Chapter 4

I was up in the morning at 0600, a little late, but not too late. I put on sweats, a cap, and shoes, and got ready to go for a walk. Running was pretty much out because of my bad knees. I can still walk fine though. I remembered to leave Julie a note, and headed out for my five mile route. I got back close to 0730, took a shower, and changed clothes. Julie was awake, but still in bed.

"Can you help me up?" she asked.

"Sure, Sweetie"

While she was in the bathroom, I went down and started breakfast. The radio and later the TV were full of news about a new lottery winner. A very big lottery winner. Later they started reporting that the winner was local, and that there was only one. I didn't really think much of it, as I was never very lucky at the lottery. Later that morning, as we were watching TV, Julie asked if I hadn't bought a lottery ticket yesterday.

"Oh, yes," I replied, "I did, but I hardly ever win."

"Don't you think you should check? You might have won something," she suggested.

"Sure Sweetie, I'll get the ticket and you can check the next time the numbers come up." I went upstairs, got the ticket out of my shirt, and gave it to Julie, who was watching the TV.

About a half hour later, I heard Julie getting very excited. She came into my study as quickly as her legs could carry her beautiful, out of balance body.

"Oh my God, oh my God, Daddy, I think you won the lottery," she said, and she started to cry. I had noticed that she had started to call me daddy last night, so initially I missed what she was saying about the lottery, and didn't understand why she had started crying.

"Julie, Sweetie, what did you say? I didn't hear you."

"Daddy, Daddy, I think you won the lottery," she managed through the tears.

"WHAT?" I shouted.

"Here, look at the numbers — the second row. It's the numbers that they showed on the TV news," she told me, holding out the ticket.

This couldn't be right! I'm never lucky at the lottery!

"You should check," she continued, through her tears.

"OK, I'll go to the lottery site on the net and check the numbers. Pass me the ticket." It took a while for the lottery site to come up. They were probably flooded. When it did, I went to the Friday game site and there were the winning numbers. I looked at them, and then looked at my ticket. The second row - they were the same!!

WHAT? THE SECOND ROW ON MY TICKET HAD ALL OF THE WINNING NUMBERS!!

How could this be? I'm never lucky at the lottery, but there they were! The winning numbers for 485 million dollars were on my ticket!!

FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS!!! My jaw hit the floor.

"Julie, Sweetie, I think you're right. They are the matching numbers!"

"Does that mean that we won, Daddy?"she asked through her tears.

"I think so, Sweetie. But I'm going to have to check." I reached for the local phone book to look up Charlie's home phone, hoping that he was listed. Luckily, he was. I dialed his number. The phone rang for awhile. Then it was picked up.

"May I help you?" a cultured female voice asked.

"Yes, this is Jim Thompson. I'm one of Charlie's clients and an old friend. I really need to speak with him, if that's possible? Oh yes, tell him he's on the clock as of this minute."

"Just a moment," the voice returned. Shortly, Charlie came on the line.

"Jim, what's up that you had to call me today? Are the police there?"

"No, Charlie, the police aren't here yet. This is something else. I'm standing here with — Do you have a chair nearby? You may need one. - with what looks to me like last night's winning lottery ticket."

There was a long silence on the phone.

"Charlie, you still there?" I asked, finally.

"Yes, I'm still here, Top. It's just that you kind of took my breath away there for a minute. You're sure of this?" he asked.

"Well, I've got the lottery site up on the computer with the numbers showing, and they match the numbers on my ticket."

"You realize, that we are talking about 485 million dollars here?" he replied. Then, "All right, I'm going to my computer, get on the site, and print out the winning numbers. Then I'm coming over to your house, and look at your ticket. Give me your address and directions."

I gave him the information. He showed up about 45 minutes later. Julie was still crying — tears of happiness in my arms.

"Where is the ticket?" he asked. I gave it to him. He compared the numbers. He looked at me and then sat down.

"They sure look the same to me," Charlie said. "We'll have to go down to the Lottery Commission on Monday. NO, make that Tuesday and talk to them, but it sure looks like YOU WON THE LOTTERY!

"Put that thing away," he told me next, "where nobody but you knows where it is. Don't say anything to anyone. I'll check on what we need to do on Monday, and call to let you know when we'll go to the Commission on Tuesday. Now, introduce me to this charming, crying, young lady here."

"Julie, this is Mr Charles Westford the third, my lawyer," I said.

"Oh, I'm glad to meet you, sir. Are you the one who's going to make Jim my guardian?"

"One of my associates is working on it, a charming lady. You'll meet her on Tuesday if you come with Top."

"Why do you call him Top?" Julie asked, puzzled.

"Because he used to be a First Sergeant, and all of them are called Top."

"Oh, I've been calling him Uncle Jim and Daddy. Can I call him Top, too?" she asked.

"Sure, Sweetie, but really, I would rather hear you call me daddy than Top," I told her.

Charlie left shortly after that, and we were alone again. I hid the lottery ticket, then went back to the living room.

"Julie, Sweetie, we need to talk, a serious talk. When you go to school on Monday, I don't want you to say anything to anyone about that lottery ticket. If it's the winning ticket, a lot of people would like to steal it. And if it's not the winning ticket, we would look like fools for having claimed that it was. So mum is the word."

"OK, Daddy. I won't say anything to anyone," Julie promised.

"Fine, how about we do a little PT now, to quiet you down. Then we'll have supper and go to bed."

"What PT? I can hardly walk!" she answered.

"Didn't the doctor give you some exercises to do?"

"She gave me a book, but I don't like what they're doing in there."

"Let me see the book," I said. "I'll pick out something that you can do. You will do PT. You have to keep both you and the baby fit. You can't do that sitting on the sofa." I picked out some simple exercises from the book, and demonstrated how she was to do them.

"That's easy for you. You're not pregnant with a big belly," she said.

"Come down to the gym and you can do them on the mat while I work out," I told her.

The stairs to the basement were a killer, bur Julie made it. After 15 minutes she was wasted, and just lay there recovering while I worked out for another half hour. We went upstairs, got our clothes together, and then took a shower together in the master bath. I washed her and she washed me. There was a lot of playing around and kissing in there. When the hot water ran out, we got out, and dried off.

"What would you like for dinner?" I asked, as we got dressed.

"Can we go out to eat?" she asked.

"OK, but where?"

"How about a seafood place? The doctor said fish was good for me."

"OK, put some nice clothes on and we'll go out to dinner."

She came downstairs a little later, a vision of loveliness. Her hair was done up. She had on a peach colored blouse and light gray skirt with loafers. She had applied a little eye shadow, some powder and lipstick. It made her look at least five years older. Of course, the big belly added to the affect.

"My Lady, may I escort you to dinner?" I asked and offered her my arm.

"Thank you, Daddy," she whispered and giggled.

The first seafood restaurant was only a few miles away and it didn't take long to get there. However, it was jammed with an hour wait for a table, and there was no way that Julie could stand for an hour waiting. The next place was smaller, and not as elegant, but we were seated within 5 minutes. The atmosphere was a lot less hectic. We got sharp looks from some of the older couples there, but the younger folks all just sort of grinned and let it pass.

We had a lovely dinner, and Julie leaned over and kissed me just before the dessert came. This drew a look of condemnation from one older couple. After paying the check, I stopped at their table.

"And we aren't even married," I said, pointing at Julie. I thought the woman was going to have a heart attack right then.

We got home about 1945 hrs, and Julie said she was going to get ready for bed as she was tired.

"Can I sleep with you again tonight, Daddy?"

"Sure Sweetie, anything you want and any time," I reminded her.

"I have to pump my breasts and then I'll come to bed. Will you put the milk in the fridge for me?"

"Sure Sweetie, I'll be up shortly."

When I got upstairs, she was done with the pump and had cleaned it out. I took the milk down to the fridge. I cleaned out the container, and took it back upstairs. Julie came in and I brushed her hair for a while. I got ready for bed and slipped in next to Julie. She was lying there smiling and smelling very good.

"Do you really love me?" she purred.

"Yes, Sweetie, more than anything."

"Kiss me and hold me tight. Don't let me go," she begged.

That night we made love; Slow, passionate, romantic, feeling love with hands and mouth, and, yes, finally sex. There was kissing, hugging, and cuddling. We each told the other how much we enjoyed and loved the other. The sex at the end was slow and passionate. Julie came twice and didn't pass out. Me only once, but it seemed like it lasted for hours and I pumped gallons. In reality, I was sure it was a lot less than that. We slept clutching each other. The peaceful sleep of lovers — satisfied.

Sunday morning, I was up late, 06:30 hrs, again. I left Julie a note, and went out for my 5 mile walk. I got back just as Julie was getting up. She went off to her bathroom to make sure it looked used, just in case. I took a quick shower and shaved, then went down to make breakfast. Julie came down later with more breast milk to put in the fridge.

The day went downhill from there. We didn't have anything to do, but fidget, watch TV, fidget, and pace around waiting for Tuesday. Sunday night, it was early into bed, but only to sleep. Both of us were too high strung to want to do anything.

Monday morning, I was up at 0530 hrs and went out for a walk. I was back in time to wake Julie for school. She had more breast milk to put in frig ( is this a familiar theme — I need to stop ). I drove Julie to school, as we weren't sure when the bus driver would find out about the change in stops.