Sophia Pt. 02

About dawn we all got up to go to our bedrooms and sleep. At noon, I got up feeling wonderful. I showered and went downstairs only to find that all us girls had the exact same timing. We had left over TURKEY for lunch, and it was just as good as the first time. Sadly, it seemed like there was only enough left for one more meal. Don asked if we wanted something else for dinner, but we all declined, we wanted more TURKEY except for Freddie, who was hoping for another lobster. When he went to check on the lobsters Don was pleased that his lobster cooler box had worked as well as it did and the remaining two lobsters were still alive. Freddie got one of those for lunch.

That afternoon was the planned showdown with Don. Vanessa and Freddie kept Megan and Robin busy while Kathy and I nervously sprang the investigative report and the PDA on Don.

"Don, can you come with Kathy and me into my den?"

"Sure, what is it?" He asked as he followed us in.

"Don, do you remember when you took down that tree without asking me, and then groveled in apology?"

"Of course I do."

"Well, Don, this time it is my turn to grovel, but I'm not so good at it. I'm really, really sorry though." I asked Kathy to explain, hoping she would do a better job. "If you want to yell later, that's okay." I was just hoping that he wouldn't get so mad that he stormed out of the house, taking my girls with him. I might never see them again!

Kathy began to speak. "Don, back when you first met and rescued Maria, which was a wonderful thing to do, your daughters told Maria a really strange story about your divorce. It sounded unbelievable, something too extreme for even a soap opera. Maria had just come out of a bad relationship with her ex-boyfriend at the time. Because of that she was afraid of getting personally involved with you and your kids and, after hearing such an outrageous story, she decided to have you checked out. She contacted her ex-husband, who is a really decent guy and thinks the world of Maria. She told him about her recent break up, the accident, your rescue of her, and the story of your divorce. He helped her to find a private detective who did a superficial investigation and confirmed a lot of the story. Even though he is divorced from Maria, her ex-husband still treasures her as a friend. He wasn't satisfied with the report and decided a more in depth investigation was needed. The headhunter that contacted you and had you sign a release was pointed at you by Richard, her ex. That was an immoral invasion of your privacy. What is worse is that Maria guessed what was happening early enough that she could have stopped it and didn't. She had enough information already, but she was curious. She liked you and your children, and wanted to know everything."

"About ten days ago the final report showed up. She was dismayed to see the terrible betrayal you suffered completely confirmed and then some. She needed advice and asked Vanessa, Freddie and me to read the report, too. We should have said no, but we were curious, too. And we, too, invaded your privacy by reading the file. All four of us are desperately sorry. It is all the worse because we knew we were acting immorally even when we did it. So we can only beg you to please, please accept our most humble apologies."

I had been staring down at my desk with guilt and worry. When Kathy finished, I desperately nodded my head in agreement with her apology.

After thinking for a few moments, Don replied with a deep sigh and a sadly resigned look, "Kathy, Maria, I don't care. The investigation, yes it was an invasion of my privacy. The head hunter trick was underhanded, but I never believed anything good would come from it, so it doesn't really hurt." He sighed again and his apparent feeling of hurt seemed to deepen, even though he was obviously trying to not let it show. "Maybe a lot of people would be angry over something like this, but I just don't feel mad in the least. Ever since I met you Maria, I've been having a wonderful time, the best time I can remember in my entire life."

"I'm an open book. I don't feel like I've got any skeletons in my closet or anything else to be ashamed of. I don't want the whole world knowing my life, but I have no objections about a background check. I know you would have never done such a deep one all on your own. I can certainly understand someone like Richard wanting to protect you. After all, you've got a lot of money, you had just been hurt in a bad relationship and you were feeling wary because of it. I'm really not surprised, so don't sweat it."

"As for the files, however, I'm not comfortable having them around as they contain a lot of painful memories for me, so please destroy them. I don't want to read them. I don't want to get angry over incidents in my past, or mistakes in the report. I spend too much of my time being very angry and I am trying very hard to stop, so just burn them, please."

"As for your apology, consider it accepted. Let's just pretend the incident never happened, okay?" Don did his best to give us a good smile, but there was a lot of deep sorrow and pain in his eyes, which made my heart ache for him. Kathy seemed to shudder, too at his expression. I had betrayed him, and I had to make it up to him.

"Oh Don, I'm so happy that you are able to forgive our actions, we were so worried and felt so badly about it. It is a great relief to me and all of us," Kathy replied, but her voice sounded odd to me.

Don then changed the subject and said, "I'm going to find Megan and Robin. It looks like perfect snowman making materials outside and I'm going to see if they're interested."

I would have kind of liked to build a snowman with them, but Kathy grabbed my arm, preventing me from following Don.

"Shit!" Kathy said. "You stay here. I'm going to get Vanessa and Freddie, we have to talk!"

She rushed out and I collapsed. Even though Don had said nice things, evidently Kathy felt this hadn't gone well at all, and it was all my fault!

They all came back to my office to find me with my head collapsed onto my desk, worried to death about what Kathy had to say.

"What the hell happened? Don seemed okay when he went outside with his kids," Freddie asked.

Kathy spoke. "I explained the investigation to Don. I really think that the invasion of his privacy doesn't bother him in the least. However, I believe the fact that it was us who did it to him is tearing him apart. Quite possibly we are the first adults that he has begun to trust since his divorce. He is probably desperate for some adult friendship. Well, you read the report about his old friends and family. Now we, his first friends since his divorce, just betrayed him, too."

I began sobbing into my arms.

"Don't panic, I think we can fix things. One big item that counts in our favor is that we didn't try to conceal our mistake from him. In the long run that will count for a lot. To repair things, we've got to stop taking him for granted. We eat his food, we joke and tease him. But we three, I don't know about Maria, really spend all our social time with his kids."

"Instead of springing the PDA on him right away, I think we should do more to involve him in our activities. He probably won't want to watch any of our chick flicks with us, but for everything else we should try to include him, even if we have to force him. Let's admit it, we are four pretty hot looking women and most guys would be flattered if we insisted they accompany us."

"This evening instead of watching movies, what do you say we hit the game room and drag Don along? We can even try to start his dancing lessons tonight. I don't think Megan or Robin know anything about dancing. It would be fun with us all trying to teach the three of them. Tomorrow Don goes skiing with us, or we all stay home. If we have to we can get him an instructor and make the man learn. Enough of him sitting home by himself! We've got to show him that we genuinely care for him and that we enjoy his company all the time, not just when he is cooking for us or when we're eating his wonderful food."

"One other thing, although flirting and teasing him are okay, we need to have some serious conversations with him, too. Vanessa, you've been using Maria's home gym. Drag Don with you next time and give him some pointers."

"Freddie, besides that Kincaid stuff that Maria likes so much, she has some other really nice art work here. I think Richard picked it out." I was feeling too upset to object to that slight. Kathy kept talking. "I've seen Don looking at that stuff. You're an artist, talk to him about it."

"We've played at being his friends, let's actually do the job. The guy has a heart of gold; it is time to patch the cracks in it. We'll start the polishing now, but we just won't announce our plans for a while. That isn't really going to be necessary. Only a blind man wouldn't realize what was really going on. It is common for friends to help a jilted friend recover from a bad relationship, that's what friends are for."

We all agreed to Kathy's new plan. Freddie rushed out. When the rest of us walked more slowly out, she was already thundering down the stairs with her ski clothes.

"I think we should have a good old fashion snow ball fight," she yelled out. We thundered after her. We had no problem getting Megan and Robin involved, but Don seemed pretty listless. Finally Vanessa tackled him and Freddie put a hand full of snow down his back. That seemed to get him from a completely dead state to half awake. But the life was still drained from his eyes.

I was right next to Don during most of the fight. I just couldn't bring myself to throw a snowball at him. I always had to be on his side and he never threw a snowball at Kathy or me, either.

Well, he finally slipped and fell at one point after being hit in the face by Robin. I found myself diving on top of him. I didn't fall; I deliberately landed on top of him like a secret service agent protecting the President. It wasn't a conscious decision. I just did it. When I landed on top of him I found out why my subconscious made me do that. Even with the bulky clothes we were wearing, my arms swept around him with surprising strength and I felt myself squeezing his body next to mine as if my life depended on it. I was trying to squeeze out all his pain and replace it with my own warmth. Sadly the heavy clothes seemed to prevent him from even realizing what I was instinctively trying to do.

Robin and Megan came hurrying over. Robin was afraid that she had hurt her father. "Dad, are you okay?" Don let out an exaggerated snore, pretending to be asleep. So I did the same, but my snore was more ladylike. I was too embarrassed to think of anything else, while lying on top of him. That, as it turned out, was a big mistake. Robin put a hand full of snow down the back of my coat! I let out a scream that provoked a fit of giggles from all the ladies present, but it also caused some loud guffaws to spring from Don.

That hand full of snow got me out of an awkward situation and lightened Don's mood. It was well worth a cold wet back. I will have my revenge on Robin one day I thought to myself with relish.

We spent the whole afternoon building snowmen and snow forts, and getting into snowball fights. It was a silly day, but we all had a blast. Don's eyes were still lacking their normal sparkle, but they were getting better. Freddie disappeared for a while and when she came back out she had a tray loaded with mugs of hot chocolate and some of Don's cookies. I mentally thanked her; there had been enough of Don waiting on us. It had been nice and he would probably still do it, but it was way past time for us to cater to him for a change.

At dinner we finished the last of THE TURKEY. Who could believe it? A twenty-two pound turkey, gone in three meals? Before dinner we had clued Megan and Robin in on forcing him to go skiing with us. They were both in favor of the idea. It was a piece of cake, we just blackmailed Don.

"Don, tomorrow you are going skiing with us," I told him.

"Maria, I've never been skiing in my life. Truthfully, I would be a danger to myself and other people on the slopes."

"Well, that really sucks and I was looking forward to skiing tomorrow," said Megan.

Don look confused. "Well, you can all still go. I'll just stay here, or I can even wait for you at the lodge."

"No, Daddy, we all decided. We all go together or we all stay home together," Robin said. Why did I like it so much when she said "stay home", when referring to my house?

"But…"

"Don, you've got a choice. Go skiing or disappoint your daughters," I told him. Megan and Robin put their heads together and stared at Don with big puppy dog eyes.

"But I don't have any equipment, or even any ski clothes."

"Don, you just let me worry about that. Will you come with us, or do we all stay home?"

"Okay, okay, I give up! I guess I'll just have to make a fool out of myself again, what else is new?"

That evening we played ping pong, pool and air hockey. Don sucked at everything but pool. What really got the evening going was when we all trooped down to my dance studio. The only problem we had was who would partner with whom. It was settled in a way that I didn't like, but it was really the best solution. Vanessa, the best dancer after me, would partner with Don, Kathy with Robin and Freddie with Megan. I would play dance instructor.

No one would listen to me! I wanted to play too! But I had to pretend to be the strict teacher. I would dance the lead and demonstrate a step with Vanessa. They couldn't count steps; they couldn't remember their foot positioning. Arrgh! I needed some CAKE and Don hadn't brought one! I finally settled on my goal for the evening to get them remembering just two steps. Not three or four, just two. Robin was actually the best of the three, with Megan and Don being equally bad. I was wondering if I would live long enough to merely teach Don how to Waltz, let alone Tango, Foxtrot, Mambo and all the rest. The man kept putting too much power into every move. He didn't merely lead his partner, he dragged her along. I was going to have to buy some steel toed shoes for both Vanessa and myself!

At the end I put some rock and roll in the CD player. Don tried to play wallflower and I wouldn't let him. Then he tried to stand there like a lump. So I gave him my best "don't you dare tick me off anymore" look. I showed him a few moves appropriate for the music playing. He seemed to do better with real music rather than with me just counting off. I'd have to remember that for next time.

After dancing we were all tired so Don headed up to his room and we girls settled down to watch at least one movie; tradition is tradition after all. I had a huge piece of pecan pie to make up for the missing CAKE. I decided to forgive Don after all.

The next day, Don, that bum, got up early and made breakfast. I swear I'm going to staple him to his bed. I called the lodge ski shop and made some special arrangements. Gear sold at a ski resort is normally a lot more expensive than back in town. They've got a captive market and they have to make every buck possible during the season. I told them when we came in to lie about the prices to Don. I would just put it all on my credit card and he would never know the truth. If he found out how much some of the equipment cost he would probably balk, but I don't believe in cheap boots or cheap bindings. Show me something that will give me the slightest reduced risk of injury on the slopes and I'll buy it.

Don had some insulated brown coveralls in his SUV, and he wanted to wear those for skiing! I'm going to have to kill him; there is just no other choice. I wanted to take Don to the shop while the rest started skiing, but they refused. They all wanted to put in their two cents worth regarding Don's choices for clothes and equipment. I was pissed because I didn't want Don to have any choices; I wanted him to select what I told him to.

Well, perhaps it was a good idea that Freddie and my girls were there. Freddie was our own ski expert and had actually been in quite a few competitions, so she chose the equipment best suited for Don. I made sure, though, that my girls and I picked the colors. Nobody else was going to dress up my….., Don. Shit! I don't stand a chance with him, why do I keep thinking like that?

I had already arranged a special instructor for Don, an older retired gentleman named Bill. He worked at the lodge, but not for the lodge. He's a great teacher for beginners. I think he is a retired banker. Bill worked with Don for two hours and then we made sure Don took a break. Learning to ski when you are tired is how accidents happen.

Vanessa took over his instruction then for the next two hours. I was just as good a skier as Vanessa, but she is a better teacher. Then we all took another break. For the last two hours Freddie taught Don and she had him going down some moderate slopes by the end of the day.

I have a storage locker at the lodge to store my ski equipment in, so we all dropped our skis off there. We decided then that instead of heading straight back to the city tomorrow we would try to get in some more skiing. Freddie pointed out that we didn't want Don to forget everything that he had learned.

When we got back home we snacked on some more of Don's fabulous cookies and headed upstairs to shower and wash all the sweat off. An hour later we were all back downstairs, except for Don. Robin ran upstairs to check on him and found him sound asleep, still in his ski clothes, so she woke him up and chased him into the shower. She came back downstairs with a big grin on her face and seemed quite pleased with herself when she reported on her actions.

"I went upstairs and he was laying half on the bed, still wearing his ski pants. I tried to wake him up and he just kept sleeping. I pinched his nose closed and all he did was open his mouth and start breathing that way. So then I took off his socks and tickled his feet, but he just moved his foot away. Finally I got mad. I grabbed his big toe and bit it! He jumped up in bed screaming, "Whoa, toe!" Daddy jerked his foot back from me, rolled over and fell out of bed. I think I'm grounded for a month!" We had it under control for her entire speech, until her last sentence. Then we all lost it and Robin was grinning like she had just won the Olympics.

While Don showered, Freddie and I started dinner. Don had brought up a huge cooler chest packed with Dungeness crab this time. He must like fat women, because I didn't see any way we could eat them all! We steamed them and had them with some baked potatoes and asparagus, yummm. Unfortunately, Megan and Robin didn't like the asparagus, too bad, all the more for us!

After dinner we just goofed off for while. We watched a little TV and played some video games. I was starting to get better at the video games and I beat Robin a couple of times, but Kathy cleaned all our clocks.

Dance lessons resumed that evening. Instead of just counting steps again, I tried Don with some actual music. I put "Moon River" on and took Don through a few steps. Then that stupid moron went and did something dumb. He pulled me close and whispered to me, "This was always one of my parents' favorite songs, especially my father's. It makes me kind of happy and sad at the same time whenever I hear it. Happy to remember all the good times with them and sad that they are gone."

So Don decides to share something so heartwarming and intimate like that with me and expects me to teach him at the same time? I think not! When he tried to release me and let me go back into my proper position, I just hugged him close. The waltz I was trying to teach him gradually turned into a shuffling slow dance that you see most couples perform. I swear, if he embarrasses me one more time I'm going to knock his block off.