All Aboard Andi's Dream Ch. 04

Ignoring the crowd that was growing in their room, and not seeing the twins high-five each other before scrambling into the already overcrowded bed, Paul said, "I dreamed I was in a hospital room, and I had a pretty Asian nurse..."

"Who is she? I'll kill her."

"... you tell me, you were there, and the girls were there, and we had an extra twenty years on all of us. The twins' husbands were there as well."

"What did they look like?"

"They looked like guys. I don't know. I wasn't paying attention to them. Madeline was very pregnant. She was ready to pop, and Sandy just gave birth to a perfect baby girl named Sierra."

Andi gasped and smiled; her eyes lit up with a beautiful sparkle. Everything that transpired over the past few hours fell away. "Tell me about Sierra," she whispered.

"She was all swaddled up and so cute. I didn't get a full inventory, so I'm just guessing at all ten fingers and toes, but there were two young men in the room with us, they sounded like they were Madeline and Sandy's younger brothers, they complained about the twins teasing them a lot."

While Andi quietly pressed Paul for details he didn't have, Sunny, Lucy, Macy, and Nicoletta discussed the situation. "I truly do not understand what is going on here," said Miss Nicoletta.

"You get used to it with these two," said Macy.

"What else did you see?" Andi whispered in his ear.

"I saw you, and you are so beautiful, even more beautiful than now. It broke my heart that you were married to such an old cripple."

"You're not so old," she started.

"You're going to be so beautiful in twenty years," he suddenly choked up. "Why didn't you trust me and tell me about the videos?"

"I don't know... I was terrified that you'd leave me... I was afraid they would close your clinic... You don't know what it's like to have two children depending on you... I... I was afraid you'd show the girls..." she wept softly.

"I will never show the girls," he said forcefully so she would appreciate the truth in his words, "but..."

'Oh no,' she thought, 'here it comes...'

"...you will probably hate me for saying this..."

'I deserve it if he hits me,' that thought popped into her head without bidding, her eyes filled with tears, and she could only gasp softly, "Not in front of the children, please."

"the ones with you alone... with the toys... I kinda liked them."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I got to see my wife having a grand old time..."

"With other men!" she said, loud enough for Lucy and the surrounding others to hear. "You want to see me with other men?" she whispered softly, her eyes rolling to see if anyone had heard her.

"No, those are horrible, but the first few that you showed me where you were playing with your toys," he turned to look her straight in the eye, "those really captured my attention." He grinned at her and gave her a sly wiggle of the eyebrow. "Those will keep me company on a long, snowy night when you're at a conference somewhere."

"We should make some of those of our own," she said with a sly grin. "But let's store them on a hard drive and not the internet"

They both laughed quietly, then kissed softly. "I will always be there when you need me," said Paul as their lips parted.

"And I will always trust that you will," said Andi.

Just then, Lucy grabbed her shoulder and started saying, "Andi? You need to wake up."

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Andi awoke spitting out sand, "What...?" She was lying face down on the white sand, her hair a mess, and sand stuck to her face where the drool had run from her mouth. She looked around her blearily and realized she was on the women's beach; Andi had rolled off of her beach mat and ended up face down in the sand. She looked around and the other beach mats were empty. Sitting up, she found her head was woozy, her vision spinning, but she recognized Macy and Nicoletta with Yi at the surf line, looking at something the twins and Bitty were doing in the sand.

Just then, Lucy said into her microphone, "Hang on Gus, she's awake." She dropped to one knee next to Andi and said, "Hey buddy, are you recovering?"

"Where's Paul? I need to see Paul!" Andi's eyes were wide in panic, and she grabbed the neckline of Lucy's t-shirt.

"He went back out on the boat," Lucy explained, "you were passed out, so he decided to get a little more experience..."

"Is he ok?" Andi gasped, "his leg, he was bleeding so much!"

"His leg? What blood?"

"Paul! When he cut me free, you know, from the anchor!"

Lucy adjusted her microphone. "Gus honey, did Paul slice open his leg with an anchor?" She rolled her eyes and then laughed. She turned to Andi and said, "Gus said no, but he'll be glad to do it for you if the money is right."

Andi was angry. Paul could be dying, and they're making fun of the situation. She tried to get to her feet, but she couldn't keep her balance and fell down on her bum and started crying, "Where's Paul? Paul needs me!"

Lucy saw Andi's glass of Special Lemonade and took a sip. "Damn girl! Do you like a little lemonade in your tequila?"

"Where's Paul!"

"Andi, listen to me. How much of this have you had?"

Andi focused on the glass of Special Lemonade and reached for it. "Just two." Lucy kept the twelve ounce glass out of Andi's reach as Andi said, "Or three." Lucy spoke to Gus on the radio. "Are you still at the dock? Get Paul over here ASAP. Andi's had way too much to drink, and she's freaking out. Something about a concussion to Paul... other than drunk, she appears to be fine..."

"What's going on?" Nicoletta strolled up to see what the shouting was about.

"Any idea how much she had?" said Lucy as she handed the glass of Special Lemonade to Nicoletta.

"Oh, my goodness," groaned Nicoletta as she sniffed the lemonade, "I didn't realize she had gotten the hard stuff." She reached in the cooler and lifted out the half-gallon container marked 'Special' and found that it was three-quarters empty. "She got quite a bit."

"Where's Paul?" Andi demanded and started crying.

"He's on his way honey, he'll be here in a moment," assured Lucy.

"No! He shhhouldn't be moving in hish condishion."

"She's been lying in the sun too," said Nicoletta. "Should we move her to the shade?"

Lucy felt Andi's forehead and said, "Yea, she's warm and dry, let's get her in the shade. Come on, honey, let's get up and go find Paul."

"You're my besht friend, you know that? Let's go find my man." Lucy hauled Andi to her feet and helped her stumble toward a stand of palm trees where a small tiki hut sat. "My man!" growled Andi in a voice that Lucy had never heard before. "My man!" then in a tiny little voice, "I never had a man before. Frank was a toad; Paul is a man! Paul tried to kill himself so me an' Sandy an' Mad-line could live in peace 'cause of the videos. You didn't see the videos, did you?"

Lucy looked over at Nicoletta, perplexed, and mouthed the word "Videos?" but instead of shrugging, Nicoletta looked shocked and mouthed back, "She's not supposed to know."

"I knew it wasn't Frank because Frank has a liiiittle teeny tiny dick. These guys had real dicks. Not big and awesome like Paul. Did I tell you that Paul has a big dick? It's really big."

"I think you told me that."

"But any who... howww, anyhow... Hey! I was tied up and blindfolded and if I didn't play nice, they would beat me, so I figured what the hhhhell, ya know? I might as well play along and try to enjoy the ride. They still beat me, and the ffffawkers didn't tell me about the video, OR the girls... I don't do girls... do I?"

Lucy was both shocked and confused. She looked over at Nicoletta, who was carrying Andi's clothing, a cooler, and a beach mat. "Later!" was all Nicoletta said.

"Ok honey, let's rest here in this little house and Paul will be right along. Ok?"

"My man! Did I tell you he shaved me?" Andi's dream was still vivid in her alcohol sodden mind.

"No, you didn't."

"I was so shamed... ah-shamed... 'bout the videos I tied an anchor to my leg and jumped in the water. He jumped in and shaved me, he cut the rope on my leg... but he cut his leg... it's so weird... He has a lot of blood."

Paul showed up just as Andi passed out again. "How is she?"

"She's polluted," grinned Lucy, "maybe a touch of sunstroke, but she'll be ok, she needs to sleep it off. She got into tequila."

"Ta-killya? Yeah, she's not going to be a happy camper when she wakes up. Say, Judge Atherton, do you have any saline in that mini-hospital of yours?"

"Yeah, that'll help, and she was passed out in the sun too," agreed Lucy.

"Should I have some sent over here, or do we want to take her there? I can have a cart here in a matter of minutes."

"Let's take her there," said Paul, and he scooped her up in his arms. Lifting her roused her a little.

"My man!" she growled and patted his arm, then in a little girl's voice she said, "My daddy," and passed out.

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Paul and Andi were soon cuddling in a hospital bed in the Atherton's mansion's mini-hospital, the saline solution and vitamin shots were helping Andi recover, but as far as Andi is concerned, the real help was knowing that Paul was safe and uninjured. She told Paul the dream she had, including the dreams within the dream, often breaking down in tears. "It was so real!" she gasped. "I still can remember everything. You know how dreams fade on you? Not this one. Every moment is still there in my mind... underwater, waiting to drown and watching you swim toward me... seeing the knife slip on the rope and cut your leg... It was awful."

"Shhhh, it's ok. We're all here, we're all ok, and we're going to honeymoon here on Nisi Arcadia as long as you want to stay. Lucy and Gus and John can fly home straight from here, and the girls just love Yi. Did you know that she's trying to teach them fractions?"

"Fractions?" Andi perked up. "They're so much better at math than at reading." She was silent for a long time. "Are you mad at me?"

"No, honey, we're on vacation! I tasted that lemonade. It's really good, I can see why you got carried away." Paul gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

"I haven't been that drunk in so long... I think the last time was when I married Frank."

"That explains a lot," chuckled Paul, who received a swat for that statement. "But what you said about how he treated you... how he'd beat you... I understand so much more now... honey, there's something we need to talk about."

Andi cringed. The words "there's something we need to talk about" never have a good connotation. "Might as well say it..." she said, dreading the response.

"I don't know how you found out. Judge Atherton just told me this morning, but videos exist. Frank really did video tape how they treated you and he released them to a porn distributer. Nicoletta and I are coming down like rolling thunder on those websites that have access to the videos, and they're being very cooperative, because if they're not, we're going to be very, very rich. Denver PD has a warrant out for Frank's arrest..."

"Oh God," Andi said in a tiny voice, and buried her face in Paul's chest.

"Judge Atherton invited all of us to stay here for a few days while she and I get the legal ball rolling and take care of that ex of yours, ok baby?"

"Your clinic!" she wept. "They're going to find out and close your clinic."

"Baby, this is not going anywhere, there will be nothing to find out, and besides, it's not my clinic, it's the VA's clinic. The VA doesn't close anything. Besides, it's a pulmonology clinic. I'm not a pulmonologist, it's your clinic - you're going to be the lead."

"Lead? Me?" She looked up at Paul, her eyes brimming with tears, but a smile of determination was starting to bloom.

Looking in on the couple from the doorway, Miss Nicoletta smiled. "Well, I think my work here is done. Care to join me in a drink, doctor?" and she elbowed Lucy and gestured with her head toward a room at the end of the hall with a large teak bar.

"I think that would be an excellent idea," said Lucy.

"Good, because I think our friends Macy and Gus have beaten us to the punch."

"I'm hoping for something a little stronger than punch," said Lucy with a rueful grin.

Macy was indeed sitting at the bar, as were Stan and Sunny, while Gus stood behind the bar serving drinks. As Nicoletta and Lucy found a seat at the bar, Gus poured them something cold and frothy into margarita glasses. It tasted of citrus and vodka and whatever it was; it was exactly what Lucy needed.

A thought occurred to the ER doctor, and she set her drink down and turned to Miss Nicoletta. "You said 'my work here is done.' Are you implying that you manipulated the events of the past hours?"

The judge just smiled at Lucy and took another sip of her Gus-arita. "My dear doctor, that would imply that I have powers that verge on the divine. That would be impossible, or possibly blasphemous."

Gus watched the play of emotions dance across Lucy's face with great amusement as he topped off their glasses. Lucy thought, then after another draft of her drink, followed by a very unlady-like belch, she asked, "So there was no nudging of events as they played out?"

"Actually, I didn't have to, but I'm incredibly worried about dear Andi. I knew she was abused, but I didn't understand the extent. Could you imagine being bound, blindfolded, beaten, raped, and impregnated, then abandoned just a couple of weeks before you gave birth to the children? And then... and this part gets me, you meet the man of your dreams, and you have a fairly normal sex life? With all that guilt she's been carrying? You saw how it manifested itself today."

"Oh dear God," sighed Lucy. Being an ER surgeon, she sees every day the horrible things that people can do to themselves, but she never hears the justification they use for their actions. Now, for the first time, she has heard the thought pattern of a dearly loved friend, and now hopes she never hears it ever again. She crossed her arms on the bar and lowered her head to hide her tears.

Just then, a man wearing a pilot's uniform strolled in and walked up to the bar. "What 'cha pouring?"

"A little concoction I whipped up," said Gus. He filled a margarita glass and handed it to the flier with the reminder "Eight hours, bottle to throttle."

"Nah, we don't worry about that around here," smiled the pilot as he took a sip.

"That rocks!" exclaimed Stan. "Do you treat all your employees that way? How can I get a job here?"

"Employee?" said the pilot huffily.

"You haven't been around a lot, dear," said Miss Nicoletta. She turned to the crew and passengers of Andi's Dream. "This is Donald Atherton, my husband."

As Don shook hands with the assembled men, Macy was shocked. "He's your beard?" she asked Justice Atherton softly.

"Oh, my goodness, no! I love him dearly!"

"How long have you been married?" asked Lucy.

"Oh, um... what is this... Wednesday?" she started counting on her fingers "Thursday, Friday, Saturday..." She rolled her eyes up and counted silently... "Forty-three years come April."

Gus snorted, trying to hold back a laugh as John walked in and held up a finger, signaling Gus for a drink. "What's so funny?" the pastor asked.

"We just found out that Miss Nicoletta is straight," said an astonished Macy.

"She is?" asked Donald.

"I am?" asked Miss Nicoletta.

"But I... we thought... I..." Macy sputtered.

Miss Nicoletta laughed. "Don't worry about it. It's extremely complicated, but it works for us. I tease and tickle and maybe have an occasional dalliance, but I belong to Donald, and he belongs to me and if stories are invented, we enjoy their entertainment value."

John sipped his beer mug full of ginger ale and shrugged. "I'm not sure about the first bit, but the second part makes me happy." Donald introduced himself to John and proffered his business card. It showed Donald Atherton as the owner of A-Line Air, a cargo and short haul passenger airline. A bell went off in John's head and he showed the card to Stan and Sunny, who had the same reaction.

"Mister Atherton, my associates Sung-Mi and Stan Carlson, and I have an idea which we would like to share with you. That is, if your airline can increase their capacity," smiled John.

"If your idea is solid, then I'm sure I can find a way to increase our capacity," said Donald with a smile.

"Oh, I know that smile," grinned Miss Nicoletta. "That smile means money. I like money."

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"Jibe ho!" called Paul.

"Jibe ho!" replied the twins, and they flattened to the deck regardless of the fact that they were not near the boom of the smart little Bermuda rigged sloop. The boat turned downwind, and the mainsail filled with wind as the boat gently glided over the water. Andi lay on the foredeck below the jib looking up at the gulls wheeling overhead, the mast tracing a line back and forth across the sky like a sleepy metronome, the twins giggling and their feet slapping against the deck as they run back and forth along the deck wearing nothing but their floaties. Andi herself was wearing just the bottom of her bikini and a lot of suntan lotion, lovingly applied by her husband.

Well, it's not far back to sanity, at least it's not for me

And if the wind is right, you can sail away and find serenity

Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see.

Believe me.

How many times did she think that the canvas in that song was on a painter's easel? Now she knows what the songwriter was talking about. Sailing under canvas was the best therapy she could ever imagine. She still remembers every detail of that horrible dream, like it really happened, but relaxing with Paul and her friends, making gentle love on the beach, eating fresh caught crabs and lobsters, and now sailing around and around Nisi Arcadia, the agony of that dream is slowly fading. She was so grateful that while she had that horrible breakdown, Paul was actually out on the sea, learning to handle this beautiful boat so he could take her and their girls out like this, neither of them knowing how much she would eventually need this "canvas therapy." Once again, she wondered if God had planned this outcome just for Andi.

"What 'cha thinking of?" asked Paul as he leaned forward and called out to her.

"What makes you think I'm thinking of anything?" she boosted herself up on her elbows to look at her husband, who was manning the tiller, giving him a better view of her spectacular breasts.

"Just asking."

She got up and walked aft to the cockpit where Paul sat, fully aware of the picture she presented to him, striding the length of the boat, barefoot and bare-breasted. His eyes devoured every inch of her body as she settled down next to him. "Just thinking that I want to stay here, relaxing, not working, not wearing clothes..."

"It's tempting, but Don and Nicoletta will probably start to charge us rent."

"It's so cold back there," said Andi, remembering the wet slushy day they left Buffalo.

"I could light a fire and make us some hot chocolate. We could snuggle and wrap up in a warm blanket and watch the snow fall."

"I want to learn how to cross-country ski," said Andi, leaning in close.

"There's a doctor who could teach us in Springville," said Paul as their lips met.

"Are you guys getting kissy again!" shrieked the twins in unison.

"Don't forget, this was YOUR idea," said Paul. "Remember the Missile Toads at the cabin?"