Chapter 5: Cruisin'

At home that night, we celebrated. Pizza! With beer for me, wine for Rachael and sodas for the kids. Tomorrow, we'd take off for that cruise vacation we'd promised ourselves.

I suppose the kids were eager. They packed after the pizza and were ready to go before they went to bed. They were good sports about it, though, and packed up the van, then helped pack the food and bedding. We were ready to go by 8:30.

Our plan was to go up the Columbia as far as we could. In late summer, the river was low and we didn't know if Toy's draft would keep us from getting all the way up. But we'd try. We didn't really care. We would take it easy and concentrate on the trip, not miles covered.

Since both twins were good drivers, we decided to take the van, too. Both boat and van had CB radios. After we'd unloaded the van and Toy was on her way, Sam would take the first leg in the van and meet us at the Bonneville Dam Locks. He'd have to get lunch at Cascade Locks, since we didn't think we'd make the dam until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. If we were early, we could go on upstream. If it went as I expected, we'd overnight off Stevenson.

Our system worked well. Ben was in communication with us most of the way. We enjoyed the Gorge of the Columbia from the water. Ben took the old scenic highway and was waving at us from Crown Point when we passed it. At the locks at Bonneville, we had a bit of a wait for some barges coming downstream. Ben came aboard and passed the keys to the van to Rachael, who would drive over the 'Bridge of the Gods' to Stevenson, Washington, and keep in touch by radio until we decided where we'd stop for the night. A little above Stevenson, the charts showed a river mouth with a boat ramp. We ended up there.

We were free! Rachael was 'Rachael Lerner'. The divorce was done and we had the protection of the law. Anyway, Ed was in jail. When I called Rachael 'Ms Lerner', all the kids thought it was hilarious. But they all congratulated her, too.

Ben and Leah wanted to know why they couldn't be 'Lerners' too. Rachel wisely told them, "You two hear me good! It's not the name; it's what you make of the name. Be proud of who you are. Your name is your own, not someone else's. When Leah marries, I hope she loves her man enough to take his name. And Ben, I hope when you marry, your wife wants your name. I changed back because I was giving your father back the name he gave me. He rejected me, so I reject his name ... But you are your own. You make your name mean something—something good! You hear me?"

"Yes, momma," they chorused.

In bed, Rachael was totally uninhibited. She sucked me in and sucked me dry. Yes, she screamed.

This time was special. It was a special gift of love—and I was moved.

In the morning, the twins wanted to take the van, together. "You guys were so noisy last night, I didn't sleep well," Sara said. "Maybe we'll lay up somewhere and I can get a nap." The kids were horny from hearing us and wanted to get a little relief. I told them, "OK, drive carefully." Our shorthand for, 'be careful and discreet.' The boat ramp where we'd tied up was the end of the road and, as it was mid-week, there was no one else around. I expected they'd just stay right there and join us later. We tentatively set Hood River as our next meeting point. We'd try to make it in time for lunch. If not, we'd meet there, anyway.

Cruising up the gorge, Ben and Leah were goofing off in the cockpit. On the fly bridge with me, Rachael asked, "Is Sara on the pill?"

"I think so. Why?"

"I'd hate for her to get pregnant on our vacation, is all."

I gave her a blank look.

"Come on, Al. I wasn't born yesterday. Those two have been doing each other for some time, or I'll give up my card in the Mothers' Society."

"Well. Yeah. They have," I confessed. "I think it is recreational and relief from teenage hormone pressures, mostly. They're really close and love each other. They date other kids ... But, you know, I wouldn't be unhappy if they did fall in love."

"I wouldn't either, Al. In fact, I hope it happens for them early on, so they can avoid the mistakes we made. But then, every parent hopes her kids can avoid her mistakes—and they seldom do. Why didn't we get together when we were still kids?"

"Who knows? I know I loved you madly. But I was too scared of losing the closeness we had to risk putting a move on you ... What about your two? Are they experimenting yet?"

"I'm sure they've played 'doctor'. I don't think it's gone beyond that. They're unusually close, too, just like you and I were. But for them it's been more a matter of supporting each other when Ed came down on them. I'm hoping they'll discover the other sex outside family, and have healthy, normal relationships. They're old enough to understand. We need to have a long, serious talk about that soon."

"How 'bout right now?" I suggested. "We're not in any hurry. We're alone. And I bet they're curious, if they don't know, about why the twins wanted to be off the boat together this morning."

Her reply was to step to the back of the hardtop, look at the kids in the cockpit and ask if they wanted to join us. Whatever they'd been doing wasn't too exciting. They scrambled up the ladder eagerly.

"We thought you guys wanted to be alone," Leah said.

"I really appreciate your consideration," I told her, seriously. "We—your mom and I—like to spend time alone together. But we love you two a lot, and really enjoy having you around."

Rachael picked it up, "You two are old enough that, though we refer to you as 'kids', we're treating you and thinking of you more as young adults. You still have your childish moments, but they will become fewer.

"Our 'family' is a very special thing. I don't know if you realize how blessed we are by the way Al and the twins have taken us in. They've not only given us shelter, they've taken us right into their family and loved us as if we'd always been there. That's a very rare thing, to find love and acceptance so deep and genuine as we have. Do you guys feel that, and understand what I'm saying?"

Smiling, the kids nodded their agreement.

Leah said, "I don't understand why it's such a big deal. We've been really close to the twins forever. And anybody can see you two are in love ... I hope some day, I find a guy who looks at me like Uncle Al looks at you."

"I hope you do, too, honey. I'm sorry it doesn't make sense. Lots of things don't make much sense—they're just the way things are.

"Al and I will live as good friends, sharing a big old house, helping each other out. We can do that. Eventually, when the dust settles, we will marry. OK?"

"Sure, mom," they both answered.

"But what about the twins?" Ben asked. "How do they feel about all this? And what will they do about children?"

"Well, what do you think? Have you two talked to them about it?"

"Some," Ben answered for them. "Sara doesn't say much at all. Ben just says, 'We're twins. Twins are always close.' I don't think they have it figured out yet, themselves."

Leah elaborated, "I'm not sure they know they're in love. They're still dating and all and Sam tries as hard as he can to get into the pants of everything he dates ... I think it would be really sad if either of them gets into some big 'romance' with somebody. It couldn't ever work out, because they're so much in love with each other." Leah's mature insight was astounding.

"Thanks, kids, for being so honest with us," I said. I meant it. Most kids would have kept their siblings' 'secret' from their parents and gone to ridiculous lengths to do so. "I didn't know their relationship had gone quite that far. I'll respect your confidence. Don't worry; we'll figure something out for them."

Rachael jumped back in. "Now. About you two. Where are you guys coming from in all this?"

Both kids grinned. "We've done some poking and prodding, exploring what's different between boys and girls," Leah admitted. "But neither of us is really interested in the other. We care about each other, sure—even love each other. But I want a real boy-friend, not my brother!"

"Thanks, sis!" Ben said, with a fake-disgusted tone. "Really," he said, "I go along with that. Leah's OK, for a little kid. But I'm looking for a girl with blonde hair and big tits!"