Chapter 21
Carl Samples knocked on the door a little before seven o'clock. When he saw Amy he threw his arms around her and kissed her. He held her for a while talking to her.
Brad tapped him on the shoulder, "Excuse me, I thought you were here on business, not to man-handle my wife."
Carl turned and smiled at him, "I don't hear her complaining."
He kissed Amy one more time, "Really Amy, as much as I enjoy this, I have to get these papers signed and get home. Betty is going to serve me my head. I left the house early this morning to prepare for court. Anyway congratulations on your wedding and I hope you know what you've gotten into. You know, I've had to get him out of jail many times for beating women."
Brad glared at him, "I thought you promised to never tell her about that."
They all laughed and Brad suggested that they go into the office.
Carl had Amy sit at the desk and reached for his briefcase and pulled out a thick stack of papers. Most had the blue cover page that lawyers liked to use to protect the documents. He sat the stack of papers on his lap and told her that Brad had instructed him what he wanted her to sign and that most of the paperwork was what a husband and wife needed to sign if they owned property.
"Is the pre-nuptial agreement in there?"
Carl shuffled his papers and hesitantly said that Brad had arranged that. He started shoving papers in front of her explaining that there were so many because of the duplicates. As soon as she signed one Carl would take it from her and shove another in front of her. Often he told her that this one was just a duplicate of the previous one she had signed. Amy would quite often say that she had a cramp in her hand and didn't know how many more she could sign. Carl always told her, that she just had to sign a few more.
Finally all of the papers were signed and Carl sorted out their copies and sat them on the desk. He got up and said that he really had to leave.
"I've been neglecting Betty a lot for the past few months and I have to figure someway to make it up to her. I asked her if she wanted to spend some time at your lodge, but she told me that I'm not getting off that easy, that this lack of attention was going to cost me."
As he started out the door he turned and told Brad that everything was ready for Sunday and that Joseph had insisted on catering the affair himself and that he threatened Carl with bodily harm if he tried to pay for any part of it. Amy looked at Brad, not knowing what he was talking about.
After Carl was out the door she turned to him, "What's this about Sunday."
"I have invited all of my friends and all of your friends that I know and invited them to a cookout here at the house Sunday. I want to introduce my beautiful wife to the world and I intend to let the world know how lucky I am. I made Carl keep it to himself so that you and I could make the announcement together. I made him promise to keep it a secret even from Betty. Carl left the list of people that he invited on the desk. You'll have to go over the list and see if there's anyone else that you want to invite."
"The only one that I would really insist on being there would be Carol. You know she's going to be jealous. She has a gigantic crush on you."
They went to the patio and sat, enjoying the summer evening. It wouldn't be dark for a while and the temperature wasn't too high.
"What did I sign this evening. The papers were coming so fast and furious that I didn't have a chance to read them."
"Well, basically you will be my slave for the rest of your life. You agreed that you will be my main wife and that you will treat all of my other wives kindly. You agreed to call me master whenever you address me and to agree with every word I say."
She glared at him, "First off, don't even think about another woman. I intend to keep you well satisfied. Second, I know that you would never ask me to be a slave to you. Third, I love you very much and if I thought that is what you really wanted I would do it."
She stuck her tongue out at him, "But I'd make sure that you regretted taking any more wives though."
Brad got up and picked up the stack of papers on the desk and brought them back to her. He sorted them in the order that he wanted her to see them.
"Where is the pre-nuptial agreement? I'd like to see what it says about those other wives."
He stared at the papers for a minute, "Well now, that's a problem. Amy, I couldn't do that to you. I'm not that type of person. If I thought that I needed something like that to protect me, I wouldn't have married you. Let's review these papers and I think you'll see where my head is."
He handed her the first document, "This transfers fifty percent of the stock in Pittson Development Corporation to you and makes you Chief Operating Officer. If you ever leave me, we'll have to cut all of the buildings in half. This one document makes you pretty wealthy in your own right."
She dropped the document on the desk and yelled, "You can't do that! Why did you do that?'
"Because I wanted to and because I love you and because that makes you an equal partner with me in the company. Now this document gives you power-of-attorney to sell my stocks as you see fit and if it becomes necessary. It would be a hassle if I just made you co-owner of the stock, so this accomplishes the same thing. Besides, I'm not sure of the tax ramifications if I made you co-owner of the stock."
She stared at him as if he had gone out of his mind, "Do you own much stock?"
"Most of the stock was what my father had bought. He was a technology buff and bought a lot of Microsoft and Oracle when they first started. I have never been into stocks much. I mainly concentrated on the Construction business and the development company. The stock is in the walk-in safe in the office."
"What office?"
"The office that you will be taking in the development company."
She put her head in her hands, "You've got my head spinning. I never saw you go into an office."
"Well wife, what do you think I did all day while you were in school? Now this document makes you co-owner of this house and the two lots on each side. It is drawn up so that if either of us dies, it automatically goes to the survivor. This card is a signature card so that you can write checks on our account. I'm having new checks made with both our names on them. Oh, and I've ordered a check card for you and put you name on my credit cards. You should be getting duplicate cards in about a week."
She threw her hands up in the air, "Stop. Stop. I can't handle all of this. We have to undo this. This isn't right. All I want is you. I don't care if you're wealthy or not. I married you because I love you and want to be your wife for as long as we live."
"Well wife, there's a bit more. These make you co-owner of the lodge and the naturally the property. There's more than one document because we bought the properties in three separate parcels as they become available. This document is for a building that I own personally. I own the building that Joseph and his brother have the restaurant in. He's become a very good friend and I lease it to him for just enough to service the mortgage. He makes all repairs and we'll have to negotiate any improvements he might want to make in the future. He's been a very good tenant."
"Is there any more of your money that you want to give away?"
"I'm not giving my money away, I'm investing it. Remember what I told you about win-win? Now, read this. It's an offer on a Jaguar like mine. I'm wouldn't want you to become jealous because I drive a Jaguar and you have to drive that old Honda. I didn't know what color you would want, so we can decide on that later."
She got up and walked in the living room. He put the papers on the desk and then followed her. She was sitting on the sofa crying. He put his arm around her and she turned to him.
"This is too much. I'm shaking inside. I love you and I wouldn't want to fail you. Please undo that stuff in there. As long as I have you I'm happy."
"It can't be undone. What are we going to do all day? Stay in bed and make love?"
She smiled at him through her tears, "That sounds good to me."
He pushed her forward on the sofa and lay down. He reached out for her and she snuggled in front of him with his arms around her.
"This is what I like. Holding you in my arms. You feel so good in my arms."
They lay together for a long while. After a while he heard her chuckle, "I want a bigger Jaguar than yours."
He gave her a squeeze, "Now that's the way to think. Seriously though, I really want to get you into the business. You'll find that I'm not really giving you anything for free. You'll earn every penny of it. In any business, you have to watch everything you do, keep an eye on your competitors, watch the finances, keep your eyes open for opportunities and make sure that you have the right people for the right project.
It got dark and they were both content to lie there in each other's arms.
"Amy there's just one thing, Carl worked all weekend, until the wee
hours of the morning, on the paperwork. That's why Betty's mad at him.
I'd like to do something for them. Would you mind if we bought Betty a
piece of jewelry and had it sent to the house. I'll tell Carl to tell
her it's from him. Maybe it will get him out of the doghouse."