Chapter 15: Slow Understanding and a Crash

Gail Watson came up to the two men and immediately hugged Aaron, kissing him on the lips, and then repeated the gesture with Dave. Neither man seemed able to talk. They were stammering out welcoming words, but not too coherently.

Gail Watson, according to the men’s mother, was the product of Dave’s father and Betty Watson making love at a time of her peak fertility about thirty years prior. Although Aaron had dated Gail, he wasn’t technically related to her, but his ‘Dad’ had fathered the beautiful woman that stood before them. On the other hand, Dave and Gail shared the same father, so were half-siblings to each other.

Elise, the boys’ mother, stood off to the side looking exceptionally pleased with herself. She really had surprised the men by bringing Gail down for a few days in tropical Florida.

Gail wore lime green Bermuda shorts and a short-sleeve top. She wore girl’s sneakers on her feet that complemented the colors in her outfit. She had long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her face was stunning, and truly model quality. Her smile lit up the room and made the sun seem dim.

Gail said, “I’m so glad to make contact with you two again. It’s been sooooo long, what ten or fifteen years? The last I recall Aaron is when you went off to college. I was impressed, but was a year behind you. And Dave – the handsome big brother – you were long gone and everyone knew you’d probably marry Alice Waldorf, and I guess you did.”

Elise commented, “I told her a LITTLE about your lives, but I think there may be some details that I left out, if you get my drift.” She looked devilish.

Dave mumbled in aside to her, “I can guess. She knows nothing about us or the Circle or anything.”

Elise grinned intensely. “You’re pretty smart for a college guy.”

Gail said, “Is something wrong?”

Dave chortled, “You’ll have to decide later on after we’ve had a chance to talk.”

Elise said, “Let me go tell Alice and Julie that Gail is here.”

Gail said, “Oh, yes. Julie Waldorf was in my class. She was so sweet. I didn’t know she lived in your neighborhood.”

Dave said, “First, did my mother tell you where you were staying – your room arrangements?”

Gail laughed, “She helped put my bag in a small guest apartment just around the corner here in what she called the core. She said that it had belonged to a nanny until that woman moved to a townhouse.”

Dave thought, ‘Ah, smart. The group had all talked about using the two studio apartments as guest quarters, and that’s what she’d set up. He figured that Elise had talked to Ty about reserving the space. He knew that his mother sometimes used the studio that Bobbie Wyatt had lived in for a couple of months – the one with the view into the gazebo.”

“Good. Given the mid-afternoon hour, did you get to eat? Are you hungry?”

“No, but I would like a glass of diet coke or iced tea or something.”

Dave took two steps behind the patio bar, and set up a tall glass of unsweet iced tea in front of Gail. She looked impressed. He was wondering how to start to inform her of what his mother had brought her into.

Alice came down carrying Johnny. He was happily babbling which suggested that he’d just been dining at Alice’s Restaurant. Introductions were made, and some small talk ensued.

Julie came bouncing around the pool from Owen’s house. She screamed when she saw her, “GAIL!” The two women hugged and kissed and then Dave could see where the first revelation would come in.

Gail said, “Well, Julie Waldorf, I guess you like Florida. You have such a great tan.”

“Thank you, only my name is Julie Prentiss now.”

Gail turned to Aaron, “Just like yours? Did you marry Alice’s sister?”

Aaron stammered, “No, my wife is Shelby. She’ll be here shortly, I’m sure.”

Gail was confused. She turned to Dave, “How... ?”

Julie jumped in with both feet, “Dave has four wives. We all have the last name Prentiss.” She pointed at the nearby house, “That’s where we all live.”

Dave realized he was watching another of those ‘Huh?’ moments; only Gail was pondering Julie’s statements. He looked to Elise only she showed no indication of wanting to be involved in the explanation. She had a slight smirk on her face as she enjoyed watching a naïve person suddenly get smarter.

Dave spoke calmly, “Gail, Alice and I are legally and officially married. I also have Julie, Pam, and Heather that live with us and form our family. It’s complex, but it works for us.”

Dave turned to Elise, “Does she know her connection to me – to you, me, dad, Aaron, and her parents?”

Elise got that devilish grin again, “No. But I promised Betty that we’d tell her while she visited. It’s long overdue.”

“Tell me what?” Gail said with a sharp edge to her voice.

Dave had already assessed that Gail was smart and a very aware person about relationships and unusual situations. He led the group to the core living room sofas, “Come and sit everybody. We need some very open conversation for a few minutes.”

After they sat, Dave looked at his mother, but all she did was smile and nod for him to continue.

Dave caught Gail’s eye. “My mother is being devilish and I’m afraid you are the individual in her sights this time around. Just so you know, what I’m about to share we only learned about a few weeks ago from her.

“My mother finally revealed, after more than thirty years, that Aaron is not my full brother. She birthed him, but his father was none other than William Watson, your dad.”

The intake of breath was loud and sudden. Gail whirled to look at Aaron. “You mean ... but we dated ... we even ... oh, shit.”

Dave let a minute go by and no one else spoke. He then said, “There’s more. It turns out that Bill and Betty Watson, your parents, had an intimate relationship with Hank and Elise Prentiss, my parents. This relationship went on for at least two decades – maybe more.” He shot Elise a glance, but she just nodded.

Elise said from the sidelines, “Up until Hank died. Thirty-one years. Betty and I are still close.”

Gail again gawked at Elise, but didn’t protest. She muttered, “My dad died three years before your husband did.” She looked at Elise.

Dave again let a moment go by before adding to the material at hand. “Elise, my mother, also let it be known that for twenty or so years she and my father were in a group of swingers. By implication, and perhaps she could confirm this now for you, your parents were also in the group.”

Elise smiled and nodded. “We had a lot of fun and had some very good friends and lovers.”

Gail’s eyes were all but rolling around in her head as she absorbed all these facts about her life that should have been told to her years earlier.

Dave grimaced and said, “And one more thing, Gail; I’m your half brother. My father impregnated your mom, Betty, shortly after Aaron was born. Near as we could tell, my mother was out of commission sexually for a couple of months after Aaron was born. Betty filled the gap for my father, so to speak; or perhaps I should say that he filled her gap.” He tried to laugh, but the attempt at humor came out as flat and inappropriate for the occasion, so he stopped.

Gail had sagged in the chair. She looked at Elise. “Is that true?”

“All of it.” Elise said firmly.

Gail looked back at me and said, “And you have four wives?”

Dave nodded.

“I’d like to meet Pam and Heather.”

Dave got up and went out onto the patio and retrieved Pam. He briefly told her what was happening, and brought her inside.

Pam shook Gail’s hand. “Pam Prentiss. Nice to meet you. I hear you and Aaron used to date.”

Gail rolled her eyes and added, “In an incestuous kind of way, as it turned out; although I guess we’re not really related, but we might have been.”

Just then Matthew roared through the core living room coming from the house. “HI DAD!” He raced over and hugged Dave with all his strength; this was a game they played.

“Matthew, this is our friend Gail. Say hello.”

“Hi. I’m Matthew. Dave is my dad, but not my father. I love him. He’s the best dad in the whole world.” He spoke with great enthusiasm. He also took a quick look at the pool. “I’ve gotta swim, Dad. Bye.” He was out the door and diving head first into the pool before one could blink.

Gail ventured, “There’s a lot of that father-dad thing going around, I guess.”

Dave mumbled in an aside to Aaron that everybody heard, “More than you know.”

Grace came screaming out of the core by the media room just at the start of the cocktail hour, “EVERYONE, COME QUICK. THERE’S BEEN SOME KIND OF AIRCRAFT EMERGENCY AND KEN TOOMEY WAS INVOLVED.”

Dave had never seen everyone move so fast. There was a stampede from the patio and core living room into the revised media room. Grace had the huge sixty-six-inch TV tuned to CNN with the volume up. An announcer was reciting some details from an impromptu script in his hand.

Dave clicked the volume off, but left the frenzied announcer on the screen. He stood in front of the Circle and the few guests that had congregated.

He spoke, “I haven’t prayed in a long time, but I would like us to take a minute in silence with our eyes shut and focus on the well-being and health of the passengers, crew, and our friends that were on that plane.”

The room instantly went silent, but everybody there felt the power and intensity of those moments. Many joined hands as they stood.

Dave ended the meditation by saying, “Thank you all.”

Doug said, “Thank God Ken was at the controls. He knew that plane better than anyone, even the designers.”

Dave looked around. Alice and Pam were crying, and Emily and Joan weren’t much better. Rachel appeared numb. She was staring glassy-eyed at the television, apparently in some mild state of shock.

Owen came blasting into the room. “I’m leaving right now for Topeka. Who wants to come?”

Dave raised his hand, as did Alice, Doug, Pete, and Pam.

Owen made a snap decision, “Dave, Alice, and Doug. Pete you need to stay and run the show. Pam stay here and don’t get stressed out. The worst is over. This is all a PR show from here on for Atlantic Airlines.”

The four travelers raced around, grabbed their ‘Go Bags’ and were down at the hangar as Owen’s pilots rolled the jet onto the apron. Everyone hustled aboard. The pilot spoke, “We’re going VFR at first, while we file for the rest of the trip. As near as I can tell, Topeka Airport is still open, but they may close it down on a whim. We’re assessing alternates as we go. Kansas City isn’t that far away.”

The plane went airborne seven minutes later. Three hours later they were on the ground walking from the Gulfstream 650LR to the FBO in Topeka. There was a lot of activity around the field, especially given the late hour. Emergency lights had been set up in the field where the plane sat at a crazy angle with one wing buried in the mire.