Chapter 10: Settlement

Before we left the Courtroom Marty Mariston and Richie Thurston had both offered me the job of running the Lab again saying that I now had a vested interest in seeing it succeed. I thought a minute and said I would take it as long as they understood I would only work one week a month and could hire a Head of Research and Personnel Manager acceptable to all parties. They readily agreed and I felt like I had already made mistake somehow.

I submitted three names for their consideration for the position of Head of Research. Only one of them worked for the Lab presently. As for a recommendation for Personnel Manager I would like their input since I was not familiar with people for that type of position. Virginia said, "You might consider Bill Burkes; he had been the Hiring and Benefit Manager prior to the hiring the new manager who had demoted him." Both men stated they would talk to him and if agreeable to them would hire him if that were agreeable with me. Acknowledging the requested I told them we would be happy to meet at the Lab tomorrow about 1 PM.

Virginia and I ended up in Mr. Simon's office for another hour and then took him out for a little celebratory dinner. After dinner we returned the Suburban and taking my car headed back to my place. Our thoughts were for a quick shower and a restful evening but that is not what happened.

Jen saw us pull up to the townhouse and sent Bob to bring us to their house. Both of them were very happy with the stair lifts and kept thanking us. After that the conversation turned to the break-in at my place and where we had been. We described the whole experience in detail and the outcome and our plan to build a new house on the ranch. Bob was concerned that I was moving away and I went on to explain that I had to spend at least a week a month working at the Lab so we would be in town.

About an hour and half later we managed to leave and go home. Once there we showered and Virginia asked if it was okay for her to call Linda now or would it be better to wait until tomorrow. "Go ahead and call her while I make us some hot chocolate." I replied.

Less than three minutes later Virginia said, "You better make that for three; Linda is on her way over. The minute I told her we were home she said she was coming over!"

"Did she say why?"

"No, but she seemed very anxious and insisted on coming now."

I went about adding more milk to the pot and got out a third cup. Just as the hot chocolate was finished and I had poured two cups the door bell rang. I continued to pour the third cup while Virginia went to answer the door.

When the women did not return to the kitchen area I took to cups and went looking. They were seated on the couch with Virginia holding a crying Linda. From what I gathered the men who had accosted her had said they were going to kill us and she had been worried the whole time. On top of that her two dates with men and another with a woman had not gone well at all. In short, she was an emotional mess, which would require some TLC.

After two cups of hot chocolate we went to bed together. Some serious cuddling took place with Linda in between us. The decision of which one of us to hold was almost too much for Linda so she ended up on her back with each of us holding her. Even then it took a good 45 minutes of reassurance that everything would be okay before she was calm enough to sleep.