Chapter 1

I joined the army the day I turned eighteen. I had worked my teenage years in my father’s hardware store. I was very knowledgeable about stock inventory, ordering, and replacing inventory since we had up-to-date systems just for that purpose – Not very exciting, to say the least. Mom and Pop paid me well and I saved my money thinking I would go to college, but first I wanted to see more of the world other than the small city where we lived. I’d still go to school when my three-year hitch was finished and I would only be twenty-five in age when I completed my education.

I signed up for the Quartermaster Corps. I did have to do my mandatory basic training in the service and then was given orders to a major supply depot in Nevada. Before arriving I had a few days of leave time and decided to visit Reno, it being on the way to my new post. I was driving, thinking I would be stationed at the same place for a few months at least and would need transportation. I bought an old car a few days previously. Not happy to be stuck in the states, I figured I could transfer to a different unit and see some of the world since that was why I had joined the service.

I was a few miles out of Reno and it was almost dark. Suddenly ahead I saw a figure step into the road with hands up for me to stop. First instinct was to blow on by, but then I saw it was a young woman possibly my age. Her hair was a flaming red. I was several feet beyond her when I came to a halt. She ran to catch up to me.

I rolled my window down to hear her ask, “Hi, can I have a ride? I’m going to Reno.”

“I guess.”

I looked this woman over and could see she was young as me. She wore jeans and a long-sleeved blouse. She was fairly tall with a decent shape. She had a heavy backpack with her. “Toss the bag in the back seat, please.”

“Why?”

“Because, if there is a weapon in it, I don’t want it where you can get to it easily.”

“Scaredy-cat.”

“Maybe. If you want a ride, it has to be my rules. Where are you from?”

There was a slight hesitation before she said, “Kansas. I’m going to find work here.” I didn’t think for a minute she was from Kansas, but I let it go.

“Do you know anyone in Reno?”

“Nope, but I heard there are a lot of jobs there and I had to get away from home.”

“You’re running away from something or some one then.”

More hesitation. “My father. He doesn’t treat me very well. I’m eighteen and he couldn’t stop me from leaving.”

“You’re a brave young lady.”

“I try to be. What do you do?”

“I’m in the service. I have a few days to kill before I have to report. I thought I would see the big city.”

“Same with me, only you have a place to go to and I don’t.”

“Do you have any money to keep you until you find work?”

“Some, a little over a hundred dollars.”

“That’s not much.”

“The Lord will provide.” I thought, ‘oh no, not one of those.’

“You have faith.”

“I sure do or I wouldn’t be here.”

We drove into the city. I had a reservation at a reasonable priced motel. I pulled up in front of it. I turned to the girl as I killed the engine, “What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know. It is dark and I can’t look for a job tonight. I know I’m being bold, but can I stay in your room tonight? I won’t bother you.”

“My reservation is for one single man.”

“Oh come on. A motel like this won’t think anything of you having a guest.” She was right. How was I going to handle this?

“We haven’t even exchanged names.”

“That’s easy enough to rectify. My name is Priscilla Redding, call me Cilla. What’s yours?”

“Dan Pierson, from Rapid City, South Dakota. Your town is?”

“Salina.”

“I shouldn’t do this Cilla, and I have to ask if you are going to scream rape or attack me in my bed?” I wasn’t really worried, so I said this with a smile.

“It seems as if I would be in more danger of you raping me. I promise I won’t scream if you do. It is a matter of trust on both our parts. I’m very tired and I walked a long ways between rides. Please let me stay.”

I was tired too, and wanted to hit the sack. “I’ll get the key. I’ll probably regret this, but for tonight you can stay.” I took my case in and locked my duffle bag in the trunk of the car. Cilla, as she said she wanted to be called, brought in her heavy back pack. We looked the room over. The bed was a full and the room had a small couch in the corner. That didn’t look too comfortable.

I asked, “Are you hungry?”

There was a faint, “Yes.”

“There is a McDonalds down the block. I asked the desk clerk.” We were hungry and both had a Big Mac and then split an order of nuggets. Cilla held my hand on the way back to our room. She showered and then I did. She was in bed asleep when I finished shaving. Damned, if I was going to sleep on that couch so I crawled into bed. We didn’t touch and I was soon asleep. My last thought before I slept was that I was being a damned fool having this girl in my bed.

In the morning I awoke when Cilla was returning from the bathroom. I jumped out of bed and soon came back. It was pretty early to get up. “Dan, can I hold your hand and lay here next to you? I’ve never been alone before. This is the most peaceful I have been since I was a little girl and I feel so safe with you. You are a very nice person. I’m so blessed to have met you.”

“I take it you haven’t had a very good life at home.”

“You said it! My father is old and my mother was a child bride. She was only fifteen when she married him. He is a terrible tyrant. I have a sister five years younger and Father treats Mom and us all the same way. He slaps us around if we don’t obey him. I had enough of it and left. I tried to get Mom to leave, but she said it was her duty to stay. I don’t feel that I have any duty toward him or bound to him at all.”

“That’s sad. My mother and father is a loving couple to me and my sister. I want to see some of the world and that’s why I joined the service. I plan on returning from the army and going to school for a few years and then be partner with my dad in the family business.”

“It must be nice. I wish my folks had been like that, but they weren’t so here I am making a life for myself. You bought eats last night so let me buy you breakfast.”

“No, you should save your money. I’ll be getting paid at the end of the month and I have money from the last pay period. I’ll stand for meals until you find work. I have to leave in five more days and report in. I’ll help you find something.”

“Dan, would you kiss me?” I rolled over and kissed her. My tongue came out and touched her lips. Cilla thought that was fun. She was sweet and it wasn’t long before she offered up her charms to me. I accepted. I found Cilla unknowing about sex. As soon as I realized she was a neophyte, I was slow and loving with her. I tried, but I came to the point when I couldn’t hold out any longer.

She asked, “Is that all there is to sex? I’m disappointed. I thought it would be fun, but it hurt a little.”

“It’ll get better. Let’s lie here and talk awhile.” We cuddled and she didn’t mind if I used my hands and fingers to brush and stroke different areas of her body. When I brought my lips to her breasts she was aware that she had asked me to enter her too soon the first time. It wasn’t long before she was asking to be made love to again. When we came down and were resting, I asked, “Cilla were you a virgin?”

“Yes, this is the first time I have ever had sex.”

I broke into a sweat. “You should have told me. I may have made you pregnant already. If we do it again I’ll have to get some rubbers.” I had little idea myself about cycles or periods. I questioned her. She had never been told about this either. “I assumed you must be on the pill. You said you were eighteen and very few women have sex without being protected. Their mothers see to it.”

“My mother never told me anything about sex. Maybe she doesn’t know either. My father said he would whip the hell out of me if I ever let a boy touch me.”

“Didn’t you talk to other kids about having sex?”

“Not much. When they were giggling about boys and stuff I would get up and leave. I was kind of an outcast because of my father. The whole village is afraid of him. I’m free of him now, thank the Lord.” When Cilla got up to shower the evidence was there. There were spots of red on the sheet, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

I went looking for condoms directly after breakfast. Cilla had no work skills at all. She didn’t even know how to wait table. We finally found a diner that would hire and train her. She was pretty enough, so when she learned the ropes and how to deal with the customers she should be able to support herself.

She was to start work in three days. We had that much time together. We ate in the diner from then on. This gave Cilla a chance to watch the other two waitresses who worked there and to get friendly with them. One meal the next day there were five soldiers in the booth behind me. I asked if they were stationed at the supply depot.

“Yeah, why?”

“Because I’m supposed to report there in a couple of days.”

“Make sure you’re on time.”

“I will be. My car runs good.”

“Oh, oh, you’ll get hassled about having a car. They always give new recruits trouble. Better sell it and come down by bus. There are regular buses going to and from.”

“That sucks.”

“Kid, you’re in the army now and everything sucks.” One of the soldiers handed me a bus schedule while everyone was laughing. I decided right then to sell my car which I did later that day getting just about what I had paid for it because the car didn’t look like much. It ran good though. I had only owned it a short while and wasn’t that attached to it.

Cilla and I spent a lot of time in bed the remainder of the time I was in Reno. I made promises that I would bus up here every chance I could and meet Cilla at the diner. She promised she would wait for me. I gave her the money I received for the car. She was going to hold the motel room until I came back next weekend. “I have faith I will see you, and I’m so blessed.”

The army had different plans for me. I arrived at the base and reported in just a few hours before Head Quarters closed for the day. “Private Pierson, don’t unpack. You will be shipping out at 0600 tomorrow morning. You have orders for Okinawa.” No time for a good-bye to Cilla. I wondered if she would miss me as much as I missed her.

I did a fourteen month tour on Okinawa. I used my vacation time in Japan and when my tour was up I was ordered to an ordinance unit in Pennsylvania. I was a few months there and then was ordered to do a tour in Germany. I spent a year in the fatherland and didn’t have that much time remaining when I returned at the end of that tour.

Occasionally Cilla would cross my mind and I wondered what had become of her. When I mustered out I did travel to Salina, Kansas where Cilla told me she had come from, but people said they knew no one by the name of Redding. After spending a week enquiring in the area I gave up the search and traced my way west.

I then went on to Reno. I found the diner where Cilla had the promise of a job. But it wasn’t the same. The original had burned two years before. It had been rebuilt after awhile but none of the former staff were working in the new one.

I went to college that fall taking courses in business. The thought of Priscilla Redding receded further into my past, but I did search for Cilla again when I finished school. On completion, I came home and took my place in the family hardware store. I looked up one of my classmates and began a relationship with her. I was an eligible bachelor and had a good job, which was just what she was looking for.

We married, but soon realized that there wasn’t that much love. The divorce wasn’t painful at all. No kids to complicate matters and over time she found someone who fitted her ideal as a husband and she is now happy. We are friends and when we meet we laugh about our short time stint in double harness.

Mom spoke one morning when I came down to breakfast, “Dan, wasn’t it about eighteen years ago when you had to report to that post that you only stayed one night and shipped out the next day. Do you remember that?”

“It was a long time ago Mom, but I do remember it well.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I had a five-day relationship with a young woman before reporting. I tried to track her down when I got out of the service, but couldn’t find her and then again one summer while in college. I did go back again before I came home for good.”

“That’s too bad, Dan, but probably for the best. You would have been tied to her. She would have been alone most of the time because of your two tours overseas. The marriage wouldn’t have lasted.”

“I don’t know Mom, she was a nice girl. Maybe even my dream girl. She was certainly pretty enough. I do think she would have hung in there if we hadn’t been prevented by circumstances to stay together.”

“Etta was a faithful wife to you. I was sorry to see it end.”

“She was faithful, but we found we didn’t love each other and neither of us got hurt over the marriage.”

“I know, son.”

It was a month later when I came out of my office up one level and caught a glimpse of two women quickly turning away from me. I noticed the red hair, but didn’t see their faces. I had the feeling they had been staring at the office. One of my clerks came up to me a little while later. “Dan, there are two women in the store down in the house-ware section. They have been in the store quite awhile and acting weird. Would you speak to them and find out if they are looking for anything special?”

“Sure, I’ll handle it.” I walked down the aisle. The two women had been whispering with their heads together and now broke apart when they saw me approaching.

“Are you ladies looking for something specific?”

“No sir, we were just leaving.”

The youngest woman at that point picked up a $1.89 plastic dishpan that was right in front of her. “I’ll buy this. I have my card. Would you ring me out?” She dug into her handbag and took a Mastercard out of her wallet. She handed it to me and looked right at me.

I knew immediately! This was Cilla, but no, it couldn’t be. Maybe the sister Cilla had mentioned, but then this woman looked too young for that to be possible. She looked like the woman I had made love to so many years ago. The girl even sounded like her. I started for the front of the store to ring up the sale. I hadn’t looked at the name on the card. The two women were following me.

I stopped suddenly and the young woman almost ran into me. I turned and holding the card in my closed hand, I asked, “What name am I going to find on this card when I look at it?”

“The name will be Danica Priscilla Pierson when you look at the card.”

I wanted to shock the young lady. “How is Cilla and why didn’t she come with you?”

“Mama is dead. My grandfather brought her home from Reno. Gram and Aunt Ann said Mama mentioned a Dan Pierson every day until she passed away. I’m hoping you are the Dan Pierson she talked about and maybe you are my father.”

“It is possible.” I looked at another woman who came up to us.

The older woman spoke, “My name is Anita Redding I’m Danica’s grandmother. This is Ann Redding Pierson and she is my daughter. Cilla and Ann were sisters.”

“How come Ann has the name Pierson? I can understand Danica having the Pierson name, but I don’t understand a sister having it?”

“I had her name changed by the court when her father and Cilla died. She could have had any name she wanted, but Cilla had talked about you so much, Ann decided to take your name.”

“Okay. Let’s get out of here so you can explain. Danica, do you really need a dishpan?”

Her face flamed and then she smiled. “No, of course not. I did it that way because I couldn’t walk up to you and announce I was your daughter, could I?”

“I would have known you were. Cilla has been in my mind’s eye throughout the last eighteen years and you are almost identical to the lovely person I spent five days with so many years ago. Come, I will take you home. My mother’s name is Grace and she will be overjoyed to meet you almost as much as I am and she would be grandmother to you. Your grandfather, George is here in the store somewhere, but he can meet you tonight.” We went outside to the parking lot.

“Miss Ann, would you follow my car? It isn’t very far.”

“Yes. Will Danica be riding with you?”

“That was my thought. I wish to get acquainted with this child of Cilla’s.”

Ann huffed up. “She’s your child. It is time you stepped up and claimed her.”

“Okay, I’ll do that. She’s my child. I searched for her mother long enough.” I held the door for Danica to slide into my vehicle.

“This is a Cadillac isn’t it? Pretty plush.”

“I guess. Danica, tell me, when did Cilla go home?”

“I don’t know when, but I do know why. My grandfather learned where she was and went after her, forcing her to return home. If it wasn’t for me she would have committed suicide. She claimed she couldn’t destroy something that came about with so much love. I never knew her because she died about the time I was able to walk.

“Don’t ask me now, for it is a long sad story and some of it is why my aunt and grandmother changed Aunt Ann’s name to Pierson. Your name is on my birth certificate. My mother lied and said she was married to you so when I was born I would be legitimate.”

“I don’t understand much of what you are telling me. I’ll wait and hear everything from your grandmother.”

“Ask my Aunt Ann to tell you because she was very close to my mother, and she could tell you better than Gram could. Aunt Ann is in all respects, my mother. We have the same name to prove it, or at least that is the intent.”

“Okay, I’ll ask her. This is my street coming up on the right. The large house at the end of the street is where I live. My mother and father live in a large apartment in the rear. I lived in that while I was married. Mom liked it and when my wife and I divorced I swapped my living quarters for the more easier-to-care for apartment.”

“You were married?”

“Yes, I was, but it didn’t work out. We are still fiends and you will meet her occasionally if you come to live with me.”

“Did you have kids?”

I smiled as I answered, “No, you are my only one. I felt I was too young to start a family when we first married. We knew that our marriage wouldn’t work soon after the ceremony, so we were careful. I was only married for two years anyway and that included the time it took to become divorced. We’ll continue this later.”

I looked in the mirror. “Your aunt just pulled in behind me, so we’ll all go in together. My mother knows I had a short relationship with a woman I met while in the service and that we lost track of each other. You won’t be too much of a surprise.”

I stepped out and waited on the walk until Ann and Anita got out and came up beside me. “Ann and Anita, you can tell Mom as little or as much as you want to. I think I should learn about everything before I do too much explaining.”

Ann spoke, “Thank you Mr. Pierson. You will hear some things that you most certainly wouldn’t want to share with anyone except family.” I nodded.

“Both of you please call me Dan. Mr. Pierson is my father.” I stepped up onto a small porch in the rear of the house and gave a couple of raps on the door. I opened it.