Chapter 44

The cook brought out dessert. I didn't know her name. It was just another reminder that I was not as different from them as I imagined.

When we finished, my Father asked if the two of us could excuse him and Joanne for a while, so they could discuss this matter. We said we would be around and went to my room.

"How much of that did you make up on the spot?" I asked.

"Not much. I came with a plan."

"Did you really tell your parents we're getting married?"

"Of course not. You're going to be there for that conversation."

"How did you create William?" I asked.

"He didn't get my name. You didn't come to see me, so nobody followed you. The only way he could find out that quickly was to go through your phone records. That got him my first name.

"I wrote some 'news' stories and created a program to crawl around the web and look for places to plant them that might be picked up by a web crawler that culls stories for unofficial biographies. It wasn't hard. There are a lot of public domain algorithms and program libraries out there."

"Okay, I know if I don't stop you, we'll be here all night with the details. So, what was the plan?"

"Push his image buttons," Jeff said.

"He thinks it will damage his image if we get married, so give him a scenario where it's much worse not to participate.

"I don't have the money lined up and I don't think we'll need it. If he needs to invite a small army, he's the only one who can afford it. And if he doesn't pay for it, he has no control."

"That was cruel not to invite him to the wedding."

"You do remember it was make believe?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, convincing neither of us. "I can't believe you got away with that Exponent ad."

"By that time his troops were in such disarray he was looking for a way to retreat. He wasn't paying careful attention."

"I apologize, General. I have to admit I doubted you. I've never seen anyone picked apart so easily and so thoroughly."

"He thought we wouldn't have a plan," said Jeff. "He thought he'd waltz into our encampment and we would lay down our arms. Even now he doesn't know what our plan was."

"Amazing. Most of all," I said, "I can't believe it was this easy."

"It wasn't. It's not over. He may have come in overconfident, but I assure you he has a backup plan. And he may have a backup to the backup."

"But you have a plan to handle that," I said with confidence, "don't you?"

"Nope. I haven't a clue what he might do. Even though we don't have surprise on our side next time, image and self esteem are inflexible for him so anything that attacks them keeps him on the defensive."

"I'm sure glad you're on my side." I moved in and put my arms around him.

"And I'm sure glad you're on my side," I said again, but the meaning was quite different.

"I've never seen this side of you," I said. "You just took charge, with him, with her, with me. If I wasn't sure of the next step, you just told me what to do."

I could see he was getting ready to explain why it was necessary, that his style was really cooperative.

"No," I said. "I liked it, a lot. You saw what was needed and you did it. I'm impressed and kind of aroused."

He smiled and tilted his head. Aw, shucks, ma'am.

"So what do I negotiate with him?" I asked.

"Nothing. If he's doing it, I negotiate.

"If your Mom represents them, give in reluctantly. Let her pay for everything. Let her in on the wedding plans.

"You do know that I don't care what the wedding is like. If you want me to come dressed as Spock, one of the Village People or white tie, it makes no difference to me. If you're there, I'll be there. But, I have no idea where you are on this. What kind of wedding would you like?"

"Fairytale," I said.

"That's fine, Miss Fine. Just don't entertain the silly notion you need to tell me any of the details, let alone ask if I'm okay with whatever it is.