Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Title: When You Least Expect It


Summary: The surprise of a daughter he never knew.


Keywords:inc,fic,erotic





   It's a long way from Yakima, Washington, to Playa Langosta, Costa Rica.
I still own property in Yakima through a shell company: two apartment
buildings, seven rental houses and the house in which I used to live.  I
pay the taxes and collect the rent.  There have been various attempts down
through the years to seize the money I get from the rentals, or seize them
and sell them, but I've always managed to avoid that.  I owe a lot of
alimony payments.  I've never paid a single dime of them.  I owned the
properties before I was married so my ex-wife didn't get any part of them.
They were an inheritance and the judge wouldn't touch them.  I quickly sold
them to my shell company after I left town.  I had already taken all the
money I thought I had coming to me out of our accounts before the divorce
papers were final.

   Of course, the judge ordered me to give her half, but since I made ten
times what she did as a nurse and had even before we were married, I didn't
figure she was entitled.  I've never figured out how cheaters get rewarded
in the American legal system.  I knew three guys that were expats in Costa
Rica, and when I joined them they showed me the ropes.

   I could give you all the typical stories of betrayal and anger, but
they're boring.  They weren't boring to me at the time, but 23 years later,
looking back on them, they're boring.  I had known Alicia (I called her
Cill) had quite a sexual history when we got married.  I wasn't an innocent
abroad, either, and it didn't matter to me.  Five years later it mattered a
lot when I went upstairs to visit the facilities at a backyard party and
found her in a gang bang with four guys, neighbors, and supposed friends. I
snapped a few pictures and left.  She never even knew I was there.

   I moved out that day and we got a divorce, end of story.  I never spoke
to her again.  There was no way in hell I was going to pay the cheating
slut one penny.  I never heard from her again.  She didn't know where I
was, and although she periodically tried to collect on the money that
stupid bastard of a judge gave her, I never went back and she never got her
pound of flesh.  I won't recount how we met in college and fell in love and
all the emotional trauma we went through.  Enough of that, I loved her; she
didn't love me.  I moved on and never looked back.

   Twenty-three years in Costa Rica and I was accepted as a native.  I
looked like one, too.  I felt good, in the best shape of my life and
enjoying myself.  I had a freight business, owned my favorite bar and a
house that suited me.  I'm six-three in my socks, weigh 240 pounds and none
of it is slack belly.  I have no hair these days, but I think a shaved head
makes me look gangsta, anyway.  Sometimes I need to look gangsta and be
gangsta, too.  Costa Rica can be a pretty rough place.

   I mostly looked mean.  I had a six-man team of tough guys who handled
problems for me.  All I had to do was look intimidating.  I still thought I
could take all six of my team at the same time.  Maybe I was delusional.  I
believed I could still do most of the things I ever could.  I wasn't quite
as fast, but I was stronger than ever, as long as I didn't have to move my
feet too fast.  I won the light-heavyweight Division II wrestling
championship my junior and senior years of college, and I'd improved those
skills all down through the years.

   It was raining and about ten-thirty at night when I left the bar.  I
stepped out onto the porch and they were waiting for me.  There were three
of them, and they were armed.  They had nasty looking pistols and they
didn't look friendly.

   "You're making a mistake," I told them.  "I'm not leaving this porch. 
Shoot me if you want to, but I'm not leaving.  If you shoot me, you might
kill me, but there are four guys inside who are going to kill you.  They'll
never stop, they'll never rest and neither will you.  They have fifty
thousand dollars' worth of incentives to find you and kill you."

   "No one is going to kill you." I heard her voice.  She was sitting in a
chair under the porch and I couldn't see her.  I liked her voice, though.
It was low, husky and mellow.  It also sounded young.  "They are going to
beat the shit out of you.  When you recover, I'm going to find you and
they're going to do it again.  This is going to go on until you decide to
run.  Then, they're going to track you down and it's going to start again
for the rest of your miserable life."

   "Well, that does sound like fun," I said.  "It's a nice fantasy, but
what are you going to do about the AK that's pointed at the back of your
head through that window?"

   She looked in the window and Julio smiled his toothy smile.  I'm sure
the business end of the AK looked huge to her.  "I guess you get off this
time," she said.  "I'll be back."

   "No, I don't think you will," I said.  Alex and Pablo stepped out from
around the corners of the bar.  The rain was streaming off them and they
were carrying AKs, too.  "Gentlemen, if you'll put up your weapons, I'll
just sit down and talk to your employer, okay?"

   They looked at her and she nodded.  They put away the pistols and my
boys lowered their weapons.  I went and sat down in the chair next to her.

   "What do you want to talk about?" she asked.

   "Well, I guess we could start with the reason for your undying hatred,"
I suggested.  "Then we could talk about what it is you want.  Maybe we
should start with introductions.  I'm Benedict Carmichael."

   "I know who you are," she said.  I still couldn't get a good look at
her. "My name is Buckley Carmichael."

   That sent a shiver up my spine.  "That was my paternal grandfather's
name.  Are we related?"

   "You might say that," her voice was very bitter.  "You were my sperm
donor."

   What the hell?  "That's odd, because I don't recall donating any sperm,"
I told her.

   "My mother was four weeks pregnant with me when you left her," she said.
"You might remember her?  Her name is Alicia; you know, the woman you
abandoned, the woman you left broke and alone, the woman you were married
to?"

   This was some weird shit and I couldn't speak for a while.  I just sat
there and my mind was whirling and my body was numb.  There had to be some
sort of mistake.

   "I don't know what you're trying to do or what misinformation you have,
but you're either lying or mistaken," I told her 

   "There's no mistake and I'm not lying," she said.  "Do you think I
didn't check it out?  Do you think I wouldn't have checked everything out
before coming here?  You're my biological father; you abandoned me and made
my life hell.  I'm going to pay you back for that." She spat out those
words.

   "Okay, I think we got off on the wrong foot here," I told her.  "First,
I didn't abandon you.  If what you say is true, I never knew you existed.
Second, I didn't 'abandon' your mother.  I don't know what she told you,
but she's the reason I left.  It was what she did that destroyed our
marriage, not what I did.  Maybe you ought to get the real story from her
before you make the rest of my life miserable by following me and beating
the hell out of me.  Look, kid, I'm sorry about your shitty life and
everything, but none of it is my fault.  Alicia never said one word to me
about being pregnant, the baby being mine or that I had a kid."

   "How could she?" she yelled.  "She had no way to tell you anything!  You
disappeared off the face of the fucking earth!  It took me a year and
twenty thousand dollars to find you!"

   I was shocked.  This girl had quite a hard-on for me if she was willing
to go to that much trouble.  "I'm very sorry about that," I told her.  "I
never knew about you.  If I had, I'd have done something about it.  You've
built me up to be some kind of monster in your mind, kid.  I'm not that
guy. Look, let's go inside.  I'll buy you a sandwich and a beer and we'll
talk, okay?  We don't need these histrionics.  Let's just have a normal
conversation like normal people, okay?"

   "Can my guys come in?" she asked.

   "Sure, I'll let them drink on the house," I laughed.  "You don't need
protection, but if it makes you feel better, why not?"

   I stood up and walked to the door.  She got up and I noticed she was
tall, probably close to six feet.  The light hit her when I opened the door
and I couldn't move.  She was the most spectacularly gorgeous woman I'd
ever seen.  She had her mother's flame-red hair and creamy skin with those
emerald green eyes that looked like they would glow in the dark like cat's
eyes.  There was a sprinkle of freckles across her cute little nose and her
lips were full and just delicious looking.  When she walked past me she was
just poetry in motion.  Her body was killer, too.  She had wide hips and
her ass was off the chain.  Her breasts were large and it looked like she
must have had surgery from the way they stood up, high and proud on her
chest.  With that hair and that face, she had an impact on that barroom
like nothing I'd ever seen.

   We had dancers on Tuesdays and Thursdays, nothing nude, but there were
some fantastic ladies who crossed our stage.  I swear to God that there was
a moment of dead silence when she walked in.  I heard Jorge breathe out,
"Madre de Dios," and then the buzz started again.  I asked her if she was
hungry, and she said she was.  I caught Maria's eye and she came over.  I
ordered four tortas and beer, along with some chips and queso.  The beer
and chips came right away and she dug in.  I told Maria to get beers for
her boys and they sat at the bar.

   "So, I hear you need supplies 160 kilometers back in the jungle," I
said. "How soon do you need them?"

   She laughed and it made me warm all over.  "Do you really do that?"

   "Yes, along with a little smuggling and bar owning," I told her. 
"Buckley, why did your mother tell you I left?"

   "She said you were a jealous bastard and you thought she was running
around on you," she said.  "You divorced her, stole all the money and
abandoned us.  Are you going to tell me differently?"

   "I almost think I will," I told her.  "I know you won't accept this
without proof.  I don't have that on me.  It's at my house.  After you hear
this, if you trust me enough, I'll take you home with me and show you the
proof.  Just listen and accept what I'm telling you for now.  I'll show you
later.  If you don't trust me enough to go home with me, you can bring your
boys or I'll meet you wherever you're staying, okay?"

   "I'll listen, since you're feeding me," she said.

   The tortas came, and she dug in.  They had spiced up goat, chorizo, a
slice of ham, onions, avocado, salsa and cabbage on them, with some hot
pickled veggies on the side.  She seemed to like it a lot.  I watched her
eat for a while, just collecting my thoughts.

   "We dated; we got married," I told her.  "We were both party animals.  I
thought those days were over when we got married.  They were for me,
anyway. I don't know if she ever stopped.  I never dreamed she hadn't.  We
were at a neighborhood barbeque and I needed to use the bathroom.  The two
at our house were occupied and the one downstairs at our neighbor's house
was occupied, so I went upstairs.  There were sounds coming from one of the
bedrooms.  I glanced in on the way past.  Four of our neighbors and
supposed friends and Alicia were in there on the bed.  They had her water
tight, and she was plainly enjoying the hell out of it."

   "Water tight?" she said.

   "All the holes were plugged," I told her.  This was as embarrassing as
hell.  "One of the holes was plugged twice."

   She blushed.  "Well, I'm sorry I asked," she said.

   "I'm sorry I had to tell you, I went and got our camera from the house.
We lived next door.  They were still going at it when I got back.  I took
12 pictures.  They never knew I was there.  I went home, packed up my stuff
and checked into a motel.  I never spoke to her again.  There was no point
in it.  That wasn't something I was going to get over.  I never knew she
was pregnant.  The judge handed her the keys to the rest of my life.  I
didn't feel like getting driven in that car, so I got out of Dodge.  I've
never been back."

   "You still have the pictures?" she was incredulous.

   "I'm a packrat," I told her.  "I still have my letterman's jacket from
high school.  They're in a box in the attic."

   "You're right, I'll never believe that unless you can prove it," she
said.  "Mom isn't like that.  Are you sure they weren't raping her?"

   "I know what she sounds like when she's coming," I told her.  "Raped
women don't come."

   "No, I guess you're right," she said.  "That's more information than I
wanted, again.  These are really good sandwiches."

   "We'll convey your compliments to the chef," I laughed.  She had eaten
three of them and drank two beers.  "Are you sure about your paternity?" I
asked her.  "Evidently you were conceived pretty close to the gang bang. 
Of course, two of the guys were black, so I guess they're eliminated."

   "Mom said she had a DNA test done," she said.  "You left an envelope
with some of your first haircut in it behind."

   Something about that bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on it, so
I let it go.  "So why come looking now?" I asked.  "What happened that made
you decide to make my life so fun?"

   "I got the money," she said.  "Mom's uncle Don passed away and left me
some money.  Did you know him?"

   "Yeah, he was some asshole engineer," I said.  "I never knew him well.
His wife divorced him for cheating on her.  I remember thinking it must run
in the family."

   She got indignant.  "He always regretted that," she said.  "Evidently
you didn't know him very well."

   "It doesn't matter," I said.  "So you got some money and decided to
track down dear old Dad for some well-deserved retribution, huh?"

   She grinned.  "Yep, but you were a little too prepared for me." Her
smile faded and bitterness swept over that beautiful face.  "Do you know
how hard it was for me?  We never had enough money and we scraped by all my
life.  Gram helped out when she could.  We lived in a series of shitty
apartments and I wore cheap clothes and we ate macaroni and cheese five
times a week.  I had a miserable school life and I couldn't afford to go to
college, even though I got scholarship offers.  That's what not having a
father does to a girl."

   I was horrified.  "I'm so sorry, Buckley," I told her.  "I just never
knew.  I never wanted to know what was going on with her.  It was too
painful at first, and then when I got over that, I just didn't care.  I
guess I should have checked up on her."

   "If what you say is true, there's no reason why you should," she
conceded.  "I'm going to need that proof."

   "I hate to say this..." I really did.  "I'm going to need to see that
proof, too.  We've gotten off to such a good start I don't want to mess it
up, but I want to see those DNA tests."

   She laughed.  "Well, you have a sense of humor at least.  I don't have
them.  I've never seen them.  I have my birth certificate with your name
listed as my father.  I have pictures of Mom and me.  Do you not think she
actually had the tests done?"

   "It seems sort of suspicious to me," I said.  "I don't know enough about
it.  When we get a chance, we'll look it up on the computer, okay? 
Besides, no one as gorgeous as you could ever come from someone as ugly as
me."

   She looked me over with a critical eye.  "I think the size is about
right.  I got the hair from Mom's side, but you're a very good-looking man.
I think women must find you nearly irresistible."

   "Tell that to your mother," I laughed.  "How do you want to do this,
Buckley?  Do you trust me enough to go to my house?  I could meet you
wherever you're staying."

   "I don't actually have a place to stay.  I wasn't planning to stay," she
said.

   "Good, you can stay with me," I told her.  "After I show you the
pictures will you forgive me?"

   "It's not going to be that easy," she said.  "You have a whole hell of a
lot of making up to do, even if I believe you.  I won't have you killed,
but you still have a lot of explaining to do.  Why couldn't you just
forgive her?"

   "You got a boyfriend?" I asked her.

   "Not right now," she said.  "He said I was obsessed and broke up with
me."

   "He was insane," I told her.  "But the point I was making was, what if
you came home and he was in bed with four of your best friends?  Would you
forgive him?"

   "No, I don't guess I would," she said.

   "You must take after me," I told her.  "How do you feel about cheaters,
Buckley?"

   "They're despicable," she said.  "If they don't want to be with their
partners they should just tell them and leave."

   "That's exactly how I feel," I said.  "Maybe if you were high or
stranded somewhere or in a dangerous situation together I could understand
a moment of weakness.  I don't understand a married woman and four married
men in a gang bang.  You can't expect me to forgive that."

   "No, I guess I can't, but why did you have to leave us so broke like
that?"

   "I didn't think I should have to pay your mother for cheating,
destroying our marriage and breaking my heart," I told her.  "Remember, I
didn't know about you.  In retrospect, I was way too harsh.  I was pissed
off and hurting, okay?"

   "Let's go see this proof," she stood up.  The room went quiet again for
about thirty seconds and she went over and had a few words with her boys.
They handed her a backpack and they said a few more words.  She came back
and pulled out the birth certificate and the pictures.  She was definitely
Alicia's daughter.  Whether she was mine was yet to be established.  We
left and her boys stayed, so I guess she was through with them.  We ran
through the rain to my truck and hopped in.

   She was pretty impressed with my house.  I gave her the tour and dropped
the ladder to the attic.  We climbed up and I turned on the light.  It was
pretty dusty and it took me a minute to find the right box.  They were
there in a manila envelope, all the dirty evidence.  She looked at the
first two and shuddered, pushing them back inside.

   "I've seen enough," she said.  I took her back down and got us another
beer.  She sat on the sofa and I could see her start to shake.  Tears
started rolling down those creamy cheeks and she gulped a couple of times.
I got up and went over.  I sat down beside her and took her in my arms. 
She went stiff for a minute and then she began to sob, great wracking sobs
that shook her body in my arms.  She buried her face in my chest and just
cried her little heart out.  I tried to comfort her as best I could.  It
was breaking my heart and I could feel my own tears flowing.  What if she
was my daughter?  What if she wasn't?  Whole new possibilities opened up
for me and my life became exciting and filled with something I hadn't felt
for years.  She cried herself to sleep, her breath still catching in a
shudder for a while.

   She wasn't going to wake up any time soon.  I eased her down on the sofa
and went and changed the sheets on the spare bed.  When I came back, she
just looked so adorable I couldn't help myself.  I knelt and kissed her
cheek.  She stirred and I picked her up.  She was surprisingly heavy, and
she woke up as I was carrying her.  She stiffened up for a second and then
relaxed.  I put her on the bed and she curled up in a little ball.

   "Buckley, your clothes are wet," I whispered.  "Get in bed, honey.  I'm
right next door if you need anything.  Everything I have is yours.  Use
anything you need."

   "Thank you," she murmured and I left, closing the door behind me.

   I tossed and turned for a while before I fell asleep with the image of
that beautiful girl, maybe my daughter, in my mind.  When I woke up, the
rain was gone and it was a humid tropical sunny day.  It was ten in the
morning and my daughter was sleeping in my spare bedroom, maybe.  I got up
and showered.  Morning ablutions finished, I went to her room.  The idea of
that thrilled me, her room!  I peeked in and she was sleeping.  I had to do
it.  I went and knelt down by the bed and just watched her sleep.  Her lips
were slightly parted and that mane of fiery hair was spread out across her
pillow.  I was struck again at how gorgeous she was.  A wisp of fire had
fallen across her face and her breathing moved it.  I tucked it behind her
ear.

   "This is kind of creepy." Her voice startled me.

   "I'm sorry, I never had a daughter before," I said.  "I want to look at
her.  I'm so sorry I never got to watch you sleep when you were a baby. 
I've got twenty years of catching up on watching you to do.  You better get
used to it."

   She smiled a sleepy smile and her eyes cracked open.  A green fire
peeped out and she stretched like a kitten waking up from a nap.  "Your
daughter needs a shower and to be fed," she yawned.  "I don't have anything
clean to wear."

   "I'll get you something.  Don't move," I told her.

   I went in and found a robe, a long t-shirt some past lover had left
behind.  I remembered that she slept in it, and rummaged around in a drawer
of things women had left over the years.  I found a new pair of panties,
still in the package.  They looked like they might fit.  I got some gym
shorts, another t-shirt to wear with it and some flip flops.

   She opened her eyes when I came back in.  She took the stuff and looked
through it.  One eyebrow rose at the package with the panties in it.

   "Don't ask," I told her.

   "Well, I don't think I'll take you on as a fashion guru, but this will
do," she said.

   "There's a bathroom next door on the right," I said.  "My shower is
bigger if you want to use it."

   "Shoo," she waved her hand at me.  "Go make food."

   She came out in the robe, padded barefoot down the hall to my room and I
heard the shower running.  I rummaged around for things to eat.  I
scrambled eggs and cooked bacon.  I had three different kinds of melon and
I cut it up and stuck it in the refrigerator for after.  She came out in
the long t-shirt, fluffing her hair with a towel.

   "Your feminine products need a little work," she grinned at me. 
Interesting things were going on inside that t-shirt as she fluffed up her
mane.  She obviously hadn't put on the bra from the day before and her
nipples were erect, attempting to tear out of her shirt.  Her breasts
bounced and jiggled in there and they looked even bigger.  The t-shirt was
a little tight and it stretched over that amazing butt when she turned and
threw her towel at the hamper, showing the line of her panties and a lot of
everything else.

   She turned and caught me looking.  I blushed and she smiled.  "Are we
going to have a problem here?" she asked.

   "God, you're beautiful," I told her.  The smile got wider. 

   "You're my dad," she said.  "It's obligatory for you to say that." She
came and sat down at the bar and I filled our plates.  I had made coffee
and I sat down beside her.  We ate in a comfortable silence for a few
minutes.

   "Let's check into that 'Dad' thing," I said.  I fired up my laptop and
we started searching.  It wasn't good, at least not for Alicia.  It turns
out that you can't get a DNA sample from hair, unless the roots are
attached.  I was fairly certain that my parents hadn't jerked any hair out
by the roots during my first haircut.

   Big tears were rolling down Buckley's cheeks.  "She lied." Her voice was
breaking and I hugged her tightly. 

   "She did about the test.  It's still possible.  There's only one way to
find out."

   "How?" she asked.

   "Get the test done for real," I said.  "Buckley, what are your plans?"

   "Well, they kind of went to shit last night," she smiled again.  "I'm at
loose ends."

   "Do you think you might like to spend some time with me and let me get
to know you?" I asked.

   "Maybe," she said.  "What did you have in mind?"

   "I have a trip to make in two days.  I'm delivering a load of farm
machinery back in the interior.  You could ride along with me.  We
obviously need to go shopping.  What do you think?  Hang out with the old
man for a few days?"

   "I think I'd like that," she said.  "Even if you aren't my father, you
were married to my mother and I'd like to get to know you.  I don't have a
lot of money, though.  I have a ticket back home.  It's open ended and I
can go any time.  After I paid those thugs to beat you up, I'm kind of
strapped.  Do you think I could get a job here?"

   "I'll give you a job," I said.

   "Doing what?" she asked.

   "You'd be a big hit serving drinks and food at the bar," I said.  "If
you don't like the sound of that, you could work for me down at the
warehouse.  I need help in shipping and receiving.  You good at paperwork?"

   "I don't know," she said, "but I'm a good waitress.  How rough is your
bar?"

   "Very," I told her.  "This is a rough place, but the guys will look out
for you.  Maria's been working there for three years and there hasn't been
any trouble they couldn't handle.  I trust them."

   "Maybe I'll do that," she said.  "I'll think about it."

   I got the bowl of melon out and we dug in.  When we had polished it off
she went in and changed.  I took her out into the garage and she started
jumping up and down.  "Oh my God," she shrieked.  "What is that?"

   I looked around for a spider or something.  "What is it, Buckley?"

   "That car!  I love it; what is it?"

   "It's a 1932 Model 18 Deluxe Coupe," I said.  "It's called a Deuce.  You
want to drive it?"

   "Hell, yes," she was practically drooling.  "What's in it?" she asked.
"Please don't tell me it's one of those lame-ass 302s."

   "No, I don't care for that engine much," I told her.  "They put them in
the Mustangs, but they would break in half over 500 horsepower.  This was a
Windsor 351.  It's a stroker and it's a 408 making about 540 horsepower and
575 ft/lbs.  of torque.  Is my little girl a gear head?"

   "I love hot rods," she snatched the keys out of my hand.  She took a
minute to figure out that there were no door handles, but she hit the
remote and the doors popped open.  We jumped in and she fired it up.  The
rumble filled the garage and she was like a kid in a candy store.  Her eyes
were flashing and all that hair flew around and she was adorable.  She saw
the nitrous switch and squealed.  "I've got to try that!" She could hardly
wait.

   She backed out and smoked the tires heading down the street.  I buckled
her seatbelt and put mine on, too.  She laughed.  "Nervous, Dad?"

   "Terrified," I told her.  She was really a very good driver.  You don't
just go to the mall or someplace like Walmart in Costa Rica.  Maybe in the
big cities, but we have dress makers, tailors and shops in Playa Langosta.
There are shops that have clothes already made up but no Macy's.  Buckley
was able to get a lot of stuff and I was happy to pay the bill.  She loved
the dresses, and that's mostly what she got.  There were things like khaki
shorts, hats to keep the sun off that beautiful skin and shoes.  The one
thing she couldn't find was bras.

   "You may not have noticed, but I have really big tits," she said.  "I
need good support or they're going to be covering up my belly button in a
few years."

   Oh, I'd noticed all right, but I didn't think it would be good to
mention.  I told her we could order anything she needed but couldn't find
off the internet; we'd just have to wait a couple of weeks to get it.  "I
think your belly button is safe for a couple of weeks," I told her.

   That made her laugh and I wanted to say something else funny so I could
hear it again.  We took her stuff home and I helped her put it in her room.
She ran me off and changed into some things that actually fit her.  When
she came out she had on a white cotton dress with red flowers and green
vines embroidered on it and sandals.  God, she was gorgeous.  We went
grocery shopping and picked up a lot of produce and fruit.  I let her get
stuff she would like to eat, and she mostly got seafood and chicken.  We
took the groceries home and we cooked dinner together.

   Our dinner was done and we sat on the sofa.  We were eating fresh
pineapple for dessert, and I asked her a lot of questions.  "What is this?"
she asked.  "Are you interrogating me?"

   "I want to know all about you," I told her.  "I know hardly anything. 
What are you going to do with your life?  Do you want to go to school? 
What are you good at, what do you like to do, what are your hobbies?  I
need to know everything."

   She smiled.  "I hate school, but I'm good at it.  I was second in my
class in high school.  I would like to go to college but I can't afford it.
I would like to get a job doing something that helps people, like a nurse
or a doctor or working with kids or something.  I like hot rods and I'm a
decent mechanic.  I like horses and water, but I get sunburned easily." She
looked at me pensively.  "I want to ask you something and tell you
something," she said.

   "Shoot,' I speared a piece of pineapple.

   "Can I stay here with you?" she asked.  "Promise me.  No matter what the
test says, I want to stay here."

   I nearly choked on the pineapple, and then I couldn't speak for a while.
I just couldn't find the words, there was a huge lump in my throat and my
mind was whirling.  My voice was a croak when I finally got a sound out,
and I had to clear my throat several times.  "There's nothing in the world
that would make me happier," I finally got out.  "I may, or may not, be
your father, but I'd like you to stay, anyway.  I'll try very hard to earn
your trust and I'll work like a dog for it.  If you want to stay here
provisionally, assuming I'm your father, there's nothing I'd like better
than that.  What was the thing you wanted to tell me?"

   "Well, you remember last night when I was crying?" I nodded.  "You held
me and I...  I...  I really liked that a lot."

   I was stunned again.  I couldn't move.  My mouth opened and closed but
nothing came out.

   "That was a hint," she peeked up at me.

   I wrapped that little girl up in my arms and she snuggled in.  She felt
so warm and so delightful that I thought my heart would burst.  I can't
describe how that felt.  Those of you with daughters know.  They're magical
creatures and holding her like that was the fulfillment of every dream I
never even imagined I'd have, even if she wasn't mine.  I held her, she
held me and we whispered and she giggled and she was just my little girl. I
don't know when we fell asleep but there was just the light from the
kitchen on when I woke.  She was resting with her head on my right arm.  I
couldn't feel it, but I didn't care.  I used the left one to stroke her
cheek.

   "Hmm?" she murmured.  She made a couple of cute little sounds and
burrowed in closer.  The next time I woke up it was just before daybreak,
and she was still there.  We were covered with a throw, and I knew that she
must have awakened at some point and covered us.  She hadn't left, though.
My feet were up on a pillow on an ottoman and her head was on the arm of
the sofa with her legs in my lap.  I eased my arms behind her knees and
around her shoulders and stood up.  For the second night in a row I carried
her to her bed.  When I laid her down she peeked up at me.  I started to
straighten up and she caught my arm.

   "No, stay and hold me," she breathed, pulling on me.  I lay down on my
back and she moved to lie half over me, pillowing her head on my chest and
pulling the covers from the other side of the bed up over us.  I drifted
off holding her in my arms and I never wanted to be anywhere else.

   It was late morning when I woke again and she was still there.  I kissed
her forehead and she mumbled something.  I kissed her again and she
stretched, yawning and smiling.  "I could get used to this," she said.  "I
hate sleeping in my clothes, though.  I feel grungy.  You want to shower
first or do you want me to?"

   "I'll go," I told her.  "You're a hot water piggy." She chuckled and I
went and made myself human.  I stuck my head in and told her I was running
to the bakery.  I got some pastries with strawberry and cream cheese in
them and some chocolate milk.  I didn't feel like cooking.  She came out
doing the hair fluffing thing and we ate.  I took her down to the bar in
the afternoon and introduced her to everyone.  Maria took her under her
wing right away and they chattered away in a corner.  Maria spoke good
English and Buckley knew a lot of Spanish.  She'd taken classes all four
years in high school, and I knew she'd be fine after practicing a while.

   When she came back those green eyes were just glowing.  "I think I'll
take the job here," she said.  "I really like Maria and I think we'll get
along.  She told me that a bunch of rough people come in, but your security
guys handle it and once people find out I'm with you, no one will mess with
me.  Are you really that tough?"

   I laughed.  "No, but I have a reputation.  I made an example out of the
first couple of drunks who got out of hand, and that discouraged everyone
else.  It's more what people think than what they know.  People think I'm a
badass.  Don't you think I look kind of mean?"

   She giggled.  "Well, I found out that you might not be that mean, but
you've got mean looking guys working for you.  I know this is the guy that
carries me to bed and watches me sleep."

   "Well, don't tell anyone that," I said.  "If they find out, I'll have to
break a few heads.  Have you told anyone besides me that you're my
daughter?"

   "No, who would I tell?" she asked.  "Why, are you ashamed of me?" The
glint in her eyes told me she was poking me.

   "Yeah, I don't want anyone to know I've got such an ugly kid," I told
her.  "Seriously though, I think it will be better if people just think you
work for me.  There's a kidnapping ring or two around.  They mostly stick
to the tourists, but with that hair, it's obvious you're not a local. 
People know I have a little money and they might use you to get at me."

   She thought about that for a minute.  "Okay, that makes sense," she
said. "I'll just be Buckley and you'll be Benedict.  How does that sound?"

   "Ben, that's what everyone calls me.  If you call me Ben around the
house, we'll get used to it."

   "How are we going to explain that I live with you?" she asked.  She shot
me a wicked grin.  "I've got it.  We can tell them we're lovers!" She gave
that low chuckle I loved so much.

   "Right," I said.  "Like a smoking hot 20-something like you would be at
all interested in an over-the-hill old guy.  Everyone is going to believe
that story!"

   She eyed me speculatively.  "I'm pretty sure they would.  I think my
girlfriends would go for you in a heartbeat.  I wonder why Mom did what she
did?  I can't imagine what was going through her head, throwing you away
like that.  Why do you think she did it?"

   I sighed.  "I've asked myself that question a million times," I said. 
"I decided it didn't matter."

   "I think it does," she said.  "Wouldn't you like to know?  Why do you
keep asking yourself that question, if it doesn't matter?  How long were
you married?"

   "Three years," I told her.  "Yes, I would like to know, but in the end,
it's just that she did it.  I was curious, just for my own peace of mind,
but I decided that no matter what she said, there was no way I was staying
with her.  I'm sure she had some sort of justification in her own mind, but
it wouldn't have made any difference.  If she was being raped, that's the
only thing that would have made a difference.  She went there voluntarily.
No one grabbed her and dragged her off.  She walked there under her own
power.  We were having a neighborhood barbeque and it spilled out over
three backyards.  She left our house and walked down there.  Any other
reason doesn't matter.  It wasn't a slipup, or a drunken mistake.  She was
with four guys, Buckley.  This was something she'd been doing.  You don't
go from a faithful wife to a gangbang slut in one afternoon."

   She blushed a little, her cheeks taking on a beautiful pinkish hue. 
"No, I guess you're right.  Ben, can we go home now?  I want to think about
this a little."

   "Sure, honey, let's go." I offered her my hand and pulled her up.  We
walked out with my arm around her shoulders and hers around my waist.

   The weeks flew by and I couldn't remember life without Buckley.  She was
working three to eleven at the bar and she was a huge hit.  I think the
business picked up ten percent just from men coming in to look at her. 
There are very few redheads in that part of the world, and she was
something exotic.  There were a few roving hands, but she seemed to handle
the work with aplomb. 

   She went with me on a couple of delivery runs back into the hinterlands
and it was exciting and fun as hell having her with me.  She was so full of
life and energy that everything around her just seemed to glow.

   She started college in the fall.  She was speaking Spanish like a native
and doing well with her schoolwork.  They had a veterinary school, and she
was working hard to get in.  Life was going well and there was only one
thing that was bugging me.  Was she my daughter, or not?  She never
mentioned taking the test, and I was afraid to bring it up.

   If it turned out she wasn't, would she feel awkward about living with
me? Would it fuck up our relationship?  I was having more fun and
excitement since she'd been with me than I'd had in the last 20 years,
combined.  She was just in love with life and I was in love with watching
her.  I knew it couldn't go on this way.  Evidently, she felt it, too.

   A week or so after my thoughts, I was sound asleep and something woke
me. I could hear the soft sound of bare feet moving across the carpet
toward the bed.  I was just about to give my nocturnal visitor a
well-placed kick, and then I smelled her.  It was Buckley, the fresh girl
smell and the floral shampoo she used.  I didn't move as she came around
the bed and knelt in front of me.  I was lying on my side and she took
something out of a baggie she was holding.

   I felt soft cotton slip inside my mouth and realized what she was doing.
She was getting a swab for DNA.  She pulled it out and dropped it in the
baggie.

   "Buckley, all you had to do was ask," I said softly.

   She gasped and stood up.  She stood there for a moment and then she was
running, out the door and down the hall.  I heard her bedroom door close
and then there was silence.  I began to hear small sounds from the bedroom
next door, and I soon realized that she was crying.  My heart was breaking
and I got up, pulled on some pajamas and walked down the hall.

   I stopped at the door and I could hear her sobbing.  I knocked softly
and called, "Buckley, would it be all right if I came in?"

   The sobbing quieted and the door opened.  She had the lamp beside her
bed on and it cast a dim glow across the room, allowing me to see those
huge beautiful eyes, brimming with tears, and the glistening trails down
over her high cheekbones.  She looked up at me, so miserable and little and
broken and I took her in my arms as she cried into my chest.

   "I was so afraid," she choked out.  "I was just going to get the test
done and not tell you."

   "Why?" I asked.

   "I can't tell you," she said.  "You'll hate me."

   "That's impossible," I told her.  "I love you, Buckley.  That isn't
going to change regardless of the test."

   "Okay," she said.  "I was going to drop it off at the lab at school
tomorrow."

   "How long do you think it will take?" I asked.

   "The professor told me he'd have it for me by the time I came home," she
said.

   I just held her and we drifted off.  It was a hell of a long day.  I
went to the warehouse and made a nuisance of myself until the boys ran me
off, then I went to the bar and had a couple of beers and lunch.  I felt
useless, so I went home and worked out, then took a shower and sat, lost in
my own thoughts.

   What if she was my daughter?  What would that change?  Nothing, really,
so that's what I was hoping for in the worst way.  She would stay with me,
I'd get to be around her and watch over her while her life developed.  The
question that played in my mind was what if she wasn't?

   Would she still let me have a place in her life?  Would she move away,
maybe live at school?  Would she still let me take care of her?  I had no
answers.  I thought about praying, but I wasn't that big a hypocrite.

   When I heard the Deuce pull into the garage, I knew it was show-time.  I
meant to stand up and meet her at the door, but I was paralyzed.  I was too
afraid to move.  Big bad Ben was scared to death of what was coming.  All
the years of making myself feel nothing were gone, washed away in the flood
that was Buckley.  She filled my life and made me whole and that could all
come crushing down in less than a minute.  I felt the tears come and I was
ashamed of my weakness.

   She came through the door with her backpack slung over her shoulder and
gave me that brilliant smile.  "Hey," she said.  "Whassup?"

   I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.  The lump in my throat was too
big.  As she came closer, she saw my fear and she dropped her bag and came
to sit beside me, pressing herself against me and wrapping her arms around
me.

   "What's wrong?" she asked.

   It took me about three tries to get it out.  "I'm afraid," I said.  "I'm
scared to death of losing you, Buckley.  You've brought joy into my life
that I haven't felt in years and I'm afraid.  I'm scared to death that I'm
about to lose you."

   "Don't be silly," she said.  "Are you planning to replace me?"

   "I couldn't," I said.  "There's no one else like you, Buckley.  There's
no one on earth who could ever fill the hole in my heart I'll have if you
leave me."

   "I'm not leaving you," she said.  "I do have some news and some
questions for you."

   I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

   "I'm in love with someone," she said.

   I looked at her, stunned.  "When...  who...  how...  Jesus, Buckley.  Is
it someone I know, or someone at school?"

   "No, we know him," she said.  "He doesn't know I'm in love with him.  He
hasn't noticed me like that, yet."

   "Is he a moron?" I asked.  "Christ, you're the most beautiful woman I've
ever seen.  Is he gay?"

   She laughed, that husky low musical laugh I loved so much.  "No, I'm
pretty sure he isn't gay.  He is a moron, though." She chuckled again.

   "Well, have you tried to get him to notice you?" I asked.

   "Constantly," she said.  She slid around and knelt on the floor in front
of me.  "Do you notice me, Ben?" she asked.

   "What...  well, I know how beautiful and special you are," I said. 
"Anyone would be crazy not to notice.  Yes, Buckley, I notice you.  What
are you saying?"

   She rose, went to her bag and pulled out some papers.  She came back and
sat on the floor in front of me, crossing her legs and tucking them up
under her the way women can.  "Read," she said.

   It was the lab report.  There were bunches of numbers on a chart that
meant nothing to me, I scanned it down to the next to the last paragraph.
It had the heading, "Conclusion." I read the paragraph.

   "Based on our analysis and on the statistical analysis of the results,
it is practically proven that Benedict Carmichael is the biological father
of Buckley Carmichael."

   My world exploded and I sank back on the sofa.  I closed my eyes and
thought of my dream.  I heard her stirring, but I couldn't look at her. 
She moved over me and when I opened my eyes, she was straddling my legs,
her body pressed against mine and she was mingling our eyelashes.  Her huge
green orbs filled my vision and she was smiling.  She was smiling?

   "What are we going to do, Buckley?" I managed to croak.

   "I'm really, really hoping that you'll kiss me," she said.  "Ben, I'm
your daughter.  I want to be so much more than that.  I'm in love with you,
don't you understand?  I was hoping that I wouldn't be your daughter.  I
was going to sneak in, take the swab, find out the truth and then I was
going to decide what to tell you."

   "Why?" I asked.

   "This is so complicated." She rubbed her little nose on mine.  "It's
really, really weird.  I think it would be kinda creepy, in most
circumstances.  If you had been there...  if you'd been my father, if all
my life I'd had a father, it would have been different.  Ever since we
found out Mom lied about the test, I've been convinced that I wasn't.  I
didn't say anything because I liked what we have.  I would have just stayed
with you, anyway, because I love you.  The thing is, I kinda fell in love
with you.  That's why I was hoping...  hoping..." She broke down, buried
her face in my shoulder and sobbed.

   "No, no, baby.  Don't cry." I squeezed her and stroked her hair.  "It's
going to be okay.  We'll work everything out.  Nothing has changed.  I was
so afraid that you weren't and you were going to leave me."

   She shook her head, not moving from her place.  "I'll never leave." Her
voice was muffled.

   "Everything is going to be okay," I told her.  "We're together.  You
found me; I found you.  That's all that matters."

   She made a little wailing sound, and sat up, tears streaking her face.
"It's not going to be okay," she cried.  "I just told you that I'm in love
with you.  Now you're going to hate me and it's going to be all weird."

   I took her face between my hands and forced her to look at me.  "I will
never, ever, hate you, Buckley.  I couldn't if I tried.  God, I love you so
much that it was killing me, thinking I might lose you.  Well, I'm keeping
you.  You can't get rid of me, now.  I know what you said, but that's just
a deal.  Christ, Buckley, you're just a kid.  You're going to meet some
young stud at school and this will all be just something for us to laugh
about."

   Her eyes flamed a green fire.  "You have no idea," she said.  "You're
clueless, Ben.  Trust me on this: you don't stand a chance.  You're going
to find out, though."

   We sat and talked far into the morning, and when we finally wore off the
rush of the news, she began yawning.  She stood, pulling me to my feet. 
"Carry me to bed," she commanded.

   She was gone to class when I got up the next morning.

   I had never been so conflicted in my life.  Buckley was my daughter, but
I'd never known her, at all, for all those years.  She'd come into my life,
and that had opened up so many things I had never experienced.  I loved
someone, in a deep intense way, for the first time since I was a young
adult.  Sure, there'd been women, down through the years.  I had close
friends, but nothing like her.  Now, there was something else there.

   I was immensely attracted to her, who in their right mind wouldn't be,
but I desperately did not want to change a single thing that might mess up
our relationship as father and daughter.  I loved what we had, and anything
that changed that, I saw as a huge threat.  I hardly knew how to react.

   I dreaded her coming home from school.  When she walked in, nothing
seemed to have changed.  She got rid of her backpack, yelled at me in my
office that she was home, and I heard the refrigerator door open.  After a
few minutes, she came in, stood behind my chair and wrapped her arms around
me.  One hand was filled with tangerine slices, and she popped one into my
mouth.  She seemed completely normal.  I began to relax a little.

   "Hey," she said.  "Whacha doin'?"

   "Just surfing for some porn," I said. 

   She giggled.  "Ooh, can I watch?"

   "No, you're too young and you'll be corrupted," I said.

   She laughed again.  "Just living with you isn't enough?"

   "School go okay?" I asked.

   "Better than that," she said.  "I got a 98 on my biology final!"

   I patted her hand.  "Good job, baby.  I know you do your best."

   She smiled.  "Well, I hope you still think that when I get a C in
something."

   "It doesn't matter," I said.  "If you're satisfied with your effort, I'm
satisfied."

   "You are an amazing father." She squeezed me and wandered off somewhere.
That wasn't weird, at all, I thought.  She was just Buckley and I was just
Ben, just like always.  The following weeks didn't seem weird, either.  We
were just like we'd been before.  She was very physical with me, but she'd
been like that before, too.  She hugged and snuggled me, constantly, but
she was just that kind of person.  I gradually got over my nervousness and
figured she'd just moved into our relationship and nothing was going to
change.

   It didn't, either, until the day of her college graduation.  She made me
stop and get champagne on the way home, and I had her a cake that one of
the local bakers had made.  We sipped our champagne, fed each other cake
and just talked about what she wanted to do, now that she had graduated.

   She sat her flute down on the table, took mine and put it there and came
into me for a hug.  Her forehead was against my neck and I held her
tightly. "Ben, I told you something, once.  I don't think you took me
seriously," she murmured.

   "What?"

   "I told you that I was in love with you and that you don't stand a
chance," she said.

   I attempted to push her back a little so I could look at her face, but
she didn't let me.  She was strong, wrapping her arms around me and not
letting me go.

   "I haven't changed my mind," she said.  "Just letting you know."

   She squeezed me again and stepped back, laughing at the look of panic on
my face.  "When you least expect it," she said.  She stepped forward and
her lips brushed mine.  I felt them, hours later, but she laughed again and
was off to some graduation party or other.

   The next morning, we ate breakfast and she asked me if I had any plans
for the day.  I didn't, so she told me she wanted to take me somewhere. 
She was all mysterious and wouldn't tell me where, but she got a basket and
packed a lunch, so I figured it was an all-day thing.  We took my truck,
and she drove.

   It took about 30 minutes of driving on passable roads, then she turned
off onto a track through the trees.  We went down that for maybe half a
mile until it ended and she stopped.  "Let's go." She hopped out and I
grabbed the basket and followed.

   She got a couple of blankets out that she had stowed behind the seat,
along with a big umbrella, and led me off through the trees.  The jungle
was pretty dense, but there was a path of sorts and I soon began to hear
the sound of water.  When we got to the edge of the trees, there was a
clearing with grass growing, a small beach and a waterfall cascading down
into a pool about 50 feet across.  It was beautiful, and I hadn't known it
existed.

   "How do you know about this place, Buckley?" I asked her.

   "Maria told me about it," she said.  "She told me who owns it and I got
permission to come here.  It's the perfect place for a picnic, don't you
think?"

   I had to agree that it was.  It was cool from the water action and a
little breeze was blowing.  The jungle had been oppressively hot and humid,
and this was a welcome change.

   She spread out the blankets, put up the umbrella and set the basket
down. She had enough in there to feed a small army, and there was even a
bottle of wine.  She'd put ice in a cooler and she opened it and put the
bottle in to chill.

   "You sit there," she directed.  "There" was on the blankets with my back
to a large tree.  I obeyed my queen, and she came to sit between my
outstretched legs, leaning back against me with a sigh, laying her head
back against my shoulder.

   "This is nice, Buckley," I told her.  "Thanks for bringing me here,
baby."

   "Well, I needed to talk to you about some things," she said.  That
didn't sound good.

   "What kind of things?" I asked.

   "I don't think you're going to like one of them," she said.

   "Well, let's hear that one first, then," I said.  "Bad news, then good
news."

   "It isn't exactly bad news," she said.  "It's just not that good,
probably, and I don't think you'll like it."

   I wrapped her up in my arms and she sighed, contentedly.  "Shoot," I
said.

   "I'm going back to the US," she said.  She felt me stiffen, and hurried
to go on.  "I'm not going back to stay, just for a few days.  I have my
open-ended ticket, and I'm going to use it.  I'll have to buy my ticket
back here.  I know you probably aren't interested, but I need to see Mom."

   She rarely mentioned her mother, and I was surprised.  "Why, Buckley? 
What do you think will happen?"

   "I have no idea," she said.  "I need closure.  I need to know why she
thought she should lie to me all my life.  I'm coming back here to stay,
and she needs to know why, what's happened and I need some answers.  I
loved her, Ben.  She lied to me about you, and I need to tell her how I
feel about that.  I need to see Gram and tell her where I am, and why.  I
need things that I left back there, papers and things, pictures, things I
love.  Are you okay with that?"

   I thought for a minute.  "Well, I'm not okay with not having you around,
ever, now that I have you, but I understand.  You have to do what you need
to do.  When are you going?"

   "I didn't set a time," she said.  "I needed to tell you, first. 
Probably in a couple of weeks.  I was hoping you might go with me." She
leaned back a little and her eyes sought my face, the jade flashing up at
me.

   "You wouldn't have to see Mom, or anything," she assured me.  "I would
just like you to be there in case I need you.  If I get really sad or upset
with her, I know I'll want you so I can cry on your shoulder.  What do you
think?"

   "I have no idea," I said.  "I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't try to
have me arrested."

   "She wouldn't even have to know you were there," she said.

   "Let me think about it," I said.  "I'll let you know as soon as I make
up my mind."

   She brought one of my hands to her face and kissed it.  "Thanks for
considering it.  I also wanted to talk to you about opening my practice,"
she said.  "I need a loan."

   "No," I told her.  Her eyes flew to mine and I grinned.  "I'm not
loaning you money, Buckley.  I'll invest, but I won't loan.  I don't care
if you ever pay the money back.  Everything I have is yours.  How about
that?"

   She smiled.  "Well, I know, but this was kind of a lot to just assume. I
needed to ask you." She got took off her shoes and got to her feet.  "Let's
go swimming," she said.

   "Um, Buckley, you didn't tell me we were going swimming," I said.  "We
didn't bring anything to swim in."

   "Is something wrong with your skin?" she asked.

   I know I must have turned 50 shades of red and pale.  I laughed
nervously.  She was serious!  I suddenly found myself bereft of speech.

   She stood in front of me and began to open the buttons of her white
cotton shift.  My mouth was dry and I was paralyzed.  The dress parted,
creamy skin was exposed, lots of creamy skin.  It hung open, exposing a
yellow lace bra and pantie set, and she was gorgeous.  Hell, she was
gorgeous in her clothes, but with all that exquisiteness peeking out, still
semi-shrouded in mystery, I thought my heart would stop.

   She stepped forward, reached with her hand and drew me to my feet. 
Nimble fingers made short work of buttons, and she tugged my shirt free of
my pants, spreading it so that she could press us together.  The lace of
her bra was a little scratchy against my skin, which felt as if it was
hypersensitive.  Her forehead rested against my throat in the space under
my jaw and I finally had the strength to wrap her in my arms.

   She stayed there for a moment, then moved back.  She laughed, a silvery
sound in the air, and spun away to dance to the small beach.  The thin
shift floated to the ground, She took down the shoulder straps of her bra,
turned it around and it joined the dress.  Her fingers went under her
panties and she was strolling nude, graceful and stunning, into the water.
She looked teasingly back over her shoulder, crooking one finger with a
"come hither" motion before wading out until only a pale form was revealed
under the water.

   I scrambled to remove my pants, discarding my shirt and moved to the
edge of the water, only my boxer briefs giving me a semblance of modesty.
She watched me as I stepped into the water.

   "No!" she called.  "No clothing allowed in this pool!  It's the law."

   "Whose law?" I said.

   "Mine, Buckley's law," she said.

   This was embarrassing as hell, but it didn't seem to bother her.  I
stepped back, shed my underwear and hurried into the cool water.  It wasn't
bad, washing away the exertions of getting to the spot, and I quickly
became accustomed.  She swam away, laughing as I approached, disappearing
into the spray of the waterfall.  I followed, swimming as the water
deepened, and finding a sandy bottom as I approached the falls.

   She was there, head back, all that flaming hair dark and long, streaming
down as she lifted her face into the spray, pulling it back behind her.  I
approached her slowly, catching a glint of the green fire of her eyes as
they tracked me.  When I was within arm's reach, she ducked below the
surface, rising again, chest to chest with me.

   I could feel the soft firmness of her breasts against me, two erect
buttons pressing into me and scraping across my chest.

   She put her little nose against mine and mingled our lashes.  I drowned
in those jade pools and she said, "I'm going to kiss you now."

   I had kissed Buckley thousands of times since she came to me, but never
like that.  It was a thing that sent fire racing through my body, making me
tremble and making me incapable of coherent thought.  Her lips were alive,
full soft things that tasted uniquely like Buckley.  Her little pointed
tongue flicked my lips, probing and insistent, and squirmed its way
through.

   That kiss lasted forever, and I felt her long legs wrap around me,
pulling me into a tight embrace.  My hands slid down the smooth wetness of
her back and onto the most incredible ass on the planet.  Baby smooth and
soft skin was under my hands and they overflowed with the fullness.  Her
ass jutted out, her workouts paying off in glorious ways as she flexed,
letting me feel the iron beneath the softness.  Then she was gone, slipping
away, laughing, swimming back across the pool toward our blankets.  I
followed, drawn irresistibly by her magnetism, my feet touching just as she
rose dripping, Venus rising from the foam.

   Her hips had an extra swing, enticing, female and entirely Buckley, as
she moved across the small beach, stripping water from her sleek skin with
the edge of her hand.  In one of the most erotic gestures I had ever seen,
she knelt on the blankets, going to her hands and knees, her ass presented
and a glimpse of a flame-colored tuft on her lower belly.  I couldn't move,
the sight of that wonder of the world robbing me of all volition.  She laid
on her side, head propped up on one hand and elbow, the curves of her body
displayed and crooked a finger at me.

   My legs moved without my conscious thought until I sank down beside her.
I found the will to speak.  "Buckley, I..."

   "Shh," her finger lay across my lips.  "Don't say anything," she said.
"You can talk later."

   She pushed me over onto my back and laid half over me.  She kissed me
again, returning my blood to a fever pitch, then she was moving, tracing a
path of fire down my body, stopping to linger at places she wanted to
explore.  Her hands preceded her lips, making their own journey of
discovery, stopping at the iron bar that my cock had become.

   Tentatively, she explored, then firmer as she grew confident.  She
swiveled around until her chin was resting on my hip, examining me, as if
she was memorizing every detail, her hands squeezing, cupping my balls as
if weighing them.  She moved forward and gave the head of my cock a swipe
with her little pointed tongue.  It jumped in an involuntary reaction and
she giggled.

   "I think he likes me.  He's doing tricks!"

   I was incapable of response as she slid those puffy luscious lips over
the head, grasping me firmly about two inches down, her tongue playing just
below the sensitive crown and wringing a groan from me.  Her eyes sought
mine and never left.  I had never had bad head, but this was something out
of dreams.  She teased, used an incredible suction, her tongue had its own
will and intelligence, and the sounds she made.  This beauty, this angel,
loved what she was doing.

   I knew she couldn't have much experience, but she was the mistress of
seduction, sensing when I was about to explode, backing off and easing me
away from the brink, bringing me back again, with more and more frequency
until I lost control.  Overall, there was the conscious and unconscious
knowledge that this glorious creature was Buckley, the only joy in my life,
the girl whom I loved as no other, and for whom I would gladly die.  The
sight of that face, that body, the sensations she was causing overwhelmed
me.

   "Buckley...  baby...  I'm going to..."

   She sensed my eruption and redoubled her efforts.  The ecstasy was
agonizing in its intensity, and my head spun.  Her eyes never left mine as
she gulped, losing a little momentum when the first blast hit the back of
her throat.  She moaned and shuddered, going after me with a renewed effort
until I could stand no more.  Cupping her head in my hands, I gently pulled
her up.  She slid up, laying all that lushness over me and looked in my
eyes.

   "Did you like me?" she asked.

   I drew in a deep breath.  "I have no words, Buckley."

   She smiled and burrowed her face into my neck.  "I was afraid I wouldn't
be any good," she murmured.

   "Well, you can forget about ever having that thought again," I said.  I
combed my fingers through her long silky hair, continuing downward, lightly
running along her back and tracing little circles on that fantastic ass. 
She squirmed, goose-bumps appearing on her for a moment, roughing her satin
smoothness.

   I rolled us over, taking care to keep most of my weight off her.  When I
tried to kiss her, she turned her head.  "No...  I..."

   "Shh, it's okay," I said.  "If it's good enough for you, it's good
enough for me." I turned her head and claimed those luscious lips.  She
began to stir beneath me, little motions of her body, her hands moving over
me.  I would never get enough of those lips, but other treasures awaited.

   I kissed my way to her tiny ears, nuzzling her lobes, kissing behind
them, working down the smooth column of her neck to where it joined the
spread of her shoulders.  She shivered and moaned as I tickled the little
hollow over her collar bone.  I continued, kissing my way across her chest
to the mounds below.

   God, her breasts were just spectacular.  I rose above her and she tried
to pull me back.  "Let me look at you," I murmured.  I knelt between her
spread thighs and just drank in the sight of her.  She was a goddess. 
"Jesus, baby, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," I said.

   She blushed a little, just a warm glow, but I could tell she liked
hearing that.  Her body matched the perfection of her face.  She was lush,
no other word fit.  Her breasts were heavy and full, nipples erect and
puffy.  Her lines swept in to a narrow waist, belly ribbed with muscle,
before swelling dramatically into her hips.  There was that little tuft of
flame on her mons.  It should be a crime for redheads to go bare.  Below,
her legs were muscled, full thighs and calves, tapering to slender ankles
and small feet.  Even her feet and toes were perfect.

   I moved back over her, kissing those pillowy lips and quickly moving
down until her lush breasts felt my tongue.  Her areolae were a little
puffy, making their own little peak, just a shade darker than her skin,
topped by small beautiful nipples another shade darker.  They tilted up and
inward just a little and they were very erect, causing her areolae to
pucker and thicken a bit, too.  I ran my tongue around them and she
groaned. I felt her fingers in my hair, gently guiding my head to her right
nipple.  I swiped it with my tongue and her guidance became a little
firmer, pulling me to that delicious little nubbin.

   When I sucked it in, holding it firmly inside my lips, lashing the tip
with my tongue, she became very vocal, murmurs of pleasure, moans and a
shudder passing through her.  I gave it all the attention it deserved and
she writhed beneath me, almost trembling.

   The twin was evidently in need of attention, as well, because she moved
my head there.  I feasted on that gorgeous little nubbin, and her sound
grew to a small crescendo as she stiffened, then went wild under me.  She
was coming!  God, she was hot.  She shook for a few moments, then began to
gradually relax, never quite still, but calmer.

   "God, Ben, you're making me...  I'm melting!" It was a soft murmur.

   Her breath sucked in as I left her breasts and nibbled my way down her
belly, stopping to probe the tiny declivity of her navel, making her
giggle. It was as perfect as the rest of her.  Lower still, was that little
tuft of flame.  I tugged at it with my lips and she giggled again. 

   I slid down until I could kiss the inside of one knee and she shuddered
at my touch.  I trailed kisses and let my tongue feel its way up the inside
of one muscular thigh, then the other.  I could now smell her arousal.  It
was the warm musky smell of an aroused woman, clean and ripe.  I nipped at
the tendons, stretched taut on the inside of her thighs.  She was becoming
vocal again, just soft moans escaping.  I nibbled at the juncture of her
thighs and felt her hands again, guiding me toward the object of my desire.

   It was perfect.  Bare, pink lips small and tight together, forming a
perfect line that swept up to peak at the clitoris.  I could barely see the
tip peeking out of its sheath.  I had to taste her, and she obviously
wanted to be tasted.  I began at the bottom, probing, and she jumped as if
from an electric shock when my tongue touched her.

   "God, Ben...  no one...  I've never..." She couldn't finish a thought.

   I probed and felt her opening.  Delicious scents, textures and tastes
assaulted my senses.  I collected moisture seeping from her, sweet, a hint
of musk and all Buckley.  Running my tongue upward, parting that seal and
touching the bump at the top brought her hips into motion.  She thrust
upward, seeking more contact, and I slid my hands under her, cupping that
spectacular ass and controlling her motions a bit.

   I had made love hundreds of times, both before, during and after the
time I was married to her mother, I used every bit of everything I'd
learned, heard or imagined to make sure my baby was going to remember this
for the rest of her life.  I worked her lips, plunged my tongue inside and
exerted every skill I knew on her little clit.  It emerged from its hood
and became stiff and prominent.  When I sucked it in and worked it with my
tongue, she exploded, coming, every muscle straining then relaxing in a
wild writhing.  She screamed hoarsely when she came, her cry choked by her
passion, and she came for a long time, her motions finally slowing to
twitches.  When I felt her relax a bit, I slid a finger into her tightness.
She gasped and her motions began again.

   I curled that finger upward, searching for that spot.  Her reaction let
me know I found it, jerking against me, quivering and then exploding again.
She cried out hoarsely again, and I kept her going, working a second finger
inside, coating it with her slickness, and inserting it into her tight
little ass when I felt her beginning to slow.

   "Oh, God!" I heard her cry, and she went off again.  When she began to
settle down, her motions became those of escape.

   "Please...  Ben...  stop!  I need...  Oh, God!  I need to rest! 
Please..."

   Giving that little clit a final swipe, I withdrew my fingers and slid up
over that luscious body, claiming her lips.  She was limp beneath me, just
experiencing occasional shudders as aftershocks shook her.  I felt her
recovering and her hands fluttered against my sides, sliding down to cup my
ass, moving up my back and then on the back of my head, pulling me into the
kiss.

   Loving this beauty, the sight, sound, feel, smell and taste of her, had
me as hard as I'd ever been in my life.  I could feel her heat and moisture
against my cock and I shifted until I slid into place, poised at her
entrance, the head of my cock between buttery lips.

   She gasped when she felt me.  "Please..." she gasped.  "I've never..."

   I cut her off with a kiss, cupping her face between my hands.  I looked
in her eyes.  "Never?" I asked.

   She shook her head.  "There was never anyone I loved enough.  I've never
done any of the things you did to me.  God, Ben, I'm so in love with you.
Tell me you love me."

   "I, love, you, Buckley Carmichael, with all my heart, for the rest of my
life."

   She kissed me fiercely, then moved her hands to my sides.  "Take me,"
she said.

   I moved forward.  I knew from earlier that she had no virgin barrier,
but she was extremely tight and inexperienced.  I exerted pressure, then
more, and the head of my cock popped through.  She stiffened.  "Oh!" she
gasped.  "Stop!"

   I froze.  I used my hands to cup those spectacular breasts, rolling her
nipples between my fingers and she began little circular motions with her
hips, thrusting a little and moving me inside her.  After her movements
became stronger, I moved forward, sinking into her a little, maybe a couple
of inches.  She froze again, and so did I.  We repeated the dance and I was
maybe halfway in her.

   "My God, Ben!  How much is there?" she gasped.  "Damn, you have a big
dick!"

   I laughed.  "Yeah, you've had so many."

   She giggled.  "Well, it feels like a damn fence post!"

   I drew back and reclaimed the lost territory.  She moaned.  I did that,
over and over, and she made a little moan, each time.  We got a little
rhythm going, and I would go deeper, occasionally.  She would stiffen and
draw back, and we danced like that: me trying to advance and her drawing
back.  She lost it at the motions and giggled insanely.  I couldn't help
but laugh with her.

   "You're killing the mood, here, Buckley," I told her.

   She just laughed some more.  "I can't help it, Ben.  You're just huge!"

   I slowed down, just easing in and out, and she didn't seem to be as
uncomfortable.  After five minutes of that she was pushing back against me
with just the occasional wince.  I increased the length and speed a little
at a time and she became very active, pushing up to meet me, moving to
change angles and she started her sounds again.  We had been at it for a
while, and she was becoming very dynamically responsive.  With that face,
that body and her responsiveness she was something to inspire men's dreams.

   She orgasmed, crying out that hoarse cry, then again, and the look on
her face, the love in my heart for her, who she was, that flaming curtain
that slid like silk across her face as her head whipped from side to side
in her ecstasy, combined to push me toward the edge.  I knew she was safe,
she'd seen a doctor the second week she'd been with me, and it wasn't going
to be long.

   "I'm gonna come, Buckley," I whispered in her ear.

   She went wild.  "Yes, come with me, Ben!  Please, come with me."

   I felt my toes curl, the sensation of that agonizing pleasure filling my
body as I filled hers, pumping inside her as she came again, filling her. I
plunged deep and held her tightly, embedded in her sweet body and time
stopped.

   Eventually, I regained the composure to roll with her until I slid from
a place I never wanted to leave.  She rested over me and I could feel our
heartbeats slowing.  She got a bottle of water and we shared it, then a
glass of wine.  She stood, that glorious body and face filled with
satisfaction and that freshly loved look that women always have.  "Care for
a dip?" she asked.

   That sounded very good to me, so I let her pull me up and we waded out,
chin-deep, holding hands into the coolness.  She plastered herself to me
and kissed me, then looked up into my face.

   "Are we okay?" she asked.

   "I've never been so okay in my life," I said.  "Is my baby okay?"

   "Very okay," she said.  "I don't want anything to change what we have,
except I am going to sleep with you and we're going to do that ten times a
day," she said.

   "God, I'll be dead in a week!" I laughed.  "I'm old, little girl. 
You'll break me."

   She punched me lightly in the chest.  "You're the youngest old person I
know.  We're stocking up on vitamins."

   *****

   Nothing did change, except for her moving into my bed, and we didn't
make love ten times a day, but she was nearly insatiable.  We made love
constantly.  I couldn't keep my hands off her, and she had a very high
libido.  She wore just panties around the house and the sight of her would
give a zombie wood.

   She had leased a building and ordered supplies for her practice.  I knew
a lot of people who kept horses, sheep, goats or cows.  She would be the
only vet within 50 miles, and I knew she'd have a nice practice.  There
weren't as many pet owners as in the US, but plenty of people had valuable
working dogs.

   She kept after me about going to see Alicia, and finally wore me down. I
agreed to go, but I wouldn't be flying with her.  I'd land in Atlanta, and
charter a private plane from there.  I didn't want to go through the
airport checkpoints, and I paid the pilot to hang around so I'd have a way
out if I needed it.

   She met me at the airfield, and I checked into a hotel.  She was staying
with her grandmother, but she made the call to Alicia from my room.  We got
her one of those disposable cell phones with minutes, and she put it on
speaker so I could hear.

   Alicia seemed very happy to hear from her, but things changed a bit when
Buckley hit her with the news.

   "Mom, I found Dad.  I know the truth.  Why did you lie to me?  You even
lied about the DNA test.  Why would you do that?"

   There was silence.  "Mom, are you there?" Buckley asked.

   There was the sound of Alicia clearing her throat.  "I'm...  yes, I'm
here.  Buckley...  I don't know what Ben told you, but..."

   "Save it, Mom.  We had the real DNA test done."

   "But...  Buckley, where are you?  I know you're in town.  Please, can
you just come over and we can talk about this?  We can't talk about this
right on the phone.  Please, I need to see you.  I promise I won't...  I'll
tell you the truth.  Where is Ben?"

   "Right, Mom, like I'm going to tell you that.  I'll meet you somewhere,
but it's not going to be at your house.  I'm staying with Gram.  You need
to come there, and Gram needs to hear this, too.  I'm not the only one you
lied to, am I, Mom?"

   "No, please, Buckley," she was sobbing on the phone, now.  "Please, I
know you may hate me, but I'll just die if Mom hates me.  Don't make me do
that."

   I could see Buckley softening.  "Okay, Mom, but you're going to have to
tell Gram that this is your fault, not Dad's.  I'm not going to have Gram
hating Dad for something that you did.  I don't care what you tell her, but
you're going to tell her something or I'm leaving and I'll never speak to
you again.  I'm still not coming to your house.  I'll meet you at Cowiche
Canyon at one, tomorrow, and we'll have lunch, okay?"

   "Yes, okay." Alicia was getting herself back together.  "Thank you,
Buckley."

   "I swear to God, if you tell me one lie, I'll walk out and you'll never
see me again, Mom.  Don't even think about it."

   Alicia sniffed miserably.  "No, baby, I won't lie, I promise."

   "You can't promise me shit," Buckley said.  "You've lied to me all my
life.  I'm just telling you.  Don't make me any promises."

   "Okay...  I'm sorry, Buckley.  I'll...  no, okay.  I'll be there."

   Buckley ended the call and came over to me.  She pushed me down on the
bed and took up her favorite position: half on top of me with her cheek
pillowed on my chest.  "Just hold me, Dad," she said.  "I need to be held.
I don't know how this is going to go.  I'm afraid I'm just going to be
weak." She began to cry.

   "How could she do this to me, to us?  I love her so much, Ben.  It hurts
so bad."

   I squeezed her tightly and stroked that beautiful hair.  "I know.  It's
hard.  You're going to be okay.  We both know how tough you are."

   She nuzzled her face into my chest.  "I don't feel tough," she said.  "I
feel little and weak and miserable."

   "Well, you're little and miserable, right now," I told her.  "You aren't
weak, though.  That is one thing you'll never be.  You'll be fine.  Just do
what you have to do.  I don't have any idea what she's going to say, but
just go, listen to her and move on.  No matter what she says or does,
nothing is going to change with us, right?  We're going to be okay."

   I could feel her nodding.  "Yeah, we're going to be okay."

   *****

   She went to that meeting, and I could tell she was relieved when she
came back.  She immediately grabbed me, dragged me to the bed and tried to
kill me, as soon as I opened the door.  I was lying there with her in her
place, just as limp as a noodle, barely having the strength to pet her.

   "I take it you needed some love," I said.

   She chuckled.  "You think?  That was stressful as fuck, Ben."

   "Did you get anything?"

   She nodded again.  "Yes, she knew she was busted.  She just told me she
lied because she didn't want me to hate her.  She never thought I'd find
you, so she just kept lying.  She cried a lot, and I could tell she felt
really bad about...  everything.  She made it possible for me to have a
relationship with her.  I'll come back here, sometimes.  She wanted me to
move back, but you're my life, now.  I'm staying with you.  You want me,
right?"

   "More than anything," I said.  "I don't think I can live without you,
Buckley, now that you found me."

   "Me either," she said.  "Pack up, lover.  We're going home tomorrow."

   I held her tightly.  Sometimes life throws you a curve.  Sometimes it's
the worst possible thing you can imagine.  Sometimes it's the best possible
thing when you least expect it.



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