As Edward William Parker flies south into the darkness from the Sacramento Area to Orange County in his four seat private airplane to be with his grandson on the eve of his bone marrow transplant, he is troubled by the recent souring of his marriage. How could Kathryn be having an affair? Why? The email to her that he accidentally read wasn’t just a friendly note. It was MORE.He recalls their meeting and falling in love during their freshman year at the University of Texas in the 60’s, he an accomplished athlete and she accomplished at everything. Then out of the blue she meets and instantly marries another. Her inexplicable marriage is a disaster, but not without the birth of a son, Michael. Happily, Eddie and Kathryn pull it back together and marry just as Eddie earns his navy wings. They immediately have a daughter, Scarlett, whose son is having the bone marrow procedure. Still that email, then wham, he plows into the side of a mountain just north of Los Angeles. While the family gathers in Orange County and worry why Eddie is missing, he drifts in and out of a dreamy state recalling his love of flying, the kids and their growing up, his harrowing experience as a combat Naval Aviator, Michael’s legal situation, and the devastating death of his comrade Rene, and more.The story concludes at the Children’s Hospital of Orange, in Orange County, where Eddie is taken after his rescue in the early morning hours, the same hospital as his grandson.The outcome of young Josh’s bone marrow transplantation and fate of Mr. Parker’s marriage and surgeries is left to the reader who indulges the whole book. You will know of Eddie’s brief romance with Rene’s future wife, his daughter’s exotically mysterious Greek husband, and the drama surrounding his step-son, Michael. Throw in a kidney transplant and more; the French woman, a Bible verse, Starbucks, burial at Arlington Cemetery, and a woman dressed in black. The ending cannot be revealed and is not the expected outcome. Bring tissue.Happy reading!J.W. Perry
