Chapter 5

We were told to be ready for pickup at seven-thirty, reservations for were dinner at eight, dancing at nine, and fun starting at seven-thirty-one. Marilyn thought it would take a minute or so to get settled in the car. She can be funny when she’s away from the courthouse. Her persona there was a bit stoic most of the time.

The High Note was pretty much just that. It was the high note of the entire trip. Definitely an upscale dinner club, with extremely tasty food. I had red meat, Donna had white meat, and we both loved our own and each other’s dishes. Marilyn and her aunt both had salads with fish or shrimp on them and did the same as us, letting us know they were always happy with their meals there.

“How often do you two go out dancing, Melanie?” Donna asked.

“At least once a month. It’s my niece’s way of helping me cope, I think. We used to do it every two to three months, but the worse I get, the more she takes me places. God love her. She’s really trying.” She reached out and took Marilyn’s hand in hers, holding it in a loving manner. “I get asked to dance quite a bit, but I generally turn them down. I’m pretty much a stick in the mud, but Marilyn dances so well, that we generally finish our drinks then dance and order new ones when we get back to the table. Can’t be too careful these days.”

“You did dance with your doctor that one time, hon. Remember that?”

“Yes, I do. Teresa is a wonderful woman. She’s kept me alive this long. I owed her. Her husband was a bit set back by it, but he got over it, I think.”

“She said he did, anyway!” Marilyn laughed, remembering the ordeal. “I had to dance with him so he wouldn’t feel left out. Speaking of left, he had two left feet. Oh, well. They can’t all be Prince Charming, now can they?”

We were sharing desserts, Donna and I with a brownie and ice cream and the two other ladies with sherbet when Donna asked about a vacation. “Speaking of Prince Charming, how would you two ladies like to get away after Christmas for a few days?”

“What brought this on?” Melanie asked.

“We’re heading to Hawaii for a bit and we thought you two might want to get out of town. I like you, Marilyn, I really do. Your auntie is a hoot, too. Something to think about. It’s free. Free airfare in Charlie’s magic carpet and the spare bedrooms in a three-bedroom condo, all three with ensuites. You’ll have to buy your own postcards, but that’s normal for this type of thing.” Donna giggled.

“What’s the catch?” Again, it was Melanie.

“Stop, hon, they’re not trying to cause trouble, I don’t think. Are you, Charlie? Donna?”

“Quite the opposite. I’m sorry if I offended, Melanie. I really have no ulterior motive other than I feel a bond with Marilyn for some reason. I don’t even know why, I just do. I’ve never had anyone, really, that I was close to because I never felt a bond. With her I do. So, it’s not a problem, it was just an offer for a good time. Like tonight, Marilyn asking us out to dance. It’s just fun. We thought you...” Melanie interrupted her.

“I’m sorry, Donna. Truly. I’m a bit used to being taken advantage of, and before Marilyn stepped farther into my life, it happened quite often. I’m not used to it yet. If she wants to go, I’d love it. It does sound fun, and to be honest, hon, I like you guys, too. I can’t think of any reason not to, and normally I can. Marilyn, I’m sorry. The band is starting. Dance with me, please?” Marilyn took her hand and pulled her to the dance floor.

“Wowsers, Charlie, I wasn’t expecting that. Melanie must have had some poop dumped on her. I didn’t know anything about that, but we really haven’t talked that much with Marilyn to find anything like that out. Maybe I can dance with her and you can ask Marilyn what happened.”

“Better idea, baby. I’ll do the dancing with Melanie and you can do the talking to her niece.”

That’s what we did, and while I was out, dancing carefully with Melanie, Donna got the word on how Melanie’s husband dumped her when she was diagnosed with the breast cancer. Oh, my God, what a

loser. I took her back out after I knew that, and did a bit more with a faster number, really getting her to smile and have a good time. Donna did the same, and we were even able to get her laughing at one point. Mission accomplished. Everyone had fun.

They planned on going with us to Hawaii, for the week just after Christmas. When Marilyn dropped us off at the hotel, she walked us to the door and tried to apologize for Melanie’s little outburst and suspicion, but we’d have none of it.

“Don’t, Marilyn. She’s been shit on. She’s not going to trust anyone until after she knows them. We’ll prove ourselves. She doesn’t have to accept us at face value. We don’t expect that of someone hurt that badly. I certainly don’t anyway,” Donna told her.

“I agree. We’ll do our best to make our little getaway fun and go from there. I do have an ulterior motive, though, Marilyn. I’m going to listen to your voice as much as I can while we’re on our little vacation.” She playfully slapped my arm and laughed. Melanie looked over from the car and saw us, then smiled. Maybe we’d grow on Marilyn’s aunt after all.

We made all the reservations and such we needed, then Donna went back to school. She and Amy spent quite a bit of time together, which was good for them both, I think. Beverly had been pretty much pushed out of the picture by Amy’s feeling of being pushed and pulled by Beverly more than cared for.

A phone call from Marilyn brought good news about the court case, including the convictions of Sherri and her boyfriend, Henry Jordan. First degree murder was the jury’s determination. They hired Michael Bishop and Arnold Jones to kill Doug. Bishop and Jones were convicted of second-degree murder.

Jones’ money wound up in the account of his wife’s hospital, spent, and unrecoverable, for all intents and purposes. We were going to sue the Bishop Freightways company for all they were worth. All of Bishop’s money, we understood, went into new engines on a thirty-six-foot center console fishing boat he kept in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Brand new four hundred horsepower Verado racing engines.

The boat went up for auction. Guess who was able to get the high bid, knowing it was worth a lot more than everyone else thought. CorrectaMundo. Donna Grant, with my blessing, bid thirty thousand dollars for sixty thousand dollars’ worth of engines sitting on the back of a fifty-thousand-dollar boat. Lucky me. That was a life changing event, by the way. We had the boat shipped home so we could play with it on the lake, then we were planning to take it somewhere we might want to spend a lot of time. I was voting for San Diego, but I only have one vote. Donna was thinking of taking it back to the Gulf.

In addition, the court confiscated all the money from the life insurance payout. That added up to about three hundred thousand that was left before Sherri’s arrest. It was turned over to Donna Grant. Doug had her listed as a beneficiary, secondary, of course, knowing I surely didn’t need it, and we had no other living family. I’m sure he didn’t ever consider this chain of events would come to pass.

Even more than that, since there was just a simple will, and it, the insurance and the investment paperwork listed Donna as next in line, she also got what little was in his 401K and his 2016 Ford Taurus SHO. It was a pretty nice car. She had all of his personal belongings, with the exception of his small collection of jewelry, given to the Salvation Army. The jewelry she had put in a little box and put in my safe. Odd, that even though I was his brother, my girlfriend wound up with all his stuff. It’s amazing what a couple of legal documents can do for a person. All in all, she wound up with three hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars and the car. A nice college fund if I let her use it. I don’t want her to have to pay for anything. That’s my job. Just my opinion.

That was all before the civil wrongful death lawsuit against the trucking company. That would probably take years, but a friend of Marilyn’s took it on for a ten percent commission. Unheard of in the industry, but she did. She expected to get about ten grand for herself, from what she told Marilyn when she was asked about the possibilities. Time would tell.

A few days before Christmas, we went to the movies, the three of us, to see a new big hit holiday release. Donna saw Beverly with another girl. A slight, mousy girl that didn’t look like she knew how to smile even though Beverly was hanging all over her and was acting happier than maybe she should be. She didn’t bring it up until after we took Amy home, but come to find out, Amy saw her, too and decided not to bring it up in front of us. I was proud of both of the girls after that revelation. Funny, both girls told the other they didn’t think Beverly saw us there, so we had nothing to do with the way she was acting around the new girl. Interesting observation.

Christmas night, we flew to Atlanta to get M&M for the trip to Hawaii. They once again took us out to dinner, another nice place, with no dancing this time since we were traveling to San Diego the next day. They then took us to the hotel, coming inside for a drink before going home to pack. They would drive us to the airport where they’d leave their car.

Melanie and Amy hit it off amazingly. There must’ve been an invisible kinship of mistreated souls or something going on because they got along really well together.

The evening in San Diego was spent walking around the downtown waterfront, just meandering, until someone said they were hungry, then we all stopped in a nice place and had a very nice meal. The seafood there was truly fresh, naturally, and the place we hit knew how to fix it up good. It was a place called Top of the Market, so we thought that might be the case.

We were staying at the Embassy Suites just a block or two away, so the walk in, around, and through Seaport Village on the way back to the hotel was an easy decision to make. Souvenirs, hats, coverups, pins, hammocks, whatever someone wanted, there was a shop in the village that sold them. The next morning, not needing to rush or anything, we finally got underway at about nine o’clock and were off the ground heading west by nine-thirty.

A little more than five hours later, we were landing on the north shore of Maui at the Kahului Airport. They had my favorite, a Signature Flight Services facility, so it was an easy choice once we started narrowing down places to stay.

Donna and I did some looking around for just the right spot for us to spend a week and found a house, a private beach estate, right next to the Maui Country Club golf course in Sprecklesville. The semi-private beach was within flip-flop walking distance, and eats were close by in the North Shore area.

Our first night there was a calm night, the sky clear as a bell, when Melanie asked me to walk her to the beach. She just wanted to talk but wanted to be out away from the houses. Donna, Amy, and Marilyn saw her ask and all three of them just found something to keep them busy at the estate. I think Donna and Marilyn may have discussed this possibility before, the way it looked.

Melanie took my hand and off we went. Once we hit the sand, she took her sandals off, I kicked my flip-flops off by the trail, and we just kept on going down to the water. Our hands never parted.

“Charlie, it’s back. The cancer. They can’t stop it. It broke out, metastasized, whatever you want to call it, but in any case, I don’t have long. A few months. Can you help with Marilyn when I go? She’s going to be a wreck. Not sure if you’ve seen it, or if you know, but we’re closer than Aunt and Niece. You’ll need that information when it comes time. She’ll either be relieved because I’m over the pain and torture or lose her mind because I’m gone. There are a million steps in between that it might be as well, but I’d really like someone there to assist her. I understand you don’t work, and you might be able to help a bit.”

She looked up at me in askance. I pulled her to me and hugged her.

“I haven’t had one of those from a gentleman in quite a while. It felt good. Thank you.”

“What about you? Can I be there for you?”

“Why would you want to do that after I more or less accused you of ill manners and vile intent in bringing us here?”

“I like your niece. I’m drawn to her for some reason. It’s not just the accent. It’s something much more ethereal. Something bigger than me, but I have no idea what it is. Donna feels the same way and knows I do. We’ve shared our feelings on the subject and are in agreement.”

“Wow. I thought I saw something, but I didn’t want to let my jealousy show. I’m a bit on the possessive side, but we live with it somehow. You’re not going to take her from me before I pass, are you?”

“Not on your life. Literally. I wouldn’t ... I couldn’t, do anything like that. Back to my question. How about you? What can I do for you?”

“Another hug?” I hugged her, gently lifting her off the ground and getting a giggle. “Sit down.” I sat down on the sandy beach and she climbed into my lap. I put my arms around her and just rocked her slowly. “You have no idea what touch can do for a person.” She put her arms around my neck and started weeping, quietly at first, then more openly, then it mellowed out into sniffles. I did a little bit more rocking and then nothing. She was asleep. Her deep regular breathing proved the point. I didn’t move much for twenty or thirty minutes.

“Hey, stranger.” I could tell it was Marilyn by her accent. “She looks like she’s asleep,” she whispered. I nodded. “Did she tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“About the cancer coming back, about her and me, about me having the hots for you, about me having the hots for your soon to be wife. Any of that?”

“There were no hots discussions, however, I did tell her Donna and I were attracted to you. She asked me not to take you away from her too early.”

“That can’t happen; however, I’d like to continue to see you guys if it’s possible. She likes you, too, now that she knows you aren’t after our money. She actually thought that. She didn’t believe me when I told her you were independently wealthy. She said, ‘they all say that.’ It was kind of funny, but she’s suspicious of everything and everyone. Her ex really fucked her over.”

“Yeah. So I heard. Pretty cold-hearted bastard. I hope I never meet him.”

“You will. He’ll show up at the reading of the will, with his hand out.”

“Maybe I’ll just cut it off.”

“Good plan, but a fourth of the restaurant is his. I bought half of his share when he was down on his luck giving Mini the deciding percentage. Then I bought half of her part when she needed some help. They each own a fourth and I own half, but she’s the brains of the operation and I let her make all the decisions.”