After the Win Pt. 04

The Judge stood and said that with a table situation, he felt better standing and being able to walk if need be. Run if what he wanted to say was ill received.

"You people let me perform one of my favorite duties as a judge and that is when you asked me to perform your wedding ceremony. For that honor, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

"Now, none of you really know me personally nor professionally. I am new to this area, having been brought down to fill an open slot for a judge here and as I had no cases scheduled for almost 6 months back home I did come here when asked and now here we are.

"Where are we you might ask, well let me tell you. You nice folks are up the creek without the proverbial paddle, and here is why. You do not have the experience in business law that you need. Yes, you can form corporations, file law suits and such but the heavy deep down and dirty, and believe me business is dirty as it must do with money; yours and other people's money. This is a little out of your realm of expertise. And the more money that is involved the dirtier it gets, and with the amount of money involved here not to mention all the involved companies and individuals, well it is going to get really nasty before it is resolved and there will be a myriad of hard feelings for years or decades afterwards.

"You nice people are totally in the right. However, being right doesn't win cases like this, having the best lawyer does. Both of you are sharp as tacks but out of your element I am sorry to say.

"What I propose is that you adopt me as a distant family member on a temporary basis. Meaning you people handle the boards and business decisions and let me handle the legal issues. We could do this one of several ways, but upon reflection, I think the best way would be to let me work for you for a simple salary and then perhaps a small percentage of what I save you and believe me, I will save you a ton of money due to my experience as I have tried a number of cases of this kind.

"Looking past tonight, I do not know what kind of offices nor how much room he has, but it will be impossible to use Williams place as an office and headquarters. You are going to be a very large multinational corporation with many different types of business interests in many locations, both here in the US and in several countries.

"You are going to need a large headquarters area and even before the trials start, a large staff of assorted people to help you. Some of you will have offices at your new companies but some boards are simple rent a member types where you come in once every six months and pick up your check, play a round of golf, then go home. And for that you are paid through the nose,

You need a place with lots of offices and meeting rooms and rooms for secretaries, PA's and such, and I do mean lots. I hope you understand this. I will sit down now and turn the floor to William."

The senior family member stood and was quiet for a minute before saying "Judge Webb, you are quite right in all that you say. What you said would have eventually dawned on us, but quite likely too late to find a solution in time. Therefore, I propose a toast to our newest cousin. Anyone disagree for any reason, speak now, please." There were no objections and handshakes, hugs, and kisses went out to everyone.

Judge Webb turned to Linda, and said "Linda, I hate to put you in the spotlight like this in front of my new family, but I cannot wait any longer. I have to make a statement and then ask a question. I had already told the family that I was either going to quit or else fire you and face a wrongful termination suit, but I think the world of you for so many reasons and would dearly love to date you and possibly even more very soon, I think that much of you. So would you see it in your heart and mind to forgive me this embarrassment and also say you would be willing to go out with me and possibly form a relationship?"

Linda looked at the judge and said, "Are we still working for the same people?"

The judge said "Legally yes, as I cannot tell them of my resignation until tomorrow, but effectively no as I will resign the bench tomorrow and we have witnesses to that that statement."

"In that case. Yes, I would love to go out with you anytime, right now included. I, no, we have to thank Anne as she figured it out while we were having coffee at the courtroom. So thank you, future Cousin-in-law. This brought a laugh from the table except from the Judge who said he had only asked for a date. Linda's reply was "close enough. Close enough for me anytime."

Mike laughed and said that it looked like they would need to find another tame judge soon

Then Mike surprised everyone when he told them that he wanted to show everyone something the next day after the Judge had submitted his resignation and cleaned out a part of his office. It seems that one of the disputed properties that the family sort of owned was a large professional office building that was just what the family needed at the present time. It was mostly even furnished with fairly nice furniture that the executives of the family might want to replace and pass down the ladder. Nice stuff, but not corporate exec stuff. He said he could show them that evening or anytime the next day. On second thought, as much as I hate to, let me suggest that we do it now as tomorrow is going to be a busy day for lots of us as we prepare to visit our new companies on Monday. Everyone agreed and William settled the bill and tip and gave every one the address for the office building and they left to look at a part of their future. It looked like a convoy heading there with all the vehicles in a line.

The building was pretty new and siting on a large lot with lots of parking and a large fenced area in back with a locked storage area. Why it was empty was anyone's guess. The building itself was a six-story building that was mostly square and built with white limestone exterior walls and columns. A very pretty building indeed. William had procured the keys from a realtor earlier so they entered and walked into what was an attractive reception area with quite a bit of seating room and then several offices in suites around the rest of the room. The group took the elevator to the top floor and found another but smaller reception area and executive offices with private bathrooms for 10 people, each with an adjoining smaller office for a personal assistant and then an area for a secretary. These office areas, William said, would be the family members, and one for their head of security and one for human resources perhaps. The other offices would be distributed according to who you worked for and what position one had at that time.

All in all, it looked just about perfect for the family and after a quick tour of the other floors and some discussion between the members, it was decided that they should use the building and if necessary, to simply buy it. The enormity of the future combined corporation headquarters size had not fully soaked in to minds of the family members as yet, but none of them foresaw any real growth or influx of additional business or the headquarters in the foreseeable future but if additional space should ever be needed, several possibilities were available such as adding an additional floor or two the idea of which did not seem original as it looked like the building had been designed and built with that possibility in mind.

Another possibility would be the addition of modular offices in the unused rear open area out back or even the building of another building from scratch. It would all depend on need and who could tell what would happen by then, especially with so many new companies coming onboard that they basically knew nothing about. It was remembered that each new company had its own offices and would be mostly just forwarding reports of sales and accounting to the corporate headquarters for review and acceptance.

Everyone was so happy that everybody seemed to actually like each other and there did not appear to be any jealousy or envy of any sort and that the mutually agreed on plan for the placement of family members based on experience and training of the family member versus the needs and requirements for a management position.

The only foreseeable problem with the existing boards any of them could envision was a combination of fear and anger. Fear for their own jobs and futures, and anger that a member of their management team had been guilty of underhanded and illegal actions and were now facing charges for those crimes and who know what might be said in an effort to lessen the pressure on the accused. So, yes, everyone was nervous. Very, very nervous and therefore they were going to be afraid to welcome a replacement member to their team for lots of reasons. It was going to take some time and serious efforts to win them or at least most of them over. It was feared that in some cases major replacements of board members might be necessary. Only time would tell, but the family had in mind to only remove those members under suspicion of illegal or unethical dealings. At least for now, but bad attitudes would not be tolerated and would be dealt with quickly and severely.

William looked at the judge and asked, "Judge, you know your lady and I need to ask first what your future plans are concerning her. We can talk in private if you wish, but would prefer we do not keep any secrets from each other as you have probably noticed. Should you two marry, it would give us another cousin-in- law to help shoulder the staggering load we have taken on and would hope she will be of great assistance to you. Is she also planning on becoming a lawyer?"

"William, Linda and I have been working together for about a year and a half or slightly longer, and I have nothing but the upmost respect for her, and I mean all of her. Besides being a beautiful woman with a prize winning personality and award winning smile and killer sense of humor, she has one of the sharpest minds I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with. Nothing seems too difficult for her to attempt nor accomplish once she sets her mind on doing so. She is one semester away from completing law school and then she has to sit for the bar exam, which will be no problem I assure you, and then we can unleash the future terror of the legal system on the unsuspecting world. So, yes, to answer your question, she will most certainly be a welcome addition to your extended family.

"Besides all that, while we have gone to numerous functions since we stated working together, we have not even had a single time alone such as a date due to the various laws that prohibit such activities. I am looking forward to getting to know her in hopes that she feels like I do and who knows, maybe we can gain another cousin-in-law for your family business. I guarantee we could do a lot worse than that little woman right over there, and Linda, and I hope you don't mind if I call you Honey, but Linda, Honey, right here in front of all these adopted family members and employers let me say that I think I have a love for you the likes of which I have never experienced before and never will again. I can only hope you have some of those same feelings towards me. I can tell you now that working with you will be a pleasure for me and I can only imagine the good we can accomplish together."

"Judge, and I will probably call you that forever, you are so wrong. It will be my pleasure to work with you and the rest of the family to clear up this mess and also whatever else the world tosses at us in the future. As for that future, each day when I wake up, I give thanks for that day and the opportunity to serve with a man of honor who cares about everyone, especially the innocent and wrongfully attacked people such as the family here. I am so anxious to work on these problems and I am even more anxious to work hard on getting to know the real Judge Webb and then when I have him roped and tied I plan on then dragging him to a church or courtroom, whichever is closest and having someone say, "I now pronounce you wife and husband."

"Uh... Isn't that supposed to be Husband and wife?" Asked the Judge.

"Well, that is the way it is written, but the other way just sounds so much better."

"Uh, Oh. Me thinks the Judge doth have his hands full with this one, and I, for one, cannot wait to watch the developments as they happen, and wife of mine, from this moment forward you are forbidden from having discussions with this woman for fear of her giving you ideas." Said Mike smiling.

"In your dreams" was Anne's mostly serious reply.