Chapter 39: The Finer Points of the Law

January 11, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

"It was good to see you again, Lyudmila Alekseyevna," I said when her flight was called.

"And you, Stephen Rayevich. Thank you for a nice time yesterday and this morning. I am sorry I could only visit for one day."

"It's OK," I said. "You're always welcome here."

"Your wives are very nice, too, Stepa. It was good to see both of them. I very much enjoyed going out with the girls last night while you were with your friends."

"I'm glad," I said, as we walked over to the door to the Jetway.

"I will see you sometime over the Summer," she said. "Thank you for that invitation! Mother and Father said that they would love to visit as well; Mother very much wishes to see Jesse Stepanovich and your new baby with Elyse."

"You're always welcome to visit, as are your parents! See you this Summer!"

We hugged, and Lyusya stole a quick kiss with a smirk. She hadn't made even a slightly suggestive remark since she'd arrived, and her kiss was simply a way of acknowledging what had happened in the past and reminding me that in the right circumstances, she'd still be interested. But she and Curtis were practically living together, and there was no way that either of us was going to do anything that would harm that relationship.

I watched as she presented her boarding pass and then, with a quick wave, walked down the Jetway to board the airplane. I waited until the jet pushed back from the ramp, and then went out to my car for the drive home, where Jessica and Kara were waiting for me.

"She was remarkably well behaved," Jessica said when I came into the Indian room.

"I told you that she's serious with Curtis and she's not going to mess that up," I said. "You do realize that there are women who can control themselves around me, right?" I grinned. "Unlike you two!"

The girls looked at each other and suddenly I was being tackled and brought to the ground by two squealing women. I simply laughed and pulled them close to me and hugged them.

"That was mean, Tiger!" Jessica said.

"I guess the truth hurts, huh?" I chuckled.

"Now you're just being, what was that Russian word you like to use?"

"«Некультурный»," I said. "But evidence suggests that I'm right!"

"Maybe!" Kara giggled. "But we should have lunch; Jess needs to get on the road."

We fixed ourselves lunch, and after a hastily agreed sauna, we walked Jessica out to her car.

January 12, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

At our usual Monday morning staff meeting, Julia introduced Heather Masterson to the team. I was glad to have someone dedicated to working with me full time on the medical and legal software, who wouldn't be pulled off on other projects. I spent most of the morning going over the systems with her, helping her acclimate to NIKA and our code. My first impression was positive, and after a brief chat with Dave, we gave Heather a list of bugs to work on in the medical software so that we could gauge her work. I was confident it would be fine.

Cindi and Mario's business development efforts were continuing, and they'd signed up a number of customers in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati. We had a final, revised proposal in front of the partners of the San Diego law firm, and the one in San Francisco was reviewing our proposal after a visit by Cindi and Julia the previous week. Elyse's financial report from the previous week had been quite positive, though with the caveat that we had to assume no more work in Waukesha after the end of the year.

I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, as Heather needed my help several times as she worked through the bug reports. I had to assume that would be the case for a few days, and decided that I'd come in a couple of hours early each morning, because I was usually out of bed by 5:30am. Heather was pleasant to work with and caught on quickly, so I felt it would only be a week or so before I could lose myself in the 'zone' again.

"So, how did I do?" she asked at the end of the day.

"Fine, especially given it was your first day," I said.

"I had to ask a lot of questions. I hope I didn't bother you."

"It's to be expected," I said. "By the end of the week, I think you'll be fully in the swing of things. I saw you talking to Tasha when she came in. She can help as well. And so can Charlie, though she's going to be super busy on the job-bidding project for Ashe. Penny really knows the software well, but she only works Saturdays during the school year."

"You'll let me know if there are any concerns with my work?" she asked.

"Dave will," I said. "You work for him."

"But you own the company, right?"

I nodded, "And I'm just the main programmer. Dave is Head of Development and Julia is his boss. She basically runs the company right now."

"That's really strange, but it seems to be working out OK," Heather said.

"It is. It's 5:00pm. Go home. We'll see you in the morning!"

"Good night!" she said.

"Good night!" I replied.

She left the office and a few minutes later, I shut down my computer and did the same. When I arrived at home, Elyse and Kara were waiting for me.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Did you know that both adultery and fornication are misdemeanors in Illinois," Elyse asked.

"Surely you're joking," I said.

"I kid you not," Elyse said. "I started a graduate level business law course, and the professor gave us a list of things, both business and personal, and asked us to mark if the activity was legal or illegal."

"What are the chances of being prosecuted for that?" I asked. "You never hear about it."

"True, I thought you would like to know that we're fornicating and committing adultery!" Elyse smirked.

"You know what? Let's call Jamie. I want to ask about it, just for curiosity's sake."

The three of us went to my study, and I dialed Jamie's number. I knew he usually worked late, and he was still there.

"Jamie, Elyse just informed me that both adultery and fornication are illegal in Illinois," I chuckled.

Jamie laughed, "She's right. They're both misdemeanors. I remember that from law school. Let me grab the Illinois Compiled Statutes and see what they have to say."

He was gone for a couple of minutes, then came back on the line laughing.

"Well, you're guilty as hell!" he said.

"Oh?"

"Well, the law requires that it be open and notorious — that just means 'well known' or 'publicly known'. Technically, every time you have sex with Kara, the two of you could be charged under the statute. The same goes for you and Elyse. On the plus side, you can't be convicted of bigamy because you only have one legal marriage."

"And just how often is something like that prosecuted?" I asked.

"Rarely, if ever. I can't remember hearing about a single one that wasn't directly related to some messy divorce case. But a Class A misdemeanor, which is what adultery is classified as, is just one step below a felony."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked.

"I wish I was," he said.

"So some zealous prosecutor or State's Attorney, or whatever, could charge me and have me convicted even though all four of us are in full agreement?"

"Theoretically, yes. In reality, it's extremely unlikely. Even if they brought charges, the fact that all the women testified that they were voluntarily involved would give a judge and jury serious pause. Not to mention the fact that the fornication statute technically bans all sex outside of marriage. What do you think the chances of that ever being enforced are?"

"If my mom or Kara's former pastor were to make the rules? Pretty good. But I see your point. The newspapers would have a field day."

"Exactly. Don't worry about it. Unless one of the girls files a complaint, nobody is going to bother you about it."

"In other words, be really, really nice to them?" I chuckled.

"I don't think that's going to be too difficult. I can't imagine you would have ended up with the circumstances you're in if you weren't."

"True," I said. "Though I have had a bit of fallout from having two women that I call my wives."

"That firm in Cicero? The one where the managing partner has a mistress, an ex-wife, and a new wife? He's doing the same thing, just lying about it to everyone! Talk about hypocrisy!"

"I'd ask how you know about his personal life, but I probably don't want to know."

"He brought the mistress to a legal convention I attended," Jamie said. "Not very bright. That led to the first divorce. He married the mistress and now he's cheating on her with one of his paralegals."

"That's going to blow up in his face," I said.

"I agree. Just remember that with all those cute girls you have working at NIKA, especially Penny."

"You and Gwen have both pointed that out, not to mention my boss when I was an intern. But thanks for the reminder."

"It never hurts," he said. "Anything else?"

"No," I said. "I'll see you at breakfast."

We said 'goodbye' and hung up.

"That's about as fucked up as anything I can think of," Elyse said. "Illegal to have sex outside of marriage? Seriously? Illinois can kiss my ass!"

"That's probably illegal, too," Kara giggled. "If it was 'open and notorious'."

Elyse and I both laughed at that.

"Do you realize how many people they would have to lock up if they tried to enforce that law?" Elyse asked.

"Pretty much the entire population over the age of 17," I said. "Sure, there are people who wait until they get married, but I'd say that they're in the minority at this point."

"Like Jessica?" Elyse said with a smirk. "I saw the proof of that on the sheet!"

"Yes, you did!" I said with a grin. "Anyway, as Jamie said, I don't think it's anything to worry about."

"Me either," Elyse said. "It was just that I found it surprising. There were a bunch of other things where they might be unethical, but not illegal, when it came to business. And quite a few things that depend purely on intent. Like a vendor giving you tickets to a baseball game. If the intent is to get you to sign the contract, then it's probably illegal. If it's a gift that is given to every customer, then it probably isn't.

"Or, if we want to hit closer to home — if you hired Kaitlin in order to convince Alderman Bloom to get you city contracts, that would be illegal. But, because we have no city contracts, and we're not trying for any, then we're safe. You do need to be careful in that area in the future."

I nodded, "I know. There was no quid pro quo there in any way. Granted, he's helping us with business development, but only by putting us in touch with people and making introductions. I can't see that being a problem; he doesn't control those businesses."

"It's a fine line," Elyse said. "But it happens all the time in business. On the plus side, if there's an alderman with a more squeaky-clean reputation, I don't know who it might be."

A reputation that was not accurate, I thought to myself. But I wasn't going to say anything about that to anyone else. His secret, and mine, had to stay that way.

"While we're on this topic, Elyse, we'll need to sign an Acknowledgment of Parentage for the baby when he's born. Gwen prepared one for Jennifer and me when Jesse was born, along with the document that makes sure that Josie has parental rights."

"Will we need the same for our kids?" Kara asked.

"Yes, as we discussed. Illinois doesn't acknowledge living together as conferring any rights or privileges. In fact, technically, it's a crime under the fornication statute! Elyse, did you learn anything else interesting in your first day of business law?" I asked with a wry smile.

"Not really. As I said, that was just a kind of pre-test the professor gave. I looked through the book and most of it looks like stuff that we've talked to Jamie about. It'll be good to have at least some formal background. Stephanie will have to take two semesters of business law because she's getting an undergrad degree in business. I didn't have to take one for my economics undergrad degree."

"You know, I never asked what your topic for your thesis was," I said.

"I actually don't have to do one, which is nice. That said, I am doing a paper for one of my courses that I'm titling 'Corporate Finance and Governance of Startup Technology Companies'. I figured it was apropos."

"Uhm, yeah, I'd say! I take it we're your case study."

"Yes. It's pretty much a 'how to do it right' case study contrasted with a bunch of failed examples I dug up."

"So you're saying that we've done it, right?"

"Sure. You immediately established a board of directors, put governance in place, consulted with and hired an attorney and a CPA, and ensured that your directors all had relevant business or technology experience. Most people who start companies don't do that. They try to do things as simply as possible and end up creating legal or tax problems, or have no real governance. Your sister already has her topic picked out for whatever paper she has to write, even though it's years away."

"She didn't mention that. What is it?"

"Developing, Marketing, and Selling Products in the Age of the Personal Computer."

"About NIKA?"

"What else? You've given us some pretty good material, and we have inside knowledge, which really helps."

Like Bethany's research project, I thought to myself. I wondered what Jessica thought about it, but she hadn't read through it yet.

Jessica arrived at the house a few minutes later, but was only stopping in long enough to say goodbye.

"The interview went well. I'm sure that I'll be on everyone's list — Loyola, Northwestern, and most importantly, UofC. I want to stay, but I need to get back to Indy tonight."

We kissed, and hugged, and Kara came and kissed and hugged Jessica, and then we walked Jessica out to her car so she could head back to Indianapolis.

January 17, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

"Steve, could I talk to you for a minute?" Nick asked when we'd finished breakfast with the guys.

"Sure. I have a few minutes, but I need to get to karate class."

"This should be quick, but I'd like to talk in private."

"It's stopped snowing, so we could walk along Jackson," I said.

He nodded, and we said 'goodbye' to our friends and then bundled up against the cold. We walked out the door of Lou Mitchell's and turned left, heading west on Jackson.

"What's up?" I asked.

"You know that I'm a very traditional guy, right?"

I immediately had a sense of where this was going.

"I do. And trust me, Harry is a really nice guy and when you ask him for Bethany's hand, he's going to say 'yes'."

Nick laughed, "Close. That wasn't quite my question. That will come next. I have one other one first. And it's more important."

"OK. I don't know what's more important than that, besides actually asking Bethany, but go ahead."

"This might sound weird, but given the relationship here, I need to know if I have your approval to ask her."