New Year, Book 2, chapter 43 (M m+f+g+ fist rom lact ped 
cons oral) {martinmac}

What a night, I finally had fallen asleep in the early hours of 
the morning, I had gone in to check on Ruth several times 
and could see that her sleep was disturbed. I hadn't heard our 
babies wake up in the night but assumed they had. Natalie 
was sleeping peacefully beside me. I could hear a murmuring 
from the cot I moved out to see Nerys looking up at me, I felt 
behind her and quickly realised she had a wet nappy at the 
least. I lifted her out of her cot and quickly released the 
bottom half of her sleeper suit, quickly followed by her 
waterproof pants and the nappy. It was a matter of minutes to 
clean her bot and dry it before taking a fresh terry nappy, at 
least they were shaped to fit her body. finally she was clean 
and dry and smelling of baby powder. She seemed quite 
content so I sat down with her to play, blowing raspberries on 
her tummy. I heard movement behind me.

Morning Roy, that was a nice surprise last night, Ruth was 
telling me about it when I fed the babies, oh, is one of them 
awake?"

"Yes, Nerys, she woke up wet so I have changed her."

"Thanks darling, does she want feeding?"

"I don't think so, tell you what, I'll give her to you and then 
you can see if she is after the milk bar." I carried Nerys over 
to her mum who welcomed her with open arms. "I'll go and 
start breakfast and get the others up for school. I was soon in 
the kitchen and heating the catering grill to temperature, as it 
warmed I went upstairs to wake the children. Sam and Caitlin 
were first. I was so pleased to see Sam climb out of bed and 
walk to the bathroom as 6 months earlier he had been 
paralysed. Then it was through to wake Steph and Kate. I 
went back to the kitchen and continued with the breakfast, I 
left Ruth sleeping as I knew she had been very restless during 
the night. Caitlin, Steph and Kate went into my room and 
helped Natalie with Laura, Steve and Andy. They liked to 
play mum and had soon learned how to change them and then 
wind them after Natalie had fed them, Laura was always last 
to feed as she needed more milk being 3 1/2  months older 
than the triplets. Though they would catch up with her over 
the months ahead.
I finished the breakfast preparations and took trays through to 
Natalie who had just finished feeding Laura and to Ruth.

"Morning Ruth, breakfasts ready, sit up and take it." There 
was a loud yawn as Ruth surfaced from sleep.

"Hello Roy, did last night really happen or was I dreaming?"

"Yes love, you really spoke to your dad. Now sit up and eat 
your breakfast, the babies have all been changed, fed and 
dressed, Natalie is eating her breakfast and I'm going back to 
eat mine." Ruth sat up and took the tray from me and lifted 
her lips for a kiss. I gave her a quick kiss and left to join the 
youngsters in the dining room. I stopped by the servery and 
dished my self a plate of sausage, bacon, eggs, tomato, 
mushroom and toast, then sat down with the children to eat 
and talk before they had to leave for school. 

"We had an exciting time last night, Nick rang to tell us he 
had met up with Ruth's dad, he spoke to Ruth and will be 
ringing tonight. As you can guess Ruth is very excited and 
tired as she didn't sleep very well after the call, that's why I 
took her breakfast in bed." The children were thrilled and as 
soon as they had finished their food they were into Ruth's 
bedroom to talk about last night. I smiled and cleared the 
table and loaded the dish washer. I looked at the clock and 
saw that the taxi was due in 5 minutes. I went through to 
Ruth's room to chase my excited children out to get their 
coats and bags plus put their shoes on. Ruth was buried 
beneath the children assuring them she wasn't going to be 
leaving. 

"I've too much work to do helping out with all you children 
and the babies, anyway I just love working for your dad he's 
just so kind." I gave a cough and smiled as she blushed 
scarlet.

"Off you go you lot, clean your teeth and get ready for 
school, the taxi will be here in a minute." There was a flurry 
of kisses and they were off. I rescued Ruth's tray and put it on 
the bedside table. 

"Now then, your dad will be ringing later today, he is sure to 
want to come over to visit with you. We are all leaving for 
Athens on the 12th of August, Nick and the others are 
returning on the 9th of  July. So the last date for your dad to 
go home would be the 9th of august as after that we'll be busy 
getting packed and ready to go, between those dates anything 
would be alright, if you make it after the 16th of July then the 
schools have broken up and the children will be able to help 
Natalie and I with the babies, or after we get back in 
September."

"Thanks Roy, I was worrying how my dad can come and 
visit with me working."

"Well you are entitled to holiday pay you know?"

"Well yes, but it just feels wrong."

"There's nothing wrong with you taking time to meet your 
dad and family." I was buried by a happy young girl in a 
brief nightie throwing herself into my arms. I could feel my 
shoulder getting wet with tears. "Now then, what's the 
waterworks for?"

"Oh Roy, I thought I was all alone, no family, no friends." 
She stopped speaking, unable to continue talking.

"I thought we were your friends as well as your employers?"

"Oh you are, but most people are friends with their parents, 
and I didn't have any, my mum had always hated me." Again 
she had to stop, I pulled a hanky from my pocket and wiped 
her streaming eyes, I helped her to blow her nose, it was like 
caring for a young toddler again.

"Thanks Roy, you're so good to me." As she said that Natalie 
joined us.

"They're all cleaned, fed and asleep."

"Oh I should have been helping you Nat."

"It's alright, I had plenty of help this morning, you had 
enough to cope with from last night." Saying this she came 
over and nuzzled up to Ruth.

"We're now alone with the babies and they are all fast asleep. 
I think it's time we gave Ruth a good time, she's so far up in 
the air it's not fair." With that she was lifting Ruth's nightie 
over her head. I dived in and engulfed a warm boob in my 
mouth. 

"Oh Roy, that feels so good." I brought my hand in to play 
with her pussy as Natalie moved in on her other boob. I felt 
Natalie change position as she moved down the bed to attack 
Ruth's pussy with her lips and tongue. Her tongue lashed 
across my fingers when we collided. We soon had Ruth 
gasping with delight. I was tweaking her nipples and 
enjoying her cries of delight as the loving pain pierced 
through her. Natalie moved my fingers from Ruth's clit and 
engulfed it, I could tell what she was doing by the effect it 
had on Ruth, she must have taken the clit between her teeth 
and nipped it hard as Ruth's body bent like a bow string as 
her orgasm crashed through her. We continued playing her 
like a fiddle, plucking and pulling and caressing. I left her 
boob and moved down beside Natalie. I left her tormenting 
Ruth's clit as I started to fill Ruth's pussy with my fingers, 
first 2 fingers as I reached inside to massage her G spot, then 
as her pussy flooded I inserted more of my hand. Allowing 
me to stretch her cunt and massage the g spot with my 
knuckles, my wrist was twisting and rotating as I reamed her 
grasping pussy. I watched as Natalie sucked on her clit, 
stretching it from her pleasure pit. Then as my ministrations 
brought her back to her peak Natalie bit gently on the 
stretched and swollen flesh. Ruth's orgasm shot through the 
highest reaches, her body was arched on her neck and her 
feet, like a drawn bow, thrumming with the tension. She gave 
a scream and slumped back onto the bed, her body limp and 
floppy as her orgasm wiped her out. 

Natalie released her clit from her teeth and I slowly pulled 
my fist from deep within the pleasure mine. 

"I think we have wiped her out darling, I think I shouldn't 
have made that last bite, I think it was too much for her." I 
smiled and nodded my head in agreement. 

"I'll just go and fetch us some drinks Nat."

"Okay, I'll keep Ruth company." I went into the bathroom 
and wet a couple of face cloths and brought them back for 
Natalie to use on Ruth and on herself. Then I went through to 
the kitchen and fetched three glasses and a bottle of water. I 
returned to see Ruth slowly waking up.

"Did you enjoy that then Ruth?"

"Oh yes Roy, the two of you were spectacular. You gave me 
so much I can't believe it. All I want to do is go to sleep, I 
feel absolutely shattered."

"Well what I would suggest is that you go back to sleep now 
and so you will be refreshed when your dad rings." Natalie 
climbed in beside Ruth and snuggled down, I smiled and left 
them to sleep until one of the babies woke up. 

I went out to see the new house, I joined Danielle in the site 
office and checked on the alterations list. Since the original 
plans had been drawn up the family had grown more than 
expected. With Steph and two of the triplets plus Ruth as 
nanny, that was 4 bodies more than we had planned for. The 
ground floor now had a playroom come nursery for the 
babies in the day time and a full nursery with a flat for Ruth 
as part of my suite. She was going to live in our flat and help 
Natalie with the childcare. She had her own entrance off the 
balcony plus her bedroom and our bedroom had doors 
opening into the nursery. Ruth and Natalie had been busy 
with Danielle designing the nursery. It had everything they 
could need for childcare. Jerry and Dick were busy designing 
the office space. The amount of space for the office had been 
halved but they were still a very good size. 

A lot of the other ground floor rooms had been re designed to 
take into account the increase in people living in the house. 
The whole of the ground floor had under floor heating. I had 
covered all the options for fuel. There was a gas boiler in the 
basement along with a pair of hot water generators for all the 
domestic hot water. There was also a connection to the Aga 
in the kitchen, the heat pump in the atrium and the wood 
burning stove in the lounge. All in all a very cost effective 
way of heating the house, and with the swimming pool in the 
atrium the heat pump would keep the air dry. Danielle and I 
then walked over to the house and entered through the 
kitchen door, my eyes were taken by the wide smooth 
expanse of tile, both floor and walls were tiled to make it 
easy for Rachel to keep the kitchen clean, it would make it 
more difficult for the kitchen fitters, but not impossible, to 
mount all the wall units, the work top and cupboards below 
were clear of the wall and floor to allow for easy cleaning. 
Where there were power outlets they were waterproof boxes 
so that when the clean up was in progress there was no worry 
of water and electricity meeting. 

I then moved into the atrium, the swimming pool was 
complete, except for the water, it had its cover on and the 
railings surrounding it were up, the barbecue pit in the centre 
of the atrium was complete along with it's flue; that acted as 
a constant passive ventilation duct, carrying the stale air from 
the house, through a heat exchanger in the cap and out to the 
world. The pre heated fresh air was distributed through all the 
rooms, on the whole the building would always be fresh and 
dry. The flooring in the atrium was a mixture of flagstones, 
decking and carpet. The raised bed by the kitchen door had 
been planted with herbs to allow them to get established 
before Rachel would start using them. The rest of the ground 
floor was timbered with a waterproof timber care system, 
there would be rugs in some of the rooms but for the time 
being there were protective layers of paper and plastic to be 
taken off as the furniture was brought in. 

I moved down into the basement, now that was an eye 
opener, there were the plant rooms which provided the heat 
and hot water to the house. There was also a very large 
standby generator and a large battery Uninterruptible Power 
Supply system to carry the power until the generators were 
up to speed. The bank of batteries we had would last for half 
an hour at full load, if the generators weren't up to speed in 5 
minutes the system would start shedding the load, to extend 
the battery life, first to go would be the lights as the 
emergency lights would have taken over, followed by the 
entertainment centres and the computer systems, only the 
house computer would keep running as that controlled 
everything else, the fridge and freezer and the pumps in the 
heating system. On critical standby we had 8 hours of 
running time. In that time we should be able to supply power 
to the house from another source. All the fixed appliances 
and the computer stations were hard wired to the plant room 
to allow for central control and power management, at the 
moment though the plant room just had a huge bundle of 
cables dropping out of the central trunking and looking like 
snakes wriggling on the floor in three separate bundles. It 
would be a major task to terminate all the cables and wire 
them into the supply relays. The standby generators were 
sitting in the corner of the room, gleaming monsters ready to 
fire up and supply the power. Big notices screaming stand 
clear, these machines will start with no warning.

Today was the testing of the generators. Danielle was going 
to simulate a power failure to check the workings. I heard the 
footsteps on the stairs as she came down to join me. I 
watched her press a remote control, there was a thud from 
behind me as the relay dropped out and the emergency 
lighting came on, a red light flared on the UPS box and then 
there was the whine of a starter motor turning and the number 
one generator rumbled into life. The UPS warning light went 
out as the engine note stabilised. Danielle checked the gauges 
and meters and only when she was satisfied that all was well 
did she  turn off the number one generator. As she turned the 
key the noise from the engine died away only to be replaced 
by the sound of number two generator starting up, there was 
a brief flicker from the UPS warning light before the load 
was taken up again. 

"Well Roy, that was a success, the next time we do that test is 
when we have everything connected and running, then we 
can really check everything in the system works. Oh and 
have you noticed the seals on the door?" I turned to look and 
saw thick silicon seals fitted in the door frame.

"What are they for?" 

"Well if you look at the back wall you can see some black 
nozzles, they are the discharge horns for a carbon dioxide 
dump, it would have been halon gas but that's not allowed 
now, so we have a carbon dioxide system, the cables all enter 
this room through sealed grommets the generators have a 
direct air feed  and exhaust to and from outside so if there is a 
fire in here then the extinguisher will have it out before any 
real damage can be caused. The problem will then come with 
clearing the carbon dioxide from here."

"It looks like my instruction to protect the house have been 
taken very seriously."

"Oh they were, and we have had the well water checked, it is 
purer than the tap water, so that is being used in the house 
with mains water as a back up. In fact the only utility that 
isn't backed up is the gas supply, but even that is not critical 
as we have other heat sources available." Danielle then led 
me back upstairs to the library. That was a great loss, years of 
book collecting gone, However all the books were catalogued 
and the insurers had managed to replace most of them. There 
were only a dozen or so that weren't easily available and they 
were being hunted. The rest were in the piles of boxes in the 
storage container outside waiting to be moved in, unpacked, 
catalogued and put on the shelves. Though that would be a 
little while until all the decorating had been finished in the 
study. As we walked around the house you could see the 
computer hubs, LAN ports and clean electrical supplies, in 
every room, except the bathrooms. In most rooms there were 
computer hubs on each wall so that computers could be 
anywhere without worry, the extra cost to wire in now was 
minimal compared to the overall cost of the network. All the 
network ran back to the server room beside the main plant 
room. It too was fire proofed to protect my data plus it 
backed up in real time to the external server and then 
onwards to Craig's server farm. I didn't want to rely on good 
fortune to protect my data again. 

The designers had really gone to work on the systems in the 
house, there was an intelligent alarm system which tracked 
people as they moved in the house so it remembered which 
rooms should show people and how many; so if anyone came 
in through a window it would alert us. This meant we could 
have windows open, yet remain secure. There was also a very 
full sprinkler system, linked to the alarm system. If a 
sprinkler should let go then the alarms would sound and the 
system would tell me where the fire was and how many 
sprinklers were involved. It would also ring those of my staff 
who were retained fire fighters at the same time as it dialled 
999 to call the emergency services. (In Great Britain 999 is a 
national number to ring to contact the police, fire or 
ambulance in an emergency.) All in all I was very pleased at 
how the work was progressing, if all went well the move 
should take place whilst we are either in Greece or at the 
Great Dorset Steam Fair. If not then it would be in early 
September. I made my farewells to Danielle and headed back 
to the house for coffee.

***

 Natalie was up and in the kitchen talking with Rachel as she 
prepared our lunch. The babies were still sleeping, but I 
didn't expect that to continue, Just as Rachel put on the 
potatoes to boil  to go with the salad I heard the wail of a 
waking baby. I looked at Natalie and raised one eyebrow.

"Come on darling, you'll have to leave your chat with Rachel 
as when ones awake the rest are sure to follow." Natalie and I 
were soon in with the babies. Nerys was awake and looking 
at her brother who was making all the noise. Natalie picked 
up Andy and I picked up Nerys to change them ready for 
their lunch. I had definitely pulled the short straw as Nerys 
was plastered. I wiped the worst off and carried her through 
to the bathroom, thank heavens for showers. Ruth joined me 
as I washed the muck of my daughters little bum. It didn't 
take a lot before she was clean and ready to be dried. She was 
kicking her legs and gurgling with pleasure as I blew gently 
on her tummy. I heard a shout of surprise from the bedroom. 
I carried Nerys through and laughed as I watched Natalie 
wiping her face and saw the little fountain subside from 
Andy.

"Your dear son just peed on me." I laughed.

"Some of your friends would have enjoyed that and had a 
good drink. I picked up a wipe and cleaned my wife's face, I 
can see the other two are waking, if you take these two and 
feed them, I'll get the other two changed and ready." I picked 
up the two babies as they started to wake up. Ruth came 
through and took Steve from me so I dealt with Laura. We 
soon had them ready and I played with them both whilst Ruth 
went back to dress. She was back before Andy and Nerys 
were fed so she helped me to entertain the two still waiting, 
as they finished I took Nerys and Ruth took Andy. I had put a 
muslin square over my shoulder as I held her up to help to 
wind her. As usual the bubble of air came up with a posset of 
milk.

"Like brother like sister, Nick used to do that when he was a 
baby, after every feed there would be a little bubble of milk, 
thank heavens for muslin squares. I wiped Nerys' face and 
soothed her to sleep. We soon had all the babies asleep in the 
big travel cot we kept in the dining room, there was room for 
all 4 of them to sleep together and under our eyes. Rachel had 
just drained the potatoes so we went to the servery and 
helped ourselves to lunch, very full plates of ham salad.

Roy, I still find it hard to believe last night, did I really speak 
to my father?"

"Well, all I can say is he seemed to really know your mother, 
and the times fitted for him to have been your dad."

"When could he come to visit with me?"

"Well anytime between today and the day we fly to Greece 
for the Olympics, it would be better if he comes after the 
schools go back in September as after Greece we are all 
going to the Great Dorset Steam Fair.  We'll just have to sort 
it out when he phones."

"When do you think he'll ring me?"

"Well it's 7:00am in New York now, so this would be the 
earliest, but I think 3 or 4 o clock would be more realistic."

"You said the schools go back in September, is Natalie going 
back to school then as well?"

"Oh yes, there is a full time nursery and they're expecting 
them all, so it means that in September your daytime work 
load will drop and that will give you a good chance to visit 
with your dad."

"Oh thanks Roy, that makes me feel much better." We 
finished eating and Natalie and Ruth went through into the 
lounge where they could relax whilst still being close enough 
to hear the babies, whilst I started to deal with my paperwork 
in the study. It was at 2:30 that the phone rang and I was 
speaking to Lance Jones. I told him that in many ways the 
best time for him to see his daughter would be in September 
as she would have more free time. Then I called to Ruth to 
take over the call. Natalie joined me to give Ruth the privacy 
she needed to talk with her dad. We sat there in a friendly 
hug as we heard the murmur of Ruth's voice, finally I heard 
the ping on the phone system as she hung up. It was a matter 
of a few moments and Ruth came through to join us.

"They're coming on the 10th of September or thereabouts, 
dad and his wife are coming with their children. They've 
checked with the Red Lion that they have room, he will book 
now. I'm a little scared that I'm going to meet my dad after 
all these years." We all went back into the lounge and I drew 
Ruth and Natalie down to sit with me. Ruth ended up on my 
lap with Natalie kissing her. We just sat there enjoying each 
other's company when we were disturbed by the sound of the 
taxi drawing up outside, our peace was going to be broken as 
the children returned from school. Ruth climbed down from 
my lap as we went through to the kitchen to sort out their 
sandwiches and cake. Kate would be leaving for cubs as soon 
as she had finished her tea and changed into her uniform. She 
would be meeting with her boyfriend Larry, who had moved 
back in to the village with his mum and dad soon after Larry 
had run away. On Friday nights Kate stayed at his house after 
theatre group and then he stayed at our house on Saturday 
and Sunday. It worked well, Steph and Sam  had joined the 
cubs. Caitlin was going riding tonight as she did most nights. 
Natalie and Ruth would be here for when Caitlin returned 
from riding as I would be at cubs myself. I went up to change 
into my leaders uniform and then walked with the others to 
the village hall for cubs. I was meeting with the scout and 
cub leader to finalise the summer camp plans, I would be 
missing them as I would be at the Olympics. I watched as the 
inspection and start of the meeting happened and then went 
into the back room with Akela and the scout leader. We were 
checking all the arrangements, when the assistant Cub Scout 
leader, Baloo, came in with a young cub in tears, It took a 
few seconds for me to recognise Nerys through her tear 
ravaged eyes, she had visited me just before my wedding.

"What's wrong Nerys?"

"Oh Roy, Jo's ill, she's very sick and I don't know what to 
do."

"Well that's for your mum to deal with, not you."

"But mums ill herself she's been in bed for weeks now." 

"Okay Nerys, I'll take you home and we can get this sorted 
out."

"Oh thank you Roy." Akela went to get Nerys' coat and 
would then tell my crew that I had gone and that she, Akela, 
would take them home. I walked with Nerys back to the 
house and quickly told Natalie where I was going. I then got 
the car out and drove to Nerys' house, she quietly opened the 
door and I was greeted with that miasma of sickness, Nerys 
took me into Jo's  room, she was lying on the edge of the bed 
with a bucket to hand, I felt her forehead, it felt like a red hot 
cannon ball, the flesh on her arm was flabby when pinched, 
she was badly dehydrated, I was on the phone then to Dave 
and he promised to come round at once, I went to the kitchen 
and brought her a glass of water, Jo took a sip and had hardly 
swallowed it when she was vomiting again. I reached across 
and felt her tummy, it was board hard. I phoned Dave again 
and gave him my observations. 

"Roy, I think I'll send an ambulance as well." Nerys then 
took me to her mums room, unbolting the door to go in, 
Diane was cowering in her bed, In my short talk with her I 
recognised the symptoms that my late wife had of depression 
and voices. 

"Diane, haven't you spoken to the doctor, they can help you 
with medication."

"No one can help me, and they'd take my children as well."

"Your children need help and care, and so do you. I'll take 
them home with me, well Nerys as her sister needs to go to 
hospital because she's poorly. Then I'll look after them both 
while they get you sorted." It was so sad to see a grown 
woman weeping like a terrified child. I was listening out for 
Dave and when he arrived I took him into see Jo first. My 
suspicions were confirmed as Dave listened to her tummy 
with a stethoscope and reported no bowel sounds, she had 
obstructed. On my authority he phoned the Nuffield and 
arranged for her admission and for a surgical registrar to be 
waiting to see her; if X rays confirmed her blockage she 
would need to be prepared for possible surgery. Then it was 
in to mums room, Dave noticed the bolt on the door.

"Nerys, what's the bolt for?"

"Jo put it on when mum tried to get the tablets to kill 
herself." We sent Nerys to sit with her sister whilst Dave 
talked with Diane. It was a very sad litany, one which I was 
all too familiar with. Sue had been very similar when her 
medication was wrong. Diane said she wouldn't go into 
hospital, she agreed her daughters had locked her in as she 
wanted to kill herself. Dave took me out of the room to speak 
with me.

"She has to go into the psychiatric hospital tonight, If she 
won't go voluntarily then I will have to section her under the 
mental health act. Then she will have to go, the question is 
what happens to Nerys?"

"Do you  really need to ask that, she is friends with all of my 
children and also with my wife. She comes home with me. 
I'll just ring Natalie." The phone call was the work of 
minutes which resulted in Natalie telling me to bring Nerys 
home before I even suggested it.

"I hoped that would be the case, let's see what happens." We 
returned to Diane.

"Diane, you need to go into hospital for treatment and for 
your own protection, plus it's not fair on Jo or Nerys to have 
to look after you."

"What's going to happen to my children, I can't leave them?"

"It's alright Diane, Jo's on her way to hospital."

"What's wrong with her, what's happened?"

"It's alright, her bowel seems to be blocked, we're just 
waiting on the ambulance for her. Nerys will come home 
with me, we've plenty of space for them. You just need to 
concentrate on getting well," I was smiling through gritted 
teeth, I could she that she was very unwell. I watched as her 
face changed, she had gone away from us again, I 
remembered the look on my wife's face when she was 
hearing voices and seeing visions. Suddenly she was trying to 
get out the door, I held her firmly as Dave opened his bag 
and prepared an injection which he pushed straight through 
her nightie into her leg.

"Hold her Roy, the jab will take a few minutes." Slowly I felt 
her body relaxing as the drug took effect, finally she was 
asleep. "I'll just ring for the duty social worker and the 
consultant, we need to get her sectioned under the mental 
health act." I heard the ambulance draw up for Jo so Dave 
left to get her sorted, they quickly strapped Jo onto her 
stretcher and wheeled her to the ambulance, Dave got in 
whilst they put a drip up for her then handed over a letter for 
the hospital. We then had to wait on Diane, one of the mental 
health nurses came out with Jon, the social worker, I 
recognised him as he had looked after my wife. 

"Roy, you take Nerys home now, I or another social worker 
will come out and see you in the morning when we know 
more about Diane. You are on our panel as a foster carer so 
I'll sort everything in the morning." I helped Nerys collect 
her clothes and the toys she wanted for tonight.

"We'll come back tomorrow to get the rest of your things and 
sort everything, I'll explain to school why you're off." Nerys 
scampered round packing her clothes, she then helped me 
pack a bag for her sister. Then after letting Nerys give her 
sleeping mum a kiss I took her home. I garaged the Range 
Rover then took the suitcase in one hand and Nerys in the 
other. Natalie was waiting for us in the entrance lobby, she 
had seen me drive past as I went to park the car.

"Nerys, you come in here, don't worry about your sister and 
mum, they're being looked after now, we just need to take 
care of you, now I think what you need is a hot bath and 
some supper before settling down for bed. Roy the others are 
all asleep in bed."

"Thanks Natalie, that would be nice." Natalie and I took her 
through to our bathroom whilst Ruth went into the kitchen to 
prepare a supper for us all. We had just got Nerys into the 
bath when one of the babies woke up for the late evening 
feed, this had developed so that they slept through the night 
most nights, and if they woke it didn't take much to get them 
back off. Natalie went through and started with the babies, 
soon being joined by Ruth. I meanwhile was washing young 
Nerys. I was taken back to last year when she and her sister 
had visited just before my wedding. 

"How long has your mum been ill Nerys?"

"I can't really remember, it's been a long time now, but she's 
been getting worse since Christmas."

"Poor you and Jo, why didn't you ask for help?"

"Mum was scared that we'd be taken into care and she'd 
never get us back."

"Well you're in care now, with Natalie and I, we're foster 
carers with the council, Steph is a foster daughter, though 
we'll probably be adopting her shortly as it didn't work her 
living with her brother. Jon, the social worker will be out 
with someone from the children's team in the morning, I'm 
pretty certain that you and your sister will be fostered with 
us." I finally had her clean and lifted her out to dry her. She 
snuggled on my lap as I dried her hair.

"That's nice Roy, I feel really good now."

"I can see Steph's gown on the door, lets put that round you 
and then we can go to the kitchen and I can continue to do 
supper. I put the gown around her and carried her through to 
the kitchen, I pulled out a towel and put it on the countertop 
and sat Nerys on it to watch as I cooked our supper, I had 
grilled some sausages and then put some tomatoes into a fry 
pan with olive oil to cook, as Natalie and Ruth rejoined us I 
put the bacon on to grill and the bread to toast. As we sat 
down to eat Nerys turned to Natalie and me.

"Can I sleep in your bed tonight, I remember how much fun 
we had last year."

"Of course you can Nerys, that'll be no problem." I smiled as 
I watched Nerys try to finish her meal, there was still one 
sausage and some tomato on toast left when I saw her eyes 
roll up and her eyes shut and her body started to slump 
forward, I quickly grabbed her and lifted her into my arms. It 
was a short walk to place her in my bed, Natalie came with 
me and helped me to remove her gown before I laid her in the 
middle of the bed. Giving her a gentle kiss I covered her with 
the quilt and returned to finish supper. After we finished I 
rang firstly the Nuffield to found out how Jo was doing, the x 
ray showed her bowels were backed up and a social worker 
had given the authority for a laparoscopy, she was in theatre 
as we spoke. I arranged to phone back later that night. I then 
phoned Shelton Hospital and was quickly forwarded to the 
Marches Unit, the modern unit that had replaced the old 
fashioned wards. My voice was recognised by Trevor from 
when Sue had been a regular patient in the unit. Diane had 
been admitted to the secure unit on the ward, what was 
disparagingly known as the lock up, she had two to one 
nursing care in there as she was so suicidal, As soon as she 
was safe she would be moved out onto the main ward. I felt 
very sorry for Nerys and Jo, It had been hard enough for Nick 
when his mum was ill, but he did have the benefit of a 
resident father. 

Natalie and I went to bed, carefully sliding either side of our 
little visitor. I leant over Nerys and kissed my wife 
goodnight. I smiled and kissed Nerys' head before switching 
off the light. It had taken me back having to ring Shelton. I 
put my head on the pillow and tried to settle down to sleep. 
Finally I drifted away conscious of a young body beside me. 
I was woken by the light of a new day and a hard pair of lips 
battering against mine.

"Morning Nerys, how are you this morning?"

"How's mummy, how's Jo?"  

"Well I spoke to the hospitals last night and they were ok; if 
you come with me I'll ring the hospitals again." Nerys was 
first out of bed and through to the lounge. I went via the 
bathroom and then joined Nerys in my chair and picked up 
the phone. I was very conscious of her nude body laid along 
my body. I got through to the Nuffield and was soon 
speaking with the high dependency ward, it only held 2 beds, 
the staff nurse was able to assure me that I had been named 
as next of kin and that Jo was doing well, in hospital speak, 
she was comfortable, in normal language she was in pain but 
it was being controlled and she would be awake later that 
morning, if I would like to come in after 11:00 I would be 
able to speak with her after the doctors had been round. 
Nerys was very happy at what I reported, the news from the 
Marches ward was not so encouraging. They had used a 
major sedative in the end as Diane was so disturbed, she had 
been trying to bang her head against the lock up door. She 
had been taken to the county hospital for X rays and then 
returned. The word from the unit was no visiting yet. It 
sounded like it would be a while before I could take her 
daughters to visit. Steph was next to join us as I cuddled 
Nerys. 

"Morning Steph, as you can see we have a new guest, she 
won't be going to school with you all this morning as we 
need to sort a lot of things out. I watched the time when 
Caitlin came down to go riding, I could see we would have 
another Becky here, she was becoming an incredible rider, 
she was already competing against riders 5 and more years 
older than herself.

I decided it was time to get dressed so I sent Steph to dress 
then took Nerys with me, I got her to get some clothes from 
her bag and then to rejoin me in the kitchen after dressing. It 
was a happy meal as I introduced Nerys to the rest of my 
family, she had seen them at school but didn't know them. 
The taxi arrived to take them all in. then I took Natalie her 
breakfast I found her in bed with baby Steve and Ruth. I gave 
Natalie a kiss and then her breakfast, then I fetched a second 
tray of breakfast for Ruth. They had just finished eating when 
the phone rang, it was Ailsa.

"Morning Roy, Jon rang me this morning to tell me about 
Diane, Jo and Nerys. I gather you've got the girls and mum is 
in the Marches Unit?"

"Not quite, Jo is in the Nuffield, she had emergency surgery 
last night, but the plan is for her to come here with her sister 
when she gets out of hospital.  Becky, her best friend will be 
here by then."

"Oh, where is she at the moment, if you don't mind me 
asking.

"She's on the school trip to New York with the others."

"Oh, who went?"

"Well let's see, Nick, Becky, Jim, Mandy, Tim and Callie."

"What all 6 of them, Callie as well?"

"Oh yes, we got Laura weaned to Natalie before Callie went, 
we got her dried up as well. It was the thing needed to get 
Laura to go to Natalie."

"Well that's good to hear, are they enjoying themselves?"

"Oh yes, best thing is Nick has found Ruth's dad."

"Her dad, you're joking?"

"No it's true, he and his family are coming to visit in 
September."

"Well that's great, but lets get back to Jo and Nerys. Will you 
be able to look after them for the time being. Jon says that 
mum will be in hospital for at least 2 or 3 months."

"That's no problem, I knew the girls already as they are Nick 
and Becky's friends, they stayed over last summer just before 
the wedding. I don't see any trouble bringing them into the 
family."

"In which case, I'll bring round the forms this morning for 
Nerys. And then when I've talked with her I can get you to 
sign them, then when Jo is ready to come out of hospital the 
same, oh who's paying for her treatment in the Nuffield? It's 
a private hospital."

"Oh, that's on my account, I got the doctor to arrange her 
admission there, as it makes life a lot easier for us."

"That's fine, I'll see you shortly." I hung up and went back to 
the bedroom.

"Natalie, that was Ailsa, she'll be round shortly to sort Nerys 
out, she will deal with Jo nearer the time of her discharge. 
Natalie decided that she would get up and get dressed, Ruth 
was already in her shower and I could see Nerys in the 
lounge. I went back to join her. I sat in my chair and before I 
could even get comfortable I had a young girl laying in my 
arms, I smoothed her forehead and gave her a kiss, I was not 
surprised to see her eyes flickering shut, her life had been 
rather stressful and she was trying to catch up on herself. 
Natalie came through and smiled as she saw me and went to 
the kitchen to make us another coffee. Before I finished 
drinking it Ruth was at the front door welcoming Ailsa. 

"Hello Roy, Natalie and this must be Nerys."

"That's correct, Nerys, this is Ailsa, Ailsa is my family social 
worker as I have both adopted and fostered children here. She 
is here to discuss with you what's going to happen next." I 
was aware of Nerys wriggling under my arm. 

"Roy, I can see that someone feels safe with you." I looked 
down at Nerys hiding under my arm and smiled down at her. 
"Nerys, whilst your mum's in hospital would you like to stay 
with Mr McGarvy?"

"Oh yes please miss. I feel safe here."

"Well that'll be fine, I have brought the papers for Mr 
McGarvy to sign, I have also prepared papers for your sister 
if she wants to stay with Mr McGarvy as well but they're in 
the office, I will see her later in hospital and then if she wants 
to come here, she can when she is discharged. Here is a 
temporary letter confirming that you are the nominated foster 
parents if she wishes to join you, that gives you more official 
position with the hospital. We made our farewells to Ailsa 
and then sorted out all she had brought over with herself. 
Natalie had seen Teresa and given her Nerys' front door key 
and sent her over to the house to clean up and get it ready to 
lie empty. I then rang the school to tell them where Nerys 
was and that she would be back in next Monday, then I was 
speaking to the high school explaining that Jo was in hospital 
after major surgery and wouldn't be back until the new term 
in September. The clerk said she would forward her report 
card with Nick. By this time the morning was almost finished 
and we joined Rachel for lunch, a rather nice beef salad. Ruth 
and Natalie were going to take Nerys shopping this afternoon 
as most of her clothes were too tight or just plain worn out.

 I was going to meet up with the shepherd as we took 
delivery of a small flock of Herdwick Sheep that we had 
bought under the auspices of the "The Heritage GeneBank." 
It was a work being carried out with York university to 
protect the national flock of this ancient breed. Herdwicks 
were at risk of extinction, because of infection with Foot and 
Mouth Disease and the pre-emptive killing of tens of 
thousands of Herdwick sheep around infection sites in the 
Lake District. I was known as a farmer who had an interest in 
old breeds and the professor had contacted me. I was only too 
happy to help. I had gained a lot of information from 
http://www.herdwick-sheep.com/index.htm and was happy to 
be considered for any other at risk breeds. I was fortunate 
that I was not dependant on wool sales or meat sales to 
survive but could invest in the history of British farming to 
keep the widest breadth of animal, so that if there was a 
problem in the modern flocks the genetic strengths of the old 
breeds was still available to restore the flocks.

I was up with the shepherd and Jerry as the sheep came 
surging off the sheep transporter and into their field. We had 
got them all finally unloaded when I looked across the valley 
and saw the Range Rover returning. I could see them all get 
out, Natalie and Ruth carried the babies in and I watched 
Nerys carrying carrier bag after carrier bag into the house. I 
was in for a fashion show later. I watched Mervyn and his 
dogs move the sheep across the first field and into a second 
field. The rams were then taken to yet another part of the 
farm to keep them away from the ewes. Finally we waved the 
transporter away and were able to leave the new flock to 
settle in. Jerry and I walked back down to the house, he went 
on to his office and I walked in to the house, Nerys was busy 
trying on new clothes, I looked at the clock and said.

“Nerys, I think it’s time for you and I to go and see your 
sister.”

“Okay Mr McGarvy, can I go like this?” I looked again to see 
the smart yellow top with blue denim skirt, white ankle socks 
and white trainers, absolutely adorable. 

“That’ll be perfect, I’ll just change my jacket and we’ll be 
off.” I gave Natalie a kiss, went through to the bedroom to 
change my trousers and jacket and then we were off. As we 
walked to the car I said to Nerys.

“I think you can join the others and call me dad and Natalie 
mum. We’ll be looking after you for the time being.”

“Okay Mr… er… dad.” I smiled as she stumbled over calling 
me dad. I soon had her strapped in the car and was off to the 
Nuffield hospital outside Shrewsbury. I walked in to the little 
ward to see a white faced teenager supported by pillows, a 
tube coming from her nose, a saline/glucose drip in her arm 
and a catheter coming out under the covers. I could see a 
hand control in her hand which I knew would be so that she 
could control her pain medication. Her eyes were open, the 
pupils little pinpricks from the morphine.

“Hello Jo, how are you feeling today.” She gave a small, well 
it could either have been a grimace or a tight smile.

“Feel wasted, pains not too bad, this keeps that away.” She 
held up her hand. “The social workers been in, is it true we’re 
staying with you?”

“Well Nerys is and you can if you want.”

“Oh yes please.” She fell silent for a while, Nerys and I sat 
there holding Jo’s hand. “Where’s mum?”

“She’s in the psychiatric hospital, she’s very poorly indeed.”

“I knew she was very ill, but she didn’t want to go into 
hospital.”

“That was a bit unfair on you, you had to do everything for 
you all.”

“Yeah well, what else could I do?” I shrugged my shoulders, 
I knew only too well the bind she had found herself in, I had 
experienced the same problem with Sue.

“I’ll leave Nerys with you, I’m just going to check with the 
staff how you’re doing.” I then walked out to the nursing 
station. “Can you tell me what has been done to Jo and what 
was wrong with her?” The nurse picked up a folder and 
checked with me.

“Can you tell me your name?”

“Roy McGarvy.”

“That’s fine, I knew you but I had to do the official check,” I 
smiled and gave her my driving licence to double check my 
details and the letter from Ailsa. “Right, she had a Meckel's 
diverticulum, that's an extra pouch on the intestinal wall, it 
caused an ulcer in the ileum which was bleeding and that 
caused the obstruction. They removed six inches of the ileum 
which was burnt by the acid produced in the Meckel's. What 
we're waiting for now is the bowels to start working again, 
then we can start her on a light diet and then if all goes well 
she should be ready for discharge in about six or seven days, 
may even be sooner. We'll know when the bowels restart 
because she will start pushing huge amounts of wind out. Her 
intestines were opened and that leads to wind. She will be a 
very embarrassed young lady." I smiled at the thought of Jo 
playing the trumpet voluntary. I walked back into Jo's room 
and told her the information I had been given.

"Oh and Jo, Becky returns from America tomorrow night so 
I'm sure she will be into visit you on Saturday or Sunday."

"That'll be good. I did envy her going on the school trip." I 
watched as her eyes slowly drifted closed again. The 
morphine was making her drowsy, her sister moved beside 
her and gently kissed her, then we left her to her sleep.

"Dad, why is she falling asleep like that?"

"Did you notice that button switch in her hand?"

"Yes dad."

"Well every time she presses that it feeds her pain medication 
and that makes her very sleepy."

"Oh, okay dad." We left the ward and drove back via the 
school campus, I saw the receptionist at the high school and 
confirmed the details about Jo and watched as she updated 
her file. Then we went on to the primary school and saw Miss 
Hollis, I explained that Nerys would be back at school but 
she had been taken into care fairly late last night and she was 
now my foster daughter. We then headed for home, she was 
welcomed into the fold by the other young people and was 
quickly off playing with them after having some sandwiches 
and cake. My family knew how to help a troubled pre teen, 
they had all been there, done that and got the T shirt. The best 
thing was Nerys knew her problems were caused by her 
mums illness and not by the cruelty of a parent. 

In the corner of my study were a couple of large bags of 
clothes that Teresa, my cleaner had brought over after 
cleaning Nerys' house. Natalie and Ruth went through them, 
Nerys' clothes were all too small as well as being threadbare. 
We couldn't check Jo's clothes for size but they were all 
worn out as well.

"Roy, I'll measure Jo tomorrow when I go in to see her, then 
we can get her some clothes, jogging bottoms and loose t 
shirts to start as she won't want tight clothes pressing on her 
scar." The evening passed quickly, Nerys had a bath straight 
after dinner and went to bed, she wanted to be in my bed 
again, I wasn't surprised. I spent time with all the other 
children, helping them to understand why Nerys and Jo 
would have to live with us. Finally we got everyone to bed, 
the babies had all been changed and fed. Natalie had gone to 
bed immediately after feeding the babies. I locked up the 
house then headed for bed. I smiled as I went into my 
bedroom from the bathroom, Nerys was latched onto 
Natalie's boobs and was feeding as well, I could see dribbles 
of milk from the corner of her mouth. I climbed into bed 
beside her and slipped my finger into Nerys' mouth to break 
the suction and moved Nerys off Nat's boob. She locked onto 
me and gave a loud sigh as she collapsed into herself. 
Tomorrow I would have to visit Diane, but that was 
tomorrow, this was tonight. I kissed her forehead, turned off 
the light and settled into bed.

If you have liked this, all the chapters and other stories are 
available for download at 

ftp://ftp.asstr.org/pub/Authors/martinmac/  


I hope you enjoy these stories, if you do please write to me 
and tell me at  martinmac2002@email2me.net 
 

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