Chapter 12

Cynthia and her daughters drove through East Point at the American border. The two agents on duty asked several questions, but after searching the car for any contraband, let them through. All three were wearing jeans and t-shirts. It was August and warm during the day but chilly at night. They drove down Highway 95. They stopped for the night in Sandpoint to rest up. They stayed in a Comfort Inn motel and picked up dinner from the local McDonalds. Cynthia was pretty strict about what went into her girls tummies but made this an exception.

It took them two more days to reach Seattle. They stopped at Moses Lake and the last step was her home. She knew it by heart. She drove across the span from Mercer Island and into Seattle itself. They were wearing chaste dresses, hats and white gloves as she pulled up to her home.

"Now behave, ladies," she warned them. "The first meeting will leave a lasting impression. Remember what I told you. I want you to act refined just like I taught you and be on your best behavior."

"Yes, Mom!" the girls chorused.

They stepped out of the car and climbed the steps. Many memories flowed back as she recalled running down the steps to do her daily jog. She rang the bell. Cynthia received the shock of her life when someone else answered.

"Yes, may I help you?" an elderly lady asked.

"The Thomas' don't live her?"

"Oh no, dear, they moved," the lady said.

"Do you know where? When?"

"They live in some gated village in Arizona someplace. Who are you?"

"I'm just a good friend who hasn't seen them in a while. You don't happen to know their address, do you?"

"I have their address but no telephone number."

"May I please have it"?

The woman studied Cynthia and the two polite girls standing on the porch. "I guess they won't mind. Please stay here," she closed the door.

"Why didn't you tell them you're their daughter, Mom?"

"Ssshhhh," she put a gloved finger to her mouth. "Grandmother will be frantic if she realizes I'm here. Now not a word."

The woman reappeared with the address to their home in Arizona. Cynthia thanked her and they left. They stayed the night in Seattle at a five star hotel while Cynthia decided to fly down instead of drive all that way. She'd leave the 4runner in a parking garage for a few weeks. They had a policy if you left the vehicle by the week you paid much less. She called three airlines to get first class tickets together. If had been a very long time since she flew and the first time for the girls. Jenny and Anna bounced on the other bed as Cynthia was talking to Northwest Airlines, which was also known as by the Seattle people as Northworst.

"Girls!" she cupped the mouthpiece. "Stop that immediately!" It wasn't too often she'd give a swat on the bottom of either girl but she did at times so both knew she meant business. "Mommy is trying to get reservations on the plane tomorrow."

Jenny and Anna gave their classic pouts and dropped to their knees on the mattress.

Finally she was able to get three first class tickets on a 3pm flight out of Sea-Tac Airport on a direct flight to the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

Relaxing, Cynthia sat to watch what was her favorite news channel when she was growing up. She shook her head seeing how the news team had aged since she last seen them. The news was bland that night. Car accidents, a few shootings, no killings, bad weather off shore promised a rainy time in Seattle for a few days. What's new?

The girls had fallen to sleep watching the boring news so Cynthia turned in herself.

Hopefully she'd see her parents in two days. She planned to fly out, find a nice hotel like this one for the night, then drive out to see how her parents were. She expected them to be joyful at first then angry that she didn't try to contact them when she could.

She wondered if they would understand that she had married a man Vanessa would disapprove of. Ed was the only man, other than her own father, that she truly loved.

Now Ed was no more and she had to move on with her life.

Cynthia had two plans for the future. Stay in Phoenix close to her parents and get into the medical field, or return to Bear Lake and pickup where she left off. She silently got up to change to a shorter gown. The long silky one wrapped around her body when she tossed and turned. The shorter one was a see through gauze frock she bought shortly before leaving Canada. Finally sleep overtook her and the rest she had was nice. Her dream was of Ed in happier times. When she awoke late the next morning, she wasn't sad that she dreamed of him. It just reinforced her love for him.

The plane landed in Phoenix. However they had to wait on the tarmac for over an hour before getting to a gate. The girls were getting restless. Jenny and Anna wore pink shorts and light blue t-shirts. Their long blonde hair was tied into a tight ponytail like their mother's. Cynthia wore a pair of tight jeans and a silk white short sleeved blouse. Once they left the airport to get their rental car, the heat hit them like a hard slap in the face. It was never this hot in Canada. Even when the sun was up for twenty-four hours. By the time the air conditioning started to work, they were at the hotel. Cynthia checked in and asked for directions to Sun City Luxury Homes. Only millionaires could afford to get into that gated city.

It was a sleepless night for Cynthia despite having two glasses of wine with her dinner. Jenny, now ten, and Anna, almost seven, slept the innocent sleep of carefree children. Questions went through her mind as she stared at the ceiling. Usually she'd get up and play solitaire until she was too tired to see the cards.

Back in Canada, Holly felt a lump in her breast. Actually it was Gladys who noticed it as they made love the night before. Constable Le June called up to take a sick day and drove into Bear Lake at the clinic. There was good news and bad news for her.

First the biopsy showed she didn't have a tumor. It was a cyst. The doctors advised for her to have it removed anyway. The bad news was that the woman she found so attractive had gone back to the United States. Perhaps it was for the best, she reasoned.

Holly made an appointment for the removal of the cyst and drove home to her lover's arms.

"That babe you brought up here way back when?"

"You mean... uh... Cynthia?" Gladys had to reach into the back of her mind to recall her name.

"Yeah, she's gone back to the States."

"You mean to Seattle?"

"Hell, I don't know. Is that where you snatched her?"

Gladys nodded.

"Well she's up and gone with her daughters to fucking America."

Gladys walked up to her, "You want this girl to fuck you with her American tongue?"

"That's what I love about you," Holly grinned. "You may be an American but you can make me cum like a Canadian."

"You're only saying that because it's true," she laughed pulling Holly into the bed on top of her. They undressed each other then went into sixty-nine to lick each other to multiple orgasms.

At ten the next morning Cynthia drove up to the gate where there was a security man sitting. They were clad in the same dresses, hats and white gloves as they had in Seattle. Both girls had small white vinyl purses containing a brush, tube of light pink lipstick and a twenty dollar bill each.

"Yes ma'am," the guard tipped his hat to the beautiful woman.

"We're here to see Robert and Vanessa Thomas."

"And you are?"

"A very good friend of theirs. This is a surprise visit."

"Ummmm I can't let you in on that alone. I must announce you, ma'am."

"I'm their daughter but I don't want you to tell them that. The girls are their granddaughters whom they've never seen. Thus the surprise. If you have to announce us, tell them that a Doctor Lowe is here. Don't say anything or you will spoil the surprise," she handed him her card.

"You know," he took the card. "I'm going to let you in. They're at 285 Sunshine Street. They're home. I wouldn't want to be a villain so why don't you just drive up and I won't say a thing," he grinned. He gave them the directions to their house and let them through.

"Remember, you're ladies. First impressions count. Be polite, these are your relatives and my mother and father. Understand?"

"Yes Mom," they said, pretending to be bored but deep inside they were excited to see their grandparents.

Cynthia smiled inwardly knowing it was all an act. She did the same with her parents when she was at that age. She knew her girls would be on their best behavior.

They climbed out of the car, did some last second grooming then walked single file up the sidewalk like a mother duck and her ducklings. Cynthia rang the bell and took a step back waiting for the door to answer. As it opened she saw a very old woman. The woman looked like her mother but time had not been kind to her. She recalled how beautiful she was and how men were attracted to her. No more. Her face showed wrinkles, heavy glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, and she wore an old matronly woman's floral cotton frock. Gone were the glamorous fashions that she wore when she was so much younger.