For the next ten days, Dave was caught up a "Catch-22" of his own making. He had thought Jenny's idea of having his baby was but a joke until she pointedly told him that she was most serious. Dave didn't mind going through the actions but, no matter how much his love for his daughter was growing, the thought of her having his baby gave him a cold chill.
Jenny, seeing Dave become slightly more distant, decided to seek out Robin's help. By the time Jenny came away from what turned out to be a meeting of strategy planning, she had a big smile on her face. She shook her head as she started the old car, knowing full well that robin had been very correct on pointing out that, with people caught up in games like they were playing, played with no rules.
The ten days had been hard on Dave, but the next three soon became known to him as "The three days of Hell". The first day found Tammy's father found dead of a heart attack. Both Lynn and Tammy took it very hard. Even though he had been Lynn's step-father, she was devastated. The second day brought a telephone call from Lynn's other sister that she had cancer and needed surgery. The third day brought him to his knees when Lynn took him aside and said she had to go to Arizona to be with her sister.
Tammy's father was buried on the morning of the forth. As soon as the funeral was over, Dave had to rush his wife to McGhee-Tyson airport in Knoxville. As they hugged their good bye, Dave had to fight to keep from openly trembling in front of the four women.
Robin insisted on driving back to Broken Wing as Jenny piled her father into the back seat of the dark green Caddie. By the time they had reach the point where I-40 and I-75 splits, I-40 running west and I-75 dipping to the south, they decided that it was time to stop and get something to eat.
Dave set in total silence in the restaurant they had picked in Oak Ridge. It was dark and cool inside the sleek building, and the church crowd had just left, leaving them pretty much alone.
"You okay, Dave?" Tammy asked, leaning over and putting her hand over his.
Dave shrugged, looking at each of the girls. "God, I'm suppose to be the strong one here," he said, wiping a tear from his right eye. "I am so sorry. I just can't go any further."
"Sorry?" Tammy gasped. "You know that, if it wasn't for you I'd never have made it these last days. Fuck! Look what you've done for all of us. Don't ya think its time you shut up and let us take care of you?"
As the green car sped south on US-27, Dave gave in to his wore out condition and, with a deep sigh, laid his head on his daughter's shoulder. The droning of the music from a southern rock station on the radio, and the sound of the tires running over the patches of the pavement soon had Dave fast asleep. As they came to Harriman, Robin gently guided the big car through the stop lights, praying to God that there would not be a loud freight train on the Norfolk and Southern railroad tracks that skirted along on the right side of the highway. For once luck was with them as they managed to get all the way south of Rockwood with Dave being woken up by one of the trains that seemed to roar up or down the tracks every fifteen minutes or so.
Dave refused to go to bed to sleep when the arrived at Broken Wing, but the three managed to insist he sleep on the couch until he got the phone call that Lynn had made it to Arizona. As she laid the blanket over him, Jenny could only smile down at the man who had so insisted he wasn't sleepy.
"We need to talk," Tammy said as they sat down at the dinning table. "I am going to keep the business, and I need all of you."
"You're going to run your father's business?" Jenny questioned in amazement at the hard work it demanded.
"Yes! I have all the equipment and I know how to run it. Dad had a lot of work to do and I have every intention of doing it."
"Well, how do we fit in?" Robin asked, getting up to get a cup of coffee from the large, red coffee maker.
"You know how to cut trees, and you know how to run Dad's log trucks. Jenny, its a lot harder than it looks at first, but cutting trees down isn't all that bad."
"Me?" Jenny giggled.
"You were going to be going to college this fal. I think you need to do just that."
"No. I am where I should be. I just don't know much about this stuff you're talking about."
You'll do fine. Look at it this way: I plan on paying good, and running up and down the sides of these mountains will be good for us all."
"Hey, what about this," Robin ventured excitedly. "Dad has been wanting to get out of that stupid factory. What do you think?"
"I like." Tammy said, sliding up closer to the table.
"But, what about him?" Jenny questioned, motioning towards her slumbering father.
"Oh, I really think the three of us can find something for him to do." Tammy offered back with a broad grin.
Both Jenny and Robin looked to her with questions painted on their wide-opened eyes.
Tammy got up to get herself a cup of coffee. She loved the feeling of suspense drifting heavy in the air. "I know what you two are up to," She said as she poured herself a cup of streaming coffee, adding far too much sugar to it. "Come on, you really think I haven't been with him?"
"What?" Jenny gasped. "You mean you and Dad have... Ah, you're putting us on?"
Tammy sat back down to the table, a smile touching her lips as memories came back. "You know, he was the first man to treat me like a lady, not some God damned hired hand?"
"God! I never suspected," Jenny whispered, it dawning on her that she was in need of a cup of strong coffee. "Lynn would have a shit fit if she knew." She shook her head in disbelief as she sat back down to the table. "God, like I don't think anyone even had the slighest idea."
"No one did. You know as well as I do, my old man hated the idea that I was a girl; Hated the idea of me being with another man even worse. Guess he kinda figured it was too gay."
"Did he 'put the make' on you?" Jenny asked, now wondering what her father had been up to.
"Wasn't anything like that. It just happened."
"How can it just happen?" Jenny laughed nervously.
