The Rescue of Nadia Marie Read online

  Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  EPILOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  The Boat

  It was a dream come true for John and Julie Schwartz. The boat was the culmination of a special bond between two people that had developed over time and was rooted deep in a special love between two people. Both were avid sailors and dreamed of owning their own ocean-going sailing vessel. Julie saw an ad in a sailing magazine that listed a forty-five-foot sailing vessel for sale in Florida that seemed to fit their idea of a perfect boat. It was used but affordable and seemed to be in excellent shape. When John saw the picture of the boat, he agreed with Julie that this was the boat of their dreams. That ad started an international saga with a unique and tragic ending.

  It seemed as though destiny had caused two people to come together from two different backgrounds that would merge into one special relationship.

  When John was a kid, he was one of those who attracted people to him. He was fun-loving and sometimes a practical joker. When he was in grade school, he achieved the ultimate prank. He dressed up in his soldier uniform complete with gun belt, helmet, and dummy grenades. After all, it was a casual-wear day at school which coincided with Halloween. He was successful in concealing his uniform from his homeroom teacher throughout the day. When no teacher was in sight, he would display his outfit to the other kids.

  It took some time before word finally reached the school principal that there was a kid running around the school in a soldier’s uniform wearing grenades. The hunt was on. None of the kids would tell who it was which made the principal more determined to get to the bottom of the story. At the end of the day, John triumphantly came home with a big grin on his face. Secure in the knowledge that he had been the victor.

  There was one problem. The vice principal affectionately known as Atilla, the Hundley who meted out justice with an iron hand soon found out. She liked John secretly but vowed to get even. It did not take long before Atilla, the Hundley had John in her iron grasp. He paid dearly for his indiscretion.

  In high school, John became a football super jock. Of course this did have some advantages. He had no problem with the girls which drove his father crazy when these young girls started hanging around the house.

  After high school, John drifted from job to job for a while. He finally ran into a friend who was working in construction. John was hired on as a laborer at his friend’s construction firm.

  Building things came natural to John. Since he was a child, he loved to assemble toys and design buildings. Within a couple of years, he had decided to go to college and learn how to build buildings. He graduated with honors from his engineering class.

  It was not long before John had built a reputation in the trades industry. His break came when the company owner decided to retire for health reasons. John saw his opportunity to take over the business. With the assistance of one of his high school football buddies who had went into banking, he secured a loan from a bank and bought out his boss.

  Within five years, John had paid off his loan early and expanded his company to become one of the largest construction firms in the State of Washington.

  Through the years, John had become somewhat of a confirmed bachelor. He was happy with his life and did not seem to need to change. There were occasional girlfriends who passed through his life, but none seemed to interest him in the long term. He had no desire to live with one without being married, so he just did his thing without seeking any long-term commitment.

  One night, he went to a sports bar with a couple of friends to watch a football game and just hang out. A guy named Jason, who John knew but did not like very well, came into the bar with a girl who worked with him. John seemed oddly curious as to who she was.

  When Jason went to use the restroom, John saw his chance. He went over to the girl and asked her how well she knew Jason. To his surprise, he found that she had literally met him at the door. They both worked together, and she had decided to keep Jason company while she waited for a girlfriend to show up.

  John was immediately attracted to this girl and wanted to get to know her. He found out that her name was Julie. She was a manager of a high-end car dealership in Bellevue, Washington.

  John felt that this girl was too intelligent to be running around with someone like Jason. He would have to fix that minor problem. Without hesitation, he gave Julie his business card and asked her to call him later in the week. Julie, after some charm and coaxing, finally agreed to at least call. She too had become curious about this rather straightforward stranger. She made a note to ask about him before she would call.

  Julie had grown up on a farm near Seattle. She had attended schools in the Seattle area. During her early years, Julie had girlfriends whom she was completely satisfied to associate with. Boys were not on her list of things to really pay much attention to.

  She too excelled at sports. Julie was a top-class runner who took numerous first place prizes at her school track meets. Julie had early on decided that she would be successful in life and would not depend on anyone for her support. In high school, she more often than not eschewed school drinking parties.

  One time, she gave in to her girlfriend’s pestering to go to a party. It got raided by the police. She had to endure the shame of having her parents come to the police station and escorting her home. Julie vowed to never do anything like that again.

  College was easy for her. She had to get a part-time job to help pay her expenses, but the job did not interfere with her studies or her grades. She graduated with top honors. While in college, Julie majored in business administration and economics. When she graduated, Julie found a couple of jobs in fields that she did not like. Ironically, she was asked to manage a car dealership that was having financial trouble. She did not know anything about cars and had no desire to learn. However, one of her friends from high school was on the board of directors and asked her to come and assist in turning the company around.

  Her new job was not an easy task. Her good friend had failed to tell Julie that the company was run by the son of the original owner. This individual was your basic coke user and drunk. Julie had no tolerance of him.

  Within a matter of weeks, Julie had a confrontation with the father who was the chairman of the board and semi-retired. Julie let him know in no uncertain terms that his son would be the downfall of the company if he was left to manage it. She told the old man that she did not need this job and intended to move on with her life.

  No one had dared to speak to the old man like she did. Everyone was expecting an immediate dismissal. To their surprise, the old man began to listen to Julie as she laid out each and every bad decision the son had made. She even included the son’s drug use and heavy drinking; all taboo subjects in the company.

  After giving her presentation, Julie handed the old man her two- week notice and walked out of the room. To her surprise, she received a memo from the
old man stating that she was the new chief executive officer effectively immediately. His son was to remain on the board of directors but would take no part in the operation of the business. Shortly after, the son checked into rehab. He never returned to the company.

  Julie was prevailed upon by members of the board and friends she had made after coming there to take the position. Reluctantly she agreed. Within months, Julie had the business turned around and making a profit. She bought out the son’s share of stocks and became a minor stockholder. When other members of the board left or retired, she bought them out as well. Within a short period of time, she was a full partner in the company.

  There was one individual on the board of directors of the company who was also a stockholder that drove Julie crazy. His name was Jack Ryan whom Julie called Jack Ass Ryan. Jack Ass was constantly criticizing Julie and making life miserable for her in general.

  Julie would dream of ways to get even with this Neanderthal jerk, such as the Chinese water torture, bamboo shoots under his fingernails, a firing squad, or just plain cutting his balls off.

  Unexpectedly, Julie prevailed. She came to work one day to find a letter on her desk from Jack Ass. The letter read that Jack Ass had decided to sell his shares in the company and resign his board position. It turned out that Jack Ass had been taking his stress from a failed marriage out on Julie every chance he got. His wife Marlene solved the problem for Julie. She took Jack Ass to the cleaners in the divorce settlement.

  Julie was home celebrating her victory when she saw the boat ad in the magazine.

  When Julie first encountered John, her reaction to John was one of bemused interest. He was somewhat aggressive and a little arrogant yet he had a likeable quality about him that interested her.

  Through the years, Julie had met various men that she felt would make a good companion. As she got to know each of them, she found some glaring fault or just a lack of compatibility. Some she became friends with on a platonic level. One she did have some strong feelings for but discovered he was married. From that time on, she was very cautious whom she let into her inner feelings. Mainly, she stuck with girlfriends. They were safer emotionally.

  To Julie’s surprise, John came by the dealership a couple of days later and asked to buy a new SUV. Julie saw him there by accident and greeted him warmly as she did all potential customers. She had already learned from mutual friends that John was a long-time bachelor who owned a construction firm. It was rumored that he was quite wealthy but seemed to be more down to earth than most. If he had wealth, he hid it quite well. If asked what he did for a living, John would reply that he was a construction worker.

  John had done some research himself. He learned that Julie was a managing partner of her company. She was viewed as somewhat standoffish toward guys but had a good sense of humor and was pleasant to talk to. Julie, it appeared, was a person who would take charge and make it plain that she would handle any situation when others failed. To the guys, she was good-looking and a real babe.

  Julie and John struck up a conversation at the dealership that day that went from a hello to lunch and a promise to get together for a musical presentation at the local opera house in Seattle. It wasn’t long before they became inseparable. Within a year, they were married.

  John was an avid sailor. He had a small sailboat that he puttered around Puget Sound on. He dreamed of owning a large sailboat and taking it on a cruise to Hawaii or just about any place he could safely go to in a small sailing vessel.

  Once he married Julie, the two of them became sailing partners. They sailed all over the Puget Sound area fishing and skin diving or just hanging out on the boat with friends.

  It wasn’t long before their utopia came to an end. Julie became pregnant. It was to be a girl according to the doctor. Both agreed to name her Nadia Marie. The child was darling. John would toss her around like a rag doll just to hear her laugh and coo. Julie frowned on the rough housing like any mother, but she would take it in stride and smiled inwardly watching John and baby Nadia play.

  As Nadia grew, her personality began to come through. She had an angelic smile that would turn any heart from the day she was born. When she was up to something and got caught, she had a sneaky smile that betrayed her. She was incapable of telling a lie. Nadia was a parent’s dream. She seldom complained and was obedient to a fault. As she grew, her parents’ pride in her grew.

  There was one sadness in Nadia’s life. Her parents worked during the day, and she had a nanny. The nanny was named Cathy. Cathy was okay and lots of fun, but she could not take the place of her father and mother. Nadia would sometimes count the hours to when her parents would come home.

  Sometimes, Nadia would play a pretend game. She would watch out the window and pretend that Mommy and Daddy were in a race to come home. She dreamed that there were floods, fire, and earthquakes that kept her parents away. They would overcome all these obstacles to reach home. The first parent to arrive would be the winner of a huge hug each day. Nadia couldn’t wait for the weekend when she would have her parents to herself for two whole days.

  Sailing was fun for Nadia. At an early age, she learned to help with the boat. By the time she was nine, she understood the workings of a sailing craft. She even understood the sailing lingo.

  What was more fun was to sit on the prow of the boat and pretend that she was a pirate searching out treasure ships to attack. Sometimes she was a princess and waited for her prince to come and rescue her from the pirates.

  One day, John was sitting on a boat with a few of his buddies drinking and hanging out while talking about the good and bad times they had. One of them was kidding him about sneaking in on Jason and stealing his girlfriend while he was in the bathroom. All got a chuckle out of it.

  One friend suggested to John that he should run for political office. John’s reaction was to laugh. A couple of other friends chimed in and told John he would make a good politician.

  Just to gain the high road in the conversation, John half-jokingly told the group that if they were so serious about the election, then all they had to do was cough up money for a campaign. He thought that comment would put the whole thing to rest.

  A couple of days later, two of his buddies walked into his office with sly grins on their faces. John thought, “What are these two turkeys up to? Shouldn’t they be at work?”

  To his surprise, he was told by one of his friends named Dave that the group had some dinner and drinks at a local watering hole and decided that he should run for political office. Pledges were made for money, and some volunteered to take certain positions in the campaign.

  John’s initial reaction was to throw these two out of his office for being clowns and wasting his time. The only trouble was they looked serious. These two had not been serious in their whole lives. When John realized what was being said, he stopped to think about it. He told the two that he would think about it and get back to them.

  After his friends left, John stopped what he was doing to mull over what he had been told. In the end, he decided he should give back to the community that had given him so much. He decided to run for the state legislature.

  That night at dinner, he told Julie about his friends’ visit. John told Julie that he felt that he could give back to the community. Julie’s position was that John must not let this new adventure interfere with their homelife. When Nadia heard the news, she just let out a deep breath and rolled her eyes.

  John was undaunted. He and his friends set up a small campaign headquarters in one of his buildings and started campaigning. To his surprise, he won.

  Julie was lukewarm to the idea at first but soon got into the swing of things and helped out. She helped John because he did feel that he was contributing and had his heart set on serving others. It was important to John. That was all that counted.

  Julie wasn’t so open with her giving. She would listen at work or at church to see
if anyone had a hardship worth helping with. If she found a deserving person or family, she would find a way to help them anonymously. One time, she paid for an operation for one of her workers children. She had a trusted friend make the donation so that no one would ever find out.

  Another time, Julie was out walking with Nadia. She came across a coworker’s home who had a large family. She stopped to chat with his wife. The wife told Julie that the family car was broken down with a tune-up problem. They did not have the money to fix the car. Julie had a money order sent to the family and marked it “car repair.”

  A couple of weeks later, Julie came walking by the home and saw the wife again. She and Julie exchanged pleasantries. The wife told her a story about getting a money order in the mail that had no signature. It had “car repair” marked on it. The wife felt that an aunt had done it even though the aunt denied it. After a brief conversation, Julie went on with Nadia to finish their walk. She had a small smile on her face. She just did not want solicitors around her like dogs in heat every day. It was enough satisfaction to see the appreciation the woman had stated to her.

  Julie was the pragmatic one of the family. She would shop at secondhand stores instead of going to the fancy downtown stores. When John decided to find a large sailing craft to take on an extended cruise, she insisted they buy a used boat.

  Julie was home and celebrating her victory over Jack Ass Ryan and just being lazy. Nadia was in school, and the nanny was out shopping. Julie was reading a boat magazine on the couch when she came across an ad for a used forty-five-foot sailing boat. Instantly, she felt that this was the boat.

  When she showed the boat to John, he liked it. They agreed that this was a good opportunity to take some time off. The boat was in Florida. They could fly down to Orlando and visit the Epcot Center with Nadia. From there, they would go buy the boat and set sail for Hawaii through the Panama Canal then back to Seattle. Their journey would take about a month and a half.

  Julie became the chief negotiator for the boat. She called up the broker and asked why the boat was being sold. She was told that an older couple had bought the boat new with the intent of sailing around the horn and going to the Polynesian Islands in the Pacific. Their plans were dashed when the husband contracted cancer. His fight for his life, though valiant, had ended in his death after many months. The wife lost interest in the boat and was selling it.