Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Chapter 9

   Married!  And Tina wrapped around my arm as we shook hands and smiled
and received congratulations from a happy little crowd.

   I shook hands with Bill Hurley and got pulled into a manhug.  "Man, you
don't know how much I owe you, Bill," I said.  Next hug was from his wife,
Sharon.  "Congratulations, Alan," she said.

   Tina was in the middle of the office ladies receiving similar noises,
and worked her way out to Bill and Sharon.  Uncle Jimmy waited his turn to
kiss the bride, and I shook his hand.

   "Alan, I was serious about you two comin' down for a weekend.  Keep in
touch with me and Bill so we can get together." He smiled.  "I feel good
about today.  You two will do well together."

   "Thank you, Uncle Jimmy!  You don't know how much we appreciate you
helping us."

   "Yeah I do, son.  I really think I do." He smiled.

   "Folks," I announced, "this has been a great day for Tina and me.  I
wish we could stay and do more, but we have to get back to Tennessee
today."

   Bill clapped me on the back as Tina attached herself to my arm.  "You
know, ya'll bring excitement every time you hit town..."

   Tina giggled.  "Maybe our next visit will be sane, Mister Bill." She
kissed him on the cheek, and then when Sharon popped into range, tagged
her, too.  "Mizz Sharon..."

   "Please, Tina.  Just 'Sharon', okay, sweetie?" Sharon smiled.

   "Okay, Sharon, tell Billy and Bridget that I'm sorry they were in school
today and we didn't get to say 'bye'.  But we'll be back."

   Sharon smiled.  "Oh, I know, Tina.  They'll be sad that they missed
this." She sighed.  "I need to get back to school myself.  I so much
enjoyed meeting you two."

   Sharon left, and Bill did taxi service, running us by the motel to
retrieve our luggage and then to the airport.  We gave Bill a tour of our
little plane and waved bye as he took off back to work.  Before I climbed
in the plane, I flipped my phone open and punched up my boss's number.

   "This is Carl," he answered.

   "Carl!  Alan.  We're getting ready to take off in Louisiana.  We'll be
home in four hours or so.  Any problems?"

   "Nope!  Not on my end.  How about you?"

   Tina was in earshot.  "I'm the proud possessor of a seventeen year old
wife, Carl.  Tina and I got married."

   "Congratulations, I guess, bud," he said.

   I chuckled.  "No guessing to it.  We would've waited until she was
eighteen, but it was gonna happen anyway.  Tina, say hi to Carl."

   Tina took the phone.  "Hi, Mister Carl.  I'm bringing him back to you.
Thanks for letting him loose like this, on short notice."

   "Not a problem, Missus Addison.  You two take care of yourselves.  Tell
'im I'll see him Monday."

   "'Kay," she said.  "Bye!" she handed me back my phone.  "Carl says see
ya Monday."

   After the pre-flight ritual, she started to walk around to the passenger
side of the plane.  "Oh, no, little girl.  You do the left seat today!"

   "Serious?!?" she squealed.

   "It's not that big a deal.  First, the plane controls equally well from
either side.  The left seat just has a better view of the instruments. 
Second, we're gonna take off, climb to seventy-five hundred feet and head
northeast.  Nothing fancy.  No maneuvers to speak of, unless you want to do
some, and in four hours we'll see our airport."

   "You make it sound simple.  Okay, then," she said.  "If you say so.  I
mean, you're my husband an' I gotta be all obedient and submissive an' all
that..." Her eyes laughed.

   A few minutes later our wheels left the Louisiana runway.  We climbed
straight out, looked around, then banked left to our final course.  I
guided her into setting up a neat 'cruise-climb', cranking away miles as we
gained altitude, and then we leveled off.  I helped her trim us up. 
"That's pretty much it.  A little care that you don't get too low or too
high.  Or too far left or too far right."

   Her eyes sparkled.  "Wow!  I'm doin' this!"

   "If you get tired or confused, let me know." I folded my arms.  Okay, I
unfolded them and reached over and stroked that auburn hair, held oddly in
place by the headband of her headset.  "You married me.  You REALLY married
me."

   She glanced over, smiling.  "Yeah I did, Alan.  One of those forever
things.  You..."

   "I will watch the stars blink out in the night sky before I leave you,
Tina."

   "The way it should be."

   The seat of my pants felt a surge.  "You're cruising, baby.  Just tiny
little pressures.  If you're low, a little back pressure and you'll see the
speed drop a tiny bit and you'll climb.  Same thing if you're high.  Or
left or right.  Tiny changes.  And if you keep having to correct high or
low, a little turn on the trim will get rid of some of that."

   "Uh-huh.  Just new, that's all..." she smiled.

   We ate up miles at a satisfactory pace, crossing the Mississippi River
angling across Mississippi and into Alabama.  Our destination in Tennessee
was half an hour ahead.  I talked Tina through pulling back the power and
lowering the nose to keep the speed up for our descent.  A radio call on
the 'Unicom' frequency alerted anyone who might care of our intent to land.
Nobody cared.  Traffic was sparse at little rural airports during the week.

   Okay, ONE person cared.  "Uh, Cessna 6-5-6-7 Golf, this is Tulla County
Airport.  No known traffic."

   "That's Mister Charlie," Tina said.

   "Good!  We can top off the tanks before we put her up for the day." I
thumbed the 'transmit' switch.  "Tulla County, 6-7 Golf.  We're gonna need
fuel service in ten," I said.

   Radio broke squelch.  "Roger, 6-7 Golf.  You know the drill."

   Tina followed me through a standard landing pattern and the wheels
touched down with only the tiniest of bounces.  "Okay," I told my wife,
"Steer with your feet.  No faster than a fast walk.  Pay attention to your
wingtips.  You're forty feet wide."

   I followed her on the controls, giving a couple of helping nudges here
and there.  As we approached the fuel pumps, I took over.  She sighed in
relief.  "I thought you were gonna try and make me do that," she said.

   "You learn at YOUR pace.  You've done great so far.  Now, to stop this
thing, pull the mixture back all the way.  Then when it stops, turn the
mags off.  That's the key there."

   Our engine stopped as Charlie sauntered out of his office.  He was
amused to see Tina climbing out of the left door.

   "You don't waste time, do you, Alan?" he said.

   "Thought she should get a taste of it from the left seat," I laughed. 
"I know we can't log those hours, but practice is practice."

   Tina was beaming.  We topped off the tanks.  Charlie and I pushed our
little chariot back into its nest after Tina pulled my pickup out of the
hangar.  When we walked into the office, Tina's eyes scanned his display
case.

   "Student pilot manual.  I need that, Alan!"

   "Put it on the card with the gas, Charlie."

   "You know, Alan, she's got to log twenty hours with an instructor, forty
hours total, and what isn't with the instructor has to be solo..."

   "Yeah, I know."

   "But that doesn't stop you from flyin' with her.  Just means that when
she gets with an instructor, she's gonna probably have more practice."

   "Sorta what I figured.  You got a problem with doing it that way?"

   "No," he said, "but I've never did a student in a 182.  I know a little
152, over at regional, that a guy's trying to sell." (A Cessna 152 was a
popular two-seat trainer.)

   Tina said, "TWO planes?"

   "Remember when we talked about that, baby?" I turned to Charlie.  "Okay,
buddy, that 152, what kind of deal is it?"

   "Pretty good one, actually.  Just about what I imagine YOU want to do.
He bought the thing to get his hours in, now he's commercial and all the
other tickets, and he doesn't need the plane.  He bought it for fifteen,
he'll take fifteen.  And when Miss Tina's licensed, you can turn around and
sell it for fifteen.  All her license costs is fuel and an instructor."

   I looked at Tina.  "If you're serious..."

   Squeal!

   "She's serious," Charlie laughed.

   "When can we look at it?" I asked.

   "Well, if we lock up this office, it's a forty-minute drive.  And you're
going in that direction anyway."

   "We'll follow you," I said.

   Tina skipped out to the truck.

   Forty minutes later we were looking at the little trainer.

   "It's so little," Tina said.  "I thought ours was little.  THIS is
little."

   Charlie said, "This was the most popular trainer around.  Still probably
is.  Burns half the gas of yours.  Weighs half as much.  Goes two-thirds as
fast.  More responsive."

   "You know this plane?" I asked.

   "Yep," Charlie said.  "I finished the annual on 'er last month. 
Engine's got three hundred and eighty hours on a complete overhaul.  She's
used, for sure, but like I said, it's a good buy.  And good resale."

   "Fifteen thousand's a good price," I said.  Call the guy.  Tell 'im to
get with Brad.  We'll make it happen."

   "Boy, you're a trusting soul," Charlie said.

   "You've been good so far," I said.  "How much do you get if you sell
this thing?"

   "Ten percent," Charlie admitted.

   "Yeah, and if I'd approached the owner and talked him down fifteen
hundred bucks, I'd still have to pay YOU a thousand to do the inspection.
I'd rather just pay him fifteen and let him pay you."

   "You wanna fly it?" Charlie asked.

   "That'd be nice," I laughed.  I turned to Tina.  "Babe, you wanna wait
here?"

   "I'll sit in the truck while you're gone," she smiled.

   She walked with us as we preflighted the little red and white plane. 
"Just about like ours, except littler," she said.

   "Yep!  Pretty much."

   Forty minutes later Charlie and I were taxiing back to the tie-down and
there was another car next to my pickup truck.  A guy was standing there
with his arms folded, talking to Tina.

   "That's the owner," Charlie said.  I called him while we were on the
road.

   He and Tina met us when the engine stopped.  "Alan, this is Dexter
Stevens.  It's his plane.  Dexter, this is my husband," I caught the extra
smile with that admission, "Alan Addison."

   "Hi, Dexter.  Heard you just got all your tickets.

   "Yessir," he said.  "Looks like I'm in agricultural aviation now."

   "Great!" I said.

   "Meh, it's a living.  I'm hoping for something in the airlines, but
this'll put money in the bank until then.  You wanna buy my little bird?"

   "Yeah," I said.  "Tina's gotta learn to fly..."

   "And you've got a 182.  She told me.  This'll do fine.  And when she's
finished..."

   "Just like you did," I said.  "Can you get with our lawyer to do the
transaction?  Charlie said fifteen..."

   "I'm not going below fifteen, Alan." Dexter looked serious.

   "I realize that's a good price.  I do my research.  And Charlie says he
just did the annual."

   Dexter rubbed his chin.  "I'll call the guy Monday.  We got a deal!"

   We shook hands.  I handed him a business card.  "Just in case," I said.

   "Thanks," he answered.

   So finally Tina and I got in the truck, headed back to the RV park.

   "You're nuts, you know," she giggled.  "Two days ago you were a criminal
in Tennessee, and now you're my husband and I'm married to a guy who just
gave me an airplane."

   Laughing at the absurdity of that statement, I pulled my cellphone out.
"Here," I said.  I think we need to share our nuptial news with my sister.
Wanna give Elise a call?"

   "You're gonna defend me, right?"

   "Of course," I said.  "I don't think it'll be too bad."

   As I drove, I heard Tina.  "Hi, Elise." Pause.  "Yeah, he's drivin'.  He
asked me to call you and tell you the news." Pause.  "Remember how we were
gonna get married when I was eighteen?" Pause.  "We didn't wait." Pause. 
"Oh, thank you!  Yeah, here!" She passed me the phone.

   "Hi, Elise," I said.  "Well, lemme have it..."

   "I ain't sayin' nothin', brother.  You're a big boy now."

   I spent a couple of minutes explaining why we'd moved things up.  She
was laughing.  "So when do we get to meet her?"

   "Well," I said, "that's another thing..." I told her about ONE plane.  I
didn't think her psyche could handle the idea of two.

   "So ya'll could fly in on Friday or Saturday and leave Sunday and get
back in time?"

   "We could."

   "Then you need to do that.  I wanna see the girl that made you lose your
mind..." at least she was laughing when she said it.

   "We'll have to look at the weather, Sis," I said.  "We'll call you
back."

   "Bye, Sis," Tina said, loud enough so Elise could hear.

   "Bye, brother.  Tell Tina..." Elise said.

   I closed the phone and turned to Tina.  "She wants us to come down next
weekend."

   "If the weather's good, let's do it.  She sounds fun!" She tossed her
head, bouncing that auburn hair.

   "She's okay.  All the family I had after Mom and Dad passed away.  Now I
have you."

   "And your daughter.  OUR daughter."

   "That's another thing, sweetie.  She's usually with me at either
Thanksgiving or Christmas.  It wasn't a big deal last year.  I was between
projects.  But this year..."

   "This year it's us, and I can help, if she accepts me."

   "That's a phone call I hate to make, dearest.  Terri's not scary, but I
hate dealing with the ex."

   "It's not going to get easier, putting it off, babe," she said simply.
"And NOTHING she can do is going to hurt US.  We have each other."

   "Yeah." My Tina.  Getting ready to attack things head-on.  "Okay.  After
dinner."

   We stopped at a road-side diner for dinner, then finished our trip home.
Entering the trailer, first order of business was showering.  Forty minutes
later we were on the sofa.  She was snuggled beside me, smelling sweet.

   She handed me my cellphone.  "Don't you need to make a phone call,
baby?"

   "I hate to," I said.  "There's a high chance of getting pissed off."

   She smiled.  "First, I've never seen you pissed off, even when you had a
gun in your hand, and second, if she gets to you on the phone, get to you
HERE.  Remember?  Me and yoy?  Makes galaxies fade in the distance..."

   "Okay." I sighed and scrolled through the contacts on my cellphone. 
"Here goes..." I dialed.

   I was pleasantly rewarded by the voice of my seven year old daughter,
Terri.  "Hi, baby," I said.

   "Hi, Daddy.  Are ya still in Tennessee?" she asked.  Her voice was all
'squeaky little girl'.

   "Uh-huh, baby."

   I heard Carole's voice in the background.  "Who is it, Terri?"

   "It's Dad," Terri said.

   "Lemme talk to him," Carole said.

   "I miss ya, Daddy," Terri said.  "Here's Mommy."

   "Hello, Alan," Carole said.

   "Hello, Carole," I said.  "Terri sounds good."

   "She IS good, Alan.  We take good care of her.  So you're still in
Tennessee?" Her voice sounded a little 'off'.

   "Yeah," I said.  "Project won't be finished until late spring.  I may
hang around longer, June or so..."

   "Are you going to be home for Christmas?  So Terri can come stay?  She
misses you."

   "We ought to be home for Christmas..." I said, wondering how alert she
was.

   She was alert.  "We?  Like you and Terri?"

   "And Tina.  My new wife." I paused to see how THAT would fly.

   "Oh!" I could see her lips tighten in my mind's eye.  "When did this
happen?"

   "A couple of days ago," I fibbed.  Tina was sitting tight beside me,
listening.  She stroked my arm and smiled.  I continued.  "We were going to
wait a while, but decided not to.  Would've been inconvenient when Terri
came over, us not being married." That was a little dig.  Carole had
started running around on me while we were still married, and ran off with
her present husband and my daughter before the divorce was final.  They
actually got married the day after the divorce was signed by the judge.

   "Anyway," I continued, "I'd like to introduce her to Terri."

   "Supposed I don't WANT Terri talking to her," Carole snipped.

   "Look," I said, "it's hard enough trying to be a dad to my daughter with
her in California.  Don't be like this.  You have no reason to do this,
Carole."

   "You could sign off your parental rights, Alan," she said.  "Jeff would
adopt her..."

   "Look, Carole.  That's NOT going to happen.  We've had this talk.  Let
me talk to Terri." I felt my face changing colors, but I was trying hard
NOT to come unglued.  It wasn't easy.  I don't know why Carole thought that
she needed to jerk me around, especially over Terri.

   "Okay, Alan," she hissed.  "Terri," she called, "come talk to your dad."

   I heard the thumps of my daughter's approach.  "Hi, Daddy!  Again!"

   "Hi, punkin, again!  I got news for you, baby."

   "What kinda news, Daddy?" she asked.

   "I've gotten remarried, sweetie," I said, as Tina's ear listened in.

   "You did, Daddy?  D'you still love me?" She sounded almost scared.

   "Of course, baby!  You're my precious little girl.  I will ALWAYS love
you!" I wondered what she was getting from her mom and step-dad on this
subject.

   "I'm happy for you, Daddy.  I miss you, though."

   "I miss you too, baby," I said.  It was an honest statement.  This
little brown-haired girl had permanent hold on a chunk of my heart.  "All I
get to do is talk to you.  But if you want, you can come be with us at
Christmas.  I'll pay for you to fly back to Louisiana and we'll stay at our
house."

   "I'd love that.  Is your new wife there with you?"

   "Yes she is, baby.  Do you want to talk to her?" I looked at my Tina and
smiled.

   "I would.  What's her name?"

   "Her name is Tina.  Here she is." I handed the phone to Tina.

   "Hi, Terri," Tina said.

   "Hi, Miss Tina," Terri answered.  I was listening in, my head against
Tina's, sharing the speaker.

   "Terri, you can call me just Tina, okay?" Tina said.

   "Okay," Terri said.  "You sound young.  How old are you?"

   Tina let the cat out of the bag.  "I'm seventeen, sweetie.  We can be
like sisters, huh?"

   Little girl squeal.  "I'd LOVE that, Tina!  Do you have to go to
school?" Terri asked.

   "Yes, I graduate this year, though.  What grade are you in?"

   "Second," Terri said.  "School's neat.  I can read good, too.  I like
reading an' stuff."

   "That's good," Tina said.  "Your dad said you were smart."

   "I love my dad.  I miss 'im so much."

   "I love 'im, too, Terri.  We'll have fun when we get together, okay?"

   "Okay," Terri answered.  "Uh ...  is it okay if I call you an' him more
often?  Dad calls me every few days, but I wanna talk to 'im more.  An'
YOU, now..."

   "We'll do that, sweetie," Tina said.  "Now that I've met you, huh?"

   "Uh-huh," Terri said.  "I'd really like that."

   "Okay, then," Tina said.  "You want to talk to your dad some more?"

   "Yes, ma'am," Terri said.

   Tina handed me the phone and I put it between our heads again.

   "So now you've met Tina, huh, sweetie?" I said.

   "Dad, she sounds nice.  I'm happy for you an' her.  I tol' 'er to call
me more.  I miss you, Daddy."

   "I miss you too, sweetie," I said, feeling a bit of my heart being torn
off.  "We'll call you more often."

   "Okay, Daddy," she said.  "I guess I'll go now.  But don't forget to
call me.  Lots!"

   "Okay, princess," I said.  "I love you."

   "I love you too, Daddy." And the phone clicked.

   Tina smiled.  "You know, babe, I feel better now.  All those times you
talked to her and I just sat there, I didn't feel right."

   "I know, baby.  But what could I tell her to explain our situation?  I
didn't want to lie to Terri.  She's already got a strike against her living
with her mom and the sleazoid."

   "We're past that now, baby," Tina said.

   I thought we were free and clear, but my cellphone rang.  I retrieved it
and saw the display.  The ex.  Not good.  I flipped it open.  "Hello,
Carole..." I said.

   "She's SEVENTEEN?  What're you doing, trolling playgrounds, Alan?!?!" I
recognized the voice as it brought up unpleasant memories.

   "Yes, she's seventeen, Carole.  A high-school senior," I said.  "And an
honor student.  And my wife.  And Terri's step-mom.  Or friend.  Or big
sister."

   "So, like, her parents signed for you to marry her?" I could hear the
sarcasm, as could my auburn-haired wife.

   "Nope.  She's emancipated.  She signed for herself.  100% legal."

   "Your business, Alan," she said tensely.  "You seem to like 'em young."
Carole was ten years younger than me.  I thought it was part of our
problem.

   "I LOVE Tina.  She's amazing in so many ways.  Come to think of it, ALL
the ways I can imagine.  Now is this gonna keep me from getting Terri at
Christmas?"

   "No.  I guess not.  Jeff an' I can go on vacation without the kid..."

   The tone of that statement was incongruous when compared with her
earlier 'sign over your parental rights' move.  But that was the Carole
that used to drive me to the edge of criminal behavior.

   "You're gonna send us a ticket, right?  I mean, so she can fly there?"

   "Yeah, when the time comes," I said.  "Anything else?"

   "No." CLICK!

   "Wonderful woman, Alan," Tina said.  "Does she have some sort of mental
issue?  I mean, in ten minutes she went from 'sign over your kid' to them
going on vacation 'without the kid'."

   "You caught that, too, huh?"

   "Strange," Tina said.  She ran her hand over my head.  "Uh, guy ... 
We're home, and we got married.  Today.  So..." Her grin was enticing.

   I kissed her.  "Yes, I know." She took my hand and tugged in the
direction of the bed.