Plans and Security

Robert winces in pain as he straightens up on the couch. “What time is it?” He asks himself aloud, before getting up and grabbing his phone off his desk.

“Seven A.M.?” He says incredulously. Shrugging his shoulders to try to pop his back, he feels a stab of pain, and quickly stops. “Damn stitches.”

Stepping out the door, he finds Amber waiting in the formal living area, his laptop sitting next to her, and Jane’s in her lap.

“Good morning.” He says, causing her to jump, and look up at him.

“Sorry, Master.” Amber says, quickly shuffling the laptop onto the coffee table, before moving to kneel before him. Before she can hit her knees, Robert scoops her up into an embrace.

“Did you do something bad?” Robert asks, an amused smile on his face.

“I don’t think so, Master.” Amber says, confusion obvious in her voice.

“Then why say sorry, instead of good morning?” He asks. Not giving her a chance to respond, he kisses her gently.

“How is Isabel?” He asks when he pulls back from the kiss.

“She is good, Master.” Amber responds.

“No nightmares from what happened yesterday?” He asks.

“No, none.” Amber shakes her head.

“What is it?” Robert asks, knowing from the pensive expression on her face that there was something else she hasn’t told him.

“She knows who I am.” Amber says. “She told me last night.”

“Good.” Robert says. “I could tell she knew something, but I wasn’t sure if she had quite put it together yet. Are you ok?”

Amber nods. “I’m happy, Master.”

“Then I am too.” He says. Nodding in the direction of the laptop, he asks. “What are you working on?”

“Mistress Jane changed the assignments last night. I’ve got Taylor, Layne, Emily, and Megan, and Mistress tasked me to work with them, as well as Reyna and Jia, to figure out how to divide up the property for them to use.” Amber explains.

“I take it that it wasn’t simple or easy?” Robert asks.

“Reyna wants to keep all of the trees, but a few of the other girls want to cut down every flat area for pasture, crops, a barn, etc.” Amber says. “Jia wants a firing range that stretches across nearly the entire property. Emily needs at least one greenhouse. Taylor needs an office, as well as somewhere to put sick animals, far away from any animals we have…”

“Seventy-five acres suddenly doesn’t feel quite as big, does it?” Robert chuckles.

“No, Master.” Amber says.

“If we had twice as much land, the girls would be asking for twice as much space.” Robert says. “The trick is to figure out what each of them actually needs, and that should help narrow down what can only go in one or two places, and what can go into whatever space is left at the end. Make the girls work up a list of their requirements, and a list of a few places on the property that best fit what they need. Then you can try to fit the puzzles pieces together.”

“Thank you, Master.” Amber says. “This is just a bit outside of what I am used to handling.”

“You can do it.” Robert says encouragingly. “Jane wouldn’t have put you in charge of it if she didn’t think you could. Speaking of which, where is she?”

“She and Reyna left a few hours ago, Master.” Amber says.

“The house was empty, wasn’t it?” Robert asks. “Why did she need to go back?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Master.” Amber says. “She didn’t go back to the old house. She went to DC.” Amber says.

Robert sighs. Taking a seat in one of the chairs opposite the couch on which Amber had been sitting, he waves at her to go back to the couch. “Are Mei or Lucia awake yet?” He asks.

“I’m sure they both are, Master.” Amber says. “Mei is handling breakfast, though, if you’d like me to send her your order.”

Robert nods. “Ham and cheese omelet. And then I need you to catch me up on what happened after I fell asleep.”

By the time Amber is finished explaining about Jenna, Lindsey, and Jane’s trip, Mei has arrived with his breakfast.

“Hi, Daddy!” She says, placing a tray of food in his lap, before leaning in for a kiss.

“Good morning, Mei.” Robert says. “Any big plans for today?”

Mei beams at him. “Well, I still need my breakfast. A girl needs some protein to start her day.”

Robert cuts a bite off the omelet, before bringing the fork up to her lips. “Here you go.”

Mei leans in, taking the bite slowly into her mouth, lips tightly around the fork as she slides back off of it. “Thank you, Daddy. It could use some salt, though. Maybe you could help me with that?”

Robert laughs. “It seems like I may need to finish eating in my office. Mei, be a good girl and grab my laptop.”

Robert rises, holding the tray, before looking over at Amber. “If the girls are ready by then, let’s go for a walk this afternoon, and look at the parts of the property they want to use. The map is fine for general planning, but there is nothing like actually seeing what you are working with.”

*****

Robert enters his office, setting the tray on his desk, before looking back at Mei, who is closing the door. “Make sure you lock it.” He says. “We’ve got a kid in the house now.”

“And a bunch of construction workers who will be here soon, Daddy.” Mei says, turning the lock. Peeling off her shirt, she says. “Please, eat, Daddy.”

Robert stares at her breasts for a moment, before sitting in the chair, angled as much towards her as he can, while still able to reach the tray.

Mei strides over, kneeling before him, before reaching up to unzip his pants. “Do you think we’ll be able to restart the sleeping schedule soon, Master?”

“I don’t see why not.” Robert says, grinning at the sight of her tiny hands wrapping around him. As her tongue makes contact with his dick for the first time, he grunts. “I’ve missed having you under my desk.”

Pulling off, she says. “Then I’ll have to be here more often, Master.”

“If you do that too often, we’ll have to make an office schedule too.” Robert says, groaning as she slides down on his dick. “Good girl, no teasing today, I’ve got a ton of work to catch up on.”

A few minutes later, a very happy Mei opens her mouth, showing off her reward, before closing her mouth and swallowing. “Was that acceptable, Master?”

“Excellent.” Robert says, smiling fondly at her.

Putting his dick back into his pants, and zipping them up, she climbs into his lap. “Can I sleep in your bed tonight? Even if it’s just to cuddle? I need time with my Daddy.”

“I’ll talk to Jane about the schedule.” Robert promises. “I don’t know if she’s already made plans.”

“Please, Daddy.” Mei says, resting her head on his chest.

“No promises.” Robert says. “But if tonight isn’t possible, we can cuddle and watch some TV after dinner.”

Mei lifts her head, kissing him on the cheek. “Thank you, Daddy!” She says excitedly. Leaning forward, she whispers. “Next time I’m in your bed, can you spank me, and then fuck my ass?”

*****

A knock on the door startles Robert, whose work was suffering as images of Mei, ass red, begging to be fucked in the ass kept entering his mind.

“Come in.” He says, turning in his chair. “Oh, Jia. Please, come in.”

Jia enters, standing stiffly.

Waving at the couch, Robert says. “You can take a seat, if you’d like.”

Jia glances at the couch, before looking back in Robert’s direction. Not quite at him, Robert notices. Her eyes appear to be focused on the wall above his head.

“What can I do for you, Jia?” Robert asks, after just enough time for the silence to become awkward.

“I’ve been tasked with household security. I would like to start by inspecting and inventorying our arms and ammunition.” Jia says, eyes not moving from the spot on the wall upon which she has focused. “I would also like to request permission to walk the perimeter of the property.”

“I need to find out where the girls put my gun safe.” Robert says, rubbing his head. “I need a few minutes to finish up here, and then I can go look for it. As for the walk, go whenever you want. I’d suggest you take one or two of the girls with you, and please make sure that whichever girl you report to knows where you are, and how long you expect to be gone. None of you are prisoners in the house. I need you to stay on the property, but that’s for your own safety.”

A flicker of surprise crosses Jia’s face, before it goes back to its mask-like blankness. She nods, mouth opening for a moment as if she was going to speak, before she swallows hard, clamping her lips shut.

“Go ahead.” Robert says encouragingly.

Jia pauses, suspicion creeping onto her face, before she asks. “What do you want with me?”

“Get along with the other girls. And Jane.” Robert says. “Generally, just don’t cause problems. If you can do that, we’ll get along fine.”

Jia’s eyes flick down, meeting his for the first time. “That’s not what I meant. What do I have to do to stay here?”

Robert looks at her, confusion apparent upon his features. “Jane and whoever you are assigned to didn’t go over that with you? Or Reyna? I generally leave the work assignments to them. As far as I know, it’s just security. If anyone comes onto the property who isn’t supposed to be here, stop them. Jane or I may have you come with us when we go out in public, like Reyna does currently.”

Jia’s eyes narrow, face reddening slightly, and voice growing sharp as she says. “I think I understand.”

“If you want to do some other job, definitely talk to Jane.” Robert says, a bit baffled at her apparent anger. “I’m sure we can find something else for you to do, if you’d prefer.”

“May I be excused?” Jia asks, barely managing to wait until he is done speaking.

“Sure…” Robert says, watching as she quickly exits the room.

Grabbing his phone, he goes into his private chat with Jane, Lucia, Alexia, and Amber. “I just had a really weird conversation with Jia. Who does she report to?”

“Me” Alexia texts. “Are you in your office?”

“Yes” Robert responds.

“I’ll be there in a moment, Master.” Alexia texts.

When Alexia arrives a few minutes later, Robert is thoroughly flustered, having gone over the conversation in his mind repeatedly.

“I’m sorry, Master.” Alexia says. “I ran into Jia on the way here, and she had a few questions.”

“Was she asking about sex?” Robert blurts out. “Did she think I was going to demand sex from her in order to stay here?”

“She was unaware that Valentina isn’t on the rotation.” Alexia says, voice calm. “She thought she was the only girl who wasn’t participating, and…”

“And she thought that may have played into Lindsey leaving.” Robert interrupts.

“The idea of going back to the auction made her panic.” Alexia says. “As best I can tell, that was a very clumsy attempt to let you know that if sex was required to stay, that she would prefer that to going back on the block.”

“Shit.” Robert says. “Did you explain the situation to her?”

“I did, briefly.” Alexia says. “I’m going to speak to her again later, and more fully explain how things work here. I’m going to try to borrow a few of the other girls too, so she isn’t just hearing it from me.”

“I feel like an idiot.” Robert groans. “I really should have picked up on what she was asking.”

“You didn’t pick up on it because the idea didn’t occur to you, Master.” Alexia says, stepping closer and patting him on the shoulder. “You aren’t the kind of Master that would take advantage of her. Once she gets to know you, she will realize that.”

“Should I reassure her?” Robert asks. “Or would that make it worse?”

“I don’t think it would be good for her to have that discussion with a man after her recent trauma.” Alexia says. “Mistress Jane wouldn’t approve either. If she needs more reassurance after my discussion with her later, Mistress Jane can talk to her.”

“Thank you, Alexia.” Robert says, reaching out to grab her and pull her into his lap. “Jane and I need to have a night with just you soon. You’ve really stepped up around here.”

“I’d like that, Master.” Alexia says with a smile. “For now though, Jia tells me you are supposed to be showing her your guns. I’d like to go with you, to make sure it isn’t awkward.”

Robert pulls her to him, kissing her briefly, before letting her stand. “That’s a good idea. Thank you.”

Following Alexia out of the door, Robert finds Jia waiting.

“Ok, so the gun safe is in here.” Alexia says, leading the way into the temporary master bedroom.

“They didn’t move the safe with the guns inside, did they?” Robert asks, staring at the safe sitting against the wall.

“Reyna brought the guns in after they brought the safe inside, so I doubt it.” Alexia says, watching Robert unlock it.

Opening the safe, Robert breathes a sigh of relief to find everything in its place, and apparently undamaged. “Remind me to thank her. I really should have been there to handle this.”

Reaching in, he grabs the first handgun. Checking first to make sure that the magazine is not in, he racks the slide twice, looking down after the second to verify that the chamber is empty, before turning and passing it to Jia. “That’s the one that I usually carry. I try not to carry around the house, though, or even every time we leave the house.”

Jia turns it over in her hands, racking the slide once, before handing it back. “Are all of the pistols 9mm?”

“Reyna carries a .45, but Jane’s is 9mm.” Robert says. “And I’ve got a .357 in here.”

Grabbing that next, he swings out the cylinder, before popping it back in place, and turning it over to Jia. “I’ve got a rifle in .357 too. At one point I was really trying to standardize around just a few calibers.”

Once Jia passes it back, Robert pulls out the next two. “We’ve got two .22s. One semi-auto, and one revolver, mainly as trainers when I was teaching Jane. We’ve also got a bolt-action and lever action .22.”

Moving on, Robert pulls out a few rifles, checking them before laying them on the bed. “The two on the left are Reyna’s, I think they are family heirlooms. The other two are mine.”

“.270… 30-06… .357… 30-30…” Jia murmurs to herself, taking notes before looking up at Robert. “This is it for the rifles?”

“Other than the two .22s.” Robert says, motioning at the two guns still in the safe. “They are fine for teaching purposes, but I wouldn’t want to fight off an intruder with one of them.”

Jia looks down at the list, back over to the guns on the bed, before looking back at Robert. “I wouldn’t like to use any of these to fight off an intruder, except maybe your carry weapon.”

“I do have one more thing…” Robert says, looking a bit sheepish. Reaching into the bottom of the safe, he pulls out a backpack from behind some of the ammo cans. “It’s more of a bug out gun, but it’s probably the closest thing to what you were hoping to find.”

Opening the backpack, he pulls out a relatively short length of metal and plastic, before flicking his wrist. The gun doubles in length, assuming a more recognizable form. “9mm folding gun. Sixteen inch barrel, and it uses the same mags as my carry gun.” Robert says. “It can hold two extra in the stock too, for a total of seventy, if you keep one in the chamber. If you fold it, the chamber is exposed, so that’s not very feasible unless you store it unfolded.”

Ejecting the mags, and verifying the chamber is clear, Robert hands it over. Jia takes it, looking at it critically, before throwing it to her shoulder, before reaching up to turn on the red dot sight.

“This is better.” Jia admits. “Less stopping power than the rifles, but I can put a dozen rounds on target in the time you could put two with those.”

“You’d be surprised how fast you can work a lever action if you practice.” Robert says.

Jia looks at him skeptically. “I understand why you didn’t think we need an armory. There isn’t enough here to justify it. If we are worried about a single home intruder, this is enough firepower. But if you are worried about a serious threat, and I’m assuming you are, with two of us assigned to security, we need real firepower, and a place to store it.”

“What did you have in mind?” Robert asks.

“A dozen AR-15s.” Jia says immediately. “And more pistols. The one you have is fine; Having them all be the same model and caliber would be helpful. Training weapons in .22 caliber would probably be a good idea, if ammo costs haven’t changed. As for storage, we need a proper armory. The safe can stay upstairs with a few guns in it, for quick access, but the majority should be locked up, probably in the basement.”

“Get a list together, and the two of you work together to price it out.” Robert says. “Money is a bit tight right now. If you can find a way to get things cheaper, maybe army or police surplus, that would be good. And don’t forget to include ammo when you are calculating the cost. We’ve got a few thousand rounds of .22 already, but not nearly as much 9mm, and nothing that will work with an AR-15, I’m assuming.”

Jia looks around, noticing Alexia is still there for the first time. “Yes, Sir.” She says.

“Is there anything else?” Robert asks.

“No, Sir.” Jia says.

*****

“Master, the workers are here.” Amber says, poking her head into the temporary bedroom.

Looking over at Alexia, he asks. “What has Jane had the girls doing while they are here?”

“They mostly stay upstairs.” Alexia says. “If they need to come down, we’ve been having them pair up. The girls know the rules already.”

“Ok.” Robert says. “I’ll leave you girls to handle it then. I really need to get some work done. Amber, make sure to come get me before you go on your walk with the girls later.”

“Master, you should meet the contractor before you go back to work.” Alexia says.

“Fine, but after that I’m locking myself in my office.” Robert says. “I’ve got to get enough done that they don’t forget why I’m still on the payroll.”

After ensuring the safe is locked, and all of the guns are inside of it, Robert follows Alexia towards the front door.

“Master, this is our contractor, Chad Ritter.” Alexia says when he comes inside.

“Please, just call me Chad.” Chad says, holding out his hand.

“Robert.” Robert replies, shaking it. “Nice to meet you.”

“You also.” Chad says. “Do you or Jane have a few minutes? I’ve gone over the plans Jane sent again, and we’ve got a few more recommendations.”

“Mistress Jane is out today.” Alexia interjects.

Noticing Chad’s glance at him, Robert stifles a groan. “I can spare a few minutes, but I do need to get back to work soon.”

“Give me five minutes to get my guys going.” Chad says, taking a step back towards the front door. “I won’t take up much of your time, but I do want to make sure we go over this before my guys start demo on the second floor.”

“And that’s today?” Robert asks.

“This afternoon or tomorrow.” Chad says. “They are just about done with the roof, and that crew is going to be doing demo next.”

“Got it.” Robert says, as Chad heads back outside. Looking over at Alexia, he asks. “Does Valentina have any thoughts about these guys, so far?”

“She doesn’t have any complaints yet.” Alexia says. “And I’ve had her looking around after they leave every evening, to make sure they aren’t cutting corners. I haven’t managed to get her on to the roof, though; she doesn’t seem to like heights.”

“That’s understandable.” Robert says, head swimming a bit as he imagines standing up there. “We’ll just have to trust them about the roof.”

Grabbing his laptop out of his office, Robert heads to the formal living room opposite the front door, sitting next to Alexia, her pen and notebook in hand.

“I’m just going to take some notes for Jane.” Alexia says, noticing his glances at the notebook. “She likes to be informed about what’s going on.”

Robert shrugs. “Have you seen Lucia this morning?” He asks, changing the subject. “It’s not like her not to come see me in the morning.”

“She got to bed late.” Alexia says. “A few of the girls took turns sitting up last night, in case you woke up during the night.”

“She needs her rest.” Robert says. “Remind me to tell her that.”

“You got stabbed.” Alexia says, a hint of frustration entering her voice. “Sitting up with you made her feel better. If she had gone to bed early, she wouldn’t have slept, anyhow.”

“She’s right.” Amber says, wandering over, and after Robert scooted into the middle seat, taking a seat next to him. “We were all worried about you, but Lucia was more distressed than anyone. She would never have slept last night, even if Jane had **** her into her room.”

“Should I go up, and check on her?” Robert asks, glancing at the time on his phone.

“Let her sleep.” Alexia says. Nodding at the front door, she continues. “It’s too late anyhow, Chad is back.”

“Sorry about that.” Chad says, taking a seat in one of the chairs across from them. “Half of my guys weren’t in construction before this, and I’ve only got so many guys I can really trust to do things without much supervision.”

“No problem.” Robert says, leaning forward. “So, what changes did you want to make?”

“Ok.” Chad says, pulling a tablet out of his bag, before opening a series of floorplans on it. “So, this is the original floorplan, before we started making any alterations.” Chad sets the tablet on the coffee table, turned so that Robert can see it. “This next one is the one Jane sent me. And this next one is what I’m working off of, essentially taking your wife’s ideas, and trying to fit them into the reality of the building. Some walls just can’t be moved, and moving things like plumbing adds a ton of time and expense. We have to move some of it, and add new electrical and plumbing, but the more we work around the existing stuff, the faster and cheaper this will be.”

Robert reaches out, flipping between the three drawings. “I’m sorry, catch me up a bit here. Has Jane seen the last one?”

“Not yet, I just finished it up this weekend.” Chad says. “And we’ve been focused on other things until now, so it didn’t matter as much.”

Robert keeps flipping back and forth, going floor by floor, trying to spot differences. “I see the gym in the basement. And the bathroom near the dining room is smaller.”

“Also, the bedrooms are tweaked a bit.” Chad says. “It’s hard to tell, but we just shifted the walls a bit, to keep some load bearing walls in place on both of those floors. And I’ve got a few options for the new Master suite.”

Reaching down, he opens a new file, showing a close up of a large master suite. “Since we are doing the addition, that gives us a lot more space to work with. We can do a few different designs.” He flips through four or five, before looking up. “You don’t have to decide now, but we are going to start demoing that later today, and framing out the addition. It’ll go up fast, and Jane mentioned that it was a priority.”

“Can you email these to Jane?” Robert asks. “She cares a lot more about that than I do.”

“I can.” Chad says, picking up the tablet. “Sent.”

“Going back to the other changes…” Robert says. “The downstairs bathroom was just being shrunk, to fit in a closet?”

“Exactly.” Chad says. “There is a lot of wasted space there currently, because it had to be wheelchair accessible. If that’s not needed anymore, we can cut it in half, and use the back half as a closet that connects onto the dining room. There aren’t as many closets as you would expect in this place, and I thought it might be helpful to add one.”

Robert looks over at Alexia, who nods. “Right now there are basically no closets in the whole place; The bedrooms have wardrobes, and there aren’t any at all on this floor.”

“I’m fine with that change.” Robert says. “Alexia, what do you think about shrinking the laundry area to fit in a gym?”

“I don’t think I can spare the machines.” Alexia says. “I could now, but in five or ten years, we are going to have a lot of laundry to do.”

“Fair enough.” Chad says. “We’ve got a few more families moving in, and most of them want a home gym, for this time of year.”

“I’m more worried about summer than I am about winter.” Robert says. “We can always throw a few treadmills in one of the rooms upstairs, until we are too full to spare them. And by that point, we should know for sure how many of those washers and dryers we actually need.”

“What about the upstairs adjustments?” Chad asks.

“Can I see the tablet again?” Alexia asks.

After taking it, and flipping back and forth a few times, Alexia nods. “I don’t think Mistress Jane would mind this. She cares about the concept, not about the exact dimensions. If a few of the rooms are a tiny bit bigger than the others, it won’t really matter.”

“Great.” Chad says. “I’ll set my guys loose on the second floor later today. Hopefully demo will be done by tomorrow, and then we can start framing out the new rooms. I’m assuming you want the second floor done before we touch the third?”

“Yes.” Alexia says. “That’s the idea.”

“We already turned our old house over to the BAA, so we are here for the duration.” Robert confirms.

“In that case, once we get bedrooms ready for paint and flooring, we’ll let you know.” Chad says. “Jane mentioned wanting to let some of your girls do that, to save a few bucks.”

“Will that save time, or just money?” Robert asks.

“A bit of money, but not a tremendous amount. It might actually slow us down, if we are waiting for you guys to finish paint and carpet before we can demo the top floor.” Chad says. “It might make sense to let us finish the second floor completely, and leave the top floor finishes for your girls, if you still want to do any of that yourselves by that point.”

“I think Mistress Jane would prefer that.” Alexia says, looking at Robert.

“As much as I’d love to save the money, I’d also like to get this job done.” Robert says. “For now, let’s just plan for your guys to do the entire second floor renovation.”

“That works for me.” Chad says. “Have we thought about colors and flooring materials yet?”

“I talked to Mistress Jane about it already, if you need to get back to work, Master.” Alexia says, noticing how often he is looking at the time on his phone.

“Thank you, Alexia.” Robert says, leaning over to give her a quick kiss. “One more thing… It’s been suggested that we might want to build a secure room to store our guns in the basement.”

Chad flips back to the floor plans, putting it on the table so that Robert and the girls can see. “If we shrink the workshop, like we did with the laundry room, in order to fit the clinic in, we should be able to fit one in here.” He points at the corner of the basement. “It would have the same footprint as the clinic, and from a security standpoint, it would share walls with the clinic and workshop, which could easily be locked as well.”

“How much should we expect that to impact the budget?” Alexia asks. Before Chad can answer, she nudges Robert. “We’ve got it from here, Master.”

Smiling gratefully at Alexia, Robert grabs his laptop, heading back to his office.

*****

Robert jolts back to awareness as something touches his shoulder. “Huh?” He says blearily, eyes moving from the email he has spent the last twenty minutes trying to write.

“Master, we are ready to walk the property.” Amber says. “Would you still like to come?”

“Sure.” Robert says. “Give me a few minutes?”

“Of course.” Amber says, stepping back into the hallway.

When Robert emerges a few minutes later, he finds Amber waiting with several other girls. “Ok, I’m ready.” He says.

Stepping out the front door, Robert finds Amber looking at him expectantly. “It’s your show, I’m just here for some exercise.”

Amber pulls out the map from the previous night, looking at it carefully. “So, I was thinking we start this way, towards the area that is probably best for either a barn or greenhouse.” She says.

Robert walks next to Amber, peeking at the map, and then pointing at an area. “This is the flatter area near the road?”

“Yes, Master.” Amber says. “I thought that if we needed to, we could put in a second driveway, and let Taylor use the barn for any sick animals.”

“Not a bad idea.” Robert says. “Keep everyone and their mother out of our regular driveway.”

“I think this would work fine for a greenhouse.” Emily says. “Or even as an outdoor garden.”

“It’s flat and empty.” Robert says. “The only thing it can’t be is a shooting range, there isn’t a backstop, and it’s too close to the road.”

“I think all of us would be happy with this spot.” Taylor says.

“We own another hundred feet this way.” Amber says, glancing down at the map. “Into the trees there.”

“We want some trees left as a buffer.” Robert says. “In fact, I’d like to plant more by the road, so that most of our stuff isn’t so visible.”

“I’ll mention it to Reyna.” Amber says, taking notes. “I think the woods there would be a good place for some of the fruit trees she mentioned.”

“Probably.” Robert says. “I know she doesn’t want to cut anything down, but there are likely at least a few diseased or old trees that could use replacement before they come down on their own.”

“If we turn here, I think we could use this hill as a backstop for a shooting range.” Amber says, pointing off to the right.

“Let’s take a look.” Robert says, leading the way. When they arrive, he looks at Amber. “What is behind the hill?”

“Just empty land, as best we can tell from the satellite views we found online.” Amber says. “No houses or anything for a few miles.”

“We need to find out for sure.” Robert says. “We can dig into the county records to find out who owns it, and make sure they don’t have plans to build anything that would be a problem. What do you think, Jia?”

“It should work fine.” Jia says, glancing at the hill. “It’s tall enough that no one should be shooting over it. I’d like to cut into the hill a bit, and maybe line it with railroad ties? Something to keep the hill together if we get a lot of rain.”

“Put that on the budget proposal we talked about earlier.” Robert says. Looking over at Amber, he asks. “What’s next?”

When they get back to the house, all of the girls are a bit disgruntled. “You are all going to have to compromise a bit.” Robert says, looking at the map again. “Unless…” Looking over at Taylor, he asks. “Do you think Roger would be willing to share a bit? If we could use his barn for any sick livestock, we wouldn’t need a barn just for vet purposes. That would give everyone the space they need. And if he wants animals, he could keep them with ours.”

“I can ask.” Taylor says. “He’s never been big on pets anyhow, after spending all day working on other people’s animals.”

Looking down at the map in her hands again, Amber says. “I think that would work.”

“Go over it with Jane, and make sure Reyna is on board.” Robert says. “After Taylor talks to her dad, and we are sure he is ok with it. I don’t want any squabbling about it later because something was unclear. And Megan, you probably need to start working on fencing immediately. We don’t want anything getting out onto the road, eating Emily’s plants, or any of the trees Reyna might plant.”

“I will, Sir.” Megan says.

“Good.” Robert says. “I want you girls to work together on this stuff, and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. Valentina could probably be helpful on a lot of this, and I can help after work.”

“After your back is healed.” Taylor says.

“Sure.” Robert says.

“Mistress Jane would kill us if she caught us asking you to help with manual labor while you were injured.” Amber says.

“She would.” Emily says.

“There are plenty of us.” Megan says. “And once Roger gets moved in, maybe we can ask his girls for some help if we really need it.”

“Good idea.” Amber says, and looking over at Robert, she says. “We’ve got it, Master.”

“Ok, ok.” Robert says. “I’m going to get back to work then.”