Chapter 68

This is a tough chapter to write. After all of the things that I have been through, writing this one is going to be tough. Caesar died. He got sick and within a week he didn't wake up when I got out of bed to start my day. I took him to the vet when he got sick and the vet prescribed meds to help him, but it didn't matter. He must have been old and hadn't fully recovered from the fire.

It didn't matter why he died, he was gone and I cried on him while I was holding his furry body to me. His fur was wet with my tears.

I put some clothes on and carried him down to the jeep and I drove him to the vet where I let them take care of his remains. I didn't have a plan for burying him and since I didn't have a backyard anymore, I had to rely upon the doctor's office to help me. They allowed me to cry on him some more before they took him from me. I kept him collar.

When I got out to the jeep, I cried some more trying to make sense of why everything was being taken away from me. My family, my house and now my dog! WHAT THE HELL!

When Ashlee came home from work she found me lying on the couch watching TV and became concerned. Usually I jump up to greet her when she walks into the room. When I didn't, she came to me and got me talking.

"Caesar died last night." was all that I could get out before the tears started up again.

She put her arms around me and let me cry away my sadness. Brenda had been at a friend's house so she wasn't there when Ashlee got home but she found us sitting on the couch with my head in Ashlee's lap. She also saw something in me and Ashlee spoke for me. Caesar died last night."

Brenda didn't cry, well she did a little, but she recovered quickly since he wasn't her dog. It was a sad day and for the next few weeks, I was sad.

The good news was that at the end of the last chapter, Elliott wanted to find his family and since Ashlee had put his family up in a hotel, she thought she knew where they would be. they were still there and Elliott had a great reunion with his family. His wife was very surprised to see me since I was the reason her husband went to prison but Elliott was there to explain it all.

"Honey, he found me at the mission eating lunch. He forgave me for the incident and then Jesus forgave me for all of the other things that I did. I'm forgiven! Can you believe that?"

She looked suspiciously at her husband, and stepped back away from him. "What happened to you?"

"Jesus happened to me."

"You are not the same man I knew a month ago."

"I'm still me, just without all of the baggage and without all of the troubles I used to have. I'm clean and sober."

She snorted. "Ya right. When was your last drink?"

"Two days ago. before Mr. Johnson found me."

"And you haven't had a drink since?" Still suspicious of her husband, she continued to look him over.

He got down on his knees. "E, I'm clean and sober. Jesus came into my life and took it all away. I don't have the need anymore. I feel great. Please. I need you in my life. I can't do this without you."

E finally looked at me. "So, how did Jesus came to him?"

"I was called to go for a drive and ended up at the mission where they put me to work serving lunch. Elliott came through the line, I recognized him and told him that we needed to talk. After I was done serving, he and I went to an office where I introduced him to my savior Jesus and he believed and was saved."

"So what are you, some sort of preacher?"

"No ma'am, I'm just a follower of Jesus."

she turned from us and paced the room for a moment then finally stepped around her kneeling husband to talk to Ashlee. "What do you know of this?"

Ashlee was holding the baby of theirs, "I wasn't there, but based upon the time I have spent with your husband and the way he talks, I believe him."

E took her baby back from Ashlee since the baby was reaching out for its momma and went back to Elliott. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you decide to accept this Jesus person? Why now?"

I was kind of put off by the question but remained quiet. This was their decision and I couldn't do anything to help them at that moment.

"Because I was tired E. I was worn out. My life was a wreck and I had no where else to go. I had lost you. I had gone to prison and I was sitting around in a mission waiting to die. What else did I have?"

"So the guy you tried to rob, does what, forgive you for that then tell you all about Jesus and you believe him?"

"Ya," He nodded and then looked over to me for confirmation and I just smiled and nodded my head confirming what he had said.

E finally looked back at her husband, still on his knees and softened. She got down on her knees with him. "How many times did I tell you about Jesus? Hundreds? Thousands of time? It took a complete stranger for you to believe instead of listening to your own wife?"

SMACK!!

"Don't you do that again to me!!" She screamed at him after she slapped him. "I was worried sick about you! I cried myself to sleep every night thinking about you!! I was so afraid that you were going to die in prison and I wouldn't ever see you again!" THWUMP She hit him in the chest and started balling her head off. "Don't ever do that to me again! I can't go on without you either." She threw herself into the arms of her husband while still holding the baby and the two of them. the cried together on the floor. I took Ashlee by the hand and we stepped out of the door to leave them be for a while.

Ashlee held onto my arm, "You never cease to amaze me Paul Johnson."

"You are the same for me Ashlee Davis."

We kissed while standing at the railing overlooking the parking lot. She pulls away from me, "I still have a hard time rationalizing the fact that a possibly horrible thing happens to you but instead of you being bitter about it, harboring hatred toward the person who did it, you forgive and bring a family back together again."

I kiss her again on the lips while holding her body against mine. "Jesus did it. I was just his tool in this whole thing."

"Well you are by far the best tool I have ever seen."

We laughed at the joke she tried to make. E opened the door again and welcomed us back in. "I'm sorry for my outburst, but I tried to save him when we got married years ago. He wouldn't listen to me. Thank you for saving his life and his soul." E said to me and when I stuck out my hand to her, she pushed it aside and hugged me instead.

I hugged her back trying not to do anything that might be offensive.

E stepped away from me and hugged Ashlee and thanked her for her part in all of this. Ashlee simply said, "I wasn't there, it was all Jesus and Paul."

We sat down on the beds and talked. "Ok, E, let me tell you what has happened since you last saw Elliott. By the way, what is your name?"

"Eleanor. He just calls me E for short." She said while holding onto her man.

"Eleanor, good name." I said then went on. "So, Elliott showed me your old house and then we broke in to rescue his guns from the cabinet in the garage. I have put a call into my realtor asking for his help in buying it back from the bank. It is my intention to be the banker in this deal. I'll make the loan all you have to do is pay me back for the house and you can live there. If you want."

Eleanor's eyes got real big. "You are going to buy the house and let us live there?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Well this gets better and better doesn't it?" She said and then asked Elliott, "You had better give your friends a call and find a job to pay the man back. I'm not going to go through that again."

"I hear ya, that's why I already have a job."

Eleanor tilted her head and looked at him. "Oh really? With who?"

Elliott pointed his thumb at me, "With him."

She then looked at me. I started to explain. "I am forming a racing team so that my step daughter can fulfill her dream of being a race car driver. I hired Elliott to be my chief mechanic."

"Really? How much?" she asks with a hopeful smile on her face.

Elliott answered before I could. "I don't know yet. We really haven't talked about money yet."

Eleanor looked at me. "Same answer. He filled out an application with my lawyer who is going to do a background check and then we will start talking about money."

"Oh honey. I'm so excited." she hugged her man again but then stopped. "Wait, a background check?" she asked me.

"Yes. Why?"

"How is the time he spent in prison going to affect all of this?"

"As long as that is the only thing on his record, it won't be a problem. That was against me, it has been forgiven and won't affect him or my decision."

"Thank you."

We finished up with our reunion and Ashlee and I left. Elliott agreed to meet with us tomorrow so that we could start forming our company and finding people to work for us.

The next day, Elliott drove out to the truck company where he lost his job and talked to a few of his friends who work there. He managed to convince three of them to leave there and join us. The boss was not happy with the situation and an argument broke out. Elliott left before punches were thrown and the way he explained it, the fight got started when Elliott accused his boss of being a cheapskate and killing my family and that he deserved everything that happened to him. He didn't take lightly to being accused of murder so the fight broke out and got heated.

Well when I heard all about that, I just smiled inside. I had told the Lord that I forgave them so I wasn't going to pick that up and carry it. I'll just sit back and watch as karma does its thing.

I put an ad in the paper and on the internet saying that I was looking for a racing team manager, someone with experience and that I was paying top dollar. I had a lot of applications come in, but only a handful had actual experience managing a team. I didn't know any of the men that sent me their applications, but the ones that had actual team experience were set aside for review later. the rest I put in two more piles. Ones who had mechanical experience and ones that had nothing I could use. the last group were tossed in a trash for a nice letter thanking them for their interest and hoped that when they saw us on TV, they would root for our driver.

Over the next few weeks, I would bring in all of the men who had team experience and meet with them. Craig walked me through the things I could and could not ask them or talk about. Apparently there are a bunch of things that you can't ask them and he wanted me to be up to date with all of it to prevent me from getting in trouble. Isn't that what lawyers are for?

I had four meetings over the course of two weeks. Each one was interesting in their own right but I had to draw it down to two, then one. this was going to be tough.

Elliott and I also started shopping around for a building to use for our team. We shopped around town at old gas stations and warehouses looking for something that was going to be large enough for at least two cars. I needed an office along with several other staff members who will need someplace to work. We were going to need someplace pretty big.

At the end of a hard day riding around town looking at many different locations for sale or lease, Elliott, Joe, our realtor for commercial property, and myself ended up at a bar downtown KC. I had ordered three of the appetizers from their menu and a round of beers except for Elliott. He had a coke.

Joe - Which one did we like the best?

Elliott - The warehouse way up north was big enough to work on six cars at the same time,

Me - but the office space really sucked and there was the problem with being in the flight path of the airport.

Joe - What about downtown. That place over by the railroad tracks had a good sized office.

Elliott - It did, but it only had room for working on four cars at the same time. That will be fine for now, but later on after we win some races... (He shook his head and took a sip of his coke.) Well, it won't be big enough for long.

Me - Joe, how much of that land around it is available for sale? If we could pick up some of that land could we rezone it for our use?

Joe made a note in his tablet.

Joe - I'll check on that.

Me - The other thing is that we need to make sure I'm not going to be hit with back taxes and that the land isn't sitting on some waste dump that I'll be set up to cleanup. You know, background check on the land before closing.

Joe - Of course. Our firm usually does all of that beforehand.

Elliott - So you like that place the most? (he asks me while digging into the nachos that had arrived)

I sipped my beer then took a bite of the chili fries that were in front of me.

Me - I do. The office space will have to be overhauled a bit, but not enough for me to worry about. I'm more concerned about the space to build cars and trucks and gear. We are a racing team and racing teams need race cars, not office space.

They all nodded their heads at my statement.

Me - Don't forget, we will have trucks and trailers to deal with and an RV that I have on order to store some place. The extra land around it will be filled up quickly if you think about it.

Elliott - An RV? What RV?

Me - Well, before this whole thing got rolling, I took a trip with my family out east to meet with an RV company who I contracted to build an RV for us to use to help move Brenda around the country so that she could follow her dream of becoming a race car driver. I should be getting it this coming spring.

They both whistled their amazement.

Joe - How big?

Me - 45 feet long with two slide outs on the side.

Elliott - Nice. Is it on a bus chassis or a truck chassis?

Me - Bus.

Elliott - Are you going to let the team use it or what?

Me - That is a good question. I need to move the team around but I can't expect a group of strangers to live together like that on a bus. If Ashlee and I come to an event, then where will we stay? How will we get there? You know, so many questions, so little time.

The conversation drew quiet for a while as we ate our food and drank our drinks.

Joe - So, which one should we make an offer on or should I pull a few more buildings?

I had finished my beer by then and sat it on the table while holding onto it with one hand thinking.

Me - Joe, let's do this. Pull more locations and see what you can find out about the downtown location and the land around it. See if we can get it all for cheap and combine it into one plot of land. If we can, then we might as well go for it. If not, then we will keep looking.

Joe - Very good. I'll get right on that Mr. Johnson.

He packed up his stuff and took off to get this stuff done. We all shook hands and said our goodbyes leaving Elliott and I alone.

Me - Elliott, sorry about drinking beer in front of you. that wasn't right of me.

Elliott - You are forgiven Paul. It doesn't help me very much, but i'm not about to be upset with your choice. It is my problem not yours. Jesus is working on me pretty good so it hasn't really cropped up lately.

Me - Good.

We sat around eating and chatting up the waitress and trying to keep track of Sports Center on the many TVs in the bar. when the food was done and the drinks were gone, we left and I had Elliott drive. I know that it was only one beer, but I wasn't going to risk anything.

"Dad, did you find us a shop?" Brenda asked that night over dinner.

"We looked at several locations around town, but none of them were perfect. Some were not big enough, some had no office space, others were in the wrong part of town." I said to her.

"Well, before we buy anything, I want to see it first. I'm part of this team too you know." She said with a bit of a whine in her voice.

I reached over and held her hand. "I will honey."

"Thanks daddy."

"Where are the locations?" Ashlee asked while sitting opposite of Brenda and next to me.

"Oh gosh. Let me look." I got up from the table and went to my office and got my tablet. I went back to the table and started reading off the list of places we had been. When I told the girls about the place up north by the airport, they both agreed that being that close to airport was not good for working. The constant noise of the jet engines would suck they said. Then I got to the place downtown and they seemed happier about that place, even though it was close to the railroad tracks.

"How often to trains come through?" Ashlee asked.

"I don't know."

"You might want to find that out. A train rolling past during a phone call meeting will not be very impressive." Ashlee said with an air of confidence.

"Good idea. Thanks honey." I said to her and gave her hand a squeeze since it was the only thing I could reach.

So, after talking to my family, I went ahead and picked up the property near the tracks along with the other land near it and my agent filed the paperwork to combine them all into one. After that, I called Julie and got her engaged in finding contractors to rehab the building to make it into an office for people. when she walked through the building, she started rattling off ideas. Carpet, drapes for the major offices, receptionist desk, the works. When we parted ways that day, she said she would get some guys to clean it out and then start the work of getting the building taken apart and then put back together. she even hired a company to take away the trash and tear out the fencing and then begin making the property ready to be used parking parts, cars, trucks, trailers and other hardware. Yup, i was going to spend a pretty penny on making this workable for our team.

Sometime in March, I was hanging out at Ashlee's place, it was a Saturday and we were goofing around when Ashlee called me into her room. "What's up?"

She held out to me a small blue envelope. "What's this?"

"Open it."

I flipped open the small blue plastic envelope and pulled out an empty pill container. 28 empty spaces. "Your birth control pills? I don't understand."

"I'm done with these and I'm not going to take anymore."

Yup, she was going off her pills in preparation of getting pregnant during our honeymoon. This was really happening. "Are you sure about this? You have several more years before getting preggers becomes a problem for you."

"That may be the general rule, but I don't want to be so old that I can't play with my baby." She said with a little defensive.

I put the pack down and pulled her into a hug. "Honey."

"I don't want to be the oldest woman in the hospital having a baby. I want be young enough to sit on the floor, play games..." she mumbled off while I was holding her.

"You also want to be young enough to bounce back from the pregnancies." I joked.

She looked up at me. Then, she looked down shameful. "Yes."

I laughed. "I knew it." I laughed some more. "So what are you going to do now that you are going off the pills?"

She patted me and then turned to her medicine cabinet. She pulled out a bottle and showed them to me. Prenatal vitamins.

"Ah, prenatal vitamins. Good idea."

"Yes, that is what the doctor said when I called him and talked to his nurse. She said that she was happy that I wanted to have a baby again and she made the comment, 'the sooner the better.' I laughed about it then, but her words just nag me. I'm not THAT old am I?"

The tone in her voice sounded like she was near panic. All I could do for her was to pull her in for a hug. "You are not old honey. You are young, beautiful. A full on HOTTIE!"

She looked up at me. "Really?"

"Yes really."

She wiggled against me rubbing her body against me and in turn getting a rise out of me. "Oh babe, you feel so good." She continued to rub against me and I in turn grabbed her butt and held our pelvis against each other grinding my rising cock against her. I lifted her up and her legs went around me. We kissed, fondled each other while standing in her room. Our passions rising.

"I love you so much." she said to me between kisses. "Make love to me."

"Here, now?"

"Yes. This is going to be our last opportunity before the wedding. Before we go for it with a purpose." More kisses and more of her trying to ignite a fire between us.

"Oh gawd, that would be so good." I carried her to the bed and we fell onto the bed together. She started to pull my shirt off. It came right off. She then reached for my pants and started working on my belt. I was working on her shirt and got it off her then I started to blindly started working on her bra.

"I miss the feeling of you inside of me. Gawd Paul, I so miss you."

"I miss you so much. Waking up with you next to me. Your body in my shower and you just being there with me." Her bra came off and I went for one of her hard nipples. She moaned as I latched on and started sucking on it.

She pulled my head away and then managed to get my pants undone and then reach in and take a hold of her favorite sex toy.

I froze as the sensation of her hand on my cock went straight to my brain. "Oh honey." I groaned.

"Feels good doesn't it. I have missed this so much Paul." My rational brain came back to me and I went for her pants. I got them unbuttoned, she wiggled her hips and I got them pulled down past her butt. I put my hand between her legs and felt the dampness from the moisture that was flowing from her heated sex. The lace of her panties held little back and soon my fingers were wet. I looked at her in the eyes and brought my fingers to my mouth and sucked the love juice from them. She opened her mouth and groaned.

I started working on her panties worked them down below her ass. Since we were on the bed, I couldn't take them all the way off so I stood up and took mine off and reached for her and got them off. I tossed them aside and when she put her feet back on the bed, her legs parted and the lips of her pussy opened to me all pink and wet ready for me.

"You are so beautiful honey." I said to her while gazing down at her. She opened her arms to me welcoming me to her. I got down onto the bed on one knee and then I was over her. The head of my cock touching her entrance to her vagina. She pulled me down on top of her and started kissing me. She legs went around me and her heels went around my back. She flexed them and pulled me into herself. We groaned in mutual satisfaction.

"I love you Ashlee." "I love you Paul." I didn't start moving, I just kissed her, held her, allowed the love to flow between us while my cock was being held in her body. We were one. We would be one via marriage, but right now, we were one emotionally and that was pretty much all we needed.

We got dressed and went back out to the family room. Ashlee and I had gone to the bathroom and I washed her and tried to wash out my semen from her vagina as both a precaution to prevent pregnancy to make sure she didn't leak all over her clothes.

"Well that was unexpected." Brenda said when we sat on the couch with her. "I thought you two were going to abstain from sex until the wedding?"

Well we both blushed. "Well, I guess we failed at that plan." Ashlee said to her daughter.

"Yes you did." She turned to me. "So does that mean that you two are going to move back together and start using condoms?"

I looked at Ashlee and raised my eyebrows. She just shook her head. "Doesn't look like it." I said.

She seemed disappointed at that. "Why?" I asked her.

She moved over closer to me, "I felt like we were a family living together."

I pulled her to me and then Ashlee came over to us and we did a PAB sandwich on the couch. "We are a family honey; we just have to wait a few more weeks to make it official." Ashlee said to her.

"I would say that if someone looked at us while standing in line at a restaurant, they would peg us as a family. I don't think that anyone would think otherwise. We just have to wait for the state to recognize it is all."

"And for us to pledge ourselves to each other in front of God and family." Ashlee quickly added.

"oh ya, that too." We laughed at the absurdity of it all. Getting married was for tax reasons and for legitimacy in the church. Being joined together in front of people and a preacher just makes what we already are legitimate.

March walked on by. The snow started to melt in earnest and a few flowers started to show their faces. The time had such possibilities, even I felt it.

Ashlee and I continued to work on our wedding with almost weekly meetings with our wedding planner who helped us decide on our cake, the food and which location to have our reception. Instead of having it at the garden, we decided to have a big reception at one of the hotels downtown Kansas City so that our friends and extended relatives can be there and celebrate our wedding in grand style.

Invitations had been sent out weeks ago and the confirmations started to roll in for the reception and for the wedding itself.

April, now it was getting down to crunch time. The men who were going to stand with me all met at the tuxedo rental company and we got fitted for our tuxes. Alex did in fact agree to a groomsman along with Scott.

We looked good. Yes, we did. Three men in tuxedos is a recipe for AWESOME!!

Ashlee had several fittings for her dress and for her bridesmaids for their dresses. the amount of work that was being done by Ashlee and our wedding planner put the amount of work that the construction crew was doing on the racing team headquarters to shame. I was there when I was needed. If I wasn't needed, I stayed away.

A week before the wedding. The guys and I got together for the bachelor party. Scott, me, Alex and a town for us to hit.

Alex: Are you ready?

Me: For tonight, yes.

ding dong

Me - I'll get it.

I went to the door and answered it.

Scott: Hey Hey BUDDY!! READY FOR TONIGHT?!!??

Me: Oh yes!!

There was a manly hug at the door and moments of back slapping.

Me: Come in. Come in. Alex is already here. Beer?

Scott: Sure.

He came in and got a beer. Scott and Alex greeted each other and we checked on the sports scores while we waited for the limo to come and pick us up. The Royals had won their game today so with a toast of beer, we went down and watched as the limo drove up in the drive.

Me - So where are we going first?

No one bothered to tell me where we were going so I had to trust my wingmen. the limo drove away.

Scott - Paul, Alex and I have a great night ready for you. We are going to get some dinner, then hit up a couple of strip clubs and we may get you home sometime before the wedding next week.

Alex - And if we get kicked out of any place, I brought my badge.

He took it out of his pocket and flashed it a couple of times and we laughed.

The limo brought us to a steak place downtown that even I hadn't been to and I thought I had been to every steak place in KC. The maître' d welcomed us and then took us to a table. A cute young waitress took our drink orders while we looked over the menu.

Alex - Paul, why aren't we in Las Vegas for this party?

Me - I don't know. Going out there seems like such a big risk of getting into huge trouble and I don't need that. I have never really been a huge party animal. Alex, we met at a dance club over the New Year, but other than that, have you ever seen me out and about?

He shook his head.

Scott - A rich guy like you not a partier? Seems odd.

Me - Not odd, just I don't need that in my life.

Scott froze in place. He looked at me and then at Alex. Alex just nodded his head. Scott put his menu down.

Scott - All the time that you have been on the radio with us and you just now think to tell me this news now?

He sat back and rubbed his head.

Scott - Shit. I had this whole thing planned out. Now what are we going to do?

Alex - What do you mean? Everything is going to be fine. We will have a great time and at the end of the night, we go home. Alone.

Scott seemed to relax at that. The waitress came back at that moment with our drinks.

Scott - A toast.

We held up our drinks.

Scott - A toast for Paul. To the future! Where are our wives are the truest, our friends are the staunchest, our bank accounts are the largest and our livers are no worse for wear.

We all said "HERE HERE!"

The rest of the meal progressed with ease as we chatted then when the bill arrived, I reached for it but Scott got to it first. "Not tonight you're not. The groom does not pay for his bachelor party."

i held up my hands surrendering. I wasn't going to argue with the man and ruin the evening.

While the others went to the toilet before we left, I pulled a couple bills out of my wallet and put them in the folder along with Scott's tip. Our cute waitress was going to go home with some money in her pocket whether Scott liked it or not.