Chapter 18: Anita's Rescue

It wasn't the fact that Anita refused to be separated from Tony that made up Carol Smith's mind. It was quite the opposite. Tony seemed to be totally devoted to the charming little girl. Well, she was little, but at twelve she was far from a 'little girl' emotionally. Physically she might never top Tina's height by very much and it would take quite a few of Carol's famous peach cobblers to ever get her over a hundred and ten pounds. No, it was Tony's reaction to her new daughter (temporarily by court order) that convinced her she should sail back home. Tony hadn't looked like this since Tammy died.

Legally things had worked almost exactly like Scott Wainright had said. Once the fact that custody of Anita came with significant wealth was known not only did her great (or was it great-great) aunt renew her interest in custody, two more even more distant relatives did as well. The Smiths offer to put up a bond for the current wealth and to hire professional management for her parent's and uncle's construction firm to increase the wealth that would be hers when she was an adult, pretty much let the wind out of those sails. None of them could match the level of support the Smiths could provide until then. Judge Cauthan basically threw them out on their tails on the evidence and Rupert Winslow's recommendation. Sometimes justice is.

There were no major issues on the trip home. Tina started the trip a little morose. She had found a kindred spirit in Antonio but only for a few days. Tony figured she'd talk about him in due time if it was important. Tony just had to console himself that he had found his one true love at an age which most would say it wasn't possible to do, but he felt for his sister who didn't yet have that.

Rebecca herself had done an about-face as far as Anita was concerned. Now that she was firmly ensconced as Tony's sister things were different. The trip home was filled with flute lessons from Tina, Guitar lessons from Tony, and voice lessons from Rebecca.

Tony played it safe and ran to the nearest port from a couple of nasty looking squalls that appeared on the radar, but it was just that, playing it safe. He carried some pretty precious cargo and he wasn't about to put it in danger.

Sparkles didn't find much that he liked about Kalliste. He wasn't much of a sailor. He didn't like the engines, or the machinery, or the motion, or much of anything else. It was a rather unpleasant trip for the tomcat. Anita did her best to console him but the only thing that would really help was to get him back on dry land.

Anita had to share the forward bunk room with Jerry. The guest cabin had been turned back over to Gwen and Dewayne, Cheri and Tina shared the queen size hide-a-bed in the salon and Tony shared the master stateroom with Rebecca. The only real stickler was Anita's constant desire to just cuddle up in the bed with Tony. That took a group effort. There were more things than monthly periods that Jan Breeland had failed to educate her daughter on. In the end she was informed using the euphemism that Tony and Rebecca needed 'romantic time'. The girls didn't hold back and Anita was much better educated on such things when she got to her new home.

Emotionally, she'd take anything she could get. Any male lap was fair game and Jerry was terrified when Cheri caught her sprawled out on top of him with only a T-shirt and panties on one morning. She had apparently crawled down from the top bunk sometime in the night. Tony was starting to get this creeping sensation that Cheri might just give Chrissie a run for her money as the smartest of their group. She just laughed it off and told him to hold her if that's what she needed.

The conversation came to a head somewhere south-southeast of Cape Island, North Carolina. It was another lazy sailing day and Anita sat down next to and then leaned into Tony. "What about me Tony?"

"What about you Little One? Have I not told you I love you lately?"

Anita actually smiled up at him from her diminutive height. "No Tony, not like that. You have Rebecca, Kyle has Chrissie, Gwen has Dewayne, what about me?"

"It happens later I think. There will be someone for you, believe me I looked for a long time and Rebecca just kind of fell into my lap. You're five years younger than the boys and Gwen, and three younger than the other girls. I think it's just not your time yet."

"Do you think Rebecca was too young?"

"No, I just don't know how you know, but you know when it happens."

"How did you know Tony?" Anita asked.

"Hmm, I guess when I quit thinking I was looking for something and realized I'd found Rebecca. That and there is this ache when we're apart. I'm only half of Tony when she isn't with me. That's how I know she's the one. It's kind of early for you to be all that worried about boys anyway."

"I like boys!" Anita giggled.

"Yeah but you don't like one specific boy yet. You might have to try out a few before you decide." Tony tickled Anita's ribs briefly. "I won't lie to you, not all boys are nice. You have to find the right one for you."

"No boy would want me any way."

"Now why would you say that? You are about the cutest girl I know."

"And I don't look like a girl, I got no, well you know. God I can't believe I'm saying this to a boy!"

Tony chuckled, "Well you aren't just saying it to a boy, you're saying it to your brother now. You never had one before. Look you're only twelve. You certainly aren't any smaller there than Tina was when she was twelve. Ask her if you don't believe me."

"How do you know?"

"Anita you've been running around my boat for almost two weeks, mostly in a bathing suit. And most of that in a bathing suit picked out by Tina. You're showing off more than you're hiding! You're going to do just fine in that department I think but really, any guy who is worried about that is exactly the kind you don't want to deal with."

Anita blushed but only slightly, she liked her new bikini. "Yeah you say that."

"I do, do you think I like Rebecca based on the size of her boobies?"

Anita giggled, "I guess not."

"They're just right for her size I think, but that's not what I think about anyway. Some are too small I guess. Some are too large too."

"Too big?"

Tony laughed. "Well I guess some don't think so. I'm sure you'll meet the Porter sisters or at least one or two of them. One is a TV reporter. They're like these skinny girls that you think are just going to absolutely fall over except their boobs would keep them from landing on their face! I think they'd bounce back up like those Weebil toys!"

Anita was giggling hysterically when Tina walked up from the salon to find out what the fuss was all about. "What are you two laughing about?"

"Uhmm well if you must know, tits!" That set Anita off on another round of laughing fits.

"Uhm Tony you're talking to Anita about breasts?"

"Oh no, I think when you get to the Porter sisters they are called tits."

"Tony!"

"Rebecca come up here!" Tina yelled back into the cabin. Tony had joined Anita's laughing at this point.

"What?" Rebecca asked coming up the stairs behind Tina.

"Well your boyfriend is discussing breasts with my new sister."

"Ah, you realize he was your brother fourteen years before he was my boyfriend?"

"Oh no, you need to make him stop."

Tony held up a hand. "Wait, that was just an extreme example there. Would one or both of you explain that you weren't much bigger up top than Anita when you were her age? She thinks no boy will ever like her cause her boobies are small. I was trying to explain it. I'm not sure how we got into ones that were, you know, too big."

"Hah, you've got more than I had when I just turned twelve," Rebecca said.

"Yep, me too, or maybe the same. Why are you so worried Anita?"

"And this is where I exit the conversation," Tony said. "If one of you ladies will steer while you have girl talk I'll get something to drink and head out to the back deck." Tony kissed Anita's forehead and said, "I'll always talk to you about anything, but some things are best left for sisters."

"Rebecca's not really a sister Tony," she replied.

"She will be one day, might as well start treating her like one," Tony answered. He left it at that, the girls could answer.

How the girls answered was not even an issue to Tony. He trusted both of them. And he wasn't lying. Anita was neither ahead or behind Tina's little bumps at the same age.

He made use of the key that he always told the Coast Guard only his dad held, opened the bar, and served the older teens drinks below. Cheri took a glass of wine, and eventually shared the bottle with Tony.

Tony didn't get a chance to quite finish his wine. Rebecca was well aware that this was the last night of the cruise together and she pulled him back to the aft cabin. He assumed there would be more explanations due Anita the next morning because he really did nothing to hurt Rebecca. She just held nothing back and didn't care who knew it. Then she did it again, and a third time. Only then did she pull Tony's face from between her legs and start the lovemaking in earnest.

Tony got up when Rebecca had exhausted herself some three hours later, and showered. He was in time to help with docking at Charleston for the night. Physically and emotionally drained, Rebecca didn't wake up until they were underway the next morning.

Arriving back home was a whirlwind. Seemingly everyone's family was there. Jerry's brother Matt was there with his arm around, surprisingly enough, Tina's longtime friend Rhonda. At that point he had to become too involved in getting Kalliste safely docked to worry about just who was waiting on that dock. When the indications that she was safely moored came from Tina, Kyle, and Chrissie he simply laid his head back and let out a huge sigh of relief. The events of the last nearly six weeks catching up to him.

Rebecca was there because whenever it was possible she always was. "Are you OK?" she asked, kissing his lips lightly.

Tony smiled at her. "Yeah," he said. "Go see your parents, I'm sure your dad thought I'd feed you to some great whale on the way. Show him you're alright. Maybe show off your new sister."

Rebecca giggled. "Yeah, you're probably right." She kissed him again and moved off, much too quickly for Tony's comfort, or maybe she was learning.

"Be careful!" Tony shouted behind her. He heard her giggle again as she made her way down the gangway. He made himself busy doing things some of the others should have done on arrival, but had been distracted from by all the people. He hooked up the utilities then went back to the cockpit and shut off the generator. Again, he slumped back on his chair. He vaguely noticed a form beside him.