Ron and Brenda stayed in the hotel until Sunday afternoon. Ron insisted that she pickup clothes to wear for work and bring them back to Ron's house. She gathered enough clothes to wear for work for about a week. Brenda picked up her clothes and followed Ron back to his house in her own car and they spent the day relaxing on the porch, looking out over the lake.
Brenda left for work a few minutes before Ron. Ron made a few phone calls and left for Howell about 30 minutes later. Ron pulled into the parking lot and saw that Brenda had found a spot close to the building. Howell did not have assigned parking spots. He got his briefcase out of the back of the Expedition and walked toward the office building.
"Good morning Mr. Simpson," the receptionist said with a big grin.
Ron walked to his office and left with dismay at the pile of paperwork on his desk. His secretary came into his office and told him that Sam Howell wanted to see him and Brenda immediately. Ron picked up a file that he had been working on before his flight to Alaska and started for Sam's office. Everyone that Ron passed grinned at him. Ron didn't know if they were just happy that he had survived the plane crash or if something was going on. As he approached Sam's office he saw Brenda with a huge crowd of people around her and he knew why people were grinning at him.
"My God. That's a huge stone," he heard someone say.
Ron stood until Brenda saw him and he motioned for her to follow him. She walked to him with a sheepish grin on her face. They walked into Sam's office and Sam's secretary told them to go right in.
"What the Hell is going on out there? Nobody's working." Sam asked.
Brenda held up her left hand and showed Sam her ring.
"Is that what I think it is? Sam dropped his head on his desk, "My God, I don't think the world is ready for this."
Sam walked around the desk and grabbed Brenda and hugged her and reached around her and took Ron's hand. Brenda had to wiggle out of his grasp to keep from being crushed.
Sam went back behind his desk and Ron and Brenda sat down. Sam just sat and stared at them for several minutes. Ron was uneasy and Brenda just grinned.
Finally Sam spoke, "Well, this makes it easier for me. I told you that I had something to drop on you. As you know Sarah and I are building a new house on the farm in Virginia. I want to spend some time with Sarah and enjoy life for a while. I decided to ask you two to take over the company, maybe as CEO and COO, and run it for me. I will remain as chairman of the board, but I don't want to get so involved that I have to spend a lot of time here. I want you to run the company and keep me out of it as much as possible. I made a mistake not spending more time with Alice and now it's too late. I'm not going to make that mistake with Sarah. Do you two think you can run this outfit without killing each other?"
Ron and Brenda looked at each other and smiled, "I don't think we'll have too much trouble."
Sam spent the rest of the day outlining where he thought the company should go and what needed to be done to make his exit smooth. Ron and Brenda concurred with most of his thoughts and added some ideas of their own. Brenda asked Sam if he had ever considered a research function for the company. Sam asked her to flesh out the idea and present a formal plan to the board. Sam told her that he knew that oil would slowly become a smaller and smaller part of their business.
The meeting dragged on until Sam's secretary poked her head in the door and told Sam that she was leaving for the day. Sam stood up and told Ron and Brenda that he would meet with them in the morning and go over a timetable for their takeover.
Most of the employees had left for the day when Ron and Brenda left the office.
"Why don't you leave your car here?" Ron asked her. "We'll have to be here tomorrow for the meeting with Sam. We have to get home. I have someone coming over at 8 o'clock."
Brenda got in Ron's car and they headed for the house. Ron stopped at a carryout and got something for dinner. Ron was silent for most of the ride home and Brenda was lost in her own thoughts. The day had gone very different than she could have expected. Con-Oil was no longer in her plans. She had called them the first thing that morning and removed herself from consideration for the position of vice-president.
Ron pulled into the garage and they walked into the house. They ate dinner and discussed how they would set up their duties at Howell. Brenda started talking about her idea of a research facility. A car coming up the driveway interrupted her.
A man in a suit, carrying a briefcase approached the door and Ron opened the door before the man had a chance to knock.
"Come on in Aaron," Ron smiled as he shook the man's hand, "Brenda this is Aaron Holman, my lawyer. He also went to college with me. Aaron, I'd like you to meet Brenda."
Aaron shook Brenda's hand, "Ron's told me all about you. It's nice meeting the woman that can make him settle down."
Aaron looked at Ron, "I have all of the papers that you asked me to prepare. All I have to do is get your signatures on them."
Ron gestured for them to go into the living room. Ron sat on the couch and gestured for Brenda to sit next to him. Aaron sat in a chair next to them. Aaron reached into his briefcase and pulled out a stack of papers.
Brenda looked at Ron quizzically. Ron ignored her until he read the papers in front of him.
Ron turned to her; "My will leaves everything to charity now. I have some commitments now and I'm going to change my will to leave everything to you. The house was also to go to charity, so I am putting you on the deed with me."
"Ron, you can't do that. We're not married yet," She said.
He smiled, "You're not going to back out on me, are you?"
She shook her head. She knew if she said anything she would start crying. She was amazed the Ron had such faith in her.
Her mind was a blur as paper after paper was shoved in front of her to sign. After all of the papers were signed Aaron stood up and shook their hands and excused himself. He told Ron that he had an appointment in Seattle that he knew he would be late for.
Ron walked Aaron to the door and let him out. They stood on the front porch for a few minutes talking. When Ron came back into the house Brenda was not in the living room. Ron saw that she was on the back porch looking out over the lake.
Ron walked up behind her and put his arms around her. She leaned back into him and he saw that she was crying.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I can't believe what you just did. That you have such faith in me, floors me," she said.
Ron pulled her closer, "When I love someone, I love them totally. It would be a crime, if something happened to me and you weren't taken care of."
Brenda turned and put her arms around him and held him for a long time.
Sam Howell retired to the farm in Virginia with Sarah. True to his word, he kept his hands off of the business as much as possible. His position as Chairman became more of an advisory position than an executive one.
Ron and Brenda were married about a month after Ron asked her to marry him. The Reverend John Priest wed them. They flew John and his wife to Seattle for the ceremony. Ron and Brenda did accept Howard Branson's offer of his chalet in Aspen. They took a week for their honeymoon.
Ron assumed the position of CEO of Howell and guided the company into the 21st century. His years as Sam's right hand had prepared him to take on the responsibility of running the company. Ron became one of the best-known executives in the world and was constantly turning down offers to run major corporations. He turned down a Cabinet position with the government.
Brenda took her proposal for a research facility to the board and she was given the go-ahead to start a separate company, wholly owned by Howell, to research alternative energy sources. Brenda had to give up her position as COO of Howell. She threw herself into the new company, Howell Research, Inc. Within 3 years, she topped the Hughes Corporation with a photovoltaic cell with an efficiency of 68.9%. Her design had an added benefit of a feedback circuit that enabled a partial charge to be maintained by the cells. The technology was licensed throughout the world and Howell Research, Inc. became one of the most profitable divisions Of Howell, Inc. Howell Research, Inc. also found better methods of reclaiming oil from previously uneconomical wells.
About 15 months after Ron and Brenda were married Samantha Brenda
Simpson was born. Sam, as she preferred to be called, had as sharp a
mind as her parents and excelled in college. She joined Howell
Research, Inc. and developed a solar powered heat pump that could heat
and cool houses up to 5000 square feet. Before she took over the reins
of Howell, Inc. from her father, she held 43 patents.