It has been two years since Musetta’s story was first posted at BCTS. Now it’s time to see more of the story as Musetta originally wrote it. Musetta, born Marcus Meyers, had an indifferent childhood, a disastrous early adulthood, and a very fulfilling adulthood. This is her story as she wrote it. She had not originally intended it to be published; however, changed her mind later on. Several chapters were omitted from the original edition due to her involvement with an individual who was still living. That person is now deceased, and with his previously given permission the missing chapters are now included.

Chapter 24 & 25:

Tragedy strikes at a most unexpected time; however, Musetta is able to maintain here strength with the support of her family. Musetta is suddenly a single mother. She finally gains acceptance from the crowd that had basically ignored her over the last ten years. They realize it was their loss. The thing that no one expected happens. Richard O’Donnell is released from prison. Musetta welcomes him into her care. He is seventy-five.

This story follows The Narragansett Fork in the California Saga Series. Other than some minor corrections, nothing has been changed from the original chapters; however, there are three additional chapters at the end plus some comments by Dr. Fanny Essegian. If you have not read the story before, I hope you enjoy it this time. If you have read it, I hope you find the additional chapters enlightening. More of Musetta’s life is also revealed in The Redhead and the PM which is to be published soon.

A big ‘Thank You’ to Holly H. Hart for helping with the grammar and punctuation.

This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

Chapter 24

Dearest Musetta,

I am so happy for you. I’ve known for a long time that you wanted children and it sounds as if you have done very well. I wish I could meet them. I wish I could meet your Johnny.

My work here is going well. I seem to be becoming some sort of patriarch. I now teach two classes a week and am getting more and more non Latino students. Maybe it’s my imagination but there seems to be less inter-ethnic stress around here. I’m sure it’s my imagination.

I’ve been here almost fifteen years now but the only time I count is the time since you left. I understand why you don’t want to come back here. If I had a choice I certainly wouldn’t. The picture you sent is very precious to me. You are a very handsome woman. At night I imagine I am holding you in my arms like I used to. I think there is a lot more to hold onto than I used to.

I received a letter from Mary Jane and she gave me a lot of updates. I find it hard to believe little Fanny is now in medical school and is a married woman. She and John Essegian make a beautiful couple. They will be the parents of my first great grandchildren someday. It’s hard to believe I have eight grandchildren. What I fool I was. I destroyed so much. There is nothing I can do about it.

Please enjoy your life. You have so much to enjoy.

Always,

Richard

Lake Success was a lot closer than Lake Isabella but Isabella was much bigger and had bigger fish. We went to a number of lakes in the area and Lake Isabella was my least favorite. It was just too big and open. The children just liked to go boating, and were pretty good water skiers. I didn’t like skiing that much, but I could work on my tan while spotting. Both of the children were skiing, and the water was a bit rough due to the large number of boats and a pretty good wind coming up the canyon.

Pablo was crossing the wake, and Anna was off to one side. Pablo caught a high point where two wakes were crossing and he lost it. He was show-boating a bit. I hollered at Johnny that Pablo was down and I put the signal up to indicate a skier was down. Johnny could sense the change in drag and saw Pablo in the rear view mirror and was already turning slowly to go back. Anna had dropped the rope and was in the water near Pablo. I never saw the jetski and Johnny didn’t either. There was a crash and the next thing I knew I was in the water. I turned toward where I thought the boat was, and it was dead in the water. A large portion of the hull was missing behind the windscreen. There was also a badly damage jetski forty or fifty feet to one side.

The three of us were rescued pretty quickly. The kids were in shock. They saw the whole thing. They had lost their father twice and at 42 I was a widow. Johnny never knew what hit him, and needless to say the casket was closed. He was cremated and I had his ashes put in the family crypt that was in the middle of an orange grove. I was numb. One minute I had this handsome, virile and loving husband and in a second he was gone. He was gone. My life crashed down around me.

Johnny’s kids and families were wonderful, and Anna and Pablo kept me sane. Everyone from Redding was at the funeral as were my brothers, sisters, their families and Lester and Billie: more about Billie later. It was wonderful to have the family I had. We all mourned, and then we got on with our lives.

The jetski driver had some serious injuries but would recover. His BAT was three times the legal limit. He spent five years in prison, and I know he had a good time. His buddies also tested well over the limit. Two of them fled in their pickup, and made it all the way to Miracle Hot Springs before they were pulled over. I think they got six months.

There was one thing that made a tremendous contribution to my recovery. We were shopping in a grocery store in Oildale, and I noticed several of the housewives glancing at me. My notoriety was out there, and my reception in the community, although cordial, was seldom very warm. On this particular day, one of the women broke away from the others and came over to me. She was smiling, and I think I detected a tear in one eye.

“Mrs. Gigliotti, I am Sherrie Bowman and I want you to know how sorry we are about what happened. Johnny was a good man, and you and he did so much for the community. I know you miss him, and we will surely miss him.”

By this time several of the other shoppers had gathered around. Some had children with them and two were alone. Pablo was standing to one side and Anna was clinging to me. Pablo was 14 and Anna was 12 at this time.

“May I call you Musetta, please? The girls and I have been talking about what we should do and how we should handle your situation.”

Situation? I think they were talking about more than being a new widow.

“We haven’t been very good neighbors over the years, and certainly haven’t been good friends. You never put on airs being married to one of the richer and certainly more eligible unmarried men in the area. Before we knew it you were a fixture in the citrus business. You learned it, and worked hard at it. Still we ignored you. I think we were afraid of you, who you were.

“Now we realize how awful we have been to you. We have wasted 10 years not getting to know one of the most remarkable people in the community, and we are definitely poorer for it. Would you please forgive us for our stupidity and cruelty? This is something we should have done a long time ago. Tuesday is Ladies Day at the club and we are having a scramble tournament, and want you to join us. I think several of the girls want you on their team. We are having a luncheon afterwards and want you to be our guest.”

This was getting a bit strange. Johnny and I were members of the club as were his children, and of course Pablo and Anna had membership privileges; however, since we adopted them, we had not gone to the club very often because of what we had perceived as an anti-Latino atmosphere. Johnny had threatened to walk away from his membership. I asked him not to do it, though at the time I was not sure why. This was really about acceptance. If they were making overtures to bring me into their fold, then they were going to have to accept the whole package.

“I would love to play; however, I won’t have a sitter for the children. We do live a ways out. Would you mind if they came with me? Pablo is very good at driving a cart, and they can eat in the mixed grill while we are having lunch.”

“That is no problem at all.”

It turned out the club had been in some trouble about their treatment of Latinos and other minorities, and they had opened the doors quite literally to them. There was always this little controlling factor called money. Memberships were limited by the board and the initiation fees were steep, around 100 grand. Surprisingly, or maybe not, there were a number of applicants of Latino background. The proportions would never be like they were in the city; however, the barriers were down.

Pablo and Anna accompanied me for the first nine holes; then retreated to the pool. They had a great time and were accepted by most of the children there. When we returned to the clubhouse, I visited the pool, and found the children enjoying themselves. It took me a moment to get Pablo’s attention. He’d been talking to some sweet little thing, and he had to adjust his trunks as he came over to me. The little blue eyed blonde he was talking to wasn’t the one, but his future wife was at the pool. That would take a few years to develop. By the way, my team beat the shit out of everyone. I won four holes by myself and contributed two birdies on the par threes. I eventually got my handicap below ten. Love those red tees.

My bed was lonely, but Jan and I got together every once in a while. Jason was okay with her bisexuality, and he never did treat me as anything but a close friend. I don’t think he ever wandered, and she confessed I was the only relationship she had other than her husband after they were married. I wasn’t about to go out and cruise for a hot date, but I needed the warmth that Jan could give me. I loved her very much.

Dearest Richard,

Thank you so much for the kind words. They and you mean so much to me.

The children are doing very well. I know it was hard on them but they seem to be very resilient. Pablo has a girl friend now and Anna has a boy friend. I think they are both too young, but that seems to be the way things are. It isn’t fair for me to compare their childhood with mine because mine was so screwed up.

Finally finding some acceptance in the local society has helped me a lot. We had a mixed foursome scramble tournament a few weeks ago and I almost got into trouble. Mike was the A player, Tony Salcedo was the B player and Jo was the D player. Jo’s not a bad golfer, but she was along mostly for the ride. No one realized who Antonio Salcedo was. We have several Salcedos in the club now, and I think everyone in the committee thought Tony was related to them. Anyway, we shot a gross 59 and beat the closest team by five strokes. Word had gotten out by the turn that there was this gorilla out there destroying the course and by the time we finished we had a huge gallery. Tony signed a lot of autographs, and all was forgiven. There’s not a chance in the world that they will ever let Tony be a B player again.

Maybe I talk too much about golf, but it has enabled me to make many friends. More than ever, I feel like I belong in this world.

A funny thing happened the other day. I had an appointment at the beauty salon and the stylist suggested I add some highlights to my hair. She said they would blend with the gray. Richie, I have gray hair! Not a lot. There is a little bit coming in over my temples and it doesn’t really look bad. Hell, I am in my forties and I should be getting gray hair. I am not highlighting my hair and I am not going to cover the gray. There are some sixty-year old women in the club who are trying to look 35. It’s ridiculous. I am going to grow old gracefully. I am so happy that I can do it as a woman.

I miss you. I wish I could hold you again.

Yours forever,

Musetta

From now on most of what I write is written as it happens or at least close to it. I do tend to skip about a bit and I hope whoever reads this will forgive me for some inconsistencies in time. I have to write something down when I think of it.

Bill, now Billie, had confessed to me that she was going to go for SRS. It happened many years ago and Billie is much happier not being a drag queen. I think it was her way of protesting against what she knew inside for a long time. She started going full time about a year after my surgery, shortly after my wedding to Johnny. She said that when she saw what happened to me both inwardly and outwardly, that nothing was going to stop her. I thought Lester would be against it but his love for her was very strong and always had been. Lester decided being married to his best friend was just fine, even if she was a woman now. I guess they’re straight now - strange.

Billie had a tendency toward the zaftig, and the hormones accelerated the process once she got on the proper regimen and stopped fooling around on her own. I stayed with her during her surgery, and Jo came down for the weekend. We pigged out at the CSA and had the most wonderful meal at the French Laundry.

Without any artificial help other than the hormones, Billie became a slightly plump middle aged woman. Jo would scold her about her weight, but on Billie it looked just right. She wasn’t very tall, and she shopped the women’s sizes. She could buy anything she wanted.

Speaking of buying, Billie spent a small fortune on facial reconstruction surgery. There’s a doctor in San Francisco who does very good work. Her healing process was a lot longer than mine as the surgery was much more extensive. She looks very nice now – very grandmotherly. Once she stopped being a drag queen she became much more conservative in appearance. I don’t think if anyone had seen her in a grocery store they would have batted an eye. Lester and Billie were very happy and always would be. They made major contributions to Jo’s charity.

Some other wonderful things have been going on. After more than 20 years in the police force at Redding, Mike retired and was persuaded to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was a tough race but he won. He and Jo feel about religion about the same way I do, and it almost cost him the primary. He won in a walk in the general election. I know he is going to do a great job, even if he is a Republican.

My sweet little Fanny is going to be a mother! They waited until she was almost through her residency before they created little Antonio Michael. Things are going well. Fanny is putting her money to work where she wanted to. She is forming a foundation, and the foundation is going to buy Redding Hospital and a couple of other medical facilities. Fanny has just about convinced Jo to semi-retire from the medical profession and go on the concert tour. Jo is so good at whatever she does. She was a musician at heart since early childhood and became a doctor because she wanted to heal people. One of those persons was herself.

Fanny is truly amazing. She won the Pulitzer Prize for music composition. Her symphony premiered in New York and received rave reviews. They just released an album of her works. It has the symphony, piano concerto and several of her smaller chamber works. I know she’s going to get a Grammy for it. Jo played the piano concerto. One hundred percent of the money is going to charity

Sean and Katherine are now at Julliard and are doing very well. They’re a strange pair. I’m not sure what it is about them. Sometimes they seem a little aloof or withdrawn. They are fabulous musicians. Sylvia is in high school and towers over everyone but her father. She will be well over six feet by the time she stops growing. She is fabulously beautiful and wants to be a forest ranger! She is an outstanding musician, but she has no desire to go professional. She is so smart. Hell, they all are. Matt wants to be a policeman and Mike is very pleased. Matt isn’t even in high school yet. I think he has eyes for Katia Essegian, but she mostly ignores him, except when he’s not looking at her. Matt plays the guitar, and he is already as good as his father. Mike doesn’t play except in family gatherings, and gave his guitar to Matt. Mike says the guitar helped him through a very bad time and when he got Jo back, the diversion it provided wasn’t needed any longer. I noticed Sylvia plays it very well also.

Chapter 25

I haven’t been writing much over the last few years because there hasn’t really been much extraordinary going on. Pablo and Anna are doing very well and we are very close. Pablo is driving now and looks out for his sister closely. Pablo has a girl friend and she is a delight. She is Sherrie Bowman’s oldest daughter, and Sherrie seems to be okay about it. Pablo has had all the lectures, and I have provided him with condoms. I am not condoning sexual activity; however, I would be stupid to think that passions might not override better judgment. We have more than enough money to take care of most crises but that is not the point. I want my children to develop responsible behavior. I don’t want them to think that the only reason I am around is to bail them out.

We had Anna’s Quinceañera and it was quite the celebration. At fifteen, she is a beautiful young woman. It was sad that her natural father and mother couldn’t be there; however, I had the feeling they were with us. That is strange coming from me after all my professions of being a non-believer. I guess I have never thought about afterlife versus religion. If there is an afterlife, then it has nothing to do with religion. Anyway, the mass was wonderful, and Umberto symbolically removed her flats and put her heeled shoes on her afterwards. I cried the entire time. My little girl was a woman.

Everyone was there. The Redding group, the Salcedos, Lester and Billie: they were all there, and so were the families they had grown up with before the horrid tragedy had struck. We tried for years to find Pablo and Anna’s grandparents; however, we never succeeded.

There have been some things going on about Richard. Mike and Jo asked me to write a short summary about my experiences with him and send it to them. I was as honest as I could be. I loved Richard and had for years. Now that Johnny was gone, my love for Richard began to emerge once again. I thought about him a lot and I found my self-initiated sessions of sexual gratification usually involved Richard. I knew I should get over him and maybe look for companionship from among the eligibles; however, when Johnny was killed, my interest in a mate was almost destroyed, that is except for Richard and there was no hope for him, or so I thought.

Then I received the most amazing phone call from Jo.

“Musetta, Richard is going to be released from prison soon. We have been pulling a lot of strings, and the governor has agreed to commute his sentence to time served. He is going to be on a rather short leash for a while, and we were wondering if you would want to look out for him?”

“Jo you have to be kidding. Of course I would look out for him. I love him. You know that.”

“This is happening very fast, and Richard knows nothing about it. If you don’t take him, MK says she and Pat will although Pat is not real happy about it. It still bothers him a lot that he tried to kill me.”

“I’ll take him Jo. I’ve dreamed about him ever since I got out. Johnny understood that, and it didn’t bother him. He knew there was room in my heart for both of them. My God, when is this going to happen?”

“We think he will be out on next Monday, but we don’t know for sure. Please don’t tell him what’s going on. I have a feeling if it didn’t happen, it would kill him.”

I was so exited, and it’s hard to describe the feeling I had. It was two days later when Richard called me. He’d never done that before although he could have. His voice over the phone sounded good, just like I remembered it. He made some small talk before he told me he was going to be released the next week. My heart fluttered. I tried to act surprised, and in reality I was. It was sort of like wishing for a bicycle for Christmas and thinking you were really going to get it, then actually getting it. The actual event was anticipated but still wonderful. He told me that he had to have a place to live as he would have many restrictions over his movements and would I mind – did I think I might have room for him? My God, did I have room for him.

I tried to hide the fact I knew already he was getting out, and I more or less directed him to come to the house. I thought about driving up there and getting him but there were many things I had to do to get ready for him. They would let him take the bus to Bakersfield. He would have a tracking anklet and couldn’t remove it. They would know where he was. We would get that off after about six months. It took some high level convincing, but we got it off. I called Jo and asked if some of the children could come down and be here when he arrived. MK said she would come and bring her two oldest. MK had been the strongest link between Richard and the outside, and I think she was the first, besides me, to accept him and recognize the changes in him.

Everyone had arrived in town the night before. Those that drove could have driven in that morning but they wanted to help the children and me get ready. Richard’s bus would get to Bakersfield fairly early. They had taken him to Sacramento from Folsom and stayed with him until he got on the bus. Of course the bus stopped at just about every town and city between Sacramento and Bakersfield. I had a cab waiting at the bus station for him. Fanny, John and little Tony came in their own car, and Sean and Katherine flew in from New York. MK, Andrew and Elise drove up from Pasadena.

Pablo and Anna had to be in school and they would be back in the afternoon. Everyone else was in the living room. I was as nervous as a virgin bride on her wedding night. It didn’t help when we heard a vehicle coming up the drive and it turned out to be FedEx. Then the cab came around the corner from the orange grove. It circled the parking area, and Richard stepped out and started looking around. I know how he felt. He paid the driver, then stood there with his two large bags. I came down the back stairs and across the dirt and gravel surface. His smile got bigger and bigger as I approached. Much had happened to us over the years. Richard was 75. His hair was snow white but he looked strong. He was very pale. I knew also I wasn’t as young as I was before. There was a lot of gray in my hair. I took his two hands in mine, pulled him to me, then wrapped my arms around him and gave him the best welcoming kiss and hug I could imagine.

“Welcome to your home. Come on in. There are some people here you need to meet.”

We left his bags in the service area, and I led him to the living room. It had been quite bright outside and it was a bit dark on the inside. His eyes weren’t used to rapid changes in light, and he stood there for a second or two adjusting to the light and recognizing everyone who was there. Things went far better than I thought they would. There were many mixed emotions. John was almost effusive in his thanking Richard for what he’d done in helping save Fanny from the evil Ken Frazier and Ron Everest. Richard had provided significant information that helped the authorities locate where the kidnappers had hidden Fanny.

MK pulled Richard aside several times over the day, and they talked privately. Richard was having a difficult time sorting everything out. He felt a bit guilty about being a free man when in his estimation there were others in prison that deserved their freedom more than he did.

Richard had truly been rehabilitated but as he said, nothing could take away the evil things he’d done. It had almost taken an act of Congress to free him. Actually, it took the work of a congressman, his wife and several others to get the governor to commute his sentence. Richard would never truly be a free man. He couldn’t leave the country for instance, but he was outside the walls. He never came close to violating his parole. It wasn’t in his heart.

Anna and Pablo got home in the afternoon, and they weren’t sure about Richard at all. I had told them about him a number of years before. They knew just about everything about my past, at least in general terms, and knew we had been cellmates in Folsom. Both of them had a hard time accepting I had ever physically been a male. I would always be ‘mamá’ or ‘madre’ to them and that part of my past wasn’t important to them. After the introductions they retreated a bit and helped John with the barbecue. It was still their habit to converse in Spanish with each other. What they hadn’t realized was that Richard was very fluent. He approached them and started speaking their language. I could see them relax and Anna actually hugged him.

Finally, Richard and I were alone. I held him close as his family headed back to their motel rooms. We had made arrangements for Pablo and Anna to spend the night with friends. I wanted us to be alone together for a while. I turned and pulled him to me and gave him the warmest most passionate kiss I could imagine. I had reconciled that Richard’s age and perceived sexual orientation might severely limit any sexual activity between us. I had just hoped that we could sleep together in much more comfortable surroundings than those we had 15 years prior. I was very pleasantly surprised to feel Richard’s arousal against me.

We walked back to the service porch and I took one of his bags and he pulled the other as he walked behind me. I led him to the bedroom that I had grown to love over the last decade plus. I had added some personal touches but it was essentially the same bedroom I had entered with Johnny many years before.

Richard looked around. I really think he was expecting a separate bedroom of his own.

“This is your room?” he said stating the question.

“It’s our room and this bed is a lot nicer than that little bunk you used to share with me.”

“I’m gay. Why would you want me to sleep with you?”

“You’re not gay Richard. Well you’re bi-sexual for sure, but that doesn’t matter. When you called me the other day, it confirmed you still love me, and I think you love me as a woman. Well I am a woman in almost every way now, and when I was kissing you when we were outside, I detected something that tells me you probably think of me as a woman too. I know I aroused you when we were together before, but you never took me like those other bastards did. Still, we did make love to each other after a fashion and it was very nice. I loved the way you held me and held my little breasts.”

I undressed him slowly and kissed him many times. His arousal was unmistakable. I did a slow strip for him and his gaze was very focused. I was down to my bra and panties and when I took my bra off my breasts sagged a bit and very naturally. I was a full C and I was very proud of them. I still got off on playing with and massaging my breasts, but it was much more enjoyable when someone joined me.

“They’re all natural. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

His gaze dropped to my flat panties, and I pushed them down over my slender hips and let him take in my femininity. He was still very aroused, and deep inside I knew he was pleased with how I looked and pleased for me.

“Come on let’s take a long shower together. We don’t have to worry about the screws breaking anything up. Besides, I think you are interested unless my eyes are deceiving me.”

I wanted to take a long hot shower with him. I wanted to soap and wash him, and help him remove the patina of more than 20 years of prison showers. I wanted to worship his erection with my tongue and lips. I wanted him to know that I had never fallen out of love with him, and I suddenly realized I was so fucking horny. I needed him and I wanted him inside me. We had never had anal sex in prison, but I would gladly have submitted to him if he’d asked. I think he was sensitive to what had happened to me, and forcing me was something that he never wanted to do.

I dried him off and escorted him back to our bed. I was going to do the work for him this time. I wanted to make love to him and I wanted to be in charge. He had waned a bit but I was able to bring him back very quickly. There’s a big difference between being forced to do something and doing it because you loved someone. I swallowed him easily and his response was very satisfying. He became very ready very fast. I was a little out of practice and a little older since the last time I had vaginal sex and I found the lube where I had placed it earlier. Then slowly I was penetrated by a man for the first time in three years. It had been my trusty stent (Dare I say dildo?) the last three years. It was wonderful. Johnny may have been a bit bigger but Richard was just fine.

Richard was fascinated with my breasts. I know they were a lot larger than he’d expected. He propped himself up a bit and tenderly nursed on me. My nipples went from just an aroused peak to rock hard as I quietly came the first time. After that it was Richard’s turn and I started to increase my pace. I could sense finally that he was going to come, and when he did I was right with him. I am not a screamer, but looking back I realized that Richard had not been a very good lover to either of his wives, and probably never realized if he really brought pleasure to either of them. He didn’t really know whether I came or not. I trained him very well over the next few months. He had a lot to learn.

When he came, I could tell it was very good for him. His respiration increased greatly, and as I pressed my breasts onto him I could feel his racing pulse gradually slow down. I was in heaven. Richard and I finally made love the right way and it was wonderful. It had to be. I loved him.

“God! I waited fifteen years for that,” were the first words out of my mouth

“Did you …?”

“Did I come? Oh yeah! I’m real lucky. A lot of girls like me can’t, and it’s such a shame. You did pretty well for an old man. My psychologist thought you would.”

“How would your psychologist know about me?”

“Luck, I guess. Dr. Holman was very good. He understood me and my problem and worked with my doctors to speed the process on.

“Jesus! Prentice.”

“He was very proud of you. You were one of his ‘greatest successes’ as he put it. That was years ago, before I ever knew there was a chance you would get out. He didn’t want me to tell you about him. He has made quite a practice helping people like you and me get our acts together. He’s working on the east coast now. I think he does a lot of counseling for the New York prison system. I have his email address. He would like to hear from you.”

We slept like we did in the old days. I was spooned up against him and his hand was holding my breast. I woke during the early morning hours and pulled his hand in closer to me. Suddenly I could feel his erection between my legs. It didn’t take me too long to prepare my self for his entry, and I maneuvered a bit and he entered me from behind. I worked my muscles and gently slid back and forth a couple of inches. If he hadn’t been awake before, he was now. He started kissing the nape of my neck and gently squeezing my breasts. He pulled on my nipples, drawing them away from my body. I was warm and tingly all over. Pretty soon he was pushing and pulling a lot more rapidly, accelerating into my depths. Then he lunged and hugged me hard as he came. His head was buried in the nape of my neck and his breath was rapid and hot.

“Musetta, this isn’t a dream is it? This isn’t some sort of cruel joke that someone is playing on me? I never thought I would touch you again, and yet here you are a complete and beautiful woman and I am making love to you.”

“Richie, I had this same dream too. Only I was so much luckier than you. I found Johnny Gigliotti or he found me. It doesn’t really matter. Johnny wasn’t a substitute for you, and I loved him very much. Until now, I was never happier than I was when Johnny and I found each other. He knew how I felt about you, and he was never jealous. He said I was very lucky to have all this room in my heart for love, especially after what had happened to me.

“You will meet many of the people I love and who love me. I don’t think anyone who ever knew you in the past hates you anymore. We have all had to come to terms with so many past events.

“There are some things I am going to have to tell you about our future relationship. I have been assigned to be your de facto ‘jailer.’ I think we can get that awful device off your ankle soon. You don’t need it. Mostly, it’s just a symbol anyway. I could take it off in about five seconds if I wanted to, but I want it to be official.

“I don’t want to be your jailer. I would rather be your wife. So as soon as we get everything settled I want to marry you, and the sooner the better.”

“Musetta, I am an old man. Why would you want to marry me?”

“For one thing, I love you. I lived and slept with you for more than a year, and it’s time you made an honest woman out of me. What do we have to lose? I’ve talked to my step children and children about it and they are okay. The way my will is set up most everything goes to them as far as the property is concerned. There’s a lot of other stuff that is mine since Johnny died. If I should die before you do, you will be well taken care of. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

“So what do you do? I know you have all these orange trees.”

The sun was streaming through the curtains as I led him to the shower. I would fix breakfast in a while, and we had most of the day until Pablo and Anna came home from school. School would end this week. I had fallen in love with Lester and Billie’s shower in Los Altos and early on I had ours redone. One thing that I really loved was the continuous supply of hot water. None of the gray water was wasted and it eventually went into the garden. Richard looked good in spite of his seventy-five years. There was no question he was a senior. Every hair on his head was white as was most of it on his torso but he was well toned and still pretty muscular. I soaped him down and rubbed my soapy body all over him. He explored me in turn and marveled at what modern surgery could do. He said if it hadn’t been for the fact he’d seen my equipment before, he would never have been any the wiser. He loved soaping my breasts, massaging them and feeling their weight in his hands.

As we ate breakfast I filled him in on what we did and what I did as the CFO. At this point, my stepchildren ran most everything and would continue to do so although Pablo’s presence would increase, especially after college. He had developed a great interest in the wine industry.

Then there were the unintended consequences of the wills. We never changed them after Johnny and I adopted Pablo and Anna. This meant that each of the children would eventually inherit twenty percent of the physical estate rather than the one third when the will was written. The amount of the holdings when Johnny died was substantial and all five would be very wealthy, regardless.

Richard’s passions waned a bit after our initial ‘honeymoon’ but he was always good for a couple of times a week, especially when I took charge.

We kept things very low key. We were married in a short civil ceremony, and Jan and MK were witnesses. I never assumed the O’Donnell name because of certain notoriety, and the fact everyone already knew me as Musetta Gigliotti. I don’t think anyone in the circle I ran with knew who he was. He was just a loving companion. There was really something interesting about the results of this marriage. Mike O’Donnell was now my stepson, Jo was my stepdaughter-in-law and all those wonderful children were my grandchildren. Let’s see: Jo and Mike had five and Pat and MK had three, Thomas and Susan had two (plus one on the way), Eduard and Lois had two and Theresa and Howard had one with another on the way also. That’s a bunch. Wait a minute. I am a great grandmother. I forgot about Antonio Michael Essegian.

Richard worked hard to learn the citrus, orchard and grape business. His facility with the Spanish language was invaluable, and he basically became the co-foreman with Umberto, although he never drew a salary. He lost his prison pallor rather quickly and he developed the characteristic light upper forehead that anyone who works out of doors for any length of time has. It’s what you get when you wear a straw hat all the time.

I played golf at least twice a week and Richard would drive the cart. I got my first hole in one a week after my fiftieth birthday. The rest of the time was mostly work; however, we were able to take some vacations together as they had loosened the reins on Richard quite a bit. He didn’t want to travel too far. I think being in prison as long as he was created a bit of agoraphobia in him. I did not go out of the country the entire time we were married.

Mike and Jo were doing a lot of traveling. Jo was doing concert tours all over the place and Mike as a member of the Armed Services and the Foreign Affairs Committees, did a lot of travel also. Sean and Katherine were also doing concert tours and sometimes they, especially Sean and Katherine would do concerts together. Fanny is not the only one to make Mike and Jo Grandparents. Katherine has had one child and she is not saying who the father is. Sean has a full time girl friend and they seem to be very compatible. They have a daughter together and are talking about having more. Sean, his girlfriend, Katherine and all their children live in Europe although Katherine’s was born in Redding. Jo and Mike seem to be accepting the situation. Sylvia is a naturalist for the National Park Service. She is a stunning beauty, and at six feet one inch probably intimidates any suitors. She is a bit unconventional too, and professes to be a Wicca. She says that comes as close as anything to describe the way she feels about the world. I found out a little while ago that she is working on her PhD. Her thesis is going to be about restoring land that was once flooded by reservoirs. Matt is finishing up his degree in law enforcement at the Air Force Academy. It’s easy to get in there when your father is a Medal of Honor recipient. I think he and Katia Essegian are pretty solid.

Being a parent is so much fun, and there’re always those little pleasures and surprises. Anna was now a senior in high school and Pablo was a sophomore in college. Richard, Thomas and Umberto were checking on some property up near Visalia. I had been at the country club getting it ready for a high school prom, and came home a little sooner than was expected. Jorge’s car was parked next to Anna’s. My stomach did a little flip flop. I was pretty sure I knew what was going on, and even thought I might go away for a while, then come back later. Then I thought about how the O’Donnells and Essegians handled the situation with Fanny and John years ago. If the two of them were making love, they needed to know I was okay with it. I didn’t want them sneaking around nor did I want them to become parents quite yet.

All was quiet indoors and I thought maybe I had been jumping to conclusions. The kids were probably out walking in the orange groves – right! I walked up the stairs and noted Anna’s door was partially open. There they were still tangled together and as naked as the day they were born. They were so beautiful. Jorge was asleep, and his arm was across Anna’s back and her arm was across his. She was gently caressing him and apparently had not heard me come in. I was going to go back downstairs and wait for them, and as I shifted my weight to turn, the floor creaked. Anna looked up and there was panic in her eyes. She froze. I put my finger to my lips, smiled, then mouthed, “It’s okay. I love you.”

Twenty minutes later two embarrassed teenagers came into the parlor. The first thing I did was to hug and kiss them and hold both of them closely to me. I was a lot taller than Anna and a bit taller than Jorge. We had a long talk. The little darlings had been making love for almost a year and thank God they were using protection. Anna was on the pill. She had seduced Jorge the previous summer, not that he was unwilling. She had hidden some blankets in a shed, then later on the pretense of getting away from the house to see the stars, took him into one of the orange groves where they gave their virginity to each other.

They became officially engaged while they were in college.

-

I had always had this hope that I would sometime be reconciled with my parents. Ginny told me not to have too much hope, they were as bigoted and hate filled as they ever were. In fact my brothers and sisters associated very little with our parents, except at those mandatory times such as birthdays, Christmas and Thanksgiving. My brothers had bought Dad out of the accounting business and basically gave him a retirement check. That and the Social Security kept Mom and Dad fairly comfortable. They had sold the big house and bought a smaller condominium.

It was just after my fiftieth birthday that Ginny called to say Mom had had a stroke. She had some paralysis and some of her memory functions were impaired. They weren’t sure how much of the problem was psychosomatic and how much was real. The big problem was that during the medical examination they found she had cancer and it was inoperable. The cancer was in her brain. It might remain relatively dormant or it might start spreading rapidly. They weren’t sure how long it had been there and they weren’t sure how fast it was spreading. It might be months or it might be years but the bottom line was it was terminal.

I decided it was time to make an attempt at some form of reconciliation. The drive was pretty short once I had made the decision to go. This was something I needed to do by myself. If it worked out, then Mother could meet my children and husband later on. I stayed with Ginny and Greg, and the next morning Ginny and I went to the hospital. Mom was awake and Ginny went in first. “Mom, there is someone here to see you.”

“That’s nice, dear. Who is it?”

“It’s Musetta.”

“Musetta? I don’t think I know any Musetta.”

“Mom, it’s…” I stopped her as I walked in.

Mom looked at me with a very questioning expression.

“I don’t think I know you. Have we met?”

“Many years ago. We used to be pretty close.”

“I’m sorry, but ever since this stroke I don’t remember things very well. Sit down and we’ll talk a bit. Maybe I will remember after a while.”

Mom and I talked for a long time. She didn’t have a clue. Her memory seemed to cut off about 20 years back. Any memory of me was gone and I saw no reason to try to resurrect it. Finally, I leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“It was nice talking to you. Get well soon. I may be back.”

I turned to leave and almost ran into my father. His bulk totally blocked the door. He looked at me very quizzically, and as he stepped in I squeezed by him. It wasn’t until I was in the hall that the look of recognition crossed his face. He started to splutter something but the words escaped him. I could hear my mother.

“Hello dear. I just had the nicest visit from the sweetest lady. She said we used to know each other. Did you see her?

“Er, Yes.”

“Who is she? She was so nice.”

“She was nobody, nobody at all.”

I never saw them again. I don’t know how I felt. I guess flat would describe it. They had made it patently obvious 30 years before that they didn’t want me around and seeing my father’s reaction made it certain nothing had changed.

Ginny and I walked slowly back to the parking lot.

“You were very good Musetta. She’s going to remember that she had a very nice conversation with an attractive woman who she can’t remember a thing about. Maybe that’s the best way. I’ll tell Dad not to spoil it for her. You sure caught him off guard. He was leering at you at first, and when the recognition hit he was tongue tied. Serves the old fart right. They could have had a beautiful daughter to be proud of, and they threw it all away.

My father died a few months later of a massive heart attack. Rachel and Hooker found him in his lounge chair. There was a spilled Coors can on the floor and it was still cold. He weighed almost 400 lbs. Mom died a few months later. The pain had become pretty severe and they were keeping her as comfortable as possible with morphine. They said she went peacefully.

Ginny was with her before she lapsed into unconsciousness.

“Ginny.”

“Yes Mother.”

“I just realized something. That was Marcus, wasn’t it?”

“No, Mother, that was Musetta.”

“Well, she looked very nice.”

Next: Musetta continues to write about her life with Richard and her life after his death. Anna and Pablo get married. She writes quite a bit about Jo and Mike’s children as they grow up. She mentions Kate and finally figuring out who the father of her children is. Apparently, it was a good time for her, until she becomes ill. What we didn’t know was that there was quite a bit of her story that she left out.