Elizabeth watched in amazement as Ginger had the Professor wrapped up in her arms tightly. Her eyes took in the expression on the man's face and was amused.
"Darling I'm going to spend the day with Mary Ann and her mother. Will you miss me? I'll miss you." The movie star asked pressing her lips closer to her husband.
"Um…su..sure I…I will." He stammered feeling extremely flustered.
"Will you think of me? I'll be thinking of you." She said gently brushing her lips against his.
"Of…of cour…course I'll think of..of y…you." The man of science stuttered.
Ginger grinned and deepened the kiss as the Professor stood there helplessly. She let go of him and he went on his way out the door still feeling hot.
Mary Ann's mother spoke. "Wow…I….I never…"
"You get used to it." Mary Ann laughed. "That's what Ginger does to him."
"He loves me." Ginger smiled.
"I can see that." Elizabeth said still in awe of how Ginger managed to turn the man who started out so polite and pleasant when she greeted him to a stuttering stammering flustered teenager.
"Come on upstairs I want you to see our children." Ginger said leading the way.
Elizabeth followed her up thinking she should try Ginger's moves out on her own husband. She could just see the look on Conrad's face.
The three women arrived the nursery as Alice was taking Samantha out of her crib. Daniel sat on the floor happily playing with a toy.
"Hello Mrs. Hinkley." The Nanny greeted. " I was just getting ready to bathe the children.
"Oh please…I'll do it." Ginger said. "I don't mind."
"Okay." Alice smiled. She adored how Ginger insisted on doing all the motherly chores that most movie stars pawned upon their nannies.
Alice handed her Samantha and Ginger smiled at her daughter. "Time for your bath sweetie." She said. "Mary Ann…can you get Daniel for me."
"Sure thing." Mary Ann walked over and picked up the baby boy.
Elizabeth smiled. "They are so precious." She gently touched Daniel's head. "I remember those days."
Ginger brought her daughter into the bathroom. There was a little tub set up next to a bigger one that she used for bathing. She set Samantha down in the tub and began bathing her. She used a gentle shampoo that the Professor had made insisting that those so called baby shampoos sold in stores were not gentle and would never touch her children's heads.
Elizabeth watched thinking how lovely it was that Ginger would do this. She figured most Hollywood stars had someone else tend to the children for things like this.
Ginger finished bathing her daughter and handed her to Elizabeth.
The farm woman held the little girl in her arms smiling. "She looks just like you." She remarked to Ginger.
"Yes she does." Ginger said proudly. "And Daniel looks just like my darling Roy."
"I can't wait till I have grandchildren." sighed Elizabeth.
"Mother!" Mary Ann exclaimed. "Please! I'm not married to Gilligan yet."
Elizabeth laughed. "I know I'm not trying to rush you sweetheart."
Ginger finished bathing her son and let the water out of the tub. The children were brought back to the nursery where Ginger dressed them giving them each a kiss.
So far Elizabeth's impression of Ginger was a positive on. She was amused at how much the movie star loved to fluster that Professor proving how much she appeared love and adore the man. And she was touched at how kind and loving she was to her children.
Mary Ann certainly met some wonderful people on that island. She adored Gilligan and now Ginger. She met the Professor only briefly but thought him a good man.
Ginger brought her two children downstairs as the three then retired out to the courtyard where Ginger's personal chef, Tony, had set up lunch for them all.
Elizabeth sat down in a lovely white chair at the glass table.
Everything looked delicious. Tony prepared little sandwiches for them all and a juicy fruit salad minus the pineapple . Ginger told him if she saw one more pineapple she would scream.
"This is wonderful." Elizabeth said taking a bite of the sandwich. "I don't think I had such delicious bread."
"Tony bakes it himself." Ginger explained. "He won't use any bread sold in stores. He insists upon baking it himself."
"I see. Well it's very good." She said swallowing.
Elizabeth then took a sip of her lemonade. "I met Gilligan the other day and I have to say he is quite an adorable young man."
Ginger smiled. "He is. I'm very fond of him. All of my fellow castaways."
"My daughter especially?" Elizabeth asked with a smile.
"Yes. Mary Ann has become like a sister to me. Living with her in a hut for four years…we grew very close. We would do everything together. Even scheme together." She laughed.
"Scheme?" Elizabeth said raising her eyebrow at her daughter.
Mary Ann laughed. "Well when you are stranded on an island you take desperate measures. Like trying to trick Gilligan into a jet pack."
"Jet pack?"
"Yes." Mary Ann continued. "We found a jet pack on the island and well…Ginger and I tried to get Gilligan in it. She would pretend to be kissing him goodbye and I would put the pack on his back."
"Kiss him? Ginger you kissed Gilligan?"
"Oh it didn't mean anything." Mary Ann said quickly. "She was just acting. It was hard to get the men to do what we wanted them to do…Ginger just used the best resource at her disposal… her beauty."
"I see." Elizabeth said taking it all in.
"Mom…Ginger does not love Gilligan like that and never did. Her eyes were always for the Professor. Believe me. You should have seen the time when Ginger and I tried to steal an attaché case."
"I'm listening."
"Gilligan and the Skipper found this case and the Professor said there were top secret documents inside. Well naturally we were all curious but he would not let us see them."
"So." She went on. "We all tried to steal the case from him. My plan was to have Ginger distract him and hook the case with a fishing line and I would reel it out. Well the Professor caught on and needless to say Ginger was not too happy."
"He wanted me." Ginger said grumbling at the memory of the Professor escorting her out. "He just didn't want to admit it. I know he secretly always wanted me in his hut at night."
"Sounds like you all had some adventures on that island." Elizabeth said taking another bite of her sandwich.
"I'll say." Ginger said. "Like the time that creep Duke showed up. Ugh."
"Don't remind me." Mary Ann said wrinkling her nose.
"Who's Duke?" inquired Elizabeth.
"Oh we was this surfer who somehow landed on our island." Mary Ann explained. "Ginger and I were both taken with him thinking he was dreamy. He wasn't."
"Oh? What happened?"
Ginger frowned. "I'll tell you what happened. He got a little too friendly with me one day in the jungle. And then again with Mary Ann."
"He did?"
"Yes but we took the problem to Mrs. Howell." Mary Ann stated. "And Mr. Howell then came up with the plan to make Duke believe Ginger and I already had boyfriends. And if I recall correctly Ginger…" She grinned at the movie star. "You are the one who insisted that the Professor be yours."
Ginger blushed at bit and then countered with. "Oh yeah…like you weren't rushing up to Gilligan saying how wonderful it was he would agree to be your boyfriend."
Elizabeth shook her head with a laugh. "I take it this plan worked?"
"Of course." Ginger said with a grin. "The Professor and I were very convincing." She left out the part where she kept the charade up long after Duke already left the scene. The movie star told the Professor they needed to keep it up in case Duke came back around. The fact that she secretly just wanted to keep kissing him played a factor in her decision.
Even the next morning, she went on with the pretense that the Professor was her man.
The Professor told her she needn't continue the act but she again explained it was necessary as they needed to keep Duke fooled.
"Gilligan and I were pretty good ourselves." Mary Ann sighed happily at the memory of kissing the sailor.
Sitting on his lap. His arms around her. Thinking how she was certain he enjoyed it a little. She too insisted upon keeping the act up until Duke was gone from the island. Like Ginger with the Professor , she just wanted a reason to keep kissing Gilligan and stay in his arms.
Elizabeth laughed. "I take it you two kept those two men on their toes."
She then got serious and spoke to her daughter. "Mary Ann…I want to say something to you."
"What is it Mom?"
"I want to apologize for…I'm sorry that I well all of us, pushed Michael on you. You did not love him and we should have accepted that. I'm sorry about how we fought about it. You needed to do what was right for you and that did not include marrying Michael. I'm sorry."
"Oh Mom it's okay." Mary Ann said placing her hand on her mother's. "I know you were just looking out for me. I'm sorry I got so angry at you but..you all just…I mean Michael was a nice guy but I didn't feel anything for him."
"I know that." Elizabeth said. "And I should have respected that. I'm sorry I didn't. I want you to know that I do respect your decision to marry Gilligan. I think he's a wonderful young man."
"Thanks Mom." Mary Ann said getting up and hugging her.
"Thank you." Elizabeth replied returning the hug.
Ginger smiled. It almost reminded her of her and her own mother. She had always been close to her. Joan was the reason that Ginger got into acting. She told Ginger she was an amazing performer and could really make it big. Seeing Mary Ann having such a good relationship her mother made Ginger hope even more she had a good one with her own daughter.
Mary Ann sat back in her chair and Elizabeth then spoke. "I can't wait to meet this Mrs. Howell that Mary Ann had told me about. She's sounds like a lovely woman."
"She is." Ginger nodded. "Actually, Roy and I were invited to a dinner party on Saturday…Mary Ann did Mrs. Howell mention that to you?
"Oh yes she did!" Mary Ann said remembering. "I almost forgot about that…Do you think she would mind if my parents came?"
"Of course not." Ginger said. "I'll call her and tell her that they are in town. I'm sure she would love to meet them. Excuse me a minute." The redhead got up from her chair and headed inside.
"I have to say Mary Ann…so far I think you were stranded with a great bunch of people. Ginger is a doll."
"I knew you would love her." Mary Ann said happily. "She's not all glitz and glamour like people may think."
"No she's not." Elizabeth agreed. "I like her. I think you made a terrific friend."
Mary Ann was silent for a minute then spoke. "Aunt Carol….do you think Aunt Carol would…like everyone?"
"Why do you ask?"
Mary Ann sighed. "I got the impression at the farm that Carol would have loved it if Scott was my fiancé."
"Yes I got that impression to. And I told my dear sister to give Gilligan a chance. She had not even met him yet. She shouldn't judge."
"You think she will like him?" wondered Mary Ann.
"I don't see how she couldn't. Look..you know she means well and she loves you."
"I know. But..she was the one who pushed the hardest for Michael. Yes you all wanted me to marry him too but she was practically his biggest champion."
"That's true." Elizabeth nodded. "But no matter what she says or does…you stick to what you want. You love Gilligan and want to marry him, your father and I are behind you 100%. If Carol gives you a hard time….just be firm. Tell her you appreciate her concern but you are doing what you need to do. She will understand. She may not like it, but she will."
"I don't mean to be down on Aunt Carol. She's my favorite aunt. I love her to pieces…"
"I know honey. And she loves you too. I'm sure she will love Gilligan."
"I hope so." Mary And said. "Because I'm not giving him up no matter what."