Chapter 12

For the next three months, all we did was work. After the first month, we were so busy that Nicole was going out on jobs as well. Poor Tammy had to stay home, but we did send her out when we had the designs finished to have her load the programs on the client's servers. I did have to add two more servers to handle all the small clients we had picked up. Our contract for no sex for two months came and went with no change in our arrangements; we were either too busy or too tired when we got home and could be together. There were even times when all three of us slept in the same bed with nothing happening. We all decided we needed a break, so I called Mike and begged for him to come for just one week so we could get some much needed rest. He had instructions that we were on vacation, and if someone really wanted us, they would have to wait a week until we got back. He asked us where we were going, and I said someplace restful.

I called several places and finally settled on chartering a sailboat out of Tampa Bay, Florida. There was a charter service there where you could charter anything from a small sailboat, to a huge sailboat that looked like a three-masted schooner. We settled for a medium sized one and we sailed the Gulf of Mexico for a week. The one we chartered had a crew of four that came with the boat and we just relaxed and got a real tan. We even helped the crew a few times, just trying to help out. We never ran into any trouble, but we did hear of some problems on the radio. The funniest thing was, we all three slept in the same cabin, in the same bed, but other than hugs and kisses that was it. We just needed to be together to be happy.

When we got back, we had like twelve new clients that said, 'When you can get to us, let us know.' Wow, I didn't think we were that good, but maybe we were. I called Don to see how the house was going. He said they had poured the slab last week and were starting on getting the framing up this week.

Don went on to say, "You are going to have one heck of a large house. I finally figured it up. You will have a 6,275 square foot, inside living space, house. I'm not talking outside, but inside actual living space. The front wall is 100 feet outside. The two wings each go back 80 feet on the sides and then the center section goes back over 40 feet. That is almost double my place.

"Then we have the office and server room already framed and the electrician is coming in on Tuesday to layout the electrical grid on the floor. The new generator was delivered Friday, I'm sure glad I poured an extra large slab for it. That sucker is huge; we got the 48kw natural gas model that we wanted and their tech is going to hook it up when we get the power panel in place, probably on Thursday. I wanted to get that part done first so you could move down when you were ready. You may just want to just equip the room, and keep what you have as spares or for further growth. Then it is just a matter of finishing off the insides with all the data cabling and power for the office. The Liebert won't be in for at least another three weeks. I just ordered that on Friday.

"Now, I did get the main fireplace started last Thursday, we have it built up to the flue level right now and can't finish it until I get all the framing up. I wanted to use an old mantle I found at an estate sale. You'll love it, is all light oak and over seven foot long and about three inches thick. It is also almost 18 inches deep. I even found a perfect blower and glass front enclosure for the fireplace. The blower is already installed in a compartment on the side of the rock. The door looks like rock too; well in fact it is rock, cemented to a steel door. I'm going to have rock with anchor bolts to hold up the mantle so it looks like the rocks are the only thing holding it up. I'll send you a picture of it tomorrow. There is a step up of 20 inches to the hearth; I didn't want little ones crawling into the firebox by mistake. It even makes a nice seat when the fire is not going. I also made sure there is a cleanout door on the rear. There will be an outside clean-out for the fireplace in the bedroom too. I haven't let you talk about your vacation. Where did you go?"

"Don, we went sailing in the Gulf. We caught a charter out of Tampa and sailed on a medium sized two masted schooner that came with a crew if you can't sail yourself. Of course, you need a captain's license for that, but it was fantastic. We sunned ourselves naked on the deck and got some real deep tans with no tan lines. It was so relaxing; you should take the whole family. I think you would love it. We came back refreshed and ready to take care of business. The summer is mostly off season, so the rates are pretty good."

"I may have to take you up on that. I think that would be a real pleasure."

"Don, this charter company has two even bigger sailboats than the one we had. They can take a couple of big families on the bigger ones. Those even sail the Atlantic and Pacific from what I was told."

"Yeah, we may just do that once the weather turns nasty here and we can't work. Thanks, Bob, I'll look into that, send me the charter company's name and all that, OK?"

"Sure thing, Don, I think it's going to be like three weeks before we can come down to see the progress you've been making. We came back and are swamped with work."

"Good, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one working hard. Talk to ya later, bye."

"Yeah, you take care, Don, see you soon."

The girls had received the lowdown from Mike as to what happened while we were gone. Mike noticed our tans and said, "Are they all-over tans?"

Tammy pulled her shorts down one ass cheek and said, "They sure are, no lines to spoil the view."

"You old dog, you, I hope nobody is pregnant yet."

"I'll have you know we never even thought of that while we were gone; we had too much fun doing other things," I said. "Besides that's none of your business anymore, remember?"

"Right you are, Boss, I'm glad you guys are back, it was getting mighty lonely here with you guys gone."

We relaxed Sunday night and decided that we could hold off until we moved to start the sex thing. We slept in my big bed again and started back to the grindstone first thing Monday morning.

Three months later, we were very comfortable with our lives, we were successful, we had finally started to have a sex life among ourselves, and I found that I could satisfy each of my 'wives' each night we were together. The house was just about finished and we would be moving in two weeks. Tammy came to me with a question and a problem all wrapped up in one.

"Bob, I'm really confused here. We get a check from Sheldon every month with an invoice for services and one of the lines says 'my fees' and then he subtracts that number from the subtotal. I have assumed that what he sends us is the excess from your investment fund and he subtracts his fee from that. But it's still confusing as the numbers for each month vary greatly, but there are never any losses, only gains. Now is Sheldon that good as an investment strategist, or am I completely off the mark here?"

"Tammy, I guess it is time for me to come clean. When Nicole comes back from Pittsburg this afternoon, we will have a long talk about my finances. It is quite complicated and since I had planned on telling you both about this once we moved, I guess now is as good a time as any other. Please do not ask any questions now; I will explain everything later tonight, OK?"

"OK, but you promise that you are not doing anything that is shady or illegal, right?"

"No, Tammy, I am not doing anything illegal or even remotely shady, everything is completely legitimate. Please don't press me for more information now, OK?"

Tammy went off shaking her head, but she kept her promise. I had been continuing to buy lottery tickets everywhere I go on business. There are only seven states without a state lottery; Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, and Wyoming. All other states have some kind of state run lottery and most have a Mega-Millions and/or Powerball lottery as well. My luck has continued with the state lotteries. Over the past seven months, I have won in excess of two hundred million dollars, all of which I have opted for the long term payout. Now you add that to my winnings from before, and I have won about four hundred forty-five million dollars. When you add my winnings to the investments that Sheldon and his company have been able to make for me, my total assets are well over half a billion dollars. That does not include my business account, and after taking out for salaries for Nicole and Tammy, my bank account is right at two million. So I guess you could say I was successful. Of course, I have been sending Don a check for fifty thousand a month since I gave him the first installment when I first when to talk to him about the house, so the house is almost paid off. I have also paid for all the equipment for the server room and office building, over and above the fifty grand I send to Don every month. That way, they are a business expense, and therefore deductible.

I guess I will need to talk to Sheldon and have him give us an accounting of everything we are invested in, where all my money is, and how much I have. I called Sheldon and asked how soon he could have a complete breakdown of all my investments and bank accounts, both here in the US, and in my offshore accounts. I have a couple of accounts in the Caymans and several in Switzerland, as well. All the offshore ones are filled with money I have already paid taxes on. I draw interest on those, but since I don't touch them, it can't be counted as income yet.

Sheldon said he could have something worked up in a couple of days and asked why.

"Well, Sheldon, it looks like I am going to make it permanent with my two lovers, not married, mind you, but still permanent. With that in mind, I want to come clean with them and show them just what all I have, and where it is, so they don't ask questions like I got today. Tammy wanted to know why my checks from you are so erratic and why you subtracted your fee from them directly. Tammy asked me point blank if I was into anything shady or illegal, I said no, and I want to prove it to them. I also think I need to quit playing the lottery so heavily, because I will never spend even a small portion of the money I have right now, so why get more?"