Chapter 1

A prolonged “Beep, Beep, Beep,” woke me up from my troubled sleep.

“Now what?” I thought to myself, groaning as I sat up in bed. A quick look at my alarm clock told me it was 2 am, and I had only been asleep a little over an hour!

Looking for the source of the noise which had woken me up, I checked my cell phone, my regular phone, my scanner, then finally realized the beeping was coming from the receiver for the motion sensors I had placed in the yard around my house.

“If it is another damn deer,” I thought to myself, “then I will have venison tonight!”

One of the problems with being the popular sheriff of a small county in the foothills of Alabama, was teenagers would frequently choose my house to “roll”.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it meant kids would buy dozens of rolls of toilet paper, then unroll five or six feet. If they were very careful, they could toss the remainder of the roll high into the air, over a tree or house, and it would unroll itself, draping toilet paper everywhere.

It was something of a bitch to clean up!

And while I usually complained, I also had to admit it was, in some ways, poetic justice as well. When I had been a teenager, I had probably done more than my fair share of “rolling,” as well, so I normally didn’t get too angry. I may not have liked it much, but I am sure the people whose houses I used to roll probably didn’t like what I did back then either.

The last three times my house had been rolled, however, the teenagers, or whoever it was, had done a lot more than just rolling the house.

Instead, three months ago they had soaped my vehicles, and the windows on my house.

At least it was fairly easy to clean off, with a hose and some rags, but was time-consuming.

Two months ago, they added eggs. Once the eggs have dried, they are much harder to clean off and actually damaged the paint finish on the cars, and around the windows.

Last month, someone had “keyed” my vehicles, both personal truck and county car, taking a key or screwdriver and scratching the finish.

Fun is one thing, I thought to himself, but this is now destruction of property.

I was no longer laughing.

And at 6 feet, 4 inches tall, and 245 pounds, when I stopped laughing, people needed to start becoming a little more careful.

My friends called me Big Jake. If you weren’t a friend, you either called me Sheriff, or Sir.

In the last month, I had done two things to try to deter the vandals. First, I added motion sensors completely around the house, tied to an alarm in both my bedroom and kitchen.

The second thing was something I had thought about doing for several years, and just never quite got around to doing. I added an extensive system of underground water sprinklers throughout the nearly two acres of lawn.

For the past several years, my part of Alabama had experienced a prolonged drought, and I had been planning on adding the sprinklers anyway, so this was an opportune time to do so.

In the past month, the motion alarm had gone off twice, but both times it was because of deer wandering from the woods, through my yard.

It was a very dark night outside, with almost no moon, so I picked up a pair of night vision glasses I usually kept in my bedroom, and started looking out the windows.

Despite my size, when I wanted I could move almost silently through the house. I checked the front windows, then moved to the other side of the house.

And that is where I saw them: at least three people, walking in my back yard. All three were holding rolls of toilet paper clenched against their chests.

“Now for a little fun,” I thought.

Again, moving far more quietly than you would expect for a man of my size, I walked from the kitchen into the garage, and finally over to the controls for the sprinkler system.

The sprinkler system was tied into pumps I had placed in the rather large lake on my property.

As I activated the system, I immediately heard screams from outside as the people trying to roll my house received an unexpected soaking. It probably didn’t help that it was a very cool fall night.

I was pretty sure whoever was outside was probably trying to run away as fast as they could.

After letting the sprinklers run for a couple of minutes, I shut the system down, grabbed a flashlight, a night stick, opened the garage door and went outside. I also grabbed a couple pairs of handcuffs, just in case!

Shining the flashlight around, I could see at least a dozen rolls of toilet paper lying on the ground where the kids had dropped them as they were soaked.

I started grinning, and thought Gotcha!

I started walking around the house and then saw a small bag lying on the ground. I knelt down and opened it, and found several screwdrivers, along with a half-dozen cans of spray paint.

I knew I had ambushed my vandals, and it looked like they had gone from soap, to eggs, to “keying” and were now going to start spray painting my house or vehicles.

Then I thought I heard something, like a soft moaning, coming from the corner around the house.

I immediately went into full defensive alert, gripping the night stick tightly and resumed walking around the house.

As I neared an old oak tree, I again heard a soft moaning, and started shining the flashlight around.

My first thought was, Caucasian, female, as I saw a body lying face down on the ground under the tree. Long, long, very well-muscled, shapely legs, and a pair of shorts that barely covered what looked like a firm and beautiful butt.

They say some men are first attracted to a woman’s hair and others to her breasts. I had always been most attracted to long legs, and a firm butt.

But I also noticed the rather short haircut that framed the back of her head. It was hard to tell from the flashlight, but it appeared to be either very dark-brown, or perhaps black.

Cautiously I walked over, in case anyone else was still hanging around.

Finally, convinced we were alone, I knelt beside the “Caucasian, female,” and rolled her over.

Several things stood out.

I could see she was young, and very, very pretty. I mean really beautiful!

There was also a large bruise on her forehead, and looking at the marks in the wet ground it became obvious that she had been running and most likely hit her head on one of the low-lying branches of the tree, knocking herself out.

Her thin shirt and shorts were soaked, and apparently she wasn’t wearing a bra because her nipples, reacting to the wet shirt on a cool night, were erect.

Although it took a little while to sink in, I realized I knew her. I hadn’t seen her in a couple of years, not since she enrolled in college. I realized this was Carrie, my chief deputy’s daughter. Actually I think I probably knew immediately who she was, but was trying not to acknowledge it, in hopes that somehow I was wrong.

Things had been ... well, strained ... between us for the past two years.

This very pretty young woman, with the erect nipples and shapely legs, was not the little girl I had known for the past eight years!

Damn, I’m getting old, I thought.

I immediately thought back to the last time I had seen Carrie, which was a few weeks after the funeral for my wife. My wife June had died of cervical cancer two years earlier. Carrie had been at our house numerous times over the years, and June had really loved her.

Carrie always called me Uncle Jake, even though we weren’t actually related, and she called my wife Aunt June.

Carrie moaned again, and I realized she was probably going to be regaining consciousness in a few minutes.

I really wasn’t sure just what to do.

My chief deputy, “Bo” James, and I were more than just colleagues. We were friends.

He had taken me under his wing when I joined the Sheriff’s Department, and encouraged me to run for Sheriff. Without his help and support I don’t think I could have been elected.

Bo was ten years older than I was, and was also taller than me. As I mentioned, I am 6’4”, but Bo was six feet, seven inches. Bo wasn’t his actual name, but a shortened version of his nickname, which was “Bones.”

Bo or Bones claimed he weighed about 180 pounds, but I don’t think he even came close to weighing that much.

His wife Alice, and my wife, before her sickness, were almost inseparable. We were constantly at each other’s houses, and would frequently go to the mountains together.

Of course Carrie was always with her parents.

Carrie was almost like the child my wife and I couldn’t have.

June and I had tried so hard to have children, but as the years went on, we finally went in for tests. That was when we found out June couldn’t have children.

We were actually in the preliminary stages of adopting when June was diagnosed with the cancer that would kill her just a year and a half later.

I was absolutely devastated.

If not for Bo and Alice, I don’t know what I would have done. Their love and support was all that enabled me to go on. I had actually twice typed and signed my resignation letter as County Sheriff, but both times Bo and Alice talked me out of quitting.

All I wanted to do was be with June every day, and try to help her recover from this terrible disease. For a while, the doctors offered a lot of encouragement, but eventually it became obvious she was not responding to the treatment.

During the final year before June’s death, Carrie and Alice had been at my house nearly every day, helping take care of June. And of me. They would cook, clean and make sure I had fresh uniforms to wear. During the school year, Carrie would come in the afternoon, if she didn’t have basketball practice or games, but with school out, she or Alice had been at my house every day.

Carrie had actually been the one to call me that last day.

“Uncle Jake, I think you need to come home – now!” she screamed.

Then she started crying, and said, “Please, Uncle Jake, please, come home now.”

I turned on the blue lights and probably broke every traffic law in the books as I rushed home.

Sometimes there are advantages to having blue lights on your vehicle.

When I pulled into my yard, Carrie ran outside and just threw herself into my arms, and she was crying hysterically.

“Oh God, Uncle Jake, I am so scared,” she cried, “I don’t think Aunt June is going to last much longer.”

I gave her a hug, kissed her on the cheek, and asked Carrie to call Bo and Alice, while I ran inside.

I had only been gone about four hours since this morning, but could not believe how much June had changed in those four hours.

For the past year and a half, we had undergone radiation treatment and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, to no avail. The doctors finally recommended we put her into a hospice, as we waited ... well, waited for her to die.

I could not do that to June, and insisted that we return home ... our home.

I had watched as her hair fell out from the chemo, and as she lost so much weight. June had been about five feet, ten inches tall, and probably weighed about 130 pounds. Very slim and trim, with a very shapely figure.

She had lost at least 30 pounds while undergoing radiation and chemotherapy, but had regained some of that weight.

Now, she looked like she had lost 10 pounds just since this morning!

I had never seen anything like it.

Her eyes were closed, and I could barely detect her chest rising and falling as she was breathing, but when I grabbed her hands in mine, she opened her eyes.

“Hello, handsome,” she managed to gasp.

“Hello, beautiful,” I answered. And she was still beautiful, at least to me.

“No, not so beautiful anymore,” she said with a sad smile.

I immediately told her how wrong she was, and told her she was still the most beautiful woman I had ever known.

Trying to hold back my tears was, literally, the most difficult thing I have ever done.

“Jake, don’t lie to me,” June gasped.

“I know I don’t have very much longer, so please don’t lie to me,” she said.

I held her face between both my hands, and rubbed my thumb across her lips.

“Hey, when I look at you, I still see that incredibly beautiful woman I stopped for speeding, all those years ago,” I said. “Do you remember?”

June laughed, but then began coughing.

Once she had managed to regain her breath, she then answered me.

“Of course, I remember,” she said with a smile, “Some damn big hillbilly gives me a speeding ticket, then tries to pick me up!”

“I didn’t have to try too hard,” I answered with my own smile, “and besides it wasn’t an actual speeding ticket, but just a warning!”

I had spent four years in the Marine Corps as a military policeman.

One Friday morning while I was on patrol, I noticed a car going well above the posted 35-mile-per-hour speed limit on base, and pulled the car over. I had actually clocked the car doing over 50.

When I walked up and saw June for the first time, I was almost speechless.

I think she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, with long red hair and incredible green eyes.

I just stared at her for a few minutes. And she was staring back!

“Well, are you going to give me a ticket, or ask for my phone number,” she finally asked, then gave me the most bewitching smile.

“Maybe both,” I answered, with my own smile.

“License and registration please,” I asked.

She looked a little shocked.

I wrote down her vital statistics (name, age, 20 like me, and, of course, address).

I have to confess I was taking as much time as I possibly could to write down this information. I know this will seem a little crude, but damn, I was enjoying the view!

Perhaps you have never stood beside a car, with a beautiful woman driver just literally inches from you. And while this young lady wasn’t wearing a really low-cut blouse, it was low enough from my vantage point almost directly above her, I could definitely see she had nothing to be ashamed of!

In fact, just the opposite. She should be very proud of the genes she had inherited from her Mom!

And she was also wearing a pair of shorts which displayed her legs very well.

And I think she was also checking me out a little!

Before handing her the ticket, I also asked for her phone number.

“Is the phone number part of the ticketing process?” she asked with a smile, then gave me the number.

“Well, sometimes we just want to be sure we can contact you if we need to,” I answered.

I then handed her the ticket, then explained that this was actually just a warning, and strongly advised her to slow down.

“Next time, June Davis, it might not be just a warning ticket!” I semi-threatened, but with a smile.

“I would hate to have to put handcuffs on you and lock you up,” I joked.

“Ohhh, handcuffs!” she purred, “do you threaten all the girls with handcuffs?”

“Only the really beautiful ones,” I joked back.

“And, Miss Davis, just as part of an official inquiry, if a certain military police officer were to call you tonight and invite you to dinner and a movie, just to observe and discuss your driving habits of course, how do you think you would respond?” I asked.

“Well,” she said with a smile, “that would depend on two things.”

“What two things,” I asked, with my own answering smile.

“First,” she answered, “which certain military police officer; and second, how my Daddy would react since he always answers the phone at home.”

“And just who is your Daddy?” I asked.

“Major General Samuel R. Davis, Commanding General of this base,” she answered with a big grin, then put her car in gear and drove off!

Oh, SHIT!

I mean I had noticed that her last name was Davis, but somehow never even conceived that she could be the daughter of the commanding general of the entire freaking base!

What the hell had I gotten myself into?

For the rest of my shift, all I could think about was a set of gorgeous green eyes, and long, long red hair.

And an incredibly beautiful face to go along with it!

And the absolutely heavenly view of the mounds of her breasts!

And her long legs.

And her beautiful smile.

And the twinkle in her eyes.

Oh, God, I was madly in lust!

I spent at least two hours that afternoon, dialing part of the number, then hanging up. Again, dial part of the number, then hang up, Over and over.

What the hell was I going to say to a two-star general in the Marine Corps?

“Sir, this is some piss-ant Corporal who wants to go out with your daughter!”

“Sir, this is some idiot enlisted man who wants to have a carnal relationship with your daughter!”

“Hey Sammy, how’s it hanging, man? Hey, I want to hook up with your daughter!”

Oh God, no matter what I said, I knew I was going to end up in the brig. In my OWN brig!

Then I started thinking.

I mean, hey, this is a major general in the Marine Corps and commanding general of the entire freaking base!

What are the odds he actually answers his own phone at home? I mean he probably has assistants who answer the phone for him!

There is NO WAY that Major General Samuel R. Davis actually answers his own phone at home. That would be unheard of wouldn’t it? I mean what Commanding General actually answers his own phone??

Miss June Davis thought she could fool me, but I am WAY too smart to fall for that.

Emboldened by my flawless logic, I dialed the number.

“Major General Davis,” I heard a deep voice say.

Oh, double SHIT!

What was I to do now?

“Uh, Sir, this is Corporal Lewis, uh, Sir, with the Military Police, Sir, and Sir, I just wanted to make sure your daughter that is June Davis...”

“Yes Corporal, I know who my daughter is,” he interrupted.

Oh God, could it get any worse???

“Uh, Yes Sir, of course you do Sir, and well, Sir, I just wanted to make sure your daughter, June Davis, Sir, well Sir, of course you know that already, Sir, anyway I just wanted to make sure that she, that is June Davis, got home okay, Sir.”

Oh God, did I just hear a general laugh? Do they actually do that, I mean laugh?

I could feel my entire face turn red with embarrassment. I was suddenly very glad no one was with me at that moment!

“Yes, Corporal Lewis, June arrived home safely,” the general said. “In fact, she told me about your giving her a warning ticket, and I really appreciate the fact that you stopped her. I keep telling her she needs to slow down, but even generals only have so much control over their daughters.”

Am I hearing correctly? Is the general actually confiding in me? Have I died and gone to heaven?

“June told me you might call,” the general added.

“Uh, Sir, uh General Sir, I don’t suppose it would be possible, I mean could I actually talk to your daughter, to June Davis, Sir.”

Damn, there I am doing it again, trying to tell him who his own daughter is.

I again heard something that in a normal person I would have said was laughter.

“Corporal Lewis, what is your first name?” the general asked.

“Uh, Jake, Sir, well, actually Jacob, Corporal Jacob or Jake Lewis,” I answered.

“Okay, Jake, hold on,” he said...

Did a general just call me by my first name?

... then I heard him yell out, “June, Jake Lewis is on the phone for you.”

Oh ... my ... God!

That sounded just like back home, when I used to get a phone call and my Dad would answer the phone and then yell out for me.

It sounded ... normal!

“Jake, June will be here in a minute,” the General said.

Damn, he did call me by my first name! A General ... a freaking Major General in the freaking United States Marine Corps just called me by my freaking first name!

“Sir, thank you Sir, I really appreciate your letting me talk to your daughter, June Davis,” I stammered.

There I go again, trying to tell him his own daughter’s name!

Again, I could almost swear I hear something that sounded like laughter.

About then I heard a voice say “Thanks, Daddy,” then I could hear her put the phone up to her ear.

“Hello,” June said.

“Uh, hello, June,” I tried to begin, “this is Corporal Jake Lewis. I don’t know if you remember me or not, but I stopped you this morning and gave you a warning ticket... ?”

What is wrong with me? Is this the best I can do?

“Yes, Corporal Jake Lewis ... yes, I usually can remember things that happened even several days ago, much less something that happened this morning,” she replied.

I swear I could hear the laughter in her voice!

“Well, of course you can,” I stammered.

God, she must think I am the biggest idiot in the world!

“Look, June, would you like to go to dinner and watch a movie tonight?” I finally blurted out.

“Well, a movie would be perfect,” she said, and my heart nearly burst out of my chest.

But then she added something completely unexpected.

“However,” she said, “Daddy suggested instead of dinner, maybe you would like to come over and we could cook hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and you and Daddy could get to know each other!”

Oh ... My ... God!

A General ... a Major General ... wants to get to know me?

“Uh, uh, uh,” I began, “uh, what time should I be there?”

June said an hour would be perfect, and hung up. Didn’t even say goodbye, she just hung up! I stood there with the phone still up to my ear for probably at least five minutes.

What the hell was I getting myself into?

And more importantly, what the hell did Generals wear while cooking out?

I knew that I had never seen any general that wasn’t immaculately dressed, in an absolutely perfect uniform, so I spent the next 45 minutes preparing my uniform and spit-shining my shoes.

One hour after talking with June I was knocking on the General’s door wearing the full Marine Corps Dress Blue uniform, with perfectly shined shoes. I have never put as much effort into getting ready for an inspection as I did for this dinner.

Oh, did I mention Major General Samuel R. Davis was the commanding general of Marine Corps Base 29 Palms, which is located in the freaking middle of the freaking Mojave Desert in freaking California? As in hot, freaking hot, dry, hot desert? And the usual temperature in the afternoon is well over 100 degrees and can easily reach 110 or 115 degrees or even more?

And did I mention the Marine Corps Dress Blue uniform is the absolute hottest and most uncomfortable uniform you could possibly wear?

And that the air conditioning in my truck was barely working, so I was already sweating like crazy even before I had arrived at the General’s house?

And just the long walk from my truck to the general’s front door had even more sweat pouring off of me, and my face was already as red as a beet?

And that I was already starting to feel faint? I could actually feel myself starting to sway back and forth.

Then the General opened the door.

Wearing a pair of shorts, and light shirt.

With open toed sandals.

And looking very cool.

The General took one look at me, then said, “Good God, Corporal, come on inside out of the heat before you pass out.”

I tried to salute, but when I began to raise my hand for the salute, I lost my balance and stumbled inside instead and honestly think if the General hadn’t caught me, I would have fallen flat on my face. I heard the General yelling for June to grab some cold wet towels and come running.

This was not exactly the sort of first impression I had been hoping to make.

The next thing I know I am sitting in a chair with a cold wet towel draped over my head and forehead, and June is trying to take off my heavy Dress Blue uniform jacket.

Yes, I will admit that I had entertained thoughts of June and I possibly, at some point – maybe, in fact probably not tonight but at some point – helping each other remove our clothing, but again, this was not exactly how I envisioned it would happen.

Especially with her father, the General, standing right beside her.

“Are you all right, Corporal?” I heard the General ask.

“I don’t know, Sir,” I answered honestly, “have you ever heard of anyone dying from embarrassment?”

The General started laughing, and then said, “Not yet, Corporal, but you might still be the first.”

By now June had gotten the uniform jacket unbuttoned, so I leaned forward so she could slide if off my arms. My t-shirt and short-sleeve uniform shirt were both so wet from sweat you could have wrung water from them. But damn, did it feel good to get the jacket off!

“Jake, what on earth were you trying to prove, wearing this ridiculous uniform on a day like today,” June asked.

As embarrassed as I was, it still felt SO good to hear her call me by my first name!

I had to admit that I had been trying to make a good first impression on the General – and a better second impression on her.

June looked at me and smiled! Just to see that smile directed at me was almost worth every drop of sweat I had lost!

The General of course was still standing there, listening to every word.

“Well, I will admit, Corporal, that it was certainly a memorable impression,” he said, with a laugh. “I don’t think I have ever had to catch anyone your size before.”

I could tell my face was turning bright red again, but this time from embarrassment, not heat stroke!

“Did you bring any other clothes with you?” General Davis asked.

I said I had, and had been planning on changing when June and I went to the movies.

The General sent June out to my truck to get my clothes.

“I am impressed, Corporal, and I know June is as well,” he said, after June left the room.

“Impressed, Sir?” I inquired. To say I was surprised would be an understatement!

“Yes, Corporal, I am. Every so often someone will ask for her phone number and if June likes them, then she will give it to them. But then she always manages to tell them that I am the (using finger quotes) ‘Commanding General’ of the base, and will wait to see if anyone actually is brave enough to call.

“Then she always insists that I have to start answering the phone with my name and full title,” he continued. “You would be amazed how many calls I answer, only to have the caller hang up when they realize a general is actually answering.”

“You mean you normally don’t answer the phone yourself, Sir?” I asked.

“Of course not, Corporal! I have assistants for that, or if they are not here, then my wife or June will usually answer,” he confided.

Then the General leaned in, since we could hear that June was coming back inside and whispered: “But don’t tell her I said that, Jake, or she’ll have my head!”

The General actually winked at me!

Oh ... wait until I get my hands on her!!!

The General had June take me to one of the guest bedrooms and had advised I take a cold shower to continue to recover from the heat stroke.

June actually held my hand as we walked to the bedroom, then squeezed it very tightly before she left so I could take a shower! Yeah!

After the shower, I felt much better and quickly dressed in my other clothes, which was shorts, a thin shirt and jogging shoes.

I found my way out to the backyard where the General was getting the grill ready, and there I met the General’s wife. Wow! It was obvious where June got her looks from.

Mrs. Davis was an older, more mature version of her daughter. Long legs, long red hair, green eyes and a figure to die for!

Mrs. Davis, who told me to call her Jenny, explained she had actually been at the grocery store buying a few last minutes items for the cookout, which June had asked her Mom and Dad do for her.

“Wait,” I asked, “you mean the cookout was June’s idea, and not the General’s idea?”

“That’s right, it was June’s idea to have you over for a cookout,” Jenny replied. “She wanted to see how you would react to having dinner with her father, ‘the Commanding General,’” she said using finger quotes.

By now we both could hear June and her Dad talking and Jenny leaned in and whispered: “But don’t tell her I said that, Jake, or she’ll have my head!”

Then Jenny actually winked at me!

Oh Girl ... You just wait until I get my hands on you!

I actually really enjoyed dinner.

I found out the General was from North Carolina, as I was originally. In fact, he had been born only about 40 miles away from my old hometown.

Mrs. Davis, uh Jenny, was a truly gracious lady, and was from Alabama, where my parents had moved when I was about 10. Jenny was from near the coast of Alabama, while we lived in the foothills of the mountains, but it was still the same state.

As we were talking, the General asked if I was planning on making a career out of the Marine Corps.