Uninvited Guests

She looked up at me and those big gray eyes were liquid pools in the rain. "I love you too, Daddy. I never knew I would feel this way." She pushed up a little and brushed my lips with her full, puffy ones. "Just hold me until we have to go and talk to me, okay?"

We stayed there until the heat and humidity became oppressive and then we went inside and took up an identical position on a big recliner, sipping iced tea and talking together in low voices. In the late afternoon I began to think we should be getting ready to leave but she seemed reluctant to move.

"Raney, we need to be going," I told her.

"I know," she wouldn't look at me. "Daddy, I have something to tell you. I don't know how but I have to."

"It's okay, you can tell me anything," I said.

"I stole the money Mom and Grandma took," she said. "I transferred it out of their account and into mine."

I wasn't expecting that. "Why did you do that?"

"I don't trust them," she said. "They lied to me all my life. I was thinking about just leaving them and staying with you. At least you never lied to me. I didn't know what kind of person you'd be. I needed to get to know you a little. Now I'm sure I want to stay with you. I'm an adult, but I don't want to be alone. I need someone... something I can count on. I think that's you, Daddy. I can't count on them. They say they've changed, but I don't know. Maybe they have, but I just can't trust them. I don't know if I ever will. God, what am I going to do? I don't want to lose them."

She broke down into sobs and I held her close. "You can count on me, Raney. I feel like you do about them. Do you want to give them a chance? I know how to do it."

"How?" she wept. "How can we ever trust them?"

"Make them earn it," I said. "We take off tomorrow for Belize. Invite them to go and see what they do. If they go, that's good. If they try to get us to go back, we'll know it's a trap and we tell them we need to think about it. We come back here and disappear. What do you think?"

"I want to trust them," she cried. "I love them, but I'm scared."

"Yeah, me, too, baby," I petted her soft hair. "She's your mother, Raney. Let's give her a shot."

She composed herself and we went back. Bailey and Silvia came out and downstairs when they heard the boat. They ran out to the dock and smothered us with hugs and kisses.

"God, thank you God," Bailey said. "You brought them back to us. I was so afraid I'd never see you again." She turned to Raney. "I know you took the money, Raney. It's okay. I'm so sorry, baby. I know you don't trust me. I wouldn't have blamed you if you just kept running. Thank you for giving us another chance."

"You won't regret this, Random," Silvia was stuck to me like a leech. "Thank you. You'll see."

"Mom, Grandma, we've decided we aren't going to stay here," Raney told them. "We're going South. I'm not telling you where yet. We want you to come with us."

"We're going to Mexico?" Bailey asked. "Yes, the answer is yes. Mom?"

"I'll do anything," Silvia said. "I already said that. Whatever you decide, Random. I'll be your slave for life; just tell me what to do and when to pack."

"Pack now," I told them. "We'll leave in the morning. We need to take everything we're going to need for a long time. I suggest you go shopping. Get personal items and clothes for the tropics. Medicine, whatever you think you'll have a hard time getting in another country. Silvia, you're staying here while Bailey and Raney go. I'm sorry, but I don't trust you all to go away with her."

She looked hurt and so did Bailey but they took it. "I understand," Silvia said. "I haven't earned anything. I'll make a list."

They took my truck and they were gone for three hours. Silvia hovered the whole time. She asked me a dozen times if she could get me anything and her eyes never left me. It was creeping me out and finally I made her sit down.

"Silvia, just relax," I told her. "I'm not about to vanish."

"I'm just so scared," she said. "I don't want to disappoint you. I'm afraid you'll change your mind and leave me. Please, I'll do anything, Random. I know you aren't back together with Bailey and maybe you never will be. I'm hanging on by a thread. I know that and I want you to know how tightly I'm clinging to that thread. I know I'm old, but I still look good, Random. I'm not being vain. I'm a wretched person, but I look good on the outside. If you want me, all you have to do is give me the slightest sign."

I looked at her. She did look good, very good. Her body was slender and tight and her face was to die for. I decided to test her. "Okay, Silvia," I said. "Slide over here."

She didn't hesitate a second. That hot body was pressed against me and her lips lifted for mine. I kissed her and she tried to probe my tonsils. When my hand slid inside her shirt and up to one hard little breast, the nipple was rock hard. She moaned when I rolled it between my thumb and forefinger.

She pulled back for a moment and stared into my eyes. "You don't really want me, do you, Random? This was a test."

"Don't get me wrong," I played with that hard little nipple. "You're as sexy as hell, Silvia. I'd ordinarily fuck you to death, but I'd be afraid you'd bite my dick off. For as long as I've known you, you've hated me. Maybe we'll be friends yet or maybe you'll start hating me again. You never gave me a chance to be friendly. Let's see what happens."

"I'm sorry for being a bitch for so long," she said with tears in her eyes. "I won't bite your dick off, Random, but if you're ever interested I'll try to fuck it off. I'm kind of a slut and you're very good looking. You always were. I thought Bailey was just lusting after you. I never knew she really was in love with you. Hell, I lusted after you, too, but you were just from the wrong side of the tracks. I'm sorry. I screwed everything up."

"I know you're sorry, Silvia. Please stop apologizing. You have really cute titties, do you know that?"

She laughed and pulled up her shirt, showing them to me. They were really, really cute. I wanted to give them a suck but I pulled her shirt down and just held her. She felt amazing in my arms. It was very hard to believe she was 63 years old. She had a body like a woman in her twenties and her face didn't look much older.

"How do you stay so young," I asked her.

She laughed again. "Good genes and hard work," she said. "I've spent more time in the gym and spa in the last thirty years than you'd believe. I eat right and I use lots of skin care products. I still know how old I am when I get up in the morning. I feel every year."

"Yeah, me, too," I said. "Why did you hate me, Silvia?"

"After George passed, all I had was Bailey," she said. "I wasn't interested in getting married again. We'd always thought she would marry Jack. Then you came along and she was only interested in you. It just seemed like all our dreams were blown up when you walked into her life. I don't know why I was so addicted to those dreams. It just felt like I needed to keep them alive to honor George. You were so handsome and so nice and it was hard to hate you, but I did. I knew your reputation, Random. You're like your name. You bounced around a lot before you and Jack started your company and you were quite the lady's man before you married Bailey. I figured it was just a matter of time before you cheated on her and left her. I'm sorry, but I told her that. Then when Jack and Christine did what they did I thought it was just like I thought. I'm so, so... no, you said you didn't want me to apologize any more. All I can tell you is I was wrong, horribly and disastrously wrong and I'm going to work hard to make it up to you. That's part of what showing you my tits was about. It's not all about that. You're very beautiful and like I said, I'm kind of a slut. I won't try to hide it. I'd love to fuck you. If you want me all you have to do is ask, okay?"

"I'll keep it in mind," I told her. "We're going to a kind of rough place, Silvia. You're kind of a high society gal; you think you can handle that?"

"Ha!" she snorted. "I can handle anything you can, buster. I can do anything for my girls. Just give me a shot."

"You're not going to be living with me, Silvia. You'll be close, on the same property, but you and Bailey will be sharing a small house on the property. I'm not trying to string you along, but there are a lot of issues we need to work through. I'm keeping Raney. She's an adult and she wants to be with me. I didn't try to lure her or talk her into it or anything. It was her idea. I hope you don't hold that against me."

"No, I won't," she shook her head and her hair swirled around her. "I know she doesn't trust me. Why should she? I lied to her for years about who her father was. I don't deserve her. I'm going to be trying as hard to win her back as I am you. None of this is your fault, Random."

"Thanks," I petted her silky hair. "Could I see those cute little tits one more time?"

She grinned. "Anytime you're ready to do more than look," she said. "You're just making me horny now and if you don't plan to get me off it's just cruel."

I laughed and kissed her cheek. "You're right, and we'll see."

I held her and we talked until we heard the girls come back. We went down and carried thousands of bags up. Well, it seemed like thousands. I took the couch again and this time no one joined me. I slept fairly well, but I was stiff in the morning when I got up. I made coffee and started carrying their bags down. I made a lot of phone calls and got things set up to leave. The neighbors would keep an eye on my place and the cabin would have to fend for itself for a while. They got up and we cooked everything perishable. What we didn't eat we took with us to eat on the way. We got on the boat and Silvia and Bailey sat down while Raney stood beside me with her arm around my waist, bracing herself against me. She stayed there for half an hour before she sat between them.

Bailey and Silvia loved the cabin and we had a debate about staying there. Raney wanted to stay, too, but it was too small for the four of us and we'd starve before long. It was just too far up in the swamp to be practical for more than two people. I took them out to the helicopter and we made a million trips. I have one of the Bell 429 GlobalRangers. It has a range of about 400 miles and I had made arrangements for fuel stops. We could cruise at about 170 mph and it was at least ten hours of flight time to where we were going. Counting fuel stops it would be closer to twenty. I was going to have to sleep at some point. We strapped in and took off. It was a long flight for the girls and they took turns sitting by me and talking to me on the headphones. We spent the night in the chopper at Ciudad Victoria. I slept for six hours and we were back in the air. The girls woke up when I fired the turbines up, but they went back to sleep once we were in the air.

My place is near Sarteneja and I have a pad to land the chopper. It's a beach property and the nearest neighbor is five miles away. We tied down the bird and I went and got the utility vehicle to haul our bags. There are two houses on the property, about a hundred yards apart. We went to the smaller one first and got Silvia and Bailey unpacked. They went with us up to the main house and they were impressed. It's a big, stucco place with lots of rough wood inside. The main floor is all open with rough beams supporting it. There's a half bath off the living room and the kitchen is at the south end. It has a wraparound deck and a master suite downstairs. Upstairs has a loft bedroom with a bath and my office. The bedroom looks down onto the living room and it's over the master suite. We put Raney in the loft and got her squared away. We needed to go grocery shopping, so I got out the Jeep and we went to town. I sent the girls to the market for fresh fruits and vegetables while I got canned goods and staples. By the time they got back I was ready to go and they picked me up and loaded everything. We stocked both places and decided we would eat dinner together every night at the main house. Raney and I left them to settle in and went home.

She walked in with me, arm in arm. "I can't believe this is our house," she was a little choked up. "How long can we stay here, Daddy?"

"Forever if you want to," I told her. "What do you want to do with your life, Raney? Do you want to go to college, get a job, or just have your father love on you for the rest of his life?"

"Yes," she said.

"Yes? There were sort of some options there, Raney," I chuckled.

"I have 90 hours at college," she said. "I want to graduate."

"Well, we can't stay here forever then," I said. "You're an illegal immigrant. We need to get you papers. Where do you want to go to school?"

"I was going to the University of Tennessee," she said. "I want to go anywhere close to you."

"There's a University in Belize City," I told her. "They allow international students. I could move us there until you graduate. If you want to go back in the States, we have some problems to take care of."

"You mean Jack," she said. "What could we do?"

"There's the nuclear option or the hide and sneak option," I said.

"Why didn't you use the nuclear option?" she asked.

"Your mother would have been collateral damage," I told her. "I don't have to worry about that any more. I'd like that option. If you want to go here, we won't bother."

"I want to stay here," she said. "I don't like having to stay here. I want to be free to go back if we want to without having to hide and sneak."

"Okay, I'll take care of it," I told her.

"Just like that?" she asked. "What will you do?"

"I'm not going to tell you how I'll deal with him," I told her. "After I take care of that, I'll probably have to go to jail for a while."

"No!" she wailed. "I don't want to ever go back then." She threw herself on me, sobbing hysterically.

"You can go back," I told her. "With him gone, no one will be looking for you. I just can't go back as me. I don't mind hiding and sneaking. I'm used to it. I have an iron clad identity. I can go anywhere, do anything, I just can't be me. I took a lot of money and didn't pay taxes. We'll be fine though. I just couldn't let Jack or your mother find me. He'll be gone; she's not looking for me. Everything will work out."

She eventually calmed down and Silvia and Bailey showed up for dinner. They could see Raney was upset and they cooked and let us talk it out. She was happy again by the time dinner was ready. We ate and they were all full of questions about Belize, what we were going to do and what was going to happen. They seemed happy with the situation and almost eager to do something to get Jack out of our lives. I didn't tell any of them what I was going to do.

What I did was hire some mercenaries out of Lima, Peru. They worked cheap, but they were first class. Jack went away. I believe he wound up in Iraq, because they sent me a picture of a bunch of Shiite looking guys celebrating around the body of a dead westerner. No one understood how he got there or why he would be running through the streets toward the green zone with clothes on made out of American flags. His construction headquarters blew up at lunch hour one day and the fifteen guys that worked there went to the hospital. Three of them died and the rest suffered grave bodily harm. Apparently they had been storing explosives in an unsafe manner. Problem solved. I told the girls and we had a party.

Silvia and Bailey became beach bums. Raney joined them a lot and I got an even darker tan. We did a lot of things together and we started getting comfortable around each other. Both of them hinted broadly that if I was ever interested they were available. They went in to the tourist stops and I know they did a lot of dancing. I think Silvia did a lot more than dance but Bailey was always home early. She was there for dinner every evening and she seldom went home before nine or ten.

Raney was my world. We spent every available minute together. I found out she loved horses and we rented some and rode a lot. I hated the brutes, but I loved her and it made her happy. That was enough for me. We got her papers to enter the University and found her an apartment close to the campus. When she left I promised to spend every weekend with her. She was very clingy the week before school started. I drove her down and stayed the night. In the morning, Silvia picked me up. Raney cried when we left and hugged us both like she was never going to see us again.

"I'll be back next weekend, Honey," I assured her. "You're going to be fine. Do good and make me proud."

"I will, Daddy," she promised. "I love you so much."

"Me, too, baby," I kissed her and Silvia drove us away.

Both our eyes were moist. "She's a good girl," Silvia said. "I can't believe how sweet she is after everything that's happened to her."

"We don't deserve her," I said.

The house was big and empty without Raney. I never dreamed I would miss her so much. I guess having her after all these years was just something so new and precious I didn't want to miss a minute. She was a big girl though and I knew my time with her was limited. She'd make friends at school and the way she looked she'd probably find a lover in no time.

I woke up Sunday morning and made coffee and ate a pastry. I heard a noise around back and when I went to the window Silvia was there, working in the garden. I poured her a cup of coffee and took it around. She had on cotton gloves and a little sun dress. She was kneeling on a rug and planting some herbs. When she looked up there was a smudge of dirt on her cheek and she looked adorable.

"Good morning," I said, handing her the cup of coffee. "What are you doing, Silvia?"

"I'm planting oregano," she said. "I know you like to cook with it."

I was surprised. I couldn't imagine what was going on in her head. "Why?" I asked. "What's up with you, Silvia? Is this part of the 'be nice to Random act?'"

Her eyes welled up with tears. "It isn't an act, Random," she choked out. "I thought you would like it. I'm sorry."

She turned away and hurried off down the path. I felt like an asshole. I ran after her and caught her at the gate. "I'm sorry, Silvia; that was very rude of me. Come inside for a minute."

She was still crying but she let me lead her into the house. I sat down with her on the sofa and hugged her close to me. "I just can't get through how much you hate me," she sobbed. "I try and try, but you still say mean things to me all the time. I don't know what to do, Random. I want you to love me, but I just don't have a chance, do I? I love you, Random. I know that now. I can't stay here anymore with you hating me like this. I cry every day, I can't eat or sleep and it's killing me. Please, just let me go away. I'll try to stay close to the girls, but I can't live like this. I know I deserve it, but I'm just not a big enough person to be around you when you're so mean to me."

Now I really felt like a heel. I looked down at this beautiful woman I'd hated for so many years and the hate was gone. I couldn't see her like that anymore. I just saw this soft, vulnerable, extremely gorgeous woman whose heart was breaking and I felt something different. I couldn't catch my breath for a minute. These thought and feelings were swirling around in my head until I felt like I was going crazy. This couldn't be happening! How could I possibly feel this way? This was Silvia, but it was a Silvia I had never known before. Her soft blue eyes peeked up at me and tears trailed down her face. She must have seen something in my eyes because her head swung toward me and her silky hair flared around her face, a few strands sticking to the tear trails down her cheeks.

I cupped her cheek in the palm of one hand and marveled at her beauty. I brushed the strands of hair away and she lifted her hand to mine. "Random?" there was a soft question in her whispered words.