"I love that blueberry scent, Mrs. Bowman," Ulysses Bowman said drowsily to Blueberry as the sound of his alarm clock played country music in the background of the master bedroom on the Bowman farm.
"I know... it's that body wash that you found," Blueberry answered as she rolled over face her new husband as they lay in bed together.
The bed, like many things in the Bowman home had been heavily upgraded, particularly since Meryl met and converted to become a Mule Animalian to be with Olly. It wasn't something that Ulysses had expected, but it also helped Meryl resolve all the issues that she'd had over the years related to her hearing and ultimately both her and Olly helped out around the farm when they could. And through stubborn willpower managed to get back into a sort of partnership business that Meryl had done before her hearing went bad. In this, despite all the difficulties that Meryl had presented over the years, Ulysses had to respect his sister for that. And the changes around the farm that had come from it, such as the alterations to the furniture had also helped Ulysses when it came to Blueberry and the cattle that he'd agreed to send to be uplifted rather than slaughtered.
He'd never expected to find that Blueberry had bonded to him in a romantic way, but as he'd said at the wedding, he'd come to enjoy Blueberry's company and wouldn't give it up for anything. It meant his own bed had to be upgraded, which it was, and it took up far more of the room than his old bed did and he also upgraded Nate's bed as well, partially with the expectation that Shuixing would visit, and since Ulysses was now physically younger again as a Brown Swiss Bull Animalian, he also had the knowledge that Nate wouldn't necessarily have to inherit the farm. He had a loving wife who had always been there now, and they could start over as it were. And while Ulysses had initially felt that Shuixing was just a passing fad for Nate, given his oldest son's interest in martial arts movies, over time he could see that Nate and Shuixing were growing closer and closer. Thus it wouldn't be fair to tell Nate, who was over eighteen, that he couldn't be with the girl he'd been falling in love with, not to mention that he'd also come to respect Shuixing in his own way as well.
"But today is a big day..." Blueberry said to him with a smile.
"Our honeymoon," Ulysses smiled, thinking on the plus that some of the travel restrictions had resulted in.
Mieni Atoll had some tight restrictions in that they'd have to present negative Covid 19 tests in order to be allowed admittance to the atoll, mostly as a result of many of the spikes that were going on in the US, and if it weren't for the fact that he'd never really gotten a real honeymoon with his first wife, Ulysses would have been hesitant to travel. Despite the US government trying to open up everything as fast as possible, it was pretty clear that this effort did NOT include any sort of planning to actually "flatten the curve." This had lead to a lot of spikes and in some places big ones. Europe was looking at blocking traffic to the their countries from America, it was looking that bad, but because it was his honeymoon, Ulysses wasn't going to pass up the option so long as Mieni was allowing at least some tourists in.
"Thankfully everything is packed," Blueberry gave a smile, "all that should be left is a talk with Shuixing and Nate."
"Nate knows how the farm is run," Ulysses answered, "all we need to talk about... is that... well... that they have our consent."
Blueberry shook her head and moved to get up, letting her half of the bed sheets fall back onto the bed, where the two of them had enjoyed a very pleasureful wedding night. As she moved to dress herself, she noted Ulysses doing the same to prepare to leave. She also glanced to the bags that were placed by the door. The pair were otherwise ready to go. All that was left was to let Nate and Shuixing know on a few things that related to running the farm, which Nate did already know, and Blueberry knew that. The thing that was the "difficult" part was the business that had to be going through both Nate and Shuixing's minds. Blueberry and Ulysses had discussed this privately before the wedding, and it was agreed that there would be no need to hold Nate tied to the family farm and that they MORE than approved of Nate being with Shuixing. Blueberry had some sense that the Water Buffalo Animalian and college student Human knew that too. The only things that remained after that were more administrative which related to Nate's schooling and so on, but they'd agreed that they would be less of an issue... and if the present pandemic didn't slow, it'd be possible that Nate might have to finish out his college career in distance learning.
The two dressed themselves and made their way downstairs before heading into the kitchen with their bags. There they found Nate sipping coffee from a mug while Shuixing sat the breakfast able with a bowl of tea and the morning sunlight was coming in through the windows to shine on both of them at the moment. Both gave small smiles as they set their bags down by the back door and then shuffled around to get ready for their own breakfast.
"Much of the real early morning stuff has been done," Nate reported to him, "so you two don't have to worry about anything more than getting breakfast and heading out for your flight."
"You're not blocking my new truck, are you?" Ulysses asked to his son with a slight teasing tone in his voice as he walked over to a cabinet to grab a glass of water from the tap. He'd bought some of the fancy coffee and food samples that could replicate many of the foods certain Animalians couldn't eat, but he'd also found it it expensive and thus didn't drink it very often. However, by its scent, the coffee that Nate was drinking was regular Folgers.
"No, dad," Nate answered.
"New truck?" Shuixing asked.
"While Animalians are often fine with walking within their own colony cities... particularly with those that are big..." Ulysses answered, "some things up here still need things like that. Particularly when it comes to bringing in supplies and that sort of thing. Thus guys like Ford and Chevrolet and the others have all been coming up with ideas to suit larger Animalians... outside of supersized buses and vans to let individuals drive. I had to trade in my old truck in order to afford the monthly payments. But I can drive it and Blueberry can sit comfortably while neither of us has to sprawl out across the backseat."
Shuixing slowly nodded as that did sound good, at least when it came to driving anywhere. At her size, she had to lay across the backseat of Nate's vehicle, but she also knew that in Animalia and Heiya Island, both she and her sisters preferred to walk. Thus the visits tot he Bowman farm was more of a special visit than a regular occurrence. Thus she supposed it made sense for Ulysses and Blueberry to need their own vehicle. She listened as Ulysses then cleared his throat and looked over to Blueberry while she collected bowls to have cereal.
"We would like to talk about some things... before we go, if you don't mind," Ulysses said to both Nate and Shuixing.
"Sure, dad," Nate nodded as his father and step mother readied their breakfasts while he moved to sit beside Shuixing. Shuixing softly took his hand as he sat down.
"Now... Shuixing, I'm sure you remember our talk from your first Christmas visit?" Ulysses began unsure as how else to start the conversation, getting Nate to look to her and seeing Shuixing nod. When she nodded, Ulysses continued, "well, as I'm sure you can see that some things have changed since then. And Blueberry and I hope to have a long happy marriage and have a family of our own."
"We kind of expected that," Shuixing commented as she squeezed Nate's hand, "that when Blueberry voiced loving memories of you and Nate said you began to reciprocate them... I must admit that a part of me was very happy at that. For I've been finding myself feeling for Nate the way you feel for Blueberry... the only thing that worried me was my sisters..."
"Well, now... that shouldn't be an issue," Blueberry spoke, "If you two wish to stay here in Wisconsin, that'd be great. If you move to Animalia, Nevada that's fine. And if you return to Heiya Island and Nate registers as an American living abroad that would also be fine. It may not be on this trip as my breeding season won't come until the fall... but Ulysses and I will start our own family and approve of you two together."
"Nate's often answered a few questions asked of him before the wedding with your name... even if they weren't about you," Ulysses answered.
"I was daydreaming," Nate blushed fiercely.
"It's okay... it shows me you're both happy, and Shuixing has shown herself to be a million times more responsible than your mother," Ulysses told his son, "and that is enough to make me happy... and since the farm's future will be secure... there is no need for either of you to feel pressured to remain here."
Nate nodded while feeling Shuixing happily squeeze his hand slightly.
"And since you are adults... and Horizon has had some means of flexibility with bringing in the counter to the Animalia Virus vaccine and the secondary doses of the Animalia Virus vaccine... if that is something you wish to do while we're out... that is fine," Blueberry spoke, "The girls can help run the farm and while Meryl and Olly can be a handful at times... they won't be that much of a problem for you..."
"The big thing that we'd like you to be aware of Shuixing... is that assuming the colleges allow students back in the fall... Nate has one year of college before he graduates with his degree in science with a focus on agriculture and forestry," Ulysses spoke, "Now... so far as I know, no college has a restriction against Animalians. But if you do convert Nate while we're out... you may need to contact the college with regard to Nate's change. Things around the farm should be fine... and hopefully some of my clothes would fit him... but the college would need some update on at least just equipping his dorm to handle him. Whether or not the same is done with the rest of the campus I don't know... But it wouldn't hurt to contact them now while they'd have time to prepare things."
"And if the colleges don't take students back?" Shuixing asked.
"Then Nate could end up doing his senior year doing distance learning," Ulysses sighed, "which could help him here... but for the moment we really don't know on what the results of this will be. Some things look better... others not so much."
"Well... I don't know on some things..." Shuixing said slowly with a glance over to Nate, "I think my sisters have something planned when it comes to when or how Nate is converted, but some of that might just be the sort of protective "don't hurt my sister" sort of thing."
Shuixing had to turn away and toward Blueberry and Ulysses for the moment. Nate wasn't bad looking in his Human form, but as the two of them had grown closer, she had to admit that she'd had a few rather sexual dreams about him and the though him growing to match her and have the size and strength of a bull Domestic Water Buffalo Animalian was enough to get her warm. A part of her really wanted that and wanted to ponder over ways to accelerate that, particularly with Ulysses and Blueberry giving them permission.
"A lot of that is between you and Nate, dear," Blueberry said calmly, "You both love each other as I love Ulysses. I'm sure your sisters recognize that and can accept that."
"They can... but I think it would also include some measure of a "welcome to the family" thing too," Shuixing said softly.
"And what do you want, Shuixing?" Ulysses asked.
"I want Nate to become my bond mate... when he is ready... and that we'd live happily ever after," Shuixing answered, "I can understand and accept him wanting to complete his college degrees... but I want to be happy with him."
"I'd want to make you happy, too, Shuixing," Nate said to her as he squeezed her hand again.
"Then that decision is up to you," Ulysses spoke, "just know that you have Blueberry's and my support."
"And the rest of the girls too," Blueberry answered referring to the other cows that Shuixing had helped uplift.
Breakfast then carried on peacefully as Ulysses and Blueberry finished up and soon moved out. Shuixing and Nate followed them out the backdoor and waved good by as Ulysses drove his new truck, which looked like it'd been built around the frame of one of the large scale vans and had a truck bed instead of back seating capacity areas. Both noted that Shuixing and Nate held hands as they waved goodbye as the two Cattle Animalians backed out onto the street and were soon on their way with a flight to Mieni on the immediate horizon and a happy honeymoon coming after.