Chapter 32

Thanksgiving morning I woke up with a lovely lady snuggled up on either side of me and thought how good life was. Unfortunately, I really had to go, so I snuck out the bottom of the bed and put on a pair of track pants and a tee-shirt before heading to the bathroom down the hall.

After I took care of the usual things, I grabbed a towel, went downstairs and poured a glass of orange juice in the still dark kitchen. It was just before six and I knew everyone would sleep in for at least a couple of hours. I took the stairs down to the basement and hit the switch at the bottom of the steps, turning on the lights in the main family room. I walked through the room to the door at the other end and opened it and fumbled for the light switch before flipping it to illuminate the small exercise room.

I slid the glass of OJ into the cup holder on the elliptical and tuned in ESPN on the television before stretching for a bit. I got on and set a medium pace for the first five minutes as I watched clips from yesterday's hockey and basketball games. I sped up after the first five minutes and kept that pace for the next twenty minutes while the broadcasters went through every game's highlights.

After a five minute cool down at a slower pace, I moved to the weight machine and started a full work-out. The machine was not a heavy duty one like at school, so I used the full weights on each exercise and increased the reps. It took longer to get in all the exercises that way, but I still felt like I got a decent work-out by the end.

While I was working out I thought about last night with Steph and Vicky. My Princess was insatiable when she finally got me where she wanted me. We started in the missionary position but she quickly wanted to be on top of me, so she had me turn on my back and she eased herself down on me. All too soon she became the energizer bunny. She must have cum three or four times before I had to let go with mine. I wanted to rest but she coaxed my erection back up and wanted me to take her from behind. After she drained me again, Vicky was quite put out as I was unable to get it up for her for a good while. I did coax a couple orgasms from her with my tongue so she didn't kill Steph for abusing me. These girls were going to be the death of me, even in as good of shape as I was.

After finishing my workout, I wiped down the machines with the towel and shut down the lights and the door before heading back to the main floor. I moved to the kitchen quietly and surprised Amy when I entered to find her trying to work the coffee machine.

"Holy shit Michael, you scared the crap out of me!" she said in an angry whisper. "Are you practicing to be a bloody ninja or something?"

"Sorry, I was just being quiet so I wouldn't wake up anyone," I apologized with a grin. "Do you need any help with that?"

"No, I can handle it," she sniped at me.

"Ok, I see someone isn't a morning person," I remarked. "I'll leave you alone for a bit and go have a shower."

She just waved dismissively at me while she worked on the machine and I left after filling up my glass with more orange juice. I went upstairs and quietly grabbed some new sweats and another tee shirt from my room. Vicky and Stephanie were now snuggled close to each other in the bed, with Steph's head lying on Vicky's shoulder and their arms around each other. I wished I had a camera to capture the moment.

I left the room and had a quick shower before heading back down to sit in the sun room in the back of the house, avoiding a repeat run in with Amy by using the entrance off the dining room. I sat down on a comfortable lounger and looked out over their back yard. A few birds were pecking away at a bird feeder and squirrels were scrounging around below for the same seeds.

My thoughts drifted to my upcoming phone call with my Aunt. I no longer felt like she was someone else trying to trick me, as I really didn't have anything that someone would have any entitlement to. What I didn't know, was what to say to her. I was a bit curious about what happened between my parents and their families, but it really didn't matter anymore now that they were gone. I'm sure she would fill me in on it anyway as well as the status of any other relatives I had, at least on her side.

My thoughts wandered for a bit; school, hockey, the twins, Steph and Amy, all got some time while I sipped on my OJ and watched the birds dive-bomb the squirrels when they got too close to the feeder.

"There you are, we've been looking all over for you!" one of the twins said, startling me from my musings. "We thought you took off for a work-out or something."

"I used your equipment downstairs instead," I responded with a smile. "How did you sleep darling?"

"Not too bad, but Amy got up too early," she replied with a pout. "I couldn't get back to sleep."

"Red must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed, because she was pretty grouchy," I told her. "Is she always like that in the morning?"

"Yeah, we all are until after at least one cup of coffee," Becky replied, showing me her cup.

"Now there are four women in my life that need caffeine in the morning," I stated, shaking my head. "I'm doomed."

She laughed and then said, "Just wait until we're all having our periods at the same time."

"Oh God, I'm so dead!" I replied in horror. "I'll have to move into a hotel for that week!"

"Well, hopefully we won't all be in the same place that week," she said with a grin. "Hey, it's the price you pay for having us in your life."

"Great," I replied dryly.

"So how was your night with Steph and Vicky?" she asked, changing the topic wisely.

"It was good," I responded. "I'm sure you will get all the details from them later."

"Oh I'm sure I will," she agreed with a grin. "I hope you made it special for Steph."

"I tried my best to," I told her. "She was certainly very energetic so I don't know if I fully satisfied her, let alone Vicky for that matter."

"That little minx; I thought she would be a tiger. I hope I can join the two of you sometime," Becky said with a grin.

"I could use the help with her," I responded. "Maybe she wouldn't mind your participation once and a while."

"I looking forward to it, there's just something about her that really turns me on," Becky admitted. "Well, I'm going to get started on some breakfast, so I'll see you in a bit."

"I'll come and help," I responded, getting up quickly before she could say anything.

"You don't have to do that Sweetie, there are more than enough people to help already," Becky said, looking up at me.

I gave her a kiss and a hug before replying, "I want to help out; I don't like being waited on all the time."

"Alright, we'll find something you can do," she relented as she led the way to the kitchen.

The rest of the girls were in the kitchen, all of them sipping on cups of coffee while sitting around the table with Mrs. Waters. They had been talking and suddenly stopped when I came in.

"Good morning Ladies, I'm glad to see everyone has some caffeine to drink," I said with a grin.

"We're all not morning people like you Michael," Vicky said, sticking out her tongue at me.

"Well, I can help start breakfast then, while you ladies get in a better mood," I replied, moving to the middle island where the frying pans were hanging from hooks.

"Thank you for the offer Michael, but we can handle it, right girls?" Mrs. Waters asked.

"Yes we can," Becky answered. "Besides, we need to have some girl talk, so you go back and sit out on the patio and we'll call you and Dad when it's ready. You like your eggs sunny side up right?"

"Yes, that's correct, but I could help you know," I responded.

"That's ok Sweetie, just relax and let us have some time alone ok?" Vicky asked.

"Ok, but I get to help clean up," I stated before moving to the door. "Try not to tell your mother all of my bad habits."

The girls giggled as I went through the door and went upstairs to get my Aunt's number. It was too early to call, but I could do it after breakfast. After retrieving the note, my cell and my laptop, I went back down and sat in the sunroom again. I turned on the laptop and fooled around for a bit until Mr. Waters came in with a cup of coffee and sat down on a nearby lounger.

"Morning Mr. Waters, did you have a good sleep?" I asked, looking up.

"Not too bad actually, it was nice to sleep in for a change," he replied. "How about you?"

"Not too bad, but I haven't been able to sleep in for months now," I told him. "I did get a good workout in your exercise room. Thanks for letting me use it."

"At least someone got some use out of it; with the girls gone, it just sits there," he responded. "I should sell that stuff and use the room for storage."

"Well, it sounds like we're going to be buying a condo together, so we might be able to take it off your hands," I informed him. "Let me know how much you want and I'll write you a check."

"Michael, we'll give you the stuff, we bought it mostly for the girls anyway," he said. "So you're really going to move into a condo?"

"That's what they tell me," I said, shaking my head. "I don't think we really need to but I get outvoted before I even speak nowadays. So far it hasn't been too bad but those girls are very strong willed."

"Tell me about it!" he said dryly. "Welcome to my nightmare. I'm glad I have my workshop to retreat to."

"Yeah, I can imagine it would be tough with all three of the Waters ladies ganging up on you," I commiserated. "Steph can be just as stubborn and I think Amy will be as well, from what I saw this morning. None of them are morning people either."

"God help us all," Mr. Waters said with a groan. "I thought it was bad with three of them in the house at once. So that's why you are out here rather in there with them."

"Well I offered to help with breakfast but they wanted to have some girl talk so I retreated as quickly as I could," I said with a laugh. "I'm sure I'm the main source of their amusement in there."

We could hear the girls all laughing about something through the closed doors.

"It's when it becomes quiet that you have to worry," Mr. Waters told me. "Laughter is always good with women, trust me."

"I guess so," I replied. "I'm a rookie at this women stuff so I'll take your word for it."

"You're not doing too badly for a rookie," Mr. Waters said dryly. "Four women at once is an impressive feat."

"Hey, I only wanted one of them at the start and not all four are enamoured with me," I corrected him. "Amy won't be having anything to do with me and believe me, I'm trying my hardest not to screw things up every day. You can't imagine how hard it is to make sure you're not making one of them mad for something."

Mr. Waters chuckled and replied, "I think I have a little idea on how it is with that. My advice is to be honest and let them worry about things. They are all very intelligent, resourceful women who know what they want, from life and from you. They seem to want you and are willing to share, so as long as you're not a jerk, you should be fine."

"I think I'll still worry a bit if you don't mind," I responded. "I've been in control of my life for a while now and it's hard to let anyone, even your brilliant daughters, take it all over."

"Then just put your foot down for the big stuff Michael, the things you feel strongly about," he suggested. "Don't sweat the small stuff or you'll go crazy real quick."

"I'll try," I told him.

One of the twins came in and said, "There you are. Come on in, breakfast is ready."

She came over and helped me up out of the lounger, giving me a hug and a kiss.

"Hi there Sweetie," she said with a smile.

"Hi there Darling," I replied.

"Ahem, can we go now or will I starve to death while you two block the door" her father said dryly.

"Daddy, I don't think you'll starve for a few days at least," the twin said with a giggle. "That stomach could use a bit of shrinking anyway."

"What are you talking about? I'm flat as a pancake young lady," he replied, patting his stomach.

"If you say so Daddy, but Mom says you've stopped using the exercise equipment, so I'm sure you have a few extra pounds," she replied as she pulled me behind her out the door.

I shook my head as I let her drag me out of the room and back into the dining room. She led me to my seat and told me to sit down, while her dad came in and sat at the head of the table. I was sitting in the middle of three chairs on the one side. The girls all started bringing in platters of bacon and sausage, toast and our plates with the eggs the way we liked already on them. Stephanie brought mine to me and gave me a big smile and a kiss on my cheek as she leaned into my side.

"Here you go Sweetie, sunny side up like you ordered," she said.

"Thanks Princess, they look delicious," I replied, smiling back.

The rest of the plates came out and the girls all sat down, with the twins bracketing me while Steph and Amy sat across the table.

"This looks delicious ladies, thank for cooking such a wonderful breakfast," Mr. Waters said.

"You're welcome Honey," Mrs. Waters replied with a grin. "A couple of the girls seemed highly motivated this morning, as did I."

I started blushing but Mr. Waters just grinned back at his wife. The girls all giggled.

"Well, I'm glad everyone had a good evening and woke up in good moods," he stated, looking around. "Shall we get started?"

Everyone started reaching for something and I got offered toast and bacon at the same time. I smiled at the twins and quickly grabbed some of each before passing them on. I waited on everyone else as they filled their plates. Finally everyone had what they wanted and we looked around at each other.

"Well dig in everyone, before it gets cold," Mrs. Waters instructed us.

I dug in, breaking some of my eggs and putting ketchup onto them before dipping my toast into the mix.

"That is disgusting Michael," Amy said, staring at my plate.

"But it tastes so good," I replied with a grin.

I scooped up an unbroken egg onto a piece of toast and placed a couple of strips of bacon on top. Leaving it open-faced, I broke the egg, put some ketchup on it and then lifted it up and took a bite while Red and a couple others watched.

"Now that's a good egg sandwich," I said with a smile.

"Please don't do that when we're out in public Michael," Vicky said, looking grossed out.

"Well of course you put a second piece of toast on it in public," I said in a haughty voice. "Both pinkies must be held up as well."

Mr. Waters laughed out loud and Mrs. Waters and Stephanie were smiling, but the twins and Amy didn't look amused.

"Michael, it's ok here among family, but seriously, you're going to be in some fancy restaurants in the next couple of weeks and you need to really take care to show some more sophistication," Becky stated. "There will be photo and video cameras on you that will capture your every slip-up."

"I know that," I said, a bit peeved. "I wouldn't do this out in public. I'm not that uncouth."

"I hope not, because it will be on the next day's paper if you are," Amy stated.

I put down the open face sandwich and covered it with a second piece of toast before cutting it in half. I picked up one half and took a bite. I chewed until my mouth was empty and then said, "Was that better?"

"Yes Sweetie," Vicky said.

"Good, I wouldn't want to embarrass you out in public," I replied angrily. "Maybe we should rethink the whole public unveiling if you think that little of me."

"Oh Sweetie, don't be angry, we're not embarrassed with you," Becky said, putting her hand on my arm. "We just don't want you to get upset if you saw yourself in a picture or on a television show. Believe me; I was upset when I saw a picture of me in my sweats after a workout, looking all scraggily. Some guy took a picture at the gym before I got cleaned up and it was in the damn paper the next day. We were just trying to warn you that you have to think about things a bit more. You have to admit your eating habits are a bit, um, what's a good way to describe it girls?"

"Gross."

"Piggish."

"Slovenly."

"Fast and furious."

"Well, I'll try and modify my eating habits then," I said, feeling perturbed.

I ate as slow as I could and made sure to take small bites and chew my food well. The atmosphere was shot at the table so I excused myself as quick as I could and brought my plate to the kitchen and washed it before moving back out to the sunroom.

I pulled out my cell and the paper with my aunt's number on it. I sat down and thought about what to say to her before calling the number. Finally I had my thoughts straight and punched in the Toronto, Ontario number, recognizing the 419 area code as most Ontarians did.

"Hello?" asked a woman.

"Hi, may I speak to Nancy Hayden please?" I asked.

"This is Nancy Hayden," she replied.

"Hello, this is Michael Stewart, you left your number with Fred Benson, the hockey coach at Michigan," I said.

"Hi Michael, thanks for returning my call," she responded with a cheerful voice.

"No problem," I said. "Fred told me you think that you might be my Aunt. I have to tell you that my parents never mentioned you."

"The way things happened, I'm not surprised," she replied. "First of all, my maiden name was Nancy Barrows. Was your mother's name Mary Ellen Barrows?"

"Yes it was," I answered her.

"And was your father's name Henry Joseph?" she asked.

Yes," I said, my feelings becoming more certain that she was my aunt.

"Well Michael, after seeing your picture in the Hockey Digest, I suspected that you were Hank's son; you look just like him when he was your age," she informed me. "Now that we've confirmed your parent's names, I pretty positive that I am your aunt. The only thing that stops me from being positive is that it seems your parents changed their last name when they disappeared."

"Really? That seems a pretty drastic thing to do," I said, a bit amazed. "What happened back then to make them leave and basically go incognito?"

"Before I tell that story, I think we both want to make sure we are in fact related," she said. "Do you have an email that I can send a couple of pictures to?"

I gave her my email address and my cell number and I promised to call her back when I got the pictures. I pulled up my email program on my laptop and then waited for her to send the pictures. After about five minutes, I heard a beep and double clicked on the new message and then opened up the two pictures.

The first one was of two girls, one an older teen about seventeen or so, and the other a skinny girl about ten or eleven. They looked similar and the older one definitely looked like my mother. The next picture was a picture of my dad and mom together, with the younger girl in between them, probably taken at an amusement park. They all looked so happy, young and full of life.

So, Nancy was my aunt, and by the looks of it, only about ten or eleven years older than me if I did the math right. I picked up the phone and hit redial. She picked up after the first ring.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hi Aunt Nancy, it's Michael," I said.

"You got the pictures then?" she asked. "They are your parents?"

"Yes and yes," I replied. "I can't believe how young and happy they look though."

"They were so happy together back then," she agreed. "So they never told you about what happened or anything about their families?"

"No, mom would get sad and then dad would get mad, so I stopped asking a long time ago," I told her. "So what happened?"

"They were so much in love and as young people in love tend to do, they had unprotected sex and your mother got pregnant with you when she was barely seventeen," she began. "Both sets of parents were furious at them but were both in agreement that your mother should have an abortion. Your dad's family wanted it to protect his hockey career as he was just drafted in the first round, third overall, by the Toronto Maple Leafs just a month before she got pregnant. Our parents wanted it to protect the Barrows name in the community."

"Both your parents didn't want an abortion and things got ugly real quick. Both fathers threw your parents out of their houses and forbad us and them to have any contact with each other. I was so devastated because I looked up to my sister so much. She was always so kind to me, even when I was a pest. And I had such a crush on your father too."

"Anyway, that was the last we heard of them until I saw your picture in the magazine. I see you inherited his hockey skills and his good looks."

"Well, we certainly played almost every day on the rink in the back yard up in Dryden," I told her. "He was such a great player; I'm not surprised he was a high draft pick. I don't know why he had to give it up though, he would have made real good money playing hockey if he was a first round pick. He worked at the saw mill for years instead."

"I don't know why he never tried that route; maybe it was to spite his father who had such high hopes for him," she speculated. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could give me your parent's number and I could call them and we could get together."

'Oh shit, she didn't know, ' I thought to myself. I didn't know what to do and my hesitation dragged on too long.

"If you don't want me to have their number Michael, could you at least pass on my number and have them call me?" she spoke up.

"Aunt Nancy, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, especially this way," I said. "Both my parents died recently, my mom of cancer about nine months ago, and my dad back in August in an accident at the mill."

She cried out, "Oh no, not both of them!"

She must have put down the phone because I heard her crying and then someone picked up the phone.

"Hello?" a man's voice came on.

"Hello, this is Michael Stewart, Nancy's nephew, I've just had to tell her that my parents both passed away this year," I told him. "I'm sorry I upset her, but she wanted to talk to them so I had to tell her."

"This is Aaron Hayden, your aunt's husband and I guess your uncle," he responded. "I'm going to see what I can do for her and have her call you back later. Does she have your number?"

"Yes she has my cell number and my email," I told him. "I'm in Dearborn, Michigan right now with my girlfriend's family for American Thanksgiving. I'll keep my cell with me so she can call anytime."

"Ok Michael, she'll call you back later," he said. "I'm sure we'll meet soon and we'll get a chance to talk more. Good-bye for now."

"Sounds good Aaron; I guess I should say Uncle Aaron," I said. "Good-bye for now."

We both hung up and I noticed the twins were sitting in the room.

"Sorry guys, I didn't notice you come in," I said. "I just had to tell my aunt that her sister and brother-in-law passed away. She didn't take it well."

"That must have been hard to do Sweetie," one of them said. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I've had time to deal with it, while I think she was looking so forward to getting back in touch with her big sister," I replied.

"Listen Michael, we're so sorry to upset you at breakfast," one of them said.

"We are not embarrassed with you, we just don't want you to get embarrassed and upset if something happens," added the other. "We love you and want you to protect you from that."

"I know, and I'm sorry I got angry; but all of this is happening so fast," I replied. "I'm not used to having to answer to four women, who all want to control every portion of my life. I was always a pretty solitary guy and it's been hard to adjust to the changes."

"We're not trying to control your life, just help you out," one replied.

"We'll try and be a little less bossy and listen to you more ok?" added the other.

"Ok, and I'll try and tone down the eating," I replied.

"Good. Are we ok?" they asked in unison.

"Yeah, we're good," I answered.

They smiled and came over to give me a kiss and a hug.

"Oh, are those pictures of your parents?" one asked, looking at the laptop.

I showed them the pictures and explained what I had learned so far.

"Wow, that is some story," one of them said, with the other nodding in agreement. "You should look up your dad on the internet and see what the media had to say. You could find out what your dad's real last name was too."

I typed in a search query for Toronto Maple Leaf draft picks for 1989 and 1990, after we had done some figuring out the years from my age, and picked one of the many websites that came up. I quickly found the right lists and found a Hank Thompson as the first round pick in 1989. I clicked on his name and found that he had played his junior hockey for the Belleville Bulls of the OHL (Ontario Hockey league) and was drafted third overall that year. A picture came up and it was my dad in his Belleville jersey.

I typed in his name into the search engine and picked a link that had the heading 'Maple Leaf's Top pick disappears' and it opened to an article about my dad. His disappearance looked like a pretty big deal back then in Toronto according to the article and it talked about the fact that the family wouldn't file a missing person's report on him. I read it all the way through and then turned to the twins.

"It looks like his real name was Hank Thompson and he disappeared soon after he was drafted," I told them. "So it looks like I was the cause of all the problems, as usual."

"Yep, you usually are Sweetie," one agreed with a grin.

"What about your mother's family?" asked the other twin. "We should look for anything about them."

"Let me look," I responded, as I typed in Barrows and Toronto into the search engine.

The results came back quickly and I clicked on a site that looked promising. It detailed the biography of one Frank Barrows, who had two female children, Mary Ellen and Nancy, and was the chairman and the majority stock holder of the Barrows Manufacturing Company, with several plants in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. It listed Mary Ellen as disappearing in 1989 and Nancy as married with two daughters. Frank was married to a Tammy Barrows and they still lived in Toronto.

My cell phone rang, so I gave the laptop to the twins before answering the phone.

"Hello?" I said.

"Michael, it's your Aunt Nancy," she said. "Sorry about that, it came as such a shock to hear they had both passed away."

"That's ok Aunt Nancy, I'm sorry I had to break it to you that way," I told her.

"There wouldn't have been any good way to do it," she stated. "It must have been so hard for you to lose both of them in such a short time."

"Yes it was, but I got through it," I replied.

"So, how are you doing?" she asked. "Did you handle all the estate things? Do you have enough money to take care of yourself and to pay for school? We can certainly help you out if things are tight."

"That's very nice of you to offer Aunt Nancy, but I sold the house and, with the life insurance and the settlement from the Saw mill, I'm set for a good while," I told her. "I got a scholarship to the University of Michigan for computer science so I just pay for rent and some food."

"That's good to hear," she responded. "A scholarship for computer science eh? It sounds like you inherited your mother's smarts; she was a straight A student who loved science and math. Your dad was smart too, but we all knew he would be playing hockey and not going on to University."

"They both insisted on good grades or no hockey after school," I said with a laugh. "So, I just looked up both of them and found out his name was Hank Thompson and that your dad owns a big manufacturing company, if I got the right Barrows."

"You can find anything out using the internet, can't you," she said, obviously amazed. "And so quickly too! You're right on both; my dad owns the Barrows Manufacturing Company and your name should have been Thompson."

"It also said that you have two daughters?" I asked.

"Yes, you have two cousins, Mary who is six and Ellen who is four," she answered. "They are both dying to meet their big cousin."

"That was nice of you to name them after my mom," I said. "I'm looking forward to meeting all of you as well."

"Yes, you have to come up to Toronto as soon as you can, or we can come down if you don't want to travel," she offered.

"I'm sure I can get up there soon, maybe a couple of days before Christmas," I told her. "My schedule is really tight with exams, hockey and a couple of trips to New York the Dec. 13^th and Dec. 20^th weekends, but other than practice I'm free Dec. 21^st until Dec. 27^th. I have games that weekend. I'll have to see what my girlfriend has planned for Christmas as well."

"You could bring her along if you like, maybe you could come here right after you finish your New York trip," she suggested.