Updated: June 18, 2023

Aubrey

At my dining room table sat the Assistant AG, Jasper Moody, Jimmy Lee and my long-time boss and surrogate father, Dean Grayson. My husband sat beside me like a watershed presence.

I wasn’t kidding with my husband before, I did have a platonic thing for his friend- Jasper was a great personality and Clay, and I had a grand time when we were out with him and his wife. He started the meeting by chastising me for wearing Clemson clothing in his presence. Insisting he wouldn’t consult with me till I wore the obligatory USC tee shirt he knew I was in possession of. After I changed, I was permitted back at the table. The men all laughed with my compliance. You just don’t play with those die-hard Game Cocks.

Jasper “Jax” to his friends, was younger than Jimmy Lee and Clay, probably closer to my age, mid-forties. He was average height, dark haired with dark mustache and goatee and his body still in military shape. He was attractive and mischievous, and I really liked him and his wife Mary Lou.

He had a fantastic sense of humor and put me at ease instantly during this sit down.

“Stop fidgeting Bree, we got you on this, you one of us now. No one wants to see that crocodile a single man ever again.” He teased, smiling sweetly at me. Clay laughed happily.

“Ain’t that the truth?” Clay responded.

I walked them through everything I had and knew about the accidental death of my mother, Marianna Genovese Teller. I briefed them on the meeting with my maternal aunt, Teresa Genovese-Carpino, and all contact information I had from her family.

“Aubrey, why would you never tell me about any of this before?” Dean asked quietly. Sifting carefully through photos, investigator notes, affidavits, and my father’s personal notes.

I gazed at him sadly, “Dean, my father never spoke of this to anyone but me. I didn’t know who or what to trust, because of him. He was sure anyone who got near us was a part of the conspiracy. I respected his wishes.”

Dean nodded his head with understanding.

“He knew he could trust me Aubrey, he made me promise him that I’d look after you when he was gone. Why he didn’t bring me into this alliance then, I can’t understand.” Dean was confused.

“I can’t answer that Dean, I’m sorry. Gratefully Clay has suggested this meeting happen for months now, and well you can imagine my reluctance to drag anyone else into the mystery.”

“Aubrey, what if anything do you remember about this day? You were four years old, do you have any memories of this morning?” Jasper asked, pouring himself another cup of coffee.

I smiled, the tears came to my eyes.

“I wanted to go with her, I remember that. She was dressed and leaving the house, and it made me cry. She handed me a toy, a stuffed bunny. I ran back to sit on the sofa with my father and that’s all I remember. Later that night, he told me she wasn’t coming home. He was sobbing and he held me to him and explained she went to heaven to be with the angels. Police came to our house and some of them he knew somehow, but I was inconsolable. He told me years later that I spoke in Italian all night out loud in my room. As if she came to visit with me and I was trying to get her to explain what happened. Perche andato?, I kept repeating. Why did you leave? ” My tears were steady now and I stopped to get myself together.

Clay wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him, he wiped my tears with his handkerchief and kissed my forehead. I whispered, “thank you” to him under my breath.

“I’m sorry Aubrey, we hate to put you through this, but as you know, any detail could be something,” Jasper spoke softly.

Dean was quiet, reading and taking notes. Jimmy Lee was checking his phone for email notifications and Clay, he was reading police reports and statements.

“Jax,” he spoke suddenly, “…the accident happened in Brooklyn. They interviewed the Carpino family who owned a restaurant nearby.” Clay spoke in disbelief.

“Jimmy Lee, didn’t Charmaine tell us they have canaries in cages willing to sing on this family?” Jasper asked his second-best friend in the world.

Jimmy Lee looked up from his phone. Charmaine Booth was the US Attorney and recently consulted with our state officials. Apparently what the men knew already was two former soldiers of one of the more prestigious and notorious New York crime families were willing to make another deal for information regarding this case. One particular gentlemen had turned state’s evidence years ago which resulted in several RICO convictions for the New York Attorney General.

“She does, Jax. We are waiting on the paper work and we’ll get a chance to question him. They are working on the deal. This guy is in jail for ten more years, he’s in his late seventies and he wants parole for the remainder of his life. He was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and wants to die at home with his family.

Dean leaned forward at the table and looked over his glasses at Clay and I.

“It’s clear to me already that the Carpino family has the ties to this so-called accident, and I agree with Aubrey that meeting Adam was not random. I’m surprised you managed to stay alive as long as you were married to that neanderthal. If we can trace this directly back to Natalie Vergamo we can put her away.”

Aubrey

Late in October, Clay and I went on a Sunday boat trip with Jimmy Lee and Livvie. More of the Prosecutor’s office joined us with their spouses. The men wanted to do some fishing. We hadn’t spent much time with the group since our wedding and I was still getting acquainted with all of them.  

With Shania and Natalie Vergamo processed and out on bail, I was a little on edge, but surrounded by our friends and enjoying the weather on the water.

Funny thing about southern lawyers who drink on a boat, they want to tell war stories. I was enjoying the snippets of their histories. Relaxed and catching fish, they were chatty and fun.

At some point the sordid history of the Lowcountry became the topic of conversation. All six couples were bantering around me with the details of the unspoken truths of the drug cartels and trafficking through the ports and multiple waterways of the Lowcountry. Notably, the famous, ‘gentlemen smugglers’ involved a notorious action called ‘Operation Jackpot’. They were caught with over three hundred thousand pounds of marijuana and almost half that in hashish.

Originally shrimpers by trade, they made millions of dollars until the Feds caught them and shut them down. Someone said, Saint Helena Island and I perked up.

Jasper and Mary Lou were in on the conversation and greatly animated contributing to it.

They were sitting across from me at the deck table, and I started to ask questions. Miss Della and her staff had begun to serve lunch when my half lit, suntanned, handsome fisherman husband came strolling back, beer bottle in his hand, to eat with his sidekick, Jimmy Lee.

“Watch yo’self now, Jax,” Jimmy Lee teased. “Mrs. Hoover gonna do a profile on you.”

Jasper smiled and nodded at me, “You can ask me anything, Aubrey.” He started making a plate of lunch for himself and was helping Mary Lou to fix her plate.

Clay slid onto the chair beside me and kissed my cheek. “You doin’ alright Sugar?” he slurred his hand under my dress immediately.

I rarely saw him this relaxed or intoxicated, it was funny to me. He looked younger, he wasn’t cutting his hair as short as he used to when I met him, it was thick and wavy, and he was so incredibly sexy.

“I’m doing great, it’s a beautiful day, Jasper and Mary Lou are telling me all about ‘Operation Jackpot’,” I smiled. Clay leaned in to kiss me, desire gleaming from his half-drunk eyes.

“Crocodile, leave that girl alone, she’s overseeing an inquiry and you cork high and bottle deep, pawing at her like a Clemson Freshman.” Jasper joked.

Clay laughed and flashed him the middle finger.

“I object, ya honor,” Jasper laughed back.

Mary Lou chided her husband, “Jax leave Clayton be, they still on their honeymoon, only been a minute since they got married. I have vague memories of you bein’ that handsy about a hundred years ago,” she laughed, reaching for a plate of fresh fruit.

Jasper embraced his wife and bit her on her neck. “Woman, every time I touch you, you get knocked up. If I get handsy on this boat right here, we’ll wind up with our own baseball team starting lineup.”

Mary Lou giggled joyously, patting Jasper on the knee, “Well, we could use a designated hitter,”

We all laughed with them, and the mood was light and fun. Jasper wasn’t joking, he and Mary Lou had five children ranging in ages from twenty to the youngest at seven.

“Did you catch anything, baby?” I asked, passing lunch platters to him.

“Mmmm, I caught me a prize, didn’t I now Sugar?” he whispered, his hand on the inside of my thigh. I started to laugh and kissed him quickly again. “Behave now, Mr. Hoover. “We’re not alone,” I teased.

“If wishing only made it so,” he blew into my ear. “I’m hungry for nothing on this table…” he slid his hand higher under my sundress, “..but this, this I could eat all day,” he crooned, his fingers lightly grazing my panties.

“Clay,” I said gently. Damn him, he made me wet instantly. “We are surrounded by your work colleagues, try to be a good boy for a second and I’ll let you have whatever you desire when we get home, I promise.” I kissed his cheek.

He gazed so deep into my eyes, desire, passion, and lust obvious.

“Or…you could finish your lunch and your interview and follow me, ‘cause I’m hankerin’ to go below deck and I’ve got a very, very hard question, I need you to answer.” He took my hand and placed it between his legs.

I laughed, low and dirty. Of course, it was him who was hard. He astounded me for a man his age, he had the stamina of a twenty-year-old. He was my own personal South Carolina stallion.

I leaned in and whispered in his ear. “Let me finish my lunch and I’m taking that for dessert. I’ll meet you downstairs, if you promise to be on your best behavior for the next half hour.”  

“You wet already, ain’t you now, Sugar?” he laughed slyly.

“Clayton, y’all should know better than ask,” I smiled and bit my bottom lip.

“Mmmm, I do love it when you stumble into country-Yankee, Sugar.” He teased, stroking my leg and began to eat his lunch while I questioned Jasper and Mary Lou.

Clay

I gave her exactly thirty minutes. The alarm I set on my phone went off and she was still taking notes from her conversation with Jax. I took her by the hand, and she begged the pardon of those she was conversing with.

We slipped away from the crowd and went below deck.

I cannot control myself with this woman and add the party mood, the boat ride and too many beers and I’m irrational. I couldn’t tell you what had me so fucking turned on, but I was frantic to take my wife, right there and then.

I had her clothes off quickly and my pants down before she caught her breath.

“Baby what has gotten into you?” she laughed between her kisses.

“It’s what’s about to get into you Sugar, the Lowcountry loch ness monster needs some attention,” I gusted, my mouth on her tits.

She was so easy, her body responded to me immediately. Nipples harder than taking the bar exam and that sweet kitty wet and ready.

“Tell me Sugar, let me hear you ask for it,” I moaned, pushing her back onto the bed. Stroking my erection above her.

“Clay you know what I want, baby,” she teased, fondling her breasts, and opening her beautiful legs for me.

“Say it, I want to hear you,” I dipped my head between her thighs and licked it like I had a carnival ice cream cone dripping down my hand. Her shrieks of delight inspired me.

“Baby, you’re so good…..make me so wet……ahh Clay, I want you inside me.” She groaned.

“Do you?” I asked, my body lined up to hers now. “You want me?” I asked, kissing her mouth and neck, and running my hands over her breasts.

“I want you, only you, forever you. I want to feel your cock inside me, and I want you to fuck me until I scream,” her hands ran down my body, her nails on my back and my ass.

I slid inside her and I almost wept, the feeling was so amazing, she tightened up around me and held my gaze.

“Harder, Clay, don’t hold back,” she whispered. “This is your pussy, own it.” 

I lost all control and my mind blacked out. I was completely embedded in her, and the feeling got better and better.  She was the best sensation I’d ever had and together we did something we had never done. Somehow we were aligned in the right position that every time I thrust inside my pelvic bone hit her clit and she came, it was glorious. Her small orgasms bathing me as if  I was fucking a waterfall. I felt the tremor go through me and I finished with her thundering like two colliding tidal waves.

“Sweet Mother of God,” I exhaled falling onto my back. “Woman, you should be displayed in a museum. You are a fucking magnum opus.”

“Clayton Hoover, what in the world got you all fired up in the middle of a fishing trip/boat picnic?” she laughed, planting kisses on my chest. I gazed down at her lovely face and smiled.

“You gonna laugh at me when I tell you,”

She arched an eyebrow and said, “Tell me,”

“Watching you work. You so dang sexy, asking the questions about the Lowcountry ‘gentlemen shrimpers’ I ain’t never seen such a fluid, attractive interrogation. Lit the furnace quick and that dress you wearing so pretty. I can’t resist you at all. Maybe too much beer and relaxation too.” I laughed happily, bringing her back up to me to kiss her.

“You make me gloriously happy, Sugar.” I whispered between my kisses. I held her face close to mine, “I think we might have made a baby right here, darlin’, I’ve never come like that before, it was fierce and so goddamned good.”

She stared into my eyes, hers filling with tears.

“Clay, I…you know I can’t….I’ve never been able to…I’m sorry, honey. I would love to have your baby, but it’s impossible for me, it always has been.”  

I ran my thumbs under her eyes, kissing the tears from her cheeks.

“Don’t cry Sugar, I know your past. You have nothing to be sorry about, I’m not fixated on having any more children. But something about this felt different is all. Besides, around you miracles happen.” I kissed her mouth and lingered there. “I’m sure of this, honey. Trust me, I know I made you pregnant just now.” The tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t explain the feeling, but I felt it deep in my gut.

“Do you think Clay? I’ll be forty-six in a few weeks. I’m sure I’ve started menopause, my periods have been wonky. We don’t take any precautions…..I can’t imagine after all this time I could but if I did, you’d be okay with a baby at this time in your life?” she asked sadly.

I held her close to me, stroking her soft skin. “Honey, I’d be over the moon if I could give you a baby. You are a woman who was born to be a Momma, you’re nurturing and loving. Just think of all the posturing I can do–that at my age I could knock up a young chicken like you.” I laughed.

She leaned up to kiss me, “You won’t be disappointed if it doesn’t happen?”

“Sugar don’t be silly.  No I won’t be disappointed, I’m in love with your fine ass, and I love our life together. I’m seriously telling you, this lovemaking, here and now was exceptional. Fire came out of my loins, and I have this overwhelming feeling we made a life here today.  It’s just a gut reaction, don’t overthink it.”

She gazed into my eyes, her beauty overwhelmed me, she nodded slowly and kissed me again.

“I’m so in love with you, I hope you’re right. To have your baby, oh honey I wish,” she whispered, tears slid down her cheeks.  

I kissed her gently, “Don’t stress over it, I’m not kidding Bree, you’re my baby, my great love. But I think I’m right, so just sayin’, I’ll be crowing like a rooster in a few weeks if I am.” I laughed.

She chuckled and got out of bed to clean up and redress.

“Where you goin’ Sugar. Think I’m done with you?” I teased, reaching out to grab her naked ass.

“You’re not done?” she asked walking toward the head.  “I can hardly walk, Baby. I swear that thing grows another inch a day.”

I stood to kiss her again, slow, and delicious.

We straightened up and dressed to rejoin our group. No one even noticed we were missing.

“Aubrey, I love you, thank you for being mine,” I whispered into her ear as we returned to the top deck.  She was holding onto the aft rail, looking out over the water. I was behind her holding my arms around her waist.

She turned slightly to kiss me. “I love you most, thank you Clay, for making me yours.”

I kissed her back and slid my hand to her lower abdomen, “Yeah, I’m about to bet the farm I’m right on this one, Sugar. These pretty tits of yours about to get bigger.” I laughed happily.