Chapter 57: Boarders and Babies

July 26, 1988, Chicago, Illinois

"Where were you last night?" Jacquelyn asked when I met her at her house.

"Jessica received her medical license, so she, Kara, and I went out to celebrate. I called Sensei Jim and let him know."

"I didn't ask. It was strange working with Jolene last night instead of you. She teaches differently. She's more like Sensei Jim than you."

"Everyone has their own style," I said as we walked towards Jackson Park.

"I like yours better. If you ever start your own dojo, I'd join!"

"That's not going to happen anytime soon," I said. "Though we'll get to experience that starting in March when Sensei Jim goes to Japan for six months of training."

"So you'll be in charge?"

"God help you all!" I chuckled. "How was your weight this morning?"

"I've lost ten pounds in a month!" she grinned.

"Great! I talked to Jessica, and she said your weight loss would slow down a bit after the first ten pounds."

"That's what my nutritionist said, too. She didn't want me to lose weight too fast. She said I could get sick."

"That's what Jess told me as well. Something about metabolism, electrolytes, and a bunch of other stuff that could get out of whack."

"I feel so much better already! And I don't get as tired at practice as I did at first."

"That's a combination of losing weight and building stamina. How far do you think we can jog today?"

"I want to go for a full mile! We were close on Friday. I think I can do it."

"OK. You lead off. Stretching first, and then I'll follow your pace. When you need to walk, you stop. Don't push too hard and mind your heart rate."

"You're such a worrywart!" she said, but still smiled.

"That's my job!"

We did make the entire first mile jogging, walked the second mile, and then I walked Jacquelyn home.

"I figure by Thanksgiving I'll have lost thirty pounds!"

"Have you decided where we're going for dinner?"

"Mom said I should pick Rosebud or Morton's. But I'm not sure. Will you take me for ice cream, too?"

I chuckled, "You don't want to gain it all back in one night! But sure."

"I don't know what movies will be playing, obviously, but can I really pick anything? Even a mushy love story?"

I laughed, "I've been dragged to those before! As I promised, you get to decide. It's an additional reward for all this hard work. Being in good shape is the most important."

"I still don't have any friends," she sighed.

"What am I? Chopped liver?" I chuckled.

"Sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean that."

"I know what you meant. You meant girls your own age. When school starts again, I think you'll find people might have a different attitude. You're much more positive, you have a much better self-image, and you're a beautiful young woman."

"I'm still fat!" she groused.

"Not for long, Jacqui. In a month, when school starts, you'll probably have lost another five pounds or so. I can already see the difference, just in your face. You need to ask Kara to take you shopping before school starts, OK?"

"OK."

"And you have to promise me that you'll talk to kids at school and try to make some friends. Start with one."

"I want a boyfriend," she said.

"I know. Just take your time, though. Guys can be real jerks. Not all of them, but lots of them, especially teenage boys."

"Tell me about it!" she said, sounding exasperated.

"See you tomorrow morning," I said when we reached her house.

She waved and went up the steps into the house and I jogged home.

That evening, after karate practice, Melody pulled me aside.

"Cheryl is really freaked out and I don't know how to help her."

"Be her friend," I said.

"But I can't relate to her at ALL."

"Do you remember Jesse's mom?" I asked.

"Sure. Pretty, with strawberry blonde hair."

"Do you know who she's married to?"

"No."

"The strawberry blonde that looks a lot like my little sister," I said.

"Wait! She's a lezzy?"

"Lesbian, but yes. Josie, that's her wife, is bisexual, like Peggy. Maybe Cheryl would talk with them. Another friend of mine talked to them when she was trying to figure things out the same way I think Cheryl is."

"The other girls are really, really pissed at Cheryl for wrecking the party."

"That's not surprising, but you should ask them to cut her some slack."

"Could we reschedule?" Melody asked.

"Probably not," I said. "I can't make this a regular thing. I know I missed out, and so did the others, but I have to stick to my agreement with Jessica."

"That sucks! Peggy and Lisa are going to be even more pissed at Cheryl!"

"I'm sorry, but you all knew I had limits."

"What about your offer to me?"

"I might be able to keep that, but there would be conditions."

"Such as?"

"It would be a one-time thing and you couldn't ask again. And you couldn't tell ANY of the other girls ANYTHING."

"For that kind of experience? I think I can agree to that. Would you?"

"Let me think about it, OK? Remember, I have to answer to Jessica."

"OK. Let me know if your friends will talk to Cheryl."

"I will," I said. "See you Thursday!"

I locked up the dojo and joined Stephanie and Jessica for the walk home. When we arrived home, I let Jessica know I needed to talk to Jennifer for a few minutes and that I'd meet her upstairs. She gave me a quick kiss and went up the stairs while I walked out to the guest house.

"You could have at least taken a shower!" Josie said, wrinkling her nose.

"Oh come on! Sweaty men are sexy!" I retorted.

"Only in your dreams!" Josie laughed. "What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you and Jennifer about my sister's friend Cheryl. Jen knows a bit, but basically Cheryl was outed unwillingly and is really struggling with her sexuality. Her friend Melody wants to help her, but Melody is as straight as I am, and has no context at all. I was wondering if I could have her give Cheryl your number? I was hoping that you would talk with her the way you did with Katy."

"Sure," Josie said. "It's so hard on kids and there really isn't anyone for them to turn to, because if it gets out, they're treated like dirt."

"Thanks. I'll make sure she gets your phone number. And now, I'm going to go shower."

"Phew! Thank heavens for that!" Josie laughed.

I stuck my tongue out at her and headed back to the house so that I could shower and get to bed.

July 29, 1988, Chicago, Illinois

"Dad, this is your new granddaughter, Birgit!" I said.

"She's beautiful, Son! How are the boys adjusting to having a little sister?"

"Once I explained to Jesse that he needed to teach Birgit how to be a kid in our family, he came around. I was worried about him after that first phone call."

"You weren't thrilled about having a sister at first, either. But by the time we brought her home, you were ready to be a big brother."

"I had a whole month to prepare from when you told me to when you could finally bring her home."

"Your sister was so tiny. She basically fit in my hand. Early 7-month preemies didn't usually survive in 1967."

"I'm glad she did! Did you want to hold your first granddaughter?"

"Yes!" he grinned, taking her from me as my mom stood by silently.

He held her for several minutes, then after looking to me for approval, handed Birgit to my mom.

"I can't believe you named her after that girl!" my mom muttered.

"Judy!" my dad said sharply. "We talked about this."

"Mrs. Adams, he loved Birgit very much, and I was happy to honor her memory," Kara said. "Don't make me regret allowing you to visit her."

Jessica smiled smugly. She and Kara had discussed how to handle my mom, and they were putting the plan into action.

"That won't be necessary, Kara," my dad said, giving my mom a hard look.

"We discussed your privileges before, Mrs. Adams," Jessica said. "I was deadly serious. We do not want our children exposed to that kind of negative attitude."

My mom looked daggers at Jessica, but didn't say anything. Kara and Jessica, along with Elyse and Jennifer, held all the trump cards. If my mom wanted to see her grandkids, she was going to have to toe their line.

We sat down to eat a few minutes later, and when we finished, my dad and I went to my study to talk, while my mom visited with Jesse and Matthew.

"I informed the management team that I'm going to step back from operational decisions. My innate conservatism is holding us back and causing us to miss opportunities."

"You're giving up a lot of control if you do that. Do you really trust them that much?"

"I still have to sign off on individual hires, capital expenditures, raises, and bonuses. And I control the Board. It's not like I'm giving up overall control, just taking myself out of day-to-day operations. And Dad, you know Elyse is almost as conservative as I am. She's not going to let things get out of control. She's just more coolly analytical about finances because of her training. You know I'm not."

"No, you aren't, at least financially. You've been trying to run the business like you run your personal finances. The two are very different things."

"Which is what I recognized," I said. "Elyse has a Master's degree and seeks advice from Doctor Lambert as well as Bruce Grady. Heck, Stephanie has a year to go for her degree and she has a better understanding of business than I do."

"That's not accurate. They have better knowledge of operations. You have the vision and the leadership skills that nobody else there has. The more I think about it, the more I tend to agree with you. Set the direction and provide leadership. You know that's not about giving orders or making rules, but about encouraging and mentoring people and making sure everyone is pulling the oars in the same direction."

"I was pretty sure that you'd agree in the end. And as I said, I have complete faith in Elyse. She's the mother of my son, after all. And she wants to get pregnant again soon. I can't imagine her taking any crazy risks that would put all our livelihoods in jeopardy. Julia isn't going to risk her and Dave's future, either, especially with Peter around."

"You mentioned hiring, is that headcount, or just your traditional veto?"

"The veto. I don't want anyone working for NIKA who I don't talk to first. I don't care how big we get."

"And the raises and bonuses?"

"Oversight only. I want to make sure that everyone is treated equitably."

"Elyse wants another baby already?"

"And not even a segue!" I chuckled. "Yes, Matthew will be two or so when her next baby is born. That's the same distance as between me and Jeff and Jeff and Stephanie. It just seems odd because Birgit was just born."

"How are your personal finances?"

"Just fine. Jessica received a raise and is making almost $30,000 a year now. It won't go up a lot over the next four years, but after that, it'll really take off. Right now, she's maxing out her 401(k) and paying off her student loans with the rest. Leila, Alejandra, and Jorge are all paying room and board, and Kara's tuition is covered by the money she had from her grandparents. She contributed the rest to our joint account, and she'll have some income from her teaching assistant job at IIT for the next two years. In addition to my income from NIKA, I have the annuity from Don Joseph, and I still have a significant savings account plus my investments.

"Josie and Jennifer pay more in rent than what I'm paying you for the mortgage on the coach house, and they won't take anything from me for Jesse beyond the usual gifts or things I want to buy him. Their logic is that they make just over $60,000 between them from their two jobs, so it makes sense for them to do it. And, honestly, I think they want to be a family unit and not depend on me. And that's fine with me. I see Jesse as much as I want, and the three of us talk about important decisions, though in the end, Jennifer and Josie make the final decisions."

"It sounds as if you have it all under control. Did you sell your old car?"

"Yes — to Penny. She's been lusting after it for over a year. Want to take a quick spin in my new BMW?"

"You mean OUR new BMW," my dad chuckled. "It does belong to NIKA."

"It does, but the paperwork says that it's for my exclusive use."

"Tell that to your wives, Son!"

"That's always the way, isn't it?"

"Yes, it certainly is!"

August 1, 1988, Chicago, Illinois

I hadn't had a chance to watch the race that had been held at Talladega the previous day because my parents were in town, and I knew that I wouldn't have a chance to watch the tape of the race for several days, so I checked the newspaper and saw that Bill had finished 8th, which wasn't too bad, though unfortunately, both Earnhardt and Wallace had finished in front of him. Bill was still in second place, but he was now 11 points behind. That wasn't a disaster, and with Watkins Glen, a road course, and Michigan, Bill's favorite track, all coming up, I was confident that he'd have the points lead by the end of August. I tossed the paper aside and hurried out for my morning run with Jacquelyn.

After the run, I went back to the house to shower, and then had breakfast with my parents and Kara. When we finished eating, they said 'goodbye' and left to head home to Ohio. Kara, Birgit, and I got into my new BMW and headed for O'Hare to meet Leila's flight. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed, and we ended up waiting nearly two hours before she appeared through the door that led from Customs and Immigration, even more annoyed than we were.

"We sat on the runway for an hour after we landed!" she complained, but immediately brightened. "You brought Birgit! May I hold her?"

"Yes, of course!" Kara said, carefully handing the baby to Leila.

"«Merhaba ufaklık!»" ("Hi, little one!")

Leila held Birgit for a moment, making all the usual cooing sounds females did when they held a baby, and then handed her back to Kara.

"She's beautiful, Kara! But wow, that was a long trip, and then an annoying delay!"

"Well, you're here now. Are you psyched to start medical school?"