Chapter 51: An April Fools’ Day Disaster

March 21, 1993, Chicago, Illinois

“I still don’t understand her thinking,” Kara sighed as she and I showered on Sunday morning.

“Give her time, Honey. Consider this as if it were, I don’t know, courtship, I suppose is the right word. In a sense, coming to bed with us last night would be akin to having sex on the first date. Heck, BEFORE the first date. We’re going to have to win her back.”

“Win her back? I thought she said she’d try.”

“Yes. And we’re going to have to work hard to make it happen. And there will be problems and setbacks. We’re resetting to December 26, 1984.”

“Are we getting married again?” Kara asked with a sly grin.

“You just want another wedding night and honeymoon, you little tramp!” I laughed.

“And you don’t?” Kara said primly.

“Guilty as charged!” I chuckled.

“Think she’d go for it? With two weeks in Stockholm?”

“That’s a long ways away,” I said. “But I actually think you’re onto something. Please don’t mention it to her yet. Let’s take this one step at a time.”

“Are we walking her to work?”

“Only if she asks us to. I’ll offer, once. Then it’s up to her.”

“Why have you turned so submissive all of a sudden?” Kara asked.

“I don’t think I have. I’m not letting her walk all over me. I’m asking her to define the relationship on her terms. As a starting point. We have to start somewhere, and the only place we CAN start is where she is right now. It’s like that day in Indianapolis when we met. If you remember, she defined the terms then, at Doctor Barton’s urging. And that was probably the mistake. He pushed her into a utilitarian relationship and she was fine so long as there was utility. Once she had the Fellowship, she decided she didn’t need the relationship anymore. She was wrong, but that is what she decided.”

“And that doesn’t matter to you?” Kara asked as we got out of the shower.

“It does, but I am NOT going to let it color my picture of the future any more than I let anything that happened to you and me in the past color the future. If you recall, I took YOU back.”

“On your terms; not mine.”

“Yes, but the situation is different. So I adapt; I improvise; I overcome.”

Kara smiled, “That Clint Eastwood movie you like so much?”

“Heartbreak Ridge. Shall we go have breakfast with our wife?”

“IS she our wife?”

I nodded, “Yes. She just doesn’t know it yet!”

We dried, dressed, and went down to the kitchen where Birgit was waiting for us.

“Mommy! Daddy!” she said. “Mommy is up early! Where is Mommy?”

“She’ll be here soon, Pumpkin,” I said. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“Waffles!” she said, holding out her arms.

I picked her up, hugged her, kissed her forehead, accepted a kiss on the cheek, and put her down. I plugged in the waffle iron and started making batter. When I poured the batter on the iron, I started making bacon, eggs, and toast to feed what would soon turn into an army of hungry people looking for breakfast. Jessica came in about fifteen minutes later. I was pleased when she came to me, then Kara, for good morning kisses.

“Sleep well?” I asked.

“Sort of,” Jessica replied. “It’ll be a long day today.”

“Do you want us to walk you to work?” I asked.

“It’s supposed to rain tonight. I’ll drive, if that’s OK.”

“Sure,” I said, and let it go.

By 9:00am everyone was up and had breakfast, and Samantha and I did the dishes. Jessica kissed Kara, me, and the kids goodbye about 9:40am and headed to work. An hour later, I kissed everyone goodbye and headed to Sensei Ichirou’s house for lunch. I was happy when Sensei Ichirou sat down across from me, and we had a nice lunch. It was obvious to me that Ailea was annoyed, but I’d promised her grandfather that I’d remember I was married. Having a private lunch with her had all sorts of potentially negative implications, not to mention the issues that Kara and I were having with Jessica.

“What is your departure date?” Sensei Ichirou asked when we finished lunch.

“June 5th,” I said. “According to Sensei Jim, I’ll be met at Narita Airport by Sensei Hiro’s grandson, Hiroshi. The train trip is about five hours, supposedly, to Oguni, in Yamagata Prefecture. I fly Chicago-Los Angeles-Tokyo.”

“And your return?”

“I depart from Narita on July 10th.”

“Remember what I’ve said. Simply do as you are instructed. No questions. If Sensei Hiro chooses to explain himself, that’s fine. Otherwise...”

“Yes, Sensei!”

“I will need you May 1st for black belt testing. Are you available?”

“Yes, Sensei, I am.”

“10:00am at my dojo, please.”

“Yes, Sensei.”

He walked me to the door where I exchanged the slippers I was wearing for my street shoes. After bowing, I left. I wasn’t surprised when Ailea followed after me.

“I forgot to give you this book,” she said, handing me a Japanese-English phrase book with both hands.

I took it from her with both hands and bowed slightly.

“Why haven’t you called?” she asked.

“As I said, I’ve been VERY busy. Between work, home, and karate, I just have not had the time. I’m sorry. I did come to lunch today at your request.”

“I had to call you, and then my grandfather took over the lunch. I want to talk to you.”

I suppressed a sigh, “Ailea, what is it you want?”

“Just to talk to you!”

“To a married man? With kids? Why?”

“Because you’re interesting. And I don’t meet many interesting people!”

“There have to be some interesting people in your High School or at your grandfather’s dojo,” I countered.

“Not like you! You run your own company. You’re a 3rd Dan black belt who Grandfather says will be 4th Dan by the end of the summer. You’re smart and funny.”

“I’m also going to be thirty in a month, and you’re sixteen.”

“Seventeen. I had my birthday in February.”

“You should find someone closer to your age,” I said.

“Why are adults so difficult? I just want friends who aren’t little kids!”

If that were truly the case, then I could try another tack.

“How about a compromise? You aren’t eighteen; how about you have your mom call me and invite me for lunch at your house? She doesn’t seem as conservative as your grandfather.”

“She’s not. I’ll ask.”

“Remember, she has to call.”

“OK,” Ailea said.

I got into my car and headed home. I had a very strong suspicion that I wouldn’t hear from her mother. And that would neatly deflect what might, or might not, be a problem.

March 22, 1993, Chicago, Illinois

Monday morning, after my run and shower, I went to the kitchen for breakfast with Kara, and Jessica joined us.

“Jess, I hoped we could celebrate Kara’s birthday on Friday. Saturday is Guys’ Night and Sunday you work. Is it OK to make reservations for Friday?”

“That’s fine. Alex’s place?”

“I was thinking we’d ask the Jaegers and go to Italian Village, but Alex’s place is fine, too.”

“Italian Village is fine. I saw on the calendar you have a Foundation Board meeting. Are you going to the dinner afterwards?”

“No. I told Jeri I was only going to the Spring, Fall, and Winter Galas. I’m way too busy for anything else.”

“When is the Spring one?”

“April 23rd. It’s on the calendar. If you don’t want to go, Samantha will be my date.”

“Let me think about it, please.”

“Sure. Is everything set for your Fellowship?”

“I just need my two evaluations - one from the ER and one from Surgery. I’ll get those next month, but there aren’t any problems.”

“OK. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help,” I said.

She smiled and nodded. When I finished breakfast, I went to say goodbye to the kids, and then Elyse and I headed for the office.

“How long are you going to put up with her staying in a guest room?” Elyse asked.

“Until she’s ready to come upstairs or decides to move out,” I said.

“And you don’t care which?”

“You know me better than that! Of course I care! But pushing isn’t going to solve a damned thing. I know it’s bothering Kara, and I’m concerned about that, but I don’t think there’s another approach which will have any chance of success.”

“Would you like a brutally honest opinion?”

“Probably not, but from you, I’ll always listen.”

“Let her go,” Elyse said firmly.

I had known she was going to suggest that, either seriously, or to make a hyperbolic point. I wasn’t sure which she was doing.

“Why?”

“Too much pain for too little gain.”

“I don’t think I can take a utilitarian approach to this, even if Jessica does,” I said. “It’s just not that simple.”

“Samantha is a better wife to you at this point. Heck, she’d make a PERFECT wife for you.”

“I can’t give her kids,” I said.

“With her money? She can adopt as many as she likes! Not to mention you come complete with seven!”

“I don’t think that would work for her. And it’s not something I’ve even considered because it’s not realistic. In a sense, it’s like things were with Penny.”

“What would you have done if Michelle had decided she liked sex more than she wanted to be a nun?”

“You’re asking me to play ‘What if?’!”

“If she were here now, you’d consider making HER your wife, wouldn’t you?”

“She’s not here, Elyse. Look; forget replacing Jessica. I have no intention of doing that and I think the gain IS worth the pain. For Jessica. And for Kara.”

“And for you?”

“«Agape»,” I said. “I made that decision years ago.”

“So the amount of pain doesn’t matter? She could do ANYTHING and you’d simply accept it?”

“There are limits,” I said. “I just can’t point to them speculatively. So no, not anything. But I can’t tell you what she can’t do.”

“You have so many options.”

“I love her and I gave my word. And nothing has happened to make me reconsider that. I think Jess is worth it.”

“Why?”

“At what point would you stop loving me? At what point would you stop loving Matthew or Michael and give up on them?”

Elyse was silent for a moment, “Can we just forget the last five minutes, please?”

“Done!” I agreed.

But I couldn’t forget them that easily. Elyse had made some good points. I could only hope that they turned out to be wrong.

March 25, 1993, Chicago, Illinois

“You’re not staying for dinner?” Alec asked after the board meeting.

“I’m sorry, no. I’ll be at the Spring Gala next month. How is Lisa?”

“Not well, as I’m sure you can imagine. Obviously we have lawyers working on it, but with the murder charges, we can’t get her out on bond.”

“I was shocked to hear about her arrest. And about John.”

Alec shook his head, “I cannot believe she had anything at all to do with that. Trouble with the Feds on complex real estate deals? Tax problems? I’ve had those before, and they’re kind of par for the course. We’re trying to sort out what they allege she’s done, but until they present discovery, we won’t know for sure. I’ve had my attorneys review every deal she did and for the life of us, we can’t figure out what they think they have.”

“But they had to present something for a warrant, right?”

“Yes, but it doesn’t take much. To get her out, we have to fight the state charges. The federal ones wouldn’t warrant her staying in jail until trial.”

“If there’s anything I can do...”

“I don’t think so. I know your firm helped search Hart-Lincoln’s records, but given that you do their computer support, I’m not surprised. And I know you can’t speak about it. But don’t worry. I suspect you had little choice in the matter when confronted by the FBI and Chicago Police waving warrants.”

“Very true,” I said. “On the plus side, I was happy to see the proposal pass today. It was much better than those three from last month.”

“Jeri is slowly changing things,” Alex said. “Speaking of which, did she talk to you about a replacement board member?”

“Yes. I gave her a name this morning. Doctor Gail Winston, from Northwestern. Moneyed, but also a top-flight oncologist.”

“Is her dad Bill Winston, the commodities trader?”

“Yes. I hear he made his money when he cornered the market on frozen concentrated orange juice!”

Alec laughed, “You do realize that Trading Places is pure BS, right?”

“Of course!” I said, joining his laughter.

“That said, there are parallels. Bill made his money because he saw what the Hunt brothers were doing. Bill was selling silver futures contracts all the way up to $50. He closed out all those positions on ‘Silver Thursday’ for around $20 when COMEX instituted ‘Silver Rule 7’ which changed the margin requirements and forced the Hunts to liquidate their holdings. The government stepped in and provided liquidity to make sure that the commodities firms didn’t collapse.”

“Sounds like a gutsy move,” I said. “What made him sell those contracts when the price was rising?”

“The belief that they couldn’t actually corner the market. They were highly leveraged, and he was sure they’d run out of borrowing power before they cornered the market.”

“Nice,” I said.

“He’s retired and living in Monte Carlo. His daughter has primary control of the family fortune. Who suggested her?”

“My friend Doctor Al Barton at UofC. He’s Head of Emergency Medicine there. He sits on my Board.”

“That is how this works,” Alec said. “Just remember one thing. There are no shortcuts. And there are a lot of sharks around here who think shortcuts are the way to riches. Stay away from anything that seems ‘too good to be true’.”

“You saw how skeptical I was of the deal you offered me,” I grinned. “It made sense in the end because your downside was breaking the REIT rules which would have cost you tens of millions of dollars.”

“Which is why it looked like it was skewed in your favor when it wasn’t. As I said, I appreciate you not putting the screws to me.”

I chuckled, “For THAT to happen, I would have needed to understand how all of this worked before I shook your hand. And even then, I wouldn’t have done it because unlike most people around here, I don’t think this is a zero-sum game.”

“Stay that way,” Alec counseled.

We shook hands, and after a brief word with Margaret Lundgren, apologizing for missing dinner, I headed home. I’d agreed with Kara that because we’d be going out with Jessica on Friday, I’d spend Thursday night with Samantha. Since it was a ‘school night’ we turned in earlier than we normally would on a Friday.

“I was talking to Abbie about ideas for your birthday present,” Samantha said as we cuddled after making love.

“Now I’m scared,” I grinned.

Samantha laughed, “She’s crazy!”

“Tell me about it!” I said, laughing with Samantha.

“I saw the proofs for the comic book Jorge is drawing for her script!”

“She actually wanted me to make the movie. I had to pass for what I think are obvious reasons!”

“Do you want to hear her suggestion?” Samantha giggled.

“Oh sure! What crazy idea did Abbie suggest?”

“Well, first she said that you’re going to be 30, and older guys can start to have,” she giggled, “performance problems!”