Chapter 26

On January third Bob and Ann took off from Manassas Airport and headed south for the trip to Argentina. The Special Forces that the President wanted grew from a small team of highly skilled soldiers to a small army with its own intelligence unit. Ann orchestrated the armored vehicle end of the package. They flew back home with a security package that had grown to four times the original size.

In the next couple of months Ann grew into the job to the point where she was taking care of the sales with little help from Bob. She began to spend every weekend at the farm. Brenda would call the farm if she wanted to speak to her mother on the weekends.

In the middle of March Bob came into Ann's office, "Ann, we have to go to Germany on the third of April. Argentina wants to add GPS to all of the vehicles and the Presidents car is going to have a radio system that he can call anywhere in the world. I don't know if there's room in the car for everything that he wants. We'll have to talk to Stoof International and see if they can do it."

Bob saw the look of concern on her face, "What's wrong?"

"Brenda will be home on spring break in April."

Bob hesitated a minute, "Get Brenda a passport. We'll take her with us. We'll only be gone for a week. Tell her that I'll pay her five thousand dollars as my interpreter, on a contract basis, and I'll pay all of her expenses and give her fifteen hundred for spending money. Do you think that she'd like that?"

Ann laughed, "What college girl wouldn't like to go to Germany for a vacation?"

"We'll have to go to Paris for a one-day meeting and then we can fly home so she'll have some time to get some rest."

On April third Ann. Brenda and Bob took off and headed for Germany. The meeting only took a few hours but they had to wait for engineering to see if everything would fit. While they were waiting for engineering Bob took Ann and Brenda sightseeing. On Friday Engineering told Bob that they had away to fit all of the equipment in the President's car. Bob placed the order and they flew to Paris.

They checked into the Athenee at ten o'clock at night and Brenda was floored at the opulence of the hotel

"My God, do you people live like this all of the time?"

Bob yawned, "I don't know about you two but I'm bushed. I'm going to turn in. How about we go to see the Eiffel Tower tomorrow?"

They both agreed and they went to their rooms. Bob had been taking them on a whirlwind tour of Germany so they were all tired.

In the morning Brenda hear her phone ring. When she answered it Bob asked her to meet him in the lobby in an hour. He told her that he wanted to show her some of Paris. He told Brenda to let Ann sleep for a little while.

Brenda looked at the phone after she hung it up. Why would he want to go sightseeing without Ann?"

Brenda met Bob in the lobby and he took her arms and they walked to a park that was in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. They walked around for a little while and then Bob asked her to sit down on one of the benches.

"Brenda, I'd like to ask your mother to marry me. I want to know if you'd have any problem with that. I haven't asked her yet and if it would cause you any problems, I won't even ask her."

"Do you mean that you'd give her up if I didn't approve?" Brenda asked incredulously.

"Well, you two have been together a lot longer than she and I have been."

"You're a strange man Mr. Bob Long. Of course I don't have anything against it. I just wonder why it took you so long to ask her."

Brenda threw her arms around Bob and hugged him, "Just one condition. I never knew my father. All I know is that he died. I always wanted a father so I'll Ok this marriage if you agree to be the father that I never had."

Bob held her tightly with tears in his eyes, "It's a deal."

Bob took his arms from around her, "There's one other thing. I've set up a fund for your college education. When we get back to Virginia I'll have you meet with my lawyer. You submit any and all bills for anything that pertains to your college education and the bill will be paid. After med school any money that is left over becomes yours. You've always wanted to be a doctor your mother tells me; if you don't become a doctor now it's because of you. Your education is paid for. I should have told you about this first. The money will be there for your education whether your mother accepts my proposal or not."

It was Brenda's turn to cry. Bob took her hand and pulled her up, "I know a nice jewelry shop near here. Let's go look at rings."

They walked to a jewelry store that wasn't open yet. Bob knocked on the glass and a woman came to the door and opened it for them. The woman walked behind the counter and set several ring cases on the glass counter top.