Ben Jorgenson nodded his head. "I see nothing wrong with that at all! In fact, we were discussing what should be done on the way down here. None of us knew about the reward offer, but then we didn't really have a lot of time to research things. Do you know how much the reward offer was?"

"Yes sir. It was for $5,000, and that brings up a little different matter. The value of the gold has increased by over 70 times since 1901. Now please understand, neither of these young men are asking for that kind of an increase, but I as one's Grandfather, and as the other's attorney, am asking a reasonable consideration. By my best calculations from the spot prices on gold today, the $50,000 in these chests are now worth in excess of three and a half million, without even taking into account any numismatic values on the individual coins. Of course, we had not opened the chests before you just did, so I have no idea what is in there."

Charles Weigle, the legal counsel for the railroad spoke up. "I think what you are asking is entirely reasonable, and to be honest, if you had just melted down the coins, or had sold them off as treasure trove no one would have been the wiser." He looked over at Ben Jorgenson and Pete Fleming. "I'm thinking since the reward was for $5,000, if we were to pay them the $5,000 in gold coin, they would also reap the difference in value, plus if they get lucky and find a valuable coin they would have that as well. Even at that the railroad is going to come out very well." Both men nodded their agreement.

"Would you be willing to sign a receipt and a quit claim agreement on any treasure trove claim?" Charlie asked.

I nodded, as did Michael. Grandpa spoke up. "If you will draw something up we will be most happy to oblige. I know we lawyers like to make things complicated, but it need not be. Just a simple document will more than suffice. Michael didn't even want to take a reward, feeling it was only right to return your property, and Justin didn't ask about one. I had to talk to Michael like a Dutch uncle to get him to agree to what was his fair share."

Ben Jorgenson looked over at Michael, then at me, before saying, "Your attitudes are indeed commendable, and not something I run across every day. Michael, tell me, what do you do that you don't need the money? Are you in school, or what?"

Michael actually colored a little bit. "My needs are simple. I don't need more than I have. I wrote a computer business program and a couple of apps that I've sold, and I'm quite comfortable from them. I just try to do the right thing and don't worry about the rest of it."

Ben nodded. "What kind of program did you write, if I may ask?"

"It's a bit of software for tracking stocks and plotting trends. I actually wrote it for my Dad because he didn't understand what his broker was trying to get him to do with his investments. Dad showed it to his broker, and it stirred up some interest and I ended up getting a very nice offer from a software company, plus royalties for it." He told them the name of the program.

Pet started in his seat. "You wrote that? How old are you anyway, if I may ask?"

"I'm twenty-two, sir. I actually wrote it when I was in high school. Like I said, I just did it for Dad, and some people got interested."

"I use that program. I bought the Beta version when it first came out, and I've upgraded every time you have put out an upgrade. That software is marvelous! Are you interested in a job? The UP could use your talent, and you can pretty much name your price. We've had programmers trying to do something with some of our scheduling software, but they can't seem to get it done. Your concept for investing seems to be along the lines I think they should look."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Michael shrugged. "I'm not really looking for a job, thank you. I piddle around with projects when I find something that interests me. I'm not an idle lay-about, but I don't have to work to support my lifestyle, so I don't have a job as such. I might be willing to take a look at what you need and see if I see a solution. Oh, and by the way, my future, I hope, father-in-law was having some troubles navigating my program. He isn't very tech savvy, so I've made some modifications that simplify some of the steps. I'll be happy to give you a copy."

"May I have your card? I'll have our head of IT get in touch with you ASAP. I really would like to have you at least take a look and get back to us if you are interested. If you would, please copy me on whatever you send him. I'm not always sure I'm getting the information I need from them, or if I'm just getting what they think I ought to see."

"Yes sir. I'll be happy to do so, and I'll send you a disk with my changes. I'd appreciate any feedback you wish to give on it as well."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Susie was blown away by the house, absolutely loving the dark wood mouldings and the wide staircase. Rosemary showed her the kitchen and described what we planned to do with it. They took just a brief look at the library, Rosemary saying they would come back and look at it more later, but she didn't want to be in the way if the meeting moved back into there.

Both Susie and Stephanie were puzzled about where the men had all gone, but Rosemary kept it quiet. She led the way up to the second floor and showed them a couple of rooms that had been painted and then led them down to the end of the hall and entered the room she planned to move into. "This room is going to be mine for reasons I can't tell you right now. Originally I was supposed to have one of the singles on the next floor, and we were going to have you two rooming together, but I've changed my mind. I really need a room on this floor, this one in particular. What I'm thinking is; this room is actually large enough for three. It might not be quite as much room as the other rooms with two, but I think we could make it work and it could be a lot of fun. What do you two think?"

Susie and Stephie looked at each other, and then over at Rosemary and they all joined in a group hug. "I would love to share a room with both of you," said Susie. "You two are as close to me as if we were sisters."

"I agree," said Steph. "Besides, I hope to spend a good many nights up on the top floor with Justin, and I know Rosemary want's to, too. So actually, it won't be all that crowded most of the time." Rosemary just smiled a quiet knowing smile, but knowing she couldn't say anything just yet remained silent.

They trooped through the third floor, and then on up to my room, which Susie really loved. "I could fill those bookcases all by myself! It's not fair for him to have his own private library in his room! And the view! He can see for about forever from here! There isn't another building this high for a couple of miles!" She stepped over into the turret and looked down at the carriage house, and then across the back expanse of the property before looking down and seeing the pool just below.

"Ha! I see why he likes this room! I just thought he had a good view until I saw where the pool is! I'll bet he has a good view, all right. Is that why he chose this room?"

Rosemary laughed. "Actually, Justin didn't want to put in the pool. He thinks it is going to be more trouble than it's worth, but Dad thought it would help with rentals. Really though, renting this place out has been a piece of cake! We only have one single room left, well, with me moving down to the second floor we have two, and we haven't even begun advertising! Everything has been word of mouth. Girls in the dorms really want out, and we can afford to be picky."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pete and Charlotte Thyme had spent the day lazing around the pool and enjoying each other's company. It had been in the early hours of morning before they returned from the movie premier. The only remaining work duties Pete had for this trip was a dinner to attend in the evening so he was taking the day off completely, leaving his cell phone, his laptop, and all work related materials locked in their hotel room. Today was for him and Charlotte, one of very few it seemed they were able to spend so.

Both, being early risers by habit, were awake early on, feeling rather worn out from the late night the night before. Pete looked at the clock, and then turned it around so he couldn't see it, removed his wristwatch, and turned toward his wife and enveloped her in his arms. "Tell me, why do we work so hard? It seems we never have time for each other. Today there is nothing we have to do until that dinner tonight at 7:00. We are going to just spend the day together and forget work, responsibility, or anything else that might spoil the day. Maybe we can even try to remember what married people use a bed for, besides collapsing at night just so they can get up to go to work in the morning. Remember what we did when we were young and first married?"

Charlotte's eyes shone as she looked at her husband. "Do you think you can remember how to do it?"

"I've been told it is like riding a bike. Once you learn you never forget. Maybe I should take a look and see if anything looks familiar." With that he swept the sheet back, exposing her body. "It seems to be coming back. Seems somewhat familiar." He let the fingers of his right hand wander down her side, caressing her curves, and giving goosebumps from the tickling sensations. His hand slowly swept back up, but upon reaching the top circled her left breast, remaining low and not actually touching the breast, and continuing in a figure eight around the right breast also. Charlotte's nipples began hardening from the stimulation, and she shivered as his fingers slowly and lightly made their way down and across her belly to her navel, circling it before his forefinger reached in and tickled lightly. Her legs drew together and her knees lifted slightly at this contact.

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Next his fingers continued their journey a short distance to the top of her pubic hairs, which were trimmed, but still mostly there. She considered trimming them more completely, but Pete liked to play with them, and on the rare occasions they had opportunity he liked to nuzzle them with his nose in the process of eating her pussy. His fingers didn't actually touch the hairs, but rather trailed around them, causing Charlotte's breath to hiss between her teeth as his fingers traced the very sensitive area at the junction of her leg and pelvis.

Since her legs had drawn together tightly when he tickled her navel his fingers trailed along over the top of her thigh until it descended into the valley formed by her legs and then slowly, oh so slowly, it ascended up the other leg and repeated the process in reverse, again causing the hissing intake of breath as he tickled the junction of the leg. Once again at the top of her pubis he changed direction and brought his hand to the near side and trailed his fingers backwards up and over her hip, in the curve to her waist, and then upward, his nails trailing and tickling the whole way. He didn't stop at her breasts this time, but continued upward to the top of her shoulder, where he trailed his fingernails across the shoulder to her neck and up to her ear, where he tickled the earlobe, then down and across the neck under the chin and up to the other ear.

With a sudden lunge Charlotte rolled over on top of him and said, "Enough of that for now! Right now I need you!" She reached down and aligned his hard cock with her pussy and slid herself down onto him in one slow motion. "Now, see if you can remember what to do!"

Pete could feel her soft breasts pressing against his chest as he began the time-honored movements, and he knew it wouldn't last long. It had been over a week, and Charlotte was obviously as needy as was he. In just a few minutes he reached the point of no return and came in her, holding her tightly to him, reveling in the love he felt for his wife. Sated he fell asleep with his wife atop of him, and they both slept for another hour before ordering room service for breakfast, just so they didn't have to get up and dress.

"You know," Pete said as they were breakfasting nude. "I really could get used to eating breakfast like this with you. I can hardly believe in two years it will be twenty-five years! When we get back we have to do something about the pace we are living. I didn't get married just to live in a big house, when I get to be home. I married you to be with you!"

Charlotte reached across the table and grasped his hand. Her smile was all the answer Pete needed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grandpa and Charlie sat over at Sam Johnson's desk and dickered for a few minutes on the wording of the document Michael and I would sign as a release for the gold, but it didn't take much. In the end it read as a simple agreement between two parties, Michael and me on the one hand, and the Union Pacific on the other agreeing to accept $5000 in gold coin in reward for the return of lost railroad property, and that we released them of any claim to a treasure trove claim. Very unusually for our times, the document was hand written, and then copied by hand with lines for each of us to sign with our names hand printed over each signature.

Grandpa called Michael over to one side for a moment and they whispered together for a moment before Michael shook his head in agreement, but his shoulders slumped a mite. Grandpa went back to the desk where Charlie was finishing the copy, and Grandpa had him add one word to each document, much to Charlie's surprise.

When Charlie finished copying the document he called us all over to the desk where we each signed on the appropriate line. I immediately saw what Grandpa called Michael for. His line was signed Michael Borden Thibodeaux. Pete and Ben both saw it as well, and looked up with questioning glances before signing, but Charlie just motioned for them to go ahead and sign. Grandpa waited until everyone had signed before saying, "Gentlemen, we had no intention of deceiving you, and I could have let it go. Michael is not the kind of man who goes back on his word, but I thought we ought to do it right. Michael is the son of the former standout player for the Phoenix Cardinals, and before that the ASU Sun Devils. He has found it much easier all around if he goes by his middle name, Borden, rather than face all the notoriety of the Thibodeaux name. Please understand no deception was intended."

Nods were exchanged all around at the explanation and Ben asked just one question: "Is that why you don't need the money? Other than your computer program? You live off of your Dad's money?"

"No, Sir. My money is my own. I don't get anything from my parents, but it was growing up in that household that taught me I don't need to live the kind of lifestyle so many with money do. Mom and Dad taught me to live within my means, to do so simply, yet comfortably, and that all of the glitz and glamor is rather fleeting. Don't get me wrong. My parents and I are very close, and we love each other dearly. If I needed it they would be most happy to help out, but actually, I make more than he does. Down here in Tucson it isn't quite as bad, but up around Phoenix the name Thibodeaux is so well known I can't have a minute's peace when out in public. That's why I moved down here last year, and then fell in with this family, but that's a different story."

Ben stuck out a hand. "Thanks, son. I hope you didn't misinterpret my questions."

"Oh, no sir, not at all. Other than legal matters I just find it much easier all around to leave the Thibodeaux name in my back pocket."

Charlie, meanwhile, had reopened the case on the desk. "You know, we never counted this, or even looked into the other case. We don't know for sure it's all here."

Ben waved a hand. "Charlie, for the first time in my life I've met people I don't think I need to count behind. You can count it if you want, but I can tell you you would waste your time." Pete nodded agreement and Charlie flushed a little as he looked up at Grandpa. "Please, no offense was intended!"

Grandpa just laughed. "Charlie, I took none. I was wondering how long it would take a lawyer to think of that! I'm just glad you didn't bring your Comptroller!"

Charlie grinned and pulled out ten $500 rolls of gold coins and set them out on the table. "I'd suggest you secure these carefully. We are of course going to have to release the news of this recovery, but we will try to keep you out of it as much as possible, using an 'undisclosed' location, but I can assure you the Sheriff will have your house in the news tonight. In fact, it would probably be wise if we were all to get out of here right away. I wouldn't be too surprised to see News trucks on the street outside with cameras aimed at the house."

Ben Jorgenson nodded his head. "I think that would be wise. I'd really like to take a tour of the house, but I think we had better get on out." Michael and I went into the passageway and grabbed the other case and carried it out while Grandpa put the gold into one of the desk drawers. Michael and I carried it on down the other passageway to the carriage house, while Pete and Charlie struggled to carry the other case behind us. Believe me, I know they struggled, because by the time Michael and I got there we were huffing and puffing!

"Could you give them a hand, Michael, while I get the door open?" I asked when we finally set our case down. We looked back and saw the other two with their case on the floor two thirds of the way back. Michael grinned at me and nodded. I scurried up the ladder, released the door, and then climbed up to the second level and dropped the rope from the winch. There was no way I was going to try to carry that load up a vertical ladder!

By the time I had the winch set up, and the rope dropped to the lower level Michael and Pete had arrived with the case. "Could you back the Escalade into this first section, Michael? It might be a good idea to close the doors after you back in."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Sure thing." He hurried up the ladder and I watched as Pete tied a good knot on one case, then I waited for him to climb up to the first level before I began cranking the winch. It didn't take long to get the box to the top, where Pete swung it over the ground and I let it settle. He tossed the loosened rope back into the hatch and I lowered it down for Grandpa to tie off the second case. Michael had the Escalade in the carriage house and the doors closed by the time I had the second case up to the first level. Pete swung it over and I let it down gently. Ben was climbing up the ladder as Pete untied the rope, with Charlie right behind.

"I would suggest we hurry, Michael called to us as he pulled the door closed. I saw a TV truck headed this way. He might not be coming here, but I wouldn't bet on it. He's only a couple of minutes away." I called Grandpa quickly and he hurried up the ladder as soon as Charlie got out of the way.

While I waited for the ladder to clear I called Rosemary on her cell. "Rosemary, I don't have time to talk. Get the girls in the car and get out of here right now! Otherwise you'll be all over the news. Meet us at Bill's, but be sure you aren't followed." I thumbed off the phone and scrambled down the ladder as if my tail was on fire!

Grandpa quickly got the men into the car, and Michael and I manhandled the cases into the luggage compartment. Michael started the car as I hurried to close the secret door, then to run and open the carriage house doors. Michael pulled out, and I closed the doors behind them and hurried into the car. Sure enough, there was a TV truck across the street extending its mast with the satellite dish. I saw Rosemary walking out the front door, trying to hurry the girls, who did not know the situation, nor could she tell them. We pulled out of the drive as a cameraman was hurriedly trying to get a camera operational, but we were away before he could get a shot of us. The girls weren't quite as quick getting away, and he was able to get a shot of their car as it left, but I don't believe he had enough of a shot to get their faces.

It's not like we had done anything wrong, or anything, but we didn't need the publicity, and we certainly didn't want anyone getting the idea gold was on the premises. That could only invite trouble.

Grandpa let out a big "Whew!" once we were clear. "I'm really sorry, gentlemen, to have to hurry you out like that!"

Ben sat in the middle seat and laughed. "I haven't had to run like that since I about got caught by my now father-in-law! At least these people didn't have a shotgun loaded with rock salt waiting for us!" We all got a chuckle out of that.

"Tell me, did you gentlemen get a chance to eat on your way down here? I know you were hurrying to get here."

"No," Ben said. "We thought we needed to get here, and we can get by for a little bit."

"I told the girls to go to Bill's and wait for us there," I said to Grandpa. "I didn't want them to be stopped and interviewed or see their pictures on the news."

"Good thinking. I'd suggest we go over there. I know we have the gold in the back, but no one other than the six of us, and Rosemary know about it. I know she wouldn't say anything to the others, not that they would be a problem. Michael has dibs on one of them, and Justin is mighty sweet on the other. I'd rather they not know more than necessary, but they can be trusted. Anyway, long story short, how about if we get a parking spot where we can keep a good eye on the car and grab some lunch? As late as it is we should be able to get a good spot."

We left it to the three railroad men, who agreed with the plan. Michael carefully backed the Escalade into a parking space where we could have a good view of the luggage area of the car and we all got out and went in, happy to be away from the house without being filmed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charlotte Thyme filled out the bikini she wore very nicely. To be sure, it was a bit more age appropriate than the ones her daughter wore, but it was eye catching anyway. The maturity she exhibited and the way she carried herself did as much for the appeal as the suit. She still looked good, and her confidence in her looks said much. Pete enjoyed being with her, and he never tired of watching her. Today, however, another man was lying out across the pool on a lounger, and Pete noticed the guy's eyes on his wife a lot more than he liked. At first he started getting angry, but over time he found himself getting aroused that another man thought his wife was appealing.

It was an unusually cool day for LA, but it wasn't cold. As they lay there though a cloud came over and a breeze kicked up. As Pete watched he saw a few goosebumps pop up, and Charlotte's nipples, which were large, started to become obvious. He doubted the man across the pool could see them but he certainly could.

"What do you think you are looking at?" Charlotte gave him a smile.

Pete licked his lips suggestively. "What do you think? By the way, there is a guy across the way who can't quit looking at you either. Poor guy, he can't see what I can."

"You mean you like it that he's looking at me?" Charlotte was a little miffed.

"At first I was a bit upset, but then it made me realize how lucky I am to have you. You are a sexy woman, and I never tire of looking at you. Why would I expect other men to not notice?"

"What are you trying to do, show me off?"

"No, I didn't do anything to draw attention. I didn't have to. You do that on your own."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Well, if you like it so much maybe I should do something to really get him going?" She had a sexy glint in her eye as she playfully kissed a finger-tip and pressed it to his lips. "What do you think he would think if I did this?" and she slipped a finger from each hand under the leg opening of her bikini and ran it down, as if to rearrange the suit to be more comfortable. Pete felt his own suit suddenly becoming tight, and he noticed the guy across the way shifting in his seat.

"What did you do? Flash him?"

"Oh, no. I wouldn't do that! All I did was rearrange a bit. You seemed to like it." She gave him a cheeky grin as he nodded. "You men are all alike. You're too easy to predict." She slipped a finger under a bra cup and tugged it down a bit, and grinned at Pete's reaction. "Do you think maybe if we went in now we could have time for a little fun before dinner?"

Pete quickly agreed, and got up. "You'd better wrap a towel around yourself, there, big boy. You'll get yourself arrested for a concealed weapon otherwise, except it isn't very concealed." Charlotte giggled as she stood, and then nonchalantly ran a finger down the inside of her bikini leg in the back, just for the man across the way's benefit, then she grabbed Pete's arm and pressed her ample cleavage against it as they walked away. "That'll give him something to think about while we are doing something about it," she laughed and leaned even harder against her husband.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What was that all about?" Susie asked excitedly as soon as they were in the car. She saw the cameraman pointing his TV camera at her as they pulled out of the drive.

"I'm sorry, but I really can't tell you right now." Rosemary said from the back seat. "Hurry, Steph. Make sure nobody is following us, would you?"

Steph looked into her rearview mirror. "I don't see anyone back there. What's going on, anyway? You'd think we were in a spy movie or something. Either that or a big robbery! No keeping secrets, now."

"I'm sorry, but I really can't say anything yet. You'll know soon enough, but I can't say. It isn't my secret, and it's really important. Nobody has done anything bad! Don't worry about that. We just don't need any publicity. You'll see some of it on the news tonight, but we didn't need to be in the middle of it. I can't say anything more until Grandpa says I can."

"Is something wrong with the house?"

"No. I told you I can't say anything. Don't ask any questions."

"I'll ask Mikey. He'll tell me anything."

"I doubt it. At least until Grandpa says he can. You'll know soon enough. Quit worrying about it."

Stephanie pulled into Bill's parking lot just in time to see Michael carefully backing into a parking spot by a window. The way he parked was unusual, and she commented to Rosemary about it. Rosemary of course didn't know why he parked the way he did, but could hazard a guess, which she kept to herself. As they got out of the car Rosemary quickly spoke up. "Remember, don't ask questions!"

"OK, OK," said Susie crossly.

Ben Jorgenson introduced himself to the girls as they neared the door, and introduced Pete Fleming and Charlie Weigle as well. "I'm really sorry we messed up your day with your boyfriends, girls, but they will explain what is going on later, I'm sure. Right now, let's go get something to eat. I think I could eat a cow if someone would drag it over by the tail."

I led the way in the door, and was not surprised to see Susie quickly clutch Michael's arm and follow him to the table. "Bill's is a family restaurant that caters to a middle class blue collar clientele for the most part, but it has been here long enough to be a local institution that draws a wide range of people. They are known for large portions of good food, but reasonably priced. Had we come at noon we would have waited as much as thirty minutes to get in. On Friday nights an hour is not unusual," I told them. "It is also popular with the college crowd, especially those from Tucson, because this is as close to Al's as we have found up here."

Charlie asked me, "What is Al's?"

I laughed. "Tell them, Michael."

Michael grinned and said, "The first time I ever was there was right after the accident I had with Susie and Stephanie. I had been staying at the hospital with Susie because her parents were out of town and could not return for a week. Justin decided I needed some real food, so he kidnapped me and took me to Al's. I had never seen a place like it in my life!" He shook his head. "From the outside it looks a bit rundown, but Justin assured me the food was good, and the place was clean. The first thing I saw when I walked in the door was a counter that ran all around the outside walls. The tables were long folding tables covered with oilcloth, and they just had cheap kitchen chairs to sit on. Nobody got their own table, but sat wherever they could find a chair. The counter around the walls was for times there were no seats. People stood and ate at the counter!"

"You're kidding, right?" asked Charley. Ben and Pete were looking on with big eyes, too.

"I kid you not! We were there on a Friday night, but it was nine o'clock and the place was nearly full. I went back there on Sunday, and I had to stand, but that was after I waited outside for twenty minutes. I'll tell you, I ate food I didn't know people ate a couple of times, and it was good!" I took Mom and Dad once when they were in town, and you should have seen Mom's face, but Dad was right at home. I've almost made a believer out of Mom, too."

We all placed our orders, and sat talking amongst ourselves quietly, but when the food came out Pete took one look and said, "I feel like I'm back on a track laying crew again! I'm going to have to hit the gym hard after this! I don't work like that anymore."

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Charlie and Grandpa got to talking shop, and Pete was picking Michael's brain on writing code. Ben and I talked for a while about the railroad, and the direction he believed transportation was going in this country. "If Michael can do something for us to coordinate our scheduling it will be very helpful. That is our biggest downfall right now. If we could find a way to make a schedule work so we could tell a shipper exactly how long it is going to take their product to get to a destination we would have so much business we couldn't handle it. As it is, we have to give them a three to four week window, and often we don't hit that."

"By the way, young man, I don't know what your plans are, but I like the way you operate. I'm offering you an internship each summer you are in school, and if you are interested we'll make a place for you at the UP afterwards. I'm not offering a general internship, but a personal one, working with me. You would have a chance to learn the railroad from the top down, rather than the normal way. You see, usually with interns what we are doing is teaching them how to work. You already know that, and I would like a chance to train you in how business really works. If you don't want to stay with the UP it will give you a big leg up wherever you go."

"Wow! Thank you. I never even thought of such an opportunity! Please let me give it some thought and discuss it with my parents."

"You do that, son. That speaks well for you that you can discuss such an opportunity with them." He handed me his business card, but wrote down his cell phone number first. "Feel free to give me a call at any time. That goes for whether you come to work with us or not."

"Thank you, sir. I will consider this carefully, and you will hear from me, I promise." With that lunch broke up

Ben looked at his watch before turning to Pete. "Pete, if we can wind those rubber bands up really tight we might even get back in time for me to make a late dinner with my wife. I'm already in hot enough water for leaving her as it is. I hope she didn't try to assuage her distress by buying out every store in Jackson's Hole."

Grandpa said, "I think I'll ride out to the airport with you, if you don't mind, Michael. Why don't we take Susie along with us? I know she is wanting to see you, and I'm sure you, her. I have a couple of things I'd like to discuss with you on the return trip, and I won't even make Susie plug her ears." She smiled at him nicely and squeezed Michael's arm possessively. "Justin, I know it will be a burden, but do you think you could handle riding back with Stephanie and Rosemary?" He gave me a cock-eyed grin and a wink.

"I shall lay down, if need be, even my life for the cause, Sir," I retorted, which brought chuckles all around. I shook hands with the railroad men and the girls and I made our way to the car. We went a block from the house, just to see if anything was going on there, and sure enough, there were four TV trucks lined up across the street with their satellite masts raised to the sky. There being no reason to stay around we headed back south for Tucson. The girls were sitting in the front, and I was sprawled across the back seat until about a mile after leaving the area of the house, when Stephie suddenly pulled into a shopping center.

"Rosie, I haven't seen Justin in days. Would you please drive and let me sit with him?" Her pleading tone was such that Rosemary really couldn't refuse, nor do I believe she would anyway. She got out and walked round to the driver's side of the car while Stephanie bounced out and practically dove into the back with me and wrapped her arms about my neck and laid a kiss on me that took my breath away.

"Stephie, my dear, I do believe you've missed me!"

"You don't know the half of it," she whispered. "Especially since Mom and I talked about you last night."

I was half lying across the seat, with Stephanie atop me when something white hit me in the face and covered my eyes. "Rosie!" Steph said, to Rosemary's cackle of laughter, and I felt the car begin to move. I reached up and removed what turned out to be Rosemary's bra from my face. Rosemary pointedly turned the inside mirror up to the ceiling.

"I don't want my impressionable eyes to be contaminated by anything I shouldn't see." Stephanie swatted her on the shoulder as Rosemary continued to laugh.

I struggled to a sitting position while I watched with fascination as Stephanie did that trick of removing her bra without taking off her shirt. I'll never reach the point that it will not fascinate me. The anticipation of what is coming is just too rich! And then, when the bra was fully removed and the shirt settled back into place with the soft jiggle of her breasts and the nipples protruding deliciously through the soft cotton of the tee shirt. Steph, not expecting to meet the railroad men, was wearing a very short, tight pair of shorts that seemed like her legs went on forever.

Was I hard? I did say I watched didn't I? Of course, to be perfectly honest, if Steph had been wearing a burlap bag I would have been hard after that kiss she laid on me.

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Steph and I started hugging and kissing, and we may not have had our seatbelts on, due to the circumstances as we were making up for, what was it, two days apart? It seemed much longer than that, though. Before long, Steph untucked my shirt, and was running her hand across my belly and chest. I took it as liberty for my hands to begin wandering also, and I slipped my hands under her shirt and caressed her soft skin, holding myself to her sides and across her belly for the longest time before allowing my fingertips to graze across the bottom of her breasts, which brought a small gasp and a moan from Steph. "I have missed you, so! Don't stop there, please!"

I allowed my hands to stroke across her breasts fully, her nipples rolling and bumping across my palms to further gasps. It was only a couple of minutes before she tore her hands from within my shirt and pulled hers up over her breasts allowing me to feast my eyes on them. "Suck on them, please, Justin. I need you!" I quickly looked around to be certain we wouldn't be seen, but she was having none of it. "I don't care if someone sees. I need it." Who was I to refuse such a request?

I sucked a nipple into my mouth and and used my tongue to toy with the nipple while I sucked on the morsel. My hand stroked up and down her side and across her back while the other hand was ministering to the neglected boob. She was moaning and half crying with desire as I continued sucking and toying with her. Her hands came out from within my shirt and started fumbling with my belt buckle and the button on my pants. She was finally able to get them free and slowly lowered the zipper amid quaking and shivering with her rising passion. She tugged my boxers down enough to free my cock and grasped it in her hand, with her thumb rubbing the pre-cum across the head. As if that was enough to take her over the edge she began shuddering and gasping for breath as a powerful orgasm overcame her.

Letting her nipple slip out of my mouth I replaced it with my hand and gently stroked and caressed her breasts as she leaned against me and tried to get control of her breathing again. "Thank you. You have no idea how much I needed that, especially after this weekend! I have so much to tell you." She leaned in and gave me a gentle kiss and then looked down at my cock in her hand. "I can't leave you like this!" She slid back across the seat a ways and leaning down, took my cock in her mouth.

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Everything seemed rather anti-climactic by the time we reached home. After all of the excitement, and the discoveries of the day I felt quite let down, and actually rather tired. I guess all of the anticipation, the number of trips up to the house, and the excitement of trying to get out before the TV people caught us burned more energy than I had thought. Even though I was with the two loves of my life all I wanted was a nap; a nap and some music. I had been missing my music lately. There just hadn't been time!

Steph had her shirt pulled back down, and my pants were zipped again, but we still snuggled together in the back seat as Rosemary drove. She had the mirror back down in proper position, and I caught her looking back at me with a little grin on her face a number of times.

When Rosemary pulled into our drive Stephanie leaned into me with a nice hug and a contented sigh. "Justin," she said looking up at me, "would you make love to me? Only this time, could we do it in your bed, and would you play some of that music for me? Especially that last song you played, you know; the Russian one?"

"I would love to, Sweetheart. I was just thinking I've been missing my music." She hugged me to her again with almost a childish jealousy, as if she didn't want to share me with anyone else. It was kind of cute.

"Afterward, would you please tell me what is going on up at the house?" I nodded. "But first things first. I've really missed you."

We no more than had the door to the house closed and Steph started pulling her shirt over her head, and dropped her shorts to the floor. "At last! I've wanted to get out of those clothes all day!" Rosemary laughed at her, but I notice she was right behind in shucking her clothes. "Don't laugh at me! You're the one who corrupted me, remember? Now I have to be careful that I don't forget and surprise Mom!" I have to say she definitely looks better without clothes, but then, I'm a guy, so you have to expect my mind to work that way. Her curves flow so nicely, and the way her pussy nestles in between her legs is beauty in and of itself. Seeing Rosemary next to her did nothing to diminish the view either!

Both girls decided I was to slow, so while I was pulling my shirt over my head they attacked my pants. "No underwear! I like!" crowed Steph as my cock popped out, already standing at attention. "Come on, Rosie. Let's go have some fun."

"You'll have to ask him why no underwear!" Rosemary gave me a wink and blew me a kiss.

Rosemary surprised me with her thoughtfulness. She pulled Steph and me into a hug. "You two go and have some alone time. I get him when you aren't around, and I had him last night and this morning. You two need some time without me around, although I love it when we are all together. I'm going to go get some sun." She gave me a nice kiss and a swat on the ass. "You take real good care of her, Big Brother," and with another three-way hug she was gone.

Stephanie stepped into another hug as soon as Rosemary walked out the patio door. "Rosie is really sweet isn't she? I know why you love her so much. I do, too. I've never really had you all to myself before. Do you mind?" That childlike jealousy was back in her eyes, and a possessiveness that was uncharacteristic of Steph. "Maybe I'm just being a baby, but I don't feel like sharing right now. I love you, Justin, with all I have. It grows more every day till it almost hurts. Do you understand?" The funny thing is, I really understood.

I picked her up suddenly and started for the stairs, but I made sure I rolled her up in my arms high enough to nibble on a nipple a little bit to her delight. Once in my room I set up Shostakovich's Romance from 'The Gadfly', then I picked a new one to Stephanie, a more modern piece, 'Ballade pour Adeline', made famous by Richard Claydermann. I chose the Andre Rieu version though, because I like the orchestration with the piano better. I thought it a bit more romantic, and I felt from Stephanie the need for romance today. Those two pieces I followed with Pacelbel's 'Canon', Bach's 'Air on a G String', and then Barber's 'Adagio for Strings.'

When I had them all sequenced I turned to see Steph closing the door, and then walking toward me, with a huge smile and shining eyes. "I love the feeling of being alone with the man that I love," she whispered as she took my hand. The look of total trust and love on her face will stay with me the rest of my life, and I never want to do anything to take it away. As the violin began its haunting melody I led her to my bed and we continued with our lovemaking. A lot of people call sex 'making love', but I never quit making love to Stephanie in the way I look at her, hold her, kiss her, think of her, and sex is just the ultimate expression of that love.

I'm not going to tell what all we did. The door was closed, and it was just us, and it was tender, passionate, and wonderful. If you love someone you know what happened, and if you don't, you wouldn't understand anyway.

Afterward as we cuddled closely on my twin-sized bed, with Stephie's hair tickling my nose as I nuzzled her, and the final few measures of Barber's Adagio playing, Stephie whispered, "I never understood your music before, but then I never really listened to it. It isn't just that it is beautiful, but it tells a story, doesn't it. Thank you, Justin. I love you." I'll never hear words or music that sound sweeter, and with them in mind I drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Due to the nature of their cargo nobody wanted to use a handtruck or any other such device to move the chests from the parking area to the aircraft, so Ben Jorgenson called ahead and made arrangements for a "follow me" truck to meet them at the ramp gate and escort them to the airplane.

Michael and the Union Pacific's pilot loaded and secured the two crates of gold as Grandpa and Charlie Weigle continued talking with each other. Ben and Pete watched carefully to be certain the chests would not come loose in flight in case of turbulence, and then they shook Michael's hand warmly before walking over to Grandpa and shaking his hand as well. Charlie turned to Michael and also shook hands with the admonition to be certain to talk with their IT chief as soon as possible. Ben Jorgenson said, "I don't know how to thank you people for what you've done. Your integrity speaks for you. Thank you very much," and with that he turned and boarded the plane, closely followed by the other two company officers.

Susie had been standing off to the side, next to the car silently watching what transpired. As much as she wanted to ask, she knew Michael would tell her as soon as they got going. Her curiosity was piqued by the obviously heavy chests, as was the driver of the "follow me" truck.

Michael and Grandpa turned to walk back to the Escalade, but Grandpa paused long enough to reach out an arm and pull Michael to him in a one-armed hug. "Well done, Son. I want you to know I couldn't be prouder of you! Your parents have every right to be proud, and I'll be happy to tell them so, next time I get to see them."

"Thank you, sir, but I just did what was right."

"So what did you do, Michael? Can you tell me now?"

Grandpa just laughed and pushed Michael toward the driver's side. "Load up, Son, and let's get this thing on the road before curiosity eats this young lady alive. Lord only knows how Justin is faring!"

Michael got in the car and made a production of putting on his seatbelt, and then very carefully following the "follow me" truck off the ramp. His eyes twinkled and a smile spread across his face as he saw Susie trying valiantly to contain her curiosity. Just as soon as he had the car out onto the road though, she could wait no longer. "All right, Michael Thibodeaux. Stop teasing me. What is going on?"

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Michael laughed out loud at her explosion, and Grandpa gave him a big grin. "You'd better watch out there, son. You don't want to get her mad at you."

Susie turned around. "I'm not really mad." She gave him a grin. "Mikey is just teasing me. He knows I'm curious."

Michael glanced over at Susie and was struck by the look of her legs as she was turned in the seat looking back at Grandpa. As careful as he was about keeping himself chaste he couldn't help the stir of excitement within himself, and he tore his eyes away from her even as he felt himself hardening. He needed to ask her to marry him for sure this weekend, and hope it could be sometime in the summer. He didn't know how much more temptation he could withstand. What made it even more frustrating is after talking with his Mom Susie had taken to dressing much more conservatively, but contrary to what one would think, it actually was making things more difficult! He could feel his cock lengthening within his pants even after looking away.

"OK, Little One. Try to keep your britches on. I'll tell you." Even that old saying brought a throb to his cock and a tightening in his belly. Just the thought of her taking off those shorts! He would need a very cold shower as soon as he could get home.

Michael looked into the back seat and said, "Ben, if I leave anything out please speak up." Michael went on to tell Susie in general terms of finding the latch for the first secret door, and the ensuing discovery of the two skeletons, to her horrified shiver. He went on to tell of the discovery of the gold in the locked storeroom, and of Ben Thompson and Justin's discovery of the railroad gold. Michael shook his head almost disgustedly as he told her of their insistence that he share in the reward and the discovered gold.

"I know you were curious as to why you had to leave so suddenly, but the Sheriff released the news of the discovery of the two skeletons and the secret room. We don't know if he said anything about any of the gold or anything else. We tried hard to play that down when he was at the house, but I'm sure he could put two and two together. That's why the TV truck was setting up when we left. I'm hoping he didn't get a picture of you girls leaving in the car." Michael shook his head. "I've tried so hard to get out of the limelight, and now it looks like I've ended up right back in the middle of it all over again, because I had to tell the Sheriff my last name. I just want to live like a regular person. Is that too much to ask?"

"But you aren't a regular person, Michael. You're my hero, whether you like it or not, and I don't care if you have a nickel to your name or all of the gold in Arizona." She squeezed the hand she held and then lifted it to her lips and kissed it. "So there!"

Grandpa laughed out loud as Michael rolled his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was rudely awakened after about fifteen minutes by the doorbell ringing. Whoever it was wasn't satisfied with just ringing the bell, but thought it would work better if he pressed it three times. I quickly threw on some shorts and a tee-shirt and ran down the stairs to see who was at the door. I knew Rosemary couldn't possibly answer it, nor could she come back inside the house without being seen if someone was looking in the window in the door or from the porch.

I had no more than opened the door and I knew my life as I knew it was over, at least for the foreseeable future. A reporter was standing there and a cameraman right behind him with a mini-cam pointed at me, and I could see a TV truck across the street with a camera on a tripod pointed at the house. Two other TV trucks were coming down the street as well.

The reporter stuck a microphone in my face as soon as the door was open more than a crack and said, "Are you Justin Thyme, by any chance? What is your comment on the events that have transpired at your property in Scottsdale, of the finding of Samuel Johnson and Henry Murray and the discovery of the missing gold from the railroad merger?"

I was stunned! I know I had a deer in the headlights look on my face as all I could think of was to say, "No comment!" and quickly try to shut the door. The reporter though was quicker, and he stuck his foot in the door before I could get it closed.

"The Sheriff tells us it was in a secret room beneath the house, and that you have entrances in the house as well as through the carriage house. What can you tell us about them?"

"Sir, I have no comment, and I must ask you to leave now."

"But what about the reports that . . . " I threw my shoulder against the door, smashing his foot and making him pull it back with a howl of pain, and I was able to close and lock the door before he could finish his question. Before I could even turn away from the door the phone started ringing. I knew what it was before I even got there to answer it. While answering the phone, saying "No comment," and hanging it back up to hear the doorbell ring again I texted Stephie and asked her to bring a robe down for Rosemary, and to be sure to be dressed when she came down, then I called Grandpa.

[Ramesh_Rocky]

While I waited for Grandpa to answer the phone I started making my way around the house closing blinds on all of the windows on the first floor. By now I could see four TV trucks across the street, each with the requisite camera pointed at the house, and of course neighbors out gathering on their lawns gawking, wondering what was happening. I saw at least three reporters and cameramen making their way from person to person interviewing them, asking their opinions of a situation they knew nothing of at all. My opinion of reporters, never very high, really plummeted.

"Hey Justin. What's on your mind?"

"I just thought you ought to know we have four TV trucks across the street from the house, and I had to slam the door on a reporter's foot when he wouldn't take 'No comment,' as an answer."

I could hear a groan in the background, so I knew Michael had heard at least part of the exchange.

The house phone rang again, and I gave my "No comment," answer and hung up even as I could hear Grandpa saying, "I'm not surprised. You just became a celebrity. What all did he ask you?"

"Well, that's the thing. The Sheriff must have said a lot more than he said he would, because the second question was about us finding the gold, plus about all of the secret entrances throughout the house."

"Uhm hmm. I'm not terribly surprised. I didn't think the Sheriff was missing much, even though he didn't ask a lot of questions to things we didn't volunteer information. He saw the ladder and put two and two together, plus he had time to look into the history of Johnson's disappearance, and it didn't take much of a leap of imagination to guess the gold was on the premises. You kids stay put there in the house, and let me come over and take care of the press for you as your attorney. I'll give your folks a call and suggest they stay away an extra night as well. There is no point in them walking into the middle of this. You kids will be OK there by yourselves, won't you?"

"Oh, sure. We'll be fine. Stephanie is here, and it looks like she's going to have to stay the night. There's no way I'm sending her out to face the wolves." The house phone rang again, and I answered, said "No comment," and hung it up. I could think of no one I needed to talk with that didn't have my cell number anyway, and if Mom missed a call about real estate it would not be the end of the world, at least to my mind.

Grandpa chuckled. "I'm sure you and Stephanie will behave, and I'd unplug that phone if I were you." The doorbell rang again, but I ignored it. "You might want to disconnect that doorbell as well. I'll give the reporters a bit of a statement when I arrive, but that will be a little bit as we aren't quite back to Tucson yet. I'll talk with you later."

Rosemary walked in the patio door wrapped in a robe with Stephie right behind. "I'm sure glad you had Steph bring me my robe! I no more than had it on and some guy with a TV camera half climbed over the fence! What is going on here?"

"Give me a minute and I'll try to tell you." I stopped to answer the phone, but then thought better of it and let it go to the answering machine. "Steph, you'd better call your Mom and tell her you are spending the night here. I don't think you want to try to get through that bunch out there."

Stephanie pulled out her cell phone and texted her mother telling her she needed to stay over with Rosemary, and asked her to please give her a call at her earliest chance for an explanation. That done she looked at me for the explanation, as did Rosemary. Motioning for them to follow me I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a Coke from the fridge, cocking an eyebrow to ask if they wanted one as well. I grabbed one for Steph and then sat down at the table. Hardly had I begun explaining all that transpired up at the house and Steph's phone rang. I paused for her to answer her mother.

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Hi, Mom."

"Stephanie, I need you home this evening. Besides that, it's a school night. Why would you be staying over at Rosemary's anyway?"

"It's a long story, Mom, and I don't know all the details yet, and there is no school because of the fire. Justin was just beginning to tell me what is going on, but there are TV trucks all over the street out there, and I can't get out without being hounded by reporters. Their grandfather thinks it would be better if I didn't try to leave and get stuck with the media. . . . No, I don't know much more than that right now. Justin was just beginning to tell us. It has something to do with something he found up at the house. . . . No, it isn't anything bad, and no one is in trouble. It's good news, actually. . . . No, I haven't seen anything on the news yet. We've been rather busy. . . . Tom's coming over for dinner? Great! You don't need me there for that! . . . Well, just tell him I couldn't get away. He'll understand, especially if you watch the news. . . . Mom, I really can't leave. I'm looking out through the blinds right now. There are four TV trucks plus a bunch of radio stations have cars out there. If I walked out the door I'd be on TV myself. . . . Thanks Mom. I love you, too, and I'll try to let you know what is going on just as soon as I can, OK? Say 'Hi' to Tom for me, and you two have fun."

Stephanie grinned at us. "Tom is coming to the house for dinner, supposedly with the two of us. Mom's going to have to entertain him by herself, and she's really not happy with me for that! I think it's good, though."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Thomas Meechum walked out of the hospital totally upset with himself. Dinner with Mary and Stephanie was on his mind and he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking as he looked at his cellphone to dial Mary's number. He hadn't asked what she would be serving, and he wanted to provide the appropriate wine, but while looking at the phone instead of where he was walking he stepped on the edge of the curb and twisted his ankle. It wasn't bad, but in trying to catch his balance and keep from falling he dropped the phone and watched the screen splinter just before the phone itself fell through the grating of the storm sewer. He muffled a curse as he saw it land in a small puddle, and knew it was ruined.

Shaking his head and muttering to himself he walked across the street to the parking lot, got in his car, and drove to the local supermarket that he knew had a good wine selection. With his phone broken he had no way of receiving Mary's calls asking to postpone their dinner. He thought about making a quick stop at his cell provider's store, but knew he didn't have time if he was going to make it to the Winters' home on time. On a whim he picked up a nice bouquet of flowers from the in-store floral shop to take along.

Stopping at his apartment briefly he grabbed a quick shower and shaved. Flipping on the TV while dressing he heard the tail end of a teaser about an upcoming news report about a local youth's solving of a mystery from over a hundred years ago, and the discovery of a large amount of gold. "Lucky kid!" was his thought as he ran a brush through his hair, flipped off the TV, and made his way out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael dropped Grandpa off at his house to pick up his own car so he could come over to our place and make a statement for the family, mainly me. Susie grabbed his hand again just as soon as he backed into the street and started for her home. "I love you, Mikey. Can you stay for a while when you get me home? It seems like I haven't seen you in ages."

"Sure. I don't have anything pressing going on tonight. I've missed you, too." He looked over at her and smiled. Susie leaned across the console and put her head against his shoulder, which caused her top to gap open just enough for Michael to see the top of her bra and down her cleavage. He could feel his cock stiffening again. He wanted so badly to take her in his arms and properly make love to her. Waiting for marriage was getting to be so hard! At times he was jealous of Justin and Stephanie. They loved each other, but they weren't limited by religion to wait for marriage to share that love. Was it really that bad? "Shake it off, Michael," he told himself. "You know you have to wait," but his eyes trailed back down the top of her blouse once again and he licked suddenly dry lips.

Susie didn't know what was going on, but sensed Michael's sudden arousal. She couldn't see anything, but sensed a sudden tenseness in him that had not been there a moment before. She glanced downward and noticed the way her top pooched open and smiled to herself. So that's what it was! Without even thinking about it she hunched her shoulders just a bit, making the gap just a little wider and felt her nipples begin to contract as she heard a sudden hiss of breath through Michael's teeth. After all, she was in love with him, and she knew he loved her. She felt a rush of excitement and even joy that he found her body to be attractive and stimulating. So much she wished she could show him everything and allow him to make her his. She sighed with frustration and squeezed his hand tightly.