Chapter 31

I had awakened that morning missing Beth Ann, Colleen, Rebecca, and Benjamin. The sense of loneliness stayed with me throughout the day, and even though it was early there, I called home and spoke to all of my other girls before we headed to the casino.

Rebecca had spent the previous day closing down her medical practice. Since her addition to the family trust, she vacillated between disbelief and amazement that so much money could be at her fingertips. She finally decided to believe it and enjoy her life rather than keep working and feeling torn between staying home or jetting off to exotic places anytime one of us got a wild hair across our butts. "I'll have you know that I've managed to successfully transfer everyone of my patients to another doctor and sold the building since you've been off playing blackjack and chasing random women," she said, with a smile in her voice.

Colleen caught me up on the enormous growth in my trust accounts and the status of bills coming in and invoices that were paid. Beth Ann chatted excitedly about Brian's progress at his new school, the two recent trips she'd made to see him, and his progress with girls in general - one in particular. "I think he's sexually active with the new girlfriend ... well ... I know he is, because he used his 'personal' charge card to buy condoms and other things that are unmistakable evidence of it." She sounded resigned to Brian doing what fifteen-year-old boys do, even if it made her squeamish.

"Beth Ann, he has to go through this phase and break up with lots of girls, to learn how to be a good partner for the one, when she comes along. It's hard to send your child out into the world, but that doesn't change the fact that every child grows up and goes through this stage. Just let him be a boy and work it out. If he asks for advice, give it to him or send him to me or Jim. We'll make sure he's safe, protected, and properly warned." It was good advice, and she knew it.

The casino was what it always was; loud, brightly lit, and crowded. Winnie stuck beside me like glue, and we enjoyed a couple of leisurely hours of gambling, before retreating to the nearby lounge for a cold drink and relaxing visit. Our 'friends' were just spitting to ask about the excitement on our dock this morning but apparently couldn't come up with an acceptable way to open the topic, without giving themselves away.

Winnie and I visited with a small group of hard core, high stakes gamblers, that we had become a little acquainted with over the last week. I noticed a young girl, sitting by herself, looking as sad as anyone I had ever seen. As time passed, I just HAD to go find out what was hurting this young woman so badly.

"Hey," I said, gently. "You look like you are having a very bad night. Is there anything I can do to help? Do you want to talk about it?"

She looked me over, as I checked her out. My first impression was only partially correct. She was young, but REALLY young. I would put her age at fifteen or sixteen, tops. Her figure was slight, because she hadn't yet grown into a grown up woman. Even so, her breasts were pleasantly shaped, and her hips promised something special in a couple of years.

I told her my name and waited.

"I am Regina Carpenter. My mother is here with her boyfriend. We live in Miami and came here because her boyfriend wanted to get away for few days." The way she said 'boyfriend' assured me of her undying contempt for him, and maybe her mother, also. "They went off with some people to a club and left me here at lunch time. I'm not sure if she even remembers where I am, or if she'd care, if she did.

"I don't really know what to do..."

Well I did.

Motioning for Winnie, I quickly caught her up on Regina's problem, and we took her to the yacht, had the night cook get her something nourishing, and chatted with her while she literally destroyed her dinner. This child was hungry. Doing the math, I realized she hadn't eaten in at least twelve hours.

That made me mad.

Winnie took Regina to a stateroom near ours and gave her a nightgown and all the toiletries she's need to get ready for bed. While they had girl time, I jogged back to the casino with Ed Olsen and two of his team. We let the casino manager know where I took Regina, if her mother bothered to ever show up looking for her.

When I returned Winnie met me in the salon and caught me up on the Regina thing.

"Regina's mother is a very bad girl, Carl. She attaches herself to rich boys and trades sex for drugs and food. Regina is tagging along because her father, with whom she lived, was recently killed in gang violence. When her mother's current boyfriend tried to get Regina to join them in bed, she refused and he dropped it. This morning when they came to the casino for breakfast, the 'adults' decided to go clubbing and told Regina to wait for them where we found her.

"They'd been gone long enough to make me think her mother had no intention of ever coming back. You may have just adopted a daughter, baby."

Winnie knew I would never let a woman suffer like that, and bringing Regina home was exactly in character. On the other hand, it would put a big crimp in our activities, especially if it got to be unsafe, so I needed to think about that and come up with a plan. I needed to talk to Jim and Colleen, and maybe the Judge to see what was necessary and what was legal.

Regina knocked on our door about an hour later. Winnie grabbed her robe and went to see what she needed. It wasn't long until I could hear them crying, so I put on some shorts and a T-shirt and joined them in the master suite salon. Regina was weeping while Winnie held her. Their voices were hushed, but I caught enough to know she was weeping because she realized that her mother had abandoned her in favor of the toy boys.

Winnie was holding her gently and speaking soothingly into her ear. It seemed to be working, and I started to retreat to the bedroom, but Winnie motioned me over. I wrapped both women in my hug and let Regina cry. Her sobs eventually trickled off, and Winnie took her into our bathroom to clean up.

They were back soon enough, and found I had made a run to the galley and brought back ice cream and ingredients to make sundaes. Winnie saw them first and squealed like she was the sixteen year old, and then it hit me. Winnie was perfect to help Regina through this because she looked sixteen, could act like it, and had enough compassion for a busload of brokenhearted girls.

Our midnight snack was over about six AM, and we convinced Regina to get some sleep. Winnie ended up lying down with her, to give her assurance that she wasn't in this alone. I needed to have Colleen research the mother, father, what her father's will said about custody, and if it was best to keep her out of the country while we figured out what the next steps would be.

I'd read enough horror stories about Florida social services to know I wasn't turning her over to them, or Missouri, for that matter, but especially Florida.