Author's Note :- Thank you for the reviews. Despite the negativity one shall struggle on!!!! mcj
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CHAPTER 1 – JEFF TRACY -THE BILLIONAIRE- PART 1 -
THE EARLY YEARS
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DRINKS WITH JEFF
There he is, right on cue, knocking on my bedroom door.
He'll have a scotch in his hand for me as well as a watered down one for himself. He will have told his sons to make sure they tell me the right things about their little "Meeting" and there's no doubt he'll be on his guard too.
I guess I'd better open the door.
"Hello Mother." he says, smiling and walking into the room. "Did you enjoy your rest?"
I knew he'd say that to me.
I take a great deal of pleasure in saying not really and smile as I watch his face fall.
"Is that for me?" I ask him looking at the Scotch in his hand.
"Yes ma'am. Would you care to join me out on the balcony for a while?"
I knew he'd say that too.
"Of course dear." I nod amiably.
We sit together overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean talking about the day.
"How was your Meeting about the new communications link?" I ask him and watch with interest to see how he replies.
"Yes ... most fruitful. I've decided to go up to Thunderbird 5 myself tomorrow with Brains and John to have a good look at it."
Lord Jeff you are such a bad liar.
I laugh inwardly.
How lame is that excuse? He and John were going up there for one reason and one reason only; to fetch Alan for the surprise party.
OK maybe Brains is actually going to install a new communications link up there but it's a pretty big co-incidence.
"Well I hope you'll be back for Dinner son." I point out. "It's my seventy fifth birthday you know."
Swallowing the rest of his scotch he smiles and reaches out to squeeze my hand with his.
"I know Mother. Seventy five is a wonderful age. I'm only disappointed I can't allow young Alan to be with us."
Yeah sure you won't allow it Jeff. You know how important my youngest grandson's attendance is to me.
I decide to play along with the charade.
"Here's a suggestion dear. Why don't you leave Brains up there and bring Alan back for Dinner?" I enquire and smile as I watch him squirm. He is starting to wonder if I know.
"Mother you know that I can't leave Thunderbird Five without an Astronaut." he says trying to sound authoritative. "I know you'd like Alan to come home but it's impossible to arrange it I'm afraid."
As I said before Jeff you are a really bad liar.
That son of mine is such a special man; transparent but special.
I'd like to tell you more about him now.
His is a long story and takes in three parts of his life, the early years which made him the man he is, the tough years that made him something special and the golden years where he is now.
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Stage 1 - The Son on the Farm
Jeff Tracy, my only son was born in Kansas and was raised on the wheat farm where Grant and I lived our whole married life. Grant was a fifth generation farmer and when I agreed to say I do, I agreed to live a simple and basic life, totally different to the affluent manner in which I had been brought up.
If the truth is to be known, I never really liked the farm overly much but I loved Grant Tracy and if that's where I had to be to be with him then that's where I had to be. As a result that's where our son was raised.
Grant felt strongly about the over population of the world back then. When I was young there was a lot of famine in overseas countries and Governments didn't seem to get the message across about the problem being aggravated by overpopulation. He was a thinker as well as a doer my Grant and he said to me after Jeff was born that now that we had a son to carry on the Tracy name, it was unnecessary to bring any more children into the world.
I was very disappointed about that.
Grant Tracy made me a very happy woman in my young years and I'm not talking in the material sense either but sadly he only ever allowed our love for each other to produce Jeff. Even though I would have liked a daughter Grant was as stubborn as a mule and he made very sure he was unable to Father any more children.
Jeff showed signs of extreme intelligence very early in his life and I knew that whilst Grant had an expectation that our Jeff would follow on in his footsteps and be a Farmer, it wasn't ever going to be like that. After living with Jeff and his boys, all I can say is, Fathers have ideas but the sons don't necessarily agree with them.
Jeff was a good boy and had a special presence about him even when he was quite small. As he grew into a man, his Father instilled in him the responsibility of accounting for his own actions and the importance of hard work in order to achieve success. The Tracy family were decent people going right back through the generations and my Grant was determined that our Jeff wouldn't be the one to let the family down.
There is a story about Jeff in High School which nearly led to the decency label being removed from the Tracy family. He doesn't know I know this but he'd developed a bit of a "feeling" for a pretty little girl who lived on the nearby farm to ours. One night when we all met at a church function the two of them had gone walking together and didn't return for a while.
Well I'm not Josie for nothing am I? I went walking to find them as any self-respecting caring mother would do and heard them necking behind the shed nearby. Well there was a bit of low moaning going on and I was still young enough to know what that meant. So I did the only thing I could to cool the situation off. I called out loud and clear,
"Grant, I think I hear Jeff near that shed there. Go and tell him its time to leave"
Well that was the end of the moaning and Jeff reappeared looking a little stressed not long after. Whilst his hair was a bit messed up, his clothes seemed undisturbed at least. Whew. That was a close call for my sixteen-year-old son.
Jeff graduated from High School as the top student of his year and after school was done he began to think about where he wanted his life to take him. City life really interested him and he was keen to learn what sort of life it would provide. He decided he wanted to go to College in Kansas City and study Engineering.
Well my Grant was a loving Father but he was a steely man who did not approve of his plans for Jeff changing. It angered him that Jeff was thinking about leaving the farm especially when our wheat crop had recently failed.
"You will be taking over things from me one day son," he thundered. "I need you to stay here next year and help me grow a decent crop. Not only that the time is fast approaching when you should start looking for a nice young woman to settle down with. The Tracy's are ordinary people who have what they have by hard work."
I felt sorry for Jeff that day with his Father giving him no choice about his future. As I said earlier, I'd always felt that Jeff had a destiny and a purpose and he was being wasted remaining on the farm. But that wasn't easy for me to say. I was Grant Tracy's wife and I had to back him up where his decisions about Jeff were concerned. He expected me to and feisty as I was back then I knew when to tow the line.
Jeff obeyed Grant without protest and began to work with him on the farm. He even tried to do what his Father wanted and dated a few girls from the surrounding area. He wasn't fussed on any of them.
I knew deep down inside that Jeff was unhappy about his life and whilst I loved Grant dearly, the happiness of my only son was everything to me.
One night when Grant was away at one of his beloved Lodge meetings, I asked Jeff if I could talk to him. He was nineteen then, a very handsome decent young man with dark brown hair and dark blue eyes.
"Yes Momma?" he asked sitting down beside me quietly and looking out into the darkness.
"You're not happy Jeff are you?" I asked him and he never told me an untruth in those days. Not like he does now I might say, especially about this party thing.
He continued to look out towards the wheat fields that he and his Father had nurtured during the summer and watched the moon shine over them.
"No Momma I'm not." was all he said.
He didn't ask for permission to leave the farm to go to College because he knew we couldn't afford it.
He didn't make any complaints.
But he did give me a single honest reply.
"Well if Daddy and I can't afford to send you to College what else do you want to do with yourself?" I asked him.
"I want to fly." he said wistfully looking up at the moon.
"Fly? Fly planes?" I asked quite astonished.
"I want to do more than just fly. I want to go into space and see the world from the moon." he said clearly and with conviction. I watched as his face dropped.
"Even though it's never going to happen to someone like me."
I didn't reply. I sensed he had a lot more to say yet.
"But the Air Force would be a good start. They pay you to learn to fly Momma and I'd really like to do that."
He paused before adding.
"It wouldn't cost Daddy any money to let me go."
It sounded like he was keen to enlist. He must have been thinking about it hour after hour on that tractor for the past two years.
"Well I can tell you now Jeff your Father won't have a bar of the Air Force idea." I said leaning back towards Grant's wishes for Jeff to take the farm. "And the odds of you ever walking on the moon are even more remote."
He hung his head.
"I know ma'am but that's really what I want to do with my life. I wish Daddy understood that."
"You wish Daddy understood what?" boomed Grant's deep voice from the door.
Jeff looked at Grant and I must admit I'd never seen him appear more intimidated. He looked at me apprehensively and I nodded at him to tell his Father what he had just told me.
"Well Daddy, it's like this Sir ... I don't want to stay on the farm." he said quietly. "I want to try something else for a while."
"Of course you want to farm Jefferson." was Grant's reply. "Farming's in your blood."
"No Dad I want to join the Air Force." he said directly before swallowing and lowering his voice.
"Even if you'll only let me go for four years Sir."
Grant was silent for a long time. I didn't know whether he was disappointed or trying to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of this unsettled son of his spending a bit of time in the military to make him wake up to the fact that life here was pretty good.
"Grant sweetie, "I began carefully, "Maybe it would be good for him."
Grant Tracy had a temper and that's where our Alan gets it from I might add. I was worried sick he was going to lose it as he dangerously eyed our tall and handsome son .
"Mmmm... maybe four years in the military will do you the world of good son. " he finally said amiably, "By then I'll be ready to give you the farm to settle down on."
That day was one of the happiest days of Jeff's life. His Father had finally allowed him to spread his wings.
And fly.
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Stage 2 - The Career Man
My son Jeff doing anything is like someone catching the measles. Once you've got measles they spread like wildfire. I don't know if you know what I mean, but with Jeff, once he's allowed to do something he wants, there's no stopping him. He is relentless until he succeeds.
Jeff entered the Air Force and did his basic training a long way from the Kansas farm he detested so much. Both Grant and I missed him a lot but he was a good boy and telephoned us daily.
It was hard not to be happy for him as I detected such a profound happiness in his voice. He was training to be a pilot and had shown such a natural talent at it that higher authorities were following his progress with intense interest. These authorities were forever on the look out for talent and self-discipline and they were looking in the right direction where Jeff Tracy was concerned.
Grant had given him the discipline. God had given him the talent.
Jeff was posted to Nevada after basic training and continued to thrive in the challenges of Air Force Life. He studied Engineering with a passion that came deep from within him and developed his knowledge and skills to the extent that he was quickly promoted through the ranks of the service.
By the beginning of his fourth year he had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and invited to join the elite squadron "Red Flag". In only three more months he was the lead pilot in the Red Flag Defence Squadron. He had a level head under pressure and that stood him in good stead in the eyes of the Authorities who still watched his career progressing at lightening speed.
He was now twenty-three years old and clearly had the military in his blood. There was the fierce reality to be faced by Grant that Jeff wouldn't be returning to the farm. Jeff had made it well known that he intended to remain in the Air Force for another term at the end of his fourth year.
Grant squared that jaw of his and refused to accept it.
"Jeff knows I want him here." he said dangerously. "He will be taking over from me."
Well it shouldn't be hard for you to guess what was going to happen between my stubborn husband and my usually obedient son. Jeff had a mind of his own now and had developed a strong and dominant personality in Red Flag. Not only that, he was doing what he wanted to do with his life and he knew he was good at it. Grant wouldn't be able to pull him back under his thumb now.
Jeff doesn't know I know about the huge argument he had with his Father over his career in the Air Force but rest assured I do know. Grant never said anything to me when Jeff left the farm abruptly after the two of them spent several hours shouting at each other down in the back field. Jeff had come home to try to make his Daddy understand.
Fat chance.
His Daddy didn't want to understand.
I know sometime during the shouting, Jeff ended Grant's dream of passing the farm down to the next Tracy generation. Grant had been devastated but he didn't confide in me how he felt. He probably knew that deep down I supported Jeff's aspirations, something a dutiful wife shouldn't be doing. His heart hardened a bit towards his only son and that made me sad. As I said earlier I didn't really like the farm myself but I cared that my son and his Father were at loggerheads over it.
Jeff's fourth year drew to a conclusion and soon afterwards he contacted me talking so fast I could hardly understand a single word he said.
NASA had approached the Air Force about him joining the NASA Space Programme.
It was his dream come true; his opportunity to travel in space on behalf of the United States.
"It's the new moon mission Mother!" he exclaimed as excited as a two year old. "I can't believe they've asked for me."
"Sweetie that's wonderful" I said, clearly thrilled for him in reaching his ultimate goal.
"They said I have to resign from the Air Force in December at the latest. It means leaving Red Flag ..." his voice tapered off wistfully but just as quickly returned. "But NASA is where I've wanted to go for four years Mom and I can't believe it's finally happening to me."
"Well both your Father and I want it for you too." I said hoping Grant wasn't standing behind me to disagree and spoil Jeff's moment.
"What's all this about NASA Josephine?" came the unwelcome and untimely voice. Trust Grant to show up at the most inopportune moment.
"I'll put your Father on sweetheart." I said giving Grant a warning glance which told him not to ruin this wonderful moment for our son.
"Yeah well Jeff that's good then I suppose." I heard him say with no emotion in his voice.
When he put down the receiver that man got more than just a piece of my mind let me tell you. He got it all, hot-tongue and cold-shoulder for his total lack of enthusiasm.
"I can't believe you'd be so stand-offish towards your own son Grant." I snapped. "All over a stupid farm.."
"Look Josie." he said in his deep and powerful voice. "I know you think the farm is why I feel like I do about Jeff but you don't know the half of it. You have absolutely no idea how scared I am inside that my only son is going to get himself killed up there in the air."
He glared at me.
"And killed for what? Some stupid dream to walk on the moon that's what. Believe me Josephine you don't know everything like you think you do and until you do I'd prefer you kept out of it!"
He completely shocked me with that reply and it was obvious right there and then I didn't know everything.
I didn't realise how worried he was.
But to be honest ... so was I.
Stage 3 - The Man in Love
Jeff accepted the offer to enter the NASA Space Programme and was given three months to resign from the Air Force. He did so with reluctance and a fair amount of regret but with a look in his eye that glinted at the thought of experiencing everything he had ever dreamed of.
The moon mission was six years away and he'd have to work damn hard over those six years preparing for his new role as an Astronaut. There was study to be done first and then the application of the knowledge he acquired. The young man from Kansas was to be the pilot of the mission and now had the eyes of the world on him.
His picture and background graced the pages of all the papers around the United States, even our little county newspaper. Grant and I became mini-celebrities overnight. We were no longer the parents of plain old Jeff Tracy, we were the parents of "Major Jefferson Grant Tracy" US Astronaut. Worried as he was about Jeff, Grant was very proud.
The selection meant Jeff had to move to Houston which he did immediately after he resigned in Nevada. The Moon mission had created so much international interest that the President of the United States requested that the astronauts selected for training undertake a tour of the larger worldwide air bases as a sort of public relations exercise. There would be parties and receptions and speeches and protocol, the opportunity to talk about the new mission and introduce the new young Major with the brilliant piloting skills.
"Gee Mother." Jeff said to me on the telephone from Texas, "I'm a bit taken back with all of this."
"Jeff enjoy every minute." I said proudly. "But mind you watch your manners with all those dignitaries or else people will have something to say about your upbringing."
Well that was the last time I talked to Jeff for many years as a man in complete control of his senses. The next time we spoke it was like all else had gone out of his head.
He was in London when he rang me in the middle of the night and by the way he sounded it was like someone had run over him with a bus.
"Momma I met someone tonight." he breathed.
"Who?" I asked thinking it was some famous person he'd managed to run into at one of the receptions.
"Lucille Amanda Evans." he breathed almost as if it was poetry. "I met her tonight at the reception."
"A woman? You woke me in the middle of the night to tell me that?"
"Momma she's not just any woman. She's perfect. She's got this beautiful brown hair which turns red in the light and the biggest and brownest eyes I've ever seen. And her face momma ... she's just so pretty... you know... in the right sort of way"
There was a silent pause as he tried to collect his thoughts.
"Oh momma I can hardly think straight." he finally added.
I frowned. Hmmm that was painfully obvious but there was no doubt that this young Lucy was. A young man with a bright future like my Jeff would be a real prize for an enterprising English girl with tickets on herself.
I began to get huffy.
She was probably all hair and eyes with nothing between the ears. More than likely she was on the lookout for an instant gravy train to hook herself onto and had zeroed in on my young Jeff. I immediately tried to make him see sense..
"Yes well it was only a reception and you won't be seeing her again anyway. You're leaving London for Paris in the morning aren't you?"
"Uh huh but I asked Lucy to meet me at my hotel tomorrow in Paris for Dinner. She said she'd come. Momma you'd really like her. I know you would."
I pursed my lips to go with the frown. It sounded like a bit of horizontal folk dancing was being planned by this Lucy in Jeff's Paris Hotel.
"Jeff be careful." I warned. "You don't really know this girl."
"Yes I do. She's twenty two years old, she's intelligent and she's pretty. Momma you have no idea how she makes me feel inside. You know if I didn't know better I'd think I'd already fallen in love with her."
"Love! Sakes Jeff don't be so ridiculous. You've only met her once."
"I know Mom but she's the one. I just know she is"
What more can you say to your son when he is thousands of miles away, a grown man and carrying on like a lovesick fool? I just hoped that this Lucy Evans, whoever she was, was happy to have her way with him in Paris and leave him alone to continue his career.
" She's the one" I muttered discontentedly as I baked an apple pie for Grant, "How stupid! She's in England Jeff. You've just been selected to go into space for the United States. What a load of nonsense."
Well it wasn't nonsense I'm afraid. Jeff returned to Houston after the promotional tour and recommenced his training. Six months later Lucy Evans left England and moved in with him.
Now I know I said earlier today that I'm no prude, well that's now. Back then I was completely different and I was more than just a little unhappy at the thought of a Tracy son let alone "my son" "shacking up" with some loosely-moraled little miss from England. What sort of girl was she to leave her parents after only meeting Jeff a few times? No decent young woman did that.
I told Jeff so too.
"Mother. Nothing like that is going on with Lucy and me." he laughed but he sounded a little too happy and little too relaxed for my liking.
"Come on Jeff you live in a one bedroom apartment. For God's sake where is she sleeping? In the bath?"
"Mother I thought you knew everything but if you must know, I'm sleeping on the couch." he replied indignantly.
But it was obvious Jeff was really taken with this girl and when he brought her to the farm a short time later to meet us I had to admit I was wrong. She was a beautiful child inside and out and everything Jeff said about her was true. She was pretty, outgoing and polite. I watched her interact with Jeff and how dotingly Jeff interacted with her. Something inside of me started to agree with what Jeff had said to me right from the beginning.
"She's the one."
I knew I had met the young lady who I would grow to love as my own daughter.
Lucille Amanda Evans ; the young lady who would become the mother of my five grandsons.
Grant of course still wasn't happy about the NASA thing and with Lucy now on the scene supporting his career choice, things weren't improving between him and Jeff. Luckily he was able to hold his tongue during their visit.
"Jeff'll marry that little girl." I said the first night as we turned down our bed for the evening.
"He'd better Josephine." Grant thundered looking across the half darkened room at me. "He's still next door with her in the guest room."
"Jeff said nothing's going on between them." I whispered. "They're probably just talking in there."
"Oh come on Josie what planet are you on?" he snapped and got into bed. I turned off the lights and the two of us just lay there in the darkness. I was tired that evening but if anything was going on between them well I was determined to stay awake and find out. Grant lay with his hands behind his head as we listened to them talking in the room next door.
"I don't know where I went wrong with him Josie. First the Air Force, then NASA, now this. What happened to the decent young kid we raised?"
"Shh Grant." I snapped. "I'm trying to listen."
I heard a badly suppressed giggle before the talking stopped. I didn't hear the door shut to indicate Jeff was returning to his room. I told myself he must be still kissing her goodnight.
Well off course he was!
The minutes drew out. Well if he was still kissing her, he was making a mighty thorough job of it. Surely the two of them had to come up for air soon.
I could feel Grant seething next to me. He could hear what was going on just as much as I could even though there wasn't anything being said. Finally after almost fifteen minutes her voice whispered breathlessly in that accent of hers.
"That was so good Jeff."
Well if Grant had a tether that comment caused him to reach the end of it. My husband had morals and a conscience and he wasn't taking too kindly to his son bringing a young lady into his own home and having the nerve to make love to her in the next room.
He went to get out of bed and go in and bawl the two of them out. Luckily I was still young enough then to beat him to the door. I stood in front of it shaking my head. He stared me down in the half dark room but I refused to move no matter what. I whispered to him that Jeff was a man now and he had to respect that. I stood there defiantly until he went back to bed fuming.
He knew I was right though, so after about ten minutes, his blood pressure subsided a bit and he rolled over on his side and went to sleep, the hard toil of the day in the fields overtaking any fury he felt.
Not me. I could hear them talking again. It would be pretty cramped in that little single bed together, not that they needed much room with what was going on in there. Grant started snoring loudly and both of them must have heard him. They must have assumed both of us were asleep and relaxed their guard a little.
Of course one thing led to another and I had to lie through the whole sordid thing again. I was glad Grant was asleep. He would have thrown me out of the way of the door if he'd have heard them at it again.
Nevertheless neither of us had anything to fear about Jeff's intentions for Lucy. One month later he rang to tell us he had asked Lucy to marry him.
It was certainly a bit of shock and even though I approved I still believed in long courtships. Grant and I had courted for well over three years before I agreed to marry him and I still didn't think I'd known everything I needed to know to be his wife.
Jeff's involvement with Lucille had been very brief; less than nine months and it worried me that they were rushing into things. However Grant and I decided we might as well be happy about it. The girl was sleeping with Jeff in their double bed in Houston so it was better all around if she was wearing his wedding ring.
When I put it that way Grant was all for it but he was still extremely sore at Jeff for the farmhouse incident.
"It lacked respect Josephine." he growled.
Lord Grant if only you knew the half of it ,,,
Jeff was now preparing for the first of his space shuttle launchings and they decided to marry six months after his return. Jeff wasted no time in setting a date. Like I said, once he sets his mind to something, that son of mine is relentless. He wanted Lucy as his wife and he was going to have her.
I remember Grant and I going to Houston to watch the launching. I was so proud, excited and frightened all at once. Grant was simply worried. He was silent in the car for most of the journey.
We met Lucy at the base. She was even prettier than the first time we'd met her. She seemed to have an aura about her. Not only that, she now wore my son's engagement ring. I kissed her and admired the ring. Grant simply nodded in acknowledgement. It was so obvious the two of them had totally different ideas about where they wanted Jeff to head.
"Hello Lucille." he said politely.
"Hello Mr. Tracy" she smiled nervously.
Lucy had trouble working out what Grant thought about her and always seemed ill at ease around him. Today however we all had something in common.
Jeff and his first mission.
Grant and I said a very long and worried goodbye. I fell apart and cried my eyes out. Grant became teary too and hugged Jeff for ages.
We stood back and watched as he said a final goodbye to Lucy. I could see the underlying passion they shared but I also saw her unwavering belief in him. It was like Grant and myself all those years ago. I looked down and saw Grant had taken my hand. I squeezed his tight.
The shuttle launching was a huge success and Jeff loved every minute of his experience. He began to get excited about the moon mission even though it was still quite a few years away.
Then quite unexpectedly Jeff announced he and Lucy were getting married immediately.
He explained to us he was already being put under a lot of pressure with the second mission and he wanted to get the wedding out of the way so he could concentrate.
The wedding was held in Paris and no-one could wipe the smiles off their faces all day long. They were a perfect couple and very very happy.
Grant and I made the most of the romantic setting and while we were doing so we got to meet Lucy's family. They were really nice people and I felt very badly about my first assumptions about Lucy's background.
However Grant found an ally in Lucy's Father. John Bradley Evans wasn't too happy about the whole thing let alone Lucy now taking up permanent status in the United States with Jeff. Like Grant he felt the two of them were rushing into things but even so there was no denying that our children were deeply in love and definitely belonged together.
It was only six weeks later that Jeff telephoned me all news and excitement again.
"Momma. I can't wait to tell you the news. I'm going to be a Father."
I nearly choked. That was certainly quick! I hadn't even unpacked my bags from Paris. But this was the most exciting news ever. I was going to be a grandmother.
"Wow you and Lucy don't fool around do you?" I exclaimed, "When is the baby due dear?"
He paused for a minute but enough for me to get suspicious.
"Ummm late in errr...ummm... May I think."
"You don't sound sure." I frowned.
"Ummm....it's not that we're unsure Momma." he stammered. "Lucy just couldn't remember her last set of dates that's all."
That seemed reasonable enough I supposed. All these artificial methods of stopping what was natural tended to upset a woman's rhythm.
"Well Sweetie..." I enthused. "I couldn't be happier for you both."
I went to tell Grant. He was stunned.
"I hope he remembers that having a family means he needs to settle down now. He should forget about all this NASA rubbish and come on home."
I really did feel sorry for Grant. He just would not give up on his dream for Jeff to take over the farm.
Well my first Grandson Scott Carpenter Tracy arrived on the fourth of April and not the end of May. Jeff tried to tell me that he was a month and a half early but who the hell did he think he was fooling? The baby was a strapping nine pounds fourteen ounces and was perfectly formed and developed.
Grant and I frowned at each other. We knew what the story was all right. Lucy wasn't unsure of her dates. She'd had my grandson fully established inside of her when they'd realised they needed to say "I do" in a great big hurry.
I pretended I was fooled much to Jeff's relief.
Premature baby!
What a load of hogwash!
Nevertheless Scott was a beautiful little boy and very like Jeff in appearance and nature.
I was pleased to see how well Grant had taught Jeff. He was a natural Father and was wonderful with the baby. I felt he had settled down just fine in Houston with his little family but Grant was still unhappy about things. He wanted Jeff to be like him. One child was enough he said and he suggested to Jeff that he do what he had done himself to prevent them from having any more.
Jeff was astounded that at twenty-six years of age his Father would even suggest such a thing to him.
"Dad, Lucy and I intend to have three children." he said firmly. "We've already decided that."
"But Jeff the world has enough problems with overpopulation without the Tracy family adding to them." he stressed.
"My children will not add to the worries of the world Dad. I don't want my son growing up alone like me." Jeff said emphatically. "Scott will have others around him. That's what I want and that's what Lucy wants."
Poor Grant. He was fifty three years old now and the son that had been the centre of his world had spread his wings these past five and a half years and overshadowed him, like the sun eclipses the moon. It seemed to Grant that Jeff no longer wanted his opinion about anything. He decided to stop giving it as well as abandoning his dream of Jeff taking the farm.
Two and a half years and two space shuttle launchings later, Jeff and Lucy brought their second child into the world, another sweet little boy they named Virgil.
Young Virgil was the complete opposite to Scott. He was like his Mother as a mirror gives an image. He was a quiet, happy little baby who loved being cuddled by his Grandma.
Jeff was still besotted with Lucy and they made no attempt to hide how they felt about each other whether they were visiting in Kansas or we were visiting in Houston. Grant shook his head in disgust.
"Number three will be here if they keep that up." he grumbled. "Then numbers four and five. You mark my words Josie, that boy will end up with more than three children to raise if he can't learn to keep his hands off Lucille."
Jeff had now been ordered to Cape Kennedy for the moon mission. He was under extreme media scrutiny now and was finding the going hard. Grant and I helped them relocate to Florida with their two babies, Scott now three and little Virgil who was starting to crawl.
The next few months were critical to the success of the mission and Jeff had little time to concentrate on his family. Lucy was wonderful during that time, taking total control of the two boys and supporting Jeff.
And supporting me. You see two weeks before Jeff got to walk on the moon, my Grant took a fatal heart attack, fell underneath his tractor and died. To my eternal regret, Grant Tracy never got to see his precious only son walk on the moon.
As soon as that little girl of Jeff's got the news she caught the next flight to Kansas with her two babies to help. Jeff wasn't allowed to come because of his commitments to the mission. NASA let him home for the funeral but I know that his inability to support me in my hour of dire need of him caused him great pain and feelings of inadequacy.
They needn't have. His little Lucy was wonderful. She looked after me, we laughed and we cried together. We walked and tended her two babies and I took great comfort in that. I got to know her very well in those long and difficult days and I think that was the time when I actually grew to love her.
She was a happy, delightful young woman with a love of life and an even greater love of her children.
She adored Jeff and she made no secret of how she felt.
And she believed in him.
As he floundered in sea of grief I watched her rise up as the sun rises to comfort and reassure him. She wasn't prepared to see him fail.
She told him after six long years of years study and training he had to stand strong and face his biggest test. She added that even though the timing couldn't have been worse it was up to him to see it through.
Her strength gave me mine.
With the two of us behind him and his Father interceding from the dead, I knew he would do us proud.
I cried my eyes out as he lifted that massive rocket ship at Cape Kennedy in front of the whole world.
The mission was an outstanding success and Jefferson Tracy returned from space as a National hero. In less than ten years he had gone from farming a wheat crop in Kansas with his Father to this.
And now he wanted something else.
However, the first thing he'd wanted on his return was his little Lucy. Nine months and two weeks from his return from the moon John Glenn Tracy was born into the Tracy family; son number three - the last of their planned babies.
This little baby had blonde hair and blue eyes and a mind of his own. He cried morning, noon and night and even though I deliberately stayed on for a few extra weeks after his birth to help Lucy cope. None of us coped very well.
Jeff had made a major decision in his life during the time Lucy was pregnant with John and that had been to resign from NASA and enter into the exclusive field of Aerospace Technology. He founded his own Company which would sell aero parts to the Air Force. Lucy encouraged him to take the risk, despite the insecurity involved for their family. She trusted Jeff's judgement and he listened to her and took the gamble.
It paid off.
He made his first million dollars before John took his first unsteady steps.
It all sounds too good to be true doesn't it?
It was for those two back then.
He was brilliant and gifted.
She was intelligent, articulate and intuitive.
They had three beautiful sons, were desperately in love and had the world at their feet.
The world can change.
Circumstances can change.
Life can change.
And life did change for them both.
Drastically.
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NEXT CHAPTER – JEFF TRACY - THE BILLIONAIRE - PART 2 - THE TOUGH YEARS.
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