Free Snareville II: Circles by David Youngquist

out.”
    “You goof,” she laughed as she pushed my hand away. “Git.”
    I grinned as I rolled over. It was good to be home. She laid her chin on my chest.
    “Okay, now that I can think again, how was the trip? You brought friends home.”
    “Trip was good. Productive. I think we’ll have Savanna in the alliance when Wallace goes back home. He’s got some good ideas and he’s pretty organized.”
    “Get the mares knocked up?”
    “I think so. We bred them each about three times. Those studs have more endurance than me.”
    “You keep up with us fine. Why’d he come back with you?”
    I explained that he had some ideas on how to get O’Shea’s zed killer out there and figured to ride along and talk with us to run the ideas past the group. Plus, he could have the rest of our mares bred while he was here and we wouldn’t have to make another trip. I think he just wanted to get out of town too. See what the world looked like past the wire. Can’t say’s I blame him.
    We washed off in the bathroom, pulled on some clothes and headed downstairs. As much as I just wanted to lie in bed with my wives, there were things to do now that I was home. Pepper was just laying lunch out on the table as we got downstairs. Bill and Cathy had beat us down and sat with Heather on one side of the table. The babies played in the front room. Ella was still out. The three of us sat on the other side of the table. Talk revolved around the trip, what happened, what we saw and how Savanna looked.
    We told them about Cherry, about Wally’s little island. How there was a lot of people who simply lived on the river now. Piracy and general lawlessness I couldn’t comment much on. There were pockets of problems and the Mongol Horde and the Militias popping up here and there might be a worry, but mostly people were still learning to survive with zeds wandering the countryside.
    We finished lunch as the kids tromped into the room. Rachel climbed up into my lap, Mikey simply held onto my chair and patted my leg as he grinned up at me. I cuddled Rachel and she touched my face as she jabbered on at me about butterflies. Bill had much the same reception. I thought about the fact there would soon be four more children in this group. We had to expand, or one of our little groups had to move to a new house. One of the reasons we had the place across the street in working order.
    Pepper stood, woke me out of my thoughts.
    “Kenny’s going to want a report. I’ll walk with you if Cindy can handle the dishes.”
    “That an order, Sergeant?” Cindy grinned.
    “Yes, Private. You had your time with him. My turn.”
    “I never had this problem three years ago,” I said as I stood.
    “Funny,” Pepper smiled. “You complaining? I’m sure Cindy and I could arrange for you to have a break.”
    I pulled her into my arms. She slid her belly beside me so we could get closer. “Don’t you dare,” I said as I kissed her softly.
    Cindy and Cathy shooed the rest of us out the door. We gathered Wallace and Cherry from across the street and made our way down to Kenny’s office at the library. I laced my fingers into Pepper’s and just enjoyed the quiet afternoon.
    “Did you know our daughter wants to get married?” I asked Pepper.
    “She finally told you, did she?”
    “Yeah. Right after we fought through a swarm.”
    “You didn’t mention how bad the swarm was.”
    “Didn’t want to worry Cindy.”
    “Ah. Well, Ella didn’t want to worry you. She didn’t know how you’d react to having your fifteen year old daughter want to go and get married. So, what’d you say?”
    “How long you known about this?”
    “Since he asked her.”
    “Why not tell me?”
    “She did tell you. Just not right away. Dan, you’re the commander around here. You got a heavy rep. She knows you love her, but there’s still a touch of fear, like any girl would have at her age asking to get married.”
    “Makes sense.” I kicked a little rock with the toe of my