Steamboat Willy Ch. 06

"Call me when you find out anything."

"No, I won't call you. I am not going to tell you until you get home."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No! I won't tell you until you get back home to me. Hurry home if you are interested in knowing."

"I gonna paddle your little butt when I get my hands on you."

"When will that be?"

"God baby, I just don't know. I don't want to go. Those are MY guys in deep trouble over there. I have to go. I have no choice if I am going to live with myself. Please don't be angry with me. I love you but I must do this if I want to call myself a man."

"Sob! Oh Baby, I know! I know the kind of man you are. I just can't live with out you any more. I'll give you a week, and then I am coming after you. I mean that, seven days, then start looking for me. I'll be there."

"NO! Honey please stay home, Please don't come looking for me. I need to know you are safe at home. I have to be able to concentrate on what I am doing."

"Ok, Big guy! If I go two days with out hearing from you I am on my way, is that clear?"

"Make it a week. OK."

"Oh God! It gets worse and worse! You just get your ass home. I will make you no promises. You just do what you have to do. I will do what I must do."

"Listen Sally, let me get to work, I need to call people. I need more information. I hope to get this resolved before I get there so I can turn around and come home. See if you can stay with Dori and Tom tonight I'll call as soon as I can. I love you, you are my life."

I fired up my laptop and pulled up a couple of files. I got a few quick answers from it. I tried another link and got a little more information. Then I tried a guy who owed me big time. He said, "Rich, I have been looking for you to call. I have a little something for you. Your guys are all OK. The bad guys are after money. Can we deal?"

"You know better than that, if we deal here they will grab some one else tomorrow. Right!"

"Yeah I guess so."

"You know I am right! You can't negotiate with those people; they have no ethics. Can you communicate with them?"

"Yes, more or less directly."

"OK. Tell them I will commit one hundred million of my own money to achieving the release of my men. Not one cent for ransom but what ever it takes to hire or buy traitors or information to bring me he and his people dead or alive. No games, no bargaining. Give my people up alive and well, or prepare to die."

"Damn, that doesn't leave any wiggle room."

"No, I am shipping a hit team from Israel who can pass as Iraqis. They are very good. Tell their leader I will demonstrate my power if he desires. Tell him I have intelligence asset's that can pin point him at any time.

"Tell him I know the exact location of both of his wives and of his seven children. I have his father and mother pinpointed in Saudi. His grand parents are also easy targets. I need but raise one finger and they all die. Painfully! Slowly. Please pass that along and advise him that I have no constraints upon me. The United States Government has no control over my actions. I need a reply in one hour."

I stopped my pacing up and down the aisle between the seats in the cabin, twenty-five paces each way and I sat in my seat. I had given it my best shot. I thought about Sally, my darling wife. As I relate this story to you I am constantly reminded of my inadequacies in describing her persona. She is a vibrant young woman. She has a beautiful body and a wonderful personality. She exudes confidence and sexiness. She has a smile that gives most men instant arousals. There are few men who could resist her advances. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only man on whom she unleashes the full force of her smile. It stops me in my tracks, her smile. My resistance melts instantly. She knows exactly how to do it too.

Her happiness and energy are irresistible too. I am the worlds luckiest man it be married to her. I need to get back to her. I know there are many men who are way more handsome and sexy than I who desire her.

My phone vibrated. It was my contact. He advised me he had passed my message to their leader. I said, "Tell him I will demonstrate my ability to him in thirty minutes, his youngest son will be shot in the hips by a silenced bullet a close range. The child's survival is questionable. The clock starts now."

Twenty-two minutes later I received a message that the prisoners had been released. I ordered our course reversed.

Ten minutes later my contact was on the sat. phone again. He said that the man's wife had called and told him the Iraqi Police had been in his house with his wife and son. They had received a phone call then apologized to her and left the house.

I picked up my phone and hit speed dial #1. Sally answered instantly. I said, "Sally, Sweetheart, I have some bad news for you."

"Oh no! What now!"

"You have to cancel your dates for tonight, its all over, I'm on my way home."

"What? I can't do that. Just hurry home, Rich. Give me your ETA and I'll meet you at the airport."

"Our ETA is six fifteen."

"Rich, I am so happy you are coming home to me. I would never have believed I could miss anyone so damned much. I have been crying ever since you left. Hurry back to me."

When I stepped out of the door I saw her, She was running across the tarmac. As I hit the deck at the bottom of the stairs she slowed only a little as she crashed into my chest. Her arms were around my neck and her lips crushed against mine. I will never forget how she looked running towards me. She wore white jeans, yellow sneakers with white socks and a yellow-cropped top. Her hair was in a ponytail out the back of a yellow ball cap. God, she looked about eighteen years old, absolutly adorable. We stood holding each other and kissing for a long time.

She pulled back and smiled, "I can't believe you are home. How did you do it?"

We walked toward the helicopter and I gave her a quick idea of how things went. She hugged my arm tightly as we lifted off. She said, "We are going to stop by the Club for a while before we go home. OK?"

"Fine, what's going on?"

"Dori and Tom are meeting us there. It is Bar-B-Que Hoedown Night at the Club. We can eat something and dance a little before we go home. It'll be fun."

"Sounds good to me as long as you don't leave my sight. Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well are you pregnant?"

"Oh! Dear God, I forgot, YES! We are pregnant. I have a doctors appointment in four days to verify it, but the IPT says yes."

I looked in her eyes, "Are you happy?" Her blue eyes looked deep into mine.

"Oh! God yes! I couldn't be any happier! This is my dream, to be carrying my sweet husband's baby. To be joined in the beautiful act of creating a new person who will be part of both of us fills me with wonder and amazement. My love for you is unbounded and is limitless. I just can't tell you what you mean to me."

A few minutes later we landed at the Club. We went to her office and I washed my face and combed my hair. Sally had clean jeans and a shirt for me. She brought my old cowboy boots too. They were super comfortable. They were scuffed here and there and rundown in the heels a little. They were originally custom-made boots that were very expensive when new. She knew I loved to wear them. We walked into the dinning room and were amazed at the transformation. It looked like a rustic western Saloon or dance hall. A country band was playing and I had to grin at my lovely wife. Then I heard a voice scream, "Richey! And a warm little body flew into my arms. The scrunched up face shed tears and the arms held me tight. After a deep shuddering sob she looked up at me. Dori! She kissed me hard then sort of melted against me.

She looked up at me and said, "You had Sally and I mad, scared and worried silly. How could you do that to us? Tommy was trying to calm us down. He would get me calm and then I would look at Sally and go all to pieces again. What would we do without you? Sometimes Sally would just sit and stare at nothing and with big tears running down her cheeks. It about broke my heart to see her, what could we do?"

"Hey, I am sorry, I just had to go, luckily I got it all resolved before we got half way there. My company has contingency plans for almost every possible thing that could go wrong. In this matter the plan says I go toward the site of the incident as soon as possible, meanwhile I start playing my cards. We have resources we can call on all over the world. It takes time to get them on line and functioning. I could have been flying into danger. There is no way in hell I would let Sally go with me."

Dori was still in my arms; Tom and Sally stood watching as I held her. She looked up at me and sniffled. She kissed the corner of my mouth and turned and walked to Sally. She looked at Sally, "What in the hell are we going to do with him?"

"Dori, I guess that we just have to keep loving him. I know I can never stop loving him."

We got a table and I ordered a Captain Morgan and water. Sally joined me. Tom and Doris had Margaritas. Dinner was buffet style so we went through the line. I loaded up on the baby back ribs. Everything looked good. It was. After dinner I got them to fill me in on the meeting. They said everything went on smoothly. There were no problems. Everyone basically agreed and the staff people were working to draw up tentative contracts.

When we finished dinner Tom asked Sally to dance. Dori looked at me and pouted. "Don't you want to dance with me?" I said, "Sure Sweetie, I would love to dance with you. We walked out on the dance floor and she stepped into my arms. It was a slow dreamy love song. Her head was on my shoulder. Her hair smelled delightful. I glanced at Sally and saw she was watching me. I mouthed 'I love you', and she smiled and mouthed 'I love you too!' Dori pulled back a bit and looked up at me. "You aren't flirting with another girl while you are dancing with me are you?"

"I sure am, I was telling my sweet wife I love her."

She smiled up at me, "Then I forgive you. I wish someone loved me like that."

"I'm sure Tom loves you."

"Not really."

"Are you serious?"

"Just forget I said anything, please."

The song ended and Doris turned and walked away. I followed her as she stepped out onto the balcony and put her hands on the railing. I touched her shoulder, "Sweetheart, please talk to me. Why are you crying?"

She turned to me, "Tom and I are getting a divorce. It is so sad for the kids. They don't realize anything yet."

"May I ask what happened, I thought you guys were in love."

"We drifted apart I guess. He has someone else he wants to be with. I still care about him a lot. It is not the sexual kind of love anymore. He is more like a brother."

"Wow! From the way you guys acted on our short cruise I thought you were in love with each other."

"No, we were trying to put up a good front. I don't interest Tom sexually any more. I think you turned him on more than I did."

"What?" I saw a movement out of the side of my eye; it was Sally and Tom. I was holding Dori's hands. I looked back at Dori, "Does Sally know?"

"Yes she does." She looked at Sally and Tom, "I told Rich about our divorce. We had him fooled."

"Dori! What are you going to do? Where will you go? Sally and I don't want you to leave us. Tom either."

Tom said, "Hey, I not going anywhere, I have to be near my kids, I love them very much. Dori will stay with my folks for the time being. They love her and the kids. I will find an apartment for now. I want to be with my friend."

I looked at Tom and put my hand out, we shook hands and he smiled, "I'm so glad you and Sally are here for Dori. She needs you guys. If Dori can stay with you guys here until she is ready to go home I would appreciate it. Good, I love you all of you." I saw tears in his eyes as he turned and walked away.

"Dori, do you know his 'friend'?"

"Yes, I know him quite well. He was Tom's second in command on the destroyer. He is a very nice man, I like him a lot."

"Wow, that is something to think about,"

"I want Tom to be happy and to be able to see his children. I haven't decided exactly what to do."

"Sally said, "Well I know what you are going to do until you make up your mind. You are going to come and live with Rich and I. We have plenty of room. I have been after him to add on another wing anyway."

"Sally you know why I can't do that. I just couldn't do that."

I said, "Why not, we would both love to have you with us. You will be free to do what you want but will always have a home with us. Right, Sally?"

"Yes, Rich is right. You belong with us. Tom loves us and can see the kids anytime he wants to. What is the problem?"

I said, "Well, I sure don't know. What is the problem, Sally?"

"Rich, Dori has fallen in love with you."

"What?" I looked at each of them. Sally smiled and nodded. Dori looked down at her folded hands. I stepped to Dori and lifted her to stand before me. "Dori, you make me so damned proud that you feel that way about me. I do love you too. And to be honest with you, not as a sister either. I have to tell you that Sally is my soul mate and will always be my true love as long as she lives. I must defer in this matter to what Sally wants to do. I don't really think it will be a problem for me because I will never cheat on Sally, never."

Sally grinned, "It is settled then, you and the kids move in with us. You and I will go look for a new doublewide for you to join on to our house. That way you can be as much a part of us as you want or a private as you want. Will your Nanny move with you."

"Yes, she would never leave me. She loves the kids as much as I do. She lost her husband and children in an accident and will never look at another man. She is part of my family."

Sally hugged Dori and kissed her with tears in her eyes, "Honey, we love you too! Both of us do. If you want to be part of our family we welcome you with open arms. We don't want to loose you."

"Sally, I love your idea, Tom and I talked it over and we both want to remain active in the steamboat business. We are both still friends. He is embarrassed to bring Frank, his friend, around his kids. I want him to feel free to do that. If the man is his significant 'other', he should be proud of him." He won't bring Frank around his Mom and Tommy either."

Sally grinned, "After things get settled down we will invite the two of them for dinner. Then a few weeks later we will invite your in-laws too."

Dori and I both laughed at how devious Sally was. I asked, "Do you maneuver me around that way too?" Sally looked at me, "No, dearest man, I never do that, never." She stood and started to walk away. I gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her to me and down on my lap. I softly turned her face towards me. Her blue eyes were full of tears.

I kissed her tenderly and said, "Don't cry baby. I know you twist me around your finger to get what you want. I love it, I expect it, but if it was something really important that I really didn't approve of it probably wouldn't work."

"I know that, dear. And I know when you get your back up I must provide solid reasoning to change your mind. Then most of the times when I think about it and sort out my ideas I find out you are right. If you want, I will stop using my feminine wiles to try and get my way."

"No, I always enjoy your sweet wiles. I will tell you if I think you are going too far, but I don't know what too much of you is. Listen, guys! I am giving out. I want to go home. Dori you have several options, come home with Sally and I, or go to Tommie's place. We can have the chopper take us home and you can use our car to go where ever you want or you can go on the whirlybird with us."

"I think I'll call and tell them I am going home with you two."

Forty minutes later we were home and Sally and Dori went to our room to shower and change. I fixed each of us a small Brandy and sat and waited for them. I fell asleep. I awoke with a start. I looked around and found them asleep and cuddled together in the guest bedroom. I was pissed. I went to the master bedroom and locked the door and went to sleep.

Later that night I heard the doorknob rattle and then a soft knocking. I turned over and went back to sleep. I awoke early in the morning and made coffee. I put a pan full of hash browns on the stove and some frozen biscuits in the oven. I laid out some link sausages and some eggs. I sat at the table and sipped some coffee.

Sally and Dori walked in about a half an hour later. They didn't want to face me. Sally walked to me and said, "I'm sorry. You are angry aren't you?"

"Yeah! Somewhat."

"Dori needed some comforting last night."

"So! Just because I have a cock I can't give or help give comfort, or is that all she got?"

"Rich, you are jealous!"

"Sure I am, I was ignored and shut out of your lives. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't like that very much. I might have been OK with it if you had said something, I don't know, but at least I could have been advised about what was going on."

Doris was crying now, "Rich, we didn't plan on that happening, we talked a bit and fell asleep. The last thing in the world we would want would be to hurt or upset you in any way. We both love you very much. If I am the cause I am out of here. I won't do this to you guys."

"Doris, I don't want you to leave, these thing are going to happen in any new relationship. Things will work out I'm sure. Now! How do you want your eggs."

"Cooked, on a plate with all that good smelling stuff. Any way is OK."

"OK girl, here you go, two eggs scrambled, Sausage, hash browns and biscuits. That will be one kiss on the lips please. Mmmmm. Thank you. What will you have Sally, dear?"

Sally placed her order and was served a few minutes later. She paid with a kiss plus an extra kiss for a tip.

I fixed mine and joined them.

I told them I wanted to go check on the PRINCESS and WILLY and they wanted to go too. Instead I sent them off to look at mobile homes. The boats were just fine. Minor glitches were being fixed and a few improvements were being made.

Tom showed up with his friend Frank. Frank seemed to be a very nice guy. Nothing was effeminate about either guy. Who can tell? I gave them the task of working up an estimate of cost and time to open the river back up to steamboat traffic. I told them to let us know what they would need to do the job. I suggested a good surveyors GPS unit and a boat were starters. They laughed and agreed with me. I told them to investigate side-scanning sonar; it would be a helpful tool.

There were about fifty-one miles of river to check out. I told them that I suspected that no one had any good accurate information they could use. I knew the information the State had was decades old. The idea I had was that they needed a stable platform, such as a pontoon boat with high powered trolling motors fore and aft, and an outboard on the stern. Retractable sonar head amidships. The GPS and several sonar units would all tied together electronically and sending data to a computer.

They would need several strong young guys with chain saws and axes to get them through some parts. They would probably need a diver or two on a small workboat with winches and a small crane. They would have to get permits from the State to cut anything. Lots of fun work."

The two ex-naval officers were grinning from ear to ear to have something constructive to do.

I went home and fixed myself a tuna sandwich and a lemonade. It hit the spot. I watched the noon news and things seemed quiet. I moved to my recliner and took a nap.

I was awakened by soft sweet lips against mine. Sally pressed her lips to mine then moved aside and Dori kissed me too. It is a delightful way to wake up. They were both excited that they had found the perfect mobile home. The installers would be out tomorrow to see where we wanted it put. They had found the model they liked and discovered that the dealer had another one in stock ready to go. It even had colors they liked better than the model home. The exterior matched our house too! They also found out that if we joined the three mobile homes together with covered walkways they would be considered as one home for zoning purposes.