The Morrisons Ch. 22

"From now on our planes will be used at your discretion. You can choose which plane you want to use, but you have to let Captain McGrath know, in advance, when and where you want to go first so he can start the process."

"Beth, I'd like you to go with Brenda and see what information she's gathered on the company. Since this is our last day, she can show you the passwords and programs in her laptop. You can have the computer tech come up and switch everything over to your newer laptop so you won't have to carry both of them." Tom said as he leaned back in his chair.

I watched as Beth and Brenda stood up and walked out of the room. When the door closed Tom looked at me, "I know I threw a lot at you all at once but I don't want to waste a day with my family. I'll give you a phone number to reach me if you have any questions but I don't want you to give that number to anyone else. I'll only take your calls."

"Tom, I'm so sorry and I can't imagine what it's like for you to hear the words you only have six months to live. I hope your days will make plenty of memories for your family. Unless I get in a real bind, I won't disturb you." I said as I looked at Tom.

Tom replied, "The diagnosis was devastating at first but now I'm determined to live life to the fullest, until the end. I'm not worried about dying so much as I am about my unlived life. All my life I've been committed to work and never really took time to enjoy my family and friends. That's one thing I envy about you Dan. You took a trip surrounded by your family and a few friends and I've never had that happen to me. That is, until now. But enough of this stuff."

"Tomorrow you and Beth will have to use your current office but after that, you can move everything over here. I'm having the moving people come in this afternoon and pack up and they'll have everything moved by tomorrow. I wish you well as you move forward." Tom said with sadness in his voice.

Kim and I stood up and Tom met us at the end of his desk. I shook his hand and said, "Call me if you need anything."

Kim hugged Tom and said, "We'll help you in any way we can, just let us know."

Tom stood tall and straight and said, "Kick ass Dan, I know you're the right man for the job."

Almost as an afterthought, Tom asked, "Dan, would you mind if I called you sometime on a personal, more of a social basis?"

I stopped and turned to face my old boss. "Any time Tom. We've been through a lot together here, and to have some fun together would be rewarding. You call me anytime. Day or night."

"Tom, while I was traveling to Germany you mentioned you'd like for us to spend a weekend with our wives in a resort, talking business of course. With my recent promotion I think it would be an excellent idea. It would give me a chance to get an insight on what I should expect. I can clear my calendar for this weekend if that's good for you. I'm positive we can get reservations in some far off resort where we can relax."

Tom stared at me for close to a minute before he said, "I've never been very spontaneous and I think it's time I changed that. You're the boss, surprise me but give me enough time to pack."

"When you get home tonight let your wife know both of you will be traveling on Friday and returning on Sunday." I replied

I stepped close to Tom and gave him a big hug. Tom's eyes were a bit moist. "Thank you, Dan. For everything." He said.

I hooked my arm into Kim's and as I was walking towards the door I said, "When Beth and Brenda are finished, we're going to leave early. While we were gone we had a break-in at our house and I want to get home."

Tom smiled, "You're the boss now Dan, do whatever you want to do."

I stopped by Brenda's desk, "Beth when you're finished here, come to my office. Oh, Brenda, I need you to give me Joe Bailey's phone number and I'll call him while I'm waiting."

Brenda wrote Joe's number on a sticky note and stuck it to a large manila envelope and handed it to me. She said, "Your new contract is in there along with your new salary schedule. Please make copies after you've signed them and get them distributed to the proper departments as soon as possible."

Kim and I walked into my office and when the door closed, Kim hugged me with plenty of kisses and saying, "Congratulations .... Mr. Chairman of the Board and company CEO! My God Dan, can you imagine?"

I looked at Kim, shook my head, and said, "No, this never came across my radar. I'm still in shock at the turn of events. Do you realize what just happened?"

Kim hugged me and said, "Yes sir, I know what happened and I'm so happy for you. In my unbiased opinion Tom Banks made the right choice."

"Unbiased, my ass! I love you Kim but you've got to learn not to lie like that. I'll have to give you a spanking." I said with a laugh.

Kim hugged close to me and said, "Ummm, I might enjoy a spanking right about now."

We were still kissing when there was a light knock on my door. Kim and I separated and I said, "Come in."

The door opened and Kelly walked in saying, "Congratulations Dan!"

I looked at Kelly and asked, "Congratulations for what?"

Kelly held out the paper in her hand and walked towards me. I took the paper and read the interoffice memo announcing my new position as Chairman of the Board/CEO effective immediately. I smiled and handed the paper to Kim.

Kelly said, "It just came through and when I saw the subject line, I opened it immediately."

Beth opened the door to my office and said, "It's all over the place."

She rushed over to me and started to hand me the paper in her hand when she saw I already had a piece of paper, she paused before she asked, "Have you seen the inter-office memo?"

I held it up, "Tom must have sent it out after we left his office."

I looked at Beth, "Go open my door; I have a feeling it's going to get crowded in here, in a few minutes."

As Beth pulled my door open two of the guys I'd worked with in the past were just about to knock. I said, "Come on in guys."

Both of them came in and offered their congratulations. For the next hour, my office was filled with department heads and board members who congratulated me on my promotion. When the crowd thinned out, I said to Beth, "Get Joe Bailey on the phone for me so I can talk to him."

A few minutes later Beth rang my phone and I told all the remaining people I had to take my call so they left and Kim closed my office door. I sat down and picked up my phone and said, "Hello, this is Dan."

"Dan, this is Joe Bailey, first I want to say congratulations to you on your new position. I need to know where you live so I can come and pick you up in the morning."

I gave Joe detailed directions followed by telling him, "I want you to pick me up at seven thirty tomorrow morning."

Joe said, "Yes sir. I'll be there."

"Joe, I have a security gate at the end of my driveway and there's a key pad on the left side. For tomorrow morning, you'll have to push the call button and someone will open the gate for you. I'll notify my security people to set up a code number for you, so you'll be able to enter without waiting. I should have that number by tomorrow afternoon."

Joe didn't have any questions for me so I said goodbye to Joe. I called Beth and asked her to bring Kelly with her into my office. When they arrived I had both of them sit down and I asked, "Kelly, do you want to remain as Beth's secretary?"

Kelly said, "Oh yes sir I do. I was hoping you'd ask me."

"Ok then, I won't keep you in suspense. You'll be moved to your new office once it's ready. Tomorrow call for some boxes and pack up your personal items so they'll be ready to move." I said.

Kelly squealed, "Thank you so much. Oh Dan, I really appreciate you doing this for me."

After Kelly left my office I said, "Beth pack up what you're going to take home, I want to get out of here. I need to stop by my lawyer's office on the way home."

Beth left my office and I called my lawyer. I told him I was back from Germany and I needed to talk to him. He told me to come right over.

Right after I hung up the phone Beth poked her head in the door, "I'm ready if you are."

I looked at Kim, "Let's get out of here while the getting is good."

It was only a short drive over to my lawyer's office. When we arrived all of us got out of the car and we went inside. A young lady stood up and walked over asking, "Mr. Morrison?"

When I nodded my head she said, "Hi, I'm Julie Owens. Mr. Hurley is waiting for you in the conference room. Please follow me."

She knocked on the door and we heard a male voice say, "Come in, it's open."

Julie pushed the door open and then stood back to let us enter first. She followed us in and closed the door. Julie walked around the table and sat down beside Ed (Pete) Hurley. I waited for Ed to finish shaking hands with Beth and Kim and then I shook his hand. He told us to take a seat so I sat down between Kim and Beth. Ed looked up at me and said, "I hope you had a good trip Dan, it sure was interesting around here while you were gone."

"Oh by the way, this young lady is Ms. Julie Owens. I've asked her to take notes for me today." Ed said.

I told Ed that Beth and I along with the rest of our team managed to get a very good contract with the German company, so everything turned out great. Then I gave him a brief description of the events that just took place and that I was promoted to Chairman of the Board/CEO. Ed stood up and shook my hand and congratulated me.

When he sat down he became all business as he said, "Ok, so with your promotion you'll be able to afford the offer I have for you. It seems when you purchased those three hundred and ninety acres bordering your property, which we will have the closing on Tuesday, you ruined the plans of the guy on the other side of that property who has five hundred acres. He was three days too late with his offer to buy the property next to you; we already had a signature on a contract. His five hundred acres isn't enough room for him to do what he wants so he contacted me and wants to know if you'll buy his five hundred acres so he can move someplace else and buy enough land for his project."

"Is he open for negotiations or did he give you a firm price?" I asked.

"I'd guess he'd be open to negotiate because, like I said, his five hundred acres isn't big enough for what he wants to do." Ed said in a matter of fact tone.

"Make him a fair offer but at the same time don't let him know I'm interested. Play up the fact that I just bought the parcel next to me that's almost four hundred acres, and you're not sure if I'd like to buy any other property. You can let him know I'd be doing him a favor if I considered his offer."

I looked at Kim and Beth and then said, "I'll take the property no matter what I have to pay, so don't let him sell it to anyone else. I'd appreciate it if you get right on him before he changes his mind. If he bites on a deal, get him on paper as quickly as possible. When you have him nailed down, make an excuse to get some survey people right out on the property and get it surveyed immediately. Also, I'd like to get some aerial photos and maps of the property. I'd like my current property including the new acreage and the proposed five hundred acres. I'd like to close on the deal as quickly as possible because it will fit right in with my new plans."

"Ed, I want to get a design on my new house. Can you narrow down some architects who specialize in designing a house with safe rooms and hidden passage ways in case we have a problem again, we can move unseen, to a safe room? After you select someone, I'll meet with them and tell them what I want for rooms. I need the maps and surveys so I can position my new house in the perfect location. Also, I have some other people who are also going to have a house built on my property so whoever you get for an architect, let them know they'll be designing more than one house, so I expect a discount."

"Oh yeah. Ed? Find out who owns the property across the street as well. I see some activity over there from time to time, but I don't know anything about my neighbors."

Ed asked me a few questions about the house and the property and then we switched gears and talked about his firm working with the prosecution on behalf of Terri and Hanna. I said, "Ed after that break-in at my house, there's still some very big money being spent on mercenaries so I didn't trust the system to properly investigate. I told Ed I wanted both girls to be represented by his firm so we had a flow of information. Ed told me he had already anticipated I'd want that so he already filed the necessary papers. We talked a little more about the break-in and I told him we hadn't been home yet because they wanted to meet me in the office.

I looked at Ed and asked, "No offense to Julie but Ed is she an executive secretary? I have some personal business to discuss with you."

Ed looked up from his legal pad and said, "Don't worry Dan, everything you've said has been recorded and will be played back in court."

He paused while he studied my face and when he saw I didn't take his weak attempt at humor, he said, "Just joking Dan. You know I wouldn't allow just anyone to be in my meeting with you. Yes, it's safe to talk in front of Ms. Owens."

I smiled at Julie, "You have to understand ...."

Julie interrupted me, "Mr. Morrison, I've been out to your home with Mr. Greene and if I was going to say anything, I would have said something long before now."

I looked at her and realized she must have seen someone walking around nude so I shut my mouth and moved on.

"Ed, I want to talk to you about the big item in our lives. I'm sitting between two beautiful ladies. One I'm already married to and the other I want to be my second wife. All three of us have had an in depth discussion about this and all of us agree. We just need to make it happen."

"Ed, we are aware of polygamy laws and I've done some reading about it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand there are some possible loop holes that will aid us in my marrying Beth so she can take my last name. One way, for Beth to have my last name legally, which all of us would have to make a decision on, is for me to divorce Kim and marry Beth and both of them would legally be named Morrison. But on the other hand, if Beth kept her maiden name, we could give our children the last name of Morrison."

"Ed, what I want to do is have you represent me, and two other lawyers from your firm represent Kim and Beth.

Ed looked at me like I had two heads while I sat across from him holding hands with both Kim and Beth. The silence was excruciating and finally Ed said, "I can't help you break the law by advising you how to marry two wives but what I can do is work with you on setting up a contract between all three of you stating the facts that all three of you agree upon. But as your lawyer, I'd have to advise you to seek attorneys from other firms to represent the two young ladies."

"But that's the problem; we don't want a lot of people knowing what we're doing. We want to do this as privately as we can. If you are concerned there will be some conflict of interest I'm willing to retain an attorney from this firm, with my personal money. I don't want to go outside of this firm for this particular piece of business." Kim said with a voice of authority.

"I also agree to retain an attorney from this firm with my own money, so there won't be any conflict of interest." Beth flatly stated.

Beth continued, "While I'm speaking, how much would it cost me to change my last name to Morrison? Dan didn't mention that and it just occurred to me people can legally change their names through a court order."

Ed looked at me and mused with a slight smile, "I'm not surprised with what your wife said, because I know you've been married for a long while and she's been exposed to your get it done attitude. However, Beth seems to have the same spit-fire and I wonder how she adopted your attitude in such a short time."

"So Ed, do you have two more attorneys here so we can start the paperwork. Each of the ladies would like to retain one to represent her." I said with a smug look on my face.

Ed turned to Julie and whispered something. Julie stood up and promptly left the room. When the door closed Ed looked at me and asked, "Dan, are you absolutely sure you want to make a contract with these two beautiful ladies?"

"We don't have much time because tomorrow I start my new duties and I won't have time to stop here after that. So we need to get this started today. So my answer is yes, I want to make a contract with both of these lovely ladies." I replied.

Julie returned a few minutes later with two males, I stood up and one of them shook my hand and said, "I'm Brian Greene."

"I'm Dan Morrison and these lovely young ladies are Beth Thompson and Kim Morrison."

Both men shook hand with the ladies and each one introduced himself. The other attorney was Bruce Barlotta. They walked around to the other side of the table and sat down next to Julie.

Ed looked across the table at the three of us while he said, "Kim and Beth want to retain an attorney. I don't know how they're going to go about choosing but I will be representing Dan, as I have for many years."

Kim spoke up and asked Beth, "Do you have a preference on which one you want to represent you?"

Beth smiled and said, "No, either one will do. How about you take Mr. Barlotta and I'll take Mr. Greene if that's ok with you? We need to get this done so let's not postpone the inevitable."

Kim said, "That works for me. Mr. Barlotta, will you represent me, it doesn't matter what you charge for a retainer I need an attorney to represent me in all matters starting today?"

Mr. Barlotta cleared his throat and said, "Yes ma'am, I'll represent you."

Beth looked at Mr. Greene and asked, "Mr. Greene for the record I need an attorney to represent me in all matters, starting this afternoon. Will you be my attorney?"

Mr. Greene replied, "Yes, I'll represent you, Ms. Thompson."

Ed looked at both attorneys and said, "They are here today to put together a contract and because of time constraints, they need to do it today. What I'm going to suggest is we take up to a half hour and talk to our clients privately. During that time I'd like each of you to make notes of issues important to your client so we can incorporate all the ideas into a contract."

Each of us followed our attorney to his office and when we returned to the conference room each of us sat beside our attorney and Julie sat at the end of the table. It didn't take long to go through the notes of each attorney because all three of us unknowingly listed almost identical points during our private meetings. When we finished going through all the lists Ed asked, "Is there anything the three of you can think of that may have been left out?"

I asked Julie to read the list again. When she finished I looked at Kim and Beth asking, "Do we need to add a time frame for the start of this contract and add wording about the contract is re-viewable after a certain amount of time?"

We talked it over and settled on a time frame and the start date being the day we signed the contract. After that was finished we couldn't think of anything else to add. I looked at Ed, "I trust you'll get with the other attorneys and add the legal mumble jumble."

Ed looked at me and said, "You know Dan, for all the years I've known you, I never would have guessed you would jump off the bridge."

Everyone looked at Ed and I just smiled at him, "You aren't going to let me off the hook easy are you?"

Ed smiled back at me saying, "I'll call you when the contract is ready."

"Before I go Ed, I have one more important item to discuss with you. I need you to come out to the house and see Terri Powell. I want you to bring the papers you'll need to fill out for her to officially change her name. She wants her name to reflect her current family because her immediate family has all passed away. I want you to bill me for whatever charges there are for the paperwork and the court fees." I told Ed