Chapter 172

Jeff, Diana, Dave and Evie were sitting in Dave and Evie's living room when Security called Jeff on his radio.

"Colonel, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson are here at the check point, but we have a slight problem, " Jeff heard through bone conduction from the tiny speaker behind his ear. "Mrs. Jackson is afraid to drive up the driveway, and she says her husband's doctors have forbidden him to drive. I have offered to have one of our units bring them up, but she refuses. She asked to speak to Mrs. Henson."

"Stand by one, Hollins."

Jeff repeated what he had just been told.

"They're thirty minutes early," Evie said as she came quickly to her feet. "Tell Security I'm on my way to get them."

Jeff keyed his radio and subvocalized into his throat mike, telling Hollins that Mrs. Henson was on the way.

As Evie started out the door, she turned back for a second. "Mr. Jackson seemed weak when we were there yesterday, and he was walking really slowly. The conference room is a long way from either door ... The living room here in our apartment is a lot closer, and ... it would present a much more relaxed atmosphere. We can't use the big living room because it's set up for the wedding tonight, not to mention it's just as far from either door as any of the conference rooms. I think we should have the meeting right here in our living room."

Diana instantly responded, "I think it's a great idea."

After a second's hesitation, Evie addressed her husband, "Baby, are you and Jeff okay with this?"

"Okay by me," Jeff responded.

"Me too," Dave said, but added, "We will need some more furniture, though."

Jeff glanced back at Evie. "Bring them through the inside garage. That will be a lot closer for them, and they won't have to be out in the cold once they get up here. Since you mentioned he's having problems walking, maybe we need to have a wheelchair waiting when you get here."

Evie's face broke into a smile. "Excellent idea."

As soon as Evie was out the door, Jeff began pacing. "Crap. We should have gone to their place. I thought of it, but anywhere I go it looks like a damn parade with all of Security's vehicles. Here I am forcing a guy who has just had a heart operation to come to me instead of the other way around. I wasn't thinking."

Dave was shaking his head. "Still ... in the long run, this will be a lot less hassle for the Jacksons. You know that Security would never allow you to go into the Jacksons' house without checking it out first. Hell, they would probably check out the whole neighborhood."

"He's right, Baby," Diana said, entering the conversation. "Besides, we can make it up to the Jacksons, somehow." She thought for a second before her face broke into a smile, "Let's get Arlene to push the wheelchair. She'll have Mrs. Jackson wrapped around her little finger in a heartbeat, and as far as Mr. Jackson is concerned, what man could ever be upset with that beautiful young woman pushing his wheelchair and making over him?"

The Queen snatched up the phone and dialed the classroom. "Helen, we're at Evie's apartment getting ready for the meeting. I need to borrow Ann, Jennie and Melissa for a little while. Tell them I need a couple of pots of regular coffee, a pot of decaf, an assortment of soft drinks, some of those sweet rolls we had this morning and something a heart patient can munch on. I need the drinks and food brought to Evie's apartment in ten minutes ... Also, tell Arlene to meet me at the inside garage door so she can push Mr. Jackson's wheelchair to Evie and Dave's apartment."

"Done," Helen said, hanging up.

Diana absently put the phone back into its charging cradle. Turning back to the men, she motioned around her. "We need to rearrange some furniture. The coffee table needs to be a little closer to the couch, and those chairs need to be moved over here." She turned to look about the room, then addressed her husband and Dave, "We need several more nice chairs. You can get some from the hallway alcoves."

Jeff grinned at his Queen before hurrying to catch up to Dave, who was already going out the door.

Evie drove slowly past the Jacksons' vehicle, Security having asked Mrs. Jackson to park it on the side of the drive near the barrier and out of the way of any traffic. Evie continued on the short distance to the bottom of the drive, turned around and came back, stopping near the other vehicle.

When the little Queen stepped over to the Jacksons' car, Mrs. Jackson began to apologize as she got out. "I'm so sorry to bother you, Mrs. Henson. Normally, I used to drive very little. Of course, after Arthur had his heart attack, all the driving has been left up to me. I know it sounds foolish, but even looking at that driveway scares me. Again, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. You did tell me you had a steep driveway and it was on the side of a mountain, but I never expected to be able to look practically straight above me to see the road switching back and forth up that ... uh, cliff."

Evie smiled and touched Mrs. Jackson's hand. "No problem. You get used to it after a while – well, mostly used to it. But we all have first-time stories about it."

Arthur Jackson had listened to the women, but now pushed his door open and swung his legs out. "Wait, " his wife quickly said, hurrying around the car. "We can't risk your taking a fall on a patch of ice."

"I feel like a fool," Jackson grumbled as his wife put an arm around him.

"You would feel even worse if you fell," his wife returned. "And you'll be better soon. Right now, we just need to be careful."

Between them, they managed to get him seated in the front of Evie's Escalade, with Mrs. Jackson sitting behind him, her hand on his shoulder.

Evie kept a smile plastered on her face, hoping it would mask the worry she felt when she saw how truly feeble Arthur Jackson was today. His face was far grayer than it had been at his home yesterday, and this little bit of exertion moving from one vehicle to the other had made his breathing very noticeable. I screwed up. We should have had the meeting at their home. I didn't realize he was this bad. He seems to have gotten a lot worse since yesterday.

Wilma Jackson patted her husband on the shoulder as Evie got in and put the Escalade into gear. The older woman caught Evie's eyes in the mirror. "I apologize again. I've never driven on mountain roads very much, and when I saw..."

"You don't have to apologize. My husband and I built the Retreat. When we started the project, this was a gravel driveway that had only recently been cut into the cliff face, and ... to make matters worse, there weren't any railings up yet. The railings you see there," she continued, pointing, "are twice as strong as they need to be, so the worst you could do would be to bang a fender on a curve. There is absolutely no way your vehicle could go over. Oh, yeah, if heights bother you, keep your eyes to the inside of the drive, particularly on the switchbacks."

"Heights don't bother me, but Wilma isn't very pleased with them," Arthur inserted with a weak chuckle.

Evie looked in the mirror at Mrs. Jackson. "While you're here, you should get Diana to tell you about her first experience with the driveway, and Helen's description of her first time is even worse. Of course, they laugh about it now, but they weren't laughing then."

They drove through the first switchback and Wilma made the mistake of looking down into the abyss. Look at the wall on the inside, she told herself, trying to tear her mind from the memory. Aren't those snow-covered rocks pretty?

Arthur put his hand on his wife's as she gripped his shoulder tighter and tighter. "I might need that one of these days," he said, trying to chuckle, hoping to ease her fear. He had to repeat himself before she heard him.

Evie, trying to get Wilma's attention off the drive, asked, "How long have you two been married?" Evie, though, like Mr. Jackson, had to repeat her question before she got Wilma's attention. Arthur and Evie continued the conversation, trying to shift Wilma's focus to that, rather than the driveway, but then Evie got to the steepest part of the drive and the Escalade shifted back into low gear on the steeper slope. In the mirror, Evie could see that Mrs. Jackson had closed her eyes.

Shortly, "My goodness, look at that," Arthur said. "Open your eyes, Hon. Look at that beautiful building."

A couple of minutes later, Evie hit the remote to open the inside garage door.

Diana, Arlene and Jeff were standing on the landing at the top of the few steps in the garage. As soon as Jeff saw Arthur trying to get out of Evie's Escalade, the Prime bounded down the steps to stop near Jackson, offering a hand as the man struggled to his feet.

Evie, who had hurried around the SUV, introduced everyone.

"Mr. Jackson, I want to apologize for the inconvenience of your having to come up here. I just didn't think..."

"Nonsense," Jackson returned. "It was a beautiful drive, and I must say, this, uh..."

"We call it home," Jeff interrupted. "It used to be a conference center for Wainwright, Inc., but it's our home now."

"Well, your home is certainly beautiful."

"Thank you. Come on. Let me give you a hand up the stairs, then Arlene will provide transportation to Evie and Dave's apartment."

Jeff didn't give Mr. Jackson a chance to object, but put his arm around the older man. Diana was only a second behind her husband as she helped Jackson from his other side.

As soon as Jackson was in the wheelchair, Arlene was behind him, engaging the Jacksons in conversation, even as she winked at Mrs. Jackson.

"My daughter will have him laughing in no time," Diana whispered into Mrs. Jackson's ear.

"Daughter? She's your daughter? But you don't look..."

"Good genes," Diana laughed. "I guess I'm just lucky."

Dave, having finished his last-minute furniture arranging, met the others just inside the apartment. As he ushered the Jacksons in, "We were going to use one of the conference rooms, but thought this might work out better. Welcome to our home."

Everyone was seated in the living room with refreshments in front of them while they waited for the attorneys, their assistants, and the accountant. The conversation gradually moved to the sale of the Jacksons' company.

"How did you get started in the steel erection business?" Jeff asked.

Arthur and his wife glanced at each other. "That was a long time ago," Jackson said. "Believe it or not, we started the company out of our first home. Wilma's dad had faith in me and he had good credit. He signed with us on our first loan to get my little business started. A couple of years later, the loan was paid off, and I managed to get a line of credit from the same bank. We just kept expanding the company. Our biggest problem," he chuckled, "was trying to keep up with all the business we were getting. We just kept diversifying and hiring more people. I ... I ... had no idea it would all end like this," he finished, barely keeping his voice from breaking.

"But I thought you were going to retire, anyway," Jeff said with a slight frown.

"Retire, yes. But not be forced to sell out. Oh, we were going to pay Lee well to run the company, but I was going to keep my hand in now and again. Having to do it this way is like..."

"Almost like abandoning a child," his wife finished for him. "But the doctor has been adamant that Arthur could not continue with the stress. Please don't misunderstand us, however. We're flattered and very grateful for the sum of money you're offering, but you have to understand, we've done this almost our entire married life. Arthur has a talent for this type of business. It just seems ... odd to even think about not having the company any longer."

The conversation was interrupted by the AI announcing other vehicles coming up the drive, and Jeff having to explain about the computer.

The next few minutes were taken up with the others being escorted in by Jeff's younger wives, and all the introductions.

Time, as it does, drifted onward while the contract was read and finalized, nearing the signing stage. "We're all in agreement then?" Jeff's attorney asked.

There were affirmative comments all around, with Arthur Jackson giving his quiet agreement, but Jeff had not said anything.

"Mr. Matthews?" the attorney said.

There was a moment of silence, then, "No, " Jeff said into the quiet of the room.

From the Jacksons' attorney, "No? But..."

Everyone stared at Jeff. "Oh, I agree with the contents of the contract as it stands, but ... I think we need to attach an addendum."

"But you agreed..."

Jeff interrupted with, "When I sold my invention to Frank Wainwright, he added this building you are sitting in and the acreage that went with it to the contract. I want an addendum added that will stipulate that Mr. Jackson and his wife will retain ten percent ownership of the company."

Jeff's attorney, accustomed to Jeff, just smiled and turned to his assistant for a few seconds of whispered conversation. Dave stood and motioned to the assistant, "My office is next door. There's a printer there." The assistant picked up his laptop and followed Dave.

Jackson was staring at Jeff. "Mr. Matthews, this wasn't part of the agreement."

"Neither was the Retreat when Frank bought my invention. But the ten percent is fair under the circumstances. Besides, I think you are going to get better. When you're better, I would like to use you occasionally as a consultant. No use in all your knowledge going to waste. Who better than the man who founded the company? I mean no disrespect to Lee. I haven't even met him. But I want you still involved when ... you're better."

Jackson seemed uncomfortable. "You need to understand something. I've been reluctant to face reality, I guess. The heart operation was a measure to improve what I had, if ... it turns out to be successful. If it doesn't ... well, my doctor said the next option would be a heart transplant. That's the reason he's so adamant about my not being stressed."

"I still think you're going to get better," Jeff insisted. "And if worse comes to worst..."

"My wife will continue to have an income, plus a very nice nest egg," Jackson finished for him.

"That's not what I was going to say, but I have one stipulation that I would like to ask of you for adding the ten percent." Everyone stared at Jeff, "I think you should take a nap after the meeting is over. This has obviously stressed you, and remember what your doctor said."

"A nap?" Jackson repeated with a chuckle. "I'm fine."

"We could never impose..." Mrs. Jackson exclaimed.

"No imposition. There's a suite a few steps down the hall," Diana said, a smile touching her lips as she realized what Jeff was going to do. "And I certainly agree with my husband."

"Mrs. Henson said you were going to have a wedding here later today. I'm sure there are preparations that we would hinder."

"Everything is done," the Queen said, her smile almost seeming to brighten the room. "It's settled. After we've completed the paperwork here, I'll show you to your suite next door. A good nap in this mountain air will make your trip back easier."

As Jackson started to speak, the assistant came back with the printed-out addendum. Jeff's attorney read it and passed it to Jeff, who glanced at it and passed it back. After the principals had read it and verbally agreed to the addendum, "Are we now in agreement then?" Jeff's attorney asked.

The signing of the contract went quickly after the slow start.