The Reunion (5 page)

Em was reviewing the flow chart for the tenth time and checking the schedule when Marshall knocked on the doorframe.

“Hey.  What’s up?”

“We just finished the proposal with Brockton.  Yours was number one.”

“REALLY?”  Marshall saw the relief and surprise in her eyes.  “Thanks for getting that location map together for me.  I had no idea about the South American locations.”

“You had the server numbers just not their locations.  You would have worked it out.”  He came in and sat down across from her.  “So what’s next?”

“What?”

“We’re going to finish this up in Vegas.  Didn’t you get the message?”  She saw that there were three messages in her inbox.  One from Ham, one from Curtis and one from Brockton.  She hoped that Curtis and Ham understood what happened the night before.

“Corporate jet tomorrow at 9am.”  That was the same time as their scheduled flight from Ontario.  “Passenger list included your son.”

“WHAT?”  She kept reading and included in the attachment to the field crew was a list of passengers and her and Mike’s names were there with Ham, his wife Sarah, daughter and her husband, Curtis, Cummins, Marshall and Brockton.”

“What is this?”  She sat back and stared at the screen.

“He said there’s a group of managers from the Denver, Austin and New York offices meeting there at the MGM and that we could check with their offices on recommendations for the people we’ll be using for the implementation.”

“We’re going to need people from all the offices to do this or we’ll have to be onsite.”

“You’ll be doing here, I’ll be New York, Cummins will be Atlanta.  Sanchez will recommend someone for Austin and they’ll delegate or appoint for the internationals, Alaska and Denver offices.”

“China and here should be done at the same time.”  She mumbled.  She looked at him for confirmation.

“I’ll be working with you on that too.  I’ll handle Beijing and Tokyo.”  Marshall looked really pleased with himself.  “Cummins will get the Iceland and maybe the London offices.  It’s almost winter you know.”

“He’s going to freeze his nuts off.”  She hit the accept button.  Marshall and her were on the same page.  They’d have to get the Harvard guy on board.

“MIT?  No shit?”  Mike was quizzing Marshall on the plane.

“Mike, watch your language please.”

“Only if you do mom.”

“Well I guess that makes it ok to trash talk.  As long as your grandmother doesn’t catch you.”

“Sarcasm becomes you.”

“Smart ass…  Sorry.”

“I can always get her to do that.”  Mike told Marshall.  “She’s pretty simple once you get through all her defenses.”

“Don’t get childish on me Michael or I’ll have to kick your butt.”  Ham ruffled Mike's hair.

“Like you could anymore Uncle Ham.”

“Hey Curtis, you and me.  I’m sure the two of us can take the kid.”  Ham joked.  This was a different level of communication Brockton was observing between the family members and the corporate guys.  Cummins was in conversation with Ham’s wife and daughter.  She’d applied to MIT for her master’s program and was doing some online courses until they could figure out the work arrangements for her husband who was working for a fortune five hundred corporation in computer software.  He could just about write his own ticket and it was all in motion.  They’d be moving back east in the spring.

“I wanted to thank you again Mr. Brockton for flying us to Vegas.”  Mike tried again to engage Brockton in the repartee that was going on in the rear of the plane.  They’d be landing any minute and everyone was settling down to disembark. 

“No problem Mike.”

“Damn Mike did you have to bring this bimbo with you?”

“Watch your mouth Ryan.”  Ham warned.  “She’s got backup.”

“HAM! Damn they let you out of prison?”

“HEY!”  Em screamed and startled everyone “Damn it Ty!  Put me down!”

“Fat chance!  You’re coming with me.”  He had her thrown over his shoulder and she was hitting him.  Brockton was completely entertained.  “Pete says you’re going in the limo or to leave you on the runway.”

“Leave
me?
On the runway!  You Jerks!”

“Mike.  Give us a kiss.”  Toni hugged him from behind. 

“Thank god.  I thought it was Tommy.”  Mike joked and kissed his auntie.  He put her carry on over his shoulder and put his arm around her waist.  “Where’s the rest of your flight?”

“They’re in baggage claim.”  She hugged him again.  “Damn if you don’t get better looking every time I see you.”

“Toni this is Mark, Shaw and Charles.”  Mike introduced the others.  “I assume you know Ham and Curtis.”

“Sarah!  Monica! Jason!  My god who wasn’t on this flight?”

“Grandma, Josh, Carole, the kids and auntie Martha.”

“They’re flight will be landing in fifteen minutes.”  Toni eyed the corporate guys.  “Mike, so which ones of these guys are single, babe?”

“All three.  Have at.”

“Yummy.”

“Head for the hills guys, these women are voracious.”

“Shut up Jason.  You married one,
sort of
.” 

The noise level and number of conversations got more and more difficult to follow the farther they got into the terminal.  They reached the baggage claim area and several more members of the family appeared.  More shouting and laughter.  It just became a loud buzzing noise.  The two brothers were interesting.  Someone whispered mafia and someone else laughed and said that was only a rumor and said their father was a longshoreman.  Brockton wasn’t so sure.

“Which limo has a bar?”  Someone yelled and he saw Em bury her face in her hands.

“Who invited him?”  She asked the man whose shoulder she was still riding on.

“I found my drinking buddy!”  Mike called to his mother.  He slipped behind the man who already looked like he’d had enough and hadn’t even left the terminal.  “Got ‘em mom!”

“Thanks baby.  Give his keys to Pete.”

“Hey you bastard; son of a thievin' bitch.  That you Emily Patricia?”  He addressed her backside.

“Turn around Ty, I need to hit someone and it might as well be Connor fuckin' O'Bryan.”

“Ty baby.  Put her down.  Some of us want to say hi.”

“You can say hi.  She can’t kick ass this way.  Just tell me what direction to turn.”

“That’s for sure brah.”

“This is your family?”  Brockton asked Mike, who was handing a set of rental car keys to the tough looking guy in the business suit.

“A part of it.”  He laughed.  “This is the nice part wait till you meet the rowdy ones.”

“Can’t wait.”  Brockton laughed.  “Seems like a good time to make a break for it.”  He directed Marshall and Cummins who were dumbfounded to the line of limos. All around them there were hugs, kisses and shouts.  He caught that these were from flights from Houston and Orange County.  Ontario was just arriving.  Flights from Fort Worth and Denver were pending and Atlanta had already arrived. Toni was flirting up a storm and greeting everyone.  Em was red faced and laughing hanging practically upside down over the shoulder of some huge man.

“Isn’t he the guard on the Denver Broncos?”  Cummins asked Marshall.

“Nah, this guy’s twice as big as the guard.” Marshall laughed.

“Is he going to drop her?  She still hasn’t gotten the schedule finished.”  Cummins was a worrier.

“She’ll have it to you this afternoon she said.”  Marshall laughed.  "Stop worrying."

“Yeah.  Right.”  The limo driver found Brockton’s party and started loading their baggage from the private field and the other limo drivers hired by the mafia twins were packing the others luggage into trunks and loading them up.  A fresh round of shouting and screams greeted the next flight arriving.

“The last of them will be in at four.”  Pete told the tall one watching Em closely.  “She’s got three levels of protection, I wouldn’t be messing where you shouldn’t.”  He warned.

“I’m not interested and wouldn't be insane enough to get anywhere near her in this crowd.”

“Damn straight.”

“Where’s that dumb fuck Sicilian kid?  He’s got my keys.”

“He's gone, Connor.  You’re riding with me.”  Toni grabbed the Irishman and started dragging him into a limo.

"Antonia my love.  Let's ditch those brothers of yours and we’ll run away together."

"Any time Connor, as soon as you sober up."

"Won't happen darlin'."  He chuckled.

"I'm safe then."

“Someone invited him?” 

“He shows up at all these things whether we invite him or not.”  The other mafia brother informed Brockton.  He was friendlier looking.  “He’s my half brother and sister’s father.” 

Brockton smiled and had to ask.  "And the woman talking to him now?"

"My half sister from my father's second marriage."  Tommy smiled.

“There’s some family dynamics I don’t even want to consider.”  The mountain stood within a few feet of them with Em still over his shoulder.

“Ty unless you’re going to stick me out the sunroof you need to put me down.”

“SUN ROOF!”  He smiled and headed to one of the limos.  “Good idea.”

“Drop her in this one and we’ll keep her for you.”  Marshall suggested and had her dumped in his arms.

“Hold on to this I’ll be right back.”  The mountain headed out and picked up another woman and carried her demurely to the second limo in line.  “Her mother.  I’ll be back in a minute.”  The woman kissed Em's cheek then walked away.  The big guy disappeared again and Em indicated for Marshall to put her down.  He laughed, forgetting what he was doing or where he was with the chaos around him.  She slipped into the limo and hid from the big guy.  Marshall played dumb and pointed in the other direction causing a number of others to laugh and shrug their shoulders.  The game continued until everyone was somewhere and every piece of luggage at the curb was stowed and doors closed.

“Tyler Mathew LeBeau!”  He rolled his eyes and turned around.  “You lost Em!”

“Sorry mom, Aunt Beatrice.”  He turned and kissed his mother and aunts.  “Hi Aunt Hannah.”

“He handed her to some nice looking boy standing next to one of the limos.  Maybe it was a sky cap and she’s on her way to London.”

Brockton spotted her across the lobby near the video arcade.  Em saw the opportunity just as Josh had.  Josh hadn't seen Cousin Deedra in years.  She was an attractive woman in her fifties sitting in the bar watching several of the relatives at a nearby craps table.  Em signaled for the Mafia brothers.  They hid with her around the corner and she was telling them something.  Gesturing with her hands and laughing.  They looked around the slot machine at the woman in the bar, and while watching started laughing harder.  Josh started flirting with the woman at the table.  He sat down signaled the waitress and began holding the woman’s hand and kissing it.  She looked nervous and was looking around for help. 

Em sent Pete and Tommy her direction.  She immediately recognized the Rizzoli brothers and Pete gave Deedra a kiss on the cheek and asked if there was any problems, then he got toe to toe with Josh and looked to be squaring off.  The family members at the craps table were finally aware of their woman's dilemma and Bea who had been watching from the others side of the bar, started filling the others in.  Another group was gathering at the far end of the bar and they sent the swaggering Irishman towards the table.  He came up behind Josh and slapped him on the back.  That seemed to give it away and she jumped up and started hugging the men, wagging her finger and yelling at them. 

Brockton watched Em double up with laughter when Mike sneaked up behind her and startled her.  She threw an arm around his shoulders, continued to laugh and breathlessly told him what just happened.  Her face red with laughter and tears were in her eyes.  She felt him behind her again.  Mike smiled and took a step back, then turned and returned to the video arcade area a few feet away.

"Em?"

"Mr. Brockton." She laughed still trying to catch her breath.

"Charles." He corrected her again.  She wiped her eyes. 

"Sorry."  She took a deep breath and blew out the air in another laugh.  The big guy spotted her from the far side of the bar and started toward her.  Brockton indicated she should look and she looked for an escape route.  Brockton stuck out his arm and swept her behind him.  The two men eyed each other and she looked around from behind Brockton

"Ty, Mike is in the arcade and I have to stay here.  Don't make me hurt you."  The mountain started laughing.  He patted Brockton's shoulder and walked back to the bar.  It wasn't often Brockton felt small, this guy made him feel like a runt.  She came back around and faced him. "Thanks.  He gets silly at these things."

"Large man."  Using Large in describing the six foot six, two thirty man in the Hawaiian shirt and jeans, just seemed ridiculous.

"Lap puppy."  She laughed.  "He's wonderful.  I still haven't found my laptop so I can't send the information I put together before we left the office."

"I found it."  He announced and she sighed in relief.  "It ended up across the street with our stuff."

"It's not in a protected file or anything.  Have Marshall get it, it's under Intranet Planning in the Work folder on the Desktop."

"Sure.  Thanks."  He was again distracted by the activities in the bar and the waitress trying to get orders from the dozen or more that had just joined the group at the table.  "Thanks."  He repeated and then left.  When he glanced back he saw the gigolo one picking Em up and swinging her around.  Strange family.  He decided and went back to the suites across the street.  It was just starting to get dark and the city was coming to life.  He was worn out between the time difference, the flight, the chaos at the airport, searching for luggage that ended up at three different hotels and running Em down.  He should have LoJacked her.