Chapter 19

“Tina has some news for you, Michael.” Tara was playing the mom card. “Don’t you, honey?”

Tina looked like she was going to burst from wanting to tell me something. She was turning thirteen and just as beautiful as a picture. I’d missed the transformation she went through that took her from awkward to graceful. Knowing what I missed hurt almost as much as my hips.

Tara couldn’t wait any more than Tina could. “Go ahead, Honey. Tell him your news.”

Tina shifted in her seat on the sofa, her cheeks reddened just a tiny bit, and then smiled like an angel. “Michael, I was picked to represent our school in Washington, D.C. as an exceptional scholar. We’re going away for a whole week, in June! I can’t wait ... My teachers told me that my grades and my citizenship were the reason for being chosen.” Her joy was so great that she giggled, stood up, then sat back down and giggled some more.

“Oh, Tina, baby. I am so proud of you. You make me feel like the luckiest man in the world, just from knowing how smart and perfectly behaved you are. Someday we’ll be sitting around the on the front porch and when company comes, we’ll spend the evening telling them all about the wonderful things you are doing.”

I looked at Tara. “Are you volunteering to help chaperone?”

I got such a stern look in return. “Tina already ASKED me to come along and help the group get around Washington. Our Tina is an accomplished scholar and I feel kind of dumb just listening to her talk these days...” The two of them were off and running, busy trying to make sure they both knew they were smart and good.

Ben and Eleanor spoke up, and gave us another bit of news about trips to Washington, D.C. “Michael, Eleanor wants to help out on that trip, so we are thinking about buying our own plane and using it to ferry everybody around, instead of being at the mercy of the airlines.” Now that sounded like a plan.

“Let’s get a King Air,” I said, without really thinking about it. “We’ll buy it together and both take flying lessons. How about it, Ben? Want to do something new and exciting together?” His smile and answering nod told me all I needed to know. It wasn’t until much later that I realized how easily he set me up. Everybody was worried about my state of mind, and buying a plane, and then learning to fly it was just the kind of thing to keep my spirits up.

Cary and Tara were in favor of our families owning a private airplane together. Edwina hadn’t spoken at all and I looked to her for input. She dropped her gaze, fiddled with the hem of her skirt and turned bright red. She looked at Tara and implored her with her eyes to step in and get her off the hook.

Tara saved her from herself. “Michael. Edwina had a fling with a local boy who turned out to be ... well ... he tried to take advantage of Edwina by promising to marry her and adopt lots of children. What he really wanted was money and he promised to marry her right up until he found out she wasn’t wealthy...”

She didn’t get to finish the sentence. “He hurt me, Michael. He used me and he hurt me.” I looked at Ben and he nodded gravely. Something told me that this problem might already be solved, but I would be following up to be sure.

Tara finished the topic when she said, “Everything here is back to normal. We’re good. Everything is good and I don’t think we’ll be having that problem again.” The steel in her tone told me a lot. Edwina just looked at her shoes and said nothing. Surprisingly Ben had a pretty dark look to go along with Tara’s. Someone had a very unpleasant time when they hurt a loved one of his.

Good. It saved me a lot of trouble while I was dealing with my own troublesome problem.

Two nights later, Tara and I snuck upstairs to see if I could perform in any way like before I was shot. She set the scene like a Hollywood director. The lights were low, the music was just right, and the scent she chose to wear turned me into a panting idiot.

Long before we could get naked, her beauty and blatant sexuality had me as erect as I ever was in the past, and to my mouth and fingers, it appeared as if Tara was as wet as she had ever been. We had to be very careful with the surgically repaired pelvis, but with a bit of creativity and lots of passion, we came together like old times.

Having climbed that mountain and slain that dragon, I was energized to get on my feet.

“UUUUUHHHHHH ... GRRRRRRR ... OOOOOhhhhhhh...” That was pretty much what passed for polite conversation from me for the next five months. The struggle to teach my legs to work after being shot to hell was almost more than I could withstand. Tara was my constant companion as I fought the parallel bars and other torture implements prescribed by my doctors. Sometimes I sent her away so I could scream and cry if necessary to get through the workout.

The pain was a level beyond excruciating, but it had to be overcome to move forward, so I shut up and dealt with it. My damaged nerves screamed for surfeit, but my will to walk again superseded any attempts to make me quit due to pain. Between the full body shakes that accompanied my every attempt to stand and the constant pounding of my heart as my body sought to exceed its capabilities, I was reduced to a sweaty, panting, groaning mass every morning. But that occurred only after Tina, Edwina and Cary were out of the house.