Chapter 15

(Fast-forward 4 more months)

It was now spring in Seattle, the most beautiful time of year. Christy and Franklin have been in love since the day they met, almost 8 months ago. It felt so good to both of them. By this time, Franklin 3^rd moneymaker was taking off, and he was now on the top 1000 list of Fortune Magazine's list of young rich. He was still living with Christy, and his dog, Ben, in the same Seattle suburb. Of course he had kept his father's gardens up with the help of 6 master gardeners. Some days he would sit in the garden to contemplate his life and watch nature. On others he'd be doing inside stuff. Life was good.

Christy had been rather depressed lately. She was still in love with Franklin, very much so, yet she missed her parents terribly. Since Christmas, she had been crying herself to sleep. She tried to act normal, but she knew that Franklin knew something was eating on her. One day in mid April, Christy's birthday, they were outside on the patio, having a lunch. Franklin broached the subject by saying, "Christy, you haven't been yourself lately. What's wrong, honey? Anything I can do? I love you, and I don't like seeing you brood like this. You can tell me. Please?"

Christy sighed, and said, "Frankie, I miss my parents. I want them back in my life. But, what I did to them is unforgivable. They probably hate me. They would have every right to after what I said and did. The really bad part is that they were right all along, and I was totally wrong. I love you too, baby, but there's nothing anybody can do."

"Yes, call them, talk with them."

"I wish I could. But, I can't face them. It's not the same as with you and your mother. None of what she did was your fault. But, what I did was entirely my fault. Please, drop it love? I need to go back in and take a nap, ok?

"Ok, sweetheart. I'll be checking email."

They both went in. Christy went into one of the back bedrooms, laid down and shed hopeless tears. Franklin thought, "Enough of this, if she won't help herself, I'll help her my way." He went to his computer.

He thought, "Now, where did she say she was born? Ah yes, Scottsdale, Arizona."

He typed that in his "People Search" program's "City" and "State" fields. He put "McAlester" in the "Last Name" field. He clicked the "Search" button and waited. The results came in about 20 seconds later. Unfortunately there were 2 entries for "McAlester", so he picked the entry for Jack and Donna McAlester. He printed out the entry and went to his speakerphone. He dialed the number. An older female voice answered, "Hello".

Franklin took a deep breath, and said, "Mrs. Donna McAlester?"

'Yes, this is Donna McAlester. May I ask who this is?"

"I'm sorry to bother you. You don't know me, but my name is Franklin Sternberg. I need to ask you a question, do you have a minute or two?"

"Mr. Sternberg, I hope this is not some sales pitch. If it is, we don't want what ever you're selling. Please hang up now if that's the case."

"No, no, no, it's no sales pitch. I hate those as well. I just wanted to know if you have a daughter named Christina."

Thirty seconds of dead silence later, Donna said, "What do you know about Christina? Is she dead?"

Franklin hadn't expected that reaction, but played it cool and said, "No, she's far from dead. She's alive and well. She's living with me in Seattle, Washington. Are you sitting down? I'd like to tell you a rather long story, if I might."

"Oh thank goodness she's alive, my baby's alive, and there is a god after all! Mr. Sternberg, tell me your story, please? It's been about nine years since we've seen or heard anything about her. Please, please, please, tell me!"

Franklin thought, "Hmmm, now that's encouraging, this might just work out after all." He started in, "Well, ok. Here goes. First, let me tell you that I'm not doing this with her approval. She told me to drop it when I suggested she do this. But, she's been feeling depressed and guilty about what she did and said nine years ago. So, I couldn't see her like that. She has helped me more than I can possibly tell you. I just hope she doesn't yell at me for going behind her back on this."

"I don't think she'd mind too much."

"I hope you're right. Anyway, I'm disabled, with cerebral palsy, a rather nasty case of it, which renders me practically helpless."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. But, what does this have to do with Christy?"

"Hang in there, I'm getting to that. You see, prior to Christy's arrival in my life, my main caregiver/aid/support that I had in life was my adopted father. He died of colon cancer about a year and a half ago. I had to pull the plug, and end it for him. It almost killed me to do it, but that's what he wanted, and being his son, it was the least I could do for him. Anyway, I had my best friend help me until he moved to Europe. My family wouldn't do for that purpose, so I needed to find someone, quickly. So, I put an add on the Internet, hoping to find a nice guy like my best friend, but six weeks later, I found that the only one that responded was your daughter, Christy. And, I have to say that I am so, so, glad she did. She's the most wonderful person I've ever met, with the exception of my father. I've got to tell you, Mrs. McAlester, I'm totally in love with your daughter, and would love for her to marry me someday, when my soul is totally healed. I know she feels the same about me, she's said so, on many occasions. She's the light of my life. I would die inside if she ever left me, or died before me. We've been together for about eight months now, and it's been the best time of my life."

"That's a beautiful story. Is she there, I want to speak to her, to forgive her, to say I love her. Can you get her for me, Mr. Sternberg?"

"Mrs. McAlester, please, just call me Franklin. Tell you what, you call this number back in ten minutes, I'll have her answer the phone, that way she won't get upset with me. Ok?"

"Sure, Franklin, that's fine. And, you can call me Donna, ok? I hope I can talk with you again."

"Thank you, Donna, I'm glad I did this. Bye now."

"Bye, bye"

Click...

Franklin thought, "That went ok, now for phase 2. Hmmm, how can I get her in here? Ah, there it is, I'll have her reach a book for me. I need to fix a bug anyway. Yeah, that will do nicely."

He opened the A.I. project he was working on, went to a particularly stubborn line of code he had been trying to get right for about 4 days and yelled, "Christy, I need you, sweetie, I'm sorry."

Christy woke up, got out of bed, and yelled back, "Ok, baby, be right there."

She reached his office room and saw he was looking at the same stupid line of code, she asked, "What's up, Frankie, love?"

Franklin said, "I'm sorry to wake you up, babe, but this bug is beginning to bug me. I need a book from my shelf that I can't reach. Could you reach it for me?"

"Is that all? Sure, no big deal, sweet one. Which book?

"Visual C++.Net. Bible"

"Version 2.0?"

"Yes, that's it."

She reached up and got it. She brought it over to Franklin's counter and opened it. She asked, "What page, honey?"

"Don't know yet, babe."

Just then, the phone rang. Franklin asked her, "Could you get that for me, honey?"

Christy went to the phone, and said, "Sure, love." She picked up the receiver and said, "Sternberg residence, Christina McAlester speaking, how may I help you?"

Christy whole being was shaken when she heard the very familiar voice say, "Christy?"

She got down on her knees and tears flooded her eyes as she said in a little girl voice, "Mamma is that really you?"

'Oh honey, yes, yes, it's me, your mamma! And I don't hate you, no honey, I could never hate you."

"Oh gods, Mamma, I'm so sorry. I did and said some awful things to you and Daddy. You both were right, that bastard Raul almost killed me before I had him deported. After that, I realized what a fool I had been for not seeing it. I wanted to call you and apologize, but I couldn't face you, I thought you hated me; I couldn't face that. I've been so bad to you and Daddy, I couldn't have blamed you if..."

Donna cut her off, and said in a gentle reassuring voice, "Honey, stop, I forgive you. Your father is right here. Let me get him in this too, ok?"

Franklin just smiled to himself, and thought, "Good job, Franko."

Christy said in the same little girl voice, "Ok."

A few seconds later, another, male voice came on the line, and said, "Christy, baby, Oh god, I'm so glad you're alive. Sweetheart, I forgive you too. When we didn't hear from you for so long, and saw stuff about young women being killed by serial killers, we thought you were one of them."

"I'm so, so, sorry, Daddy. I love you."

"Baby, don't, it's water under the bridge. It's done. We forgive you, honest. Now, dry your eyes, and tell us your story. The guy you're taking care of sounds nice, do you love him?"

Christy looked shocked by this. She asked, confused, "You know?"

Donna spoke then, "Yes, honey, he called me. Don't get mad at him, he told me you told him to drop it, but he said he couldn't bear seeing the woman he loves be so depressed. He had to do something. He loves you, big time."

"I know, Mamma, me too. He's wonderful."

"So, when's the wedding?"

"He's had it tough, Mamma. I do intend to marry him, if he ever asks, and he's totally healed, but not until. He's almost there though, he's not crying nearly as much as he was. I'll tell you some of the stuff when I call you next time, ok?"

Franklin thought, "That may be sooner than you think, my love."

"Ok, honey. So, your story, tells us. We want to know everything."

Franklin got a sudden brainstorm and fixed the bug in his A.I. project, tested it successfully and saved it. It seemed to come from nowhere. He looked up, saw George's picture, smiled and whispered to the picture "Thanks, Papa."

Christy told her parents all about her life. An hour later, her father asked her, "Baby, when can you come home?"

"Daddy, I can't, I have to take care of Franklin. He has nobody else."

Franklin had an idea, it was her birthday, what a present that would be. He went on the Internet, found his favorite travel web site and booked 2 ultra first class tickets to Scottsdale, plus a full 2 weeks at the finest hotel he could find in Scottsdale. The hotel he chose had a disabled suite, so he booked that for ease of travel. He had to search a bit for the proper van with a dedicated driver, but he found a service that could do what he wanted.

After a few more minutes of talking, Christy said "Goodbye, Mamma, Daddy. Say hi to Alicia for me, ok?"

"Ok, honey, stay in touch, and always remember, we love you. Bye, bye, darling.

"Thank you"

Click...

Christy regained her composure, got up, walked over behind Franklin, bent over, put her arms around his neck and kissed the top of his head.

Franklin feigned ignorance of the situation, and said, "Who was that, babe? You talked for over an hour." He smiled to himself.

In mock anger, Christy said, "Franklin Sternberg, you, you, you, wonderful, kind, sweet and loving man! How? Why? I told you to drop it..."

Franklin turned his chair around and cut her off, "Christy, come down here at my level, and look at me."

She did. He said, "Baby, I had to do something. I couldn't live with myself if you continued like that and did something stupid, like kill yourself, when I could've done something about it. You were slipping away. Besides, you've helped me so much, that it was time for me to return the favor. I figured, since you weren't going to do it, I would force the issue. I love you, sweetheart, and I always, always will. That's the why, does the how really matter? Oh, and by the way, happy birthday, sweetheart."

Christy shed fresh tears as she looked on the man who loved her, kissed his lips lightly and said, "No, how makes no difference at all. I love you, my darling. I'm so happy with you! I think we should go somewhere to celebrate. What about Grazie's? Then, we'll come home, get naked, and make mad, passionate love until you wear out. That ok, baby?"

"Actually, I was thinking of something more elegant. Tell you what, you give me a shower, dress me in my black velvet and put that gold unicorn pendant on me. Then give me a couple hours to make some calls. Meanwhile, you make yourself look gorgeous, not that you're not already gorgeous, but make yourself even more gorgeous. Wear that beautiful evening gown you got at Linda's boutique, and that stunning necklace you got from Fredrick's jewelry shop. Tonight, I want the elegant 'Christy', not sexy 'Christy' or nice girl 'Christy'. That ok, baby?"

Christy giggled with delight at this, and said, "Sweetheart, anything for you. I'll do even better, I'll kill two birds with one stone, I'll take a shower with you, I need to take one anyway. That way, whatever mess we make can just be washed down the drain. How's that sound?"

"Oh my gods, yes. I'm so hard just thinking about it, it's almost painful. Let's hurry up and do this, I need you bad now. Thank the gods I just got a new heavy-duty shower chair. The old one wouldn't take that kind of stress. Hurry, baby!"

With that, the two lovers went into the main bathroom. Christy began kissing Franklin with such passion that she blew his mind. Then she undressed him. She lifted him up in her arms, kissed him lightly, put him in his shower chair, and said, "Darling, this one is for you." She sucked his cock into her mouth, rolling the head around her mouth with her tongue. This was the best one yet, and Franklin came in her mouth within a minute. She swallowed all his cum. She kissed him again; he tasted his cum when she did. He was still extremely horny, and his cock was hard again within 2 minutes. Christy did a sexy striptease for him, and then said, "Get ready, baby, 'cause here comes Christy!" She sat straddling his legs, which was a bit awkward due to the nature of the chair, but she got it done. She grabbed his cock gently and put it into her pussy. Franklin took this opportunity to do something he's never done before, suck on a woman's tits. Christy's tits have always been particularly sensitive, and this new thing that Franklin did was the absolute best thing. He had her screaming in less than 5 minutes. She screamed, "OH MY FUCKING GODS, BAAABBBYYYY, PLLLLLEEEEAASSEE KEEP DOING THAAAATTTT! YEEESSSS, THAT'S IT. I'M CUUUMMMMIIINGGGG, BAAAABBBBYYY. CUUUMMMM WITH MMMMEEEE, SWEETHEART. AHHHHHHHH!!!!" Franklin obliged her eagerly, squirting all of the cum in his body into her pussy. They were both going wild, almost too wild for the shower chair.

Five minutes later, they were recovering from the most powerful orgasm either of them had ever experienced in their entire lives. Christy said, still panting, "Damn, baby! How did you figure that out? You've never done that before. I thought you said you were a virgin when we met. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, oh my gods, I loved it big time, but what gave you the idea?"

Franklin said, panting as well, "I told you the truth, baby, I was a virgin when we met, but the idea came from the porn I used to download during those dark times up to eight months ago. That was awesome, yes?" He smiled up at her with an abundance of love. She just hugged and kissed him with little kisses. She said, "Hmmm, perhaps that porn stuff isn't so bad after all, if it gives you ideas like that, hmmm. Is there a site for disabled porn? If not, we could start one. The money we could make off of that, wow! We'd need a video camera. Do we have one?"

"Christy, you're not serious, are you?"

"Actually, I am, not right now, but in the future, why not? You always say I could be a Playboy model. And you are the sweetest man in the world; you'd never hurt me. What harm could it do?"

"Babe, let me explain something to you. On the Internet, we would have no way of knowing who is watching us. The idea does sound exciting, but my clients are rather conservative, and if they got a whiff of that, they'd probably cancel their contracts. I have a better idea, instead of doing it live, let's just make an amateur porn DVD, and sell that on eBay, or some other site. Hey, you said your best friend Megan is bi-sexual; maybe she'd like to join us. Think so? Just a thought."

"Hmmm, she just might, I'll see what she says. You're right, sweetie, the full-blown web site thing is risky. Let's do the DVD thing though, that would be most fun. Now, let's get us clean, and you dressed. Then, I'll get ready. Ok, babe."

"Ok, love. Let's do that. You are stunning, and I love you."

"Frankie, baby, you're mine, forever!"

Franklin thought, "Yes, if this works, it will be forever, I hope. Ha, I'm actually going to ask her to marry me tonight, if I can keep my courage up."

With that, she turned on the shower and washed them both. She dried Franklin, then herself, and put on her robe she kept in her closet. After getting the stuff Franklin wanted to wear, she dressed him. She put him in his chair, combed his hair and then said, "Ok, honey, you're done. Give me about three hours. Ok?"

"Yeah, sure, sweetie. I'll be arranging our evening. Be prepared for anything. At this short notice, I'm not exactly sure what I can get for us. I'll find something though."

"Whatever you find I'll like, baby."

Franklin went to his room, closed his door, went to his safe, punched in his combination and opened it. He got out the engagement ring he had bought at Fredrick's jewelry shop about a month ago. He closed his safe, put the ring box in his pocket and went to his secret hiding place. He pushed in the fake wall panel and a secret door opened. He put his eye up to the retinal scanner, and when the green light flashed, the door opened. The box he had put in there 3 months ago, that he got with the help of Angie and his mom, was still there. He retrieved the box. Then he called his mom.

"Hello"

"Hi, Mom. It's your genius boy."

"Hi, honey, what's up?"

"I need your help. Christy and I are going somewhere tonight, someplace really, really special. I'm actually ready to ask her the question. I want us to have a night or two at the finest hotel in the city, and then I made reservations for us to fly first class to Scottsdale, Arizona, where she's from, for two weeks, so she can visit her parents. I took it upon myself to initiate the dialog between them again to get her out of her deep depressions she was in. They want to see her, and I want to meet them. The problem is, she doesn't know exactly what's up yet, I want to give her a really big birthday present today. Can you help, Mom?"

"Sure, honey, I'll help. What do you need me to do?"

"Well, I need you to come over here when I'm gone tonight and pack some cloths for us, both of us. By now, you know what we like to wear, yes?"

"I think so. You want me to pack two weeks worth?"

"Yeah, in two segments, one for tomorrow night and the night after, and the other for 14 days and nights. Then, I'd like you to deliver the luggage to the Olympic Four Seasons Hotel, downtown. Take the stuff to a woman named Jennifer; she'll know what I want done with them. Mom, I wouldn't ask you to do any of this, but I don't have..."

Becky cut him off, and said in a sweet tone, "Honey, listen. I know, I know, don't worry about a thing. I'm your mother, my boy needs help, and I'm here to help. Consider it part of my atonement. I love you. All I want is my happy boy back."

'I love you too, Mom. When we get back, I'm going to have a big dinner party to make the official announcement, if she accepts, if she doesn't, that's cool, I know she loves me, that's all I need. I think she will though."

"Will I have another grandchild soon after? I hope so."

"Oh, gods, Mother, I thought you knew. Apparently she had a nasty childhood illness of some kind, which rendered her infertile. She can't have any children, ever. She's ok with it, and so am I. Are you ok with that?"

Becky sighed, and said, "I guess I'll have to be ok with it. I was hoping that you would have a child with her, but I guess that wasn't meant to be either. Oh well, sorry honey. It really doesn't matter. What matters is that you're happy, and you are happy, so I'm happy too."

"Thanks, Mom, I do love you."

"I know, honey, I know. Now, go make your plans, you have a lot of stuff to do, and not much time to do it. Bye, honey. I'll take care of your cloths, don't worry about that."

"Bye, Mom."

Click...

He called Jennifer next.

"Olympic Four Seasons Hotel, Jennifer Dawson speaking, how may I help you?"

"Jennifer, this is Franklin Sternberg, I need some help with some arrangement I'm trying to make for tonight, can you help?"

"Ah, Mr. Sternberg, how delightful to hear from you. What do you need help with?"

"Do you remember my girlfriend and aid, Christina?"

"Oh, Ms. McAlester, oh yes, I remember her well. I'm so glad you two are still a couple."

"Yes, me too, very, very much so. In fact, I'm going to do something I never thought I'd ever do, ask her to become Mrs. Christina Sternberg, tonight, if I can get up the guts to actually do it. I love her more than anything. I want her to share my entire life. So, what I need is my suite at the hotel, and I also would like to have your opinion on what is a romantic spot for an elegant dinner tonight. And you know me, I want ELEGANT."

"Your suite is available tonight and tomorrow night. Do you wish me to book it for you? As for a romantic evening like you want, might I suggest Franco's Hidden Harbor, or Fuller's? They are truly outstanding. I can probably get a reservation for two at one of those; I have connections. Do you want me to try?"

"Please do, Jennifer, and if she says yes tonight, you're invited to the wedding, as you are very special to me. I remember the time you offered yourself to me. I almost took you up on that, but I didn't because I knew it wasn't right. Not that you weren't sincere; it just felt wrong. But to this day, I remember the way you kissed my cheek. Thank you for that."