Cilla

Cilla   

happyhugo

Copyright ©12/06/16

Romance

42,947 words

Readers score  8.08

Dan was in the army and picked up a young
red-haired woman hitchhiking while traveling
to his next assignment. A seduction, Dan promised
to meet her the following weekend. Army orders
 prevented this. Years later, another seduction with
a different redhead.

Chapter One 

I joined the army the day I turned eighteen. I had worked my teenage years in my father’s hardware store. I was very knowledgeable about stock inventory, ordering, and replacing inventory since we had up-to-date systems just for that purpose – Not very exciting, to say the least. Mom and Pop paid me well and I saved my money thinking I would go to college, but first I wanted to see more of the world other than the small city where we lived. I’d still go to school when my three-year hitch was finished and I would only be twenty-five in age when I completed my education.

I signed up for the Quartermaster Corps. I did have to do my mandatory basic training in the service and then was given orders to a major supply depot in Nevada. Before arriving, I had a few days of leave time and decided to visit Reno, it being on the way to my new post. I was driving, thinking I would be stationed at the same place for a few months at least and would need transportation. I bought an old car a few days previously. Not happy to be stuck in the states, I figured I could transfer to a different unit and see some of the world since that was why I had joined the service.

I was a few miles out of Reno and it was almost dark. Suddenly ahead I saw a figure step into the road with hands up for me to stop. First instinct was to blow on by, but then I saw it was a young woman possibly my age. Her hair was a flaming red. I was several feet beyond her when I came to a halt. She ran to catch up to me.

I rolled my window down to hear her ask, “Hi, can I have a ride? I’m going to Reno.”

“I guess.”

I looked this woman over and could see she was young as me. She wore jeans and a long-sleeved blouse. She was fairly tall with a decent shape. She had a heavy backpack with her. “Toss the bag in the back seat, please.”

“Why?”

“Because, if there is a weapon in it, I don’t want it where you can get to it easily.”

“Scaredy-cat.”

“Maybe. If you want a ride, it has to be my rules. Where are you from?”

There was a slight hesitation before she said, “Kansas. I’m going to find work here.” I didn’t think for a minute she was from Kansas, but I let it go.

“Do you know anyone in Reno?”

“Nope, but I heard there are a lot of jobs there and I had to get away from home.”

“You’re running away from something or some one then.”

More hesitation. “My father. He doesn’t treat me very well. I’m eighteen and he couldn’t stop me from leaving.”

“You’re a brave young lady.”

“I try to be. What do you do?”

“I’m in the service. I have a few days to kill before I have to report. I thought I would see the big city.”

“Same with me, only you have a place to go to and I don’t.”

“Do you have any money to keep you until you find work?”

“Some, a little over a hundred dollars.”

“That’s not much.”

“The Lord will provide.” I thought, ‘oh no, not one of those.’

“You have faith.”

“I sure do or I wouldn’t be here.”

We drove into the city. I had a reservation at a reasonable priced motel. I pulled up in front of it. I turned to the girl as I killed the engine, “What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know. It is dark and I can’t look for a job tonight. I know I’m being bold, but can I stay in your room tonight? I won’t bother you.”

“My reservation is for one single man.”

“Oh come on. A motel like this won’t think anything of you having a guest.” She was right. How was I going to handle this?

“We haven’t even exchanged names.”

“That’s easy enough to rectify. My name is Priscilla Redding, call me Cilla. What’s yours?”

“Dan Pierson, from Rapid City, South Dakota. Your town is?”

“Salina.”

“I shouldn’t do this Cilla, and I have to ask if you are going to scream rape or attack me in my bed?” I wasn’t really worried, so I said this with a smile.

“It seems as if I would be in more danger of you raping me. I promise I won’t scream if you do. It is a matter of trust on both our parts. I’m very tired and I walked a long ways between rides. Please let me stay.”

I was tired too, and wanted to hit the sack. “I’ll get the key. I’ll probably regret this, but for tonight you can stay.” I took my case in and locked my duffle bag in the trunk of the car. Cilla, as she said she wanted to be called, brought in her heavy back pack. We looked the room over. The bed was a full and the room had a small couch in the corner. That didn’t look too comfortable. 

I asked, “Are you hungry?”

There was a faint, “Yes.”

“There is a McDonalds down the block. I asked the desk clerk.” We were hungry and both had a Big Mac and then split an order of nuggets. Cilla held my hand on the way back to our room. She showered and then I did. She was in bed asleep when I finished shaving. Damned, if I was going to sleep on that couch so I crawled into bed. We didn’t touch and I was soon asleep. My last thought before I slept was that I was being a damned fool having this girl in my bed.

In the morning I awoke when Cilla was returning from the bathroom. I jumped out of bed and soon came back. It was pretty early to get up. “Dan, can I hold your hand and lay here next to you? I’ve never been alone before. This is the most peaceful I have been since I was a little girl and I feel so safe with you. You are a very nice person. I’m so blessed to have met you.”

“I take it you haven’t had a very good life at home.”

“You said it! My father is old and my mother was a child bride. She was only fifteen when she married him. He is a terrible tyrant. I have a sister five years younger and Father treats Mom and us all the same way. He slaps us around if we don’t obey him. I had enough of it and left. I tried to get Mom to leave, but she said it was her duty to stay. I don’t feel that I have any duty toward him or bound to him at all.”

“That’s sad. My mother and father are a loving couple to me and my sister. I want to see some of the world and that’s why I joined the service. I plan on returning from the army and going to school for a few years and then be partner with my dad in the family business.”

“It must be nice. I wish my folks had been like that, but they weren’t so here I am making a life for myself. You bought eats last night so let me buy you breakfast.”

“No, you should save your money. I’ll be getting paid at the end of the month and I have money from the last pay period. I’ll stand for meals until you find work. I have to leave in five more days and report in. I’ll help you find something.”

“Dan, would you kiss me?” I rolled over and kissed her. My tongue came out and touched her lips. Cilla thought that was fun.  She was sweet and it wasn’t long before she offered up her charms to me. I accepted. I found Cilla unknowing about sex. As soon as I realized she was a neophyte, I was slow and loving with her. I tried, but I came to the point when I couldn’t hold out any longer.

She asked, “Is that all there is to sex? I’m disappointed. I thought it would be fun, but it hurt a little.”

“It’ll get better. Let’s lie here and talk awhile.” We cuddled and she didn’t mind if I used my hands and fingers to brush and stroke different areas of her body. When I brought my lips to her breasts she was aware that she had asked me to enter her too soon the first time. It wasn’t long before she was asking to be made love to again. When we came down and were resting, I asked, “Cilla were you a virgin?”

“Yes, this is the first time I have ever had sex.”

I broke into a sweat. “You should have told me. I may have made you pregnant already. If we do it again I’ll have to get some rubbers.” I had little idea myself about cycles or periods. I questioned her. She had never been told about this either. “I assumed you must be on the pill. You said you were eighteen and very few women have sex without being protected. Their mothers see to it.”

“My mother never told me anything about sex. Maybe she doesn’t know either. My father said he would whip the hell out of me if I ever let a boy touch me.”

“Didn’t you talk to other kids about having sex?”

“Not much. When they were giggling about boys and stuff I would get up and leave. I was kind of an outcast because of my father. The whole village is afraid of him. I’m free of him now, thank the Lord.” When Cilla got up to shower the evidence was there. There were spots of red on the sheet, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

I went looking for condoms directly after breakfast. Cilla had no work skills at all. She didn’t even know how to wait table. We finally found a diner that would hire and train her. She was pretty enough, so when she learned the ropes and how to deal with the customers she should be able to support herself.

She was to start work in three days. We had that much time together. We ate in the diner from then on. This gave Cilla a chance to watch the other two waitresses who worked there and to get friendly with them. One meal the next day there were five soldiers in the booth behind me. I asked if they were stationed at the supply depot.

“Yeah, why?”

“Because I’m supposed to report there in a couple of days.”

“Make sure you’re on time.”

“I will be. My car runs good.”

“Oh, oh, you’ll get hassled about having a car. They always give new recruits trouble. Better sell it and come down by bus. There are regular buses going to and from.”

“That sucks.”

“Kid, you’re in the army now and everything sucks.” One of the soldiers handed me a bus schedule while everyone was laughing. I decided right then to sell my car which I did later that day getting just about what I had paid for it because the car didn’t look like much. It ran good though. I had only owned it a short while and wasn’t that attached to it.

Cilla and I spent a lot of time in bed the remainder of the time I was in Reno. I made promises that I would bus up here every chance I could and meet Cilla at the diner. She promised she would wait for me. I gave her the money I received for the car. She was going to hold the motel room until I came back next weekend. “I have faith I will see you, and I’m so blessed.”

The army had different plans for me. I arrived at the base and reported in just a few hours before Head Quarters closed for the day. “Private Pierson, don’t unpack. You will be shipping out at 0600 tomorrow morning. You have orders for Okinawa.” No time for a good-bye to Cilla. I wondered if she would miss me as much as I missed her.

_______________

I did a fourteen month tour on Okinawa. I used my vacation time in Japan and when my tour was up I was ordered to an ordinance unit in Pennsylvania. I was a few months there and then was ordered to do a tour in Germany. I spent a year in the fatherland and didn’t have that much time remaining when I returned at the end of that tour.

Occasionally Cilla would cross my mind and I wondered what had become of her. When I mustered out I did travel to Salina, Kansas where Cilla told me she had come from, but people said they knew no one by the name of Redding. After spending a week inquiring in the area I gave up the search and traced my way west.

I then went on to Reno. I found the diner where Cilla had the promise of a job. But it wasn’t the same. The original had burned two years before. It had been rebuilt after awhile but none of the former staff were working in the new one.

I went to college that fall taking courses in business. The thought of Priscilla Redding receded further into my past, but I did search for Cilla again when I finished school. On completion, I came home and took my place in the family hardware store. I looked up one of my classmates and began a relationship with her. I was an eligible bachelor and had a good job, which was just what she was looking for. 

We married, but soon realized that there wasn’t that much love. The divorce wasn’t painful at all. No kids to complicate matters and over time she found someone who fitted her ideal as a husband and she is now happy. We are friends and when we meet we laugh about our short time stint in double harness.

Mom spoke one morning when I came down to breakfast, “Dan, wasn’t it about eighteen years ago when you had to report to that post that you only stayed one night and shipped out the next day. Do you remember that?”

“It was a long time ago Mom, but I do remember it well.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I had a five-day relationship with a young woman before reporting. I tried to track her down when I got out of the service, but couldn’t find her and then again one summer while in college. I did go back again before I came home for good.”

“That’s too bad, Dan, but probably for the best. You would have been tied to her. She would have been alone most of the time because of your two tours overseas. The marriage wouldn’t have lasted.”

“I don’t know Mom, she was a nice girl. Maybe even my dream girl. She was certainly pretty enough. I do think she would have hung in there if we hadn’t been prevented by circumstances to stay together.”

“Etta was a faithful wife to you. I was sorry to see it end.”

“She was faithful, but we found we didn’t love each other and neither of us got hurt over the marriage.”

“I know, son.”

It was a month later when I came out of my office up one level and caught a glimpse of two women quickly turning away from me.  I noticed the red hair, but didn’t see their faces. I had the feeling they had been staring at the office. One of my clerks came up to me a little while later. “Dan, there are two women in the store down in the house-ware section. They have been in the store quite awhile and acting weird. Would you speak to them and find out if they are looking for anything special?”

“Sure, I’ll handle it.” I walked down the aisle. The two women had been whispering with their heads together and now broke apart when they saw me approaching.

“Are you ladies looking for something specific?”

“No sir, we were just leaving.”

The youngest woman at that point picked up a $1.89 plastic dishpan that was right in front of her. “I’ll buy this. I have my card. Would you ring me out?” She dug into her handbag and took a Mastercard out of her wallet. She handed it to me and looked right at me.

I knew immediately! This was Cilla, but no, it couldn’t be. Maybe the sister Cilla had mentioned, but then this woman looked too young for that to be possible. She looked like the woman I had made love to so many years ago. The girl even sounded like her. I started for the front of the store to ring up the sale. I hadn’t looked at the name on the card. The two women were following me.

I stopped suddenly and the young woman almost ran into me. I turned and holding the card in my closed hand, I asked, “What name am I going to find on this card when I look at it?”

“The name will be Danica Priscilla Pierson when you look at the card.”

I wanted to shock the young lady. “How is Cilla and why didn’t she come with you?”

“Mama is dead. My grandfather brought her home from Reno. Gram and Aunt Ann said Mama mentioned a Dan Pierson every day until she passed away. I’m hoping you are the Dan Pierson she talked about and maybe you are my father.”

“It is possible.” I looked at another woman who came up to us.

The older woman spoke, “My name is Anita Redding I’m Danica’s grandmother.  This is Ann Redding Pierson and she is my daughter. Cilla and Ann were sisters.”

“How come Ann has the name Pierson? I can understand Danica having the Pierson name, but I don’t understand a sister having it?”

“I had her name changed by the court when her father and Cilla died. She could have had any name she wanted, but Cilla had talked about you so much, Ann decided to take your name.”

“Okay.  Let’s get out of here so you can explain. Danica, do you really need a dishpan?”

Her face flamed and then she smiled. “No, of course not. I did it that way because I couldn’t walk up to you and announce I was your daughter, could I?”

“I would have known you were. Cilla has been in my mind’s eye throughout the last eighteen years and you are almost identical to the lovely person I spent five days with so many years ago. Come, I will take you home. My mother’s name is Grace and she will be overjoyed to meet you almost as much as I am and she would also be grandmother to you. Your grandfather, George is here in the store somewhere, but he can meet you tonight.” We went outside to the parking lot.

“Miss Ann, would you follow my car? It isn’t very far.”

“Yes. Will Danica be riding with you?”

“That was my thought. I wish to get acquainted with this child of Cilla’s.”

Ann huffed up. “She’s your child. It is time you stepped up and claimed her.”

“Okay, I’ll do that. She’s my child. I searched for her mother long enough.” I held the door for Danica to slide into my vehicle.

“This is a Cadillac isn’t it? Pretty plush.”

“I guess. Danica, tell me, when did Cilla go home?”

“I don’t know when, but I do know why. My grandfather learned where she was and went after her, forcing her to return home. If it wasn’t for me she would have committed suicide. She claimed she couldn’t destroy something that came about with so much love. I never knew her because she died about the time I was able to walk.

“Don’t ask me now, for it is a long sad story and some of it is why my aunt and grandmother changed Aunt Ann’s name to Pierson. Your name is on my birth certificate. My mother lied and said she was married to you so when I was born I would be legitimate.”

“I don’t understand much of what you are telling me. I’ll wait and hear everything from your grandmother.”

“Ask my Aunt Ann to tell you because she was very close to my mother, and she could tell you better than Gram could. Aunt Ann is in all respects, my mother. We have the same name to prove it, or at least that is the intent.”

“Okay, I’ll ask her. This is my street coming up on the right. The large house at the end of the street is where I live. My mother and father live in a large apartment in the rear. I lived in that while I was married. Mom liked it and when my wife and I divorced. I swapped my living quarters for the more easier-to-care for apartment.”

“You were married?”

“Yes, I was, but it didn’t work out. We are still fiends and you will meet her occasionally if you come to live with me.”

“Did you have kids?”

I smiled as I answered, “No, you are my only one. I felt I was too young to start a family when we first married. We knew that our marriage wouldn’t work soon after the ceremony, so we were careful. I was only married for two years anyway and that included the time it took to become divorced. We’ll continue this later.”

I looked in the mirror. “Your aunt just pulled in behind me, so we’ll all go in together. My mother knows I had a short relationship with a woman I met while in the service and that we lost track of each other. You won’t be too much of a surprise.” 

I stepped out and waited on the walk until Ann and Anita got out and came up beside me. “Ann and Anita, you can tell Mom as little or as much as you want to. I think I should learn about everything before I do too much explaining.”

Ann spoke, “Thank you Mr. Pierson. You will hear some things that you most certainly wouldn’t want to share with anyone except family.” I nodded.

“Both of you please call me Dan. Mr. Pierson is my father.” I stepped up onto a small porch in the rear of the house and gave a couple of raps on the door. I opened it.

“Mom, are you home?”

“In here, Dan. You’re early, don’t you feel well?”

“I’m fine. Mom, come out and meet some people I brought home with me.”

“I’m not dressed for company. I’ve been cleaning all day. Your house was a mess and I just finished. What you need is a woman of your own to look after you.”

Mother came through the doorway. “Oh, my Lord, you did bring company.” Never hesitating she said, “We’ll go around into your living room and I’ll find something to drink. Dan has tea, coffee and water. He has fresh lemons for the tea and water.”

Five minutes later in my apartment, “Mom, please sit before you go rushing around. I have a little explaining to do. I don’t know it all, but I’m satisfied these people are telling me the truth. First, do you remember less than a month ago we had a conversation? It was about a relationship I had with a lovely girl while in the service. And also, that I had lost track of her and I did search for her, but couldn’t find any trace?”

Mother nodded and I continued, “I am told she died several years ago, but she left this young lady whom I believe is my daughter. There are ways to make sure, but I may not bother because Danica looks just like her mother and is the correct age. I mentioned that the woman’s name was Priscilla and I called her Cilla. I asked these people with my first question why Cilla wasn’t there with them and was told she had died. Danica could be Cilla except for her age. Isn’t she lovely?”

“That would make you my granddaughter. Dan is in his thirties and I have despaired of ever having a grandchild with the Pierson name.”

Danica took over the introductions. “Mrs. Pierson, this is my Aunt Ann, and Anita, my grandmother. They took care of me when my mother died and brought me up. I’ve been told she died when I was two years old.”

“You poor thing. That’s sad. I know Dan went looking for your mother, but couldn’t find her. That was before he went away to school. And now you have found him. How did that come about?”

“Aunt Ann was going through an old backpack of my mothers a year ago and found an envelope with Dan Pierson’s name and army unit. The envelope also had some money in it. There was a note saying to return the money to Dan Pierson if she wasn’t able too. The town he said you lived in wasn’t correct which threw me way off. I found an address of where the car was purchased he was driving at the time. That threw me off even more because he must have bought it someplace other than here. The car tags were in the pack too and were supposed to be turned in.”

“I can explain that. I did buy the car off post where I was stationed. Cilla said she would send back the tags. I did give her my wrong address and was going to correct it the next time we saw each other. When I told her where I was from I was afraid of being trapped into a relationship, but I changed my mind the minute I got on the bus while she was waving good-bye, but it was too late then. I really did intend to see her on the weekend. Did she give me her correct home address?”

“No, and that might be because she didn’t want you contacting my grandfather for any reason. It is most likely why you couldn’t find her when you searched for her years later.”

“Either that or she might have died by the time I went looking for her. I’m sorry I wasn’t in a position to do an in depth search for her until I was out of the service. I couldn’t meet her as planned either because I was shipped out for Okinawa the next morning after reaching the post. I worried about what she would think.”

Ann spoke, “She did worry and she had faith it wasn’t because you didn’t want to, but because you couldn’t.”

“That’s the truth.” I could see that a long discussion was in order. The Pierson (Redding) family needed to know why I never returned to Reno to meet with Cilla. Also how I felt when I couldn’t locate her. I needed to know what happened to Cilla when I didn’t return on the weekend. I had promised and wanted to know what happened when she found herself pregnant. I also needed to know why she went home to a father whom she had run away from. “I understood this was the primary reason she abandoned her family and escaped to Reno where she met me.”

Ann spoke in answer, “My father wasn’t a nice person. He ruled the family with an iron hand. Mother was subjugated totally and Cilla and I the same. He was cruel and almost inhuman in his treatment of all of us. Whippings and beatings happened frequently. Threats to kill were the norm. Cilla escaped for awhile as you know, but when she found herself pregnant she didn’t know which way to turn. She began writing to one of my friends who wasn’t aware of the situation in our home. Cilla was hoping Mom would have an answer or at least some advice for her.

“My friend and I were sitting on the front steps talking about my sister, not realizing father could hear us. He came bursting out and confiscated the letter my friend brought with her for me to read. It had Cilla’s return address on it. Mother and I had no way to contact her except by letter and father took off immediately for Reno to get her.

“The two arrived home a week later. Cilla was black and blue from the beatings she had received during the trip home. He kept her tied up and they had slept in the car. Needless to say, mother and I received much of the same treatment because father blamed us for helping her to run away and he was terribly angry.

“When Cilla first left, Mother and I were so happy that she had escaped. When father caught her we were heartbroken that he had managed to find where she was living and able to get her back. I was so stupid for discussing this where father could hear me. Cilla never blamed me though, and she would defend me whenever it came about that father turned his attention to me.

“Cilla’s beatings lessened as she got bigger carrying Danica, but they continued for mother and me. There seemed to be no end to the excuses father used for slapping or punching us. Danica was born a lovely baby and for a time it seemed like father had found someone or something he cared for. The situation was improving for all of us. 

“Then when Danica turned two, father made the statement that it was time to begin teaching Danica to mind and he slapped her really hard. She cried and father was pacing back in forth in front of Cilla where she was holding Danica. His threats were explicit. That night Cilla came to me, ‘Ann, if anything ever happens to me, get away and you take Danica and become her mother.’ I promised I would, although I was only fifteen.”

I asked, “Why did you stay with your father so long?”

Anita answered that. “You can’t know what it was like. I can understand how you would question us years after this happened, but we were totally cowed at the time. Ann could have run away like Cilla did, but she was afraid Cilla and I would die at his hands so she refused to leave us.”

“So what happened?”

Ann spoke, “I was worried the next day because father and Cilla and the baby were in the house alone. I came home early from a part time job I had because I was so concerned.  Before I got the door open, I could hear Danica crying from Cilla’s bedroom. Cilla had locked Danica inside. The living room and the kitchen had been trashed, showing that father and Cilla had an extended battle. The cellar door was open and I looked down and could see both lying on the floor at the foot of the stairs.

“I didn’t go down because I had Danica in my arms. I called the police, just saying there had been and accident. Our whole situation came out into the public’s eye at that time.”

“Both were dead?”

“Yes, of course. The police surmised that Cilla had pushed father, but he had clung to her and both went down the stairs, or it had happened the opposite way with the same result. There was no way to tell what had transpired. Anyway both had hit their heads on the cement and both died clutched together.”

My mother looked at the three in horror, making the comment, “What an ordeal for you to have to go through.”

“Yes, but then you must remember it set us free. We knew Cilla was protecting Danica, both on that day and for the future. I know she didn’t regret what she had done. Mother and I feel she was trying to kill father and had succeeded. We also feel it was justified if it was homicide and it really was sad that Cilla had to die in protecting us all. She gave up her life so we could have a future.”

Danica spoke up, “I’m so proud of what my mother did to protect me. Aunt Ann has been a wonderful mother to me and Gram worked very hard to support us until I was old enough to be by myself. I was only seven when Aunt Ann and Gram both secured jobs in a factory on opposite shifts so they could watch out for me.”

“So who traced me to here?”

Again it was Danica. “That was me. I was searching for a father and I knew he must be out there somewhere. All I had to go on was that you were in the service and in Reno, Nevada during a certain time. I went to the Veteran’s Administration a year ago. I didn’t get much help, but I kept bugging them. I was being shunted from one department to another. I can’t count the number of letters I wrote that came back saying there was no record of a Dan Pierson.

“Finally, I broadened my search to different states and found the name of Daniel Pierson in Iowa. Actually I found nine Dan Pierson names, but you were the only one of the right age. That was two weeks ago and here we are.”

I received a tentative smile from Danica. I looked at her grandmother, and then at Aunt Ann. I quick looked at my mother who nodded at me to accept this beautiful young woman as my daughter. I opened my arms. When she came toward me searching my face for acceptance and found it, she moved into my arms. I kissed her cheek and she backed away enough to kiss mine. There were tears of happiness from all of us.

I had enough rooms for my new family to stay with me. The room where Danica was to sleep was small and the one I had used when I was a child. The other spare room was large and had two singles in it for Ann and Anita. I carried in their suitcases and Mom helped put things away. Nothing had been said about what their plans for the future were. Mom went down to prepare supper, leaving me to ask questions about their plans.

“How could we have plans when we didn’t know for sure I was meeting a person that would turn out to be my father? I had faith though, that you would be whom we were searching for.”

“I really can’t believe that I have a daughter. At least you knew you had a father somewhere.”

“Yes, and I had faith that someday I would find you.”

“Danica, that is like something your mother would say. She talked about faith and that the Lord would provide.”

“You really loved my mother didn’t you?”

“I did. We didn’t have but five days together and both of us were too secretive about letting each other know where we lived before we met. If we had only had more time together, you might have been able to grow up with a father and mother.”

“I know, but I’m here now and maybe we can make plans to see each other more often.”

“Oh, you are going to be in my life from now on, be assured of that.”

“I knew I would be.”

I turned my attention to Ann and Anita. “Do you still work in a factory?”

Ann answered me. “No, neither of us do, I work in an office and manage it. Mama works at a truck stop.”

My eyebrows rose when I heard “truck stop.”

Anita was smiling at my look. “Mr. Pierson, I take it you don’t agree that working at a truck stop is an acceptable calling?”

“Please, it is Dan. It just surprised me. In fact I don’t know one single person who works at a truck stop.”

“I’ll admit there is a certain stigma with working at a place like that, but most women are there because they need a job. I’m kind of a grandmother to some of the young people who come there to work and I’ll give advice if asked. Remember I was married at fifteen and didn’t have much of a life until after my husband died. There was no chance of any social life for me with him. 

“Now the truckers come in and most of them call me Gram or Grandma. They tell me about their families and show me their pictures. I’m not going back home so I’ll look for another one to work in like the one I just left.”

I wanted to hug this woman who had gone through so much. I opened my arms and Anita immediately came and embraced me. “Oh, it has been a long time since I have hugged a man … or wanted to for that matter. I feel so safe. Thank God Danica persevered and found you.” She kissed me on my cheek.

Danica was waiting for me to embrace her again. I looked at Ann, who was frowning. I wanted to hug her too. She looked so much like Cilla. More mature and more serious, I wondered if she would feel the same in my arms as I remembered her sister. It wasn’t to be because she backed away and didn’t indicate she wanted me to touch her.  Okay, no problem.

Dad was as tickled as I was when he came home and I presented my daughter to him. Danica immediately began calling Mom and Dad, Grampa George and Gramma Grace. Anita was friendly and out-going, asking if I had time to help her find work. There was a large truck stop with a diner and convenience store on the outskirts about two miles from our home. I offered to take her over there to apply. She could use me for a reference.

I took off two weeks while we got familiar with the situation my family and Danica’s family found ourselves in.  We blended fairly well except for Ann. She was quite reserved, especially around me.

Danica wanted to work in our store where she could be near me. “I want to know all about you. You need to know about me as well. You can’t believe how happy I am I found you.”

“Yes, and you did it all by yourself, too.” 

“I know you tried to find my mother, but you didn’t have enough clues to find out who she was or where she came from. I’m so glad I didn’t give up searching for you and I stayed with it long enough to find you.”

“Your mother would have done the same thing if she hadn’t died. We had something together.” I spoke to Aunt Ann, “Ann, what about you? Are you going back to Nebraska where you really are from?”

“No, the only family I have is here. I’ll look for office work somewhere. I’m pretty well up on everything involved in an office. I do want to stay in the area with Danica and Mom. I just took time off from where I work and won’t be going back. I will be missed by my former employer, but I can’t leave my mother and Danica. I brought her up and even changed my name so she would feel she had one parent if not the other.”

Dad spoke up, “Would you consider working at the store with us. We can always use experienced help.”

“Won’t that create a problem for Dan?  People will think I am his wife when people find out Danica is his daughter and I have the Pierson name. I am not Dan’s wife, although I consider myself to be Danica’s mother.”

No one said anything, but they were all, including myself, thinking she could be. Dad, ever the one not to worry said, “I’m sure it won’t come up. If it does we’ll think how to handle it at that time.”

“I can work for you I guess, if you are sure you aren’t just making an opening for me. I’ve upset everyone’s life as it is.”

“Do you know anything about  keeping track of inventory? Dan and I have been doing it, but we are always behind on keeping up. We’ve had some real embarrassing snafus by not realizing we were out of something and yet were advertising it.”

“I’m sure I can handle it with but little training. I do need work and I also need to find a place to live.”

Ann didn’t win that one, we all pressured her to live right here with Danica and Anita.

During the two weeks off, I drove to Nebraska to close out the apartment where they were from. This wasn’t in the state of Kansas where Cilla had told me she lived, but in Nebraska. Ann and Anita quit their jobs. We hurriedly rented a storage locker and moved most of their belongings into it. We packed their clothes into the trunk of the Caddie. I could send one of the store’s trucks when they needed something we couldn’t pack into the car today.

We spent a lot of time with Mom. “Say, I think we should take Saturday this weekend and go visit my sister. She and her family are home from vacation. I want to show off my daughter and my almost mother-in-law.” I called Patty when I got home. “Hey, sis, I’ve got someone I want you to meet.”

“Dan, you must have a new girl friend.”

“More than a girl friend, I have an eighteen-year-old daughter I never knew I had.”

There was silence. “Dan, I thought you always took precautions?”

“I didn’t this time. Wait until you meet her and you’ll be glad I didn’t. She is smart and really beautiful.”

“What’s her name?”

“Danica Pricilla Pierson.”

“How old is she, really?”

“She is some months past eighteen. She has been with me for a couple of weeks. Mom and Dad love her. I’m so blessed.”

“Tell me how you found her?”

“I didn’t, she found me. I did search for her mother several years ago, but couldn’t find her. At that time I didn’t know I had a daughter. I’ll tell you all about it when we get there on Saturday. Have lunch ready. There will be Mom, Anita, Ann, and Danica with me. Ann is the aunt who has mothered Danica and she looks very much like what Priscilla looked like nineteen years ago when I knew her. Anita is Danica’s grandmother.”

“Brother, you are confusing me. Bring everyone and I’ll see if you can sort it out for me.

“Okay. Patty, I’m looking forward to seeing all of you. Make sure, Matt, Sherry, and Junior are home.” Matt was my brother-in-law.

“Bye, Dan”

“Bye.”

I was beginning to feel sorry for my father about having the store management all on his shoulders while I was with my new family. “Tend to them, Dan. I can see how happy you are being with them. Grace, I think is the one who is the happiest.  She has a granddaughter to love right here at home. As far as the store, I don’t mind a bit.”

I knew my sister would have a Bar-B-Que going when we got there. Sis had to know all about how I came to have a daughter. Mom filled her in with more detail than I intended to.  There were even a couple of things that I didn’t know myself. Mom and Anita had spent a lot of time together at some time I wasn’t aware of. This had to be during the morning when Anita would hang out with Mom. Danica and Sherry bonded right off because Sherry was only a year younger than her cousin.

Junior just watched his beautiful read-haired cousin without saying anything. Junior would turn bright red if Danica spoke directly to him. I guess he thought this new cousin of his was special.

I went into the house with Matt to get a beer. “Christ, Dan how can you stand living in the same house with three beautiful women like that?”

“Matt, you think these are beautiful, you should have seen the mother of Danica. Danica is close and that is one of the reason I have come to love her so fully.”

“What about the sister, Ann? I’d say you have a chance for a do-over.”

“I guess not. She’s a little stand offish. I haven’t got her figured out yet.” Just then Patty shouted that the chicken was ready to come off the grill. We had a pleasant afternoon. Sherry wanted Danica to drive over and see her anytime. Danica promised she would. It was a very pleasant afternoon. Patty told me I had better grab Ann before she got away from me. I shrugged.

Chapter Two

Ann and Danica went with me on Monday when I returned to work. I placed both in jobs to learn their duties from the people who did the same work.  I left at eleven to drive Anita to the truck stop. She wasn’t in there long when she came out telling me she was starting work the next morning. She would be using Ann’s car to go to work.

I asked, “Do you want to return to the store now or may I take you to lunch?”

“I think lunch if you have time.” We went into a small diner and sat in a booth.

I ordered a salad for myself and Anita had a bowl of seafood chowder. Anita asked, “You must be upset the way we have all crowded in on you? I’m sorry about it, but Ann and I feel our lives aren’t that important, but Danica’s is.”

“Yes, but you two are important as well. Is there something wrong with Ann? She doesn’t seem happy being here as much as you and Danica?”

“Yes, there is something wrong with Ann. It isn’t surprising given what her life has been like. She had a cruel father and was scared of him all the time he was alive. When Cilla got away from home, we both thought Cilla was safe. My husband heard Ann discussing her sister with a friend. Soon Cilla was back with us and back into a worse hellish situation.

“Ann feels she was at fault for Cilla’s being brought back and ultimately dying. To make up for that, she became Danica’s mother with the responsibility of a two-year-old child. You can tell Danica comes first with Ann and she has felt that way for sixteen years.”

“I would think she would feel relieved now that I’m here willing to take over much of the responsibility. I know I’ll have it easy with Danica at her age. I won’t have to deal with a small child.”

“She should feel relieved, but she won’t. Some of it is because Danica has found her father and is ecstatic that she has. But Ann has been Danica’s mother and she feels she has lost her daughter to you. You don’t think of Ann as being a mother because you have made Cilla into a saint in your mind. Ann is now thirty-two years old. You don’t know this, but Ann has never been on a date and she wouldn’t know how to act if she did have a chance to go on one. You’re kind of in a bind yourself if you think about it.”

“How is that?”

“Everyone will think Ann is your wife because she has your name and of course you are claiming your long lost daughter. That part isn’t too bad except for you. You can’t date anyone because then it would appear you were cheating on your wife. When is the last time you went out and were intimate with a woman?”

“About three weeks before you showed up with Danica.”

“You must be getting horny by now.”

“That’s pretty plain. I haven’t thought about sex since your arrival.”

“I’ve thought about it. Haven’t you noticed I use any excuse to give you a hug? I’m only fifty-four and I still look pretty good.”

I grinned, “Come to think about it, I have noticed when you’ve used some excuse for a hug, but as far as I’m concerned you are family. What about Ann?”

“I honestly don’t know. She may just be scared to try something she has never done. I think she would be okay if she found the right person who would go slow with her. If you haven’t noticed she is quite attractive even if you have never hugged her.”

“I’ve noticed alright. It is Ann who doesn’t want to get close to me not the other way around. I do know she is beautiful, but I couldn’t in good conscience insist she hug me.”

“I agree. Did you force Cilla the first time?”

“God no. I was less than a year older than her and I worried about her being in the same room with me. Then, before we went to sleep, I really worried what was going to happen to her when I had to go to the post.  She had so little money and no friends. Cilla and I slept in bed together and she asked me to kiss her. It seemed like the thing to do when she asked me to make love to her.”

“I’m sure it was. I’m glad she had a few happy days in her life. I wish you could do the same for Ann.”

“I don’t see that happening.”

“No, I don’t suppose. Say, I think you had better take me home. I have to get things ready for work tomorrow. I’m glad we had this talk. You’re going to be a great father for Danica.”

“Yes, I’ll give her every chance I can to give her a good life. I’m going to urge her to decide which college she wants to go to in the fall. She may have to wait for mid-year because it is late to get into one now.”

“Can you afford to do that?”

“Of course I can, and I will.

“You’re sweet.”

The next day Anita went to work at the truck stop. She came home telling us she was in training and next week she would be working evening hours, three until eleven. I asked, “Will you have to work the night shift?”

“No, they said they would leave that to younger workers. It does pay more, but I’m not interested. If I can stay here I’ll pay board and help out a few hours during the day before going to work.”

Mom spoke up, “You’ll never have to pay board.”

“That’s not fair. My family dropped in on you people here and I don’t expect to freeload off you.”

I broke in. “Mom, let me settle this?”

“I guess you are right. It is your house, anyway and you pay me to keep your pigpen of a house clean.”

 I grinned, asking Anita if she thought my house was dirty when I brought her here the first time. “No, everything shined. Upstairs in your bedroom it was spotless and picked up. I heard you say to your mother that she hadn’t been upstairs in the rooms for several months where you put us, so I doubt you kept that dirty of a house.”

“She found you out, didn’t she Mom? Anita, maybe you and Ann can buy the groceries and cook for me if you’d like. That will be enough. Remember here, Dan rules.” Everyone laughed. I always offered to help around the house, but I never had to do anything. I knew people like Anita expected to pay their own way and I would make sure it was infinitesimal. I could return it as Christmas or birthday presents anyway.

Ann, Danica, and I rode to work in my car. Danica always rode in front with me. I opened with a discussion about Danica going to college in the fall. “But Pop, I’ve just found you and I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want to leave my mom or my two grandmothers either. Why do you think I should?”

“Because it would be a good experience for you. You need a social life. I haven’t heard you say you did any dating or have been going out much. Did you go to your senior prom?”

“No, no one asked me. Mom said I didn’t need to go and get pawed and maybe get raped or something. I’ve never had any close friends. The kids that I hung around with didn’t either.”

“Do you have any social skills at all?”

“Who needs them?”

“You do. We’ll begin next week. We’ll go out to dinner at least once a week. Can you dance?”

Wistfully, “No.”

“Okay, your mother and I will sign us all up to learn how at a studio I know. I’ll be your partner. There will be a few old people there who have retired and wanted to learn how and never had the time. It will be fun for all of us. Sometimes they’ll be some kids of your age too. It’ll get you comfortable doing something you’ve never done before.

Danica turned around and faced her Aunt, “Please, can we Mom? I want to learn so badly. I’ve never seen you dance and you can learn too. I’ll bet Pop is a great dancer.”

“We’ll see. I won’t promise I’ll go. Dan and I will discuss it tonight.”

That night Ann waited until Danica had gone upstairs before she brought up the subject of dancing. “Dan, I don’t want to learn to dance. I can’t think of a reason where I would need to know how.”

“I can think of a reason. You’re always going to be Danica’s mother. When she gets married, we’ll be giving her a nice wedding. They’ll be a lot of dancing at that time. If you don’t know how, you will be disappointing our daughter terribly.”

“Oh no, I’ll just tell everyone I’m her aunt and won’t have to.”

“Ann, tell me; have you ever been to a wedding of any kind?”

“A couple in front of a justice of the peace.”

“That’s no wedding, that’s just a marriage. Ann, tell me why you don’t want to learn?”

“Alright, I’ll tell you. I don’t think I can stand to have a man touch me, even you. You notice I have never let you hug me. I like you and I think you are a wonderful person and I know you loved my sister. She told me all about being in love and how much she loved you after she was brought back home. But when you get close to me I have a panic attack. I think it was because I was so afraid of my father. Every time he got close enough to hit me … he did.”

Tears were running Ann’s face. I involuntarily put my hand out toward her. She abruptly pulled further away. “Ann, I wouldn’t hurt you for anything. I want you to trust me. I can’t see why you won’t be able to go to the dance studio with Danica and me. I think you should come and at least watch. I do think you should put some trust in me and realize that when you feel my arms around you if we are dancing, you will feel safe rather than fearful.”

“And how am I going to do that?”

“By letting me work on your problem a little bit at a time.”

“You want me to hug you, don’t you?” There was accusation in her words and voice.

“No, not tonight. You know even while dancing two people don’t get as close as hugging. The man has one hand in his partner’s and with the other placed on her back at waist level. The lady has one hand in his and the other on the man’s shoulder. The man does the guiding of the partner with the hand on her waist so she can follow his direction.  Tonight I think we should just hold hands, that is, if you are willing to try?”

I put my hand out to Ann and indicated she should sit beside me on the couch, afraid that I might pull her to me for a hug. One hand came out tentatively and took mine in hers. We sat there like that. I turned the television on and we watched a sitcom. I noticed when her hand relaxed she re-positioned it and grasped mine again. The news came on and Ann was tense and nervous.

“We can go to bed anytime. Your mother will be coming in by eleven-thirty. Do you want to wait up for her or go to bed?”

“Are you going to bed?”

“Whenever. I’m curious to see how Anita’s first day went.”

“I’ll sit here like this until we hear her arrive.” Ann paused and I could tell she was struggling to say something more. “Dan, would you stand up and place your hands where they are supposed to be when dancing with a partner?”

I arose and showed her. She held it for a minute and then brushed my hand away from her waist. I could feel the panic building in her. “Enough for tonight.”

Ann headed for the stairs. She turned and stopped two steps up. “Dan, I will try to do this. Someday I want Danica to be proud of me. She does know I do have a problem. Thank you for understanding.”

“Good night, Ann. I’m proud of you already.” Ann looked tired in the morning. I’ll bet she didn’t sleep much last night thinking about the lesson I had given her. When we got into the car to go to work, I positioned the rear view mirror where I could glance back at Ann. She smiled when she saw me looking in the glass.

My father gave Ann a desk and a computer. “I’ll show you as I have time.” He asked her to study how we controlled our inventory. “Sarah will give you the books and you can study them for now until I get back to you.”

Danica wanted to be at the front counter working one of the registers and I placed her there with the two other clerks. I charged Mary to teach Danica how to operate the register and how to treat a customer when they came to pay for their merchandise.”

I knew many of my customers by their names and joked with most of them if they weren’t in too much of a hurry. I was also the one who the clerks came to with questions if they had been asked for or about something. We special-ordered items if we didn’t stock it. There were always a million things for me to attend to.

I went by the front register near noon and asked Danica what she wanted for lunch. “Whatever you have, will be good.”

“Go upstairs and ask your mother what she would like. Get me a Greek salad with double Feta cheese and double Jalopenos. You might not like something that, but I’m addicted. Get a grinder or sandwich if you like, and get whatever Ann wants. We have bottled water, coffee and tea from the machines in the break room. The sandwich shop is down the street on the right. Here’s money. We’ll eat as soon as you get back.”

“Gotcha, Pop, I’m on the way.” I watched her run up the stairs.

“That new clerk called you Pop. That’s kind of disrespectful for a new hire.”

“No, Mary, she is allowed because she really is my daughter. She knew she had a father somewhere for years and when she was able she began searching for me. She found me a few weeks ago. Her aunt and grandmother are staying with me at present. Her mother passed away when Danica was a small child and she was raised by her aunt. Her aunt is working for Dad in the office.”

“How come you never mentioned you had a child somewhere?”

“Mary, that’s too personal for me to answer, but be assured she is my daughter. Is she doing alright here on the counter?”

“Yes, definitely! She picked up everything quickly without a problem when I showed her how. She is better than most of the young people you hire.”

“That’s good to know. I think she will be going off to college somewhere this fall.  She doesn’t want to because she feels she just found me and doesn’t want to leave me so soon.”

“I’d feel the same way in the same situation. Danica has already mentioned she might have to leave, but wants to stay here working in the store.”

“I’ll listen to her and we’ll decide together.”

“You’re going to be a great father, Dan.” My mother and Anita came in just as Danica returned. There were six of our help eating lunch together in the break room. Dad came in and Mom handed him the lunch she had brought for him. Danica spread our lunch at the far end of the tables. Everyone was curious about the three red-haired women.

I was getting ready to introduce my daughter when the person who did deliveries for us said to Anita, “Hey Red, what are you doing here? You served me at the truck stop when I finished work here last night.”

“Hi Jim, I remember you.  You said something about the truck stop finally hiring some good looking help. I took it you were referring to me.”

“I was and I haven’t changed my mind. I donno, but I guess good looking red- haired women come in three’s and all are equally as beautiful.”

I cautioned, “Jim, don’t go too far with your comments. The lady you are speaking to is my mother-in-law and her name is Anita, but I guess you have already met her. This young lady is Danica, my daughter, and this last lady is Ann, my sister-in law. These two have rejoined me after several years. Danica is on the front counter and Ann is working upstairs. You’ll be hearing Danica calling Ann, Mom because after her mother died she has raised my daughter for me.”

“I didn’t know you were married?”

“I’ll just say I was in a place where I couldn’t care for Danica. I really don’t talk about it. There was a lot of sadness at the time, but now we are all together and I feel blessed.”

“I should think so.”

I sat down and opened my salad. It wasn’t long before everyone except my family left. Mom said quietly, “You handled that well. In about ten minutes everyone in the store are going to know who your new help is.”

“Yes, and if I want to date someone, I can without Anita worrying people will think I was cheating.”

Anita came back with, “How long did it take you to come up with this explanation about us?”

I laughed, “Just about all of last night. If anyone asks why Ann has the same name as mine, I’ll just say Ann is my sister-in-law and let them draw their own conclusions. Is that okay with you, Ann?”

“It’s okay. I lost some sleep myself over what I considered a perplexing problem. You’re free to date anyone now.  I’m worried about Mom though, I think that Jim has his eye on her.”

“Don’t worry about me. Jim does seem nice, though.”

I answered this, “He is. He has been working here for more than a dozen years. I think he has been widowed for seven or eight of those.”

We went back to work. At 4:30 I told Danica to ride home with Dad. She objected, “I want to stay here with you.”

“But your hours end at 4:30. Ann’s hours do too. This week I work until 8:00. Next week, I can leave at 5:00. This way the store is staffed with someone from management all day.”

“Well, then you need to promote someone you can trust to become a manager for the last three hours of the day and on Saturday. You and Gramp have built a great company and you both work six days a week and 12 hour days every other week. How much money do you have to have in the bank?”

Danica stood there staring at me. Talk about being surprised at my daughter, and her comments. “Is there anything else you want to criticize me about?”

“Pop, don’t be mad at me, but Gram was complaining about Grampa coming home so tired he can hardly eat supper some nights. You were going to take me some place and teach me to dance. When is that going to happen? Seems like you were going to take me and Mom out to dine because you wanted us to expand our social life. By the way, when was the last time you took some pretty lady out to eat or to bed for that matter?”

I had no answer and I didn’t want to argue. “Danica, go upstairs and tell Ann it is time to go home with Dad. I’ll think about what you have said. I’ll be home about eight thirty.”

“When are you going to eat supper?”

“When I get home. I have some frozen hamburgers in the freezer. Search for them, I might eat a couple. Go catch Dad before he leaves without you.”

“Pop, don’t be mad at me. I guess I don’t know how to act around a man or even around a father. I hope you aren’t sorry I found you. I will tone down my criticism.” Danica now looked uncertain. “Please, would you hug me? I do want you to love me.”

“Of course, Sweetheart. You have to remember I’ve never had a daughter up until a few weeks ago. We will find a balance between the guy who has never had a daughter and a girl who has never had a father.”

“Are we okay?”

“We’re fine.” I didn’t get more than the basic minimum of work done this evening. Danica gave me too much to think about.  Having a family sure presented a new bunch of situations for me to act on. My thoughts swung to Dad. Was he getting tired? He had always been the one to push me and I suppose later to push himself to keep ahead of me.

I drove the Caddie into the garage and went into the kitchen. The table was set for three. Ann said as she was taking off her apron. “I hope you like spaghetti and meat balls or I can get you a frozen burger if you would prefer.”

“Spaghetti is good. I’m not used to hot food when I work nights. I see my life is going to improve. That is if I don’t drive my daughter and her mother away.”

“Pop, there is no chance of that.”

“Dan, Danica told me of your conversations. I’m sure she meant well. I told her we couldn’t just arrive here and change the way you’ve been living and working.”

“Danica did make some good observations and I’m thinking about everything she said.” I paused, “God, you got garlic bread to go with this, too. I’m so blessed.”

“Dan how long have you been saying that?”

“Ann, what did I say?”

“You said … “I’m so blessed.”

I went quiet, trying to remember. “Cilla said that often and she would say she had faith, too.” I glanced up seeing tears trickling from both of their eyes. Danica came stood behind me where I was sitting and put her arms around me.

Ann said, “When there was even a small glimmer of happiness for Cilla that is something she would say. You may not have been with her long, but I know you loved her very much.” Surprisingly Ann came and rested her hand on my shoulder and gave me a little squeeze. The moment passed and we resumed eating.

When Danica and Ann started picking up the table, I said, “I’m going around and see Dad and Mom.  I won’t be long. Thank you both for the wonderful supper. It had a hamburger beat all to hell.”

I walked around to my parent’s door and Mom let me in. “Your dad is asleep on the couch. Is this important?”

“Yeah, I think so. God I’m full. Spaghetti and homemade meatballs, garlic bread and strawberry shortcake fills a man up.”

“Dan, Dad came home and said your two girls didn’t say a word all the way home. Did you upset them in any way?”

“I don’t think so. I’m going to wake Dad up so we can talk.”

“Well don’t keep him up long, he needs to go to bed.”

“What are you doing here, Dan?”

“I’ve been thinking about the store. You know I’ve just come off a two week vacation while getting used to my daughter and her family. A long day like today was a grind. I think we both ought to shorten our days in the store. Do we have any of our people who we could raise up as manager to cover for us?”

“That’s going to be costly if we do.”

“Maybe not that much if we promote from within. We’ve got Ann to relieve some of the paperwork and she definitely is needed. I suspect she will be well worth the cost of having her working for us. We’ve got Danica for at least the summer. Christ you came home at 5:00, and you’ve been sleeping on the couch for hours. That’s fine, you need to. Dad, our business is doing well. I have a family now and I want time to take them out and show them how the other half lives. They have never even been out to listen to a band. They need things like that. I do too.”

“You got any idea who we can put into the Manager’s position?”

“I can think of two. There is Mary on the front register. She hates having to come in early. She’d love 12:00 to 8:00. It would give her more time with her husband. And there is Ralph in appliances. He’s single and a loner, but is smart enough. Not sure if he would want the job.”

“Well, we’ll talk to Mary first. Give her a fifty cent raise working the week days. Maybe Ralph will take Saturday and Sunday.”

“Alright, think about how you want to handle this. I think Mary will be the best choice.”

Danica and Ann looked at me when I came back from talking to Dad, “What did he say.”

“Who? I was talking to my Mom.” They stared at me, not believing.

“Okay, I did talk to Dad. We both agree that we should make some changes. I’ll be working on it. I’ll be working up a proposal. It will take some time to find someone to fill in as manager to cover the hours we have been working. It won’t be happening this week and probably not next week either.

“I do see how tired Dad has become, but remember he covered for me while I was getting to know you two for the last two weeks. I now bow to my smart-assed daughter for seeing something I didn’t see.” Danica jumped up and came over for a hug. “Well, I guess I’ll go shower and get ready for bed I’m not even waiting up for Anita tonight.”

“Pop, you’re tired too aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess I am. I’ll see you both in the morning.”

I will say, having women in the house had changed my diet. I had eggs and bacon rather than cold cereal for breakfast. Ann placed a picnic basket on the back seat when she got into the car. Her comment was, “You have a micro wave oven in the break room. I’ll heat something up for your lunch.” I knew if I was home earlier, I would have a hot dinner when it came time to eat.

Dad and I used the same secretary. Ten o’clock I said to her, “Sarah, would you go down to the front counter and ask Mary to come up to the office. I’d like to speak with her. I’ll be in my office.”

“I can call her.”

“No, just go get her.” I received a disgusted look, and I knew she wondered why I wanted to speak to Mary.

It wasn’t long before Mary stood at my open door. I indicated for her to close it and sit down. I began, “Mary I think you’ve said your husband works at a factory as a security guard on weekends. That must leave you alone all weekend.”

“It does. It wouldn’t be too bad if he worked at night, but he can’t. He was hired for days and his boss won’t let him change.”

“Let me ask another question. If I could arrange it, would you work the hours the store is open on the week end?”

“I’d have to think about it. Why?”

“Well, I have a family now and I want some time off on the weekend. Dad is getting older and he gets tired easily, especially on the weeks he works until 8:00. These are all hours that do need management on the premises. Dad and I think you would be a good fit for this. You would have more responsibility, of course.

“To fill out the hours you need to make the same money and actually more, I’ll explain what I’m thinking. I’ll give you three or four hours Tuesday through Friday. Working from 4:00 or 5:00 until 8:00. Weekends are eleven hours on Saturday and eight hours on Sunday. That would total thirty-one hours if you worked three hours weekdays or thirty-five hours if you worked four. You would have Monday for your day off.

“You mean come in at five and work three hours or come in at four and work four hours. That would be a cut in pay for me. I really do need the forty hours.”

“Okay, I understand that. Remember though, Saturday pays time and a half and Sunday is double time. For a thirty one hour week your pay would reflect forty and a half hours and a thirty five hour week reflects forty seven and a half hours.”

Mary didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t tell how she was feeling about my proposal. I asked, “Is your husband home now?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Why don’t you call him from here and if he is, go home and talk to him about it? You don’t have to punch out, stay on the clock and I’ll take care of it for you.”

“Dan, why me? I mean why are you considering me?”

“Mary, you have worked here more than ten years. You have worked in every department and know what we sell as well as Dad and I do. Your co-workers respect you and most usually they come to you with a problem rather than bother me or Dad. This is a salaried position, so if you are out sick, you still get paid. I could almost say that you have been part of management for some time now. Dad suggested you and I heartily agree. If you take the position, you’ll have to follow me around for the rest of this week and either me or Dad next week. The first of August you will be on your own.”

I handed the phone to her and stepped outside. I could see the light come on the one on Sarah’s desk. When it went off, I stepped back inside. I opened my desk drawer and handed Mary a sheet of paper. On it showed her what her first check would be for working either thirty-one or thirty-five hours. “Actually you get a check twice a month so you don’t have to wait until the end of the month in case you have to pay expenses. This is the way management get paid. Mary, take your time about deciding and I’ll see you tomorrow for your answer.”

“Thank you Dan, this is a big decision for me. I think you are working until eight tonight, may I call if I have a question?”

“Sure. If you take the position, remember if there is something here you don’t know an answer for, you should call either of us at home. I’ve had to call Dad sometimes and he calls me and I would expect you to do the same.”

Mary went out and I could see her stop at the register to get her hand bag. Danica asked her a question, but Mary shook her head and didn’t answer. Danica almost automatically looked up the stairs to where she could see the office. I smiled and gave her a little wave.  Let her puzzle over that. I turned and went into Dad’s office. He had a one-cup coffee machine and I brewed me a cup. I just sat down.

“God, I’m getting questions already about why you called Mary up to the office. I know you must have asked her. How’d it go?”

“Good, I think. I sent her home to talk to her husband. Do you want to know what I proposed?”

“Yeah, but I’ll go along with it.”

“Okay, first I think Mary will be the Manager for Saturday and Sunday. Then I gave her a choice either to come in to work at four or five in the afternoon Tuesday through Friday. She would have Monday off. She would be working either thirty-one or thirty-five hours actual hours. We’ll pay her time and a half for Saturday and double time on Sunday. Actually she will be on salary so overtime pay won’t be the way she is paid. I figured it that way to let her know what she would earn if we kept her on hourly wages. Here is what I agreed for her salary.” I handed Dad a copy of the one I had given Mary.

“That’s a big raise for what hours she will be here.”

“I don’t think we’ll mind paying that much when we don’t have to stay over ‘til eight at night or come to work Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have to cover Mondays, but I’ll take that just so I can be home relaxing with Danica most of the other days.”

“We can split that if you need to leave early Mondays.”  I looked at the time. It was almost noon.

“Dad, is Mom coming in with your lunch today?”

“No, she said Ann packed something for me.”

“I thought she might have. I think I’m going to like having a family around.”

When I went out and started down the stairs, I could see a line backed up at the front counter. I hurried down and signed in on the register. I was next to Danica.

I joked, “Jesus, I’m right back where I started sixteen years ago.” The three of us cleared the line and I told Danica to go eat.

“I won’t be long, Pop.”

“Take your time; I’m not a slave driver.”

“Pop, why did you call Mary up to the office She wouldn’t say why when I asked her.  She looked kind of funny and I couldn’t read her feelings at all.”

“Her business. If she didn’t say, then it isn’t my place to say.” I stared at my daughter. She finally shrugged and headed for the break room. I’m sure she hadn’t dropped it. The rest of my help hadn’t either. Two clerks asked me the same question and I said it wasn’t their business. Danica heard the last one ask me.

“So it wasn’t just me you are keeping secrets from?”

“No, this is Mary’s business and some of it concerns the store. You’d be wise to drop it. It’s not good to spread rumors.”

“One of Dan’s rules?”

“Could be. I guess you two can handle the registers now. I’m going to go get something to eat. I’ll keep watch so you don’t get behind again. If you have any questions, you can call me. I’m qualified.”

I turned, when Danica spoke, “Pop, are we okay?”

“Yes. Don’t forget you’re riding home with Gramp again tonight.”

“I won’t, what do you want for supper?”

“Surprise me. I’m sure it will be something really good. I really am so glad you came to live with me.”

“Even when I act stupid?”

“I haven’t seen that yet. I’ll tell you when I do.”

“I can believe that.” Danica smiled.

Mary did take the hours where she worked thirty-five hours a week. Dad and I both knew we had made two wise decisions. One: in raising Mary up to management and: two giving us more time to be away from the store ourselves. I did work the Mondays until 8:00.

I signed Ann and Danica up for dance lessons two nights a week Tuesday and Thursday. Danica and Ann went with me the first week I had signed us up. Mom said she wanted to watch her granddaughter so she came along too. Each instructor had about eight students. We would be taught the steps and then the teacher would take each student out on the floor one on one while the others practiced the moves.

Ann and my mother sat on the side lines watching. Soon Mom had Ann up showing her the same steps we were doing out on the floor.  The waltz was practiced for a half hour and then the teacher said “Now I will pick one student and we will see how he is doing. Dan, would you be my partner?”

“I hope you have steel-toed boots on.”

“I think I can handle it. Remember it was me who taught you to dance. Come, take me in your arms and don’t be shy.” The music started and Etta and I flowed out onto the floor. Etta was not only the teacher here, she was also the owner. She just also happened to be my ex-wife. We put our expertise into the demonstration. When the music stopped we were in front of Mom and Ann.

Mom and Etta hugged.  Etta spoke, “Mom Pierson, it is so good for you to come.  I don’t see enough of you anymore. Dan is still the best dance partner I ever had. A woman can lose herself in his embrace.”

“I know and I love dancing with him myself. Danica is Dan’s daughter. Dan is going to take us all out dancing just as soon as Danica learns how. Ann, her mother, hasn’t danced since she was a little girl and needs to start over again.”

“I’m sure Dan can teach her everything he knows.”  She turned back to her class, “Okay the break is over. Just for everyone’s information, this man is Dan Pierson and he and I were married at one time years ago. I’m going to ask him and his mother to dance with all of you for the rest of the evening. Danica, why don’t you begin the first dance with your father? We’ll stick to the waltz tonight.”

Etta took Ann by the hand and Ann, afraid to make a scene, followed along. Danica said to me, “I don’t know why we shouldn’t be so mad at you that we would pick up and leave. You told us you were married one time, but you didn’t tell us Etta would be the one teaching us.”

“Ann never would have come here if she knew. She had no reason not to either. Look at her now; she is trying to learn now that she has been forced to.”

I steered Danica around the floor. “You’re doing great, child.”

“I’m not a child.”

“I know and I can tell you aren’t. I see you as a beautiful woman. I’m just so proud to have you for my daughter. I hope Cilla knows you are with me finally. She suffered so much.”

“Pop, I think about the mother I never knew, but she did give me to Aunt Ann. I don’t think she would mind if you came to love the woman who raised me.”

I let that lay for a minute and then asked, “Is that what you want?”

“It is a dream of mine. That’s one reason I searched so hard to find you. I want Aunt Ann to be as happy as my mother told Mom and Gram she was in your arms.”

“We’ll see, sweetheart. The reflection of her dedication is you. Now I must go perform in teaching others to dance like my ex-wife asked me too. Maybe we will get one more dance before this is over this evening.” I left my daughter on the sideline and took an elderly heavy lady into my arms. I had, when married to Etta filled in a lot when she was short handed for a teacher.

Mom was bubbly about the wonderful time she had tonight. Danica was too. Ann didn’t say a word on the way home. I asked before we got out of the car, “Is everyone on for Thursday night?”

Mom spoke immediately. “I think I’ll go and help by being some ones partner if needed. It was good to see Etta again. I liked her for a daughter-in-law and was sad when she and Dan divorced. At least they parted as friends.”

“Mom, please leave my previous marriage out of this conversation. Danica, will you go again?”

“Of course. Someday I want to be able to dance as well as you do. You can dance at my wedding and we’ll glide along knowing you have done well by me as a father should.”

“I hope that is a time a long ways ahead. I’ll hate giving you away. How about you, Ann? Will you continue Thursday?”

“Yes. You said one time I would have a need to know how. I believe you now. Do you know Etta’s husband?”

“Sure, and he’s a great guy too. You’ll be meeting him someday. If it comes right, we’ll have to go out for dinner with them.” I let my passengers out of the car before driving into the garage. They had gone inside laughing and happy.

“Pop, would you put some music on that we can dance to? I want to try it some more. I had such a wonderful time.” We found a song and Danica came into my arms. We were all tired so one dance was it before Danica headed up stairs.

I turned the music real low. “Ann, would you dance with me? You did very well with Etta. I was watching you.”

“I don’t know. You know my problem.”

“I do, but I won’t push you. If you get nervous, we’ll stop.”

Ann was nervous, but she controlled herself until the song was almost finished. I felt her tense up, so I relaxed and dropped my hands and came to a stop. “I tried.”

“You did well. All you need is a little more practice. I had a little flashback at first when the song started. I never had the chance to dance with Cilla. But then I came back to earth and it was you in my arms.”

“And?”

“And it was pleasant. I could dance with you anytime.”

“Thank you Dan. You do know my life is in turmoil, don’t you? For thirty years I hated my life except for having Danica in my care. She has been my joy always.  Now you are making me look to the future with all the things that are happening. I just fear that I will lose it and I’ll return to feeling the way I did before. I worry that sometime Danica will leave and I won’t be needed anymore.”

“Ann, I suspect every parent feels like that when their child grows up and leaves the nest. I know Danica won’t be leaving for awhile because she doesn’t want to go away to finish her education.”

“I wouldn’t either, if you were my father and I had just found you. I don’t think you should force her to go on to school just yet. Isn’t there a night school or something nearby where she can get what she needs and still live at home?”

“Yes, there is as far as courses go, but she will miss all that goes on at college or university to expand her social life. I know I got a lot out of college. But then she is intelligent so maybe we should let her decide for herself.  Maybe you could have some conversations about it with her. I can’t believe she will be satisfied just working in a hardware store for the rest of her life. I want more than that for her.”

“I’m satisfied with the work I have now.”

“Yes, but don’t parents want their children to reach for a higher level in life than they have? Just what do you want out of life?”

“Dan, I don’t know yet. But I am satisfied working in a good job and you have given it to me. How about you?”

“I’m pretty satisfied with my life as it is. I see my life like this: My parents raised me until I became a man. Now I feel as I am my parents equal and we will continue to be equal until they get old and then the situation is reversed. I will be here to take care of them until they finish their life. Life goes on and it starts all over again. I have one child now and I’m happy now that I have her to keep the cycle continuing. I’ve lost twice of having a life-long mate, but I’m fairly young yet and that part of my life isn’t over yet.”

“Dan, you’re a deep thinker. I’m going up to bed. Are you going to wait up until Mom gets home from the truck stop?”

“Yes, I think I will. I want to tell her how her two girls made out learning to dance.”

“Honestly, how did we do?”

"Danica did well just like I expected she would. You, though, really did much better than I dreamed.”

“Dan, you are the rarest of men. I’m glad to have you as my brother-in-law. I’m so blessed.” Her face flushed and she turned and practically ran up the stairs. I stood looking after her.

It was almost midnight when Anita came home. “Dan, why are you still up?”

“I wanted to tell you about dancing with your two girls. Danica took right to it and is doing very well. Ann has joined in and is now learning to dance.”

Anita broke in. “Did you dance with her? I don’t believe it.”

“No, not then, but she did get up and do some practicing. My mother went with us and she helped a lot with Ann. She was a little nonplussed when my ex-wife dragged her out on the floor for one on one lessons.”

“Your ex-wife. What was she doing there?”

“It’s her studio. I had a dance with Danica and she is a natural. The best part of the night was when we got home Danica wanted one more dance and I danced with her again. I swear that girl loves her father.”

“I should think so.”

“There is more. After Danica went upstairs, Ann wanted to try a dance with me.  She did for a little bit. I let her go when she tensed up. I did hold her for more than two minutes. Ann is definitely expanding her life.”

“Dan, you aren’t going to fall in love with her and then drop her?”

“Too soon for that … falling in love, that is. As far as dropping her, that I would never do. When you get a chance, ask her about tonight. Oh, both Ann and Danica have agreed to continue their lessons. To me that says it all.”

“I’d say so. Oh, why I’m late, Jim hung around drinking coffee and I had one drink with him after my shift was over. Is he a good person?”

“Yes, he is nice. I knew his wife and when she got sick he was there for her until the end. This is the first time I have ever heard of him having a woman friend.”

“Dan, he’s just a customer.  Lonely maybe, but still just a customer.”

“I guess you are a little bit lonely too?”

“I guess I am.  Go to bed, Dan. Sweet dreams.”

“Night, Anita.”

Chapter Three

Eggs and bacon again for breakfast. I’d better keep dancing or I’d get fat. I didn’t get much sleep last night. I couldn’t believe how much my life had changed in the last month. I felt Ann was opening up a little. Three days ago she hadn’t let me touch her at all. Last night she asked me to hold her for a dance. Damn it, this was unsettling!

I was attracted to Ann, I had to admit that. She was so much like her sister who had been in and out of my mind for the last nineteen years. Of the three women, I felt my daughter was the strongest and had a better grasp on life. Ann was the weakest.  Didn’t matter, she was intelligent and took right over the job I had hired her for. She said she was afraid of having a man touch her. She was coming to grips with that fear faster than I expected.

On the way to work this morning, Danica said, “We need another vehicle. I think I’ll buy one. I have enough money for a down payment and I have steady employment.  It shouldn’t be a problem. I want to visit my cousin Sherry and get to know her.”

“You can use this car anytime when I’m not using it.”

“That’s just it; you’re running a business and might need it at any moment in time. You can lend it to Mom if Gram has her car at work. I don’t think I want to drive a car this big anyway.”

“Okay, you’ll need one when you go off to school, anyway.”

“Pop, we have to discuss my going on to college. Can we talk about it tonight when there isn’t anyone around in case you get mad at what I want or don’t want to do? I just can’t see my leaving you. This is my home and all my family is here. My Dad, my Grandmother, and my new Aunt, Sherry and her family. Grampa would miss me, I know he would.”

“Okay, but you have to listen to my reasons.”
  
“And you have to listen to mine,”

Danica didn’t know it, but I had given in to her already.  I went over to the Community College office and asked what they had for courses that would prepare a student for running a business with a million and half dollars in sales. I spent almost two hours and came away with their catalog and lots of notes about the different professors. Many of these credits would be accepted in the quest for a bachelor degree if she so desired. If Danica refused to go away, I would try to get her at least go here locally at the community college.

Danica and Ann were quiet on the way home. They set about getting supper. Squash, pork chops and garlic potato were on the menu. There was fresh fruit of strawberries and melon with vanilla ice cream for a light dessert. I offered to help clean up when finished, but wasn’t needed. Danica came in and sat on the couch. I waited.

“Isn’t your mother coming in?”

“Do you want her to be here for this?”

“Of course, we are your parents. Your mother has had the responsibility of you for the last sixteen years. Now that you are living with me, it gives her the chance to share and not have to make all the decisions. Would you get her?”

“I’m here, Dan.  I wasn’t sure, but what you wanted full control of Danica.”

“I don’t know what gave you that idea. Ann, what do I know about kids? I definitely need you to guide me. To start with, do you think Danica should have a car?”

“It would help, Dan. Mama needs mine to get to work. That’s for awhile, anyway. She is eventually going to find her own living quarters.”

“I’m sorry she feels that way.”

“It isn’t you, it is Danica and me. She feels that we have to live on our own at some point.  She won’t be far away, though. I may feel the same way eventually. Mama has made most of the decisions all my life. She might even find someone to be happy with. She deserves someone.”

“I’ll agree that. Now getting back to buying a vehicle.”

 Danica interrupted me, “Pop, I’m buying it. I need that to prove that I can handle it. I’m not going away to school either.”

“The car, let’s settle that first. Are you sure you want to spend your money on a car?”

“Yes I do. I need the freedom one will give me.”

“Will you let your mother use it if she needs it?”

“Of course I will, she is my mother.”

“Are you looking for a new car?”

“No, I know I can’t afford that much.”

“Would you let your grandfather go with you when you look for something?”

“I thought it would be you who would want to go with me.”

“No, Dad would be better at that than I would.”

“Okay, I’ll ask him.”

“I’m going to help some. I’ll pay for the tags and for the insurance.”

“Thanks, Pop. I suppose you want to talk about school now, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do.  Danica, do you have any goals? I take it finding your father was one that you’ve reached. Do you have another one or some others?”

“I want to work in the store with you. I have a lot of fun with my co-workers. They all like me and I’m getting to know some of them better all the time.”

“That isn’t a very high goal.”

“I don’t need one higher than that to be happy.”

I looked at Ann, “What do you think, Ann, You haven’t said anything about what you want for our daughter?”

“Dan, I know you want more for Danica, is it really necessary?”

“I think it is and I’ll tell you why. I’ll be forty in a few years. Dad is sixty-two. He has a few more years before retirement. When he retires, the store will come to me. When it comes time for me to retire, who am I going to turn the store over to? Oh, I still have hopes of finding a mate sometime and maybe even having a kid or two, but they won’t be really old enough to reach the age where they can take over.”

I paused, “Danica, do you see where I’m going with this?”

“That’s fine, but I don’t want to leave you, Mom or my grandmothers. I especially don’t want to leave you. I love you. I love how you loved my real mother and how you have helped Mom begin to open up and have fun since we came here. I just can’t leave.”

“Danica, I can see how serious you are. Look at this literature I picked up this morning. It is all about the community college here in town. The guidance counselor talked with me for nearly two hours. You can get your education right here. But I would require you to sign a contract with me if you go this route. I think you would have the best of both situations that you insist on.”

I opened my briefcase and laid out the information I had been given. “I took notes of the questions I asked and the answers I was given. You look through these and see you can sign up for as many as you think you can handle. Please don’t decide on too many courses at a time. Remember you have a job at the store. I expect you to work enough hours to buy the gas and take care of the upkeep on your car.

“As far as paying for the courses, that is my responsibility. Also if you fulfill all that is stated in your contract with me, I’ll make your car payment. That will be on a month to month basis.”

“You’re paying an awful lot, Dan. That’s going to expensive.”

“Nowhere near as much, Ann, if Danica went to a university. Tuition, board and room along with some spending money would be five times more than this is. But then you would be getting more out of going to university than here in the community on a social plane. I’ve looked at everything and am willing to work with you on this. The option to go away will remain open in case you change your mind at anytime.

“Dad, my mind is already made up. I’m staying here with you and Mom and my Grams and Grampa.”

“Okay, that part is settled. I’ll generate a contract and you can have an attorney look at it. I would suggest that your mother go with you for that and I’ll leave it for her to go and help pick out your courses at the college. You can do that during the working hours.”

“Dad, are you saying you are going to turn the store over to me someday.”

“Not really saying that for definite, only if I feel you are qualified. I have no doubt you will be. That’s the deal I have with your grandfather. I’m assuming that he will turn the store over to me when it’s time. I think I’m fulfilling the contract I signed with him when I came from college.”

“Dad, why do you want me to go to school? You picked Mary right off the front register for a supervisor. I’m a girl too, you know.”

“I noticed. Gender doesn’t make that much difference to me. But do you think Mary could write an effective advertisement for the paper or think up a special to promote more business? Mary keeps track of the time cards of the help on her shift and is a presence if there is trouble. But when the time comes, you will be in charge of everything that goes on in the office. You would have to track the bottom line on everything that involves the store. I had four years of learning and it took that much time to be comfortable with this part of management.

“Remember you are a woman and I hope will be getting married and have some children. The owner has a certain freedom and can take time off if he/she can still keep track of what goes on in the business. Look at the time I’ve taken off since you came to live with me.”

“All this scares me.”

“That’s what higher education is for. You’ll be taking a load off my shoulders some. I won’t burden you with too much. I keep saying I still have time to find me a mate. Who knows you might have a sister or brother old enough to help you when the transition takes place. You are my first child and of course take precedence.”

“Do I have to give you an answer tonight?”

“No, you have a few weeks of summer left. You will have a car to ride around in and enjoy going places. You spoke about visiting Sherry. That’ll be fun. Enough of that subject tonight. Are we going dancing tomorrow night? Ann?”

Ann spoke immediately, “I am.” Danica said she was too.
_____________________

We sat around talking about what Danica wanted in a car she was to purchase. I looked up different models and makes of cars on my home PC.  She had decided on a Honda Civic if she could find a decent one. I didn’t realize that Danica was computer literate because she didn’t bring one with her. I decided she should have a laptop and that would be a good present for her for her birthday coming up in another month. She would have one to use when she went to school.

Ann asked me more about my sister and her family. “Patty works in a Garden Center that sells fruits and vegetables. There is a bakery in one portion of the building. That’s where Matt works too. He is the head baker. He gets the fresh produce directly from their gardens and orchards to put in the pies he is famous for. Both kids work there part time.

“I know, Sherry told me. I’m anxious to visit so she can take me around. I want to meet some of her friends, too.” Both Ann and Danica went up to bed.  Again I was staying up to see Anita.

I was sleeping when she came in but I heard her. We had a short conversation and then she went upstairs. I was getting a drink of water. When I turned around, Ann had come up behind me and I bumped into her, spilling water on her. “Ann, I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

 “My fault, I didn’t expect you to turn so quickly. I’ll change into something dry. I came down to tell you something. Can we sit for a minute?”

“Sure, the kitchen table okay?”

“Dan, I was beginning to fear I was losing Danica to you and I wasn’t needed as her mother any longer.  I know she is your daughter and she thinks you are so wonderful. I do too for that matter.”

“What made you think that?”

“Dan, think of what you are doing. You’ve practically given up your own life for all of us. There is the job you’ve given Danica. I believe you would have paid for the car outright if she hadn’t offered. I thought you would have wanted to get her enrolled in the college yourself. When you asked me to go with her to see about the course, I knew then you weren’t trying to diminish my role as mother to her. You did a lot of the prep work to smooth the path for me. I’ll probably get the credit for helping her, but I know it is you who let’s me still be of some importance in her life.”

“Ann, I see you and me as Danica’s parents. The thing of it is you have had to do all the heavy lifting until she found me. What a burden Cilla placed on you. I am much of that burden because I conceived Danica and then you had to stand in for both of us. I declare right now you have done a remarkable job of making Danica what she is, so if you get some credit, take it and know I wish it were more.”

I paused and changed the subject, “Ann, I’m glad we are going dancing tomorrow night. Will you dance with me like we did Tuesday?”

“I’m so looking forward to it. I think I had better go change into something dry. I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight, Dan.”

I walked around the table and she preceded me to the foot of the stairs. I thought she was going to step up, but instead, she turned and came back. I opened my arms and she came into them, hugging me tightly. She held me and then backed away and mounted the stairs. No thoughts about Cilla tonight. I was hoping she wouldn’t be embarrassed by how much a wet nightgown revealed. I certainly had noticed.

“Pop, I’m going to ride to work with Grampa.”

“Okay, you had better hurry, he leaves in few minutes. He is the one to open the store today”

“He’ll wait, I’ve called him, but I won’t hold him up. I’ll grab something from the machines at work for breakfast.” I shook my head thinking Danica could adapt to most situations.

Ann and I had a leisurely breakfast. She began the conversation. “Dan, are you looking forward to teaching me to dance tonight?”

“Yes, very much.”

“Why?”

I never hesitated to answer, “Because I want to hold you in my arms.”

“Is this wise?  You are remembering Cilla and she isn’t here and hasn’t been.”

“Part of her is. Danica is very much like her.”

“What part of Danica is like Cilla?”

“For one thing she is brave. If she doesn’t want to do as I want her to, she sets up road blocks. She wanted a car and now she is getting a car. She objected to going away to school and I suspect she played on my emotions so I would concur with what she wanted. I expect Danica to come out with the expression she would have faith just to get her way like Cilla used to. You have to admit Cilla was brave in leaving home. I could give you a couple more instances.”

“You had better. I never thought my sister was like that.”

“Picture this. I was driving down the highway when it was almost dark. Cilla had faith someone would pick up a girl and treat her okay.  It fell to me. Then she was hungry. It fell to me to feed her. She didn’t have a place to sleep, so I agreed she could join me in my room that had only one bed. We showered and went to bed and to sleep.

“In the morning before we got up, she asked for a kiss because I had been so nice to her. Here she was lonely in a strange city. Well, I was lonely too because I was heading to an unknown Army Base and didn’t know anyone there either.  An hour later she declared she was so blessed. I supposed she was protected and I admit I never brought the subject up before things happened. She said she had faith it was okay to continue. I agreed because I had full intention to take care of her when I saw her the next weekend. The Army had other plans. You know the rest.”

“How awful for you.”

“No, I missed Cilla terribly, but I have had a decent life.  Cilla didn’t and I’m so sorry about that because it ended so soon for her.”

“Dan, I don’t think she regretted how it ended. I think she did it to save your child, her mother, and her sister. I believe she had faith that she would accomplish what she set out to do. She would say the same thing today if she could know.”

“Ann, can you believe that I feel like I’m the one blessed? I had the love of a wonderful woman for a short time. Then one day a beautiful young woman came into my life. With her came two other wonderful women.”

Ann laughed, “Yes, you certainly are blessed to have the three of us plunge into your life like we did.”

“Laugh, Ann, but the burden you feel you dropped on me isn’t heavy for me at all. Hey, we have to get to work. I also frown on my help if they don’t get there on time either.”

I drove the car thinking about all we had discussed. Ann spoke quietly just before we reached the store, “Dan, in the storage unit we rented, I have a shoe box full of snapshots that I took of the family over the years. There are a lot of pictures of Cilla. Some of them are when she was pregnant with Danica. Not all the pictures are pleasant for me to look at.  My father insisted if we got the camera out that we take pictures of him. There was no escaping it. After he and Cilla died, I continued to take pictures. I’m so glad now that I did.”

“I look forward to seeing them. Sometimes I can’t remember what Cilla looked like. We will take some weekend this fall and retrieve them. We also should decide what to do with your belongings when we are there.”

Nothing unusual happened during the day, except Dad had grabbed Danica and they went looking for a vehicle. She told Ann and me all about the one they had chosen on the way home. “I told Gramp how much I had to put down for a car, saying you were going to help me pay for the rest by being part of the contract I’m going to sign when I go to school.”

“What did he say about that?”

“He snorted, telling me that you were too damned cheap and you shouldn’t be taking money from me. Gramp called the bank and arranged to pay for the whole car. The car is a two year-old Subaru Impreza. It has all wheel drive which means I won’t have to worry about the weather going to school. I’m going to pick it up tomorrow. I have to have insurance before they put tags on it.”

“Have you got the details?  I’ll call and have insurance applied when we reach home. So Dad thinks I’m cheap, huh?”

“I don’t really think he thinks you are. I think he just wanted me to think he wasn’t.”

“A lot of thinking there, but I think you are right.”

“Pop, I am going to sign your contract even though the car is paid for and I’m going to live up to every bit of it.”

“I believe you.”

I did put insurance on the car. We ate fairly fast that evening and got ready to go to the dance studio. Ann had on a little more makeup than usual. She wore a cotton dress, tight and clung to her curves more than what she wore to work.

“Pop, do you prefer long hair or short hair on a woman?”

“Whoa, where did that come from?”

“I’m going to have my hair cut early Saturday morning. I’m going to go visit Sherry just as soon as I’m finished. Sherry wears hers cut short and I want to know if you would approve?”

“Sweetheart, I would approve if you felt it necessary to have it all cut off. Back when I was going to school most of the girls had theirs cut short. Over time girls and women haven’t bothered. Some of them should, just to keep the strands from falling into their face. I should think they would get sick of brushing it back, but I suppose they do it without thinking. Do what you wish and now go ask if your grandmother is ready?”

Danica ran around the house, bringing my mother back with her. Mom, looked at Ann, “My, Ann you look nice tonight. Dan’s going to have to look out or some guy will snatch you up and he’ll die a lonely old man.”

“Mom, cut it out.”

“Oh a little sensitive because you’re nearing forty and no one loves you?”

“I’ll love him. He’s a wonderful father.”

“Danica, Honey, I know he is. I’m just picking on him.”

“Mom, you just try and get a dance with me tonight.” I laughed and Mom did too.

There weren’t very many students at the class. Etta had us go over the waltz steps for the first half hour and then all were to exchange partners for the next half hour to get used to dancing with more than someone they were familiar with. Ann immediately looked scared. I whispered as an older gentleman headed for her.  “You can do it, Cilla, you’re brave.”

I asked a real old lady who apologized for not doing well. I knew her as a customer of the store and she lived in an assisted living home alone. “You’re doing fine. I was hoping it would be you who would have the first dance with me.”

“Dan, you’re sweet. I’ve seen the young girl with the red hair with you. Is she related?”

“Yes, Bertha, she is my daughter. The woman who also has red hair is my sister-in-law and has mothered her since she was two. Her own mother died while I was overseas.”

“That’s so sad.”

“Yes, but we are together now and she is a joy to have around. My sister-in-law is the nicest person and I love her in many ways. One for taking over and being a mother to Danica and also because she is the nicest person in her own right. She works at the office in the store. She will always be with me, I hope.”

The song was completed and I had to ask another woman. I had been watching to see how Ann was making out. This time a younger man picked her for a partner. He was talking to Ann a mile a minute. I guessed he was trying to impress her. She looked pretty tense and stiff and not comfortable.

I sent Ann a mental message to stick with it. Finally the man stopped speaking and steered Ann until the dance ended. The lady, who was my partner, laughed when she thanked me. “That was like me dancing alone. I don’t blame you if I had a girl and someone was trying to steal her.”

“I’m sorry I was such a klutz. I promise some time I will dance with you again and give you my full attention.”

We changed partners before it was the women’s turn to do the asking. Again we would be changing partners, and then the last half hour we could dance with who we came with. I had danced once with Danica and once she had asked me to dance. I immediately asked Ann.  She was sputtering, “Did you see that second partner I had to dance with? He wasn’t nice at all. He wanted to hug me too tight and kept telling me how beautiful I was. His hand kept drifting down my back.”

“Yeah, I was watching, I thought I might have to rescue you.”

“No, that would have embarrassed me. I was going to embarrass him if he didn’t behave. But he took me at my word, so we finished the dance.”

 “What did you say to him?”

“I told him, I was going to slap him and walk away leaving him right on the floor. He was glad when the music stopped, I know that.”

“Ann, did you notice the woman I was dancing with when that man was bothering you?”

“No, why?”

“I owe her a dance. I was watching out for you and not at all attentive to my partner. I promised I would be making it up to her by dancing with her one more time and give her my full attention.”

“Let’s exchange and do it now.”

“Okay.”

While the song finished I danced Ann over next to the woman. Ann spoke, “Hi, I think Dan owes you a dance. He is so protective of me. My name is Ann.”

“I think you are lucky. My name is Bridgett and this is my husband Gordon. He is a better dancer than I am, but I would like to dance with Dan if you don’t mind.”

Just then the music started and I gave my full attention to Bridgett. This couple was about ten years older than me and new to the area. I told them Dad and I owned the hardware store. They said they were trading there and buying paint. “If you need any help don’t hesitate to ask for me or my clerks and use my name.”

There was one more song and Ann didn’t want to dance this one, so I asked my mother. I hadn’t paid attention to her tonight at all, but she didn’t mind because she had been talking to Etta. I wondered if she had been talking about me and Ann. I didn’t ask.

I left Mom off at her door and let Ann and Danica out before putting my car into the garage. We walked inside together. Ann said, “Etta told me I was doing great for someone who had never danced before. She said we would be learning something called a Two-step next. It is much faster than a waltz. I hope I can get onto it okay.”

“I know you can. Danica isn’t having trouble learning these dances.”

“I know but she is younger and more daring than me.”

“Ann, I thought you did extremely well tonight. How many different partners did you dance with?”

“Seven all together, I think. It was kind of fun except for that man who wanted to get fresh.”

“Yes, but you handled that well, just the way you should have. I swear you are coming out of the shell you’ve had around you.”

“Dan, it is all because of you.”

Danica was laughing at Ann. “Mom, when you kiss Dad for the first time it will open all kinds of doors for you and your shell will be gone.”

“You’re too fresh, Danica. I haven’t thought about kissing Dan and I trust he hasn’t thought about kissing me either.”

There was a dead silence. I broke it by saying to Danica, “Your Gram will be home in another hour unless she goes for a drink with Jim.”

Smart-ass Danica, said, “I’ll bet Gram has shucked her shell and more by this time. Jim is a hunk and he was asking me about her at work. He showed me the pictures of his daughters and son. The son is a hunk just like his father, but he has a steady girlfriend. I guess it is serious too and nothing there for me there with him.”

“Danica!”

“Okay, Mom, okay.”

Ann was sputtering about Danica as she watched the girl running up the stairs. Ann turned and looked at me, “Mostly Danica is a good girl, but she is very trying sometimes. She’s growing up and I’m losing my little girl.”

“You’ll never lose her. I’ve never seen mother and daughter closer than you two. I do know one thing you’ve got wrong, though.”

Worried, Ann demanded sharply. “What have I got wrong?”

“The fact that I haven’t thought about kissing you. Truthfully, I’ve thought about that almost constantly.”

“What about Cilla? You’ve declared she was in your thoughts all the time.”

“She is, but it is me wishing I could thank her for sending you three to me. I really believe it was her that put things together so you could find me. I also have faith she would want me to kiss you.”

“Dan, I’ve thought about kissing a man, but I don’t know how.”

“It is something you have to experience. I remember the first time I kissed a girl. We were playing hide and seek and I thought the girl was giving me signals. She was a year older than me. We were under some bushes and pretty close. I leaned over and kissed her. She swore and slapped me. We were being searched for, but no one found us.

“She was quiet and I was wondering how I was going to get out of this. Suddenly she turned to me and asked me to kiss her. I probably kissed her seven or eight times in the next two weeks until I saw her kissing a boy who was older than both of us. I was heartbroken until a girl my age told me she heard I liked to kiss girls. Needless to say, the dam was broken.”

“How old were you?”

“Thirteen.”

“Dan, I lied to Danica. I have thought about you kissing me. My God I’m thirty-two years old and never been kissed. I guess I had better start soon or I’ll go to my grave unkissed.”

“Ann, I can remedy that. I can’t let you die unkissed.” I reached out and brought Ann into my arms. She kept her head down hugging me tightly. I smoothed her hair and kissed her on the top of her head. Slowly she lifted her face to mine. I slowly placed my lips on hers … not hard, but with a little pressure. I held my lips still.

Suddenly Ann mashed her lips to mine for a few seconds and pulled away from me. “Dan, can we sit down, I feel weak.” With one arm guiding her we sat close on the couch. I held one of her hands in mine and turned so I could smile at her. “I feel so close to you, would you just hold me?”

We sat there neither of us speaking for maybe ten minutes. She shuddered once and then pulled away from me. “I think I should get ready for bed. Dan, I think I know how Cilla must have felt the first time you and she kissed. She told me many times how you made her feel. How you paused making love when she wanted you to continue. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine how a kiss would affect a person up until now.”

“I know. I think the first time we had sex it was a thank you for me being nice for picking her up. I really wasn’t being a cad with Cilla, but we were young and both with raging hormones. A few hours later we were in love and that makes a couple being together so much better. You’ll find that out if you let me kiss you when we are alone.”

“I’m so glad you want to be discrete. I don’t want Danica and Mom to know just yet. Are you okay with me being like this?”

“Of course I am. It’s like the two of us on an adventure and no one knows about it until it comes together and we can claim the prize.”

“And what is the prize, Dan?”

“You for me, and me the prize for you.”

I leaned to Ann and kissed her once more. It didn’t last long and she paused at the foot of the stairs, “I love you, Dan.” She didn’t wait for an answer and I couldn’t shout after her that I loved her too.

_____________________

I made me a cup of tea and was drinking it when Anita came in. “How were the dance lessons?”

“They were great. Danica is something. Etta made us change partners and she danced with all the old men, although I don’t think she was comfortable until she came back to dance with me. None of them got fresh with her. If they stumbled she would stop and then get them started right again. She is amazing and almost as good at teaching the steps as Etta is.”

“How about my uptight daughter. Did she get out of your protective circle you’ve built around her?”

“She had to. She made out pretty good. I really think she is more relaxed and willing to try doing things that have been out of her comfort zone.”

“She’d better or she will lose you. I despair of her ever getting married and having any children. Dan, grab her and kiss her. Make love to her. You must know how to get around all these inhibitions about men she has.”

“No Anita, I won’t do that. It would destroy her.”

“Damn it, son, I want you two married. I want you to have a happy marriage. I suppose I was much like Ann when Cilla and my husband died. Not only that, it was a horrible scandal that I was facing over the way the two died. Ann was only fifteen and felt guilty about Cilla being brought back. It affected her more than it affected me, but I was able to overcome and put that part of the past behind me.

“I had to work, while Ann was at home to care for Danica. I do think Ann has done well after she went out to work and that is because she is so intelligent. I’ve tried to get her to forget the bad things in her past that happened like I have, but it is taking so long to happen. I want to move on with a man someday and I want my family happy.”

“You may get what you want, but that isn’t the way to get it. I will not force Ann into doing something she doesn’t want to do.”

“Okay, I was just trying to help. Tomorrow I’m not working and neither is Jim. He’s taking me to a fair and farm show. I have to be back at work Sunday. This is the first time I’ve done something when either Danica or Ann wasn’t there. I’m so looking forward to it. Enough about me, what else is new?”

“Danica has a car. She picks it up in the morning. Gramp bought it for her. She tried to use her own money for the down payment, but he wouldn’t let her.”

“And you, what did you pay?”

“I put insurance and the registration on it. It isn’t much, but my father had it all settled before they came back from buying it. Danica made a deal with me, but with Dad buying it, it is pretty hollow. However, Danica is holding to the deal we made by still going to college. Ann is helping with choosing the courses she needs. We are a family business and I want both involved in the future.

“Dan, you wouldn’t adopt me, would you. That child sure knew what she was doing when she began searching for her father and found you.”

“Go to bed, Anita, I’m opening up the store in the morning”

“Well, give me a hug. Christ I’m almost ready to go after you myself. You better go after Ann to keep it from happening.”

I put my arms around Anita. She looked up at me. “Don’t mind me. I really do wish you and Ann would get together. It would make me happy.”

“Don’t give up hope and I’ll work on it if you would stop pushing.”

“I will Dan. Good night.”

The next morning Anita was up and made breakfast. She informed Ann and Danica that she had two days off. Danica was excited about getting her car. Anita criticized her for letting Gramp pay for it. “Gram, I tried to pay, honest.”

“Anita, Dad can afford it. Don’t worry about it.”

Anita wasn’t through with Danica, “Well, don’t you be asking for stuff.”

“But I didn’t. I had money for the down payment and Pop was going to back me up at the bank for a loan for the rest of it. I’m working and I could have swung it.”

“Okay, Sweetheart. I just don’t want Dan to think we are taking advantage of him, that’s all.”

We got to work and Danica left with me at ten to get her car. The Subaru dealer had called and said it was ready. We got back at noon in time for the lunch Ann had packed for us. Ann went out to look at the car when lunch was finished. The car was one of the smaller models Subaru made. This one was a red metallic and looked new. There were only twenty-five thousand miles on it. Gramp had paid book for it. All Ann said to Danica was, “It is a beautiful car. That’s your baby; Danica, make sure you take care of it.”

“I will, Mom.”

Just then Dad came out to see it again. Danica ran and hugged her grandfather, thanking him, “Beautiful car for a beautiful girl.”  There appeared to be moisture in his eyes as he quickly went back into the store. Noon hour was over so we returned to work. Needless to say Danica could hardly contain herself during the afternoon. When we got home Danica was disappointed that Anita had left so she couldn’t show off her car. Mom was there and that took some of the disappointment away.

Ann and Danica both had appointments to have their hair done the next morning. Danica was going to leave immediately afterward and travel to visit Sherry. I didn’t see Danica, but I certainly saw that Ann had her hair cut and styled. It changed her whole appearance. “My God, Ann, I thought you were beautiful before, but that was nothing compared to the way you look now.”

“You like?”

“More than that, I love the way you look.”

“Enough to kiss me? Just a kiss though. I know we are going to be here alone tonight and I don’t want to tease you, but I would like to kiss you.”

“I’d like to, if you let me. You will be safe in my arms, I promise.” Ann came into my arms and put her lips up. I kissed her and we held the moment for just a moment. Then I kissed her harder and she returned it. She then backed away.

“Dan, I could go on kissing you forever, but please not yet. I’ll make us a sandwich for lunch. I have to do the morning dishes too.”

“Ann, make it a small sandwich and we’ll go out to dinner tonight. You have to show off your new hair style and I have to show I have a new lady. Such beauty has to be displayed.”

“Dan, you’re making too much of me.”

“I disagree. I want you to blossom. You are a flower that has been in the shade way too long. You need sunlight to blossom and it is me that is going to make it happen.”Ann clinched with me and then pulled away heading into the kitchen.

I followed. “So Ann, shall we go out tonight?”

“Just for dinner, I guess.”

“How about going to a lounge later and practicing our dancing?”

“Oh no, I couldn’t do that.”

“Okay, it was just a thought.” Ann made a ham and cheese sandwich. I washed it down with a beer. “Do you drink at all, Ann? I should have asked before this but it never has come up.”

“Father used to and that was some of his problem. He would get pretty mean if he had too much. I don’t have anything against having a glass of wine. One glass is all I would want because I get to feeling funny. I tried drinking some after Cilla’s funeral. Someone said it would be good for me to relax. Mom took me to a bar, snuck me a drink, but I just began crying and wanted to go home. Maybe it was the situation and not the wine.”

“That was many years ago.”

“Yes, I know. Mom has a beer or a glass of wine sometimes. I don’t like beer and I’ve tried a juice glass of wine a couple times, but it makes me think of the first time I tried it.”

I changed the subject. “I’m going to mow the lawn and do some trimming on the hedge.”

“I’ll come out with you.” We kept busy all afternoon. I went in while Ann was busy and made reservation at a hotel for dinner. I was hoping Ann would hear the music and maybe dance a little knowing the floor was next door.

 We finished outside at five. We both took showers. It didn’t take long for me to dress. I was waiting in the living room when Ann came down the stairs wearing a gray dress that came just below her knee. It looked to be a nice dress with just a bit of ivory lace on the collar. The only bright adornment was the belt. This had a buckle of abalone. The dress was high enough to fully cover her breasts. Her breasts were full, but not excessively large. There was a small arrow shaped gap to show the beginning of cleavage.

I asked, “Do you have a necklace?”

“No, I don’t. I have some colored plastic, but nothing that would go with this.”

“That is truly a lovely dress, but I think I have something that came to me when we divided up my grandmother’s jewelry. Do you think a red garnet on a chain would go with the dress? I’ll never wear it.”

“Oh, no, I can’t have you giving me jewelry.”

“Ann, that was supposed to be a joke. Let’s look at it first. Come with me.”

I took her into my room and removed a small chest from a shelf in the closet. It had several velvet covered boxes in it. “Gram loved all kinds of jewelry, and this is only a small portion of what she had. My sister and my mother have their share already. Gram gave Etta a couple of pieces while I was married to her. She wanted to return them when we divorced, but I just told they were gifts from Gram and urged her to keep them.”

I opened the box that had a small price sticker on it … Probably the same one that was on it when Gram bought it. The stone was set in yellow gold, nestled in the center with the chain draped in a grove around it. I took it out of the box and turned Ann around so I could hook it. Then I took Ann across the room and opened a closet door that had a full length mirror on it. “What do you think?  It sets your dress off nicely doesn’t it?”

“Dan, this should go to Danica not to me. It is so beautiful though, it is just right.”

“Good, it is as right for you as I hoped. I’ll let you and Danica go through these boxes someday. It’ll be fun. I think we should head out for dinner. I have reservations in a hotel. It is about the best place in town to dine.”

I moved toward the door. “Dan, would you let me hug you, before we leave?”

I turned back and there was Ann with her arms open. It turned out to more than a hug. She kissed me hard. Not thinking, I gave her the tip of my tongue. She jumped and backed away. “Dan what did you do? Did you stick your tongue out and touch my lips? It sent an electric shock through me.”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I did use my tongue. Most ladies like it and it enhances the affect of the kiss. It is pretty normal when two people kiss. You try it with just the tip.” I could feel the tip and then I touched mine to hers. I don’t know what it did to her, but I knew what it was doing to me. “We had better save that for later.”

We were almost to the hotel when Ann asked, “Did you kiss my sister like that?”

“Yes.”

“And you were in bed when you first kissed her?”

“Yes.”

“That explains it then. Something I’ve always wondered about.”

“What’s that?” I glanced at Ann when I said this.

She giggled, saying, “How a person like my sister who was a virgin, could come up pregnant within the five days she was with you. It’s a good thing you decided we should leave your bedroom when we did.” She stopped speaking and then, “Dan, I know I’m sounding like a wanton, and I’m not really. It is just that you are giving me so many new experiences that I have to decide how to handle them. Will you take your time with me?”

“Of course. As I said, I’m sorry I kissed you like I did. I forgot how inexperienced you are.”

“Dan, don’t be sorry, I’m not or going to say how it affected me.” We did have a fine dinner. It called for red wine and I poured a full glass for her. “This is good.”

We heard the band begin playing as we had our dessert. “Do you want to look in?  This will be a lot different than at Etta’s studio.” Ann nodded that she did.

We stepped inside. There were very few couples on the floor because it was early. By ten o’clock the floor would be crowded. “Do you want to stay for a little while?”

“Yes.”  We got a little two-seat table along the side, fairly close to the band.

“I’ll get us a drink. The liquor sales pay for having live music. What would you like?”

“Soda would be cheaper, wouldn’t it?”

“No, not really. About the same as beer or some mixed drinks. I’ll get you anything. They have white and red wine. That might be what you would like. As long as we have drinks in front of us we can keep the table.”

“Okay, I’ll have a white wine this time.” 

There were two bars in the room, one on each side of the lounge so it was no problem getting drinks. I soon came back. Ann was tapping her foot to the music. Just as I sat down, two ladies came up. “Hey Dan, long time since I’ve seen you out and about. Who is your friend?”

“Hi Sam. Meet Ann. Ann is my sister-in-law from Nebraska. She is living with me along with her mother and my daughter. She has been here for a couple of months and is working in the store with me.”

“That’s great. You’re not married so there is still a chance for me if I can get your attention long enough.”

“I don’t think so. You see Ann was sister to my first wife and raised my daughter for me. My wife has passed on and now the family has come together. Since I’m the girl’s father and Ann mothered her for the last few years, we may decide to become a couple permanently. Anyway we are exploring the situation.”

“I never knew you had a wife.”

“Priscilla was my army bride and we found a long distance marriage didn’t work out.  We were pretty young at the time, so we split. My daughter is just as beautiful as Ann here.”

“Well okay, but if you can, I’d like one dance with you. Enjoy yourselves.”

Samantha and her friend left us. I sat down. “She seemed nice.”

“Okay, I guess.”

“But?”

“She was a little wild.”

“I bet you gave her tongue.”

“I did, but she was hung up on getting all of me. There was no love there. At my age I’m looking for love.” Ann was sipping on her wine and soon it was finished.

“May I have another glass of wine, please? I might get up and circle around the floor if you will guide me.”

I quickly got Ann another drink. The floor now had a lot of happy couples on it. She took a couple sips of the wine and I took her into my arms and we began to dance. Ann stumbled a few times, and we moved over into the corner out of those on the main part of the floor. We swayed there to the music. We weren’t really dancing, but I didn’t care.

A fast number came up and then another. The band began playing a waltz so I took Ann into my arms again and led her back to (our) corner. Ann was almost limp in my arms. “Dan, I don’t feel like dancing anymore. I’m kind of woozy, can we go home?”

“Sure. Did you enjoy your evening?” 

“Yes.” When we got back to the table I noticed Ann had drunk her second glass of wine. We left the empty glasses on the table and made our way out to the car. My size and weight made me okay to drive. Ann leaned into the car door and I spoke to see if she was okay.

“I’m fine. I would like to lie down, though. I guess I got pretty warm during that last dance.”  It wasn’t long before I pulled into my driveway. I’d leave the Caddy out tonight. Ann almost fell out of the car when I opened the door. She was hanging onto me when I got her into the house.

“Dan, can I use your bathroom, I can’t make it upstairs.” I helped her toward it and she shut the door.  I left my door open which was directly across the hall. I turned my light on and went back to the living room. I picked up the newspaper that I hadn’t had a chance to read.

Chapter Four

Suddenly I realized time had passed and I hadn’t heard anything from Ann. I went down the hall. The bathroom door was open with the light still on, but my door was closed. I opened it and went inside seeing her on the bed. Ann had removed her pantyhose and left it on the floor. It appeared she had tried to get her dress off, but it buttoned up the back and she had missed some. The necklace was lying on the night stand.

I finished unbuttoning the buttons and rolled her around so I could pull her dress off up over her head. This left her in her bra and panties. She was lovely and I tried not to stare … but couldn’t help myself. I straightened her out and folded my half of the spread over her. I then went about getting out of my clothes and put my pajamas on. I left a robe on a chair by her side of the bed. I closed the door enough so it wouldn’t shine in her face and crawled into bed, covering myself with a light blanket.

I smiled to myself wondering how Ann would feel when she woke up. I curled up thinking I would stay awake, but it had been a busy day. I slept until Ann said loudly. “Dan, are you there?”

“Yes, Ann, you’re in my room. If you have to use the bathroom it is across the hall. There is a robe on the chair. Put it on if you want to take your underwear off. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Ann never answered and I could feel the bed move when she got off the bed. I felt her get back onto the bed and ten minutes later I heard her snore. I went to sleep.

When I woke up, I raised my head and Ann wasn’t there. I went to the bathroom, came in and put on some lounging clothes and a robe. Ann was in the kitchen making coffee. “Hi, I’m glad you’re making coffee. I need some.”

“Dan, do you want me to leave?  I’m so embarrassed. I told you last night I wasn’t a wanton and then I go out and act like one.” Tears were tricking down her face.

“Ann, there are just two people that know about last night. If you hadn’t had that last glass of wine and drank it so fast, you would have come home, given me a hug and gone upstairs to bed.  I’ll admit I had trouble getting your dress off, but that had its rewards. You really are a beautiful woman. That said, you are just as pure this morning as you were yesterday morning.

“Tell me, did you enjoy dinner?  Did you enjoy dancing with me? Will you enjoy both with me again sometime?  I had a wonderful evening.  You notice I can look you in the face and there is no reason you can’t look in mine.”

“But you had to babysit me.”

“My pleasure. Look if you don’t feel well, why don’t you go up and lie down.”

“Dan, I really feel okay. I’m just embarrassed to be so foolish.”

“I said only me and you know how our date finished up. I’m going to tell Mom and Anita, and yes, Danica too, about how wonderful a date we had last night. Of course if your bed is all made up when Anita comes home, you might go mess it up so she thinks you slept in it.”

“Oh!” Ann stopped everything and headed up the stairs. She was dressed when she came down. I was making breakfast “Sit Dan, that’s my job. I’m planning to have it for the rest of my life.

_______________________

Life moved on for my three red-haired women.  Danica had wheels and she and Sherry fast became friends, she traveling there and spending time with my sister and her family. On occasion she would bring Sherry home overnight on Saturday and my sister would come for Sunday dinner and take Sherry home.

Anita worked steadily and was usually up, getting breakfast for me, Ann, and Danica. She sometimes came to the store with lunch for all of us. She and Mom became best buddies and usually found things to do together mornings during the week. Jim, who drove the store delivery-van, was a constant companion sitting in the truck stop visiting with Anita in the evening. Anita often came home late because they would go somewhere for a drink.

If Anita had the weekend off, she spent it with Jim and his family. She was happy and it was obvious that she would end up living with Jim when his family got used to having her with their father. Always she would urge me to try getting Ann into bed.

Maybe I was wrong in the way I went about courting Ann. It was certainly juvenile for a man my age to proceed this way. I just felt Ann would turn away from me and go back to being fearful of the male gender if I made any aggressive moves. If there was no one around we kissed, hugged, held hands.

I was waiting for the time when I could kiss her and proceed to the point where I could run my hands up and down her luscious body. If anyone was around we acted friendly, but not where they thought we were closer than sister and brother. I did hunger for more and I knew she would come to me and become an ardent lover if I restrained myself long enough. I could wait for the right time. We did profess our love, which gave me hope.

Danica picked her courses at the community college and started classes when the season began. I gave her floating hours to work in the store so she could earn money for her car and whatever necessities she needed. She was dedicated in doing her lessons and I was well pleased with my daughter.

Things began to change between Ann and me. We got to the point where we were teasing each other sexually. Ann would brush up against me at times and I would accidentally let my hand drift where there was an erogenous zone. I would leave my hand there until I felt her tense and then move away.

It became a game. We were sitting on the couch watching a movie and my hand was resting on her leg above the knee. Every few minutes I would move my hand a little higher. “Dan, what are you doing? Stop it!”Ann was looking daggers at me.

“I was pretending we were sixteen years old at the movies and you were my first girlfriend. I was just seeing how high I could get before you stopped me.  I was trying out some of the moves I used back when I was that age.”

“You actually did that to a girl?”

“Sure did. That wasn’t the only move either. I had a few other ones. Turn the lights out and we’ll pretend we are in a theater.”

“You’re crazy. Of course, I never had a date so no boy ever did that to me. We never were allowed out after we got home from school.  Show me another move you made on those poor unsuspecting dates.”

“Okay, but watch the movie and don’t pay any attention to me.” Ann was sitting very close to me. It was ten minutes later when I stretched and moved my arm. “Arms gone to sleep. Okay if I put it behind you?”

“I guess.” Ann was really watching the movie. I put my arm up behind her with my hand resting on her shoulder. I waited a few minutes and then snuggled her a little closer. Another few minutes and then I moved my hand down over in front positioned somewhere near her breast. I gently rested it on her breast.

She knew, for she tensed and then relaxed letting me continue. “Dan, please stop. I really am not ready to go further with this … yet. Tell me did that work on that poor girl? I mean did you get into her panties?”

I laughed and got up and turned the lights on. “No, actually I got my face slapped. I’m surprised you didn’t slap me, but I was showing you, you missed a lot when you were a teenager.”

 “I did miss a lot. Thanks for showing me what it was like to go out on dates. I never would slap you. Dan, listen to me. I’ve been making some plans. What I’m saying is that I know it isn’t going to be long before I’m going to crawl into your bed some night. I want you to show me how you made love to my sister that first time. You can even call me Cilla if you want to.”

“Ann, since you have been here I’ve almost forgotten Cilla. You’re the one I think about every day, all day. Tell me about these plans of yours.”

“Well, remember I mentioned that I had I had a box full of snapshots in the storage unit back where we lived. Can you get a Thursday and a Friday off in October? I thought you and I might go and get rid of what’s in the unit. You should be able to use the store’s van. I’m sure it won’t be full with what I want to save. We’ll get a motel room. I’ll drink some wine and I can have my way with you. “

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes, but I don’t think I’ll need the wine. I’m almost brave enough to have it be tonight. Mom might not be home tonight, but I suppose Danica will be. Oh, I think you should know Mom is about ready to move in with Jim. She told me if she didn’t come home some night, not to worry about her.”

“Why wait until October, that’s three weeks away?” Both your mother and Danica expect this to happen. Anita keeps harping at me because I haven’t seduced you yet.”

“I know, she has talked to me about it often enough.  Dan, I want us to be alone where nothing will interrupt us, like having to go to work or something. I’d like to come home and we tell everyone you and I are a couple and are considering getting married. That is if you find me suitable for a wife and you ask me to be.”

“Tonight, I’m asking. Will you marry me?”

“Yes, I will, man who is going to make me a woman. I am pretty scared about it, but promise me when we get started you won’t stop.”

“I can’t promise you that if you say no.”

“I won’t say no.”

“Don’t you want to get married first?”

“No, I want to follow my sister’s path and be just like she was when she made love to you.”

“She got pregnant, remember that.”

“Maybe I will too, but only if you want a baby.”

“God, think about next year at this time, we could have a baby that’s at least two months old.”

“I’ve got you all excited haven’t I? Is it the thought of me having your baby?”

“No, sweetheart, it is you. I love you so much. You act pretty excited, yourself.”

“If you only knew. Dan, if I kiss you like I want to and then ask you to stop, will you?

“Yes.” I pulled Ann into my arms and smoothed her hair with my hands. I kissed her forehead and then the tip of her nose. I pecked her on the lips and then kissed her the way I knew she wanted me to.  I did touch her lips with my tongue and hers came to meet mine. She groaned. Suddenly she got up and laid down facing me with her head on my lap. I caressed her face and chin and let my hand go lower to brush her breast. She grabbed my hand and pressed it hard on her right breast. With my other arm I raised her up so I could continue kissing her.

She soon switched my hand to her other breast and we kept kissing. Ann was whimpering now and was brushing my hand over first one breast and then the other. I was waiting for her to tell me to stop. Then she grabbed my hand that she was rubbing over her breasts and pushed it down to the juncture of her legs. I hadn’t really been in control until she did this. Now I was, and it wasn’t long before she gave a keening cry and stiffened. No, she didn’t pass out, but every few seconds she would makes some involuntary moves.

When she relaxed enough to speak, “Dan, are you okay?  I think I lost control. I’ve never felt so wonderful in my life. I couldn’t stop.”

“I was waiting for you tell me to.”

“I couldn’t and I never thought to tell you. My God, I thought I was a wanton when I got turned on when you kissed me the first time. What must you think of me?”

“I think you and I are going to have a wonderful loving life together.”

“I thought a person had to be naked for something like that to happen. It must be magic or something.”

“No, it was you with so many years of knowing love was waiting for you and you finally found it. You’ve just opened a new book you have heard about and wanted to see if it was as good as everyone has said it was. I think you are on about page ten with many pages to go.

“Cilla did get pretty explicit when she was telling about making love. I just didn’t know. Dan, what about you, you must be tied up in knots.”

“I’m your teacher for now. I’m fine as long as I know we can finish the lesson together soon.”

“I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Anita was home before noon and had to get ready to go to work at three. “So here in the house all alone. Anything happen I should know about?”

“What do you mean, Mom?” 

“Well if you can’t answer, I guess nothing happened.” She headed up stairs shaking her head. I walked over and kissed Ann on the cheek. Every day was about the same. Ann and I worked in the store. Danica worked about ten hours a week and the rest of the time she went to school or studied her lessons. 

One night Dad, Mom, me, Ann, and Danica went out to a restaurant on Dad’s dime.  Dad tried to get Ann to take a drink, but she wouldn’t, telling him it made her feel funny.  That was the night that Ann announced that I had promised to drive her to Nebraska to close out their storage facility. Danica stated flatly, “I want to go, Mom.”

“Danica, there isn’t room. Dan has borrowed the store’s van, because there are some things I want to save.”

“When are you leaving?” 

“Thursday morning, very early. I want to see some of the people I worked with and there is some things to sell or send to the trash. I wished it wasn’t on me, but your grandmother is working and if I remember right, you have a class in the afternoon. You haven’t missed a dance lesson either since we began. You always enjoy the dances.”

That mollified Danica, and my Mom and Dad didn’t make comment at that time. Mom did, though just before we left. “Dan, I have the feeling there is more to this trip than what you’re telling me the purpose for it is. You can tell me when you return.”

“Mom, I never could fool you, could I?”  Just before Ann got into the van, Mom wanted a hug from her.

“You two enjoy yourselves. I expect to hear all about your trip when you get home.”

“We’ll tell you, Mom, most of it anyway.”

“That would be enough.”

We hadn’t got down to the end of the street when Ann said, “Your Mom knows something, doesn’t she?”

“I think so, but she didn’t ask. I never could keep anything from her.”

We arrived at the motel where Ann had reserved us a room a little after noon. We went for lunch at a diner that was down the street. “Do you want to begin sorting out what you want to take home that is in storage?”

“We could get a lot of it done. If there is room we don’t have to load it today. I could ask in the office if there is anyone we can hire to truck what we leave to the dump.”

“Okay, I’ll be looking it over and do some deciding. You know except for some personal items, I would have let the lease expire.”

“No, don’t do that. It’s your name on the lease and that wouldn’t be fair to the facility.” 

“I know, but that’s what my father would have done.”

“Ann, do you have any good memories of him?”

“No.” I dropped the subject.

There was a very fat woman in the office and I asked her if she knew of anyone that would clean out the unit after we left today. The woman didn’t get up, she shouted to the back, “Doug, go look at unit #77. These people want to get rid of some stuff. They’re paid till the first of the December.”

Doug came out. He must have been the woman’s brother. He was just as heavy. “Anything good in it?”

“I don’t know, my wife is sorting it out, now.” We stepped outside.

“Where’s your car?  I’m not walking way down there.”

“She’s got it. I walked up.”

“Well hell, just leave what you don’t want. We don’t give rebates if you’re only paid up that far ahead.”

“I’ll turn the keys in at the office tomorrow then. Have a paper to what we just agreed to ready for me.” Doug grunted and climbed back up the steps and let the door bang behind him. I laughed and started walking. Ann laughed too when I told her.

There was one decent recliner and a couple of straight chairs we would load. The ten cubic foot refrigerator was almost new and I knew Ann and I could load it. I’d store it down cellar to use if we had a party. The rest of the furniture was old and badly scraped up. We would leave that.

Most of what Ann wanted were the pictures for the walls. “Danica used to look at them when she was little and I would make up stories to tell her. They don’t have any value. I found the box of snapshots. They pretty much are a chronicle of my life. I’ll take that box of dolls that Danica played with. There is the Raggedy Ann Doll that father pulled the head off and made Danica cry. I sewed it back on for her. They bring back good memories for me.”

I’d guess Ann didn’t have many good memories. “Dan, lets load these things now. I don’t want to come back.”

“Okay, we won’t be driving much of anywhere tomorrow.”

“And Saturday, too if my plan works out.”  We went about getting everything loaded. It only took us an hour and we spent plenty of time wrapping the pictures in the blankets we brought with us. There were straps and ties from the store to make sure nothing moved.  I stopped at the office and Ann went in with me. The fat lady made out a paper on their letterhead that stated the keys were returned and the bill was paid in full.

What we had loaded into the van didn’t affect the driving at all. The load wasn’t heavy. I pulled into the motel and locked the van. As I opened the door followed her inside, I asked. “Dinner out tonight?”

“Yes, but no wine. I’m shaking already thinking about what’s going to happen to me. Dan, I have something to tell you and I’m a little worried about it.”

Ann opened her shoulder bag and stood there facing me. She had a paper in her hand. “Dan, by everything I’ve heard or read, a woman’s first time can be very painful and also very messy. I talked it over with my doctor ten days ago and she did a procedure right in the office.”

She looked to see how I would take what she had just told me. “I brought the paid bill from the doctor to prove I’m still a virgin even though you won’t meet any obstruction. I’d be so embarrassed if we had sex and then had to tell you I wanted to stop because I hurt. I’d be so stressed. I want this to be an experience I’m going to treasure forever.

“You’re so thoughtful. I would have understood.”

“I know, but I want it to be wonderful for you. Mom told me you hadn’t had sex for awhile before I came into your life and I’ve been with you for almost five months. I’ve never had sex and I’m climbing the walls in anticipation.”

“I’d wait longer than that if I knew you were waiting for me. Let’s take our showers and go out for dinner and then we’ll have the night to make love.”

Ann acted disappointed that I was putting this off. “Okay, I guess, I’ll take my shower first.” She then began to disrobe. I couldn’t imagine a more seductive show than the one she was putting on in front of me. She didn’t stand in front of me, but moved around the room, folding each piece of clothing. Just as I was heading for her, she went into the bathroom. The door was locked, before I reached it.

It seemed like she was in the shower forever, but in reality it wasn’t long before the door opened and she ran to the bed. She grinned and said, “Take your time, I can wait.” I was as naked as she was and I soon hit all the high spots I thought necessary for a shower. I came out and posed for her. “Dan, stop and turn around so I can see you and then come make love to me.”

I crawled onto the bed and laid next to Ann, she was grasping one hand tightly. “Dan, I see you put condoms on the stand.”

“I did that in case you aren’t protected.”

“I’m not and I’m right in the middle of my cycle when I’m the most fertile. We have a choice to make. Do you want to make a baby even before we are married?”

I couldn’t guess what Ann’s thoughts were. “You tell me what you want. You said one time you wanted children and it had to be soon because you were getting older. You still have many years to accomplish it if we don’t do it tonight. I’m guessing you want to go forward or you would have got a prescription from the doctor and are protected now. Hey, I’m five years older than you. What does that tell you?””

“Dan, I’m so excited. Kiss me, that always get’s me going. Let’s make a baby.”

Keeping in mind that this was new for Ann, I took my time and didn’t push as hard as I wanted to. It was difficult, but I knew it would pay off in the future. Both of us were exhausted, finally. “Dan, do you think I’m pregnant yet.  I feel I should be after all of that.”

“Can’t tell, yet. I’m going to lay here beside you and reflect on how much I love you.”

“Me, too.”

Ann stirred beside me after a little bit. “I’m hungry.  I’m going to get dressed and we can find someplace to eat.”

“Good plan, I’m hungry too.” 

We were back in under two hours from eating. It was nearly eleven. “Shall we watch the news and go to sleep?”

“Sounds, good.”  We watched the news. When the sportscaster came on, I leaned over and kissed Ann.

Ann looked at me and I grinned and she grinned back. “Oh, no, here we go again.” I didn’t restrain myself quite as much this time. When we quieted down, she said, “I’m so blessed. Please put your arms around me.” This was enough and we soon were asleep.

____________________

When Ann woke up she turned and looked at me.”Dan I love you so much. I feel my life has just begun. ”

“I’m glad it was me who made you feel that way. I also want to thank you again for raising Danica. Through the adversity you’ve had to go through, it is a wonder she has turned out so well. Soon we really are going to be her married parents. I do believe that is what Cilla would have wanted. Maybe she was up there making sure it all came together.”

“I believe that just as strongly. We do think alike. Dan, can you kiss me so I don’t go wild on you?”  I laughed at this lovely woman.

 We cleaned up with showers and decided we would have breakfast somewhere. “Dan, we have two days, let’s go over to the truck stop where Mom worked. Her coworkers will want to know about her life since she left here.”

“Okay.” We got outside and I saw the housekeeper coming up the line of rooms pushing a cleaning cart.

I walked down to her. “Hi, I’m in room #17. My wife and I are on our honeymoon. Would you be so kind as to leave clean sheets for us” I handed her $10 dollars.”

“Of course, sir, I’ll see to it. Congratulations.” I returned to Ann.

“Dan, what did you do?”

“I asked for clean sheets.”

“You’ve embarrassed me. We could have made out.”

“No. I want you to be comfortable. Enough said, let’s eat somewhere. I’m hungry.”

“I am, too.

The truck stop was about a mile away. Two waitresses and the one on the counter rushed up and hugged Ann, asking questions about Anita. I think they doubled the food on our plates. It was almost more than we could eat. They were happy that Anita had found someone and might be getting married. Ann didn’t mention that we were a couple. Momentarily I wondered why. Then it came to me, I hadn’t given her a ring to broadcast her new status.

“Hey, Ann hasn’t mentioned me. Just as soon as we leave here, we are going to pick out a ring so I can claim her for the rest of our lives. She has been working for me in an office and I’ve fallen in love with her.”  Ann’s face soon matched the color of her hair.

“Dan and I stayed in a motel last night. This is the first chance for us to get together because Mom or Danica are always in the house. His mother and father are around almost as much. I planned this trip to close out our storage unit.”

“We’ve been a couple for several weeks and we are going to be married before Thanksgiving. Danica is standing up with me. I think Anita’s man will stand up with Dan. Jim works for Dan, so it is only natural. Dan, I guess we had better go. I want to go into my office and see my friends. We have one more day here so we’ll be in for breakfast again tomorrow. I’ll show off my ring.”

“Ann, the stores on Main Street should be open by now. Should we go buy you a ring?  We might as well get the wedding rings at the same time.”

“I didn’t put you on the spot, did I? I didn’t realize I was getting a ring today.”

“Ann, I’m sorry but I forgot to get you a ring. I finally woke up when you were going to mention getting married and I hadn’t given you one. Let’s go get you a diamond. You’ve had me in such turmoil lately. All I could think of was making love to you.”

“Dan, I wasn’t expecting a ring. I didn’t intend to return here tomorrow. I would like to get the wedding bands though.”

“We’ll go look, anyway. You’ll want to show it around to the people you worked with.”

“Okay, but please don’t go overboard.”

We went into a store and looked at the rings in the display cases. The clerk asked what we were looking for and in what price range. “We carry diamond rings priced all the way from $399.00 to several thousand dollars. There is much to decide on.  Flawless gems cost more, of course and the caret size. The ring the gem is set in range in price as well.”

Ann was nonplussed and had no idea. I asked. “Please show us some in half caret of fair quality set in some white gold settings. I think a solitaire. That will give us a place to begin.”  The jeweler brought out a tray for Ann to look at. Of course the clerk didn’t show us the price until she picked out one. The price was $1,999.99

Ann shook her head that it was too expensive. “Do you have any for about half that that are similar, maybe around a thousand dollars?”

“We have a few that are on clearance.” He pointed to a row of rings on one side of the tray. Ann pointed to one. “Yes, that’s a nice ring. I have to tell you it has a very small flaw in the stone. It was originally priced at $1,669.95. The setting is comparable to the one you first picked out. I can sell it to you for $999.99. I have a description and the stone has been magnified to show the flaw.”

“Ann?”

“I really like it. You said you could show us the flaw?”

“Certainly.” We were shown the description and even with the stone magnified we had trouble seeing it. “It would take a jeweler to see it, but I do have to tell you about it. We want to protect our reputation. Let’s see if it will fit your finger.”

The ring was just a little bit small. “I can size it in a few minutes if you buy it.”

“What do you think, Ann?”

“It’s a lot of money, but it is beautiful.”

“Okay we will take it. The lady will wear it. We would like a set of wedding bands too, I guess also in white gold.”

“Fine, I’ll have my man in the back resize this and show you what we have for wedding bands.”  We left a half hour later with Ann wearing an engagement ring. I had a matched set of wedding bands in my pocket.

We went to Ann’s former place of employment. All the girls in the office were glad to see her. They gathered around to see her engagement ring. They expressed disbelief that Ann was getting married. “But Ann, you never dated all the while you were here. In fact you acted afraid of men.”

“I know I was weird back then. You know Danica, the niece I raised?  She went looking for her father and found Dan living in Iowa. He took Mom, Danica and me in and he is overjoyed to find a daughter he never knew he had.

“He wanted Danica to learn how to dance and he told me I had to learn so I could dance when she someday got married. I resisted and I felt funny the first time he held me in his arms at the dance studio.  All resistance disappeared the first time he kissed me. That was three months ago. We are planning on getting married soon – very soon. Before Thanksgiving, anyway.”

“Oh lucky you. “

“I know.”

We didn’t stay long because we were an interruption in this busy office. We decided to drive by the place where Cilla, Ann, and later Danica had grown up. The house had been torn down and a new one built in its place. “Good, I’m glad it is gone. There was very little happiness in it and a fair amount of evil. Dan let’s go back to our room. I need to be held. I wish I hadn’t shown you where I lived.”

We got back to our room. The housekeeper had made the bed up.  There were flowers growing in pots around the Motel. The housekeeper had gone out and picked enough blossoms for a small bouquet and laid it on the pillow. That set the tone for the moment. It was our first physical congratulations of our time together from anyone.

We were asleep when lunchtime came. “Dan, are you hungry?”

“Not very, why?”

“I want to go through the pictures and show you those of Cilla.”

“Okay, we’ll skip lunch.”  I let Ann hand the snapshots to me. She explained every one so it took most of the afternoon. Her father was in most of them.

Anita was pictured the least. “Father considered her as nothing … chattel, I guess you could say. After father died, though, it didn’t take Gram long to become normal and glad to be free.” Ann had been putting aside the ones of Cilla in a separate pile. When the box was empty she spent several minutes rearranging them.

“Dan, this was Cilla’s life. Here she was as just a little girl. Cute, huh? This one is Cilla at seven with a broken arm in a cast. Father said she fell down and he had to rush her to the hospital. Cilla never said much about her fall and never said father hurt her and Mom didn’t either. I was only two when that happened. This one is Cilla when she was in ninth grade and started to develop. Still cute.”

“Ann, where are the pictures of you? There weren’t many in of you in the box.”

“I have some of the ones of me in my room at home. I was a homely little brat and I don’t show them to anyone.”

“Not even me, your husband to be?”

“Well, maybe when we get home. Now pay attention to what I’m showing you of Cilla. This is one taken about the time she ran away and met you. It is the best one of her. I’ve often wondered if I couldn’t have it enlarged or have it made into a portrait in a frame.”

“If that’s what you want, we’ll have it done. Danica should have it to look at and she can say, ‘This is my mother,’ when people ask who her mother was.”

“Don’t you want it?”

“Not necessary, I have you.”

“You’re sweet. This picture is of Cilla when Father brought her back from Reno. If you look closely you can see how dark her left wrist was. That’s a bruise where father had tied her. He never hit any of us in the face, but if you had seen us without clothes there often were some.

“This is Cilla after she began to show that she was pregnant, and this one is just before Danica was born. She was huge. We were all afraid Father would kill Danica, but at first he seemed to love her. That is until he heard Cilla crooning to Danica about having a father somewhere and she would be happy when he was found. That was taken about twenty-four hours before I looked down into cellar and saw both dead.”

Tears were rolling down Ann’s face. I took all the pictures from Ann and put them back into the box. “We’ll look at these again sometime. This is no place for tears.” I hugged Ann and she hugged me even tighter. She put her face up to be kissed. This continued until the tip of Ann’s tongue came out searching for mine. Pictures were forgotten.

We ate at a small restaurant and came back and laid down I napped awhile and then woke up. Ann was restless. “Dan, I want to go home.  I want to get out of this town and never come back. We can get coffee at the truck stop and get on the highway there. We can be home before lunch.” We soon were ready to leave. Ann left a thank you note for the flowers that had been put on her pillow and wished the housekeeper well. She folded a bill into it.

We did stop and get coffee. Ann was asked if she got her ring. The morning waitresses hadn’t believed she would. Ann flashed it proudly. “Dan, show Edna our wedding rings.” We stopped once more for coffee and a sweet bun. We pulled into the driveway just before noon. No one was around and I wasn’t surprised, it being Saturday.

“Dan, I’m going in and try out your bed. If I like it I’m not sleeping anywhere else, ever. Are you going to join me?”

It was the middle of the afternoon. I woke up suddenly. I turned over and looked toward the door. Mom was staring at us. “Hi.”

“Dan. I saw the van in the driveway. I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow.”

“I know, but Ann wanted to see if my bed was better than the one at the motel. Ask her, I don’t think she is asleep.”

“Hi, Mother Pierson. Is this a surprise to you?”

“First, call me Mom, or Grace. No, it isn’t a surprise. Anita and I talked yesterday and we decided you would be coming home a couple. When are you getting married?”

“Before Thanksgiving that’s for sure. That’s in case people count days after our baby is born.”

“Danica will be surprised. She has about given up on you two becoming her father and mother with a ring and everything.” Ann took her hand off what she had it on under the covers and flashed it at Mom. “Oh my, that is a beautiful ring. Why don’t you come over for supper tonight and tell me all about how this came about. Anita is staying the night with Jim Nettles and Danica went down to see Sherry. I don’t know when she will be back. I think she and Sherry were going dancing somewhere. Young people are so on the go all the time.”

“We’ll be over after a bit.”

“Take all the time you need, supper will wait if need be.” Mom was grinning when she turned around to leave.

Dad was just as happy as Mom was about the new development. He began talking about the future of the store. “Maybe we should think about expanding. Ann has shown us how well she can manage the office and this would leave more time for Dan and me to work on enlarging our operation. We could have a smaller store in a different location or something. We’ll get Danica involved. She is one smart kid. She is acing her studies and she could begin applying what she is learning.”

“Whoa, Dad, let’s slow down a little. It is time for you to enjoy your life. I’ve been pretty damned dedicated working in the business. Maybe we all can relax and enjoy ourselves more.”

“Okay, but you probably will have a passel of kids and your expenses will go up.”

“Ann and I haven’t talked much about our future. This is new to us. I think she is looking forward to us having a baby soon though.” I looked at Ann with a silly grin on my face. Her face was bright red.

Very solemn she said, “We are doing some practicing and it could happen. Can we change the subject?” She was silent and looking thoughtful and then continued, “I didn’t have a very happy childhood and then I had responsibilities shoved onto me. I tried to teach Danica what love was even with me not knowing what it really was. I didn’t have a model for that, just a hope and a dream.” Ann again stopped before going on.

“My hope and dream was there in Dan the minute I first met him.  Looking back now and how weird I was acting toward him. I think it was because I was in love with him even before Danica found him. I didn’t want him to touch me because I knew just as soon as he did, I was his. It happened just like I knew it would and it did.”

I asked, “How could that be?”

“It was because Cilla described so often how you two made love together. She loved you so totally and I came to think of it as me being made love to. Sometimes you have surprised me and did the same things to me that she had described so explicitly.”

Ann stopped speaking until she emotionally got out, “And the best part is I still have Danica to go along with Dan. I have been so rewarded.”  No one knew how to respond. Ann suddenly got up and went into the kitchen, bringing back the coffee pot. “You make good coffee, Mom.”

___________________________

Later that night Ann made a statement, “Your Mom and Dad really love us, don’t they. All the talk about expanding the business and everything.”

“They do, but stop and think about Dad. He knows our future is settled. It isn’t you and I so much, but every time we have a serious discussion, he always brings Danica into it. I did hear the two talking about that closed down business that’s behind our store. Danica was suggesting we buy the lot and put something on it.”

“What was it?”

“It was a small kiln dry operation. I think the man was eighty when he died. He operated it alone. I understand there is a grandson who inherited it. I have looked into the property to see what it would take to acquire it. I think it will go at a tax sale. That seems too bad for the young man to come into a piece of property when the estate was settled and then lose it in a few months.”

“Why don’t you talk to him? You could arrange to pay the taxes. He may have some good ideas where you could work together. We would have room to expand and he wouldn’t lose his inheritance.”

“You’re as bad as Danica.”

“I don’t understand; why didn’t Danica come to you with this?”

“Why should she when she has my father who will do anything for her?”

“Explain if you can.”

“About the time you and she came to live here, Dad was feeling old and knew it wouldn’t be many years before he would turn the store over to me. Danica used to jolly him about it. He never talks that way now. He really would expand the store so he and Danica could work together a lot longer. Dad is really getting younger acting since Mary came on board, but it is Danica that really is the cause of it.”

“When did this all start?”

“Right after the suggestion that we raise Mary up into management. I told Dad it was her idea and her reasons. It was me that implemented it, but Danica got the credit. Of course she got paid for it.”

“How was she paid?”

“She is driving a paid for car isn’t she.”

“Wow, that must bother you.”

“No, not really. Ann, in some ways, Dad is closer to Danica than I am. I love Danica and she loves me. The thing I love most about her is that she searched for me, found me, and brought her mother, or say aunt, with her. That was her main goal. You watch, she’ll always be our daughter, but her happiness will be seeing us in love and together. With Dad I think her goal is to make sure his life is interesting so she can have him around for many more years.

“You and I will be happy making a good life in the store, but I wouldn’t be surprised those two will start something together and when he passes on, it will be hers and whoever she finds for a mate.”

“What about us?”

“First we have to let Danica know that we are in love and a couple. She then will see that we both are happy and will withdraw from us a little and leave us to make a happy life together. That’s when she and Dad will get serious about something that interests her. You and I will have the business and enough to live on. Not too exciting, there, but we’ll make up for it with having some kids and our love for each other.”

“How many kids do you want?”

“Two, anyway, or as many as we are comfortable with.”

“Good plan. Are you too tired for me to make you happy?”

“No.”

I heard Danica come home. I looked at the clock, seeing it was 12:30 a.m. I wondered if she would investigate where Ann was sleeping. Apparently not for she didn’t come back down from upstairs. “Ann, I’m going to get Danica and tell her the news.”

“Okay. Do I have to put clothes on?”

“No.”

I put pajamas and a robe on. I went to the foot of the stairs and shouted, “Danica, please come down here. I have to talk to you.” Danica had time to put her night clothes on. She came to the head of the stairs and stopped, worried or at least wondering why I had called to her.

“Pop, is Mom hurt? Is she is okay?”

“She is fine, please come down and speak to her. I couldn’t get her upstairs when we came home.” Danica came down so fast I was afraid she would fall. She went by me and ran into my room.

Ann had put pillows behind her and was sitting up with the covers around her. She left her shoulders bare. Ann sat there with a grin waving her hand to show off her ring.

Tears gushed from Danica’s eyes and she turned and hugged me, and then kissed me. “Daddy!” (Where was the ‘Pop’ she usually called me?)

“Go kiss your mother, she’s waiting.” 

Danica ran and jumped on the bed, upsetting the carefully arranged covers.  “Mom, you’re naked.”

“Yes, I am. Fathers and mothers are in bed together a lot. Most times they are naked. Are you surprised?”

“Mom, I had almost given up hope of having my father and mother married. You are going to get married aren’t you?  I don’t care, but I wish you would.”

“Before Thanksgiving. The rings are already bought. Snuggle down, I want to tell you all about how much I love your father and how this came to be.” 

I listened for awhile, but finally turned over and went to sleep. Both were asleep when I awoke after daylight had arrived. I looked at my two sleeping red-haired beauties. I eased out of bed.  I paused, once more turning back to look again and went on into the kitchen. I made coffee and sat at the table waiting for it to perk. My mind traveled now to Cilla, back a full nineteen years. Just one little prayer for the woman who had started it all. I looked up watching the two come in and sit down. I poured their coffee and we raised our mugs, not speaking.

Chapter Five

Ann and I had our wedding planned for us by my mother and Anita. Danica was right in there pitching. I mean she was the one who brought us together and she was walking on air to think her father and mother were getting married within two weeks. This was to be the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Ann and I had a small ceremony with a justice of the peace. We worked the Monday and Tuesday and had the rest of the week off. Everyone wanted a big to do, but I knew Ann just wanted to be married as unceremoniously as possible. We had Thanksgiving with Patty and Matt.

Dad was taking the late day on the following Monday.  Danica had a late afternoon class and would pick him up when the store closed at 8:00. Danica stopped a few minutes to talk with a classmate before going to the back parking lot back of the store where she knew Dad would be waiting for her.

She drove into the parking lot and there was no light on except the one alongside the building coming in. She swung the Subaru around so the car lights would light the rear entrance. Gramp was standing there and waved. Danica drove up close and Gramp started for the car, crossing in front of the vehicle.

Suddenly a man grabbed Gramp and threw him to the ground. Danica’s door was wrenched open and she was dragged from the car by a different person. Always she had been told if attacked, to start screaming as loud as she could. The one holding Danica slapped her. “Shut up, bitch. You’re going back inside and get the money from the store safe. We knew you were coming to pick the old man up and we have you to make sure he does.” Danica struggled, and was slapped again.

The first man got Gramp on his feet. He was searching Gramp for his keys. “Where’s your keys old man?”

 “In my jacket pocket. Jesus man, I’m bleeding where I hit my head. I see my granddaughter has a nose bleed. I’ll get you for this.”

“Fat chance old man.  Gimme the keys.” 

“They must have fallen out, they’re gone.”

“Well find them. Get down and feel around for them.”

Gramp got down and felt around. “I can’t see anything and I can’t feel them.”

“Bitch, you got a flashlight in the car?”  Danica didn’t answer. “Bitch, I’ll slap you again if you don’t get it.”

“In the glove box.”

“Get it and don’t try anything. We should have been gone by now.” He stopped suddenly as if listening.  “Joe, do you hear anything?” Danica heard footsteps coming closer and began struggling.

“Nope, get that light and let’s find those damn keys. Old man, you better find them or your woman is going to get more than slapped. That’s why we waited for her just so if you got difficult we’d have a way to change your mind.”

The man that had Danica, pushed her in through the open driver’s door where she had to reach across to the seat to the glove box. Just then he grabbed his neck, screaming, “Ow, ow, I’ve been stung!   He pulled away from the car holding onto his head. Danica pulled the rest of herself inside and slammed the car door, locking it. Suddenly the guy who had yelled was hit in the head with something. And fell to the ground, apparently unconscious.

Joe, the one that had Gramp, looked at what happened and took off running. Danica started the car and backed up. Her headlights picked up Joe and she put the car into forward gear and took after him with the car. She caught him before he got to the alley leading to the street. He cut for the other side of the parking lot. She fully intended to run him down.

The person who had hit the first man was waiting for him and Joe ran right into his arms. He duck-walked Joe up to Danica’s car window. “If you have a phone, would you call 911 and the police? Better have them bring an ambulance and have the old man looked at. You got slapped around some too.”

“Who are you?”

“Me, I’m your neighbor from the other side of the fence. Let’s go see to your old man.” By the time Danica had driven over to the store entrance, Gramp had gone inside and turned some lights on. He brought out a couple of portable lights and plugged them into an outside fixture. Just then a black and white police car pulled in slowly. They were confused about what was going on. They started asking questions. Everyone was talking at once.

“Shut up, one at a time. One of you tell me what’s going on?”

“Danica, you tell it.”

Danica laid it out just the way it happened. “This guy here rescued us. That man on the ground needs an ambulance. This guy clobbered him and he hasn’t moved yet.”

The cop observed, “You and Mr. Pierson are both bleeding.”

“Bloody nose. I got slapped a couple of times. Gramp, how bad are you?”

“Okay, I think. Scraped my face when I was knocked down. At least they didn’t get to rob us.”

“Gramp, where were the keys?”

“I slid them under the front of the car with my foot when that guy was slapping you the first time.” Gramp looked at his rescuer.  “Who’er you?”

“Name’s Jake Higgins. You two are crazy. You should have given them the money.”

“Danica, girl, did you want to give up the money?”

“Nope, Gramp, did you? Say Jack, how come you to come to our rescue?”

“Jake, not Jack. I was looking at the moon and saw one parking lot light over here go out and pretty soon another one went out.  When the last one went dark, I figured kids or someone was using a pellet gun, cause I couldn’t hear anything. I got here after the lady was pulled from the car. I hung around for a bit to watch the fun.”

“It wasn’t much fun.”

“Well, I had to find the air rifle to even things up. I’m not brave like you two.”

“We didn’t have that much choice, but I was working on something.”

“Like what something?”

“I keep a stun gun in my glove box. You saved that guy they’re loading into the ambulance from getting zapped. How is he, anyway?”

The EMT answered, “He’s got a pellet stuck in his neck and he may have a concussion. He’s breathing okay though. I’ve checked over the store owner and he just has a scrape. Little Miss red head here got slapped, causing the nose bleed, but she is okay. Both of you will be able to go home.”

A police detective drove in and Danica explained it all again. “And who are you, young man?”

“Jake Higgins of Higgins Kiln Dry. I own the lot the other side of the fence.”

“You live there?”

“If you can call sleeping on a couch in an unheated office, that’s where I’m living.”

“Look, it’s late. You people must want to get home. Come down to the Police office tomorrow and we’ll write it up. Have a good night.”

“Jake, are you hungry, I’m starved.”

Before he answered. Dan and her grandmother pulled in. Somebody had called Grace after hearing it on the police scanner. “Are you alright, George?”

“Yeah, great. Supper still warm?  We’re all hungry. Dan, can you open up in the morning?  I’m going to sleep until noon.”

“Pop, has Mom got enough supper for Jake? He’s hungry too.”

“Yeah Danica, we’ll feed him.”  Dan realized his daughter and father had been rescued by this man and he wanted to know more about what happened. This wasn’t the place to ask questions. “Dad and you had better talk to him tomorrow and have him tell you all about the kiln drying business.”

Jake answered that, “Not much of a business and its down.  I’m almost broke.”

“Well, Dad and Danica will figure out something to help you.” Dan drove his father and mother home. Jake got into the car with Danica.

“Where are you from when you aren’t there?”

“Michigan. My parents and two brothers have a business up there. Not room enough for me so Dad sent me down here to see if I could salvage anything of my grandfather’s estate. It’s mine to do whatever I want with. If I can’t I’ll have to go home and work for wages.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-six. I’ve been out of college three years. How old are you?” 

“Just turned nineteen. My father has got me into the community college here taking business courses.  I just found him and didn’t want to leave and go away to school.”

“What do you mean, you just found him?”

“My mother was a war bride and my father and mother got separated. My mother died and my Aunt raised me. My father searched for my mother, but he couldn’t find her. I had better luck and found him back in June of this year.  He and my aunt just got married so I have two parents for the first time ever. I love them both.  That was my grandfather with me tonight.  I love him to pieces. He’s always doing good things for me.”

Danica slowed down and Jake asked, “This your home here?”

“Yeah, Pop, Mom and me. My other grandmother just moved out. She was living here, but she found a man and has moved in with him. We all work in the store except her. She is a shift operator at the truck stop and works the afternoon shift.”

The two went inside and Dan was telling Ann about what had happened when Danica came to pick up Gramp. “Mom, this is Jake Higgins. His family lives in Michigan and he is down here settling his grandfather’s estate. If he can salvage anything it’s his. Jake, you can call my mom, Ann. We are pretty informal around here. I hope you like pot roast. Mom is a good cook.”

“Hi, it has been a long time since I’ve had a home cooked meal. I’ve been shacking up in the office with a microwave.”

Ann asked, “I understand you saved Danica’s and her grandfather’s life.”

“I don’t know, maybe. I saw it happening and I certainly didn’t want it go any further so I stepped in. I didn’t do it all. Danica chased the other guy with the car and cornered him until I got there. She’s pretty damned brave, I know that.”

“He did more than that. He shot one guy with a pellet gun and then clobbered him with it. The police took it for evidence. I didn’t see the gun, but they may have bought it in our store. Jake’s the brave one.”

“The young are foolishly brave sometimes.”

“Mom!”

“I’m just glad everything turned out okay. We’ll have supper and then I’ll make the bed upstairs I used before moving down with Dan.”

Danica said, “Mom and Dad have only been married since last week and she wants everyone to know her new status.”

Dan asked Jake a question, “So where do you stand with the kiln drying business and property? You said you were without funds.”

“Just about. There are some heavy back taxes on the property. I have enough to pay them, but no money to resurrect the business. It doesn’t look too profitable in this day and age here in the middle of farm land. It looks like I’ll have to sell the property, but I hate to, seeing as it was my Grandfather’s. I’ll just take the money and start something smaller somewhere else.”

Dan asked, “Jake, do you have to go to the police station with Dad and Danica in the morning?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, why don’t you come back with Dad and Danica and tell us your story. You can use my office. I’d like to sit in on it. Danica and Dad were talking about expanding. Maybe we can come up with something that will be beneficial to all of us.”

Ann spoke up, “I want in on this too. That way Dan won’t have to repeat it to me.”

“Of course, sweetheart.”

Danica said to Jake. “My parents are in love. Can you tell?”

________________


Jake didn’t want to stay and objected, “Jesus, I saved two people’s lives and then they kidnap me.” He said this with a smile, so his words didn’t mean anything.

Jake and Danica went up the stairs together. They stood in the hall together between her room and the one he would sleep in. “Jake, can I hug you for saving my life?”

“I’d be pleased.” He didn’t hold it over long, backing away saying, “Goodnight Danica, see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Jake.” She turned and went into her room.

The minute he heard someone moving in the morning, Jake went down. It was Ann who was making coffee. “Ma’am, you folks are treating me the best. I thank you.”

“Ann, please, I don’t answer to Ma’am. It is me that wants to thank you for watching out for Danica. I raised her as my daughter you know, when I’m really her aunt. Her mother was my sister married to Dan. They got separated and she had to come home when he was shipped out. Her mother died when Danica was two and I’ve been her mother ever since.”

“How did you and Dan get together?”

“Danica searched for him and finally tracked him down last June. Dan and I fell in love almost immediately after I arrived here. Danica now has two parents with her the first time in her life.”

“That’s wonderful. A real love story.”

“It is. Coffee is ready. I’ll pour you a cup.”

Danica drove her car with Gramp and Jake riding with her. They went right to the Police Precinct, not stopping at the store. They came back and were met with cheers when they came through the doors two hours later. The local news had picked up the story at the precinct and someone heard it and told everyone about it when they came to work.

My office was the largest and there was five us sitting soon talking. I asked, “How did it go? What did you find out about the two men?”

Danica answered, “They are two homeless men and have been in trouble before. Joe Fenner is the one who knocked Grampa down. The one who slapped me is named Richard Gold. They were in the store, two days ago and that’s when they got the pellet rifle. They said it was lying on the counter and they were really there to shoplift anything they could get a few bucks for. They slipped it off the counter and into an opening in Joe’s pants. Then they decided what to use it for.

“They decided to rob Gramp and me when they heard me promising to pick him up that night. They didn’t want to use the gun in a robbery in case they got caught. The only way they decided to make use of it was to shoot out the lights. Jake saw them kill the last one and they dropped it right there on the ground. Jake picked it up and brought it with him when he ran into the parking lot.”

"Are you going to be charged with anything for shooting this Richard Gold?”

“No, because he was slapping Danica at the time. Danica was the one who almost got into trouble.”

“How come?”

“Pop, I found out if you try to hit someone with a car, the car becomes a deadly weapon.  Luckily I didn’t hit him although I did chase him. Anyway we will have to testify at their trial. They haven’t been charged yet. The cops warned Gramp he had better keep better track of the guns at that counter.”

“So you’re good until the trial?

“Yeah.”

“Okay, we’ll tighten up our security all over the store. A pellet rifle isn’t too dangerous, but it shouldn’t be left out where someone could snatch it. If anything is taken out of a locked cabinet they are to return it before they turn away. Now, Jake would you explain where you are at with your property next door. We might be able to help you.”

“Thanks. A little background about me and my family. I have a father and two brothers. I’m the youngest son. Grandfather left a will of sorts. He did own a lot of property. All the will said, was his assets were to be divided equally between the four of us and he left descriptions of what he thought were about equal. Pa owns the saw mills in Michigan. My oldest brother got the hard wood lots. My other brother chose the lots that are nearly all softwood trees, and that left the property here to me.

“We are a pretty competitive family. Ma was upset about the way my family has treated me because they figured the kiln dry business wasn’t as much as the other properties, but I said I would accept what came to me. When I got here, I found out Grandfather hadn’t paid the taxes the last year he was alive and the two years they were in his estate. I am to have the money attributed to the business, but that will use up all of it when I pay the taxes. Most of the equipment here isn’t of much value, but the land is worth considerable. I suppose the drying sheds can be used for something different. Stacks of lumber were loaded into them with a forklift.

“Dry heat was pumped in when the doors were closed and the pallets of lumber stayed until they dried to a certain moisture level. They then could come out and lumber will be stable at that moisture level if covered adequately. I can’t think of another application for the equipment that generates the heat except for this one. So I’m back to the land value again.”

I asked, “Why don’t you start up the operation again? I’m sure the bank would lend you money on the land or does that have a lien on it?”

“The only lien is the taxes. I can give a warrantee deed if I sell after I pay the taxes. If you want to look at the property, I’d be pleased to have you take a look around.”

“Dad and Danica can go over anytime. I have the store to look after. I could come over at 4:00 this afternoon.”

“That’s good, Pop, I have a class at 1:00 and I’ll wait until we can go together. Gramp can go anytime. Jake, what are you doing this evening? I’m still taking dance lessons with Pop’s ex-wife. She’s a lot of fun.”

“I’m not much on dancing.”

“You come with me and I’ll teach you. I’m getting pretty good.”

Ann spoke up, “Jake, when you get done showing Dan around, come for supper with him. You might as well bring a change of clothes and stay at the house until you decide what you are going to do.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Dad and Jake went out, heading for the next door property. Danica got her books out and went into Ann’s office to study. Ann stayed behind. She commented, “I like Jake, don’t you, Honey, do you have any ideas how to help him?”

“Ann, we’ll see. I think he is an honest young man.”

“Dan, it strikes me he is.”

Danica was back from school at 3:30. Jake hadn’t returned to the store. Gramp had told Dan about what he thought of Jake's business.”

“Do you think any of it could be used in a new business?”

“Certainly. Do remember when we thought about expanding into carrying building materials?  All those sheds can be converted to lumber sheds. They are tight enough to house sheet rock and bags of cement. They are perfect. The whole area is paved. I think we should do a market study to see how big an operation we should go for.”

“What about Jake. Are we going to buy him out?”

“Dan, I’m thinking no. The land would be too expensive. Jake is young and smart. Make him the manager for this operation. Let him keep the land in his name but have him use what money he has now to pay the taxes and keep the land which would be his fall-back position. We’ll figure out how much the buildings and equipment is worth. We’ll match that as our part of the business for stocking inventory. That would be our initial outlay. From then on, we could use a line of credit using the hardware store and his land as collateral to buy the rest of what we stock. Jake would be in position to sign the credit line with us.”

“Have you said anything to Jake about this?”

“No, not yet. I want us all on board when we approach him with our thoughts.” 

I answered, “You and Danica are going to be the ones in the day-to-day management. Ann and I are going to be having a baby in July. We can take over total management of the store here. We know this is a profitable business and that has to be protected at all cost, especially since I’m starting a family.”

“Dan, my thoughts exactly. It would be nice if we brought Jake into living with either me or you. That way we wouldn’t have to be making appointments to get together. We could do the planning in the evening.”

“I’ll talk it over with Ann. In fact he could use our cellar that used to be the rec-room when Sis and I were growing up. It wouldn’t take much to make it comfortable. “

“Okay, I’ll leave that up to you.”

Danica and Ann were with me when we drove over to see Jake that afternoon. We toured Jake’s property. It got dark before we had seen it all, but it was just as my father said. “Jake, come along home. My mother will have supper for everyone.”

“I can’t do that. I don’t impose on people.”

“You do however get them out of trouble. Actually, Dad and I want to discuss something about us going into business with you.  It would be something like Home Depot. What scale it would become, is predicated on a market survey that we would need done to determine the size. The nearest one that I know of is more than twenty-five miles from here. If we can find out if home building will increase in this section, we think it would be profitable. Are you interested?”

“Yes, of course. I’ve been racking my brain to think of something that would at least save my inheritance. This means I would be selling the property to you, I take it?”

“Not necessarily. Dad was thinking you might keep that so there would be less risk for you if what we plan doesn’t pan out. You would, however, pay the back taxes before we went in together. What we would do is have the buildings and equipment appraised and we would put up that much cash to make going into the business together equal.

“That should put a lot of stock into the business and from there on we would be working with a line of credit to finish filling the inventory and to pay you for being manager until the day we have some profit. This way you would have a paid position, reserve the major part of your inheritance, and become an up and coming business owner. Now, will you come for supper?”

There was a happy grin on Jake’s face, “Yeah, I’d be foolish if I didn’t.”

______________________

 Jake came for supper. Jake and Danica talked with one of her professors in the next few days asking how to go about taking a market survey. She decided she wasn’t up to doing it, but she did work with the company hired to finish her work. The market survey said this was a good prospect to build a profitable company and we set it up the way which was close to Dan and Gramp’s first thoughts. Work was done on the buildings during the winter.

There was a determination to be made about what to stock. Much of the tools and small equipment generally found in such a Home Store was sold in the Hardware store already. If one was out of an item the other store supplied it. Mainly what was stocked was construction material and bulk supplies.

Jake and Gramp aimed for opening day in June. Stock was being brought in all through May. Still there were many things that were undone, and the inventory was lacking in some areas. We were in contact with different suppliers and they said they would deliver on a few days notice. It seemed as if every segment of the country wanted to have a banner year and every business wanted to help another.

Jake had made a flying trip to Michigan, but Danica wasn’t able to go with him. Jake was putting in his order for a few hundred tons of pellets with his father who manufactured these. This was something that came up in the survey that pellets were cheaper to heat with than oil, gas, coal and electricity. Not as convenient as oil or electricity, but more so than wood or coal. The home center carried two different lines of pellet stoves. They did carry wood heaters, but here there wasn’t that many outfits close by that sold firewood.

Jake also made a deal to purchase dimension construction timbers and kiln dried lumber from his father’s mills as long as the price was right. When his father had passed on, Jake’s father had installed kilns of his own and was now selling finished wood products. The kilns here never would have been able to go back into business again.

When Jake came back after being there a week, he said, “My father and brothers tell me I’m being taken in by a crooked outfit when I started to tell them about what I was up to. It made me mad, so I kept a lot of the facts to myself that I was still sole owner of Gramp’s land, just not the business. I did tell my mother though. I didn’t tell them that I had a large stake in the business. How Mother laughed and told me to continue on and show them all up. It’s nice to have someone on their side that has faith in a person.”

“I have faith in you, Jake.” Danica opened her arms and hugged him. I thought for a minute that he was going to kiss her. Is it odd when someone with red hair has her face turn as red as her hair? Reflecting, I would have been okay if Jake had kissed her.

It took several months to get the new help up to speed and the inventory to where we weren’t always in a crisis mode. Danica and Gramp were the ones who concentrated in this area of the business. Gramp had been through this many years before when he set up the hardware store that Ann and I were now managing. Danica wasn’t bashful about asking her teachers at the community college to help solve some of the problems that invariably arose. They in turn used this as practical experience in some of their classes.

Our son, Kendall, arrived one unbearably hot day in August. He was two days early. Ann called me up to the office and told me her water had broken. I had Sarah, my secretary call Mom, Anita at home, and Danica over at the Home Store.  I worried some because the birth seemed to take a long time, but the nurse said Ann was doing fine and the baby was almost ready to meet the world. I was there holding Ann’s hand when she struggled hard and then relaxed and said “Our baby just arrived. Tell me what we have?”

The Doctor answered, “It is a fine healthy boy. The nurse will clean and weigh him. Six pounds, I would guess.” The nurse came back and handed my son to me and I put him down beside Ann.

“Dan, you came through this very well.” And then she giggled.

Danica and Anita went in while I told Mom about how everything appeared okay. It wasn’t but a few minutes before Anita came out so Mom could go in. I went in and kissed Ann and she said to me. “Go back to work, Dan, women have been having babies for eons. I think he will have brown hair like yours. I don’t see any red, but it might be too early to tell. Kiss me and then go.” 

On the way out, I said, “I’m so blessed.” Ann smiled, remembering that this was her sister, Cilla’s, most common saying.

Ann and Baby Kendal went home the next day. Mom was over with Ann most of every day. Sometimes she would just stare at Kendal with a little happy smile on her face.  If asked by Ann she would give advice, but she could see Ann was a competent mother, so never interfered.

During the second week of October, Danica and Jake asked to be away before the stores got busy with the coming Christmas season. Jake wanted to have his family meet Danica. We decided that the last week of the month would be a good time. They would have nine days including the two weekends.

“Dad and Mom, we’ve been right busy getting the home center organized. I’ll share with you that this is for Jake to take me home to meet his mother. Jake and I have started a relationship. It is too late to ask you for permission, but I know you will approve.”

“Yeah, we approve.”

“Jake’s family hasn’t given him very much support. Well, his father and brothers anyway. I guess he tells his mother everything.”

“It’ll be good to meet them. I don’t know any man except Jake who has done as well as he has at his age.”

“I agree Pop, and we’ve given him a lot more than his own family has. Me, I’ve given him my all.”

“Yeah, you’ve put in some long hours along with keeping your classes up.”

“That too, Pop. And I’ve got so much help at the college. I’m glad I went this route and able to be here with the ones I love. Jake will be moving upstairs into the larger bedroom if it is okay with you guys. That way we can use the bathroom without traveling up two flights of stairs from the rec-room. We’ll double what Jake has been paying for the room down stairs. We don’t need to live on your dime.”

“Nice of you to think that way, but when you move together, your mother and I will consider Jake our son.”

“I don’t want to move out, because I want to see my little brother grow up. We will though if us being here creates any friction.”

“Good enough.”

Danica and Jake took off for Michigan early on Saturday morning. They didn’t plan to go the whole distance. They had made reservations to stop in the middle of the afternoon. Danica was laughing. “I’ll bet Mom and Pop think we are going to go to bed as soon as we stop. It couldn’t be further than the truth. We’ll wait until after dinner with your college buddy and his wife. Jake, I love you so. Do you think you’ll be laughed at for robbing the cradle?”

“Danica, you are twenty. That’s not young. Also when I tell them all about what you have done since finding your father, they’ll think I’ve got a prize. You so amaze me. You never get tired after working at the Home Center and then you grab your books and study for another hour or two.”

“I work no harder than you and Gramp. I wish he would slow down. Pop says he is in better shape than when I first arrived here, though. Is that possible?”

“In his case, I would say so. Everyone thinks it proves you two have the same genes.”

“I guess. I know one thing, I’m very sick of riding. I remember asking my mom a question when I was little?”

“What was that?”

“Mommy, are we almost there yet? She would tell me were, but it never came soon enough.”

“Only a few more miles and then I can kiss you. Not too many, we are going out tonight.

Danica giggled and said, “Well maybe you can kiss me a few times, but only on the lips and no tongue. Mom told me that’s how Pop got to her. She said according to what my real mother told her, that’s how things started and my mother got pregnant with me. I guess the red headed women in my family are all the same. God must have made us this way.”

Jake laughed, “You are so blessed.”

Jake hadn’t lied. It wasn’t long before they reached their destination. They went into the motel and showered, called his buddy, and headed over to his house. He and his wife had three kids and two dogs.  It was the mad house that Jake had warned her about. When the babysitter arrived they went out to dinner. The wife, Amy, asked Danica if she and Jake were sleeping together. “Yes, we have been for awhile. I just told my parents yesterday. They were fine with it.”

This was just a date for dinner together. Money was a little tight and they didn’t want to pay the babysitter for more than two hours. Jake offered, but Amy said, the oldest would be up and would want to know all about going out to eat. Jake did pay the tab, though. He bought a bottle of wine, and the four laughed and joked when they got back and sent the babysitter home. Jake and Danica got to the motel just before 10:00 and to sleep just after midnight.

The Higging’s home was a two story farmhouse with a dormer window facing the road. It looked like it had never been painted. There was no lawn and a graveled walk up to the front door. “This is home. Father never cared much how the place looked. If my mother wanted us boys to do something with it, he said we boys were here to work. He’d shine and fix the place up when he retired. Mom’s still waiting. I hope it doesn’t fall down before he gets to it. You’ll see my mom keeps a neat house though.”

As they parked in the driveway Danica thought maybe a little gravel would help where they parked. It was just dirt and if it had been wet, she would track mud inside the house. “We’ll go in through the kitchen. I don’t see Dad’s pickup. He’s probably up at the planer mill. He has my brothers down to run some things through on Sundays. He never lets up. Dad will be down about 1:00 so it’ll be a couple of hours before we see him.

The door opened and this pleasant lady stood there. “Jake, oh my, it is so good to see you. It’s seems like a year since you were here.”

“I know Ma, but I’m running a business. It’s going good, too. Ma, this is Danica Pierson.  She’s the love of my life. We’re in a relationship. We told her parents a couple of days ago. They were okay with it. Oh, my Ma’s name is Alice.”

“You’re telling me you are sleeping in the same bed aren’t you?  Your father won’t like that.”

“I won’t say anything and he won’t be coming up stairs. Where is he?”

“He’s got your brothers working.  Betty, Judy and kids will all be down about the same time he is.”

“Ma, I don’t think I told you yet, but Dan and Ann, Danica’s parents gave her a brother in August. I should have written but we have been working extra hard so we could have a few days off to visit. We’ll be here until next Saturday.”

“I can see you must be because all there is to you is muscle. Danica do you work with Jake?”

“Yeah, I do. I also am taking four classes during the week at the community college. I work in the hardware store. Pop is paying for my classes so I have to work for him ten hours a week. The rest of the time I’m in the Home Center with Jake. Jake will tell you all about it at dinner.”

“Ma, I’m going up to the other mill. I want to see my brothers and their kids.”

“Okay, but don’t get to arguing with your father.”

“I promise I won’t, Mom.” Jake got into the car and drove away.

“That’s a pretty car. Is it Jake’s?”

“No, it’s mine. My grandfather bought it for me so I could get to classes on time. I had some money for a down payment, but he didn’t want me to spend it. I have spent it. I put it into buying inventory for Jake and Gramp’s business. I was awarded some shares in the business for it. That’s so Gramp and Jake didn’t have to borrow so much.”

“That’s nice. I don’t know much about business. I’ll get Jake to talking and he will tell us all about what he is doing.  I know he is buying pellets and lumber from his dad. Rolf won’t admit it, but Jake is his best customer. You can tell Jake but don’t say I told you. Come, talk to me while I get Sunday dinner for the family.”

It was ten minutes later when they heard a truck coming. They looked out and saw a tractor with a flat bed park in the middle of the road. “That driver is after a load of pellets and no one is here to load them. I’ll bet Rolf forgot to mark it down. Well, the guy will be peeved, but he’ll have to wait. That means we’ll all have a late dinner.”

“Where are the pellets?”

“The pallets are stacked six high on the other side of the building with the big doors. That’s why the driver parked in the road. The doors open and we can drive straight through and put them on the flat bed.”

“I have a license to drive a fork lift. I can load them and then dinner won’t be late.”

“Are you really sure you could?”

“Honest, I can. I unload the pellets when they arrive from here and I load them from our lot onto our delivery truck.”

“Okay, you can try it. You’re almost family and everyone works here.”

“Can I change into my jeans, and maybe you have a jacket I can wear?”

Danica dug into her suitcase and Alice pointed to the bathroom to change. By this time the driver was at the door wondering why someone hadn’t come out to load his truck. Danica’s jeans were designer jeans and pretty tight. They showed off her body pretty well. The driver was watching as she shrugged on her sweater over her blouse and covered it with the jacket Alice handed her.

She spoke to the driver, “You go open the doors. I think the lift truck will be inside. I’ll see if I can run the thing.”

It was liquid petroleum fueled and just the same as the one that they had at the Home Center. Danica went out back where there was a field full of stacked pellets.“You stand right there and guide me. Twenty tons, right?”

“No thirty. Are you sure you can run that thing? I wouldn’t want anyone as beautiful as you are to get hurt.”

“I can and I won’t be long either.” Danica was bringing two pallets at a time. Each pallet had a ton of bagged pellets on it. The loaded pallet was dropped onto the bed of the truck and then Danica tipped the forks just a little, pushing the pallet across to the opposite side. The next one was dropped and she pushed it against the first one.

The driver stayed on the far side of the bed so Danica wouldn’t push the pallet too far. It wasn’t long before she had two rows of pallets extending to the end. The driver put on a few straps. The pallets wouldn’t move because Danica had crowded them together. Alice came out with the paperwork and fixed it all up.

“Ma’am, what’s your name? I’m going to tell this story of how some babe in tight fitting jeans came out and loaded me up with thirty ton of pellets the fastest anyone has ever done. You’ve made my day and gave me a lot of pleasure watching you work. Good day to you.”

“Well Danica, you really are something. I’m not going to worry about Jake at all with you by his side.” Dinner was ready to be put on the table when three pickups and Jake with the car full of kids came into the dooryard. Danica had removed the jacket and now she pulled off the sweater as everyone came in. When everyone got inside, Jake introduced her to his family. He had trouble remembering the small one’s names, but got most of them.

Rolf, the father, asked, “Alice, you didn’t hear from a truck driver did you? There was one that was supposed to come this morning, but I forgot.”

“He was here and some peeved. But he went away happy.”

“What do you mean? Is he coming back?”

“No, Danica loaded the truck for him. I suspect her name will be all over the radio about how this driver got loaded by some babe it tight jeans and put thirty ton of pellets on his truck in just under a half hour.”

Danica spoke up, “I get twenty dollars an hour for loading trucks. You owe me ten dollars. Give it to Jake, for gas to get us home when we go.” She stared at Rolf and then giggled. “Hi, I’m Jake’s girlfriend and one of his partners.”

“Danica, what did you do?”

“Just what your mom said. The guy wanted to be loaded right away, so I loaded for him. He called me a babe in tight-fitting jeans and said I made his day. And no, I didn’t flirt with him, but I’ll admit I wasn’t dressed for the job.”

“See what I have to put up with, but I love her anyway. I’m hungry. Later, when are we going to eat?” Danica was stared at the from around table. No one could believe that Jake’s girlfriend could handle a fork lift as pretty as she was. Danica helped with dinner dishes, although there wasn’t really room for the four grown women to work. 

Danica patted Alice on the arm. “Please go sit down and listen to us ramble on. You worked hard to get a wonderful meal for a large crowd while I was out playing with a tractor. Please?”

“Okay, I think I will. Thank you.” She leaned down and kissed Danica on the cheek. She went in and sat at the dining table watching both the kitchen and the living room, hearing both conversations. Jake’s two sister-in-laws looked at Danica and then turned back to the dish pan. Judy said to her sister-in-law.

“She has never kissed us.”

“Oh, she is just buttering me up so I will take care of Jake. Is it true Jake doesn’t get along that well with his father?”

“Yeah, Rolf didn’t want another kid after my husband was born. Of course our husbands are a lot like their father, so they picked on Jake some. They even shafted him by taking the best assets and left him what was in Iowa when their grandfather died. I’m sorry you’ve become attached to Jake.”

“God, you people must be rich if you got more for assets from his grandfather’s estate than Jake did. I consider Jake well-to-do or soon will be. He still owns the land that came to him. Five acres right in a commercial business block are worth a helluva lot. He had just enough other cash to pay off the back taxes on the place and enough other assets in the buildings and equipment to build and own forty percent of the new and thriving Home Center we started up.

“He’s done all that in a little over a year. I own half as much as he does only I haven’t paid for it all yet. My grandfather owns the other forty percent and he is a dear. Jake is the manager and gets a good salary. I work there part time and I get an hourly wage. Gramp get’s paid less than Jake does, but I don’t know how much.”

“How big is your Home Store?”

“How do you mean?”

“How many people work for you?”

“Oh, I think there are fifteen plus us three. We can use the hardware store help if my Mom and Pop can spare a person. If both businesses are busy, we have some people that are glad to come in and work short hours. They don’t get vacation or sick pay but they’re eligible for workman’s comp.”

“Our husbands are private contractors so they don’t have any of those perks.  How did you meet Jake?”

“Gramp and me were being held up and attacked by a couple of thugs. I got slapped around enough to make my nose bleed. Gramp had been knocked down and scraped up when he landed on the cement. Jake saw it happening and came across from his land and rescued us. He shot the one who attacked me with a pellet gun and then clobbered him with the same gun. He gave the guy a concussion. I chased the one who hit Gramp with my car and got him cornered until Jake got there. The cops arrived and took over.”

“Jake thought he was going to lose his property in a tax sale, so we all got together and figured out how to let him keep it. We decided on building a home store. The buildings that housed the kiln were all there. After being renovated they were just what we needed for storage. We worked all last winter on it and began bringing in inventory in May. We opened the doors for business and this is the first break we have had since we were attacked.”

“It sounds as if Jake is going to be a rich man.”

“I do’no about that. None of us are setting out to pile up money.  We do carry a hefty credit line for now to operate with. Someday that will be just for backup. It is going to take a few years though. Of course Pop and Mom are going to have the hardware business when Gramp takes over his share of the Home Center. That will be the first of the year. Gramp is leaving the hardware store. He owns a good part of the Home Center and will helping Jake as manager. The plan is for me to take over Gramp’s share when he retires. I’m slated to take over from Mom and Pop too when they retire. I’ll be managing that, holding it for my Pop’s new family. I’m twenty years older than Kendal so that make sense.”

“So it is you who are going to be well off?”

“I don’t see it that way. Jake and I will marry when the time is right and we will combine our assets and head into the future together. Jake and my kids will have the Home Center and my brothers and sisters will inherit the Hardware business. I’m kind of like in the middle so it is mine to do. That’s why I’m still going to school to learn how to manage everything.”

Betty came forth with a little information. “Jake went to college. Alice saw to that. That’s some of the reason for the friction between Jake and his father. He was supposed to work in the family business when he got out of high school, but he skipped out. Alice had some money so he went to school on that. I wish my husband’s family were like yours where everyone got along. I guess we had better go join the men and Alice. Thanks for sharing your life with us.” Alice followed them in.

Danica walked in with her sister-in-laws. She guessed Jake had been having the same conversation as she had been having

“Hi sweetheart, I’ve been telling Dad about our business. What have been up to?”

“Dishes, mostly. I did tell Judy and Betty about what we were doing and how it came about.”

Alice, Jake’s mother spoke up, “I heard her, too.  I must say Jake, you better marry Danica as soon as possible so I can come live with you if I get sick of Rolf and his tyrannical ways. Sometimes I’m sick of the way he treats me when he won’t listen to what I say.” She was staring right at Rolf. “Yes, and the way you treat Jake’s brothers and their families too. When is the last time they or me have been anywhere on vacation?”

“Alice, you know there is always work to do. I work harder than anyone.”

“I know you do, but just think back to last winter when each one of you got sick for a few days. Everything got done. It could happen the same way if you were on vacation instead of being sick.”  Rolf just growled.

Jake said to his mother, “Mom, we’d love to have you down to take Christmas with us, right Danica?”

“Yes, why don’t all of you come? We have the big room in the cellar that is empty where we can put the kids. Jake will be sleeping upstairs with me by then. While you are there he and I can sleep in the small room and we’ll leave the big bedroom for a couple of adults. Gram and Gramp have a spare room too. Oh, please come, all of you?”

Alice said, “We’ll see. I would like to meet your family.”

“I’m sure someone will bring you. It is a long way. You can stay for the winter if you wish.”

“No, I married Rolf because I had feelings for him. I get exasperated at him, but I still have some of those feelings left. I just wish we weren’t at such cross purposes so much.” Rolf looked surprised at his wife.  Maybe he was surprised that she would admit she still loved him. Would he do anything about it?”

Danica and Jake stayed until Thursday, but there was a snowstorm forecast and they decided it would be best to run for home before it. They arrived in Iowa as the first flakes were coming down. Danica laughed, because that was all the snow that reached Iowa. Home a few days early so on Saturday both went back to work, happy with the break in routine.
_____________________

Christmas goods and inventory seemed to arrive by the truckload. A lot of things were stored in the one empty building left. Rather than having full displays, Danica made a sample display of what the Home Center sold that was out of season. Then the help went to work and set up for the Christmas season.

Danica and Jake worked hard. Often rather going up stairs they would detour to Jake’s former room in the cellar to play. Dan and Ann knew this and thought it a great joke. Dan approached them about it, “Christ, Danica, Ann and I don’t object to you making noise in the room upstairs. Two people in love make noise.”

Jake looked at Danica and they both burst out laughing. “Mom, that isn’t the reason we go downstairs. It’s you who are making so much noise. How can we sleep when Pop roars and you squeal so loud it wakes us up?”

“That’s not true, I do not squeal. Besides you are embarrassing me.”

“Mom, we were afraid if we told you we could hear you, it would inhibit your enjoyment.”

“Oh dear, what can we do?”

“Mom, Jake has come up with an answer and I’m in agreement. He wants permission to make the cellar into a small apartment. The main requirement would be a below grade bathroom. We could use a better access so we wouldn’t bother you if we are out late. We will be looking for a home of our own sometime, but we aren’t ready for that yet. We feel the business is still too new for us to spend for something as large as a home. We are saving our money for this. When we have enough we can move out, buy a home and have children.”

“Danica, you haven’t mentioned getting married. When is that going to take place?”

“We were going to talk to you about that. If Jake’s mother comes down for Christmas, which looks promising, we are planning to have a minister come here and marry us with both families present. No gifts and just the Christmas dinner for a small reception.”

“Okay, but you are only married once. A girl should have it be special for her.”

“Mom, I’ve had so many special days since I graduated high school. First I found my father. Then my mom found love. My grandmother found love and I’ve had love from everyone. The most special day of all was the day I met Jake. I can live without any more for awhile.”

“If you feel that way, it is your wedding so I guess it is okay. What about you, Jake?”

“I’m with Danica. We are very busy, especially at this time of the time the year. We are fully committed to each other and a big wedding would be a distraction. I am looking forward to being married to this wonderful woman and that is why it was me who pushed for this small ceremony. My mother isn’t really pleased that we haven’t married before this, but she has accepted it”

“Okay, we will hold to your wishes of a small ceremony here at home and then a feast with just the family attending. Is that it?”

Jake was nodding, yes, and Danica said, “That’s what we want Mom.”

Jake gave Ann his mother’s home phone number. Ann, and both grandmothers of Danica, began a campaign to involve Jake’s parents in something bigger than just a small family gathering for the coming wedding. They promised they would find beds for the guests if they would come down from Michigan. It would take some coordination because Ann wanted it to be a surprise.

Christmas was on a Saturday and both businesses would be closed Saturday and Sunday. Friday was the day off for the Christmas holiday. It took Ann a lot of persuading to get Dan to comply with the plans she had set. It came down to Dan’s argument when he first got Ann to learn to dance.

“Remember, Dan, you told me that I had to learn how to dance because I would want to dance at Danica’s wedding. Now you go see your ex-wife and set this up. I don’t care how much it is going to cost, but that’s the way it is going to be.” Dan took his mother with him to help convince Etta. It wasn’t that difficult when he explained what was required.

 The minister chosen for the ceremony held services in the room above Etta’s dance studio regularly. The wedding was to be held there at one in the afternoon. Danica and Jake finally agreed to the change. Everyone else in the family would meet back at the house afterward. Danica didn’t think it was necessary not to have it at home, but she wanted her parents happy. The household went to the studio building together. There was Grace, Anita, Gramp, (George) Ann, Dan, and Anita  No season of the year to be stubborn, so upstairs it was.

“Sherry will be at the house, won’t she?  She’s still my best friend.”

“Yes, Patty and her family will be here at the house when we return. Gram Anita’s new family will be stopping by, too.

“I wish I had known. They could have come to see me married.”

“I knew you would regret having such a small wedding.”

“I guess, Mom.”  When they went up to the second floor there was some noise coming from Etta’s studio behind the closed doors. “Must be a party. I’m going to stop and tell Etta I’m married when we come down.”

“That would be nice, Dear.”

The minister was standing at the lectern welcoming the wedding party. “Is everyone present? Oh yes, I’m supposed to uncover this image of another of a member who couldn’t be present.” He stepped to the side of the lectern and slowly pulled the drape that covered a 36”by 48” oil painting sitting on an easel.

This was a painting of Cilla taken from a photograph that Dan had seen when he and Ann were going through the box of pictures. He’d seen it when Dan and Ann had their long weekend together. Actually it was the body of Ann with the face of Cilla from the photo. The artist had adjusted the subject to a different stance, so Ann had posed for it. The face of Cilla was still the main focus.

Danica began to sob. Dan had tears rolling down his face. Both turned to Ann and hugged, and then Anita did the same. No one knew that Ann had it painted and it was only completed a short few days before. It was framed in a beautiful ornate frame. There was an golden engraved emblem in the center on the bottom that said “I’m so Blessed.”

“Ahem, shall we proceed?”  There was noise coming from the stairs and suddenly a group of people entered the room.  Jake’s mother and father came and stood beside Jake. The whole Higgins family was present and Patty’s family came in at the same time. Ann signaled the Minister to begin.

Someone standing off to one side was taking pictures. The minister spoke, “I understand there is a catered meal on the floor below this one and then there will be a period when dancing will be in order.  The dance will have to be short, because Etta has her own family to consider. Merry Christmas everyone.”

No one moved for a few minutes while all inspected the painting. “This is my wedding present to my daughter Danica. Now she will always have her mother with her. I am having just a few prints made for my mother and for my husband Dan. Cilla will be with us always.”

Everyone stood looking at each other. Finally one of Jake’s nephews said, “I’m hungry”

The person who took the photos was standing at the foot of the stairs. He was Etta’s husband pressed into duty.  Periodically he would circle the tables and take snaps. The food came out and the minister gave his blessing and then he left. Jake was thrilled. His whole family was here.

Rolf had never learned to dance, but Alice had him out there swaying to the music with her. Dan said to Ann, “See, I knew what I was talking about when I asked you to learn how to dance. Look how proud Danica is of you out here together with me.”

“I knew you were right and I couldn’t refuse. I so wanted to be held in your arms at the time, but I was so shy about it.”

Jake’s family would be leaving Sunday morning to return home. Everyone complimented Ann for what she had done for her daughter and now husband.

Gramp and Jake took Rolf and Jake’s two brothers over to show them the Hardware store and how he had built it into the profitable business it now was. “Grace and I had Dan and his sister, Patty. It was a struggle and sometimes we thought we wouldn’t make it. Dan, he wanted to see the world and joined the army as soon as he got out of high school and then he wanted to go to college.  I will say he paid for his own education by saving his money while in the service, so he wasn’t a burden. He came in with me and has been with me ever since.

“To tell the truth, I was getting bored with it when Danica showed up looking for her father. I love that child almost as much as Dan and Jake do only in a different way. Those kids are working hard and seem to be doing everything right. Jake owning the property certainly got them started right.”

Rolf explained, “Yeah, me and the boys didn’t know how valuable it was when we divided up my father’s estate. I still don’t think we would have done any different if we had known. Michigan is home to my ancestors going way back. My grandfather was here when the woods were virgin timber. What we are cutting now is second and third growth. We’re taking a little more care now with how we log and every fifty years we can cut again whereas some of this took a hundred and fifty years to grow.

“Jake was always kind of a mama’s boy or so we thought. He was the one Alice said was going to college. She paid for him although he worked any jobs he could while there. He worked for me summers, but I guess I could have paid him better. Well, he has showed us all what he is made of. I’m thanking you for helping him out.”

“It isn’t me so much me as it is Danica. Oh, I knew she was playing me a little, to get me to do the things she and Jake cooked up. They’ll end up with it when I’m gone. They sure perked life up for me. I feel like a new man most days.”

Skip Ahead

Ann and I ended up with three children besides Danica. There was Kendal and then two baby girls. We laughed because the girls both had red hair. Danica’s first is a girl with red hair. She and Jake want three kids altogether. And I guess they will make it happen.

We see Jake’s family quite often. They come down and stay a few days. Rolf gets down on the holidays. Alice says he is a changed man and has been since Jake and Danica visited that time before they were married.

The painting of Cilla hangs in Ann’s and my living room. She, me, and Anita will stop and look at it while passing through. If Ann catches me, she will come and stand beside me and hold my hand. It isn’t meant to be shrine, but then again maybe it is. She is someone one who touched both of us deeply for the period of time she was with each one of us. Danica will come and run her fingers over the engraved emblem, “I’m so Blessed.” … and so we are.

The End




  

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