Chapter 4

When I awoke I had a plan. It wasn't firm, or all that dramatic, but what I needed was good, not dramatic. The debit card I ordered from the bank would give me flexibility if I needed to make a sudden move. Everything else I could invent on the fly.

Showered and dressed, I appeared in the kitchen just as Coral got the girls off to school. She saw me and said, "I'm going to drop off Jill and Joanie and get back to help you with the scrap books. Breakfast is in the microwave. I should be back in about forty-five minutes." She didn't say, but clearly meant, she expected me to be right there when she returned. Mothers! They make the world go round...

Having a few minutes of privacy, I checked the time, and called Rebecca's cell phone.

"Hello," It hurt and thrilled me to hear Rebecca's sweet voice.

"Hi," I said hesitantly. "You don't know me, but my name is David Sanderson. I'm sixteen years old, and live in Deland, Florida – where Brian kept his boat, the BETH ANN." I took a deep breath and stepped out in faith that Rebecca loved me as much as she acted. "I woke up in a hospital bed yesterday afternoon at about one p.m. Florida time, and discovered and I had all of Brian's memories, and none of my own.

"I know you think I'm insane, and I apologize; but I can tell you anything you could ask me, as long as Brian knew it, because it's all in here, running around and making me want to come home to Branson, and be with you and Colleen – and maybe Maggie - in the big bed, upstairs, overlooking the lake.

"Before you curse me out and hang up, just listen for one more minute.

"Brian and Beth Ann came to you by way of Colleen, when Beth Ann needed an attorney to represent her because of the first car-truck accident, on Interstate forty-four. You were very sneaky, and while examining him, you got his mother and Colleen looking at him naked, which is how you found the bruise line that disappeared behind his penis.

"You don't know it, but Beth Ann told Brian that you and Colleen probably had wet panties from seeing him naked, when she came in to talk to him, after you told him to provide you a semen sample to test for sterility.

"If that doesn't help prove anything to you, the night you took him home, after the women you called 'the evil bitch, ' ruined his belongings at the cabin, he was playing Unfinished Melody on your piano when you came out of the shower.

"For some reason, you let Colleen have the night with him, and got your time alone in the morning while Colleen showered. Then the two of you were with him together until Colleen told you she was tired, and let you finish up just the two of you.

"That was just before Mr. Bell called and said the FBI was coming to hide you guys because of the bombings, and you all ended up in the hangar, with Brian getting attacked by the woman FBI agent."

I talked fast, because I only had one chance to make her a believer. When I stopped, there was nothing but silence on the other end of the phone. Just when I thought I'd lost her, she said,

"Who are you? How do you know these things? What do you want?" She sounded so profoundly sad, I wanted to reach through the phone line and comfort her.

"I'm apparently the same guy that got you to arrange for Jennifer to see Doctor Abrams in New York, before she flew to Sweden to spend the last few months, with her mother, Sherrie, and her grandfather, Jerry. I'm the same guy that took you to see 'Mama Mia, ' and 'Les Miz, ' on Broadway, and booked the largest suite at the Plaza, for the entire family, as well as another for Jerry and Sherrie.

"Please – ask me anything that you can think of, so I can prove that these memories are Brian...

Please?"

I waited.

Rebecca thought about it...

I waited her out...

"Ok, let's say you have some of Brian's memories, or know things Brian knew. How about this - who does Colleen think is hot for Brian?"

"That's easy. It's Millie, but Sandra is - well was - just as hot for me. You didn't know it, but she had sex with me in the shower, at Mr. Bell's house ... after I got out of the hospital ... when Millie and Sandra took turns staying with me ... as I got my strength back ... after the fiasco at the Springfield Airport.

"All Sandra told you was that she lost her concentration, and I fell in the shower. The truth is that she climbed in the shower, pushed me against the shower wall, and backed her furry friend onto Mr. Johnson. When I came, she pushed back too hard and knocked me down, causing me to hit my head and scaring us both half to death." Rebecca's breath caught in her throat when I said that.

"Ask her. She'll cave in and admit it pretty fast. Oh, and when Millie kissed me on the lips, on Soulmates II, the night before I got shot? You were right, she was hot for me – well - she was hot for Brian - which is me - even though I'm David - and live in Florida.

"You need to test me and make sure you trust what I'm saying. However, I did have Mr. Bell change the terms of my trust to give you, Colleen, Millie, and Mr. Bell equal access to the entire fortune, and told you to have fun with the money, but not make it your life's work.

"Do you remember that conversation, in the suite, in Branson? You girls had all been shopping. Mr. Bell and I had a chance to talk about what I wanted to do with it, then he sat you all down, and I told you I was dying from the brain injuries."

There was so much silence, I thought I'd blown it. After a little while Rebecca asked, "Brian??? Really, Brian???

"How can you be Brian? I held him after he got shot. His blood was all over me. I knew he was brain dead, long before they flew him off the yacht and onto the Navy ship. You KNOW things no one could know. We never told anyone, and Brian was with us all the time after he came from the houseboat trip. He never had time to tell his life story to anyone, much less a sixteen-year-old boy, in Deland, Florida.

"Am I losing my mind? Can you really be Brian?