Chapter 79

Days passed into weeks, as I healed, regained strength, and searched for what would be my life going forward. The physical limitations were a work in progress. As I focused on building up stamina, I graduated from slow walking around an indoor track to gentle weight-lifting in the gym.

From five-pound weights, I slowly worked my way through the dumbbells, until I could curl a twenty pound dumbbell. That was my limit. Anytime I tried for something heavier I began to experience headaches that did more TO me than the weight training was doing FOR me.

Colleen and Rebecca were constant companions. We moved into a lovely, large lakefront home I purchased in early April. It came with three master bedrooms. They were complete suites with large walk-in closets, one and half baths, and exceptional natural light. The rest of the house had four more bedroom mini-suites, a large game room and second full kitchen in the basement, two more full baths, and a four car garage with a two-bay motor home port. We decided to buy the cruiser so we could hook it up, and go find interesting places to cruise. The BETH ANN was still in Florida. Hank got it moved to the marina in Sanford, where they parked it under cover and maintained it for us, against the day I felt good enough to continue my trip.

Rebecca, Colleen, and I christened the master bed in the new house, over the course of a particularly beautiful weekend. Mr. Bell and Millie had taken off for the Italian Riviera, leaving us 'young folks' on our own. Mr. Bell smiled when he admonished me to, "Keep out of trouble," as they were driven away.

Millie and I still silently danced our dance of attraction, staying just outside the line. My fear was crossing that line and destroying our whole family construct. Millie couldn't think of betraying Mr. Bell that way. Our attraction was going to stay just that, an unfulfilled attraction.

Sandra never really got over almost killing me in the shower. I didn't think she did much of anything but knock me off balance. She thought she almost killed me with her "uncontrolled lust." She still smiled, petted me, and even copped the odd feel, but never again did she approach me like that day in the shower.

During one of our frequent rest periods, as we fully broke in our new home, Colleen and Rebecca talked about a trip to Sweden. Jennifer was still being treated, and now that I had my strength, they knew how badly I wished to check up on her.

"Why don't we all fly over, and after spending some time with Jennifer, we could catch up to Daddy and Mother?" Colleen had a good idea.

"What we COULD do is book one of the mega yachts. The kind that you book by the week, or month, and that take you anywhere you tell them to. I see their ads all the time." I was getting excited. We were in the bedroom, having just gotten up and showered. Rebecca fired up the computer, and I surfed till I found the yachting magazine website.

We quickly clicked through looking for a boat that appealed to all three of us. Rebecca saw it first. It was a two-hundred-four-foot, Broward yacht. It could only be hired off shore, for tax purposes, I supposed, and it cost ninety-two thousand dollars a week.

Colleen was breathing down my neck, checking it out, and said, "Ohhh. Brian, that's the one. We could have them bring it to Gothenburg a few days after we arrive, and as soon as we finish seeing Jennifer, we can board and cruise to the Riviera and hook up with Daddy and Mother."

I grabbed a world atlas, and saw that Gothenburg was on the west coast of Sweden and had multiple marinas that could handle a mega yacht. Knowing that it was easily doable, I was all for a boat trip! With Rebecca's concurrence, we booked the boat for a month, starting the next week.