Under Tornado Warning

"All right; y'all stay out here as long as y'all want, but Daddy's going start on our burgers, all right?" Ed finally said.

Annabelle whined, reaching for Ed. So everyone had to get out of the pool, dry off, then troop into the house. Carole put a dry diaper on Annabelle, then joined Ed in the large kitchen.

"Daddy, huh?" Carole teased Ed.

"Hey, she started it," Ed smiled.

That night, as Annabelle lay sleeping on a pad, Carole pulled Ed on top of her.

"Come in me," she whispered to Ed.

"You sure?" Ed groaned.

"Yeah, come in me, come in my pussy," Carole urged.

A few months later, Carole discovered she was pregnant. This time, the father did not slap her face. This time, the father didn't snarl that he could not possibly be the father. This time, the father did not refuse to have anything to do with her.

This time, the father spent seven thousand dollars on an engagement ring. Carole wore the platinum and diamond and sapphire ring proudly as she sat at her desk at Oakleaf Insurance.

Tom was there when Carole noticed an odd stickiness. Tom drove Carole to the hospital when she cramped up horribly.

From the hospital, Tom called the dispatcher of Oakleaf Freight and asked them to get word to Ed; Carole had miscarried.

Ed finished the run to Portland, Oregon in record time. He was back two days after Carole had been discharged from the hospital.

"Guess you going want this back," Carole said dejectedly, working the ring off her finger.

"What? Why?" Ed said tearfully.

"'Cause I ain't knocked up no more," Carole said, then burst into wailing sobs.

Their wedding was a simple ceremony at the Friendship Christian Church in Sweet Oak, Texas. Neither Ed nor Carole were church-goers, but Reverend Brandon Wright shrugged.

"You members of my church? I'd only charge you fifty for the ceremony. Since you're not members? It's a hundred," Brandon said.

"A bargain at any price, Ed declared.

Carole did not take Edgar's last name. She did not even hyphenate it as was the norm.

"Seriously?" she sneered when Ed voiced his displeasure. "Carole Carroll? Or Carole Cooper-Carroll? Sounds so stupid."

"Don't care what her name is; just get her out of my house," Rose joked.

Another pregnancy two years after their marriage also resulted in a miscarriage. Carole demanded that Ed get a vasectomy.

"Uh, I don't think so, but thanks for playing," Ed said.

So, any sex had to be with condoms. Until the final seconds of their coupling. Then Ed would rip the condom off and squirt his baby makers all over Carole's sweating face or her hard nipples.

"Ed! Damn it, why you got to park that ugly thing right in front of our house?" Carole snapped angrily as she entered the house.

She was referring to a brand new Peterbilt 379 tractor.

"Because it won't fit in the garage," Ed said, looking up from where he and Annabelle were playing with Legos.

"Park it down at the yard and drive your stupid truck, huh?" Carole snapped, stomping up the stairs.

"Yeah, good to see you too, yeah I missed you, yeah, Boston is a far drive but I made good time," Ed said.

Carole realized she had sounded like a bitch. Ed had been gone for four and a half days and instead of greeting him with hugs and kisses, she greeted him with harsh words.

"Hey, them trucks pay the bills," Ed said, standing in the doorway of their bedroom.

"I got a raise," Carole snapped, her contrite mood evaporating before she could even apologize for her earlier behavior.

"Pays the light bill, maybe," Ed thought, but did not say anything.

By the time they'd finished dinner, finished bathing Annabelle, and finally got the baby to go to sleep, Carole was ready to welcome her man. She deftly rolled the condom onto his hard cock, then straddled him.

"Damn, you pretty good at this; you been practicing?" Ed teased.

"Uh huh," Carole agreed. "My husband's this big, horny truck driver. He likes it when I wiggle on his whang."

"She bounced on him for several long moments. Ed indicated he was close, she wiggled off and began jacking his cock while he pulled the condom off.

"Mming! Mming!" Carole screamed in her throat as his semen splattered onto her face.

In the morning, Carole admitted, even with the raise, she wasn't feeling very fulfilled at Oakleaf Insurance. Ed fed Annabelle while Carole listlessly pushed her grits and scrambled eggs around on her plate.

"Uh huh, what you think would make you happy?" Ed asked and wiped the strawberry jam from Annabelle's sticky fingers.

"Tom hired this bitch; God! What a bitch Annette is! But hired her because she's got a broker's license. Ed, all she did was go to some classes and they just gave her the license. Shit! I know more than she does," Carole ranted.

"Shit," Annabelle said.

"Hey, hey, watch the mouth, huh?" Ed said. "Little ears hear a lot, huh?"

"Like you never say that," Carole defended.

"I do not," Ed said.

He then looked at Carole.

"Honey, you want to go to school? Just say the word. And if this Annette is as bad as you say she is?" Ed said.

"She is, I mean, God! Just the other day..." Carole started up again.

"I'm sure Tom would be thrilled to have another broker in the office," Ed interrupted. "Business has grown a lot since he got started, I know that."

Rose had suffered a stroke and could not watch Annabelle. So, the toddler now went to Stagecoach Day Care. When Ed was on another long distance haul, Stagecoach would keep Annabelle from seven thirty in the morning until nine fifteen in the evening. Annabelle was happy; she had friends at Stagecoach Day Care. She was happiest, though, when Daddy was home and could spend the whole day with her.

Carole did well as an insurance broker and did well at securing new clients for Oakleaf Insurance. She did resent whenever she had to use her own money for any household bills. Usually, Ed's parking his Peterbilt in front of the house for two or three days would quell her arguments. She would chip in toward a bill and Ed would park the tractor at the Oakleaf Freight Lines.

He did object when she used a bonus check to put a down payment on a brand new Lexus. He pointed out that the roof was due to be replaced, the pool had a crack that needed repairing, and they had just signed Annabelle up for Friendship Christian Academy for pre-kindergarten classes.

She threatened to withhold sex. Ed's smile infuriated her. Carole then tried bargaining; anal sex if she could keep her Lexus. Again, Ed's smile infuriated her.

"I might just be a dumb ass trucker, Honey," Ed said. But uh, seems to me, there's three people living here. Make this a home? We all got to pull our weight."

"I hate you," Carole snarled, grabbing the keys off the counter.

"Uh huh," Ed shrugged.

Carole was highly embarrassed having to return the Lexus. She really resented having to pay the tuition for Annabelle's schooling. Linda Wright, the head administrator sensed this but wisely kept her mouth shut while Carole slapped the check onto the desk.

Carole did get her Lexus, after three years of hard work and scrimping and saving. But this brought her no satisfaction; she still lamented having to return the first Lexus.

She also resented having to pay for Annabelle's tuition to St. Catherine's Elementary School.

"I pay taxes; there's Sam Houston Elementary School right there," Carole spat.

"Seriously? SERIOUSLY? A fourth grader brings a gun to school, shoots three kids and a teacher and you seriously are okay with our daughter going there?" Ed asked, incredulous.

Carole had no argument, so grudgingly wrote out a check for school uniforms. Annabelle also knew how displeased her mother was when she had three cavities at her next dental checkup.

"Uh, who's one checked the box for 'Basic Dental Care' anyway?" Ed said when Carole complained about their portion of the seven hundred and twenty dollar dentist's bill.

On the evenings when they had monetary discussions, Ed knew he could expect no sex from Carole. His seeming lack of concern about this fact also irritated Carole. Whenever she saw the bills, whenever she saw the signs that she and Ed were about to talk money, Carole would begin a slow boil. By the time they actually did sit down to talk, she was in a rage.

What infuriated her even more was Ed's non-confrontational way of discussing the problem, discussing the need for the expense, and discussing what tactics they would take. He never raised his voice, he never reacted to her anger, just laid the facts out.

"Why we even bother talking, huh, ass hole?" Carole screamed at him. "Huh? Why are we even talking? You know what you're going to do anyway. Fuck! Just go ahead and do it, ass hole."

"Oh Baby, when you talk like that, makes me want take you right here, right now," Ed said drily.

"You do and I'll scream," Carole screamed.

"Already screaming," Ed pointed out, then did grab her.

He carried her, squirming, snarling and kicking, all the way to their bedroom. She screamed in rage when he threw her onto their king sized bed.

He smiled, which pissed her off even more. His smile was because, when he threw her onto the bed, he saw that Carole had neglected to put any panties on. Her pink lips were slick with moisture, her blonde curls wet with her excitement.

Carole's orgasm was almost instantaneous when he slid his hard cock into her.

"I fucking hate you, you God damned rapist," she screamed, clawing at his face.

"Hate you too," he chuckled as she wrapped her pudgy thighs around his narrow waist.

"I mean it, oh!" Carole whined in orgasm.

"Want this load on them titties, better get that dress off," Ed told her.

She struggled to pull dress and bra off. She squealed in orgasm as his spunk splattered her heaving breasts and hard nipples. She closed eyes and mouth as he spurted the last of his juice onto her face.

"I still fucking hate you," she complained bitterly.

"Uh huh," Ed said and brought her a wet face cloth.

Through St. Catherine, Annabelle became involved in soccer. Ed studied as much as he could about the sport and then stood in the back yard with Annabelle and Grace Timmons, Annabelle's BFF from the neighborhood, and practiced soccer with both girls.

By now, Annabelle was a carbon copy of her mother, long blonde hair, round face, and slight chipmunk smile. She did lack her mother's chunky build, but Ed attributed this to the fact that the girl never seemed to slow down. She and Grace ran everywhere; they did not walk.

Grace was a cute child, with flaming red hair, bright green eyes, and a plethora of freckles. Her mother was a warm and loving woman and Grace seemed to have inherited her mother's personality. She certainly inherited her mother's red hair, green eyes, and multitude of freckles.

When he wasn't on the road, Ed was at the practices. When he wasn't on the road, Ed was at their soccer games.

When Annabelle and Grace entered the fifth grade, Carole came to Ed and said she had an announcement. Ed looked at her, waiting, hoping.

He hoped that the announcement was that they'd be having a new addition to their home; he did want another Annabelle, or even an Eddy Junior.

"I've, I mean, Tom was great, giving me a job, I know I didn't have any real skills, but..." Carole faltered.

Ed sat, regarding her. He did want to ask her why she couldn't meet his eyes as she tried to talk. The fact that he could see her blonde pussy peeking out from the ridiculously short hem of her skirt did not distract his questions.

"And I mean, shit, I been carrying Oakleaf these past few years," Carole said. "Seriously? Without me? Tom wouldn't have half the business he's got."

Ed said nothing when Carole said she and another person planned on becoming their own insurance firm. They'd already secured their licenses, had already applied for the permits and had registered with the state of Texas.

"Did this today at lunch?" Ed asked calmly.

"Huh?" Carole asked, crossing her legs.

Ed's eyes did not flicker down to the enticing sight of his wife's pussy. He regarded her, trying to meet her brown eyes. She kept them slightly averted, though.

"All this, getting licenses, permits, registering," Ed said, the anger finally beginning to bubble up. "Shit takes time. Tells me you been working on this, planning all this a while now."

Carole shifted in her seat. She finally looked at Ed's angry face. Then she looked away again.

"And I'm just now hearing about this?" Ed said, voice tight.

"Well I uh, I mean," Carole stammered.

"I uh, you mean, you just didn't want me be able talk you out of this," Ed guessed correctly.

Finally Carole met and held his eyes. Her face was a mask of bitterness.

"God damned right," she snarled almost hatefully. "I'd talked to you, would have talked me out of it. Just like with the fucking Lexus."

"Go ahead, Carole, do whatever the hell you want to," Ed sighed, all anger suddenly leaving him. "Just make sure there's money for your half of stuff around here. Just make sure there's time for our daughter."

"Oh, I'll make sure there's time for my daughter," Carole hissed scornfully. "Don't worry about that."

"Uh huh, like all the time for her soccer games?" Ed taunted.

"God damn, how many of them dumb ass games they got anyway?" Carole complained.

"Does it matter?" Ed asked. "Haven't made time for one of them yet. So it really don't matter if she has one or a hundred of them, does it?"

A few days later, Carole showed Ed the business cards they'd had printed up. He regarded it with some interest.

'Cooper Hahn Insurance Corporation' was in a boldface type. To Ed's eye, the typeface did not look professional, business like. It almost screamed of immaturity to him.

But he kept that opinion to himself. He nodded to the phone number.

"Best way get in touch with you?" he asked.

"Actually? Need call my cell phone; that's routed to a call center in India," Carole admitted.

"Thing most people liked about Oakleaf? Called Oakleaf, got Oakleaf," Ed said.

He could see from Carole's flushed appearance that she did not like him pointing out this obvious fact. He had just come in from a run and was hoping to make love with his beautiful wife so quickly added a caveat.

"But then again, Oakleaf was kind of small potatoes, huh?" he said and pocketed the card.

He did make love to his wife, spurting his seed onto her sweating face. After she'd cleaned herself up, they lay in bed, cuddling. She told him about the brand new computers they'd installed, the network system they'd routed in.

"And, who is this Hahn anyway?" Ed asked.

Instead of answering, Carole brought up that Annabelle was interested in basketball.

"I'll put up a hoop tomorrow," Ed promised.

"What? Put it up, she tries it a few times and gets bored with it then I'm stuck with some ugly ass thing in my driveway," Carole complained.

"Said same thing about that soccer net in the back yard but she uses it almost every day," Ed reminded her.

"They're ugly; I don't want a basketball hoop in front of my house," Carole complained.

So Ed went and talked with Cheryl Timmons, Grace's mother. Because Annabelle wanted to do it, Grace wanted to try out for basketball too. Cheryl's husband, Frank was a salesman for medical supplies so had no time to teach his daughter anything.

"We'd had a son?" Cheryl hinted, then shrugged and smiled. "But yeah, go ahead. Least we'll know where they are, right?"

Ed bought the hoop, backboard and post. He also purchased two brand new basketballs. He showed Grace and Annabelle the basics of dribbling the ball, showed them the basics of passing the ball to each other, then had them practice dribbling and passing the two basketballs back and forth while he and Tom Mills put up the basketball goal.

"Thank you Daddy, thank you Uncle Tommy," Annabelle said when Ed declared the hoop ready for action.

"Like I could ever say 'no' to you?" Tom smiled.

"Okay, now how you dunk?" Grace asked.

Ed regarded the four foot tall girl with a straight face. Then he looked at Tom. Tom fought hard against the laughter.

"Well, Sweetheart, I don't know. I have never dunked a basketball in my life," Ed admitted. "So, I guess, practice. Practice, practice. Sooner or later, you're going get it."

"Brother, you are a genius," Tom laughed as he and Cheryl and Ed stood on the porch, drinking ice cold beers and watching the girls shoot and miss.

"You're my agent; thought you'd know that by now," Ed said easily.

"Oh! Almost!" Cheryl screamed when one of Grace's shots actually bounced off of the rim.

Frank came how from a road trip, saw the basketball goal, and heard from his wife and daughter all about Mr. Ed helping them. He walked down the street to the Carroll house.

"So, how much I owe you for the goal and the ball?" Frank asked.

"Hey, Frank, want a beer?" Ed asked.

"Not going say 'no' to a cold one," Frank agreed.

"Frank, we know where the girls are, they're staying out of trouble, they're getting fresh air, exercise," Ed said when Frank again brought up the cost.

He pointed to his own front yard. The grass was meticulous, the garden immaculate. There were no oil spots on the driveway.

"My wife wouldn't let us 'dirty up' her driveway. Your wife said 'go right ahead.' So, Frank, how much I owe you?" Ed asked.

"Another beer and we'll call it even?" Frank said, shaking Ed's hand.

When Annabelle and Grace entered their freshman year of Sacred Ascension High School in Oakleaf, they were already known as 'The Tornado Defense.' You could guard the ball against one, but that just left you open for the other. And Annabelle was known as a ferocious rebounder. Grace could not dunk, but she could make three pointers with alarming ease.

Carole did go to one of Annabelle's games, but found it too noisy. She also found the gymnasium too foul smelling. And she really did not understand the game at all. It was just noisy running back and forth. Just when she figured out who had the ball, they were running the other way.

Next to her, Ed and Cheryl were cheering, screaming, laughing.

"You see that? Did you see that?" Ed yelled at Carole.

Carole just wanted to go home, soak in a nice bubble bath, sip some wine.

"See what?" Carole asked.

"See what? Annabelle just stole the ball; poor girl didn't even know she didn't have the ball anymore," Ed said.

Oakleaf High School did mount an impressive offense, but in the end, the Tornado Defense fought back. Annabelle blocked the other girl's shot, passed it to Grace and Grace sent the ball sailing through the air. There was nothing but the bottom of the net as it swished through.

"Yeah! Yeah! That's the way you do it!" Ed screamed.

Then Ed had a run to Miami, Florida. Outside of Fort Walton Beach, the hurricane that had been brewing in the Atlantic looked as if it would veer toward the eastern front. Ed was re-routed to Gulf Shores, Alabama; another tucking company would ferry the shipment to Miami after the hurricane either diminished or made landfall.

"Oh! You uh, you're home!" Carole squeaked as she stepped into the home.

"Yeah, hurricane," Ed said

"I uh, I didn't..." Carole said, trying to sidle to the doorway.

"Got jizz in your hair," Ed said calmly. "Guess whoever you're fucking doesn't bring you a clean washrag, huh?"

Carole put her purse down onto the table. She did not look up.

"I uh, I guess there's no easy way say this," she mumbled.

The divorce was a contentious one. Carole had never let Ed legally adopt Annabelle, so in the end, Ed was not given any visitation rights with his daughter.

Carole had insisted on a pre-nuptial agreement, both parties would leave the marriage with whatever they'd brought into it, splitting whatever they'd accumulated after their marriage. But when Carole Cooper and Lionel Hahn had formed Cooper Hahn Insurance, Carole had insisted on another agreement, one that excluded any of her business from any divorce proceedings. In the case of Carole's demise, the business would then be transferred to Annabelle Cooper, with Lionel Hahn as guardian and trustee of Annabelle's estate.