Lilies and Roses

"Yes, I am amazed at how much he has managed to stash away, out of sight and mind from his family. But he did it at the expense of our family. The trips and vacations we never had, the possessions we never had, hell the life we never had are all because he took the money for those things and hid them away for himself. His own selfish dreams came before anything for us, and now he has destroyed your family as well. Yes, you could have made a withdrawal from that fund at any time for any purpose; but yes, damn it, so could he. The difference is that he stole that money from us in the first place. Your family always comes first with you and they didn't do without because you stole from them. They learned to live within the means you could provide."

As Ted listened to her speak, he slowly began to agree with her. Of course, she was right. He hadn't deliberately gone out of his way to make his family suffer. He smiled at her for a moment then said, "Ok, I get your point. Maybe we better let the others back in now. I don't want to keep them here all night."

She looked into his eyes for a long moment, then satisfied, she leaned back and said, "Ok, let's wrap this up."

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Chapter 8

A plan comes together

A few moments later and everyone had gathered back in the meeting room. Mr. Harvey looked at them and said, "Now, how are we going to do this? Any plan so far?"

Fernando leaned forward and said, "I would like to offer my services to you all and I have an idea. They have another reservation for Friday evening at 600pm. I think it is for a celebration because they also reserved 3 bottles of champagne. In some of my past experiences, I have found that employers tend to terminate employees on a Friday afternoon. That way the employee doesn't have time to think up mischief or cause too much disruption before leaving the premises. Therefore, I would presume the end to this charade will be this Friday, sometime during the day."

He then continued, "Unfortunately for them, the Elite restaurant doesn't have a record of that reservation. I also have it on good authority that the Marriot Hotel does not have a reservation. Because they are such good customers though, I'm sure that we will be able to fit them in after only a short wait." He grinned at Ted and said, "My idea, therefore, is to invite everyone here to the Elite restaurant on Friday evening at 700pm. An awards banquet is being held in honor of Mr. Ted Johnson and Mrs. Tabitha Clark. I will have the staff notify some customers that we will have to postpone their reservations for a few days. We will let a few folks in who are celebrating wedding anniversaries or birthdays, but most of the people attending will be employees here or friends of our friends here."

He smiled at that one then continued, "Now, the honorees will receive a plaque from Mayor Jones and the President of our Chamber of Commerce thanking them for their humanitarian good deeds. Other notables attending the dinner could include the Fire Chief, the Director of Mercy Hospital, the Director of the Library Board, the County Sheriff, the Chief of Police, and of course Congressman Mendoza plus any other people you would wish to invite and their spouses. The dinner will be in the main dining area and, because short speeches are expected, our PA system will be available. I have it on good authority that the previously mentioned people are more than amenable to the festivities, even if it is being set up rather hurriedly."

Pausing a moment and then with a wolfish smile, Fernando offered, "Maybe our little group will ask to be seated at the dinner with their spouses. I'm sure that some embarrassing moments can be arranged. Sometimes public humiliation does a body good. The details we can arrange later."

Mr. Harvey smiled and nodded his agreement and then stated, "That sounds like a good idea to me. Since the two honorees are connected with the Harvey Construction Company, I would like to also invite our CFO, Mr. Pound, and our HR Manager, Mr. Jensen, and their spouses. I don't think that the spouses are involved. I think that we should wrap up this scheme with a red bow."

Then looking at David, Mr. Harvey added, "Anyone else we need to nail or investigate or is this the whole group?"

David replied, "No, that is everyone here. Two other people are still in Dallas and one is in Los Angeles. It appears that Dallas was in the wrap up stage for them and LA is the next target. Not trying to hurt feelings here, but it appears that JR might have helped somewhat, we just aren't sure how much was inadvertent.

In any case, because they crossed state lines, it is all Federal jurisdiction now. The FBI is being updated on the situation and has agents ready to move. I will be available to testify, of course. I will give you the name of a good accounting firm who will be glad to audit your books officially. Of course it helps to know that they are already part of the solution and will make some cosmetic changes to ensure they won't be tied to Jorge or his office."

Ted was rather unsettled at the turn of the conversation and glancing at Tabitha, he noticed that she was too. "Ummm, sorry folks, I seem to be getting left behind here. Could you update us on some of this?"

Mr. Harvey leaned towards them and replied, "I have had my doubts about Pound and Jensen for quite some time now. As you know by now, those two are the ones who recommended I hire Ron. I actually contacted Congressman Mendoza about 5 months ago and he has been the lead investigator and hard charger for this project. Don't worry, Ted. We knew what Clark was doing with the credit cards and ID theft. We decided that the less you knew, the more of a good target you would make and, frankly, we needed bait. I'm personally very sorry Ted and Tabitha about both your marriages."

"Apparently, Clark was in town about 6 months before any of us knew about him. It was unfortunate that he met Megan at a hospital function she attended. She is a volunteer at all of these charitable events and works on their boards. We invited the head of the library and hospital boards to the dinner so they would see for themselves the Megan they don't know. Anyway, that is when their affair started. He started coming to town 2 or 3 times a week and they spent that time at the Marriot. It was only dumb luck that you found out about the adultery, and you both know I would do anything to keep you from your shared pain."

Everyone waited while Mr. Harvey suffered another coughing fit. When he had cleared his throat, Mr. Harvey continued, "Ted, I think all here except maybe Tabitha know your real role in the company. To make it official, let me say that Ted owns the Harvey Construction Company."

Tabitha gasped and turned to look at Ted. "Really Ted?" she asked. "We'll have to discuss this later." Ted just nodded.

"I thank you, Ted, for your graciousness to an old man, letting the public think I still owned and operated it. I'm thinking that my age and medical problems were major considerations for making this company a target. Along with the speeches at your upcoming dinner, I am going to officially retire and designate you as President and CEO of the Harvey Construction Company. Please don't say no. I just want to spend the rest of my time with Martha. My breathing is getting worse and I don't wish to drag things out here. I do have a recommendation for you. Tabitha here has an MBA, but has never used it. I think that you will need a good VP of Operations and, with her last two girls in high school now, she will need something to occupy her time. I'm sure that later on she will make a good Chief Operations Officer."

Ted and Tabitha grinned at each other and said, "Ok," almost together. Ted added, "I think Jenny would do well taking my current job as Marketing Manager, Callie will move into Betty's spot when she retires, and I have some people in mind for other promotions. Bring Martha to the house on Sunday afternoon and we can relax around the pool. I finally got the hot tub fixed and I think you could use a good soak."

Then looking around the table, Ted cleared his throat and said, "Thank you all. I understand how this all went down now. Fernando, I told you that I wouldn't embarrass the restaurant. However, while I think that receiving civic awards is nice, wouldn't it also be nice to have all the guilty parties arrested at the same time? Since this will also be a public announcement about me, maybe we should invite the local media? We will let them be surprised with the arrests."

Fernando thought for a moment, then decided "Sure. Why not. Be honored for humanitarian service, get a promotion, and then publicly arrest the criminals afterward. I will ask for one or two plainclothes policemen to be seated at a nearby table for security purposes. The department does have a married couple. I like it, especially since the media will be present. You ought to go into marketing or sales." Everyone laughed at that.

"One more thing," Ted added. "From the administrative side, do we need invitations to such a big event or is this a surprise party for us? Also, Timmy and Joan are flying in on Friday for the weekend and I think that they should be there. Nothing like finding out from the source what really happened."

Fernando said, "I will take care of everything. I will expect the notables and the aforementioned people including your girls also, Tabitha. I'm sure that Jorge can arrange that your daughter in college, Melissa, will also be able to attend. I think that about wraps things up for me."

Ted smiled at Tabitha and said, "I just talked to Timmy and he said that Melissa was planning on coming home this weekend with him and Joan. Did you know that, Tabitha," he asked.

"Actually yes, but called just as I was leaving to come here. She was very excited," Tabitha replied saying, "Does this mean what I think it might mean?"

Ted nodded, "Yes, he was worried about possible conflict in the work place. I told him not to worry. He sounded very excited to me."

Ted looked over at John and said, "If this is the end, then Ron will be firing me for whatever reason on Friday. I will need to get out of the office for the afternoon anyway, and I don't want to tip anybody off. How do you want to handle this?"

John sat for a moment thinking, then said, "If I remember right, Greg Howard has made an appointment to see me about 11am Friday morning. It has something to do with the Southern Development, but he wouldn't say exactly what. You need to get your people on board first. So you'll be busy until 11, then probably in my office until noon, and then gone for the rest of the day. I'll have Betty talk to Callie when you leave."

No one else had anything more, so they all got up and left the building. Ted locked up after everyone else. He placed the tapes in a brown grocery bag and took it with him. He didn't want to leave evidence laying around. When he went outside, Tabitha was waiting for him by his car. Everyone else had gone. She watched him put the bag in the trunk and close the lid.

She stepped next to him and took his hand in hers. Tilting her head back to look up at him, she said quietly, "I know it is late and we both need to get home, but I wanted to thank you for being so decent and kind to me through all of this. I would also like to apologize for last night. That crack I made about trying to nail a jilted wife was a poor attempt at humor. I have learned to respect you for your compassion, not only for me but for the company. After this is over, I would like to know you better as a friend and as a boss and even as an in-law. I feel I can trust you and maybe we can help each other through the healing process. I would like to meet your family and I would like my kids to meet yours. Well all except Melissa and Timmy," she smiled, "I think they have already met."

Ted smiled at her and said, "Yes, me too. I'm thinking I will need a vacation. I haven't had one since John hired Ron. Let's talk about this later when we have a little more time. I'll call you. Oh, and since we are going to be honored at a dinner, you will need a dress and stuff. I will have Callie arrange a hair appointment for you and the girls and then go with you to get new dresses. As for Melissa, Timmy called me today and asked my advice. I told him to not say anything to his mother until after they are home and we can talk. She is in one of his classes, and Joan is also there. They probably know each other well. I will have Joan take her shopping for her dress there. Callie loves to shop and knows everybody in this little village. This time it will really be on me."

"Oh, and one more thing," he said. "Yes, I do own this company and others as well. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I am going to be very busy this week. I think I have to serve some sort of penance to myself about the trust fund, but I also agree with what you said. I really appreciate it, Tabitha, and thank you."

She looked at him for a minute then leaned up to kiss him on his cheek. A quick hug, a quiet thank you, and then she walked away.

Ted stopped by the sports bar for dinner on his way home. While he was there, he tried calling Timmy and then when he wasn't home he called Joan.

She answered on the third ring, "Hello."

"Hi honey, it's dad. I don't want to bother you much, but I need a really big favor from you and Timmy."

"Oh, hi dad," she perked up a little. "My caller ID said some sports bar and I wondered who it could be. Sure, ask away. We'll be there about 2pm Friday or can't this wait?"

"Sorry, no, this can't wait. I don't want to make this too long and involved. Talk to Timmy and tell him to go along with this. Ok. Now, I need both of you to be really tired when you get in on Friday. Mom is going to pick you up at the airport. Make her take you straight home and both of you crash out. I'm hoping she will leave for the normal Friday night reservations and let you guys stay home. If she presses you to go, do what is necessary to beg off. Both of you. When she leaves, call my cell and I will come home and get you. Before the flight, I want you to buy a formal evening gown. This is a really big deal. Tell Timmy to buy a tuxedo. I'm thinking Armani is nice. Also, find Melissa Clark. I told her mom, Tabitha, that I would have you take Melissa to get a new dress. Yes, and shoes and whatever. I have salon appointments made here for your hairdos and etc. I have a credit card number for you to use. It does not have an upper limit, but try to stay under 10k each of you. Give the number to Timmy so he can use it too. Oh, and tell him to make sure and stop by a jewelry store if he hasn't yet. Get a pen and paper for the number."

She put the phone down and he heard rustling sounds for a moment, then she came back on and he gave her the account number. She repeated it back and promised to give it to Timmy. She giggled. Then she said she would have no problem finding Melissa since Timmy spent most of his time with her. She giggled again. She was younger, but Timmy said she still mothered him. Instinct I suppose. Then he went home and it was another uneventful evening at the Johnson house.

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Chapter 9

What goes around, comes around

Friday morning, Ted got up and ready for work, as usual. Megan was sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee, as usual. Ted got himself a cup of coffee and looked out the window, much as he had done Saturday morning. 'What an interesting week this turned out to be,' he thought.

Turning to Megan, he asked, "So are the reservations made for dinner tonight, dear?"

Megan looked at him for a moment then answered, "Yes. Dinner reservations are made. Again. For four of us. Again. And I presume you will be a no show because you are behind on your work. Again. Are you going to cancel out now or wait until the end of the day? Again. Don't forget, Timmy and Joan will arrive about 2pm today. What did you decide about the pool party tomorrow, or will it be another surprise? Again."

Ted just looked at her for a moment, studying her face. He realized that he didn't know who this person was anymore. 'Tonight, she is going to jail,' he thought. 'No more pretend dinners with Ron and no fucking party at the Marriot. I wonder if she and Gretel will be cell mates in prison?'

"I'm glad we had this little chat, Megan. Give the kids a hug for me when you pick them up at the airport. I'll see you later today. I'll call if I need to cancel out. No pool party on Saturday."

When Ted arrived at work, Callie was waiting for him and closed the door behind them. "Look Ted," she started. "Something has been going on for too long around here. I've heard all kinds of rumors and frankly, I'm getting worried. Ron has been here several times since way early and has been even nastier than normal."

Ted smiled at her and sidestepped the question by asking, "Did you get the appointments set up for this afternoon?"

She looked at him a moment, then replied, "Yes, everything is all arranged for both the hair salon and buying the dresses. This is Tabitha and her girls here, right? What about Melissa? I'll be leaving to pick them up and escort them around town. Don't you have any thing else to say to me?"

"Not here, and not right now," said Ted. "Joan is helping Melissa get her dress there, and she gets her hair done here. I will take Joan with me and Timmy for our hair salon appointment. Now, I do have a brand new company credit card here. Only certain trustworthy employees will be receiving these cards and will need to sign for them. I need you to sign for yours now, because you are going to use it to pay for today's appointments. In addition, I need you to get your hair done and a new dress at the same time. Tabitha can clue you in on some more of it later on. Now, let's get to work."

Turning slowly, Callie left the office and went back to her desk. She looked at the credit card and then put it in her purse. Looking over her shoulder at Ted, she smiled and then went to work. She didn't know why, but she felt happier than she had in months.

At 1045am, Ron came storming into his office demanding, "Where the hell were you this morning. You are late again and ..."

Ted's anger rose up as he cut Ron off saying, "Shut up, you nasty, arrogant, overbearing, obnoxious little prick. Get the fuck out of my office before I kick your ass out. I've got work to do."

Ron's face turned beet red as he screamed back, "Not this time you fucking incompetent wimp. You are being terminated as of right now. Start packing your shit. I have called security and they are on their way here to escort you out of the building."

Ted leaned back in his chair and glared at the weasel-faced wife fucker. "Fuck you, butt wipe. Let's take this a little higher." He saw Callie standing outside the door with a stricken look on her face.

Picking up the phone, he punched in a number. "Betty, this is Ted. That asshole Clark just tried to fire me. I'm on my way up to see John." He listened for a moment, then said, "Thank you Betty."

Ted almost laughed at the way Ron's beet red weasel face was gaping at him as he hung up. Almost. "Let's go asshole. I've been wanting to do this for a long time and I don't want to waste a whole day for you."

Looking at Callie he said, "I'll be back in a few minutes. I have a couple of salesmen coming in for meetings. Please ask them to wait until I get back. Thank you."

Looking curious and dumbstruck at the same time, she nodded and sat back down at her desk. Ted heard the phone ring as they walked out.

As Ted walked into John's office with Ron trailing behind, he nodded at Betty. He saw Greg Howard sitting in an easy chair over to the side, looking at a magazine. Greg looked up and smiled saying, "Hey, Ted. What's up?"