The Black Rose Legacy Ch. 04

He kissed me again, long and deep this time, and said, "Let's fix that, shall we? Daisy Rose, will you marry me? Before you answer, though, if we go through with it, please promise me I won't have to fight your grandfather at the reception or something."

May 1964 -- Cape Canaveral, Florida

Our new life in Florida was going well. The Gemini I mission launch in April of 1964 was unmanned, which meant the guidance system needed to perform perfectly. It did, thanks in part to my husband, and I was very proud of him!

Like Jack, my brother Gaius was now also working for NASA, but in Houston Control's mission planning group. His Doctorate in Astrophysics made him perfect for it. He was now 24, but thanks to his employment, remained untouched by the military draft.

Before moving to Cape Canaveral, Jack and I were married in a small ceremony at the Issaquah City Hall. Our son Jack Jr. had been born in late September of 1962, and was now 20 months old. As my due date got closer, Jack was working 6 days a week, 14 hours a day preparing for the Gemini launch. We agreed that I should take the train back to Issaquah to have the baby there, with my mother Polly joining me in the delivery room; Grandma Daffodil was in the waiting room. Believe me, my mother and grandmother were overjoyed to be the first ones to hold my son after me!

When the baby came out, our normal-sized 7lb, 6 oz son looked nothing like a Sasquatch. Instead, with a healthy head of blonde hair and deep blue eyes, he looked like more a tiny teen idol. My father insisted we dispense with the family's Roman emperor name tradition, so we named him after my husband. Jack had never said much about it, but I know he wasn't fond of the idea that his son would be named after one of the Caesars. When I told him our baby was a "Junior", he was over the moon about it.

The only sad part was Jack's mother not meeting her grandson. Jack tried phoning her several times, but his father always answered, hanging up as soon as he realized it was his younger son calling. Despite being disowned by his parents, Jack felt his father had coerced his mother into rejecting me and had decided to forgive her. Since Jack told me Anna-Marie was the one who recommended he marry me, I told him I bore her no ill will, which at any rate gave him some limited peace of mind.

We lived in a nice little 3-bedroom ranch house with hardwood floors in Cocoa Beach, about 20 miles away from Jack's office at NASA. One Sunday, a long silver car with darkly tinted windows pulled up on the street in front of it. When I saw it, I called out, "Jack, were you expecting company?"

Jack was in the living room stacking blocks for Junior, but got up and joined me in peeking through the window. "WOW," he exclaimed, "that's an Eldorado Biarritz Sport Convertible, the most expensive car that Cadillac makes! Somebody in the neighborhood must have some rich friends. I wonder who it is?"

Then a tall man in a black suit got out on the driver's side, walked up our driveway and knocked on our door. Jack opened it and delightfully shouted, "ERIC!"

Sure enough, it was Eric, the Rhodes family chauffer, just minus his chauffer's cap! Jack was shaking his hand vigorously as I walked up, and chattering away. "It's good to see you, old friend! I've missed you after all this time! But I haven't spoken to my parents in forever, how did you even find us?"

Instead of answering, Eric turned to me, smiled, and gave a slight bow. "Miss Haggerty, or more accurately, Mrs. Rhodes, you are indeed a sight for sore eyes. When last we saw each other, I wished you only the best, and it's my understanding that my wish has come true. I contacted your parents and introduced myself as a personal witness to your horrible experience in the Rhodes mansion, and told them I considered myself a friend of yours. When I expressed my desire to find you again, they were kind enough to provide me with this address. I hope I'm not intruding on your family time, as it is Sunday, after all."

"Not at all, Eric, you're always welcome in our home," I replied, "but what brings you all the way out here from Hollywood?"

"It's rather complicated, I'm afraid. May I come in and explain?"

Once our guest was seated in our dining room with an icy glass of sweet tea, he began to explain. "I'm not here in a professional capacity. I'm here on a personal matter." Wow, this was getting interesting. I flared my nostrils and inhaled, catching the faint hint of a very unique and expensive perfume: Bal à Versailles.

Once, while window-shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, I'd tried it on my wrist at the exclusive Giorgio store just for a laugh; it wasn't like I could actually afford to buy anything there. There was only one other time I'd smelled it previously, and that was during my ill-fated visit to the Rhodes mansion. The woman who wore it was Anna-Marie Rhodes.

Try as I might, I couldn't contain my Sasquatch instincts and I blurted out, "Jack's mother is out there in the car, isn't she?"

Jack immediately jumped up and demanded, "What exactly are you getting at, Eric? Is Daisy Rose right about my mother waiting in the car?"

Eric took a deep breath and let it out, then quietly answered, "Mrs. Rhodes' suspicions are correct, Mr. Rhodes, This time, though, there's no ulterior motive or manipulation involved. It's simply a matter of two grandparents wanting to visit their grandson."

Hearing this, my Sasquatch fury immediately came out; I jumped to my feet, pushed Jack aside and began shouting. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? I DON'T CARE HOW RICH HE IS, THERE IS NO WAY I WILL EXPOSE OUR SON TO BERNARD RHODES! I'LL SINK A KITCHEN KNIFE INTO HIS HEART BEFORE I ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

I hadn't been this angry since I'd assaulted Jason Leiden. Now, I was even angrier. Jason Leiden was merely a lazy idiot. Jack's father, on the other hand, was a cold-hearted and cruel son of a bitch who'd attempted to ruin both my life and Jack's. Screw Grandpa's advice about controlling my fury, I'd do whatever was necessary to keep that awful man away from my son!

Jack looked like he didn't know whether to kiss me or kill me. Eric, on the other hand, was quietly laughing. Incensed, I roared at him, "YOU WANT TO TELL ME WHAT'S SO DAMNED FUNNY BEFORE I THROW YOU THROUGH THE FRONT WINDOW?" I could hear the baby crying in the other room, no doubt frightened by my shouting. I gestured at Jack to go get Junior out of the crib, since I wasn't finished with Eric yet.

Eric stood up, and spoke in a calm voice. "Mrs. Rhodes, please allow me to explain. I assure you that Anna-Marie completely agrees with your rather low opinion of Bernard Rhodes." Nonplussed, I began to relax a bit. Jack walked back into the dining room with Junior; the baby had stopped crying immediately when his Daddy picked him up and was smiling now; his Daddy was his best pal.

Calmer now, as my heart rate slowed, I asked, "Then what did you mean exactly when you said, 'grandparents wanting to visit their grandson'?"

"Well, this is where things get a bit delicate." He turned to Jack. "As you well know, Mr. Rhodes, I was your family driver for many years. During that time, I became a strong, er, admirer of your mother. She is a woman of exquisite beauty, kindness and excellent taste. Due to her being my employer, however, I kept my feelings to myself. To do anything else would simply not have been acceptable." I was completely calm now; as a woman, I suspected where this story was going.

Eric continued, "I'm sorry, Mr. Rhodes, but on top of being greedy, your father is a tyrant and a bully, and that's on his good days. Most days he can be far worse. As the family driver I was witness to your mother receiving no end of undeserved verbal abuse and humiliation from him. She was often compelled to do things she had no desire to do, such as invite Miss Haggerty over to persuade her to abandon you and attempt to buy her off. Many times while driving your mother, I inadvertently found myself consoling her. Those times led us to becoming...something more."

He turned to me. "Anna-Marie may not have known you well, Mrs. Rhodes, but she respected you tremendously. The night you came to the estate was the final straw for her. The next day she had me drive her to a family attorney, where she initiated divorce papers citing mental cruelty."

Eric spoke to both of us now. "Her demands were few, so thankfully Bernard did not contest it. Once the divorce decree was finalized, I gave my resignation notice to Bernard and married your mother. My wife now goes by Mrs. Anna-Marie DeSouza. When I commented about grandparents visiting their grandson, I was referring to the two of us." Even though I suspected this was coming, as Eric went through his explanation I was still shocked that I'd actually guessed right!

As for Jack, by the time we went to bed that night, my poor sweet husband had been through an emotional wringer. Before he'd only heard about my fury, first in dealing with that idiot Leiden, then in the Rhodes mansion when I threw the axe. This time he'd witnessed it first-hand. With everything else going on, he hadn't made any comment, so I wasn't sure what his reaction was. I figured I'd find out later.

As if that weren't enough emotional upheaval, he'd also learned that his parents were now divorced and he had a fantastic new stepdad, one that had known and cared for him for years. Jack's theory having been confirmed about Anna-Marie being coerced into doing awful things by Bernard, he'd tearfully reconciled with his mother. The news that Eric and his mother were relocating from Los Angeles and buying a house near ours in Florida was an extra bonus.

When Anna-Marie came in the house and saw me, she immediately hugged me and apologized. I, of course, assured her she was forgiven, so lots of happy tears were shed. Hopefully, my husband got some closure from that as well.

The sweetest thing of all was Jack watching his mother meet her grandson. Words can't even begin to describe the joy in that scene. I assumed after all that, Jack would be exhausted when we went to bed. Nobody was more surprised than me when I felt him slip his hand under my nightgown and begin to rub my breasts in a way that made me immediately wet. He pulled me close to him and kissed me, and I responded by reaching down and discovering an erection stiff as a steel beam.

"Honey," he whispered, "remember how you told me that Sasquatch males get all worked up after a fight? What about females? You were ready to fight with Eric today, are you worked up?"

In an instant, I had my husband on his back with his pajama bottoms pushed down to his knees. Lifting up my nightgown, I quickly straddled him and took his hardness all the way in. Then I leaned down and whispered, "As a matter of fact..."

I rode him hard and fast, and it didn't take long for him to release inside me. As we lay together afterwards, he thanked me and told me he loved me. (Since this is what my father always did with my mother afterwards, I suspect at some point Daddy may have coached him.)

Then Jack surprised me again by whispering what a wonderful mother I was, and that he wished we could have another baby soon. I kissed his forehead and stroked his hair to soothe him until he fell asleep. With all he'd gone through that day, I figured I'd wait until tomorrow to tell him his wish was already coming true.

~END~