The Greatest Love

"No time like the present," she gleefully replied. "Let's go down and see how bad it is."

They told his mom they were going to check it out. It was a mess, but manageable. Reid found some lumber and wallboard packed away in one of the corners. Carol was already starting to move some boxes to clear a little area. They were there only long enough to assess what had to be done and go through some things.

"Hey, Mom, what's all that lumber down there for?"

"Oh, your father always hated the fact that this was only a two-bedroom home. All his friends have three bedrooms. A couple years ago, his buddy, Jack, convinced him the two of them could add a third bedroom. For a solid week, Jack hauled all that wood and stuff here in his pickup. I have no idea where he got it. Knowing him, he probably stole it from some construction site somewhere."

"So what happened?"

"Well, when they really started to figure things out, they knew they couldn't put in the foundation, the electrical or heating by themselves. When your dad started to get estimates for all that stuff, he decided it was going to cost too much and forgot the whole idea, why?"

"Well, there's enough to make a little bedroom down there."

"Can you do that?"

"Sure, the heating and electrical are already there. All I have to do is section off a corner and put up a couple of walls and a ceiling. Would you mind if I did that?"

"Of course not, honey. You do whatever you want down there."

Carol wasn't much of a carpenter, but pitched right in and did whatever she could. Reid bought some electrical conduit and tapped into the fuse box to install an overhead light and a couple of wall outlets. He was close enough to the furnace that he didn't have to worry about heat.

Carol went along to find a used dresser and a twin-size bed frame. Carol tried to talk him into a full-size bed, but after sleeping in cots for the last several years, a twin bed seemed like more than enough room. The box spring and mattress he bought new. In just three days Reid and Carol had built a cozy little sanctuary with all the comforts of home. He enjoyed the thought of having his own space. Even Carol was excited, but for another reason. She had plans to make him forget all about that girl in Hawaii.

The night Jack Lowry took her virginity was a revelation, not that he was that good; in fact, he was terrible, but that was the night she discovered even terrible sex was good sex. Since that night, she'd been to bed with dozens of guys. Some good, some were bad, some were better than good. She'd learned a lot and knew it was time to put all that knowledge to good use. She wasn't getting any younger, she needed to trap her a man and Reid was prime stock.

In the nine months she'd spent with the Prescotts, she learned a lot about their son. He was smart, but she knew that from school. He was hard working and dependable. Although she knew he drank moderately, Reid certainly wasn't the kind to sit in some bar on a Friday night and drink away his paycheck like her father did.

She already had a big head start by living there and taking care of his parents, but the war made good eligible bachelors a scarce commodity, so she had to make sure she got Reid into the sack before any of the other town trollops got to him first. She knew he'd never go up to her room. It was right down the hall from his mom and dad. They'd be able to hear everything. Even the couch was right below his parent's bed, but the basement was perfect. She could turn him inside out down there and no one could possibly hear anything. Now it was just a matter of timing.

About two weeks after talking to his captain, Reid received his discharge papers in the mail, but by that time his father had only days to live. He helped his mother catch up on the bills and still had some savings left, so he could wait before applying for a job; for the time being, he was going to spend every minute he could with his dad.

It was 3 AM when Mrs. Prescott carefully navigated the stairs to the basement. She gently shook her son. "Reid... honey, it's your father, I... he's having a hard time breathing. Could you come upstairs?"

"Sure, Mom, give me just a second to put something on and I'll be right there." He'd already slipped on some pants and a shirt by the time his mother reached the top of the stairs and was right behind her. When they walked in, Frank Prescott was wheezing very slowly. His breaths were shallow and weak.

Reid sat at the edge of the bed and lowered his head to speak softly, "Dad, Dad, do you want to go into the hospital?"

Too weak to talk, he slowly shook his head. He had been going downhill all week, he knew he wouldn't make it through the night and he wanted to die at home.

Reid's mother did her best to stay strong. She had been holding back tears all week, but no longer. She knew it was coming; no matter how hard she tried to prepare herself, in the end, there is just no way to harness the grief. She took her beloved's hand in hers and looked up and her son. "Reid, go get Carol. She'll want to be here."

He ran down the hall and shook her awake. "What... what is it?" she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"It's Dad, I... I think it's the end."

"Oh, no," she cried, hopping out of bed, naked. She threw on a robe and followed Reid back to the bedroom. His mother was lying next to the man she'd loved for over twenty-six years. Tears poured like rain as she quietly talked to him.

"I'm with you, my darling. I'm right here along with Reid and Carol. We love you so much. You've been a wonderful man, honey. I couldn't have asked for a better husband..."

"And I couldn't ask for a better father," Reid interjected. "We all love you, Dad."

"Do you remember when you proposed, honey?" sobbed his grieving wife, forcing a small smile between her tears. "I don't know why you were so scared. I had been waiting months for you to ask. You had to know my answer would be yes, but you were so nervous you dropped the ring." That brought a small smile to his tortured face as he nodded his head. "That was the moment you made me the happiest woman on earth."

She ever so gently squeezed his hand. "This isn't the end, you know," she continued. "We'll be together again, and next time it'll be for eternity," she stated with certainty. The small smile on her husband's face widened as he took his last breath.

It was almost an hour before anyone could stop crying long enough to gather their wits about them. Carol was the first. Even though she really only knew him for less than a year, she'd learned to love him like the father she wished she had. "I'm... ah, I'm going to go down and make coffee," she whimpered.

Reid stayed behind with his mother for another fifteen minutes. "Mom, the coffee should be ready by now. Why don't you go ahead? I'll be down in another minute or two." As soon as his mother was downstairs, Reid bent down and kissed his dad's forehead before covering the body with a sheet, an act that always felt so final, and one he wanted to spare his mother.

His mom and dad already had their cemetery plots picked out and paid for, but Reid took care of all the funeral arrangements. He knew his dad had a lot of friends, but he was surprised at the more than two hundred people who came to the viewing, most of whom were from the steel mills.

After returning home from the burial, Reid's mom was inconsolable. She'd held it together all through the wake and funeral but had to let it out after it was all over. With Carol on one side and Reid on the other, they consoled her through half the night.

It was about one in the morning before they finally got her to sleep, after which, Carol saw an opportunity. It was a calculated risk but she had to start her seduction sometime and she knew Reid was vulnerable. "Reid, could... could I sleep with you tonight? I... I don't mean anything sexual," she quickly added, "I just need you to hold me. I really don't want to be alone tonight. I thought about asking your mother, but I think she'd rather be alone to grieve as she wants."

His first instinct was to say no, immediately. He hadn't had a woman in his bed since that last night with Leilani and he felt a twinge of guilt for even considering it, but he was also starting to doubt whether he'd ever see Leilani again. He was feeling trapped by his circumstances, something else he was feeling guilty about. His dad didn't die on purpose; it wasn't his mother's faulty she had to depend on him. He had to face reality, he'd most likely never see his true love ever again.

He looked at Carol. She seemed to be sincere about just needing someone to hold her... someone else who needed him. "Okay, but you have to wear something," he stipulated.

"Oh, of course." She had no plans to try and fuck him right off the bat. She knew from his letters that he was in love with another woman. She'd have to take it slow, but with the help of his mother, who Carol knew was already on her side, she would someday wear his wedding ring.

Reid waited a few more days before going down to the mills. He wanted to make sure his mother would be okay with him gone. Bright and early one morning he drove into the massive Inland Steel complex of offices and gigantic buildings spewing massive clouds of black smoke. Suddenly, he remembered making the same drive with his dad when he was about nine. It was the height of the depression and the mills had cut back on their workforce by over thirty percent, so his dad was very proud to still have his job. Reid recalled he and his dad standing in front of the building where he worked. "Reid, this country's hurting right now, but no matter how bad things get, we'll always need steel. Who knows, maybe someday you'll follow in my footsteps."

Reid had to laugh; even at that age, the last thing he ever wanted to do was work in a place like that.

He was a little shocked when he walked into the employment office. It was only a little after seven, but there were already about thirty other guys in the waiting room. He walked over to a young woman who was sitting at a desk in the corner. After asking him if she could be of assistance, he told her he wanted to apply for a job. She handed him a three-page application and warned him it would be a long wait.

It was almost two o'clock in the afternoon when he was called into the interview room. He recognized the man behind the desk as someone who was at his dad's wake. After the pleasantries, Reid was invited to have a seat.

"First off, Reid, I want to say how sorry I am about your dad. He was a great guy. We're all going to miss him around here."

Reid thanked him, after which they talked a little more about his dad, sharing a couple of anecdotes before getting to the business at hand. "You don't have anything down here about your military service, Reid. As I understand it, you're a true war hero."

"Sir, I'd just as soon forget about the war altogether."

"I understand, but it has a bearing on the kind of job I can offer you. What was your rank when you got out?"

His interviewer took notes as Reid explained how he rose in the ranks to a Senior Chief Petty Officer.

"That's impressive, Reid. I'm going to kick your application upstairs. In addition to laborers, we need management personnel as well. With my recommendation, I doubt very much that you'll be working next to any blast furnaces.

"Your dad was off for quite a while. I'm sure you and your mother need income as soon as possible so I'm going to put a rush on this. We should have something for you by next week," he said.

Reid had mixed emotions on the way home. He really wasn't crazy about working on the floor of a steel mill, but an office job didn't seem so bad. On the other hand, it was another step in a life of becoming what he'd always railed against, just another life-long steelworker from Northwest Indiana. His aspirations of living in paradise with the woman of his dreams were becoming more and more elusive.

"How did it go?" his mom asked as he walked in.

"Good," he answered. "I talked to a Mr. Wilkens. He was at dad's wake. He said I should be working by next week, probably an office job."

"Oh, honey, that's wonderful." The small smile he forced wasn't lost on his mother. She felt bad for him, but there was really nothing she could do. She needed her son.

"Where's Carol?" he asked.

"She went to the store. She was pretty sure you'd get a job and wanted to fix a nice dinner for you tonight."

He had been wondering about something ever since he got home. It seemed like the right time to ask. "Mom, I know you said she was here to help out, but why is she living here? What happened to her own parents?"

"You know her father used to drink a lot... "

"Yeah, well, I didn't know him that well; he wasn't around a lot that I remember."

"Because he was always sitting in some bar someplace," his mother added. "I guess Carol's mother had enough one day and just left."

"When was this?"

"Ah, last year sometime," she replied. "Anyway, her dad really hit the bottle after that. Your father was driving home one day when he saw her sitting on a bench in Harrison Park, crying. He recognized her from when you guys were dating in high school, so he stopped to see if he could help. She came back with him and just never left. She went home a couple of times to get her clothes and things but never saw her father. She hasn't seen or heard from him since, her mother either."

"Jeeze."

"Yeah, we're about the only family she has now. She's been wonderful. I don't know what I would have done without her when your dad got so sick. She's going to make some lucky man a wonderful wife someday."

Reid looked up at his mother who had a sly little grin on her face. "Never mind, Mom. I'm not looking for a wife, and besides, I already know the woman I'm going to marry." No more was said, but both knew his chances of finding and marrying Leilani were about one in a million.

Over the next few months, life settled into a tolerable routine. Reid was put in charge of the plant's security force, which mainly entailed scheduling the security guards and making sure any issues were handled quickly and efficiently. The pay was excellent and he was home every evening by six unless there was some emergency, which was rare.

Home life was also rather mundane. Reid's mother would always feel like she'd lost a part of herself, but she had gradually regained her sense of humor and was coming back to life. Carol seemed to be the glue that held everything together. She did most of the housework and shared the cooking. At first, Reid was embarrassed knowing she was washing his dirty underwear, but again, he simply got used to it.

That Christmas, Reid surprised everyone with a television set with a twelve-inch, oblong screen. Neither his mother nor Carol even knew what it was. He had the guy from the electronics shop set everything up, then sat the two ladies in front of it and turned it on.

"Oh, my! How... how did he get in there?" his mother asked.

"Oh, Reid, this is one of those televisions, isn't it?" probed Carol.

"Yup," he replied. Reid had a big smile on his face. He was proud that he was able to buy them such an extravagant gift. "And look," he continued, "if you don't like what's on this station," he said while reaching for a dial on the front of the set, "you can switch it to another one."

"Can he see us?" his mom asked.

"No, Mom, we can see and hear him but he can't see or hear us."

"It's magic," she said.

"Yeah, kind of. I really don't know how it works, but the guy at the store said soon we'll be able to watch another station. That'll be three different stations, Mom."

"You're sure they can't hear what we say?"

"I'm sure, Mom," he chuckled.

Over the next couple of weeks, word spread about the newfangled television, and soon they had a room full of friends and neighbors coming over to watch the magic.

Reid came home one day to find his mother in the kitchen cooking dinner and Carol sitting in front of the TV with a guy he'd never seen before. He was about their age and not bad looking. Unconsciously, Reid felt a pang of jealously as he silently watched from the hallway while the two flirted with each other. As the stranger reached over and rested his hand on Carol's knee, Reid made himself known by making some noise.

"Oh, Reid, you're home." Carol looked at the clock on the wall. "I didn't realize it was so late. This is Brad Wilson," she said as they both got up to greet him. "Brad, this is Reid Prescott."

"Nice to meet you," the stranger commented as he stretched out his arm.

"Same here," Reid replied with a slight scowl as they shook hands.

"Well, I'd better go," declared Brad. "Think about what I said, will you?"

"I will," Carol replied.

As Carol said goodbye to Brad, Reid walked into the kitchen and gave his mother a peck on the cheek. "Smells good," he commented.

"I hope so, we're having my world-famous stuffed pork chops," she joked.

"Who's this Brad guy? I'm not crazy about having strangers in the house when I'm not here," Reid quietly mentioned.

"Oh, he's okay. You know Milly from down the street; he's her nephew. I think he's kind of sweet on Carol. You know she hasn't been on a date since she's been here. She needs to get out and enjoy herself once in a while."

Reid wasn't sure if it was another subtle hint from his mother, but inwardly, her words had an effect on him this time. He wasn't sure why, but he was definitely feeling jealous thinking about Carol going out with some guy. Was he really developing feelings for her? "Maybe we should all go out some evening," he said. "I'm sure you could use a night out, as well. When was the last time you went dancing?"

"Oh, Reid, it's been ages; besides, I don't think I'd feel right having another man's arms around me, even just dancing. You should take Carol out though. I'm telling you, honey... " Just then Carol walked in so she stopped talking.

"Sorry, Mary, I didn't mean to abandon you in the kitchen. We got interested in that program we were watching and I lost track of time."

"That's okay, honey," Mrs. Prescott replied, "he seems like a nice young man."

"Yeah, he asked me out. I told him I had to think about it."

Reid suddenly felt a sense of urgency. "Ah, mom and I were just talking about the three of us going out some night."

"Really?" she almost screeched with a big smile. "I'd love that, Reid. Where would we go?"

"I don't know but I think both of you ladies deserve a night out. Let me ask around at work and see if I can't find someplace for a nice dinner, then maybe take in a show or something."

A few nights later, Reid took his mother and Carol out to eat at a nice restaurant and had them pick out what show they wanted to see; there were two in town. They had just stopped at the concession counter for some popcorn when Carol was approached by two guys. Reid thought one of them looked familiar but had never seen the second guy.

"Hey, Carol, long time no see. Where have you been?"

"Hi, Steve," she replied. "I've been staying with Mrs. Prescott and helping out after Mr. Prescott died."

The two men looked at Carol then Reid and his mother, trying to figure out the relationship. It was an awkward moment, so Carol took the opportunity to introduce everyone.

"Steve, you remember Reid, don't you? He graduated with us."

"Yes, of course," Steve replied while shaking hands. "I heard you came back from the war with a bunch of medals. Good for you."

"That's all in the past, Steve, where it belongs," he responded a little curtly.

Again, Steve glanced between Reid and Carol, "Ah, are you two, ah... "

Carol knew what he was getting at immediately and was the first to speak up. "No, I live at the house and help out Mrs. Prescott but there's nothing between Reid and me."