Laura's Big Win (43 page)

And extending a hand to his wife, Ryan
and Laura headed for the first of many joint experiences they would
enjoy over the years. Initially, Laura had some serious misgivings,
but she realized quickly that not only did it work both ways, she
discovered she was not embarrassed or shy or anything else with
this man, so strong was the bond. She reveled in his attentions,
and came to learn that the term “body wash” could have a whole new
meaning.

Dried off and clad now in their robes,
Ryan and Laura strolled hand in hand to the dining area to await
the delivery of breakfast, and seated themselves so they were
within touching distance.

“See, it is fun, and I made some real
progress on my counting by the way. How about you?”

“I don’t think you made as much
progress as you think. You examined a couple of things several
times, and very closely, so that can’t possibly count, not that I
minded; in fact, any time you want to resume the count, I’m ready.
The thing is, for me, I’ve never…..ah…..I don’t know how to say
this, I’ve never seen a man,…..in the light …..without his clothes.
And, I learned something I’ve always wondered about, a lot of women
have wondered about. So there.”

“Really? Like what? Men are men,
mostly, I think. I’ve never run around looking for
myself.”

“I learned that the conventional wisdom
about the size of a man’s feet may well be true, at least in your
case, and I can’t wait to tell the girls in the shop about that
either.”

“Sure, just like I’m going to tell the
guys I got lucky. Anyway, sounds like breakfast just arrived. I’ll
get the door.”

Ryan took the few steps to the door of
the suite, opening it wide for the cart to enter, but was surprised
to see who was doing the delivery. “Jorge, what are you doing?
You’re supposed to be in the kitchen serving the paying guests, not
up here, with your helper alongside. Anyway, it’s great to see you
again. How are things with you?”

“Buenos dias, Senor Boss Man y Senora
Boss Lady. When the Boss Man is here, Jorge takes care of him;
numero dos can serve the guests. Please, be seated and we will
serve you properly. If there is anything, say it and it will be
done.”

As requested, Ryan returned to his seat
while the two men laid the table with fine china and the heavy
silver, poured a light bodied wine, placed new flowers, fluffed the
cloth napkins, and served the meal. Laura was amazed at the detail
they went to, making sure everything was just right in every
respect, garnish on the plate at exactly the right position,
utensils placed at an exact distance. Jorge did talk with Ryan a
bit, mostly in English, or his version of it; she realized she
needed to dredge up her high school Spanish quickly to really make
the most of this adventure. And she noticed that when things were
all set to their satisfaction and they were preparing to leave the
room, Ryan pressed a bill into Jorge’s hand. But Jorge put the bill
back into Ryan’s hand, closing the fingers over it, glanced at her,
and said something quickly in Spanish that she couldn’t quite make
out. Bidding them a good day, the two backed out of the room and
left Ryan and Laura to their first real meal together as husband
and wife. The food was very, very impressive, both in presentation
and actual taste, and they both realized how hungry they were.
Laura was coming to realize there was more to this high end living
than she had known, and while it might pose a little challenge now
and then for her lack of knowledge, she understood that she could
easily get accustomed to it. She cautioned herself mentally to
remember she was not royalty in her everyday life, however great
things might be at the moment.

Finishing up the remnants, the two
finally had satiated themselves to the point where they could
resume a more normal level of conversation rather than between
bites. Laura had been thinking about the issue with the tip Ryan
had offered and decided maybe there was something to be
learned.

“Can I ask you something?”

“For you, always. What is
it?”

“I saw you try to tip Jorge, but he put
it back in your hand and told you something in Spanish I didn’t
understand. This is all pretty new to me and I want to understand
how things work. My Spanish is pretty rusty.”

“Oh, nothing really; he just didn’t
want to take it.”

“I get the feeling there was more to it
than that. I know he told you something, and I saw him look at me
just before he said it. Should I call the kitchen and ask
him?”

“Okay, okay, Ms Perception. When I
tried to tip him, he said that a man who has just made love to such
a beautiful woman first thing in the morning is a man among men and
is to be revered and honored. He could not take money from such a
man. Okay?”

“Ryan, you didn’t say something to him,
did you? I would be so upset with you…..”

“Nope, not a word. But look around; the
bed looks like a hurricane went through, what passes for your
nighty is on the floor, we’re both in robes, barefooted, with damp
hair, and your robe is revealing enough so it’s a little obvious
you have nothing on under it. And, truthfully, he really meant what
he said to me as a very serious compliment.”

“Oh my gosh; I didn’t realize my robe
was open that far. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. No more than a bikini, and I
had a really good view.”

“Did he really say that to
you?”

“He did.”

“And he’s right, you know; at least I
think so. But can I ask one more thing? Why does everyone call you
boss man and me boss lady? Is that something they just do here to
make people feel good? I’ve heard the expression used before, but
it was more in casual conversation, maybe from a porter or barkeep.
This is consistent. I just want to know, so I don’t screw up and
look foolish.”

“There is something I need to tell you,
and I want you to know up front that if you had asked me, I would
have been truthful; the subject just never came up, and now is a
good time to take care of that.”

“Should I be nervous about
this?”

“No, I don’t think so; it’s just
something I need to explain to you so we’ll have, what’s the
expression, ‘A level playing field’. Let’s take our coffee and go
sit…..Better? Okay. Here’s the deal. Remember hearing that Windmere
is a limited, private corporation, with the stock closely held?
People who are employed by the company can buy in, but under the
rules of the corporation, only those people can hold stock. So,
it’s not like a GE or GM or someone like that with stockholders all
over the place. Anyway, the majority of stockholders are pretty
small in shares owned. When we started out, I sold shares to
generate enough capital flow to get things going, but I also bought
back when I could and retired the shares. Because more of the
investment was mine to begin with, I’m pretty much the majority
stockholder now, which sort of makes me the boss. And, that’s why I
get called Boss Man, I guess, and since you now are my partner, in
many things, that makes you the Boss Lady.”

“Okay, I understand all that; it makes
sense now; actually, I sort of like it, having a title. On an ego
trip I guess, but I don’t want to get carried away with this thing.
Is that why you were sort of evasive when we were doing the wedding
planning, and you wanted to handle the money? And what about Roger;
I thought he was the CEO.”

“So he is. But CEO is a title; Roger is
actually an employee hired because I needed someone with gray hair
to offset my rather youthful appearance when all this started out.
Besides, he was bored being retired. Yes, I did ask his opinion
about using the corporate jet for our trip here; I didn’t want to
overwhelm you. He said you deserved the whole damned airplane if
you wanted it.”

“So, we could afford a bigger place to
live, for the kids, you know, and just in case. I think caution
went out the window about an hour ago.”

“I think so. Just so you know, since
we’re partners, our approximate net worth is around $64 million
right now, but I expect to break 100 within two years as the loans
are paid down; more after that. I think we can live in a bigger
place, but remember, that was one of my tasks, and I’m working on
it as we speak.”

“How much did you say?”

“About $64 million, give or take a few
million at the moment.”

Laura’s voice was clearly shaking as
the numbers soaked in; “Oh my God; I thought that’s what you said.
Ryan, with your looks and that kind of cash, you could have had any
woman anywhere anytime, even out in public, with a crowd. Now I
understand what you were going through, what with me and two kids
showing up on your doorstep out of the blue; no wonder you were
concerned about what was going on. But surely there were women
after you. Why me?”

“Exactly why, honestly, I’m not sure,
but I love you, and I am so thankful I had Dennis and Alice come
retrieve you and the kids from the shelter that first night, even
if it was sort of accidental. I saw you on the local news station
and the need to keep you safe simply overcame any other thought I
might have had. Truthfully, I didn’t know what to do next, once you
and the kids were at Windmere; Alice saved the day for me
there.”

“And all this time I thought Roger was
just doing a good deed, but since we’re telling the truth, I’ll
admit the first time I saw you and you were a little standoffish, I
decided you were the man for me, no matter what it took. The crazy
thing is, we were still pretty bad off at that moment, but I didn’t
think of you as a safe haven; I just sensed you were the man for
me, in spite of all that had happened. I should have been a man
hater about that point, after all Richard did to us. Anyway, I
think I started loving you right there and then, and I too am so
very grateful you came to our rescue, even if I didn’t know it at
the time. I love you so much for all that, and so much
more.”

“As I love you for being who you are,
and so much more, and speaking of that, I think maybe my strength
is returning, along with some other attributes that seem to
fascinate you. Still interested in making tricycle
motors?”

“So that’s what you said. I didn’t
understand before, but I’m ready for another test run, Big Guy. By
the way, I decided to do some body part counting myself…..I only
got to one, and I’m thinking of starting over.”

And that was pretty much the end of the
money conversation. Thinking about it later, Ryan found himself
very pleased that Laura cared much more about pleasing him, and
maybe herself in the mix, than sitting around being impressed with
how much money they had. In the span of their life together, it was
always that way; each being first in the other’s eyes. When she
did, in an idle moment, ask about the reasoning behind the original
“hiring bonus”, Ryan admitted he had come up with the idea solely
because he has an unexplainable urge to protect and provide for her
and her family.

Lunch was served at 3:30 PM, after
which they went outside for the first time since arriving. The kids
would show up two days later, and while that did alter some things
a bit for Laura and Ryan, it was the start of a long, delightful,
and respectful relationship between Ryan Williams, Laura Williams,
Jackson Williams and Amanda Williams.

Chapter 23 –
Everafter

To be sure, it was a shorter
combination honeymoon/vacation than they would have wished, but the
holidays were ending, the kids had to be back to school, and there
was that business back at Windmere that had to be managed. Ryan had
reserved the corporate plane for the trip home, and Laura
understood now that using it was well within their means, even if
she didn’t always approved of such expenditures. The flight back
with two rested and excited kids was enjoyable, with Ryan and Jack
talking about the cart Ryan had given Jack for Christmas while
Laura and Amanda magazine shopped for furniture they would need for
their “new house”, whatever that might turn out to be.

The plane landed to the side of the
terminal as usual, and stopped near a passenger van parked nearby.
Ryan was first off, and helped Laura and the kids deplane as the
crew opened the luggage compartment and started unloading what was
a much more significant heap of luggage than when Ryan and Laura
had set out six days earlier. Laura had maintained limits on what
the kids could spend at the islands open air market when they
visited, requiring them to make decisions on their purchases, a
lesson that might have seemed a little onerous to them at the time,
but which would enable them to make good decisions later in life.
Ryan was impressed with her parenting skills, and paid close
attention, learning how to be a father as he went along; he readily
understood that saying “yes” all the time was of little use in
raising responsible children, even if it seemed momentarily
easier.

Luggage off the plane and ready to be
reloaded for the trip to Windmere, Ryan handed Laura a small remote
control unit with a couple of keys on the ring. “Your transport,
Madam. You may want to move it a little closer to the luggage pile,
or I can simple drag all of it over there; your
preference.”

“Is this for the van over
there?”

“It is. Standard remote control. Only
thing is, I think you should drive, since it’s yours; I wouldn’t
want to scratch it or anything like that. Okay?”