Chapter 88 - Mayor

Owen was now Mayor of the town and felt that he had made it.

He had the power and influence he had always dreamed of and the River family were obviously the first in importance in their town of Riverview.


Martha to had progressed and was now a Department Head at the local school.

Even with his success Owen still felt an emptiness and he thought he knew why. All around him were little ones and as yet he had been too busy with work to think of a family of his own.

His sister, Harriet, was now a mother of two

Anne had started school, whilst little Frederick was now toddling around.

Death had struck the River family once more and made Owen aware that he wouldn't live forever. The first death of Keith Shah was not unexpected. Keith had had a serious heart condition for years.

His death left Naomi a young and very rich widow. She was surprised just how much she missed Keith.

He had certainly lasted longer than she had expected and once she had married him she had found him a forceful character, not easy to bend to her will.

In fact he had dominated her and after his death she felt rather lost. She had met Stewart Schultz who had also lost his wife recently and had begun an unlikely friendship. 

Just a year later they were engaged much to everybody's surprise. Stewart was a poor man. 

The second death was of Evelyn River who in comparison to Keith had seemed full of health.

It was a big shock to Merlin who had popped over the road to see her with Spock almost every day.

It struck Owen that as Auntie Evelyn had died so young he might lose his own mother and father before long and that it was time to provide that grandchild that Merlin so wished to bounce up and down on his knee.

Even his brother Dominic was a father. 

Spock had now started school and Owen had made sure that all children of the vast River family were to be kind to him. 

Considering at least a quarter of the school comprised of River family kids this mean't Spock was fairly well received.

He was getting especially friendly with the kids living close by, Sarah-Jane Lutz and Harry River.

Dominic had now been a qualified doctor for quite a few years and had decided to specialise and become a gene therapist. 

He also would often give lectures to local businesses and sometimes vaccinations. One fairly memorable day there was a big outbreak of Llama Flu in the town and Dominic was at the cemetery most of the day giving out vaccinations to anyone who wanted them.

Owen took Martha to dinner and broached the subject of children. 

Martha was surprised at first as Owen had always seemed negative when she had tried to mention the subject. She was soon convinced he meant it and was starting to plan just how soon they might hear the pitter patter of tiny feet.