Fortune

My tossing her phone did not stop the communications. Carol wrote to him every chance she got and Steven had allowed the use of his phone, at least, until Betty asked him to stop promoting such a creepy relationship.

We continued to argue about it until one day a knock on the door brought that sorry bastard to my door announcing he was going to run away with Carol and start their lives. Carol came out of her room with a suitcase so I knew that this had been planned. I told him to get off my property and not to contact Carol until she was eighteen.

Carol was adamant that she was going with him until Steven talked some sense into her. I thought we had survived that impasse until late that night I was woken by a large ruckus. I ran into Carol's room in time to see her boyfriend hitting Steven, knocking him down. Steven had caught them trying to sneak out of the house and began fighting him.

By the time the deputies arrived, the boyfriend had two blackened eyes, a broken nose, bloody mouth and I was raring back to punt his gonads into his tonsils for the third time before they stopped me.

After it all settled down, the Sheriff showed Carol some explicit videos on a laptop found in the creep's car. All underaged girls performing porno with the creep. That was his livelihood and Carol had merely been his latest target. That scared Carol into reality and her desire to rush into adulthood. Her creep boyfriend found himself in Huntsville being the love interest of a Crips gangbanger for the next twenty years.

The final defining moment was Steven and Carol both began missing their mother. They asked if it would be possible to spend the Christmas break with her. I told them I had no objection and they eagerly called to set up the logistics for meeting her.

I was informed that the transfer would be at our usual visiting point and the date and time to meet. I asked Gayle and Betty to accompany us because I had a bad feeling for what was about to go down.

We got to the spot with time to spare and Steven and Carol were eager to see their mother. At the same time, Steven was saying how he would miss Betty for a whole week and how he planned to make it up to her.

As time passed, the kids' enthusiasm began to wane. Steven started trying to call his mother on his cell phone with no success. After two hours, they asked me to drive by the house to let them out. I reluctantly agreed and we arrived at a nondescript suburban house. Steven and Carol looked so lonely and vulnerable as they walked up the steps.

They rang the doorbell and soon a surprised Stella answered the door and stepped outside shutting the door behind her. Though I couldn't hear the conversation, the body language, the animation and agitation brought home what was happening.

Stella had hoped the visitation idea would quickly be forgotten in the rush of the holidays. When that hadn't happened she chose to ignore Steven's calls. She never expected the kids would be able to convince me to drive them to her house. Now confronted, she had to tell her children they were not welcomed as Carol ran back to the truck crying to be comforted by Gayle.

Steven slowly walked back to the truck and as he stoically got in, Betty gathered him in her arms as his body began to shake from the silent tears. All I could do was start the painful drive back home.

The night had fallen and the only illumination in the darken truck was from the instrument panel and the occasional beams of light from oncoming traffic. Nobody spoke until we were about twenty miles from home.

"This is how you felt. This is how you felt all those times you came to visit and we didn't show up. All those times we were too busy to be with you. Each month we would break your heart and you kept coming back to get it broken again."

The quiet barely controlled voice of my son barely held his pain. A thousand comments were in my throat and the hurt kept me silent for my response. A new sob came from the back as Carol realized after all this time what I had suffered. Gayle continued to hold her.

When we got into the house, Gayle and Betty left and went into the kitchen so I could talk to my kids.

"I can't change the past. All I can do is enjoy the present and look forward to the future. God has blessed me with two wonderful children and all I want is for them to live a happy life. I don't want them to be stuck in the past about things they can't change. I want them to be happy and I want the chance to share their happiness as a family. If I can have that then I will forever be happy."

My speech concluded, the three of us engaged in a group hug that continued until Gayle and Betty joined. With that the healing began. And life continued to go on and our family continued to prosper.

Tonight was Steven's and Betty's high school graduation. Gayle, Carol, and I sat along with my grandparents and all the Lamberts clan as a solid bloc of support for them. I felt such pride as Betty and Steven walked up to get their diploma, trying to ignore all the cheers coming from our section.

Afterwards they had to pose for all the obligatory photos and finally we showed them mercy so they could join their classmates in a nightlong merriment of celebration. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her going up to Steven.

She hugged him and he obliged allowing her without any enthusiasm on his part. She asked a stranger to take a picture of her and her son. The stranger did so and as she looked at it, Steven slipped away. She looked up complaining the photo was out of focus and she wanted another shot. She was crestfallen when she saw there were no do-overs tonight.

I suspected she had a long list of do-overs. Ted Jefferson had continued his philandering lifestyle until he met up with a gold digger that drained him financially. By the time the succubus had finished with him, he had lost his money, his businesses, and his home. He had tried to confront her and the boyfriend put him into the hospital. He had to file bankruptcy and now he and Stella were desperate to make a living. Her children with Ted continued to cause problems at home and at school.

The emotional pain and humiliation caused Stella to go on an eating binge and now she was truly of porcine size. Her entire life ruined and all she had was an out of focus photo with her son. She turned and walked away disappearing in the crowd.

********************

I was gasping as my perspiring body fell against Gayle's. We were celebrating Steven and Betty's graduation in our own private unique fashion. I heard Gayle ask, "How was that?"

I continued to try to catch my breath and said, "That was...horrible!" At my mock response, Gayle retaliated with a tickle attack until I told her I gave up. She shifted on top of me and lazily scratched my chest with her fingernails.

"Have you given any thought about the Thompson's farm?" Gayle asked about a prospective purchase we had been mulling over.

"Yeah, I think we could run cattle on the acreage, but, I'd have to see about getting some tags and clearing out all those alligators on that lake; otherwise, they'd decimate a herd."

"Oh honey, we could take the alligator hides and have boots, purses, and belts made for me, my girlfriends and Betty and Carol for Christmas presents!" And as a visual aid, Gayle brought her dainty foot up in the air making several poses. I tried to visualize a naked Gayle dressed only in cowgirl boots. What a presentation that would be for Santa.

"Speaking of Carol, where did she run off to tonight?"

"Well, honey she is sweet on Tommy Douglas and she wanted to spend some time with him. He's suppose to come over tomorrow and meet you and ask permission to take Carol on a date."

"Tommy Douglas, is that Doctor Douglas' boy?"

"Yes dear, and he is already nervous about asking you, so don't scare him off!" Gayle ordered.

"Why would he be scared of me?" I asked puzzled.

"Well it could be your reputation for beating the hell out of men trying to run off with your daughter!" Gayle drily responded.

Upon reflection I could only see that as a good thing that would serve well to make sure my daughter would be safe to make up her own mind when it came to that. Still I gave a mental shudder at what had happened to Gayle. I didn't wish that on my daughter or any other woman.

"I promise you and Carol I'll be on my best behavior."

As Gayle turned out the light I thought how there were so many different types of fortunes. You could have a fortune in gold or any other valuable commodity, and what would it ultimately serve you? The voice of Randy Meisner came to me, "You can spend all your time making money, you can spend all your love making time." I thought what a sad chase indeed trying to take it to the limit on that proposition.

The only thing I ever found worthwhile taking to the limit was safely ensconced in my arms in my bed and my children living under my roof. I was a wealthy man indeed.

Gayle whispered in my ear, "Darling, could we do that horrible thing one more time tonight?"

She licked my ear as I began to take it to the limit.