Chapter 283

To my surprise we made good time; for some reason traffic was light even at the Bay Bridge. The G5 was still several miles out as we walked through the hangar to its entrance over looking runway 4.

It had been two years since I had seen Jake and had left the military. As planned Mom and Dad had met them at LAX The G5LR had made the trip without refueling. I'll bet it was a sight to see when Jake and Mindy walked through customs. I would have given anything to see their faces when they found out who the business clients were.

I know Mom and Dad had been keeping them up to date on things at home. I was sure they still there was still plenty to catch up on. Lucky for us that the flight from Tokyo to LAX had been delayed in takeoff and they had flown in rough weather, adding an hour to the 11 hour flight.

They were to arrive at eight, instead it was close to ten and then it would still take another hour or so to get through customs with their luggage. That was why we were able to get to Morton after our long meeting to greet them.

I met Jake at the bottom of the steps with a bear hug and a kiss along with lots of tears. It had been a long time, too long for me.

After the long hug and kiss, the rest of the girls each gave Jake and Mindy their greetings and a hug.

While Jake, Mindy and the girls were engaged with greetings, Dad and Mom took the opportunity to corner me. "Business client, huh, you knew Jake was coming home and have known it for a while and kept it a secret from us. You know there was a time I would have spanked you for something like that," Mom said.

When the girl's attention had turned to Mindy, it was Jake's move me off to the side by my arm. "The girls are even more beautiful than in the video chats. Jenny is so radiant; you chose well for your special family. I felt the babies kick when we were hugging. I cannot wait to hold them," he said.

Then he added "Mindy and I want to be here when they are born. All Mom and Dad could talk about was having grandkids, they are so happy. Oh, by the way Dad says he is going to get you back for the surprise."

"I think Mom plans to pay me back too," I replied.

Jake continued by saying, "Tony was right, you do have great planes. I want a plane just like that one if you can find me one. We are going out to supper at the inn as a family - I hope all of you can come. We are going to spend the night with Mom and Dad. Mom would not take no for an answer," Jake said with a grin.

"Tomorrow Mindy and I want the grand tour of the gym, on Wednesday afternoon we are going to the company party and plan to be back on Thursday," he said.

An hour later we were at the Inn as Jake wanted. The place was crowed so we had to wait in the bar until they made room for the 14 of us: Jake, Mindy Lisa, Jason, Joey, Mom, Dad, Crash and the six of us.

While we waited we pulled several tables together in the bar. The local news was on with Hanna's report. I had to admit it was good being the lead in the news without having to discuss a tragedy this time.

As the Hanna's piece finished Dad looked at me, "Two secrets in one day; you are starting to worry me," he said before he broke out into a smile.

We only had to wait ten minutes before we were seated. The meal was great as it always is. We all ate our fill and Jenny as usual ate for three. She was the last one to finish and even passed on desert.

Several other business people and family friends we knew stopped by the table. Some of them stopped to see how Jenny was doing and others because they recognized Jake and wanted to say hello.

Frank Rustone and his family came in and Frank made a turn as soon as he saw Jake. They were old friends from high school, plus Jake had used QT banking as his business bank for years. All of my extended family knew Frank from the initial gym loan at the beginning of our business.

Jake and Frank made plans to get together after Christmas and go goose hunting and late season deer hunting. Jake was going to use one of our suburbans and Mindy one of the pool cars while they were visiting.

Duke Justice and his wife came in to eat next. It was one of those evenings where an evening out turned into a reunion of everyone you knew.

Even though there had been the issue with Duke's son, we had become friends the best of friends and he and Jason went way back too. I had never met Duke's wife until tonight. He stopped to say hello which led to a round of introductions that led to a round of introductions.

After the introductions Duke extended his hand and said, "Congratulations on your newest business expansion, it was on the national news before I left the house."

As I shook his hand I asked, "Which one was on the news? There are a couple in the works this week,"

"The State Department contract," he replied. "Eighty countries, that's a big one."

"The other announcement is that we are adding two more huge colleges to the security umbrella in January," I replied.

"All the contractors you have had working for the last six months are anxiously waiting for you to build something big so they will have work to carry them until spring," Duke replied.