Chapter twenty-one

They waved their good-byes to the other workers and he helped her into the van. She was quiet.

"Are you okay?" he asked without looking.

"I'm good" she said softly. "Where are we going?" He heard her ask

"I'm not really sure. Your place is out. People will see us coming in. Want to see my digs?" he smiled, "They're pretty humble."

"Yes, that sounds great." She said with a gentle smile.

His hand reached out for hers and she took it. Her hands were soft and delicate. He always noticed that about her. For all the strength that this woman had, her body seemed a fragile as a flower. He remembered when she danced, her movements were more ballet than pop. Her hands took the same shape, fingers perpendicular to the thumb with the index and pinky slightly higher, every time. Now he held that hand, and in some ways he couldn't believe it. How many times did he have to hold his hormones in check twenty years ago? Biting his lip and looking away. He constantly denied, it even to himself, but she was always there. And now she was here.

They rolled on to one of the working class suburbs. He pulled up in front of a small house. She smiled, he was right, this was pretty humble.

He opened the door and waved her in. She looked around. There really wasn't much. A couch, a chair, a tv, a coffee table filled with junk. He followed the direction of her glance and started to snatch the magazines off the table.

"I really wasn't expecting company." He grinned. Did she see the expose that Time did of her? She wasn't going to look. She felt like she was invading on his privacy.

"Your house is very nice. How is it that you own it and yet no one finds you here?" she asked.

'You know, the cliché, 'He was a quiet guy, never bothered anyone'? That's me. I keep to myself, mow the lawn and keep the place up. It's not hard."

"But wouldn't people be able to find you through tax records? You have to pay property taxes."

"Not really, I don't own anything. Maybelle owns it all."

Amber looked puzzled.

"Come on and sit down." He motioned to the couch, "Can I get you something? I could use coffee, how about you?"

She seemed to relax for the first time. "Oh that would be great."

He scurried to the kitchen and she studied the room. She tried to find something that would bring it all together but there was nothing there. Lots of sheet music, a prayer book, a black rosary and extra glasses on the end table. Pictures of Maybelle, Inez at her wedding, Seaweed, Penny and all the kids on the tv. He was an invisible member of the family. He knew everything that went on with them. She wondered what he knew about her. Maybelle said he watched her, but there really wasn't much to watch. No steamy love affairs or unexpected babies. She was successful but boring. She thought about the article she did for Redbook, all dressed up in workout clothes like Olivia Newton-John. That one even made her cringe. Did he laugh when he looked at it?

He bounded back in and took a seat on the leather chair. "How about if we start from the beginning." He smiled at her, "This is off the record, right AVT?"

She smiled, "Cross my heart."

"Okay", he began. "The whole deal in California was bad from the beginning. I didn't belong there. I had become someone I didn't know. Someone I didn't care to be. So I took off. First I kind of wandered. I had about 200 in my pocket which got me food and that was about it. I sat in a café in Vegas and stared out the window when a bunch of sailors came in. They seemed happy and cheerful. The sea called me. I hopped a bus and went to San Diego. There I joined the Merchant Marines."

That made sense to Amber, he had lived around docks all his life. She remember that he had even worked the docks during his summers in college. This would be right.

"I was pretty happy too. No one knew me, no one cared about my life. We worked hard, drank hard and partied like real men. And it was great. I thought I would live like that until my body gave out, then move to an Island and sit in the sun. It all looked planned out." He paused, "Oh the coffee, sit tight here a second. Cream, sugar?"

"No black is fine."

He returned quickly and placed the cups on the table. "I'm a black and sweet man. I think that's why Maybelle and I get along." He joked.

"Anyway, did you know that after seven years, if no one knows where you are, you can be declared legally dead?" Yes. She remembered when she read that story about him. She drank herself into a stupor and cried. That moron that she was seeing had no sympathy. He was soon out of her life as well.

She nodded as she sipped her coffee and he continued, "My slimy brother knew it. I think he circled the days on the calendar, counting down til he could get my cash." Suddenly he threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh, "I would have LOVED to have been a fly on the wall when that will was read. Everything I had was willed to Maybelle!! He got a cheap watch, an eight year old Jaguar with years of storage fees and my photo albums. He paid the attorney and she got it all. Isn't that a hoot!"

She had to laugh herself. Revenge can be sweet.

"So Maybelle got all the cash but she never believed that I was dead. I don't think that anyone of worth really believed it any way. She was there with me during the worst times and she knew that I would make it through. Let me tell you AVT, she is a financial whiz. She took the money she got and invested it. It grew by leaps and bounds. With the money I saved overseas and the money she invested, I'm pretty well set. She saw to that. She keeps it all in her name for my anonymity and I owe her everything."

Right at this moment, Amber felt like she owed her everything too. Maybelle was the pillar in everyone's lives.

"She loves you so much. And Corny, please don't think she told me where you were." Amber pleaded, "Trust me, she hinted, but she never told."

His eyes twinkled at her, "Oh I know what Maybelle wants for me. I'm sure she gave a pretty easy clue."

"Once I caught on it was easy," she cried, "Seems I was a little dense."

He smiled, "I'm sure I would be too. Ghosts don't often come back."

"I didn't want you to be a ghost. You were always alive to me."

His face grew serious, "Same here….." he shook it away and continued.

"Few years ago I was in Japan. I saw a newspaper and there was a picture of Maybelle. I never knew what the article was about. Suddenly I wanted to see her more than anything. My time with the Marines was ending and instead of signing up again, I took the next boat back home. When I arrived on her doorstep she squeaked and squealed. She kissed me and hugged me and nearly smothered me. But I didn't mind at all. I was home."

She knew exactly what that was like. Maybelle could hug like no other. Her house filled with children and joy was the home she never had. .

"She started making calls but I put a quick stop to it. I wanted to see her, not all of Baltimore. At first, she was insistent but I told her I would be gone as quickly as I came if she pushed the issue. She knew I meant it. The rest is history."

She contemplated her coffee cup for a minute. "Corny, did you ever think of calling me?" she asked without looking up.

"No, never."

She looked disappointed.

He got up and sat next to her on the couch. "You were totally unapproachable. When I tried to talk to you, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. I saw nothing but distain from you." He stated honestly.

She knew he was right.

"I was stuck with you though" he said as he looked down at his hands, "I didn't realize it for a while. I just always seemed to like the petite blondes. Once I was in port with a lady I was seeing. We had written for a while and I really thought we were getting serious. We were at her apartment and one thing led to another, you know. She whispered how much she loved when I touched her and I moaned back. Then suddenly she pushed me onto the floor! 'Who the hell is Amber!!!!' she yelled at me."

Amber gasped.

"Yeah, it really kind of busted that romantic mood." He laughed, "I had to look at the whole situation at that point. I had been in denial for too long. I realized that I held every woman to your standard, but none of them could quite live up to it. There was only one Amber Von Tussle. Others paled in comparison."

"Thank you." She whispered.

"No, there is no reason to thank me," he said as he stared deeply into her eyes, "You got me through the tough times without even knowing it. Your quiet resolve when you came to the studio that night was totally different than you had been before. Honestly, you shocked me. I saw you as separate from your mother and I liked it. I really wanted to get to know the person you had become, but you always waved me away. It didn't matter though, You were there in the back of my mind or in the papers in front of my face. .Even your fundraiser for the shelter got me to volunteer there. When I saw you on tv, standing with those families in need, I thought that it would do me good to be with people more miserable than myself. I went there hoping to help and helping them made me feel whole."

He paused, "I would be lost without you. You were there all the time"

There was not an ounce of humor in his voice. He was deadly serious.