Chapter 9

Gloria Temple had been David's accountant for five years. She was a CPA and owned and operated her own firm. She had other clients, but she'd always treated David as if he were her only client. David adored her, and she returned his admiration with equal affection and respect. She was about fifty years old, chubby, short, and a ball of energy.

Because setting up Ridley had taken the entire morning, David had called her, and she'd agreed to meet Flint and him for a late lunch.

While they ate, Flint outlined his security plan. Gloria offered to help him set up the budget for the plan, and Flint gratefully accepted her offer. Then David told Gloria about Ridley.

"You're really getting into this charity stuff, aren't you?" Gloria said to David.

"Yeah. Giving gives me pleasure, a sense of purpose, the challenge that I've needed for some time in my life, Gloria. Making money isn't a challenge for me anymore. I have a beautiful wife, and when she's ready, we'll have children. My mother is married to a caring, talented man. My sister has recovered from her ill-fated marriage and is well settled in her new home. Her son is happy and bright and growing like a weed. No one wants for anything. No health problems. Giving so I do no harm has become my challenge."

"David, you're spending money like a drunken sailor," Gloria said.

"I'm making more money than I can possibly spend, Gloria. My venture into day trading has proven very profitable. I made a half-million dollars yesterday."

Gloria chocked. "That much?"

"Yeah, but that's more than I'll make on an average day, about double, in fact." Flint, David noticed, had looked just as shocked as Gloria. "Still, I figure I'll have to give away $30 to $50 million this year, or the IRS will take the money for the government's give-away programs. I'd rather spend the money on my give-away programs. Someone from the tax department at my law firm was supposed to call you."

"I received the call; I'm meeting with them this afternoon. From what you just said, I'm happy you retained them, David. I keep up with the tax laws; I have to, but not at the level you're talking about."

"Question," David said. "My mother's pregnant. She can't keep up with the reports and the bookkeeping, couldn't now even if she wasn't pregnant unless she devoted full time to the effort. I won't consider asking her for that kind of effort. Should I hire a bookkeeper to work for my mother and with you?"

"Carol pregnant!" Gloria exclaimed. "Oh, my, I'll have to call her. About a bookkeeper, yes, hire one. Definitely."

"We're hiring our help out of shelters. The candidate will be experienced, but will need training and guidance."

"I'll be happy to work with anyone you hire, David." Carol pregnant. Is she happy about it? Gloria asked herself. I'll call her as soon as I return to my office. An idea struck her. "David, I have some money put away for my twilight years. Would you invest it for me? If you will, I'll cut my hourly rate."

"How much are you talking about, Gloria?"

"What you're doing is risky, right?"

"No, but the returns reflect what most financial advisors would say are risky in the extreme."

"How about $250,000?" If she lost that much, it'd hurt, she reasoned, but the loss wouldn't be fatal.

David grinned. "No problem, and leave your hourly rate where it is. I suspect in short order, you won't be able to take on any new clients."

Gloria nodded and decided from that moment forward that she'd turn away new work that came through her door.

As he paid their lunch tab, David gave her the information needed to transfer the funds to an investment account he could access.

Back in the Escalade, Flint said, "I knew you were rich; I didn't know you were filthy rich."

David said, "Being rich isn't all it's cracked up to be. Giving away $30 to $50 million a year without doing harm won't be easy."

They rode in silence for a couple of blocks.

"No, it won't be easy, boss. It'll be damned difficult, but if anyone can do it, you can. You and your family," Flint said. Suddenly, he felt depressed. He understood the reason behind his sinking mood. He wanted Darla Stanley, and his feelings went well beyond lust. From their late evening talks and other times he'd spent with her, he'd been slowly falling in love. He had it bad and knew it. From what he'd just heard, she was out of his league. Why would a drop-dead gorgeous woman who was filthy rich want a broken-down ex-sergeant for a husband?

He decided to devote his time and energy to his work, a simple job that had suddenly become complex and demanding. Could he do the job?

Damned straight, he could.

He was in love with Darla, and he loved Nora and Carol. Truth be told, he loved the man sitting in the passenger seat. Joe Patterson he didn't know well enough to say. Yeah, he would do the job. He'd protect them. He'd do whatever necessary to keep them safe.

David's class with his Arabic tutor was briefer than expected. Rima arrived looking beautiful, her arms ladened with books and tapes. She gave him his reading assignment for the next day, and they had a short discussion about the difference in Classical Arabic, the language of the Koran and classical literature, and Modern Standard Arabic, the universal language of the Arabic-speaking world today, also the language of the majority of written material and the spoken word in conversations, lectures, and on radio and television. David learned that the Arabic script evolved from the Nabataean Aramaic script that's been used since the 4th century AD. The Aramaic language has fewer consonants than Arabic, so during the 7th century, scholars created new Arabic letters by adding dots to existing letters to avoid ambiguities.
"The Arabic alphabet contains 28 letters, and words are written in horizontal lines from right to left. Numerals, however, are written from left to right," Rima said.
David groaned audibly, which made Rima laugh.
She added, "It gets worse. Most letters change form depending on whether they appear at the beginning, middle or end of a word, or on their own, for that matter. Don't worry, you'll figure it out — with my help. Between now and tomorrow, listen to these tapes." She held up a plastic book that contained audiotapes. With a dazzling smile, she said, "We'll jumpstart your effort with Berlitz."

"My memory, Rima, is almost entirely visual, as opposed to auditory," David said.

She groaned audibly, which made David laugh.

"Listen to the tapes anyway," she said. "I'll do some research and locate tapes that come with written material, so you can read along as you listen. Your memory quirk will also force us to dive into the Arabic alphabet sooner than I'd planned."

After Rima left, David went in search of his sister. He found her in the swimming pool, giving George a lesson. The boy had been a water baby from the get-go. Darla and the boy were naked, so David stripped and joined them. The three of them had fun cavorting in the cool water for about fifteen minutes and were just climbing out of the pool when Janice walked outside onto the patio.

"There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you, Mr. David. You have a call, Ms. Lena Prince. She says she's returning your call."

"Thank you, Janice," David said as he took the phone Janice held in her hand. He stood naked and dripping water, and because some of the cavorting in the pool had involved fondling and stroking, he was erect, which didn't appear to bother Janice at all.

While he talked with Vince's caseworker, Janice studied his body with blatant interest. When he hung up, she said, "You, Mr. David, are the most beautiful man I have ever seen. I hope you won't be offended, but tonight before I go to sleep, I will daydream about you."

Darla grinned and said, "No doubt while touching yourself."

Janice blushed and didn't deny Darla's allegation.

"I'm not offended, Janice," David said. "Fantasizing is normal. I will be offended if you try to seduce me, though." He grinned. "I'm taken." His grin widened. "Times three."

Janice smiled. "I understand. Thanks for the show, anyway." She turned to leave.

"Uh, Janice," Darla said, "would you take George with you? I'm about to jump my brother's bones, and the boy would be a distraction."

George was wrapped in a fluffy towel. Janice held out his arms, and Darla handed her the bundle. "A half-hour ought to do it," she said.

With a knowing smile, Janice turned to walk away.

George squirmed in Janice's arms. "Down," he said. She put him down but hung onto his hand as they walked inside.

Darla stretched out on a chaise lounge and then pulled up her knees, letting them drop to each side.

"Fuck me, big brother," she said.

"She'll watch us from inside," David said.

"Maybe. I hope she does. What she'll see will enhance her fantasy." She rubbed her hand over her vulva. "She won't, though, not with George hanging onto her. She won't wait until tonight to dream about you, either. As soon as I retrieve my boy, she'll disappear into her room for a while. Come on. I'm ready now. No foreplay is necessary." She eyed his stiff cock, and then let her eyes roam over his body. "She's right, you know. You are a beautiful man."

David moved over her. She took his throbbing cock in hand and guided it to the right place. She wasn't as ready as she'd believed. It took him three thrusts to bury his length inside her.

"So good," Darla breathed. "I'm happy you're taken times three, and that I'm one of the three."

"You captured my heart before Mom and Nora, sister-mine," David said as he moved to the rhythm of her waving hips. "You'll always have a place in my heart and mind. I love you."

"Is she watching?"

"Don't know; don't care," he said.

Janice wasn't watching, but Flint stood and gazed through a glass wall at the copulating pair. He'd come searching for David to ask him a question, but the sight had stopped him dead in his tracks before he could step outside. He'd started to turn away... but couldn't. He knew it was wrong to watch, but...

"Beautiful," he whispered. "They're beautiful together."

What he saw didn't help his sinking mood. What he saw made him feel even more inadequate than before. With a sigh, he turned and limped away. His throbbing hard-on caused the limp, not his bum leg.

David figured that Ms. Lena Prince was close to retirement age, that is, if Child Protective Services had a compulsory retirement rule. He figured the CPS policy manual did indeed contain an applicable rule. CPS was a bureaucracy. They had a rule for everything.

David, Darla, and Lena Prince sat in David's great room. Janice had served them iced tea. George was occupied, putting together a large jigsaw puzzle on the carpet.

"When Vince is released from the hospital," Lena Prince said, "hospital administration will turn custody over to CPS. At which time, a judge will place him with a licensed foster home, a shelter, what's called a licensed family, or with a relative."

"We have initiated the process to make the compound a foster home," David said, "but Vince will be released from the hospital weeks before we can obtain a license. Still, Nora, Darla, and I want the responsibility for Vince's care. Nora is my wife, by the way. She's a special agent for the FBI and is still at work. Is it possible for us to assume temporary custody of the lad, Ms. Prince?"

"Placement other than licensed facilities or individuals has been done, but such placements are extremely rare," she said, her expression sour... negative.

"Ms. Prince, we are personally paying Vince's hospital and doctor bills, which are substantial, and later this afternoon, Darla will engage a child psychiatrist to provide the therapy he needs so desperately," David said. "If the judge will give us temporary custody while we move through the process to make the compound a foster home, we'll do whatever it takes to make sure Vince heals from the bodily and mental trauma caused by the accident and his parents' death. Besides medical and psychiatric care, we'll also provide homeschooling until the boy is well enough to return to a normal school, all at our expense without expectation for reimbursement. What's more, Nora, Darla, and I will do this with love and tender mercy in our hearts."

"If that sounds overblown or flowery, we don't care," Darla said. "It's how we feel, Ms. Prince."

Finished with the jigsaw puzzle, George ran to his uncle and said, "Up."

David picked him up and cuddled him. The boy squirmed off his lap and ran across the sofa to his mother. She gave him a kiss, and he wiggled off her lap and jumped from the sofa to the floor, falling hard on his backside. He looked up surprised, but didn't cry. When David laughed, the boy smiled, jumped up and ran to David, once again saying, "Up."

Ms. Prince, David noticed as he picked up and tickled the boy, was watching the game George had invented.

"Waddaya think, Ms. Prince?" Darla said. "Do we have a chance?"

The older woman sighed. "There's a chance. It's slim."

"Will you recommend us for placement?" David said.

Lena Prince gave him a hard look and said, "No."

"Why not?" David said as George, after getting a hug from his mother, hit the floor running.