Cast Adrift

He then rubbed her belly. Passion's lightly tanned face lost color and her big brown eyes went a little wider.

"So, how far along are you?" Lowell asked gently.

"Three, maybe three and a half months," Passion whispered, searching his eyes. "How'd you know?"

"Uh, you've not had period one since we started dating. I'm not a girl, but even I know girls have this thing? Called their monthlies? And, sleeping loud is also a pretty good sign. Oh, your bras are getting a little snug there, and so are your jeans. I mean, you're not showing just yet, but it won't be long, will it?" Lowell asked, then kissed her.

"Figure it happened that first time," Passion admitted.

"Your mom know?" Lowell asked.

"Uh huh," Passion said, nodding her head.

"So, yeah, Sweetheart, looks like it's getting pretty serious," Lowell said and scooped her into his arms.

"What are you doing, Mr. Truesdale?" Passion asked as Lowell carried her up their stairs.

After very energetic sex, Passion did ask Lowell what his thoughts, his feelings were about the baby. Lowell kissed her and cradled her in his arms.

"Honestly? Wish we could have waited," Lowell said.

He kissed her again. His hands went to her slight paunch.

"But, having a baby, with the woman I love, is pretty damned awesome," Lowell said.

"And having a baby with your sister?" Passion pressed.

"It my fault that the woman I love is also my sister?" Lowell asked.

"No, and it's not like we knew when we done it," Passion defended.

Roland's next post card demanded that Lowell could not be with any offspring of Victoria Truesdale, but did not offer any reason. And again, Roland demanded Lowell's phone number.

"But if we're not related, and you don't know her, then how can you say I shouldn't be with her?" Lowell replied, enjoying taunting, tormenting his father.

"Because I said so," was Roland's answer. "And I demand your phone number. Now."

"Demand all you want, prick," Lowell said out loud.

"Oh! Oh! Give him my momma's phone number," Passion giggled.

"No! Oh. My. God! Passion! You, that, you are just evil!" Lowell hooted.

Passion found her cell phone and sent a message to Vixen. That started a flurry of text messages and giggles back and forth.

Lowell did not know what Roland and Vixen spoke about, but that was the last post card he received from his father. Mrs. Begnell sent Lowell a post card, letting him know he was not to send any more communication through her. Lowell understood; apparently Roland had gone to the woman and threatened and bullied her.

"I do understand," he wrote. "And I'm sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused you."

Somehow Mindy got a letter to Lowell and gave Lowell the address of her best friend, Bethany Soorell.

The spring semester began and again, Lowell was taking fifteen hours. He found himself in Micro-Economics with Kitty Truehart and Post-World War Two European History with Passion. Passion's pregnancy was quite obvious and Lowell smiled proudly as he and Passion walked to class together, hand in hand.

Roger Terje did not return to college. His parents did send a very nice card, thanking Lowell for his compassion and concern. The card said that Roger was attending Benhurst Community College, and doing very well in his classes.

Just before the mid-term examinations, Kitty approached Lowell and asked about studying together. Lowell agreed, after verifying this with Passion. Again, the trio met in the library; Kitty seemed more comfortable in a public setting. And, again, the three of them were interrupted by a few hopeful Lotharios, until Dr. Abernathy put a stop to the madness.

"Oh! Oh! Oh my God! Saturation! We, we had that in Statistics," Kitty suddenly whooped, knocking her notebook to the ground in her excitement.

"Exactly!" Lowell laughed at her enthusiasm.

"So, if we extrapolate that saturation with this service," Kitty bubbled, trying to find the problem she'd been scribbling.

"Think you've got it," Lowell smiled.

Kitty's kiss to Lowell's lips surprised Lowell and Passion. Kitty's kiss to Lowell's lips stunned and horrified Kitty. She ran from the library, leaving behind her coat and purse and back pack.

"I'm telling you, someone really did a number on her," Passion murmured as she and Lowell gathered Kitty's things together.

At their next class, Kitty quietly apologized to Lowell. Lowell smiled and assured Kitty that he was fine; there was no need to apologize.

"I uh, I mean, it's just my sister, and, you know, I mean my mom, and then them foster homes," Kitty tried to explain.

"You know, there is the Student Counseling," Lowell whispered to Kitty. "Obviously, this is causing some discomfort for you. Might want to go see about it."

Kitty opened her mouth to protest, to deny, then shut her mouth. Her big blue eyes filled with tears.

"Kitty I, I could be a friend," Lowell offered, handing the girl his handkerchief. "And, I think you really want to have some friends. But whatever it is holding you back? Won't let you have any friends."

Professor Bloodworth handed out a mock exam and Kitty actually let out a little squeal when she was able to work out the problems on the examination. Professor Bloodworth let an amused smile curl his lip as he watched the blonde's antics.

"Okay, hang on to those," he called out after thirty minutes had elapsed. "Question one, anyone have any questions about the first question?"

The discussion was lively. Kitty scribbled notes furiously, smiling and nodded as she did so. Finally, Dr. Bloodworth called an end to the class.

"I understood it!" Kitty enthused, putting her hand on Lowell's arm.

She let out another little squeal and danced in place for a moment. Then, with a giggle, she rushed from the classroom.

"Mr. Truesdale, whatever you're doing..." the instructor smiled as he and his teaching aide gathered up the materials.

"We had Statistics last semester," Lowell explained, checking that he had his umbrella with him.

"And...hmm! You tie that in...hmm!" the older man mused thoughtfully.

"What are you doing?" Passion snapped at Lowell when he met her in front of Udelle Hall.

"I give up, what am I doing?" Lowell asked, shaking his wet umbrella.

"Oh, well, I just had a very interesting little conversation with Ms. Katherine Truehart," Passion snapped, trying, and failing to look irritated.

"She, we had a mock exam in Micro-Economics today and she saw she was getting it, I mean, really getting it," Lowell explained.

"She says you're the greatest," Passion smiled, unable to keep up her pretense of being aggrieved.

"Oh yeah?" Lowell asked, taking her heavy back pack out of her hands. "And what'd you say?"

"I told her yes you are," Passion agreed, kissing him. "Come on, looks like it's letting up."

Mindy sent Lowell an invitation to her high school graduation. With the heavy card, she included a small note that told him she didn't expect him to actually show up, but if he did that would be the greatest gift in the world.

"Thought you said she thought you were a butt head," Passion asked, reading the little note.

"She does," Lowell said, unable to hide his tears.

"Oh no, oh don't start, no Lowell don't start crying," Passion sobbed out. "You start crying, it's going make me cry!"

"You're already crying," Lowell pointed out as they huddled on her loveseat, crying together.

Lowell and Passion each sent a card to Bethany's address. Vixen Trueblue also sent her niece a card, sending it directly to the Truesdale trailer. Lowell included a one hundred dollar bill with his card. Passion included a one thousand dollar check with her card.

On June nineteenth, Passion roused Lowell, groaning in pain. Lowell's protests that Passion still had five more weeks to go didn't seem to matter much to Passion, or to Allure Victoria Truesdale.

"Oh my God, oh Sweetheart," Vixen cried, helping Lowell as Passion groaned, screamed, and sobbed through a contraction.

"Ms. Vixen, how'd you get here?" Lowell asked, truly surprised to see the beautiful blonde woman in the delivery room of Clarkston County General Hospital.

"Airplanes are wonderful, aren't they?" Vixen smirked as Passion lay back, gasping. "True, I could have just used my broom, but there was a four hour layover in Dallas for broom traffic."

"You're a smart ass," Lowell laughed.

"Oh, and I did send my darling brother a text, letting him know he was about to become a grandfather, again," Vixen smirked. "Oh! I tell you! The good people of his fine church would just be shocked if they could see the language the good reverend uses."

Even at five weeks premature, Allure Victoria Truesdale was a healthy baby. She weighed five pounds, seven ounces and was fifteen inches long. She had all ten fingers and all ten toes and very healthy lungs.

Excalibur wasn't very interested in the new addition to the family. He was interested in the baby blanket and used his paw to pull the soft fleece blanket through the slats of the crib, then curled up underneath the crib on top of the blanket. He hissed at Lowell when Lowell tried to retrieve the blanket.

"Get that nasty blanket off of my baby," Passion ordered when Lowell covered Allure with his Saints blanket.

"My baby," Lowell said. "And my baby? Is a Saints fan."

"Momma," Passion called out for Vixen's assistance.

"Oh my God, no!" Vixen cried out, horrified. "Lowell, you, you're turning your back on your heritage! Your roots! You, you're supposed to be a Vikings fan!"

"Oh, no ma'am," Lowell said. "How many Super Bowls have the Vikings won?"

"I give up. How many?" Vixen asked.

"Zero," Lowell said. "And the Saints have won how many? Every single one they've gone to."

"That can't be right," Vixen said, pulling out her cell phone. "I know the Vikings went to a bunch of Super Bowls."

"Uh, the Saints went to one Super Bowl," Passion said, looking at her cell phone.

"And won that Super Bowl; spanked the Colts, spanked them hard," Lowell said.

"Huh!" Vixen said, looking at her phone. "Okay, okay, how about a compromise? We get my grandbaby a Utah Jazz blanket?"

"Sure," Lowell said. "Oh, wait. The Jazz; they still play basketball? Or have they switched over to golf?"

"Basketball," Vixen said. "Why would they switch to golf?"

"Because, in golf, the lower score wins," Lowell said.

"Your baby daddy? Is a butt hole," Vixen told Passion. "But the Jazz blanket will be here tomorrow. Until then, let her sleep with the Saints blanket."

Allure picked that moment to wake from her nap. Passion declared that Allure was crying because of the Saints blanket. Lowell changed Allure's diaper and Passion bared a breast. Lowell watched as Passion and Allure sat in Passion's brand new red rocking chair. Passion looked up from Allure to Lowell.

"Thank you, Baby," Passion said quietly. "She's just so perfect. And I wouldn't have her without you."

Excalibur demanded food, so Lowell left mother and child and went down the stairs, cat racing ahead. While he was downstairs, Lowell made a pot of coffee and Vixen joined him in the living room.

"What are you thinking?" she asked him, blowing on her mug of coffee.

"I'm thinking I have no clue what to do," Lowell confessed. "The new semester starts in just about a month from now and I just don't know how I'm going to be a daddy and a student, and I'm just about broke, and babies need diapers and doctor visits and, shit!"

"Uh huh," Vixen agreed, taking a sip of her coffee. "God! You and Passion both! Do you really have to make your coffee so thick you could paint the walls with it?"

Vixen placed a comforting hand on Lowell's arm. She smiled and patted his arm.

"Lowell. Money? Money is not a problem. Love, and attention, and patience, oh God, lots and lots of patience is what you're going to need," Vixen said.

Excalibur waddled into the living room and curled up in front of the fireplace, on the small rug. Lowell said nothing, just stared at the beast, then up at the painting over the fireplace.

Every time he thought he could just about make out the vagina that Passion had said the painting was supposed to show, he lost the image in the twisted jumble of images. Vixen looked at the painting and shook her head.

"Personally?" she whispered to Lowell. "That is one ugly pussy. I don't know why Passion ever bought that thing."

Passion found a day care close to the campus that would take a newborn. Lowell had an insight and he and Passion brought Allure to the Day care center two days before the start of the new semester. True to his premonition, Passion was an absolute basket case, leaving her little girl for the very first time.

"Oh my baby, my baby, she needs her momma," Passion sobbed as Lowell held her from charging right back into the building.

Lowell managed to make Passion sit at a Newhart's for an unhealthy breakfast. He even managed to make her walk the three mile track around the park that was directly across the street from their condominium. Then Lowell relented and Passion raced to the day care center and rescued her baby.

"Yes, yes, your mean old Daddy was going make me leave you there all day, can you believe that?" Passion fussed to the sleeping girl. "Can you believe how hateful he is? Bad Daddy, Bad, bad!"

The day before classes, Passion managed to make it to four hours before demanding that they go get their daughter. Lowell just nodded and allowed Passion to rescue the infant.

A late afternoon thunderstorm rolled through Myndee, cooling down the quite hot and humid day. Allure slept right through the booms and rumbles and the heavy downpour. Excalibur hid underneath the bed, dragging his blanket with him.

"Yeah, when I think of Utah, the first thing I think of is jazz," Lowell teased, looking at Allure's new blanket.

"Shut up," Passion giggled. "It's from her Grammy."

Passion patted the bed next to her. Lowell gently ran a finger over his beautiful daughter's tiny face, then joined Passion on the bed.

"Now, Dr. Ubelhauser hasn't said we can fool around yet," Passion said, unzipping Lowell's jeans. "But Mommy needs a taste of her man."

"Oh no, not another blow job," Lowell mock-complained as Passion sank her mouth over his hard cock.

The next day, Passion kissed Allure several times; it would be at least six hours before Passion would be there to pick the baby up. The day care employee smiled; she'd seen her share of first-time mommies leaving their babies to the care of strangers. Finally, Passion left the building.

Outside of Udelle Hall, the grounds keeping crew was given the sad task of cutting down a ninety four year old oak that had sustained a direct hit from a lightning bolt. Half of the mighty tree was threatening to topple into Udelle Hall.

Two girls that Passion knew called out to her and she paused to talk to them. They had to shout to be heard over the chainsaw. The two girls asked Passion about her baby; her pregnancy had been known, and the fact that she was no longer pregnant was readily apparent.

Passion paused in their walk to dig her cell phone from her purse. The three of them cooed and gasped at the pictures on the cell phone. They heard the shout, and turned just in time to see the tree falling toward them.

Not having the information that Lowell Truesdale and Passion Trueblue were living together, that Passion and Lowell were parents of a beautiful little girl, the university did not contact Lowell about Passion's demise. The university contacted Vixen, the 'Next Of Kin' listed on Passion's file.

"What happened?" Vixen screamed when Lowell did return her frantic voice mails and text messages.

"What do you mean, what happened?" Lowell cried out, not knowing, and fearing the worst.

Passion Angel Trueblue was laid to rest in Garland County's Garden of Memories Cemetery. Lowell and Vixen commissioned a tombstone that would read 'Beloved Daughter, Wife and Mother' and give Passion's date of birth and date of death. Lowell and Passion were not legally wed, but Vixen tearfully snorted they didn't need a piece of paper to say they were married.

"That precious baby in your arms says that you two were married," Vixen declared, softly rubbing the sleeping infant's face.

While at the Garden of Memories cemetery, Lowell took his daughter to visit her grandmother's grave. Eyes already raw from the tears over Passion's death and burial, Lowell shed more tears as he introduced Allure Truesdale to his mother.

"What's all of this?" Lowell asked as Vixen handed him a manila folder.

"Deed to the condo, deed to the car," Vixen quietly said.

"But," Lowell began to protest.

"Shush! My granddaughter needs a place to live, my granddaughter need you to be able to get her to doctor's appointments, day care, where ever she needs to go," Vixen said.

Lowell looked at the woman. He knew her age was thirty nine; she refused to admit she was forty, not just yet. Right now, though, Vixen looked closer to sixty nine years old. Her face was puffy, mottled. There were bags under her eyes, deep discolored bags. Her blonde hair hung limply; Vixen admitted she had not washed it in days.

The university settled with Vixen and Allure. Lowell did not argue when Vixen simply turned around and gave him the money. As she reminded Lowell, Vixen had no need of that money. Lowell, however, had need of a source of income. He had a baby to take care of.

One girl's family tried to get twenty million dollars from Myndee University. Lowell was sickened by the family's actions and attitudes. He refused to join with them in any class action lawsuit.

"Any money, that going to bring your daughter back to you?" Lowell asked the father of Jennica Richards. "No? Didn't think so. Don't call here again, hear?"

As much as Lowell loved, adored Allure, being a full time daddy and a full time student with fifteen hours class time and one hour lab time was grueling. The hectic and frenzied pace was wearing him out.

So Lowell hired a baby sitter, an older woman to come in on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so that he could go to a nearby gym to work out, to burn off his frustrations and bitterness. He missed Passion intensely; nights were the worst. He took solace in reading his Bible. He read aloud to Allure and to Excalibur.

Nancy was an excellent baby sitter. She had a genuine love of children and Allure seemed to pick up on the woman's happy persona. Nancy also cleaned the condominium. As she told Lowell, Allure was sleeping most of the time. Rather than sit around, Nancy grabbed a dust cloth or a vacuum cleaner or a mop.

"By the way, where'd you get that obscene painting?" Nancy asked, pointing to the framed picture over the fireplace.

"My wife," Lowell smiled; he still couldn't see what Nancy and Vixen and Passion apparently saw very easily.

"Hmm," was Nancy's only response as she left the condo?

Wishing the woman a good day, Lowell saw a flash from across the street. He watched a very well-endowed young blonde as she trotted along the path of the park.

"Oh! Hey, that's..." Lowell said, recognizing Kitty Truehart.

If Kitty saw Lowell, she did not react, just plodded along the concrete path. Lowell watched her delectable buttocks flex and undulate as she ran.

Yes, the slim blonde did possess some very nice breasts, but Lowell was more enthralled with Kitty's rear end. Each hillock of flesh beckoned to him as the beautiful girl jogged the path.

"Wonder why she's running there?" Lowell asked himself, closing the door when Kitty disappeared around the curve.

There were two parks between campus and condominium, as well as the track behind Estelle Stadium. The park closest to campus was right across from the police station; Kitty would have been perfectly safe to jog that park.

Wednesday, Lowell again saw Kitty jog past the condominium. For the briefest of moments, he saw her turn her head and look at his car, his front door. He had Allure in his arms, trying to burp her after a quite vigorous bottle feeding, so could not give chase, could not even wave in greeting.