Ann: The Married Years Ch. 53

Turning the camera over, he looked at the bottom. Then he looked directly at Ann. "Jackpot!"

"Really!" she said excitedly.

"Yep! We're in business. Well, we will be."

"It's Black Friday, baby. You know there's probably a sale. And you heard what Rose told us... she thinks she can do it."

"Still won't be the same."

"No, but it'll be better. You have to admit that."

"Uh... what are you two talking about?" Betsy said, her hand holding the receipt to the recorder.

"Do you really want to know?" Neil asked.

"I really wanted to know if you're taking it back now or tomorrow. Heres the receipt."

Ann looked shocked. "Take it back? We love it! Now we have two!"

"Why in the world would you need two?" Darren asked.

"Multiple angles make better movies," she giggled.

"Come on, dad. We're taking Owen with us to Fort Wayne."

"Fort Wayne? Why?"

"Did you buy the camera in town?"

"Well, no. You know they don't have anything like that here in town. But you just said you're not taking it back. What are we going to Fort Wayne for?"

"You're going to take us to the store you bought it so I can get the accessories we need, hopefully on sale."

"I don't understand."

"You don't need to Darren. I'm sure if you're patient, Neil will explain when you're on the way," Betsy grinned.

"Do you understand this?"

"I'm pretty sure I do, but Anna's not going to share with me until you go. So go. Bring home dinner. I'm not cooking and all the Thanksgiving leftovers are at the Franklin's this year."

She was right. Once again they'd had both families together to share the Turkey day festivities, including Ann's brother Alan and his wife Shelley. It was a day filled with food, fun and football.

But with Marlin off early to go deer hunting, and Jean heading out to a friend's house for a quilting charity event their church put on, Neil and Ann were spending the day with the Thomases.

Darren walked to the kitchen and grabbed his keys. "Okay, Neil. Get the carseat. I'll drive."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They'd been in the car for twenty minutes making small talk when Neil finally said, "Aren't you going to ask?"

"About why we're going to Fort Wayne?"

"Yeah."

"I already know, son. I saw how you looked at the camera. And where you looked. And I know what you're thinking of doing. Can't say that I blame you. If Bets and I were younger I'd be looking to do the same thing myself. It's got to be pretty enticing, considering who you and Anna are as a couple. And since you're like us," he shrugged.

"So you're not judging?"

"Hell no. Anna's the most sexual woman I've ever met, with the possible exception of the one I married. I'm happy you look for things to keep that fire burning for each other. That's important... especially once kids come along. It would be easy to lose that. We almost did."

"You did?"

"Absolutely. Thank God you're mother pushed us to change."

"What happened?"

"A lot. You know some of it. The Richardsons. The Fosters. Anna knows the whole story. At least most of it. She and Betsy have become so close. I wish you all lived closer too."

Darren's mind was adrift, hitting random thoughts as they popped into his head. Neil was curious about his parents relationship and the challenges they'd overcome, but he didn't want to press. The detail he'd offered about Ann knowing was good enough. If he really needed to know, he could ask her.

"I do too Dad," he nodded.

Darren acknowledged it, but moved on. He couldn't change the circumstances of where Neil worked, so there was no sense dwelling. Instead he went in a totally different direction.

"So you flew to California, did you?"

"Yeah."

"All of you?"

"Yes, sir," he answered in a more reverent tone. It wasn't that he was ashamed of what he'd done, but he wasn't sure how to explain it all to him.

"Neil, it's me. Relax. I'm sure you did whatever you had to do. Did you get the Anderson's involved? Is that how you got out there?"

"Yeah. I called him the night I found out what happened. He sent his jet. We were out there almost a week. I mean, it didn't take all that time to deal with Dale. That was like a few days. We visited the rest. But the whole reason we went there was to rescue Valerie and Christina."

"So tell me... what happened. And don't think I'll judge. Whatever you did, he had coming. We know he raped her. Truthfully, the only real justice would be he goes to jail and the same thing happens to him."

"That's pretty much what happened, except the jail part. But, he's being sued in civil court, so there are at least some legal repercussions."

"What? You raped him?"

"Well, no. Not me. And it wasn't actually rape... at least not in the way that he did to Valerie."

"You lost me."

"I kinda figured. Let me try to explain."

Neil went over the plan, talking about the information the private detective uncovered about Dale's habits and the sheriff's deputy he was riding with. He mentioned the legal trouble that caused for Valerie's brother Sean, which was the basis for the civil lawsuit he brought against Dale, former deputy Allen and the county sheriff's department.

When he got to the implementation of the plan, for once he spared no details. He even went so far as to share how Ann got to have some naughty fun with the girls in the adjoining hotel room.

Darren grinned appreciatively to that revelation, saying, "It's kind of awesome being married to a woman that's bisexual, isn't it."

"Wait... you mean mom?"

"She didn't admit it out loud until this past summer after Anna visited. But yes."

"What!?"

"They weren't together, Neil. I should have phrased that better."

"I know that. I was talking about mom being bisexual."

"Oh. She has been since I've known her. They were talking about Anna discovering herself, and Betsy had to finally admit to herself that she'd done the same."

"Huh. Well, then yes... it is awesome."

Neil let that revelation go, although he wasn't really surprised by it. Instead he continued to recount his mission, and how things played out.

"So Valerie fucked him in the ass," Darren chuckled.

"Yeah. And like I said, it wasn't rape, because to use his logic. they were married at the time. Although I have no doubt KT would have carried through with his threat to do Dale himself if he protested. I mean, it's not like he could have stopped it, being in the precarious position he was with a green beret standing in of him holding his head, but I've seen the video. Dale would have let her even if he wasn't. That's how resigned he was because KT was there for her. Dale saw how she responded to him on the other bed. Jesus she and KT make a great couple. I'm so happy for both of them."

"Sounds like you should be. So what about Dale now. How did you leave things?"

"He's divorced. He has to pay child support and spousal support, although the spousal part will end when she remarries. He's responsible for Christina's healthcare. But he has no rights to her. She's changed her name to Franklin. I barely know him... but if I know KT at all like I think I do, you can bet he'll be adopting her somewhere down the line. Like I said, he's a former green beret. He's all about honor and doing things right. Valerie and Anna credit me for rescuing her, but he's the real knight in shining armor if you ask me. He was never in my plans. That was fate that put that family together."

"Just like you, son. Sometimes the strongest foundations are built after the original one was torn to the ground."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Anna shared with Betsy the same tale that Neil had told his father. And she also spared no details. If anything, she'd been far more graphic and vivid in her descriptions. But she also shared what happened the rest of their trip to California, most relevant of which was their last day there.

That had been on Ann's mind since the men left. Almost as soon as they were out the door, she was on her cell phone, calling Rose at her shop in San Francisco.

"So do you think you can do it?"

"Do I think? No. Am I certain... yes," Rose laughed. "It'll be harder, but I'm familiar with the cameras you have. It's all about finding the right places to copy and place content. It'll be fun. God I love you guys. You're so kinky, and yet you keep finding new ways to challenge me!"

"You're welcome. Be looking for something in the next few weeks. No rush, though."

"Good. I'm honestly going to be very busy the next month. I have a lot of shoots lined up. Have I told you I love my job?" she laughed.

"Only every time I talk to you. Hey, while I'm thinking of it... I was just talking with Neil's mom about our trip to California. Are you still seeing Carlos?"

"By seeing, you mean fucking?"

"However you'd like to define it. I'm just interested in how many happy endings might come out of the horror that forced us to fly out there in the first place. Val and KT are two."

"Don't forget Christina. You know that little girl is going to be better off."

"True. That's three."

"Well, then we're working on five. We don't see each other as often as we'd like. The distance is an issue. But when we're together? Damn that man is fine!"

"Awe! That's wonderful to hear, Rose. I hope things keep going the way you want."

"Me too. Hey, sorry to cut you off but I gotta go. I've got a shoot in an hour and I still have to get there. Have fun doing yours!"

"We will. I'll call you next week."

"Okay. Bye. Love you."

"Love you too."

She disconnected the call, a happy warmth in her heart. Betsy saw it and was moved to smile herself, although it was more mischievous in nature.

"So, can she edit your future porn shoots?"

"Pardon?"

"That's the reason you're keeping the camera we got you, isn't it? So you and Neil can video yourselves."

"Well, it is a better model than the one we got ourselves. And it's from you and dad, so I'd be keeping it just because of that. I'd be more apt to sell someone the one we bought than take yours back. But you're right about the biggest reason we want to keep it. Then again, you already knew that, so I don't fully understand the question."

"I'm just curious why you'd need two. I guess I'm really not seeing the big picture."

"Sure you did."

"Did? You mean 'do', don't you?" she asked, confused by her choice of tense.

"No. You saw the big picture... on the big screen, in DC."

Betsy wrinkled her nose. "What are you talking about, Anna?"

"You went to Washington and saw probably the most famous porn film ever made. You told me how it changed your life."

"You mean Deep Throat?"

"Of course that's what I mean. You've seen adult films. You know they're shot with multiple cameras most of the time."

"Okay, sure. But you're just fooling around with your husband. Isn't being able to just see yourself enough to make it exciting?"

"Betsy Thomas! You've said to me at least a hundred times over the years that you and I are the same. You cannot tell me you're not a perfectionist too."

"Well of course I am. But it's still hard to understand. I mean, it's just the two of you."

"True. It wouldn't be anything like what Rose did for us while we were there."

"What she did for you?"

That's when Ann went into explicit detail about her experience at the Anderson's house overlooking the marina. She talked about the photoshoots, and then the lesbian encounter with Dana. She talked about her solo masturbation scene, and then how Neil ate her out. That was followed by her sucking him... and then riding him. She tried to describe their lovemaking, and how it morphed into something much more intense.

She was struggling with how to properly put into words the magnitude of the experience. The exotic location. The beautiful house. The incredible bed in the loft. Being filmed. Knowing it was going to be professionally produced. How to properly convey all of it escaped her. That is until she had a radical thought.

"Where are you going?" Betsy asked.

"To the van. I'll be right back."

She came back a short time later with a VHS cassette in her hand. Sitting near the television, she looked toward Betsy with a hopeful smile.

"I know this is out there, but... would you like to see some of it?"

"Are you serious?"

"I haven't shared it with anyone but Neil, which is rare for me. A lot of my girlfriends have seen my pictures. For whatever reason, I've kept this more private, but I'd really like to know what you think. Plus, it'll help me explain what I've been talking about as far as camera angles and what Rose can do."

"Are you sure sweetie?"

She answered by changing the channel and slipping the tape into the video player. Holding her finger on the play button of the remote, she asked, "So, are you comfortable with this?"

Betsy nodded, and said, "Yes. But I think this requires some popcorn and wine. Don't you?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Darren was pushing Owen through the camera store in his stroller while Neil browsed through the selections available. He was looking for a few special features, hoping to find one that had the three in particular he was looking for.

With Owen asleep, having worn himself out earlier, they were still on the conversation they'd started in the car, as Darren had a more questions pop into his mind. The most fascinating to him involved his son's confrontation with Dale.

"You really held him at gunpoint?"

"You do understand it wasn't a real gun, right?"

"Well, yes. But he didn't know that."

"Ha! That was kinda the point, dad. You don't get into a bluffing situation and show them your cards."

"Well what would you have done if he would have called that bluff?"

"It's really no different than really playing poker. It all starts with knowing your opponent, and what his tells and tendencies are. After that, it's all math, calculating the odds. It's not all that complicated."

"It is to me. I've never been in that kind of confrontation before."

"Sure you have. Remember Mr. Courtney, the chairman at the country club?"

It had happened years before, when they still lived in Virginia. Neil was sixteen years old, about to enter his sophomore year of high school. Bill Courtney was the overbearing former member-elected chairman; a man who had seen the position as power. He also had a history with the Thomas family.

He'd witnessed Neil running through the clubhouse and yelled at him to stop. Neil ignored him. He'd been on the patio, playing spades with his friends when it started to rain. Having left the windows down in his mother's car, he took off to roll them up before the inside got wet. When he came back in, Bill pushed him against a wall and called him a punk. He followed that up by threatening to have him banned from the club.

"Yeah. I do remember that. He wasn't the chairman any more though... he just kept acting like it toward people who didn't know better. He'd call himself the past chairman, like that was some prestigious title. But I do recall you calling me."

"That's right. I called you, and you were out there in fifteen minutes. I can still see you dragging him by the collar down the stairs to the men's locker room. Don't tell me you didn't threaten him, because I know better."

"All I did was inform him that you were my son. I'm not sure he was aware of that fact."

"Bullshit. You brought Lynn Evanston with you. In uniform. Who brings a State Trooper to a squabble like that?"

"Someone that had already had a few altercations with him before. I don't suppose you remember, because you were younger, but he got into it with your brother once on the tennis courts. Gene and his friend Dan spent over an hour pushing the squeegees to get water off one of the courts after a rain so they could play, but they didn't go in the clubhouse and sign out the court first. They figured since they were wet, they were open. Bill saw them, put his name on it for the time they finished, and then told them he had it reserved. Gene blew a gasket and accused him of abusing his power as the elected chairman. Bill pulled rank citing the rules, and Gene said fine. He went over and grabbed the hose for the sprinkler to the putting green, and he started spraying water on the court from the other side of the fence while Bill and his cronies were playing doubles."

"You're kidding!"

"No. I didn't get there fast enough that day. Gene had already gotten into a physical altercation with him. He actually got the better of him. Truthfully, I thought we were going to get banned from the club. The chairman of the club getting into a fight with a nineteen-year-old? Who was going to believe Gene? The only saving grace was Jan Martin. She'd heard Bill bragging in the clubhouse about how he was going to get them the court, and she decided to practice her putting on the green. Apparently she wasn't a fan of Bill's. And, she was sister of one of the wives of a guy playing with Bill. She confronted him, and her brother-in-law, shaming them both right there in the clubhouse."

"So what happened?"

"I told him if he ever touched one of my kids again, the next Thomas to square off with him would be me. And... you told me when you called that his pushed you against a wall. So..."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I made him a promise, Neil. He actually didn't know you were my son. That only made it worse in my eyes, because it proved he was willing to bully anyone. Anyway, I took him downstairs and asked him if he touched you. When he admitted it, I decked him. As he was picking himself up off the floor, I told him he was welcome to file assault charges against me; but if he did, Lynn would be putting him in cuffs for assaulting a minor, because you were sixteen."

"Were you bluffing?"

"No. What you also don't know is your mother was instrumental in getting him removed from his position as chairman. Do you remember the bikini incident?"

"The what?"

"Your mom wore a bikini into the clubhouse the day you played your first round with Joel Sampson?"

"The golf pro that gave me and mom lessons! Yeah, I remember. The lady at the desk...."

"Margaret Cooper."

"Yeah. She got on mom for wearing a bikini in the clubhouse when she was just showing me how to sign in to play on the course, and I called her out for being mean to her."

"Actually, what you inferred was that your mother could wear a bikini because she looked great in one, while Margaret would definitely not."

"Ha! I kind of remember that. Mom told me I shouldn't say anything at all if I couldn't say anything nice."

"She regrets telling you that to this day. In fact, she never said that to you again. Ever."

"She didn't? Why?"

"Because you were right. Margaret was bullying your mom. You recognized that before anyone else. It turns out that she was not only what amounts to a bitch, she was also a snitch. She fed Bill information against certain members he had grudges against."

"Why?"

"They were having an affair. He was screwing her to get the lowdown on people. She was screwing him because she thought he loved her. She made up rumors to keep him. Your mom figured it out. Well, after I figured out he was screwing her in the ballroom of the club."

"How? Wait... gift of discernment."

"Mostly. That and our lawyer. There was a thing with the club championship, a couple years running. Long story short, Bill cheated your brother out of it."

"No... he won it."

"The next two years... but the stunt of Bill pulled with the tennis court got to him that first year. Gene could have won if he wasn't so angry that first round. He ended up third or fourth. But Bill did actually cheat. Gene caught him the next year... using the handicap wrong and posting lower scores. They took away his championship and gave it to another guy. Every time Bill called himself the past chairman, we'd call him the current past cheating champion, because no one had done it before or since. Anyway, you mom was instrumental in getting him removed and Margaret fired. To this day I'll never understand why he remained a member of the club. He didn't leave until the day I decked him."