Brian's Story

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Graduation brought changes. I wasn't going off to college like most of my classmates. I'd be going to school, but it would be a trade school. My Uncle Hal was an aircraft mechanic and I'd always wanted to be one too. I enrolled in classes at the Wayman School of Aeronautics; classes that would prepare me for taking the tests necessary to become a Federal Aviation Administration certified Airframe and Power Plant mechanic.

Wayman's operated full time. There were no spring breaks or summer vacations. You showed up at eight and left at four-thirty five days a week. Saturdays were optional. On Saturdays you could come in and work on projects in the work shop areas and there were always projects. For example; in Wood, Dope and Fabric you had to repair a broken wooden rib, build a small section of wing, cover it in fabric and then dope the fabric.

Some might wonder why we were messing around with wood, dope and fabric when all panes now are made of aluminum. An FAA certified mechanic had to be able to work on ALL airplanes and that meant airplanes from the early years of aviation. There were still a lot of Taylorcraft, Piper Cubs, Stinsons and Stearmans around that were constructed with wood, dope and fabric.

You didn't have to come in on Saturday. The eight hour day was split into four hours of classroom and four hours of hands on in the work shop area. That is when you worked on your projects and if you paid attention in class and did what you were supposed to you didn't usually need to go in on Saturday. There were sixteen projects in Wood, Dope and Fabric and you needed to complete all of them in order to get credit for the class.

The downside of Waymans is there weren't all that many girls who wanted to be aircraft mechanics. There were only two when I was there and neither was in my class. While I was in WDF Rita was in Sheet Metal and Welding and Karin was in Fuel Systems. In any event I wouldn't be interested in either of them. Both of them gave off the vibe that they were more interested in girls than boys.

I looked around to see what was available and found nothing. It found me. Well kinda sorta. It was always there. Yep! Toni came back into my life.

I was sitting in the Burger Barn having dinner. It was a Friday and I was sitting there wondering what to do over the weekend when Toni walked in, saw me and came over and sat down. I was done eating so I was going to just get up and leave. Before I could Toni said:

"Have you ever made a huge mistake Brian?"

"Who hasn't?"

"Was it something that you had to be forgiven for?"

I nodded a yes.

"Did you get that forgiveness?"

Again I nodded a yes.

"That's where I am right now Brian. I made a huge mistake and I need forgiveness." She paused for a couple of seconds and then asked "Can you forgive me?"

"For what?"

"For making a mess of things and causing us to split up."

It was water under the bridge for me so I said "Not a problem Toni. I forgive you."

"I don't want words Brian. I want you to show me I'm forgiven."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Amy Beckwerth's birthday party is tomorrow. Would you please take me?"

"I haven't been invited."

"I have and it is understood that my date is also invited."

I knew Amy. We had been classmates since the eighth grade and I liked her, but we had never socialized. I don't know why I had to be an asshole about it, but I asked:

"Why not Roger?"

"Roger was the huge mistake Brian. He is no longer in my life."

While the conversation was taking place my mind went back to my first night with Mary Anne and Mandy. I remembered what they had told me about their talks with Toni and how she had been seeking their advice over choosing her love for me or choosing a rich man's son. Add to that the fact that I had been hung up on her since I first saw her.

"What time?"

"We should get there around seven."

"So I should pick you up around six-thirty?"

"That will work. What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing planned."

"Want to see a movie?"

And just like that Toni and I were back together.

We were back together two weeks before we made love for the first time. I was disappointed that I wasn't her first, but she wasn't my first either and as a result our first time together wasn't the fumbling, stumbling event that two inexperienced lovers went through on their first time. Six months after that first time I put a ring on her finger and three months after I took the FAA exams and received my A & P license we were married.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

My Uncle Hal worked for an airline and his best friend was the union steward at the same airline and they managed to get me in. It was a good job doing work that I liked and it paid well. The only drawback was that with no seniority I was stuck on the midnight shift until I could build up enough seniority to bid another shift.

The days off weren't bad. I had Thursday and Friday off so I could take Toni out on part of the weekend. Everything was going great until I hit the bump in the road. I knew it was coming, but I'd pushed it to the back of my mind. The thing was that at the time -- not so much later on -- but at that time the airline business usually slowed down in November and didn't pick back up until about the first of March so the low seniority guys, usually those with less than five years, got laid off in November and didn't get recalled until March.

I got my layoff notice on the second of December. Toni and I knew it was coming and we'd saved our money so as to have a cushion until I was called back. While I was going to Wayman Toni had gone to the community college and had taken classes to become a paralegal. She was working for the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham and Howe and with her pay and our savings we would be okay. If I could find a job for the three months I'd be off we would be even better. I did find a job working for a gas station. It was afternoons, but I had Friday and Saturday off and that gave me time so I could take Toni out on weekends.

In March I was called back by the airline and that set the pattern for the next three years. Work, get laid off, find work to hold you over, get called back and repeat.

Toni and I had been married almost four years and were still going after it like sex crazed rabbits. Four or five times a week and more often than not twice and occasionally (usually on weekends) three times. We had decided to wait on having kids until I had enough seniority that I didn't get laid off every year.

It was during one of my laid off periods. I was working as a cab driver and my shift was three to eleven. It was 9:10 on a Tuesday and I'd just dropped a passenger of at the Alhambra Lounge. He paid me (and gave me a nice tip) and was getting out of the cab when I saw Toni and Roger Wilson come out of the place. I sat there parked at the curb and watched the two of them go into the parking lot and get into Roger's car. A late model Mustang convertible if anyone cares. Toni leaned over and kissed Roger and it wasn't just a peck on the cheek. It was a bit before they broke the kiss and then pulled out of the parking lot.

I pulled away from the curb and followed them to a house on Taylor. I watched them get out of the car and then walk hand in hand into the house. The entire time dispatch was calling me on the radio, but I was ducking his calls. I finally called him and told him I had a flat tire and the spare was flat and I'd call myself back in service as soon as I had things taken care of.

At that particular moment I didn't give a rat's ass if a neighbor might see me and call the cops to report a peeping Tom in the neighborhood. I needed to find out what was going on. I went around the house and got lucky. I came to a window that let me see into the living room of the house.

I saw Roger and Toni sitting on the living room couch. Roger's hand was inside her blouse and she was pulling down his zipper. I didn't need to see any more than that. I knew what was going to happen when that zipper was all the way down and I didn't want to see it. I went back to the cab, called the dispatcher and told him I was back in service. I finished my shift and then instead of rushing home to my loving wife like I usually did I stopped off at Bud's Bar and Grill.

As I sat at the bar and sipped my PBR all sorts of scenarios ran through my mind and almost every one of them, if I acted on them, put me in prison for the rest of my life. When last call came and I got up to leave I knew what I was going to do to my wife and her lover. Nothing! Fuck them! Toni wanted the asshole she could have him. He wanted a cheating slut he could have her.

Toni was asleep when I got home to the apartment and that suited me just fine. I was careful not to wake her when I got into bed and while it took a bit of time I finally feel asleep. In the morning I stayed in bed and pretended to sleep while she dressed for work and once she was out of the house I was out of bed and busy. Very busy. I had everything I wanted out of the house packed in a U-Haul and I was checked in at a motel on the other side of town. When Toni got home all she would find was a note on the kitchen table.

"I followed you to 1347 Taylor last night and I was outside looking in the window at you and Roger on the couch. Good luck with your new man."

My wedding ring was on top of the note and that should tell her everything she needed to know. I stopped by the bank and cleaned out all of the accounts. There were three; checking, savings and a second savings account called the house fund. Ten percent of every paycheck we received went into that account to build up enough to put a down payment on a house. Taking all the money shouldn't matter to Toni because Roger was rich right? There were no credit cards so I didn't have to call and cancel any.

The aviation community has their own newspaper. Trade -- A -- Plane was where people went to buy or sell airplanes, avionics equipment and the like. It also had a want ad section. I drove out to the airport and stopped at Reed Aviation. Chuck Reed was a Beechcraft dealer and I had worked part time for him while I was going to school. Chuck always had a couple of copies of the paper in the customer lounge area. I was sitting there going through the want ads when Chuck came in, saw me and came over to say hi.

"Whatcha looking for?"

A job. Something far enough away from here that I won't keep running into my ex."

"How far away from here do you want to go?"

"I don't care."

"Think you might like Georgia?"

"Don't know. I've never been there."

"My brother Sam is a Cessna dealer in Albany and is always whining about not being able to find reliable mechanics. If you want I could give him a call."

So here I was in Albany, Georgia which was the last place I ever expected to see Toni.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

I walked into the hanger and went over to my tool box and was putting away the tools I'd used on the 172 when Sam came over to me and told me there was someone there to see me.

"Any chance you could tell her you fired me last week and don't know where I went?"

"She knows you're here and why would you want to avoid a fox like her?"

"She's the ex I moved down here to get away from."

"This mean I'm going to lose you?"

"No. If she managed to find me here she'd find me if I went somewhere else."

When I walked into the customer's waiting area Toni got up, gave me a big smile and moved towards me with her arms opened for a hug. I moved to put a table between us and asked:

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

She lost the smile and said "I came here to claim my husband and make him aware of some things he needs to know."

"I already know all I needed to know. It's why I left. Surely you remember that."

"Can we go somewhere and talk?"

"Don't think so. I have two jobs I have to finish today and I need to get back to them."

"How about when you get off?"

I was all set to tell her no, but then decided to just get it over with, Let her have her say and hopefully she would leave and never bother me again.

"I get off at six. Meet me here then and then follow me to a quiet restaurant in town."

"Can't we just go to your place?"

"I don't think Alicia would like that."

"Alicia?

"My live in girlfriend."

There was no Alicia, but Toni didn't need to know that. She got a sour look on her face and said:

"Fine! I'll meet you here at six."

She was there at six and she followed me as I drove over to Carl's Café. We took a booth in the back and after Susan had taken our drink order I said:

"Okay Toni; say what you have to say."

"Just what I said earlier. I'm here to claim my husband."

"I stopped being your husband on that night at 1347 Taylor."

"But why? You were there so you know nothing happened. I admit I almost cheated on you, but you saw me push him away before anything happened. You saw me get up and leave when he told me he wouldn't take me home. When I got outside I called a cab and prayed to God that it wouldn't be you that got the call. Looking back on it I wished he hadn't answered my prayer. If you would have gotten the call we would have had to talk about why I was there and then maybe you wouldn't have left me like you did."

I'd turned and left when I saw her start to pull down Roger's zipper, but she didn't know that. My note said I watched her through the window. I guess she took it to mean I was there the entire time. Could it possibly be true? Did she get up and leave? She couldn't be lying because she thought I'd seen it all. Still, she had been there to begin with right?

"So how does that change things? You were with Roger and you were with him in his house. You were making out with him and that in itself was cheating on me. The fact that you stopped doesn't erase all that happened up to the point where you let go of his zipper. You were still stabbing me in the back by having anything to do with the asshole at all."

"I never meant to. All it was was me being lonely. With you gone I was stuck at the apartment with nothing to do but read books or watch the garbage on the TV. He called me at work and asked me to have dinner with him and I didn't see the harm in it. I'm not stupid; I knew what he was after and I knew he wasn't going to get it.

"He did get some kisses because I wanted to string him along and keep him asking me out so I could get out of the apartment. We had dinner three times before the night he asked me over to see his new place. I have no excuse for what happened when we got there. Well, that's not exactly true. I do have an excuse, but it is a weak one. I had way too much to drink and I was a bit loose. Later, after I read your note, I began looking for why I'd let the night get away from me.

"At first I thought that Roger might have slipped something in my drink, but that didn't make sense. Everything I'd read on the subject said drugs made you unable to stop or resist. I went back to the Alhambra and talked to the bartender and found out that all the drinks Roger ordered for me were doubles. I fucked up. I realized even before I read your note that I had no business going with him to look at his new place. It was just plain stupid of me.

"I cried for days after you left. Your parents wouldn't tell me where you were and they pretty much let me know they didn't want anything to do with me. That all changed three weeks ago. Suddenly your mother couldn't wait to tell me where you were and that brings up the other reason I am here. It is time that you met your son."

"What kind of shit are you trying to pull on me now?"

"I knew that is what you were going to say and that's why I brought the proof with me."

"Proof? You have proof?"

"The best kind. Your mother?"

"My mother?"

"I was in Wal-Mart shopping and your mother saw me. I was pushing a baby buggy and curiosity pulled her over to look. She looked at the baby and her face went pale and she asked if I was ever going to tell her and I told her no and that I had never intended for her to find out. I told her the way she treated me when I begged her to tell me where to find you made me decide to never tell her or let her see her grandson.

"All of a sudden she was more than willing to help me. According to her Brian junior is the spitting image of you at that age. She said as soon as she saw the baby she knew it was yours. I made her promise not to tell you until I could face you in person. Actually I threatened her. I told her if she let you know before I talked to you I'd never let her see Brian again."

"And you expect me to buy this story?"

"Easy enough to prove. Your son is in my motel room waiting to meet his daddy."

"You left a baby alone at a motel?"

"Of course not silly. Your mother is there babysitting."

"This is just fucking unreal" I thought as I got up and said "Let's go."

I followed her to room 212 of the Starlight Motel. I got a hug from my mom and my first look at the baby. I'd seen pictures of me at that age and he was the spitting image of them. It would take a DNA test to be absolutely sure, but it sure did look like I was a daddy.

"So" Toni asked "Are you ready to come home now?"

"No; here is home for me now."

She frowned and then looked at me in silence for maybe thirty seconds before saying "Okay. It may take me a couple of weeks to get moved down here."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"So we can be together as a family."

"What? You think just because we have a kid I'm just going to forget about what you did."

"I hoped you would. I love you Brian and I need to be with you."

The voice in the back of my mind was saying "Yeah, but can you trust her? What about the next time she feels left alone? How many times can she get away with fucking over you before you learn your lesson?"

For once the voice in front, where I'd always been locked on Toni didn't put up a big fight. It just said "What have you got to lose? You owe it to the kid to at least try. If it doesn't pan out you can bail out. You did it once so you know how."

Once again I went with the front.

"If you move down here you need to understand you are always going to be on probation. I don't know that you can earn my trust again. I'm always going to be watching you with suspicion on my mind. I'm always and again I stress the always going to be looking for signs that you are stabbing me in the back again. If you can live with me under those circumstances I'll give it a try. Make no mistake Toni; I'm serious as death here. There will be zero tolerance."

"I'm not worried about it Brian. I know me pretty well and I know that I'm all in when it comes to my relationship with you. You won't be sorry and you can bet your last dollar on that."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Epilog.

And I wasn't sorry. When she left to go home and get ready to move I went looking for a place to live. By the time Toni had made the move I had put a down payment on a four bedroom ranch in Dawson which was about a half an hour away from work. Toni found work as a paralegal at a law firm in Albany. There was a day care center right next to her office.

We'd been back together just over a year when Jessica Marie joined us and fourteen months after that David Allen came on the scene. Toni gave up her job at the law firm to take on a much tougher job. That of a full time mother.

It has been fifteen years since she moved and joined me and not once in those fifteen years has she given me cause to doubt her.

Life is good.