Sophia Pt. 02

Don began snaking his way past the roadblock at the door as he called out, "I'm going to start breakfast." Megan and Robin followed their father, saying that they would help.

My friends all looked at me with fearful faces. I picked up the lovely jewelry that Don had given me and slowly put it on. My friends finally grinned at me and raced off to get their own jewelry.

At breakfast we all kept complimenting each other about our pieces. It made Megan and Robin very happy although Kathy looked a little ridiculous with a broach pinned to her pajamas.

After breakfast we girls decided that it was officially pajama day. Don refused, but the rest of us stayed comfortable. The breakfast we finally had was so late that it we decided it counted for lunch. We watched two movies during the afternoon and ate more of THE CAKE.

Don made his traditional Christmas dinner for us. He had insisted, and my girls had looked almost panic stricken when I started to tell him no, but one look at their faces and I fortunately changed my mind.

Don served a spinach salad with no bacon because of Freddie. As an appetizer we had steamed mussels with white wine and garlic. Freddie's main course was the biggest, freshest king crab legs that Don could find. Don made a fourteen pound garlic encrusted prime rib with Yorkshire pudding for the rest of us. It was pretty damn fine! I'm not sure that I have ever had a prime rib that good before; maybe I have, but I couldn't recall for sure. He also made candied yams; he seems to prefer them over baked potatoes.

I know a fourteen pound prime rib should serve more than six people, but there didn't seem to be much left when we were done eating. Once again we were too stuffed to move. Don had done all the cooking, so we should have done the clean up, BUT WE DIDN'T WANT TO MOVE! Saint Don shooed us all out of the kitchen and did all the clean up by himself. We rolled ourselves to the great room and sat around the Christmas tree, moaning our pleasure at another terrific meal. If Don and I hadn't been interrupted I'd have tried to keep him chained to me for life. Follow the plan, Maria, follow the plan. Don't blow it, it is too dangerous to go too fast.

…………………………………

I must have been the happiest pot scrubber on the face of the planet. Maria had kissed me. Maria had kissed me. MARIA HAD KISSED ME!

Oh man, and what might have happened if they hadn't fallen through the door? I don't know what it means. I know Maria likes me, but does she REALLY LIKE ME? That is the real question! Maybe she was just overwhelmed by the gift and our thought behind it. She is just so far out of my league. These things just don't happen. I spent a blissful hour and a half cleaning the kitchen, far longer than I really needed, happily imagining Maria and me together.

When I was done I went out to the great room and found everyone snoring away on various pieces of furniture. I looked down at Maria lying there and I had this urge to pick her up and carry her upstairs to my bedroom. One of these days I would just say fuck it and act on my desires. But not today with Megan and Robin here, I can't do anything to jeopardize their relationship with Maria.

Everyone was sleeping so soundly that I didn't have the heart to wake them, so I found a chair that permitted me to conveniently watch Maria's sleeping face and I sat down to wait.

It took about a half hour for Kathy to wake up. I think she needed to go to the bathroom. She suddenly sat up, looking around the room like she didn't know where she was, and then she reached over and shook Freddie awake. Freddie nudged Vanessa and without a sound they all trudged off. They smiled at me as they walked by. It was kind of funny that they didn't wake Maria. Why do women always have to go to the bathroom in teams?

………………………………………

Freddie hissed at Kathy and Vanessa, "Why did you two have to follow me to Maria's office? They were this close." She helped up her fingers, with only a millimeter between them.

Vanessa answered, "We didn't follow you; we were trying to stop Megan and Robin. Why did you open the door? If you hadn't we would never have fallen in."

"I wasn't opening it, I was closing it. Then you four came charging down the hallway and before I could get the door latched quietly, you all fell into me and I fell into the door."

Kathy asked, "Did you see anything good?"

"Oh yeah, they were giving each other thorough oral exams with their tongues. It was a tossup whether Don would throw Maria on the couch or she would trip him to fall on the couch."

Vanessa asked, "Do you still think we have to go through this idiotic plan to polish Don and let him date other women?"

Kathy replied, "Unfortunately, I think we still do. Maria thinks of herself as the great scarlet women. Don thinks of himself as a loser. He's probably already making up some nonsense to explain away why Maria kissed him, anything but the possibility that she really loves him. The thing I can't believe is that Maria can't see how he really feels about her. It is so obvious it is sickening. Polishing Don or giving him lessons isn't really a bad idea if it helps him get rid of his self image as being a loser. On the other hand, if Maria would just rip his clothes off that would accomplish the same thing and be a hell of a lot quicker. The really critical thing, though, is that Don has to be brought to the point where he will be able to accept Maria's past."

"I swear, if Maria blows it with Don, I'm going after him," Vanessa stated with conviction.

"That's about how I feel, too," Freddie agreed.

"I can't believe you guys! Maria has first claim even if she has to move slowly. While I like Don, I don't think he is somebody that could rock my world," Kathy said.

"You don't think he would make a great husband?" asked Vanessa curiously.

"Oh, he would probably be a great husband for someone else, but I kind of like bad boys and he most definitely ain't one of those!" answered Kathy.

"Are we still going to spring the PDA on Don tomorrow, Kathy?" asked Freddie.

"Yes, Freddie, and Maria said she wants to enlist the kids tonight. She'll talk to them after Don goes to bed. We'll watch one more Christmas movie tonight and then we'll put on a chick flick, that will be sure to scare him away. Come on, let's get back before someone comes looking for us."

…………………………………………

I was still so scrambled from kissing Don that the evening seemed to go by in a disjointed blur. Don had a hard time meeting my eyes and I had a hard time meeting his. When the second movie started he finally went up to bed. We waited for about twenty minutes and paused the DVD.

"Megan, Robin, if you don't mind there is something we would like to talk to you about." Everyone gathered around and I began to explain things to my girls.

"My three friends and I like you two very much. We also like your Dad very much. We found out some things about your Dad that makes us want to help him."

"What's that, Maria? Is there something wrong with Daddy?" asked Megan in a concerned tone of voice.

"No, nothing really to worry about, but he has an usual problem for a man his age. Let's see if I can explain it to you this way. Megan, you and your friends are probably already starting to talk a little bit about boys, and in two or three years maybe you will even start dating boys." And they had better be good enough for you or no one will ever find their bodies, I thought.

"It's normal for most young people to start dating around sixteen, but your dad had to work hard all his life taking care of his mother and his sisters, even when he was a teenager. As a result, he has dated and been with only one woman in his entire life, and that is your mother. That is really unusual for a man his age. On top of that, don't get mad at me for saying this, and don't get mad at your mother either, but he didn't even have a regular relationship with your mom. So, when it comes to dating women he is kind of like a fumbling beginner and he doesn't have any confidence in himself at all. Do you two understand what I'm saying? It is not his fault."

Megan and Robin gave me some strange looks. "I think I understand what you are saying, Maria, but what do you mean?" asked Robin, and Megan nodded her head.

"When I first met your daddy, the way he rescued me kind of reminded me of a knight in shining armor. Well, all the troubles he has had lately have kind of made his armor a little rusty so my friends and I thought we would give your Daddy lessons on how to meet, talk to, and maybe even date women. We kind of made a joke about polishing his armor."

Robin looked really confused and so did Megan. "Maria, he talks fine to you, Freddie, Kathy and Vanessa, what do you need to teach him?" asked Robin.

"Right now your daddy is our friend, but he doesn't know how to be a boyfriend."

"Are you saying our daddy is a dork?" asked Megan with a touch of anger. Freddie and Kathy laughed, and Vanessa bit her tongue.

I blurted out, "Kind of, but he's a really, really nice dork." At that, Kathy, Freddie and Vanessa just completely lost it. Their laughter kind of bled the anger from Megan's and Robin's faces.

"We really like him, we just want to polish him up a bit, sort of like when we've been giving him dancing lessons. We think we can turn him into a real hunk, and he'll have to beat women off with club." He'd better beat them off, or I'll beat HIM with a club.

"But, Maria, we thought you kind of liked Daddy. We were really hoping that you and him could…." and Robin let what she was saying die off. But I understood what she said.

I gathered the two of them into my arms and hugged and kissed them. "I do really like your father, and maybe even in that way. That is a big secret and you had better not tell him. However, he has never really dated anyone else but your mom and he doesn't know how. I'm like the first woman he has met since his divorce. I just have to be sure that he is the right one for me and I am the right one for him, and he has to build up his confidence to even be with another woman. I figure that if we give him a good polishing, then I can see what kind of man he is and he can see what he wants in a woman."

"Right now I see a lot that I really like in your daddy, but your daddy's confidence is in the crapper, and until we can build it back up I don't think me being his girlfriend would be a good idea. For example, you notice how he is practically our servant for these weekends. It is nice, but he carries it to the extreme. He has got to able to look in the mirror and see what a wonderful guy he truly is because he certainly doesn't realize that now. Once he starts treating himself with respect, others will do it too."

"We think that if we turn him into a smooth talking handsome hunk of a man it will be so obvious that even he will see it, and so will others, and slowly but surely we will start to rebuild his ego and confidence. We really like your dad, and only want the best for him. Do you understand?"

"Why are you telling us this?" asked Megan.

"Get the ballcaps, Freddie," said Kathy. What ballcaps?

"Well, it is kind of silly, but we started a little club to help your daddy. We want to teach him how to dance, talk to women, exercise properly, dress well, style his hair and even ride a horse. These are all things that we think a real gentleman should do. Nothing bad, mind you. We're not trying to keep this a secret from him because we need to get his agreement on this and, we figured, why not get your help too? We're not with him all the time, so he's going to need a couple of coaches at home to keep an eye on him."

Freddie hurried back into the room and Kathy started to speak. "How would you two like to be junior members of the Polishing Don Association, though you could say Polishing Dad Association? We even got some nifty hats and membership is free."

Kathy took a cap from Freddie and put it on. It was dark gray with a picture of a knight on it. Half his armor was bright and shiny, the other half was rusty. Her cap said P.D.A. with cursive letters. It also had "Planning Dept" and her name written on it. Freddie had her name and "Comic Relief" on hers. Vanessa's had her name and "Physical Education Dept" embroidered on it. I got mine and, sure enough, it said "President".

Robin quickly grabbed hers and put it on. It had her name and "Junior Member" in bold letters. Megan took hers, put it on, shook her head and said, "This has to be the silliest thing I have ever heard of! I better join to keep an eye on you guys, but you're not going to tell Daddy about this association, I am. Adults always making things so complicated." With that pronouncement, she grabbed the DVD remote, hit the play button and sat back in her chair. She was muttering to herself and I wasn't sure I wanted to hear what she was saying. So, we all settled back to finish the DVD. When it was done Megan and Robin went upstairs to bed instead of making it a regular movie night. The rest of us did the same.

The next morning we were all at the kitchen table while Don was making French toast. Megan was inhaling her coffee as she turned to Robin and said, "You tell him, I'm too sleepy."

Robin brightly replied, "Okay"

"Daddy," she yelled.

"Yes, pumpkin?"

"Maria, Vanessa, Kathy, and Freddie all think you're a dork."

"That's true, honey. But I'm a nice dork."

Don didn't even pause while flipping the french toast.

"Well, we started a club to undork you, so you can be a stud and meet lots of women. Is that okay?"

"That's fine, I could use a good undorking. Do we have to pay anything?"

Robin turned to me and I frantically shook my head no. "No, Daddy undorking is free." All my friends desperately had their hands over their mouths at this point. I think Freddie was laughing so hard that tears were coming out of her eyes and she started snorting through her nose.

"What's the name of the club?" Asked Don.

"The Perfecting Daddy Association," answered Robin. Megan wasn't even paying attention, she just sat there and sipped her coffee like this was an everyday occurrence for her.

"That's a nice name, do we get t-shirts?" asked Don.

"No, just ballcaps."

"Well, I guess that's better than nothing."

With those solemn words, we were now officially in business. I was beginning to think that maybe I needed a good undorking too.

The End of Part Two

To be continued...

*

Hope you enjoyed it. I apologize that I am still building the story in Part Two, lots of excitement in Part Three.

I have been informed by my editor that it is sweeps week. Look forward to the exciting conclusion of Sophia in Part Three. There will be romance, sex, cooking, intrigue and comedy. Honest, would I lie to you?

Line from Part Three.

"Carefully she put the laser sight on Don's date for the evening. Try and steal Don, she thought. This is the end for you."