I Will Love You Forever Pt. 2 Ch. 07

"Kenji." she breathed, "if you keep that up I won't.... "

Kenji ignored her and kissed her neck again as he moved faster within her. Patricia began to move against him hurrying the orgasm that a few minutes ago had been on the horizon.

Kenji sealed his lips to her neck and gently sucked sending Patricia screaming over the edge with him not far behind.

Afterwards, they held each other tightly and fell asleep confident that they were well on their way.

*********

The next morning Joel showered, washed his hair until it squeaked, shaved and changed his clothes three times. Abby listened to him muttering to himself and laughed. Whoever this girl was, she had to be something special. She had never seen Joel as animated as he was when he came home the night before. She loved the smile on his face and realized that it had been far too long in coming.

Finally, he came out of his room, stood in front of Abby and asked her opinion.

"I think that you look very handsome!" she exclaimed with a smile.

"Are you sure that I look alright?" Joel asked nervously. "Would the blue shirt be better?"

"Relax! You look fine." Abby assured him.

"Are you sure that it's alright if I use your car? I can take the bus or..."

"Joel," Abby interrupted "it's fine and if I need anything Patricia and Kenji are home and Nick and Hana are coming over later. Now get going before you're late and have a good time."

Joel gave Abby a nervous smile and then went over to her, hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you." he whispered against her ear.

"Your welcome." Abby replied patting his back. She had come to love Joel as she had come to love Kenji and Patricia; he was now one of her children. When he left, she took out a pen and paper and wrote a letter that included additional instructions to her attorney.

She still felt relatively healthy, but after Ralph, she was taking no chances. She could plan all she wanted to attend the graduations of her three children but she knew that things didn't always work out as planned. She looked at the clock; Nick and Hana were due in about an hour. She wondered what was happening; she heard the underlying worry in Nick's otherwise cheerful voice. When Lawrence Goodman's name popped into her head, she involuntarily shuddered.

*********************

Joel made it to Penny's house with ten minutes to spare. In his nervousness, he had gotten lost and had to ask for directions to get himself back on track. He sat outside in the car for the full ten minutes before going to her door and ringing the doorbell.

Someone who wasn't Penny opened the door, looked him up and down before inviting him in.

"I'm Sandra one of Penny's roommates and best friend, she'll be ready in just a minute, care to sit down?"

Joel sat on the sofa and placed his hands in his lap as Sandra assessed him.

"So you're the one that she's so excited about." she commented as she lit a cigarette. "She hasn't shut up about you since she met you."

The revelation both pleased and surprised Joel and made him blush.

"Hi Joel!" Penny said as she walked into the living room. "I see that you met my best friend and roommate Sandra."

"He's cute." Sandra said as she got up, "I like him."

Joel then understood what happened, he had to meet the roommate first and get her approval.

"I guess you passed." Penny said confirming his suspicions. "Where to?"

They went to a coffee shop that sold sandwiches as well as pastries, found a quiet corner and settled in to talk.

Joel found out that Penny was the youngest of four and that she was the only girl. Her mother was a homemaker and her father a librarian. Two of her brothers served in the armed forces in the Pacific and both had come back unscathed.

"That was a really scary time for us." she said. "I can't imagine what it would have felt like if one or both of them had been killed."

He also found out that she had always wanted to be a doctor. It surprised him to learn that she didn't have the support of her mother but the full support of her father. The more she talked the more enthralled Joel became with her.

"What about you?" she asked. "Where is your family?"

"There isn't much to tell." Joel replied. "I was an only child and we came here years before the war. My parent's owned a deli/grocery store that I sold several months after they died. Like you, I have always wanted to be a doctor but my parents had other plans for me. They thought that I would run the store and it took a while before they realized that I wasn't interested."

"Did you.... Did you lose people in those camps?" Penny asked.

Joel's hands trembled as he picked up his cup of coffee. Word of the first of his family to die in Auschwitz had been the beginning of the end for his parents. He had memories of his parents trying to get family to come to the states long before the war started and being unsuccessful. When Hitler began his rise to power, they tried again and failed. By the time his parents died, many of his relatives were gone. If there were any left, he didn't know but he hoped to go back to Germany someday and find out.

"Joel, I'm so sorry." Penny said softly.

"Thanks." Joel replied. Until now, he had never talked about his losses not even to Kenji and Patricia. He knew that they would have listened but they had so much going on in their own lives that he didn't want to bother them. Then there was the fact that Kenji had lost people during the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Abby had just lost Ralph and was still grieving although she was better and Nick and Hana he didn't know well enough to talk about something so personal.

"You've never talked about it have you?" Penny asked. "Oh god, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pry. You hardly know me and I'm asking for your life story."

"It's alright." Joel replied.

"No it isn't." she said, "I really am sorry. I don't always think before I talk."

"Penny, really, it's alright." Joel assured her.

"Have you thought about a field yet?" Penny asked changing the subject.

"I'm leaning toward obstetrics." Joel replied, "What about you?"

"I'm thinking either pediatrics or obstetrics... can I ask you another question? And please feel free to tell me that it's none of my business."

"Sure." Joel replied.

"How did you, Patricia and Kenji get to be friends?"

"What you really want to know is how a Jew, a black woman and a Japanese man managed to form such a close friendship." Joel said.

"That's a crass way of putting it but yes."

Joel told Penny about the first time he met Kenji and how the friendship progressed. An hour later, he was finished.

"They are more than my friends, they're my family and I would do anything for them."

"I can see that and I think that they feel the same way about you... were you in love with her? Patricia I mean."

Joel's face burned telling Penny all that she needed to know.

"Don't be embarrassed." she told Joel taking his hand in hers. "What's not to love? She's kind, compassionate, smart and let's not forget very pretty."

"So are you." Joel blurted out. "And I won't lie and tell you that I didn't have feelings for her but I don't now at least not the romantic kind. And even if I did, I would never act on them, she's the wife of my best friend and I would never do anything to jeopardize that friendship."

"Joel, I know that and apparently so does Kenji. But even if you had tried to come between them, I have the feeling that it wouldn't have worked. God, the way they look at each other....I forgot to mention that I'm a hopeless romantic." she said with an uncharacteristic embarrassed grin.

"I happen to like romantics" Joel replied as he realized that he was still holding onto Penny's hand.

He took her home and walked her to the door not sure of what was supposed to happen next.

"I had a really nice time today." Penny said.

"I ... I did too, could we do it again sometime?" Joel asked his hands in his pockets with the fingers crossed.

"I didn't scare you off?" Penny teased.

"No you didn't scare me off and I would like to see you again." Joel said feeling a little more confident.

"I would like that." Penny replied.

They stood on the steps looking at each other until Penny stood on her tiptoes and kissed Joel on the cheek.

"Goodnight Joel and thank you." she said before she went into the house.

Joel touched the cheek that had Penny kissed and wondered if he hadn't just fallen in love.

*********

Becca slumped in the bus seat; she was hot and sweaty. She would have killed for a shower. She had several more hours before she reached L.A. and she still hadn't called her parents to let them know that she was on her way home. She was certain that they already knew; she had included where she was going in the note that she left for her aunt and uncle.

She had a variety of seat mates on the long trip back some bothersome and some not. The nicest one was a man who was from South Carolina who was toward L.A. The man still sat next to her and began to act as her protector whenever she was propositioned at the rest stops.

It wasn't too long before they were on a first name basis and sharing meals. He made Becca feel so safe that she began sharing information about herself and her family that was better not shared.

"So your daddy, he owns his own business?" Tyrone Morgan asked.

"Yes, he's an accountant." Becca replied missing the cold calculating gleam in Tyrone's eyes.

"That's good money I hear." he replied still not quite believing his luck when he found out that Becca was headed to L.A. and actually lived there.

"I guess... I wouldn't know."

'I mean you're going to college and it's all paid for, that means he must be doing pretty well." Tyrone said as he tried to figure out how to get a job with Becca's father. "Do you know if he needs any help? I'm not an accountant but I know how to enter numbers."

Then he waited hoping that she would take the bait. When she didn't, he did the one thing that he hadn't done yet, he appealed to her vanity.

"You never did tell me why a beautiful woman such as yourself is traveling alone."

"I left South Carolina suddenly." Becca replied not offering any explanations.

Tyrone let the topic drop and changed subjects only to return to one about her.

"I suppose that you have a boyfriend?"

"Not any more." Becca replied looking into dark brown eyes.

"Now I don't believe that!" Tyrone exclaimed.

"It's true, no boyfriend," Becca replied.

"Well then, I guess I can ask you out for dinner once I get settled and find a job." Tyrone said throwing the bait again.

"You're coming all the way to California with no job?" Becca asked.

Tyrone bit his tongue, what he wanted to say was "You stupid bitch why do you think I asked if your old man needed help?" but instead he said. "Foolish I know but I've always wanted to come west but that was why I was asking if your father needed help in his office, hell, I'll even take out the trash and mops the floors."

Something about the dark eyed, dark haired man attracted Becca. That he was a good ten years older than she was didn't matter but there was an air of intrigue and danger about him and he in no way reminded her of Andrew and Robbie. She thought that she was looking at a real man and not a boy.

"I can ask him when I get home, but how will I reach you?" she asked.

"Give me your number and I'll call you in a couple of days." Tyrone replied.

He grinned as Becca scrounged around in her purse for a pencil and a piece of paper. This had gone so much better than he thought it would. Meeting the bitch sitting next to him had been a stroke of good luck. All that he had to do was to ingratiate himself with her family. He stole a look at Becca's breasts and licked his lips, he had been without a woman for far too long and if he played his cards right, Miss. Becca Cartwright would end that dry spell.

**********

Monday afternoon Sally went to the mailbox as usual. It had been an almost a week since she spoke to the warden at the prison and she decided not to tell Will about it. All that telling him would do was make him angry and she really didn't care to hear it...

She took the stack of envelopes out of the mailbox and started sifting through them as she walked up to the house. She stopped when she got to the one with the return address of the prison. She rushed into the house, threw the other envelopes on the couch and sat down still holding the envelope from the prison in her shaking hands.

Finally, she carefully opened the envelope, took the contents out and closed her eyes. She knew what they were but the question was; were they signed? Sally slowly opened her eyes and looked through the papers until she came to the one that should have had Lawrence's signature on it.

"Please God." Sally murmured as her gaze went to the bottom of the page. Her eyes filled with tears as she saw Lawrence's neat strong handwriting at the bottom of the page. Tear drops fell on the pages as she cried tears of relief. She was no longer married to a man who taught hate and murder.

She was still sitting on the couch when Will came home.

"Sally? Honey what's wrong?" he asked.

She handed him the papers without speaking and remained silent as he read the forms. While he was happy, he wondered what had prompted Lawrence to sign the papers after all of this time.

"I wonder why he changed his mind." Will asked sitting down next to her.

"Will, I did something that you asked me not to." Sally said not looking at him.

Will stopped looking at the papers and looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"I called the prison and asked to talk to Lawrence. I wanted to know why he wouldn't sign the papers and I was going to beg him to do it if I had to."

"Did you talk to him?" Will asked.

"No but I spoke with the warden. He said that he would call me back but he never did so I thought that he just said it to be nice."

"You talked to Warden Ellis?" Will asked.

"Yes, he seemed very nice."

"Theodore Ellis is many things and nice isn't one of them unless he wants something. Did he ask you for any favors or imply that you owed him something?" Will asked.

"No... Will what's wrong?" Sally asked.

"Sally, Theodore Ellis is my cousin and a Klansman. He got Lawrence to sign these papers I'm sure of it, the question is why."

"Call him and ask him." Sally suggested.

"I haven't spoken to him in years." Will replied. "As a matter of fact, I haven't spoken to anyone from my family in quite some time because of our differences in politics."

"Does it matter why he did it?" Sally asked. "We can get married...."

"I have to find out what he wants." Will said. "He does nothing out of the goodness of his heart and I can guarantee you that he knows about us."

Will stood up, went to the phone and dialed the number of the federal prison of South Carolina. After several minutes, he was talking to his uncle for the first time in years.

"Will! How the fuck are you? Still enjoying the palm trees?"

That one sentence was Will's confirmation that his cousin knew about him and Sally.

"What do you want?" Will asked skipping the niceties.

"I'm sorry? What do you mean?" Ellis asked sounding hurt that Will was so abrupt but Will knew better.

"You know exactly what I mean, why did you make Goodman sign the divorce papers?"

"Who says that I did?"

"Don't patronize me! I know that you made him sign the papers; my question is why? And spare me the you were always my favorite cousin shit."

Will listened to Ellis' explanation and so far it matched what Sally said happened but he still didn't trust Ellis and said as much.

"I don't know what you're hoping to gain from this but I want your word that you won't involve us in whatever it is. I also want your word that you won't call asking for a favor because if you do, the answer will be no."

There was several seconds of silence and then Ellis' deep laughter filled Will's head.

"You know son, you were and are still my favorite cousin. You've got balls and I like that but at any rate, you won't be hearing from me again and for the record? No matter how much you deny it, we are family. Give the ex Mrs. Goodman my best wishes."

Ellis terminated the phone call and cursed. How could he not have known that the woman that his nephew was living with was Goodman's wife? "Because." he muttered, "it was so damned unlikely." The one thing that he prided himself on was that he was a man of his word and he would honor his agreement with his nephew. He wouldn't contact them again.

He looked at the missed opportunity philosophically, it just wasn't meant to happen and other opportunities would present themselves.

Will hung up and walked back to Sally who was wringing her hands.

"It's alright." Will told her, "at least for now but if you receive any phone calls or letters from someone asking for a favor, you have to tell me right away."

"I promise." Sally replied.

"Good." Will replied as he got down on his knees in front of her.

"Sally, will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

*************************************************************************************************

By the end of September 1946, an atomic bomb was detonated for the fourth time in human history at the Bikini Atoll; the Luce-Celler Act of 1946 is signed into law. The act gives all Philippine citizens living in the United states the right to become U.S. citizens, Manuel Roxas is inaugurated as the first president of the Philippines, Micheline Bernardini was the first woman to wear a two-piece swimsuit named the bikini in honor of the atomic bomb released earlier in the week at Bikini Atoll. The first drive in theater opened in Canada, seven American Marines were taken prisoner in China's Hebei Provence by communist forces but were rescued eleven days later. The social Security Administration is established to replace the Social Security board, which had been in existence since 1935, The "Report of the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack" was released. The last German prisoners of war in the U.S. are released- there had been 375,000 German prisoners in the U.S. during the war. Two African-American couples, George and Mae Dorsey and Roger and Dorothy Malcolm are lynched after their car was stopped near Monroe, Georgia. No one was ever prosecuted for the murders.

Martin Luther King Jr. a 17-year-old Junior at Morehouse College began a lifelong crusade against racial prejudice with a letter that was published in the 'Atlanta Constitution' in response to an editorial. 'Santa Claus Land' located in Santa Claus, Indiana is credited as being the first theme park, the B-36 peacemaker designed to carry the atomic bomb is flown for the first time by the United States Air force. The body of African -American Veteran John C. Jones was found in a bayou near Minden, Louisiana, the NAACP performed an investigation. John Hersey's article "Hiroshima" is published in The New Yorker, the article that featured the stories of six survivors of the blast would later be published as a best selling book.

President Harry S. Truman approves "Project Paperclip". The goal of the project was to bring German scientist to the U.S. Mass production of television sets began. RCA produced the first new TV since WWII, the first Cannes Film Festival is held. African-American actor Canada Lee impressed audiences at Boston's Shubert Theater by portraying Daniel de Bosola in a production of The Duchess of Malfi, opening a new field for black actors today by donning white make-up and portraying a white character. The Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal announces its verdict on twenty-one members of the Nazi Regime. Walter F. White, Executive Director of the NAACP and 5 other Civil rights activists met with President Truman at the White House to ask for help in ending the violence against African-Americans.