There Must Be a Mistake Ch. 05

I asked Jennifer, "Are we considering this wining and dining you?"

"I don't think so."

When we walked into Wendy's it was packed. It took us nearly 5 minutes to reach the front of the line, and longer to get served. Jennifer carried the food while I carried the soft drinks, straws, ketchup, mustard, spoons, forks, napkins, salt, and pepper.

An elderly couple saw us looking for a table. They waved to us, and asked us to join them. We accepted gratefully.

Gordon, being the gentleman he is, asked if there was anything they would like from our trays. The couple declined.

I dropped a straw on the floor and bent down to pick it up. That's when I felt the lump in my pocket. I knew it was wrapped and that would not do, so I excused myself for a moment. Gordon asked if he could come along with me.

"Absolutely."

He took my hand and we walked to the men's room. I opened the door and we walked in. He looked around suspiciously. "This is the first time I've been in a men's room. I've always had to go with my mom. It's embarrassing for 4-year-old boy to go to the ladies room."

"Well Gordon, anytime we are together it will be my pleasure to escort you to the men's room. Do you have to use the facilities in here or did you just come to look?"

"I just came to look."

"I'm in here for a different reason too. Would you like to see it?"

"Yes."

I reached into my pocket, and pulled out the ring box. I unwrapped and opened the box. I showed Gordon the ring I was about to give to his mother. "What do you think Gordon, is she going to like?"

"I think Mommy's going to cry."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"This time it's a good thing. She cried when her mommy died. It was a bad thing that time."

"Did you help mommy when she cried?"

"I did the best I could."

"I'm sure it helped her very much Gordon. I think she's going to need your help tonight too. When she cries will you hug her for me?"

"Yes."

"Thank you Gordon I think that will help mommy a lot."

I held the ring box in my hand as we walked towards our table. Gordon moved towards his seat as I stopped in front of Jennifer. I looked into her eyes and could not believe how lucky I was. I knelt down on both knees in front of her and her mouth opened in shock. The noise in the restaurant ceased and all eyes turned towards us. I found it hard to open my mouth, but I overcame my fears. I opened the ring box and said,

"Jennifer Stars you are the love of my life. I want you to live with me and love with me today, tomorrow, and all the years of our lives. I give to you everything that I am, everything that I have and everything that I will ever be. All I ask of you is this: Jennifer Stars will you marry me?"

There was no sound in the restaurant. The fryers were silent, the grill was silent, the bell at the drive through window was silent, and the cash registers were silent. Everyone and everything waited for Jennifer Stars to answer my question.

Her lips quivered, her eyes welled up with tears. She finally gathered up enough strength, and enough willpower to nod her head. Then she gasp "YES!" I slipped the ring on her finger, but I don't believe she looked at it. She put her arms around my neck and kissed me. I felt that kiss travel through every fiber of my being, and I never, ever wanted that feeling to end.

I never heard the crowd roaring and applauding our engagement. Gordon was yanking hard at my sleeve.

"You told me to hug mommy for you if she was crying. Look she's crying."

"You are right, Gordon. Your mother needs you now." I put him into his mother's arms, and she kissed every inch of his face as she hugged him.

"Mommy, I saw your ring before you did. I told dad you would like it."

"Is that what you two decide on? You're going to call Even, dad?"

"We didn't talk about it, but everyone else has a dad. He makes you happy, so dad is fine with me."

I smiled. "Gordon, since you are going to call me dad, is it okay with you if I tell everyone that you are my son? I would really like that a lot."

"I would like that too."

I picked up my root beer and said, "I would like to propose a toast. To the new Jennifer, and Gordon Luck, may we always be a happy, healthy, and loving family."

After everyone took a sip of their sodas, Jennifer asked, "Are you coming home with me tonight?"

I kissed her and shook my head. "I want to say yes to you more than anything I have ever wanted in my life. However the first time I make love with you we are going to be man and wife. I know it may sound old-fashioned. It may even sound ridiculous in this day and age. I want you more than I want air, but I want you as my wife first. I am Catholic by birth. I am agnostic by choice. I have had many long discussions with Father McAuley about religion. I have nearly succeeded in changing his mind, more often than he has succeeded in changing mine. He is going to wonder why I am going to confession before we get married. He is going to wonder why we are getting married in church. He is going to wonder about a myriad of things about me, but I am not. I know that marrying you before God is the one thing I want for us before I take you as a woman in our bed."

Jennifer's mouth was open in surprise, when the elderly woman sitting next to her said, "Miss if that is not an open declaration of love, I have never heard one. My husband and I have been married for nearly 47 years. Although both of us wanted to take that step just before we were married, we waited. It seemed like a year before our wedding day, but it was less than 2 months. Times may change, morals may change, but what your fiancé just said to you was the most wonderful present any bride should hope to receive."

Jennifer was nodding her head, while she continued to shed crocodile tears.

Gordon put his arms around his mother's neck. "It's okay mommy. You can hold on to me. It'll be okay in a minute."

He may have been 4 years old, but his mind was turning 40. He was the man of his family.

I was going to turn Rod loose on his biological father. He was going to give up all parental rights to Gordon, or suffer the wrath of a lawyer he should not have messed with. After that was completed I was going to adopt Gordon and he truly would be my son. Rationally I couldn't believe it. I have never knowingly had sex; but here I was, sitting at a Wendy's restaurant with my future wife, and my future son; while my daughter was sitting at home waiting for my return. If this wasn't as weird as crashing an airplane into trees backwards, I guess nothing else would be.

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

21. AN EVEN SPECIAL

Jennifer dropped me off in front of the hospital. I warned my son he'd better not oversleep, or I would put him in his pillowcase and take him to Denver in it. I told my fiancé I would take her anyway I found her.

Jennifer replied, "Promises, promises, I want more than promises from you."

"Sunday night my dear, I will give you everything I have been saving up since puberty. You may set a record for natural insemination."

"I have an answer for that, but my son is here."

"Our son is here, right Gordon?"

"That's right daddy."

"You men are as thick as thieves."

"That's because we play baseball."

She tried to hit me, but sitting in the car made her swing awkward. It did not make the kiss I gave her awkward at all. I sent them on their way, and I smiled until they were out of sight.

I walked in to the hospital and Doctor Reed came rushing towards me smiling. "Doctor Luck I found her and she couldn't be in a better place if I planned it. She is at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. It is the finest orthopedic hospital in this country."

"Does she have a name Doctor's?"

"I'm sorry I was so excited to find her I forgot to give it to you. Her name is Elsie Hillman. She has more credentials after her name you would need an extra page to write them down. I called her, and she will take Michael as a patient. I am forwarding all the x-rays and MRIs to her so she knows what she's getting into. You will have to get a medevac aircraft to transfer him there. Michael's temperature is down. I believe you will be able to transport him in the next 12 hours. Do you think you will be able to make arrangements in that time?"

"Doctor, I will move heaven and earth to make that happen. Can I see him?"

"Yes, he is in ICU on the 4th floor."

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

His eyes were closed as I approached him. I was at the side of his bed when I said, "I should have left you in the forest. You are turning out to be one expensive friend. I have to rent you a medevac jet to get you to the Mayo Clinic. There is a doctor there who may be able to save your leg. If she can't I'm going to shove that thing so far up your ass it will come out your mouth."

"Go screw yourself Even. I was resting peacefully, until you walk into this room."

"Is that any way to talk to the man who walked 40 miles dragging you in a self- made rickshaw, after you questioned my parental lineage, sex, and stamina."

"40 miles my ass, it was probably more like 2 or 3."

"It was 40. Don't ask me how they did it, but the Air Force tracked your GPS signal and located the aircraft. From the wreckage site to Jennifer's home is 39.53 miles."

"I told you it wasn't 40 miles."

"Michael if you are not nice to me I am going to hit you in that leg."

"Go ahead Even, they have me on so many painkillers, I can't feel my arms."

"Listen to me you asshole, I am paying for everything, from aspirins to the rehabilitation center after your surgery. All you have to do is get well. I will not be with you, but you will have access to my phone number, and the phone number of my attorney. If anyone gives you a ration of shit, call Rod or me. I swear to you that person will rue the day he spoke to you in an unkind manner. I will be in Denver getting married. I will not put that off for one second. I don't want to give Jennifer a chance to get to know me and change her mind."

"You have a good heart and soul Even. Anyone who would do what you are doing for me, a virtual stranger, has nothing to worry about by getting married. She is the lucky one, not you."

"I'm glad you feel that way, but you have not met my bride. I do not know what I did to deserve her, but I will do everything in my power to keep her happy."

"You have already started down that road Even. You asked her to marry you, and she accepted. She knows you are quite a catch, and she will try to keep you happy as well."

"I am going to send you aircraft magazines when you get to Rochester. Pick out the twin-engine aircraft that you want. It will be on the tarmac waiting for you to fly it back to Fairbanks, when you are able. Don't disappoint me Michael. I will put your head through one of its propellers if you are not able to fly again."

"I will work hard to make that dream come true Even. Flying is the only thing I ever wanted to do."

"Remember Michael, if you need anything, anything at all, call, and you will have it. Maybe the next time you decide to crash an airplane you should hit the right rudder instead of the left. The passenger will get hurt instead of the pilot."

"You think of that now, while I'm lying in this bed? Why couldn't you have thought of that while we were still in the air?"

"Who would have made the rickshaw, certainly not you? You didn't have a clue as to what I was doing."

"Get out of here Even, you are depressing me. Thank you for everything you are doing for me. Can I ask you one more favor before you leave?"

"Yes, I told you that you could ask me for anything."

"Could you get me a pretty nurse for the medevac ride to Rochester?"

"I will get you the prettiest one available, and that's a promise."

"Thank you Even, when she bends over me to take my blood pressure, I will pinch her tits."

"I wouldn't advise it Michael. Remember she is the one who will have the pain medication. She is also the one with very long needles."

"I told you to get out of here, because you were depressing me. You have just ruined my entire day."

"Goodbye Michael, remember where your leg is going to be if you don't get well."

"Nurse get this idiot out of here, I am about to have a heart attack because of him."

A pretty young nurse approached his bed. "Would you hurry up and have one so I can transfer you to the cardiac unit. If you attempt to grab my ass one more time, I am going to put air in your IV line and watch you die."

"I see you know how to win friends and influence people Michael. If you keep it up you won't make it to Rochester."

"Even can I help it if she's frigid? I'm just trying to warm her up."

"Nurse, if you want to cure him of his grabby hands quickly, take his chart and smack his left foot with it. He will never touch you again."

"I will get you for that Even. If it's the last thing I do, I will get you for that."

"You are a genius Doctor Luck. There will not be a mark on his body, and it will be my word against his."

"You are very welcome. If that doesn't keep him in line, take a 3-inch needle, put it into his carotid artery, and attach it to a transfusion bag. Let him watch it fill up with his own blood. After two units he will get a little fuzzy. After three units he will beg you to put it back into him. He will promise you the moon, the stars, and the entire universe if you let him live."

"Even get out of here. You are pissing me off to the point suicide looks very appetizing."

"I am leaving Michael. Remember, you better get well or I am going to be your worst enemy."

"You are evil to the core Even."

"You told me I had a good heart and soul a few moments ago."

"If you leave now I will not retract that statement. If you stay, I will kick you with my good foot."

I shook Michael's hand and said goodbye with the admonition he had better get well.

He yelled one more time, "Even get out."

This time I did.

********

I stopped by the billing department and gave them Rod's billing address and phone number. I told them that Michael was not to see a bill. They were not to talk to him about the bill or anything about money. My attorney would take care of everything. If they wanted payment in advance of Michael leaving the hospital, call him now. Rod would wire the money to them, bank to bank.

Apparently my name carried a little assurance with them, because they did not ask for any money, until the insurance carrier paid first.

I asked for the number of the Air Force base operations officer and the hospital accountant gave it to me instantly. I called, and I was transferred to the senior officer in charge. I told him the problem I had with getting Michael to Rochester in a medevac jet. There was none available in Fairbanks except the one the Air Force had to transfer wounded Air Force personnel. It was sitting on the flight line at that moment doing nothing. I asked if I could use it for one day to transfer a patient to Rochester Minnesota for emergency surgery. I would pay triple the costs involved if they would allow me to use that aircraft.

"I'm sorry Doctor Luck, I can't approve that. It's for service personnel only."

"Thank you Captain, you will be getting a call from a Colonel very shortly."

I called the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and spoke to a friend of mine, Colonel Bartholomew Masterson. I told him my problem, and he told me to call the Captain back in 10 minutes. I did.

"This is Doctor Luck, Colonel Masterson told me to call you and reference to the medevac aircraft."

The Captain was very haughty. "Yes sir I spoke to Colonel Masterson and he told me that you could use the jet. I called our base commander General Abrams, and he told me you couldn't. So Fuck off Doctor Luck, that aircraft is not moving."

"Would you call General Abrams and tell him to sit by his phone. In 30 minutes or less he will receive a phone call from General Reeves on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If he doesn't answer by the 3rd ring he can expect to lose a star."

The Captain asked, "Who the fuck are you Doctor Luck?"

"You better get down on your God damn knees Lieutenant. I am the man who redesigned the nuclear triggers for the Minuteman 3 missiles. I made them smaller, cheaper, and more reliable. The Air Force loves me, especially General Reeves."

"Doctor Luck would you hold on for a moment."

I told the Captain/Lieutenant(I know I scared to shit out of him when I called him Lieutenant) he had exactly 60 seconds, before I hung up and called Virginia.

I looked at my watch and waited. 50 seconds later...

"Doctor Luck, you may use the medevac jet, and there will be no charge."

"Pick up the patient at the Fairbanks General Hospital 8 AM tomorrow. Deliver him to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. They will be expecting him. If anyone upsets Michael, everyone involved will lose a rank, including General Abrams. Is that understood?"

"Yes Doctor Luck, he will be treated with kid gloves."

Delicious would be very proud of me, because I had no idea who General Reeves was, except from the thank you note I received after I finished the project. I did redesign the nuclear triggers for the Minuteman missiles, and I made a bundle of money doing it. You have to love no-bid contracts.

*******

22. A HOMECOMING TO REMEMBER

The hard part of my day was over. I went back to that place called a hotel, and I got some sleep. In the morning, I showered, shaved, and put on my best summer wear. I looked out of place in Fairbanks Alaska. I felt cold, but great.

I called a car rental agency and told them I needed a large car or truck. He gave me a list of what he had and I picked a GMC Yukon. He picked me up took me back to the agency, where I filled out all the forms paid with my American Express card and went to pick up Jennifer and Gordon.

Their luggage was on the front porch waiting for me. I guess they were as excited as I was to leave and head south to Denver.

Gordon heard me backing up the driveway. He came outside and guided me with hand signals to the luggage. He did a great job, except I nearly knocked over a post holding up the portico, because he did not stop me in time.

He yelled, "You are a little too close dad."

I pulled forward about four feet and asked, "How is that son?"

"It's perfect dad."

I loved the sound of that word.

I got out of the car, and walked to the rear to see how much room I had.

"You are right Gordon; it is perfect. Am I allowed to kiss my son for a job well done?"

He looked confused. "Do men kiss men dad?"

"Father's kiss their sons all the time Gordon, even when they are old and gray."

"Okay, you can kiss me."

I picked him up, kissed him on the head and cheek, and threw him up in the air.

He laughed on the way up, but was terrified on the way down because he didn't know I was going to catch him. When I did he said, "That was fun. No one ever did that with me before. Can you do it again?"

I did and he laughed on the way up. The problem was Jennifer walked out of the house, saw Gordon 5 feet above my head, and screamed, "Goorrrdooon!"

I caught my son on the way down, and he was still laughing. I set him down on the ground. He looked at his mother. "What are you worrying about mommy? Daddy was going to catch me."

She sighed. "It is going to take me a little time to get used to you playing with a man Gordon. I could never do that with you. When I saw you up in the air I thought I would die."

"We are men mommy. We do this stuff all the time. You watch television with me. The boys and girls jump high in the air, and they are caught on the way down."

I shook my head in disbelief. This 4 years old child had to be a midget in disguise.

"Lady, sir, are you ready to fly to Denver Colorado."