I awoke and looked at the clock, it was almost noon. I was alone in bed again. I got up and but on my robe and looked for Sally. She wasn't in the bath or in the kitchen. I saw the t-shirt she had been wearing. I looked out the window; there was no vehicle in the driveway. She was gone. I felt empty. I walked toward the living room and saw a note on the dining room table.
I looked at the signature and saw it was from Sally. It read;
Dearest Rich,
I will never be able to thank you enough for your tender warm loving. It was by far the best of my life. Tears still drop from my eyes as I think back on it. I know I have placed you in a very awkward position, please feel no obligation of any sort to see me again in light of the things I revealed to you today.
I will always cherish the time I have spent working with you and every second of the other times we spent together. I will never forget your kindness in helping me realize my dream of completing part of my father's project. I know you are the finest most honest and honorable man I have ever known in my life. My deepest regret is that I chose to live my life in a manner I know is abhorrent to you. I wish with all my heart it was otherwise. Please remember me fondly.
All My Love,
Sally I read it again. I had to think this through. What if I never saw Sally again? Then why live? What harm did Sally do to other people? Who did she steal from? Who suffered because of what she did. The answer was clear. Only Sally suffered. Her father got his medications and lived out his life in comfort without pain. She brought a reason to live and happiness to a group of wealthy old men. Hate her for all that?
No, not hardly.
Did I still love and want her?
You bet your ass I did.
Could I trust her?
With my very life? Hell yes!
What the shit was I doing here with my finger up my ass?
I jumped to my feet and ran to my room. I slipped on some shorts and a polo shirt. I grabbed my wallet, money and keys and dashed out the door. I jumped in the old Jeep and was off in a cloud of dust. I kept that gas pedal firmly on the floor until I braked hard to make the turn into her drive.
I jumped out of the Jeep as it slid to a stop in front of her doorstep. Her car was there! I jumped out of the Jeep and screamed her name. No answer! Where was Sally? I ran to the door and tried it. Locked. OH no! I slumped on the porch. I tried to think. I ran to where I could see the dock. Where was WILLY? She had to be out in WILLY. I ran down the hill and out on the dock. Nothing! I saw a bass boat coming up the river and waved him over. He pulled into the dock and I asked he would take me out to look for WILLY. He said he had passed the sternwheeler about ten minutes before. I offered him a pair of 50-dollar bills. He grinned and yelled, "Jump in mister, We'll find them pretty quick."
The man was eager. The bass boat had a 225hp Mercury outboard on the back and he knew how to handle it. I almost lost my ball cap and my sunglasses. We got to the place where the river straightened out and headed east. The guy grinned at me and shoved further forward on the throttle. We were flying low now at about 70 miles an hour. I saw a wisp of smoke in the distance and the steamer underneath it. In a little while we started hitting the wake from WILLY and he had to slow down. He eased up behind WILLY and jumped the wake and pulled up beside her. Sally was at the helm and Jeb was the engineer. Both of them grinned when they recognized me. WILLY slowed and the bass boat pulled along side. I stood on the bow of the bass boat and jumped aboard WILLY. Sally ran to me and hugged me.
She looked into my eyes and kissed me passionately. I whispered, "Sally, don't ever leave me again, I love you." She buried her face in my chest and sobbed. Jeb yelled, "Hey! One of you guys got to stop kissin' and steer the boat." I got to the wheel in time to turn away from the riverbank. I stole a couple more quick kisses as she clung to my side. I looked down at her and she looked back up at me. I placed my lips to her ear, "Are you ready to go home. I never finished making love to you; I was only resting. I need to start all over now."
She wiped her eyes, "Your place or mine?"
"Yours is closer."
"Let's go, lover."
I looked behind us to see we were clear of traffic a turned us around. When we were headed home I turned to Jeb, "OK Engineer, FULL SPEED AHEAD!" We surged forward and we were going faster than I thought the boat would go. Spray from the paddlewheel rose in a rooster tail plume behind us. Grey smoke marked our trail. I guessed our speed at over twenty.
The boat moved smoothly through the water. This was not the speed she was built for but it was nice to know it was available if you needed it. We had to slow down when we reached the curvy part of the river but we were getting very much better at handling the boat now. The engineer was learning that a little burst of power at the right time helped turn the boat faster. Practice made the coordination lots better. Sally and I discussed the possibility of using the more advanced articulated or feathering paddle wheels. I was familiar with the type and expressed my opinion that the fixed paddle was more than adequate for our needs, our interest being more in strength, safety and reliability than in speed.
People who bought tickets with us would be interested in a leisurely sightseeing cruise and not be in a hurry. I felt that the fixed type was better for us because the whole assembly was constructed of wood instead of the all metal feathering paddles.
The river was full of submerged logs and limbs of trees. Some were a hundred years old and some were from recent storms. A log in the paddle wheel was bound to be catastrophic. Hopefully it would never happen. We agreed that the KISS (Keep it simple, Stupid.) theory was applicable in this case.
We secured WILLY and Sally and I drove Jeb home. On our way back to Sally's house we agreed that we were going to finance a car for the Chief Engineer in the near future. He had a driver's license and we had learned to trust him. He was a very sensible young man.
We sat and sipped icy cold long necked Buds. Very refreshing. I couldn't take my eye off of Sally. The more I looked the more the hunger inside me raged. I desperately needed to devour her. She seemed very solemn in contrast to her earlier joyfulness.
I asked, "Girl, you seem very serious, have I done something wrong or disappointed you in some way?"
"Oh no. I just don't know what you feel about me. I don't know where we are in our relationship, if we have one."
"Sally I am not good with words, I can only tell you how I feel. Baby, I love you, our relationship is whatever you want it to be. I have no other information about you other than what you have told me. I totally believe everything you have said. There is no way in hell you have to answer to me for anything you did before we declared our love for each other.
"Since that time I expect your complete honesty and loyalty to me. I shall respond in the same way. If you want to remain just friends I will be heart broken but I will honor and respect your decision and feel I am fortunate just to be near you. I won't lie to you. I do not think I will be able to live that way for long. I would have to leave.
"I must tell you that your statement earlier today that you wanted to have my babies thrilled me like nothing I have ever heard before. I had a great surge of love and adoration towards you accompanied by an overwhelming need to protect and nourish you that far surpasses any emotion I have felt in my entire lifetime. "As I said earlier, our relationship will be what ever you want it to be, if that includes marriage it will make me the happiest man in the world. If not, I will strive to make you happy any way you will let me."