Traveler

"A man I didn't know existed three years ago did that for me. I know that one day you will get around to asking me to marry you. When you do, I will agree on condition; that it be a low-key marriage."

Her fingers folded in mine, locking my hand to hers as her eyes came to look directly at me.

"The doctor said that all the swelling has now gone from my sex parts. None of us know if I will ever be able to give you children, but if I can, I will give you two before one of us gets tied off."

I tried to speak, but her freehand came to my lips and a single finger touched them. Her eyes had already moistened, so I nodded my head in understanding. I would wait.

"Just a moment more; honey, it's almost all out there. OK? This is the part I truly need your help with. I can't live here. I'm trying, and for now it's working, but... I know me. I was born outside. This city life isn't for me, and eventually, I will wither and die. I need your help, oh so much, with this. It's, perhaps, the only thing that can unravel all that I offer you."

*******

We didn't get much sleep that night. There was no throwing her on the bed and making up for lost time, but we sure talked a lot. The doc put Cassie on the pill and we were both taking it slow. The first time, both of us hated it. It felt like we both expected something to break, but like all things, when you get to practice more, it gets better. She never did break.

Cassie still had secrets. When I came up with the idea of moving out towards Barry, and she could get herself a part-time job with him, she was over-the-moon. The owner of the town paper was looking to retire and suddenly found himself with a very generous offer. When I looked at Cassie, all she did was smile.

When I asked if I was now a kept-man, she told me that I could work my debt off in the bedroom. A debt that I believe I'm working my way through with as much diligence as possible. Although, she does smile when she tells me that so far I've only covered the interest.

Barry Mitchell offered her a full-time job after six months. After three years at the yard, he offered her a partnership. Barry wasn't stupid; he had seen the upshot in business, along with the ideas in both the business and boat design she came up with. Two years into our marriage, Victoria Alice Douglas came into our lives. Cindy came back into it a week later.

Cassie and Cindy went into a huddle. Victoria joined them. An hour later, both women hugged, and she left. I got a wave, but nothing else from her. When I asked what that was about, all Cassie told me was that Cindy was Victoria's godmother. I pitied any boy who took advantage of Victoria; Cindy was Abe's enforcer.

Two years later, David Adam Douglas screamed his way into the world to complete our family, and I got myself tied off. I've never met Abe, although Cassie takes the children to see him once a year.

It seems both of them got what they wanted. Abe wanted power; some men lust after it, some take it because they can, and some because it's the only way to keep the peace. Cassie and Abe knew the rift that started with his sons could decimate the family. Cassie wasn't in a position to hold the family together. Hell, she couldn't even sit in the bathroom without passing out at the time.

Abe took hold, and stopped the rift that his own sons initiated. When Cassie gave him Traveler status, it not only cemented his position but kept the whole family from going under. She didn't care. She had already set her sights on me; I was doomed from the beginning it seems.

Yet when I woke every morning and looked at the woman who shared my bed and the sounds of both our children filled the house. I did often wonder if I was just stagnant before Cassie, was my life nothing more than going to work at the paper and waking up the next day to repeat what I did the day before.

Cassie gave my life meaning. The children sealed the deal and every day now I smile knowing that I had looked on Traveler as just a story, only to find real love from a very passionate woman. Who found a new life for herself as a wife, mother and business woman.

Traveler left our lives in that bar fight, Cassie Marshal was truly reborn that evening as well and between us, both our lives changed for the better. When Cassie asked Barry Mitchell to be our son's godparent he gladly accepted, we knew he would do a great job since we had both watched him with his own family.

But Cassie wanted to thank him in her own way, had it not been for him we would never have met. Our worlds would never have came into contact with each other had it not been for my boat builder friend. Traveler did exist, I held her and our children in my arms every day.

The End.