Steamboat Willy Ch. 07

He looked at me for a while. "Dori and Georgie are going to stay the night a Tommy's house. Tom is there and wants Dori to sleep with him. She hasn't decided what to do."

I asked him what else she said. He said, "She said she was afraid that if she heard your voice she would start to cry. She told me that she loved both of us no matter what she did. You heard me say it might be irreversible."

"Rich, what do you mean by that?"

"If she sleeps with Tom she will not sleep with us for at least a month, if ever."

"What?"

"Sugar, we don't know who Tom has been with. Gay men are very susceptible to catching STDs. We can't take a chance on that. Besides she may not want to come back."

I felt tears start from my eyes. "Oh! God! I'll miss her so!"

"I know, I will too! I think she needs to find out if she still really loves Tom."

"I think you are right."

Rich looked at me, "Do you think we should leave in the morning for a months cruise?"

"No, I can't do that to her. She may need us tomorrow. Either way this is going to be very traumatic for her. She is going to go through hell either way."

"Well I know one thing, she sure ruined our loving for tonight."

"Honey, please just hold me tight. I love Dori."

"I know girl, I love her too! I wish we could help her but she has to reach this decision herself."

I didn't sleep well that night and I know Rich didn't either, the poor guy tossed and turned and got up and paced the floor several times. I tried to cry quietly but each time he would pat my back or kiss my cheek.

He got up and fixed coffee about five. I was awake and joined him. We just sat and looked at each other. The phone rang about seven and I grabbed it. It was the pilot of the helicopter wanting to know if it was all right for him to pick up Dori and Georgie and bring them home. Rich nodded and I approved the flight. An hour later we heard the chopper land. Dori and Georgie walked in a few minutes later.

Georgie looked at us and said, "You two look like hell. Did you stay up all night?"

I said, "Not really, but we really didn't sleep well."

Dori walked to me and stared at me. She burst into tears and I stood and took her in my arms. I held her until she stopped crying and I gave her some Kleenex. She dried her eyes. She looked at me, "Well, at least I know now. It will never work, nothing is left for either of us." Rich turned and walked into our bedroom and closed the door behind him. Dori looked at me. "Did I hurt him a lot?"

"Yes, a whole lot. I don't know if he will take you back, I just don't know. I know he will insist on medical tests before you touch either of us. That takes a month to be sure."

She stood with her shoulders sagging. She looked totally devastated. Tears ran from her eyes. She sniffed and said softly, "I have to go see my babies. I guess I better not kiss them either." She walked slowly towards the door.

Georgie looked at me. "You guys really love her don't you?"

"Yes we do. This is very hard on us too. I have to go see how Rich is doing. I know he warned her but I don't know if she understood what he was telling her. I really don't know if he will ever forgive her."

Georgie looked at me, "Do you mean that? That will kill her. She was trying to see if it would work between she and Tom. She thought it might be better for her kids to be with their Daddy. Will he throw her out?"

"Hell NO! He would never do that; she will always have a home here. He may just never let her back in our bed. I have a feeling he feels betrayed. I know he was deeply hurt. I also know her is a sweet and wonderful man. He will try and work things out. Now I have to talk to him. There is coffee over there."

I walked in our bedroom and saw Rich standing looking out the window. I went to him and put my arms around him and pressed against his back. His hands took mine and he lifted one to kiss it. He turned in my arms and bent to gently kiss my lips.

He pulled me to the bed and we sat on the side of the bed. "Sally, I just don't know what to do. We both love Dori so very much. I could never make her leave, I hope she didn't think that was what I meant."

I squeezed his hand, "Rich, I told her I didn't know if you would ever take her back."

"Oh! No! That might really hurt her. We have to go see her right away." Rich stood and hurried out the door with me right behind him. He ran into Dori's house. Maria saw him and pointed towards Dori's bedroom. Rich opened the door without knocking. Dori was on her face on the bed, Her face buried in a pillow. Her shoulders heaved with her sobs. Rich looked at me and pointed to the other side of the bed as he knelt beside her and placed his big hand on her back and softly said, "Don't cry Sweetheart, we can't stand to see you cry. Please talk to Sally and I. Please. "

I leaned to her and put my arm around her and kissed her cheek. I whispered, "We both still love you dear and understand why you went to Tom. Please talk to us so we can get over this and be back together."

She slowly turned over; her pretty face was a mess. Her make up was all smeared, her eyes red and puffy and her hair hanging over her face. She looked at each of us. Her little bottom lip was quivering. I knew it melted Rich's heart because it almost broke mine to see her like that. Rich took her face between his hands. He kissed her full on the mouth. Her eyes popped open and she pushed him away. "You can't do that, I may have something."

Rich grinned, "No! I trust Tom; I just talked to him and told him you were worried about giving something to your children. Tom said there was no chance of that, neither he or Frank have ever been with anyone else. So we want to find out what you want to do."

Dori stared at him, then looked at me. She started crying again. She sobbed, "I never knew how much I love and need the two of you. I thought I would die if you kicked me out. I felt so hopeless and I thought I had destroyed my life."

Rich reached out and hugged her to him and motioned for me to join them. Dori twisted her face to kiss me. It felt damned good. It felt good to be holding both of them again.

When we were all calmed down Dori told us about her time with Tom. He evidently had a difficult time getting an erection and when he did manage to get hard and penetrate her she said she felt nothing. Even with foreplay she was dry and it hurt when he entered her. Neither of them could cum and they both agreed that what had been between them was gone. They agreed to remain friends and not avoid each other. Tom said he and Frank were talking again and that they both wanted to work things out if they could. Tom said that his desire to try and get back with Dori and the kids was the heart of the trouble that he and Frank were having.

Rich pushed Dori back. "Go wash your face and fix your make up both of you, I can't stand messy looking wives. Then let's go set in the den and cuddle for a while. I'll tell Georgie things are back to normal.

Rich met me in the den and I saw Georgie's lipstick on his mouth again. I took a Kleenex from my pocket and wiped it off. I looked at him and told him I didn't like finding her lipstick on him so much. He grinned and said she was just grateful because we took Dori back. I said, "I don't care, I don't like the little bitch throwing herself at you that way. She is too damned beautiful for me to let her get away with that."

"Don't you trust me Sally dear?"

"Yes I trust you but we both know that sometimes even the strongest person can be seduced under the right circumstances. I don't trust her."

"Sally that will never happen, I love you and Dori too much to take a chance on loosing you. The thought of loosing Dori scared me last night and this morning. I know it would have been much worse if it had been you." I pressed my lips to his and told him I loved him. He said he was going down to check on the new paddle on WILLY and the new thruster control on PRINCESS.

I went to see Dori and the children. This was supposed to be the first day of my period but nothing showed yet. I didn't see Georgie around. Dori said she had gone for a walk. Tommy3 ran to me and hugged my legs. I picked him up and kissed him and hugged him. I felt a tug on my jeans and looked down to see little Hilda trying to pull herself up. I put Tommy3 down and picked Hilda up and kissed her nose to hear her giggle. All the cares and worries of the day seemed to melt away as I held the child to my breast. I sat in a chair and closed my eyes as I held her. I felt a kiss on my cheek and opened my eyes to see Dori smiling at me.

She petted my hand and said, "You really love them don't you? I think you are just practicing and wishing for your own."

"You have that right, keep your fingers crossed." The only thing I am worried about now is that I think Georgie is making a play for Rich."

"What?"

"We need to watch her, she keeps marking him with her lipstick."

"Oh my God! She told me last night she has never made it with a man. She has been living as a girl 24/7 for about three years now and told me she wished she could find a guy like Rich to try and loose her virginity with."

"Damn, which way did she go?"

"She said she was going to walk down to the dock."

"That's where Rich went."

I put Hilda down, Dori called Maria to watch them and we went out and jumped in the Jeep and dove to the hill overlooking the dock. We saw Willy just pulling into the dock. Rich jumped up on the dock and secured the lines. He helped Georgie up on the dock. She slowly walked up the dock.

Rich vented all the steam from the engine and the boiler. He sat hand held his head. He got up and opened the firebox door and raked the hot coals and partially burned wood into a metal bucket. He sprayed water in the bucket. He sat and stared into space. Georgie walked right past us. Her lipstick was smeared and she was crying. Dori called her name and she suddenly saw us. She took off running. We followed her and found her in the house with the door to her room locked. We could hear her inside crying but she wouldn't answer us.

We heard the helicopter land and we rushed to he window in time to see it lift off and fly away. It was only on the ground for about ten seconds. We ran back and pounded on Georgie's door. Finally she answered. She was crying and telling us how sorry she was for what she had done. Dori shook her and asked her what she had done. She wailed and cried again. Eventually she confessed that she had seduced Rich. She looked at us and said, "God, it was wonderful, better that I ever dreamed it could be. Then he.." She looked at both of us and buried her face in a pillow and sobbed her heart out. Dori was getting angry by now; she shook Georgie and then flipped her over and slapped her face. "Tell us what happened then? Tell us now. I mean right now."

She sniffed, "I never saw a man fall apart like that. He screamed as if he had taken a mortal wound. It was pure agony. She said he ripped the fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it as if it were a toy. She said he stared at her and sat on a bench. He softly said, "I can never face those sweet girls again as long as I live. I smugly preached to them about having zero tolerance for cheating and then cheated on them, sob, with a man. They will never forgive me, I will never forgive myself."

I shook her, "Where did he go? We have to find him. You have killed him you little bitch."

I ran to the phone. I called 'Mean'Sally' and asked the captain where the chopper took Rich. He said Rich was dropped off at the airport and the chopper was returning to the ship. I didn't know what to do. I called Moondog and Targon to the house and sent them to trace him down. I gave them a company credit card that had a million dollar upper limit. I called Marge and talked to her for a long time. I told her what had happened. She cried and said she loved Rich and that she knew he loved us too. She said, "He is a proud man. This has to be killing him. I don't know if he can live with this. I promise I'll tell you if I hear anything. I have seen how you love him and I know you will forgive him."

I told her I had already forgiven him. I told her to spread the word through out the company that his wife was desperate to find him and would pay fifty million dollars to anyone who gave information leading to my finding him."

Six months went by without a word. Dori and I were wrecks. I went to the shop to get his axes and his adze to place them in a museum being built to show the old methods of boat building. His tools were gone. Nobody knew what had happened to his tools. Like him, they had vanished without a trace.

About a month later Rich's father and uncle came to see me. They told me that they had been timber cruising, looking for naturally bent timbers on some land that Rich and I had bought a year or so ago. They swore they heard what sounded like someone using an adze but the sound had stopped before they could locate where it was coming from. I could hardly walk by then, I was pregnant with our twins. Dori and Maria rode herd on me and would hardly let me move at all.

I called Marge and told her to have aerial photos made of the whole area south of here, concentrating on the property we owned. These photos were very detailed and could be blown up so that you could read the label on an old soup can on the ground. It took several weeks of work by photo analysts to find what I was looking for. They brought me the blown up shots of what I was hunting for.

Some one was building a log cabin in the middle of nowhere. They were using wooden pegs to hold it together. The builder was living in a lean-to while he was building it. I knew it was Rich. I knew it was his workmanship. The logs were hewn so they fit together perfectly with hand made splines fitted in groves between the logs.

There was even one picture of the builder. He was a tall bearded gaunt man. It was Richmond Murphy.

I had Moondog and Targon go with me to find him. We got as close as we could by Jeep. It was a two-mile walk through thick woods from there. I had to rest every twenty minutes. I was seven months pregnant by then and carrying twin boys. Big boys. The guys even carried a folding chair for me to rest in. I heard the ax singing in the distance. According to our hand held GPS we were very close.

We came to a clearing and I saw the cabin. I saw him carry a short timber inside. I motioned the men to stay put and slowly walked to the cabin. I was only ten feet from the door when he stepped out. He froze and stared at me.

I smiled and said, "Where is our bedroom my husband."

His face scrunched up. "Sally, my god, what happened."

"You made me pregnant is what happened. We are going to have twin sons Darling, They are going to need their Daddy." He turned abruptly and dodged into the house. He was back in a second carrying a hand made chair.

"Here, please rest. You look exhausted. You shouldn't have walked this far."

"No! I will not sit until you kiss me. I need my husband with me now. I don't know if I can do this alone."

He gently held me and kissed me. He pulled back and looked at me, "You are even more beautiful than I remembered. Is Dori still with you?"

"Yes, she is waiting about a mile from here. She wanted me to see you first."

"I am so ashamed by what I did I can't face you."

"Richmond Murphy you were a man, not a perfect man, but my man. No, OUR man, Dori and I forgave you the second we found out what happened. You didn't have a chance against Georgie. She told us all about hat happened before she left. We haven't heard a word from her. Dori is worried about her.

"Dori and I have prayed every single day for your safe return. We love you Rich; we are just existing without you. Please come home. If it doesn't work for you, you can come back here and we will never bother you."

Rich smiled a wry little smile; he put both hands on my huge belly. His mouth dropped open, "It kicked me!" I smiled, "Yes, Dear, I think I am carrying two jackrabbits or a pair of bullfrogs in there. They are very active. The doctor says they a very healthy little boys, they are going to need a very active father to raise them. Are you available or should I go back alone?" I felt a tear run down my cheek, Damn! I promised myself I was not going to use tears to get him home. No feminine wiles. I stood and started to walk away. I looked back and he was just behind me. He saw Moondog and Targon. He shook his head. Moondog put the chair under me and I rested a bit. Boy I got tired easy.

Rich said, "Wait here for a minute." And he ran off. He was back in a moment with two poles. He lashed one to each arm of the chair. He grinned at my two bodyguards. "Now you can carry her. Let's go."

The man is a genius. I had a very comfortable ride to where Dori waited. She ran and threw her arms around his neck and sobbed. They kissed for a long time, I was a little jealous. No, I was a lot jealous, she was slim and beautiful and I looked like a bloated cow with a giant belly and swollen breasts dripping milk. No contest. I watched them kiss and cried a bit. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Targon looking at me, He whispered, "I still think you are beautiful, Miz Sally." I squeezed his hand and said, Thank you." Rich walked back to me and kneeled by my chair. "Sally, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I have never gone five minutes in a row without thinking of you since I left you in total despair and shame. I cannot begin to express the joy I felt when I stepped out that door and saw you standing there. Then I saw your smile and then your belly, I just don't know how foolish I feel. I know now that if I hadn't been so disgusted with myself I would have known our love was strong enough to weather any stupidity on my part. I promise I will never let myself get in a situation like that again. I cannot tell you the depths of shame and despair I reached. I didn't, no, I couldn't, eat for several weeks. Then I ate raw rabbit, and snakes and stuff like the animal I felt I was. I guess I had shifted to a survival mode. I went back to the shop and stole my axes and a few other things."

I saw the tears in his eyes and knew he had not yet forgiven himself. Dori was watching us closely. I beckoned her over to us. I said, "Dori, Rich is afraid we have not forgiven him. Right now I don't think I can get out of this damned chair. Please kiss him and show him we have forgiven him and how much we want him home with us."

Dori pulled him to his feet and looked up into his eyes and kissed him for a long time. Then she said, "Rich, Sally and I need you very much at home with us. Sally needs you to be with her right now and for the next month. She is having a tough time of it; carrying those big boys and she tires easily. I yelled and screamed at her about walking all that distance through the woods to find you. She was determined to find you and drag you home." She reached up and placed her little hand on his cheek. "I also want you to know we have not touched each other sexually since you left. Oh! We have cuddled and kissed and cried together every night, but that was it. I told her she might trip and fall and hurt herself or the babies. She said she would be very careful but that her husband needed her and she needed him. She is amazing, I love her so damned much." Rich looked at me and said, "I know she is." He looked back ay Dori. "So are you. Thank you for looking after Sally for me. No! It was for the three of us and for our sons too. Lets go home."

My Dear husband Rich will continue our story. Thank you for letting me narrate my side of part of the story.