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Wes Boyd’s Spearfish Lake Tales Contemporary Mainstream Books and Serials Online |
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Wes Boyd’s Spearfish Lake Tales Contemporary Mainstream Books and Serials Online |
The weather was just not as nice the following Friday afternoon when Pat pointed his old Plymouth up the road toward Dayton. At least it wasn’t raining again; it had done enough of that all week long. Fortunately his schedule had worked out that he could get on the road a little early, so that was all to the good.
The Plymouth didn’t come equipped with a CD player – it was that old, and probably had been a “no frills” version when it had been new over a decade before. It wasn’t as if Pat thought he had to have a fancy car, after all; the Plymouth could get him there and bring him back as much as he needed. This time, though, a CD player would have been nice to have, but he’d brought along a small battery-powered boom box he usually kept in his room. This was a good chance for him to listen to some of Dayna’s CDs he’d bought at the reunion the previous Saturday.
The first one, Faire Maiden, proved to be renaissance faire music; the cover featured Dayna and a blonde-haired girl he didn’t recognize, presumably Sandy. The album was OK, but in his opinion, barely so. It just wasn’t his kind of music.
The next album he tried was considerably different, Experience of Survival. Even with his relatively dead ear for music he could tell it was considerably more advanced. There was what sounded like a symphony orchestra backing the two girls up on the title cut, which was a celebration of how good it felt to be alive after going through some tough times. It was one hell of a piece of music, and he was impressed – Dayna had clearly come a long way from sitting by the fountain at the mall with her gig bag open at her feet.
Pat wasn’t totally clear on what the program for tomorrow was going to be, but he guessed it would involve a visit to some fertility clinic the first thing in the morning, which was probably why Russ and Cindy had invited him to come up this evening. There was a good chance they’d be done by the middle of the morning, and he thought maybe if he had the time he’d go out of his way and check out this renaissance festival in Lexington. It was something totally strange to him, almost beyond his imagination, but it sounded like fun – something different to do in the fall, with winter inexorably closing in. It wasn’t all that far out of the way, and if things ran late on Saturday he could probably still do it on Sunday.
He still wasn’t totally comfortable with the idea of being the father of Russ and Cindy’s child, well, again, but the two of them had seemed so sad that he hadn’t been able to turn them down. Apparently he offered them a ray of hope where there hadn’t been much before.
The thought of him having been a father to one of their children already was more than vaguely unsettling; if things had worked out just a little bit differently, if Cindy had told him about it, his life could be vastly different today. Maybe things had worked out for the best; it was hard to say, but it was all supposition, just kicking thoughts around. What was done had been done, and the best he could hope for was that by doing this he could help Russ and Cindy put their lives back together.
But he tried to push it from his mind. He’d agreed to do it, and that was that. He wasn’t one to go back on his word, not in a situation like this; now all he could do was hope it would work out for the best.
Finding his way through Cincinnati took a little doing – he hadn’t been there before, and the traffic was heavy. Partway around the city the Experience of Survival CD ran out, and he didn’t bother to start it again until he was outside the city and heading up the road to Dayton. Russ and Cindy’s house proved to be easy to find – Russ had given him a good map – and it was just getting dark when he pulled into their driveway.
At first glance the house looked like a nice suburban place; in his opinion, large enough to be comfortable, but not so large that keeping it up would be a huge nightmare. Not a bad house, he thought – almost certainly nicer than the house he and Cindy would be living in if she’d told him about Caitlynn in the first place. He knew many people with his rank and time and grade who were living with their families in places a lot rougher than this one. At least from that viewpoint, maybe she’d done the right thing in not telling him, but there was no way he could ever expect to know for sure.
He got out of the Plymouth, stretched a little bit, then got his overnight bag from the back seat. It wasn’t large; he didn’t need much, after all. It was one of the things he’d learned from the Army, how to get along on little. He was halfway to the house when the front door opened and both Russ and Cindy came out to greet him. “Glad to see you made it,” Russ said with a huge smile. “Any trouble?”
“No, just getting off base a little early helped,” Pat replied. “It always seems like someone wants something the last thing Friday night. They’re going to have to wait till Monday now.”
“Good to see you,” Cindy said with a huge smile; Pat noticed she was wearing a very nice looking and somewhat revealing cocktail dress. “I’ve had dinner more or less on hold for you. Now that you’re here I’ll finish it up. It should only be ten or fifteen minutes or so.”
Pat followed Cindy inside, with Russ bringing up the rear. He glanced around to see that it was a nice house inside as well as out; it told him as much as he needed to know that Russ was doing very well indeed with his business.
While Cindy headed toward the kitchen, Russ asked, “Pat, would you like a drink to cut the dust?”
“I don’t need one,” Pat replied. “Some kind of soft drink would be fine. I drink very little and I find that I do so even less as time goes on. There’s a lot of drinking around the Army, and it makes some people act like damn fools. I’ve seen booze screw up a lot of careers.”
“I hardly touch the stuff myself these days,” Russ agreed, heading quickly to the kitchen and bringing back a couple red and blue cans. “It would have been all too damn easy to sink into a bottle after Caitlynn died, but at least that’s one thing Cindy and I were able to control.”
Pat nodded. “I can see how that must have been very tempting,” he replied. “I can’t tell you the last time I had a couple beers back to back. It could have been clear back when I came back from Saudi.”
“You like it in the Army, then?”
“More than I ever thought I would. It was kind of a desperation move for me when I left high school, something to get me out of Bradford. But it proved to be the right move for me. I can’t think of anything else I could have done that would have worked out anywhere near as well. So how’s the insurance business working for you?”
“I can’t complain about it,” Russ replied. “It’s not exactly what I planned on doing in life, but it’s worked out for me better than I’ve expected. It’s allowed Cindy and me to be comfortable, so long as we don’t go crazy spending money. We’re not the kind of people who do that sort of thing anyway.”
“Both of you always struck me as being sensible types.”
“Mostly,” Russ sighed. “The last year, well, year and two months now, we haven’t been very sensible in a lot of things. We’ve both been very depressed and distracted. Now that there finally seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, it’s changed things a bit.”
Pat didn’t have to ask what Russ was talking about; it was why he was there, after all. “Well, good,” he said as neutrally as possible. “I hope things continue to turn up for you.”
“It’s been like a new day dawning. Let me tell you just how bad it was, Pat. This week, Cindy and I went through Caitie’s room and packed up her things. We both knew it had to be done but neither of us could bring ourselves to do it before this, more than a year now. Packing her things and cleaning her room, well, it meant that we admitted to ourselves that there is a future out there, after all. Cindy and I really have to thank you for it.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Pat replied defensively.
“Bull,” Russ grinned. “I know this whole deal is a little strange to you, but a wise old man once told me that people are strange, so get used to it. You may not realize it but you’ve done a great deal for us, and we think we owe you as it is. Now we’re just going to wind up owing you more, and we couldn’t be happier about it.”
Pat thought that was kind of a strange statement, but he thought about it for a moment and realized that there was a chance Russ and Cindy wouldn’t be married at all if she hadn’t gotten pregnant – and they wouldn’t have had Caitlynn if he hadn’t been involved, either. When he thought about it like that, it was strange how much their lives had been affected by that one incident. It was an uncomfortable feeling, and something he really didn’t want to contemplate all that thoroughly.
The dinner proved to be very, very good; it was clear that Cindy had gone all out on it. They had a good, if light conversation over dinner and dessert, mostly talking about some of the things that Pat did in his job. Russ actually seemed a little envious at it; his desk job had some interesting stories come out of it, but they weren’t active or exciting things. They all had some funny anecdotes about people they knew, but everyone seemed to think that Pat had the better ones.
It seemed like they were heading for an evening of more friendly light conversation, but after Cindy got the dishes in the dishwasher, she smiled and said, “All right, now that we’ve got that out of the way, can we get down to what we really want to do? I’ve been barely able to keep myself under control all day and don’t want to wait any longer.”
“I thought you made the appointment for the fertility clinic in the morning,” Pat said, all of a sudden getting that rocket-flying-at-his-Bradley feeling again.
“Oh, no,” Cindy smiled. “Artificial insemination may be all right but doing it the natural way has to be a lot more fun.”
“Cindy,” Pat shook his head. “That wasn’t quite . . . well . . . having it done in a lab is one thing, but I wasn’t expecting this. I can’t do that to Russ.”
“Can’t do what?” Russ said. “I told you I don’t have a problem with it.”
“Yeah, but still . . . ”
“Pat, did I have a problem with you and Cindy making Caitlynn? It wasn’t until we lost her that I realized just how much that little girl meant to me.”
“I know she meant a great deal to you,” Pat said. “Or else I wouldn’t have agreed to this in the first place. But I don’t want you to, well, be jealous knowing what Cindy and I would have to do. I realize what you’re trying to accomplish, but Russ, I can’t go behind your back like that.”
“Who said you two were going to go behind my back?” Russ grinned. “Look, Cindy and I had this all talked out before we started trying to get in touch with you. What I want to do is to be as much a part of the process as I can be, considering that there’s one thing I can’t be a help with.”
“Russ, I don’t understand. What are you saying?”
“It’s very simple. I want to be holding on to Cindy, cuddling her, kissing her, caressing her, making love to her as much as I can while you put a baby into her. I may be behind her back a little, but the two of you won’t be behind my back.”
“You’re saying . . . ” Pat shook his head as he contemplated it. Yes, that had to be just exactly what Russ was talking about. Cindy too, considering the huge smile on her face. “. . . a threesome?”
“Please, Pat,” Cindy said with a combination plea and laugh. “This way, I get to make a baby with my husband and the father of my children.” She paused for a moment and added with a snicker, “And at the same time.”
“Cindy . . . ”
“Please, Pat,” she smiled. “It’ll be a lot more fun than in some lab, and it’ll mean a lot more all the way around.”
“You’re sure about this?”
“Yes, Pat, I am.”
“Russ? You’re really sure about this?”
“I think she’s right,” he smiled. “At least this way we know our replacement for Caitlynn will be conceived in a very special act of love. Besides, this way we get to accomplish something else I’ve never been able to manage.”
“Oh, God,” Pat almost groaned. “What now?”
Russ got one arm around his wife and the other one around Pat. “Pat,” he said. “Cindy has never told me all the details of the night she spent with you way back then, but I’ll bet it was a little more than a slam-bam-thank you ma’am, right?”
“Well, yes,” Pat agreed. “If either of us got any sleep that night we didn’t get very much. I was just about falling over from exhaustion when she put me on that bus the next morning.”
Cindy hugged Pat a little tighter. “I’m sure I remember telling you that when I get switched on it’s hard to turn my switch off.”
“Yeah, now that you mention it, I remember that,” he grinned. “Actually, I remember quite a bit about that night, and you were right.”
“I don’t want to call my wife a nymphomaniac,” Russ grinned. “But I have never, ever, been able to wear her all the way down without collapsing first. I figure with the two of us double-teaming her and the shape you’re in, we might just once be able to teach her what it’s like to be the one who’s so worn out they can’t take any more.”
Pat shook his head again. He’d been doing a lot of that the last few minutes. There was no way he’d ever expected this! “You’re both sure?” he asked again. “Really sure?”
“Hell yes,” Russ grinned. “Would we have gone to all this trouble if we weren’t?”
“Come on, my two lovers,” Cindy said. “Let’s all go make me a mommy again!”
“You need coffee?” Russ asked when Pat found his way into the kitchen the next morning, wearing one of Russ’s robes and nothing else.
“Holy crap,” Pat shook his head. “You weren’t kidding, were you?”
“No, I wasn’t,” Russ grinned, getting up from the kitchen table and going to the coffeepot. “Sorry I sort of faded out on you there after a while, but like I said, you’re in better shape than I am. There’s aspirin on the table if you need it.”
“I’m in shape,” Pat protested. “I mean, they may call us mechanized infantry types ‘track toads’ but I have to be in shape. I’m not a maniac about it like some people I know, but I at least try to be methodical. But damn, I’m aching in places I didn’t even know I had muscle groups.”
“It did get a little exuberant there at times,” Russ agreed. “But I think we won in the end for once. I have to admit, it was fun tag-teaming her like that. She never got a chance to rest up and pull herself together. I take it she’s still asleep?”
“Good God, is she always like that? It seems like she just couldn’t get enough!”
“No, not always, and thank God. But every now and then . . . well, it’s fun, even though I’ve come close to killing myself at times. I used to keep myself in a little better shape for her just because of it, but, well . . . like a lot of things, I lost the desire when Caitlynn died. Maybe I’ll have to get a gym membership again. I haven’t needed it since then.”
“I can see how you could lose your enthusiasm,” Pat said, fumbling with the top of the aspirin bottle. He needed that worse than he did the coffee this morning, and that was saying something.
“We both did,” Russ admitted. “Pat, maybe I shouldn’t say it, but last night was the first time since Caitlynn died that we’ve been together in any way, shape or form. I mean, we both slept in the same bed, but there was nothing there. Nothing happened because neither of us was interested in it. Maybe we’ve made it over that hump, so to speak. For the first time in months I feel like I’m on the road to recovery, and I think Cindy will think that way too, at least when she wakes up.”
“If last night managed that, I guess it was worth it, baby or not.”
“Underneath it all, trying for a baby was the goal,” Russ replied thoughtfully. “But you have to admit that it was fun getting there.”
“Yeah,” Pat grinned. “I have to give you that.” He sighed, and went on. “I don’t consider myself to be excessively experienced, but I’ve gotten around here and there a time or two. There’s a lot of extracurricular messing around going on in the Army. Maybe I shouldn’t say a lot, but it seems to be more than outside, at least from my viewpoint.”
“There’s probably a lot of testosterone floating around,” Russ observed. “That could have something to do with it.”
“Could be. But be that as it may, I’ve never done it to another man’s wife, and to be sitting here talking calmly with you about it the following morning instead of running and hiding – there’s a part of me that’s saying I ought to be doing just that.”
“In most situations it might not be a bad idea, but this is not most situations. This is very special, and I feel like you’ve done me a hell of a favor that I’ll owe you on for the rest of my life.”
“Yeah, special situation, right,” Pat nodded. “I still have to say I’m a little concerned about it, but I’m glad that’s done.”
“Oh, we’re not done,” Russ said. “We probably ought to give her a few hours to rest up, not that we couldn’t use it ourselves. But since you’re here, we ought to do it again tonight, just to be on the safe side. Then, with any kind of luck, in a year or a little more we’ll need to do it all over again. We want more than one kid, after all.”
“You mean . . . ”
“Of course,” Russ grinned. “You didn’t think we were going to let you off that easy, did you?”
Pat yawned, then laughed. “Well,” he said. “I suppose it’s more interesting than lying around my quarters, working on my current correspondence course or watching the playoffs on TV.”
“Might be at that,” Russ said. “I have no idea how long Cindy is going to be, but I suppose we ought to let her sleep. Would you be interested in some breakfast? I can do bacon, eggs, toast.”
“Sure, sounds good,” Pat agreed, still feeling that the whole situation was more than a little surreal.
“All right, I’ll get started. It probably would be a good idea if we thought of something to do today. It’d give us a chance to rest up for tonight. Since you’re in the Army I don’t know how much it would interest you, but one of the neat things in this town is the US Air Force Museum out at Wright-Pat. We could take a run over there.”
“That’s a possibility, but I’ve got another idea. When I was driving up here yesterday I figured we’d go to the fertility clinic today and that would be that. I was giving some thought to driving down to Lexington and checking out this renaissance festival thing. You know, where Dayna is playing today.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Russ agreed. “It’s not that far down to Lexington, and the Air Force Museum will be there another time.”
And so it proved. Dayna and her partner Sandy put on a great show, and there were all sorts of weird people running around the festival, strange and unusual things to see. The three of them enjoyed themselves immensely. Pat was particularly interested in a demonstration of guys in armor fighting with swords. The swords may have been a little blunt but the hits were hard – as the dents in the armor showed. Pat had a little bit better appreciation than most over what modern armor was like, and he quickly got a new appreciation for the armor on his Bradley. He also got an appreciation for what war had been like five hundred years before, and he wasn’t sure but what he might have preferred the old fashioned way.
They drove back late in the day, stopping for dinner along the way, then putting a repeat performance in the Bradstreet’s king-sized bed that evening. They all wound up sleeping late the next morning, then having a late breakfast together. Somehow over the course of the weekend a special friendship had come together, not just one of former classmates, and it was hard for them to tear themselves apart. Finally, Pat had no real choice but to head back to Ft. Knox.
“It was great,” Cindy said as Pat was getting in his Plymouth. “While I want a baby badly, there’s a part of me that sort of hopes I didn’t catch.”
“And why is that?” Pat asked.
“Well, if I didn’t, then we’d get to do it again next month.”
