When the Stars Align

(My thanks go to Linda62953. She did a great job of finding my mistakes and pointed out the errors in the story line that I missed.)

Sitting my father down and having a conversation about this with him, left him laughing so much, I'm sure they heard him in the next state.

"Dad, there is something else. As I left, Gretchen told me they are a package deal. If I agree to this, I not only get Victoria, Gretchen comes with her."

My father sat and thought about this for a moment and nodded his head, this time he didn't laugh.

"I suppose, given the amount of time those two have been together, the train wreck relationships that Victoria has had and the constant assault she has had to deal with in the boardroom, it would stand to reason they would seek comfort with each other, both physically and emotionally."

As I stood to make us drinks, my dad continued with his conversation. He told me he had noticed how close they were when they came to visit. The strange thing was that my father seemed to take all this in his stride. We even talked of the logistics of their visit as though it was the most natural thing to have the owner of one of the biggest diamond companies in the world come visit.

"I must say, you seem to be taking this most bazaar of situations in your stride."

It wasn't until Dad had his drink in his hands that he spoke again, and what he said next made sense to me.

"Son we're Ellington's, we've had to deal with strange situations for generations. I'm not saying we're unique in that, but we have sure lasted longer than others have. Even if we discard generations of our history and concentrate on you, no one could foresee Carol dying in childbirth, or what happened to Lou-Lou. Yes I know you went wild for a while and frankly, I wanted to kill you myself a couple of times but your mother and Connie knew you would settle down."

We both nodded our heads in agreement.

"I want Connie to keep Lou-Lou for awhile yet. This whole thing needs time dad, and to be honest, I'm still not sure I know what I'm doing. Carol was my life all through college. Then she gave me Lou-Lou and then left us both. Perhaps I'm floundering around and all this was meant to be, or I could be another of her train crash relationships. Hell, I've not even kissed the girl, yet she seems to think I'm the one."

My father listened to me rant and waited until I had finished. It was clear to me; he was holding his own thoughts in check by the way he held his cup so tightly.

"Lou-Lou told me she felt something the day she mapped Victoria's face. Blind people connect with other people on a different level son. I think my granddaughter knew before you both did, the outcome of you going to Boston. She told Connie you would be a changed man when you came back and hoped it was going to be for the better."

As my father spoke there seemed to be steeliness about him, he looked hard at me, almost to assess what he saw in front of him.

"Son, since Carol's death your dick has either been in your pants or you've had your hand wrapped around it and that ain't natural. If this.... this relationship is what you both or rather all three of you need, then grasp it with both hands. Victoria mapped your face. She has seen the real you. Not the one every sighted person sees and she's not shied away from him."

All I could do was nod my head. We talked the logistics of both Victoria's and Gretchen's arrival, he surprised me when he suggested we use the old house. When Mom and dad first got married, they lived in the old house behind the barn I had converted to a workshop. In reality, it was nothing more than a large cabin with two bedrooms. When I came onto the scene, mom insisted dad build out. Rather than that, he built her a new house and the old house became a place for guests.

The next day, dad organized a cleaning crew. A day and a half later, the place was spotless and smelling of all sorts of flowery stuff, we guys have never heard of. On my father's insistence, all of the furniture was placed in one corner. When Victoria gets here, we would spend an hour or so letting her tell us where she wanted the furniture, so she could make her own map as we went along.

While the cleaning crews were busy, we set about digging a gravel path from the front door outwards, it split after twenty yards, one branch ended up at the front of my workshop and the other led to the front of dad's house. Connie came by and brought Lou-Lou with her, we held hands and walked over to the seat that my daughter had first met Victoria and Gretchen and I sat her down.

It was one of the strangest 'honey we need to talk' moments I had ever had with my daughter. And one of those times I found out, she sure had Carol's genes. When I had finished explaining my trip to Boston and what all three of us talked about when I was there, Lou-Lou simply sat and pondered for a moment.

"You know, this kinda reminds me of an arranged marriage, only with an Ellington twist to it."

We both smiled and then a thought struck me, something that dad had said and something I had seen my own daughter do.

"Honey, you mapped Victoria's face. When you did that, I noticed that you frowned for a moment, you felt something."

At first, my daughter tried to brush my question away, but I kept at her.

"It was just a feeling dad. For a rich girl she sure is lonely. Grandpa told me that she came here with men with guns to protect her, I know rich folks do that sometimes, yet when I mapped her face their was a sadness about her."

Lou-Lou reached out her hands and I held them in mine as she squeezed them.

"Remember last summer you took me fishing down by the creek. We sat all day and talked. Just as we were fixin' to leave, that catfish pulled on your line. You took close to half and hour to get that damn fish out of the creek. The line you used should have snapped, but you adjusted what you were doing to what needed to be done to get him."

My own daughter nailed her argument then and there.

"That's Victoria at the moment dad, she is scared and desperately lonely. In a world that men hate her and want her gone, she has no one but Gretchen and that's so dreadfully sad. Oh she will fight you, she will no doubt scream and shout at you, but I think in the back of her mind she has met her mate and now both your hearts and minds have to find a way to fit together."

As I pondered what she had said, Lou-Lou never let go of my hands. When I told her that for a twelve year old she sure spoke better sense than most of us adults, she just shrugged her shoulders and said she was her mother's daughter. As my body moved to hug her, my cell phone rang. Gretchen was telling me that everything was set for their departure tomorrow and they would be at the airport around three that afternoon. I handed Lou-Lou my cell so she could talk to Gretchen while I went to talk to my dad.

They were still deep in conversation when I returned ten minutes later. Lou-Lou handed me my cell back and walked back to the house. As I talked to Gretchen, I watched my daughter. Was it me or did my own daughter walk with a bounce in her step now?

"So, we have a cabin all to ourselves?"

"We moved all the furniture to one side and once Victoria decides where she wants stuff put, we can call it home. How long are you two going to be here?"

The giggle that followed let me know ahead of time that I was going to like her answer.

"Victoria is in a board meeting at the moment, she plans to drop the bomb at the end of the meeting. She has more than enough work for them all to keep them busy until the next meeting in six weeks time; she is slowly learning the meaning of the word 'delegation' so I'd better go and get ready to pry her out of the board room when the shouting starts."

We said our goodbyes, dad, and I went back to putting some finishing touches to the cabin. Connie came back later that day with towels and bedding. We both looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders; she just said 'men' as she set about making the beds with Lou-Lou's help, both were gone an hour later.

*******

I watched her plane land; it still took another twenty minutes of hugs and putting bags into the car before they were ready to leave. The suit I knew as Marcus detached himself from the other two bodyguards and handed me a piece of paper. He explained that he had argued with both Victoria and Gretchen about leaving them both unguarded and had been over ruled, the number was a direct line to him and I was to use it anytime, day or night.

"I can have people here within the hour. Other than that, I wish all three of you a pleasant holiday."

Neither one of us were dumb. Boston is more than an hour by plane, so he had people closer than that on stand-by. Strangely enough, I liked the guy, so I said I would keep it close by if I needed it. He seemed to relax a little and we shook on it, before he turned to the girls and told them that he expected them to keep in touch, even if it's only by post card.

Dad and Lou-Lou were waiting on the porch when we got back. Connie wandered out of the house as the car came to a stop. Everyone was formally introduced and we all set about sorting the furniture. Both dad and I watched a strange bond start to develop between Victoria and Lou-Lou.

As furniture was being placed, my daughter would occasionally recommend an alternative, both would walk from the item they were next to and mentally map it. It would then be moved and inch or two either way or discarded for something more practical and once again would use there own starting point before both would agree.

The hour time frame turned into three before Victoria and Lou-Lou were happy with the outcome. With one more trial run from the door with neither of them banging into anything and me left in wonder as to how they did it, both announced the furniture was in all the right places. The few bits that remained were put out on the porch to be taken away later.

When I had returned, Victoria and Lou-Lou sat at one end of the couch deep in conversation. Gretchen pointed to the coffee pot on the cooker and joined the other two on the couch. By the time I had my coffee, there was a knock at the door and Connie entered. She scanned the room and once she spotted Lou-Lou, reminded her that they had dinner to cook before her husband came home and disowned her for being a bad wife. They would be leaving in ten minutes.

My daughter giggled and then hugged Victoria, stood and turned to Gretchen, waited for her to stand and hugged her as well. Her head turned in my direction and she gave me one of those smiles that said I couldn't hide from her. We both walked back to the house, Connie and dad were waiting by her car both deep in a very animated conversation with each other. Lou-Lou heard my dad use the name Dixon before they both noticed us approach. My daughter gave a squeal of delight that her friend was coming to visit.

My sister managed to get my smiling daughter into the car, the hug and kiss goodbye were genuine. Once the car was out of sight, I turned on my dad.

"Want to explain or do you want me to wait until Dixon gets here and I ask him?"

My father was already headed back into the house; the temptation to follow him was close to overwhelming.

"Is something wrong?"

Spinning around to see both the girls on the gravel path and not even hearing them approach worried me a little. I'm sure the taking of a deep breath didn't go unnoticed.

"Not that I know of."

Squeezing myself between both girls I asked them if the would like a small tour of the place. Both accepted with glee and we wandered around. I explained to Victoria that the gravel paths only went from the main house to the seating area we had our first sit down talk, although it did branch about half way and went to the stables, while the other branch went down to the creek.

The path from the cabin went to the main house and my workshop, both said the creek in unison and I smiled while I shrugged my shoulders, thinking that this was something I was going to have to get used too. No sooner had we got there, than Gretchen said two words in that language of theirs and then seamlessly changed back and set about describing the scene in front of us.

"Oh Victoria, we are going to love this place, they have a boarded area directly from the edge of the gravel path. It extends out over the creek by twenty foot by about thirty wide and sits three feet over the top of the creek. We can sunbathe out here. The creek looks to be about thirty meters wide at this point although it does drop further down. Plenty of trees so we won't burn and lots of areas we can sunbathe and relax."

Even as Gretchen was finishing up describing what was in front of her, Victoria was already taking her sneakers off and pulling her jeans down. Gretchen simply watched for a moment and then shrugged as she followed suit. They were down to their underwear by the time she had finished explaining more details of there surroundings. Victoria held out her arm and both walked to the edge of the platform, sat down and sighed as their feet sank into the water.

We watched as Victoria closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the warmth of the sun. The smile was real and her whole body finally relaxed for the first time since she got here. It was a good ten minutes before anyone spoke again. It seems that Victoria's determination for this to work came to the fore when she did say something.

"Your favorite food is Chicken Caesar Salad. You developed a taste for it at one of those fancy restaurants and whenever you go to any restaurant that has it on the menu that's what you have, other than that, you have steak. You shave on a daily basis, the only change to that is when you're troubled, in which case you don't shave at all."

By now Gretchen had turned to me and shrugged her shoulders, it was apparent that Victoria had found all this out from someone and I could well hazard a guess who.

"You haven't had a sexual partner since Carol died and for many months after her death the only women that could even talk to you, were female members of your own family. You had a dog once, your father gave you one and he bit you. That same day you gave the dog back to your father and never had one since."

The shocked look that Gretchen gave me, made me blush.

"You haven't been intimate with anyone since your wife died?"

I'm sure the flush to my cheeks was noticeable.

"Your new source of information, aka my daughter, has had limited success. You don't actually think I'm going to discus who I date with my daughter do you?"

Both stayed silent, waiting for me to fill the void with answers. At first, I was reluctant to re-visit that part of my life, the years may have continued, but that never stopped the pain, eased it a little perhaps. However, the emptiness that was my life back then was never going to be filled, because my priority was always going to be my daughter.

Slowly my thoughts turned to words as I explained that the sudden death of Carol took us all by surprise. It also seemed in times of crises, women can be more resilient than men. Mom and dad took care of the funeral arrangements and between mom and Connie; they took care of Lou-Lou. It took me a great deal of time to bond with my daughter; I didn't hate her, far from it. But I couldn't look at Lou-Lou without seeing Carol and the cycle of despair, the sheer hopelessness of the situation would once again surface.

Six months after her birth, I turned up at Connie's and asked for my daughter back. The months and indeed years that followed have been what every parent has experienced with their children. The day of Lou-Lou's accident brought home to me the tenuous link I had left with Carol, and any thought I had of ever dating again, was removed from my thoughts.

*******

We must have spent close to an hour sitting by the creek with our feet in the water before I reminded them both; none of us had sun block on. My shirt got used as a towel and we all headed back to the cabin.

It was Gretchen that broke the silent walk back. "How did you end up in the city?"

"I was ganged up on. Dad and I were at the feed store; Cassidy Miller was a school friend of Carols and mine. She walked right up to me in the middle of the store and demanded a date. She even told me to my face that she expected dinner and dancing, lots of slow dancing. I turned her down and she went bright red, slapped me and stormed out of the store."

Both had the same look that Cassidy had so I knew they sympathized with her.

"Dad said nothing all the way home. The next morning Mom, Dad and Connie sat at the kitchen table. Dad told me that I had been living like a hermit for far too long and I needed to snap out of it. The language that ensued would have made a sailor proud. Dad gave me a name of a lawyer he knew in the city. He told me to get my life back and start living again because he was fed up of seeing me existing, rather than living."

Even though I had read most of what happened next in Victoria's PI report I gave her the 'me' version. My parting words to my parents were, 'that I was going to make a success in the city and came back for my daughter.' Leaving her was the hardest thing I had done, since watching her mother's casket being lowered to her final resting place. Dad's lawyer friend found me a place to live and I started on the ground floor for the agency a week later.

Since I had no life or any friends, I was soon racking up the hours at the agency and started to get noticed. My ideas were being listened to and a couple of promotions later saw me with the Petterson's account landing on my desk.

"I also feel I should dispel the thoughts you're both still having. Six months after I moved into my apartment block, Marsha came into my world. She was only interested in a 'friends with benefits' relationship since she was still working her way up the promotions ladder as well. Neither one of us had time to go looking, so when we did meet up; we never saw the need to leave my apartment."

Although I was expecting some sort of question and answer session, nothing was said on the subject. It was clear to see from the look on Gretchen's face that she fully intended to take her PI to task when they both returned to Boston. While I was making us all drinks, both the girls disappeared into one of the bedrooms and came out five minutes later in what seemed to be their standard casual wear, an oversized UCLA T-shirt and nothing else. Victoria's orientation of the room was amazing to watch as she chatted to Gretchen while walking over to the couch.

"We have a problem, Gretchen and I are willing to accept that we can't do anything about it tonight, but in the morning things will have to change."

You can imagine the things that skipped through my head and in what order. What came out of Gretchen's mouth next had me doubled up and crying with laughter.

"The bed's too small; we need a bigger bed since all three of us are going to be sleeping together."

Both sat and waited for me to calm down a little, well a lot to be honest, since I seemed to have stunned them with my answer.

"Doug we understood your reluctance back in Boston, it's another reason why we gladly came here. Nevertheless, you are not sleeping away from either of us and you are not taking us individually to your bed. I get the piece of paper saying I'm your wife, but we get a ring each because in our eyes all three of us are married to each other."

Even as I wiped the laughter tears from my eyes and digested what Victoria had just said, it was plain to see that they had thought long and hard about this. It was just a shame they never told me their thoughts back in Boston. The devil in me wanted to test this theory.