Chapter 95

Jeff caught up with Diana. "I talked with the General. Part of my team went back to the base after the other team that we're using for security got here, as you know. Those who went back to the base have been delayed, but will be coming back to escort the weapon emplacement deliveries, and for additional security during installation. We need to put off the time you were planning to have them for a meal. It was tonight, wasn't it?"

"No problem. It might even work out better that way with Selina's parents coming back to talk to us this afternoon."

Frank had been watching from the mudroom. As the couple took the few steps to the stoop, he opened the back door for them.

"Hi Dessie; Phillip. I asked Jeff if I could speak with you before you talked to Selina."

Phillip suddenly looked concerned. "What's wrong, Frank? Is Selina..."

"Selina is fine, and there's nothing wrong at all. Please, just hold your curiosity until we can sit down and talk for a minute." Turning, Wainwright ushered them in. "Come on, we can use Jeff's office. It's near the Matthews' suite," he said, as they all started down the hall with the Alpha leading the way.

Shortly, they walked into the office and Frank motioned to the couch. Instead of sitting behind the desk, he moved a seat near the husband and wife so they would all be comfortable while they talked.

"This is nice," Dessie said as she looked around at the beautiful desk and the plush furniture in the big office.

Wainwright chuckled. "It used to be my office until Jeff became the owner of the property. He has another smaller, more functional office downstairs in his lab. My office is now on the other end of the retreat."

"You have an office here..." Dessie started.

"Yeah, and I do more of my work here at the retreat than I used to. Even though Jeff now owns this place, it is also our home, too. I've cut back on my work hours in the Saint Louis office, and turned some of my projects over to Tingle. He's a good man."

"So you and Mr. Matthews..."

"Let's just say that he claims Margaret and me as part of his family. That's how close the relationship is. And ... that brings me to the reason I wanted to talk with you two. But first, I brought along something I would like you to read before I go into why I dragged you in here."

Frank handed them Helen's résumé. "How about reading through this, please. I want you to know some of Helen's accomplishments before we talk about the school."

When Frank handed Phillip the binder, the couple looked at him for a second before Phillip opened it and held it so they both could read.

Frank leaned back and crossed his legs. "Take your time. I want you to read every word carefully, and keep in mind that it is nowhere near a complete list of her accomplishments."

When the couple had finished, Frank leaned forward to take the binder. Phillip and his wife looked at each other, then Dessie turned to Frank, "Unless there's a character flaw, this woman..."

"There is no character flaw. On the contrary, she is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, and the Matthews are darned lucky to have her for their teacher."

"But, Frank, why are you talking to us about this teacher? We could have learned this from her..."

Frank chuckled. "It's quite simple, really. I'm here to assure you that your daughter will be in the absolute best school she could ever be in, plus she will be with a loving family, and she will be taught by a teacher who not only loves children, but who is also immensely qualified. The Matthews and I are closer than brothers and sisters could ever be. And I mean that literally. I will not only vouch for Helen, the teacher, but also for the Matthews family and everyone else here at the retreat. You know I'm a man of my word, and I give you that word now."

Phillip looked at Frank for a moment, then, "You have always been fair with me; sometimes more than that. I never worry that you will try to stiff me on a contract. You've given me your word before, and you have never gone back on it." After a moment's hesitation, he continued with, "We also know that you have, at least some respect for us, or we would not have been invited to your wedding. There were probably several hundred more people who would have come if they had been invited, so that again, makes us feel special."

"So the school our daughter has found is here? I mean to say, on these actual premises?" Dessie said.

Frank didn't answer, but just nodded.

"Odd. Selina has seemed to be enthralled with this building and the people here practically since we walked in the door. How many students does this ... Boswell woman have in her school?"

"I'd rather Helen answer any questions. I didn't get you two in here to try to usurp her authority."

"Frank, our daughter is very smart..." Phillip started.

"And, what would you call Helen?" Wainwright grinned. "You've read her résumé. The woman is a genius. Not just smart — a true genius. Whatever your daughter needs will be recognized and provided for. And the Matthews have already welcomed her with ... open arms, I think the phrase is," Frank finished as he remembered Selina sitting, snuggled in Jeff's arms while they had talked.

"Frank, Selina is almost..." Dessie wound down, unable to find the word she wanted.

"More than you know how to handle," Wainwright suggested.

"We're not bad parents," Dessie said, wondering if that was a true statement. "We've given her everything she's asked for; provided nannies..."

Wainwright stood. "I'm sure you will be able to visit whenever you wish. She won't need a nanny here, for she will have a whole family, Margaret and I included. I promise she will be safe and properly cared for. Now, I need to get out of the way and let you talk to Helen."

Jeff's younger wives had been busy, led by Arlene, of course. Soon after Helen had started their school in the temporary classroom, Dave had put in a door to the next conference room, then added a wall, shelving, etc. for Helen to have a nice office, plus a project room for her students. Arlene and the younger wives had found a box containing Helen's diplomas, and had hung some of them on the walls of her office. A couple weeks later, Helen had taken them down from her "brag wall" as the girls called it, and returned them to the box in a closet.

Doctor Boswell met Dessie and Phillip Albright in the hallway near the temporary classroom. After they shook hands and were being ushered into the classroom, Dessie said, "Mrs. Matthews introduced all of you after the wedding, and she said you were their teacher, but there were so many introductions that I really didn't focus on what you did. I guess I must have thought that you taught in the local school system."

They stopped as Helen answered, "Well, I used to, but I'm retired."

"But..." Dessie started.

"I've been blessed with a younger-looking face," Helen quickly interrupted. "I'm older than I seem. And I took some of my degrees a little early, and consequently started teaching quite young."

"Frank, uh ... shared your résumé with us, and..."

"He's like a brother to me," Helen said. "I was considering a career change upon retirement from instruction, thus the résumé. I didn't really intend showing you all that."

As they were talking, they had walked through the classroom into Helen's office. As they entered, Helen instantly saw that her "brag wall" was back up. Phillip and Dessie spotted it immediately and veered over to examine the large array of plaques.

"My..." Helen had almost said sister-wives, but had changed it at the last instant to, "students are obviously trying to help me. I apologize. Those are supposed to be in a box in the closet. Let's go sit in the classroom; it's just as comfortable in there without my 'brag' wall' overshadowing our conversation."

But Dessie and Phillip weren't listening, for they were riveted on the diplomas and certificates on the wall. Helen started to protest, but remembered what Selina had told her about her parents needing a school for her that they could brag about to friends.

The three were back in the classroom. "So this is your 'temporary' classroom?" Dessie asked as she leaned back in the comfortable chair. "Frankly, it's better than the schools we've visited."

"This is nice," Helen agreed, "but our new classrooms will be bigger, there will be private areas to study, and we will have a lab attached, as well as a bigger project room."

"And you have seven full-time students?"

"Yes, and Diana and Laura are taking college courses on-line that I also supervise. Laura already has a BS, but is now beginning her study of electrical engineering. Arlene and Ann have met all high school graduation requirements and commenced college courses, but requested we delay their certification until that of Jennie and Melissa so all four may join in a graduation ceremony."

Helen, limited by what she wanted to tell outsiders, simply said, "I have been blessed with students that most educators only get to dream about. I have no discipline problems — none. I don't have to encourage study; I only have to provide, and more often than not, simply facilitate and guide. To use an overused term in education, I have gifted students. I have walked into this classroom after hours many times to find my girls enthusiastically working on projects or assignments."

The meeting went on for a while, then Phillip said, "I guess we should discuss cost and things of that nature. We wish to travel. Any school would have to..."

Helen, again remembering what Selina had said about her parents, said, "We are expensive. You might even say, extremely expensive, but we provide everything for our students — everything."

"Children frequently become ill with various viruses, and so forth. It's part of growing up," Dessie said.

"You would have to sign releases, of course," Helen said. "But unless your daughter's health should become critical, you need not be bothered. We will provide the best of medical care that money can buy. You will be expected to provide insurance for her, obviously, but should anything come up, we will take care of the matter completely. We will notify you in accordance with your written wishes, however."

"Our daughter has been talking to you," Dessie said.

"She said that the two of you wish to travel and perhaps ski on various mountains around the world, and ... would not want to be called home every time she 'gets the sniffles.' Thus my comments about her health care," Helen said.

"Selina has made us sound like..."

"You are mistaken. Your daughter loves you. She is an extremely gifted child and needs to be in this school. I promise you that everything will be done for her that will instill a will to learn, and that learning experience will be a guided one. I will treat her as my daughter. She will be safe, and you may visit any time you wish. Mr. Matthews asked me to assure you that you would be welcome here any time. And I think you will agree that we provide well for our guests," she said with a smile.

Phillip cleared his throat and said, "We have just discovered that Selina has been purchasing textbooks, technical journals and the like — many of them. We have had her tested, but the tests only showed her to be a little above average ... But if she's reading all this material, or even understands a small portion of it, then she must be far, far more intelligent than the tests suggested. Uh ... Doctor Boswell, it's not that we don't love our daughter. We've had plans — dreams — for years about what we were going to do when our kids were big enough to be away from us for a time. Perhaps we have let those plans escalate into becoming fantasies that we long for, but Selina is big enough to be in a boarding school for a couple of years while we indulge our dreams. We certainly don't want to abandon our daughter, but we do wish to be able to be gone for a few months at a time without having to worry about her. But ... she has adamantly refused the schools we have suggested she consider."

Phillip wound down at the look on Helen's face. Helen's impression of the parents from Selina's point of view had guided the beginning of the conversation, but now Helen realized they had just discovered their daughters' deception and were thinking the matter through. Helen wouldn't reveal anything Selina had confided, but she also had to reassure Selina's parents that her real talents would be developed. Selina had not specifically asked that her parents not be told how smart she was, but then again, she had kept it from them. The implication was obvious. Helen would keep Selina's secret, of course. "I can assure you that she will be allowed to develop in accordance with her abilities. She will be guided, and she will also be facilitated, not held back to some preconceived level of intelligence."

Phillip sighed. "She has bought quite a few expensive text books. If this is a real need for her, we'll be glad to leave a credit card for that particular use. But we would expect that you would supervise her purchases."

Dessie chuckled. "Phillip, you expect more of the school than we managed ourselves. She's been buying anything she damn well pleased."

Helen just sat and looked at them, seeming to ignore their last comments. "We have a requirement here. I won't accept a student, then have her pulled from the school at the whim of her parents. That restriction is certainly subject to conditions, of course. You will be free to inspect the school and talk to your daughter, visit her here anytime, and have her visit you at home on holidays and for a couple of weeks in the summer. She does not however, have to leave the school during any of those holidays; rather, she is welcome here and will be treated as family should you or she decide that she isn't going home for the holiday. The school is year-round, except for that two-week vacation in the summer, spring break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.

"Bear in mind that we are not restricted to any particular schedule or locale. There will be extensive field trips, some of which will be social, and I might call on you for recommendations concerning some of those. Mr. Wainwright has some ideas there, while he, Colonel Matthews and myself have extensive contacts in the defense and information technology industries which provide field trip opportunities not available to other private schools.

"Mr. Matthews has various local projects going on as well which offer our students hands-on business experience. One is a large farm/ranch. The students keep a set of duplicate books for the farm and for other projects. They are in frequent contact with the accountant, sit in on family and business meetings, and sometimes do a lot more than just sit in.

"What I am most excited about, though, is the unique information technology opportunity created by Laura Kinsley who was an IT manager for a large company as well as being a supremely gifted programmer. To say that our computer system here is cutting-edge would be to insult her, and our system. It is far beyond that. Two of the girls, Ann, Laura's daughter, and Arlene, Jeff and Diana's daughter, are also assisting in constructing an artificial intelligence program that might very well revolutionize the field — to use a trite phrase that still falls far short of an accurate description.

"Laura has led programming teams in the past and is lead designer here. Selina might be present at the creation of another major information technology company. That kind of encouragement and experience for such a highly intelligent young girl cannot be bought, and it's available to her from the sheer luck of your attending the Wainwrights' wedding."

Helen had neglected to say that she was also applying her genius to the endeavor.

"If you allow Selina to become part of us, she will be family — not be treated as family — she will be family. Arlene recognized this immediately and brought it up in our family meeting when we were discussing Selina attending our school. Put simply, we risk a lot. We will fall in love with Selina, and already have fallen for her to some extent. She is a beautiful, intelligent little girl. We won't risk Selina suddenly being withdrawn from our school because of a whim of her parents, for that would break our hearts. We would expect a contract to be signed that would reflect that — and we would expect two year's tuition and fees to be paid up front, and they are nonrefundable."

The meeting continued, the couple completely unaware that they were being guided by a genius. Helen inwardly smiled as she thought about the carrot and the stick. Though as ancient as time, the concept still worked very well. Dessie and Phillip would enroll their daughter in Helen's school, and would willingly give over complete authority of the child for the next two years. If Jeff could get it done for Jennie and Melissa, then they should be able to get it done for Selina as well. After the two years, the next step would be easy.