Chapter 24

" ... then he says that the Royals' bodyguards are going to put a hurt on the Orioles so bad it will be like one of those SEXUALLY TRANSPLANTED DISEASES! Kelly laughed so hard she nearly wet her pants. It was hysterical..." and they went on about the funny shtick on All Sports Radio, this afternoon. Our ticket sales crew was excitedly recapping the All Talk show from earlier, as I walked through their hall, on the way to Media Communications to see Meghan.

Everyone seemed to want to talk about the Orioles attack on me, and especially about the funny radio show, calling down the full measure of sarcasm, criticism, devastating humor, and general merriment at their expense. Wherever I went, people with the club, the networks covering the series, and special friends of Baseball, all wanted to talk to me about last night.

My answer remained the same, throughout the day. "No Comment." No sense fanning the flames of stupidity.

However, those guys on All Sports Talk were terrific!

Meghan grabbed me, hugged me so tight I thought I might pop a blood vessel, and laid a kiss on em that took my breath away. "Sweeeettt..." I muttered when she let go.

"Ohhhh ... I missed you my strong, brave, satyr. I've never been so completely loved as I was with you. If you really still want me to move with you to Branson, say the word and I'm there."

Her scared smile belied the ferocity of her greeting. Meghan was afraid it was a one-time thing.

"I want you to come try it with us. Please join my family as soon as possible. They should be along in about two hours, and we can have a long talk about it together.

"In the meantime, I need that list we discussed last week."

She smiled.

It was a sneaky smile.

Her sneaky smile caused me to look behind me, to make sure no one was sneaking up on me with a knife.

Meghan pulled out her center drawer and handed me a carefully typed list that included every experienced baseball TV broadcaster available for the coming season, with contact info, agent info if they had one, and what they were making when last employed as a broadcaster. The girl is smart, focused, and gives a hell of a blowjob.

Who could ask for more? Rebecca was going to love this one. Colleen would enjoy the change of pace, and Winnie would...

What???

What would Winnie do if faced with another partner?

I needed to find out...

... AND add her to the family trust so she knows we see her as a full partner with us.

I thought, 'That is something I can do, right now, ' and went and did it.

"Winnie. You give me so much pleasure. I love to be with you, near you, in you, and on you.

More than that, I need you to know a couple of things.

"I'm really rich. Really ... REALLY rich...

" ... and so are you." Her head snapped up like I'd hit her. The question was all over her face, and I needed to answer it. Mr. Bell has created some documents you need to sign, but as of today, you are being given full access to my trust. If you need money, a car – a whole car dealership – it doesn't matter. These days the trust earns something over forty-million dollars a month, and because we've had so much to do with how the government has killed the power of the mob, we are fully tax free. "My trust has over four-billion dollars in it, and because of our investments, and some other special considerations, it grows way out of control these days.

"Mr. Bell will have signature forms for you to complete, but you'll have a checkbook, debit card, and no limits on what you can buy, spend, give away, or just hoard."

Our conversation was held in our luxury suite at the stadium. We were alone. I'd been banished from the clubhouse and dugout to avoid making things more troublesome for the team, because of what happened the night before., and we were alone. Earlier, I'd talked with Mr. Bell, and he said he would handle the access documents for the trust, and adding Winnie was no big deal, now that he knew how to do it. He was an expert after adding himself, Colleen, Rebecca, and Millie, as well as the babies. The babies had very strict protections for them until they became adults.

Winnie's eyes were the size of dinner plates, and she couldn't bring herself to talk for a little while. So, instead of waiting for her voice to recover, she launched herself into my lap, crying, kissing, squealing, asking a thousand questions, and trying to make love while fully dressed, all at the same time.

By the time Rebecca, Colleen, Millie, and Mr. Bell arrived, Winnie was by turns calm, happy, twitchy with excitement, and anxious to see what it felt like to be confirmed that she was one of the family, fully, and completely. The only one that didn't get excited by her excitement was Benjamin. He was as usual, sweet, lovable, companionable, and thrilled to be part of the group.

When you think about it, that's exactly how Winnie said she felt.

The Orioles came out angry, and uptight. Their pitcher beaned two in the bottom of the first, which led to three runs for our side. Once the floodgates opened, it got ugly. Everything Baltimore's four pitchers threw came back harder. Even our outs took a lot out of the Orioles.

By the time the game ended, the stands had emptied out, the Oriole fans left long before the end of the sixth, and the TV guys were so busy predicting who we would be playing in the World Series, that giving game updates became a chore.

The family took off early, anxious to be with the babies, and I headed to the locker room to watch the celebration.

Jack walked through the tunnel with me and just as I got to the clubhouse, I was redirected to the field. As the game ended, our players decided to have a party on the field and thank the Kansas City fans. We walked the warning track, all the way around the stadium. A lot of us took our time to give those in the bleachers plenty of time to get down to the field level and meet us where the stands meet the field.