A Couple Pt. 06

"What about family fights?"

"With swimming, and working out, and wrestling with him, not to mention work work, we don't have any energy for fights."

Marsha was fading again. I turned her over for a shoulder and back massage. "The doctor orders more rest. Project talk can wait a few hours."

Natalie and I crept out, Oliver in my arms. She worked on scrambled eggs while I sat the boy child on the table in front of me. "He is awake more, and seems to like sitting up."

"Yes. He already has excellent head control. Weeks ahead of what the book says. Have we hatched an athlete to go with the others around here?"

The rest of the swimmers had arrived and were eying the eggs hungrily. Natalie quickly found a bigger bowl and handed it over for additions. I was getting the cat treatment with bodies rubbing on mine while they cooed at Oliver.

Later, Wilma and Suzanne said Madelyn was talking to London on the video and would be along in a bit. They reported that the executive swimmers were very curious about Persephone. "They aren't fooling around, Oscar. They are smart and have access to lots of money. We have to come up with new investment options and soon!"

I said, in a calm voice, "I share your excitement. But you need a meeting this weekend to decide what kind of company Persephone is going to be. Just as a guess, you could double your staff and double your revenue before Easter. Is that the kind of company you want? Are you headed for Sand Hill Road, where the big time VC's hang out?"

Natalie served the eggs to a very quiet room. I felt bad about throwing cold water on them. "Hey, I was describing success, not failure. Don't go into a funk. When you get the bosses here on the weekend, sit down and thrash it out. Before then, beat on me to blow off steam."

Madelyn said, "It's only nine o'clock, but I am exhausted. What about another nap? After lunch we will dive into the action list."

Natalie sat next to me and took Oliver for a feeding. "I think that was good of you to bring them down to earth a bit. They didn't look happy about it, did they?" She laughed and poked me.

Changing the subject, I asked, "Speaking of work, how are things at the lab?"

"I talked to the Director yesterday. Said I would like to come to the office several days a week for several hours at a time. He said that would be delightful and asked after Oliver. I told him I was completely spoiled and would bring him by someday soon."

"I asked because my Geneva boss asked if I could make a quick trip there for an important strategy meeting."

"You should go. We have an abundance of nannies to look after Oliver and me. It would be good for you to have a break from the craziness here."

She stood. "Come out on the patio and take him while I do laps."

"Where is the abundance of nannies?"

That got me a warm kiss and a whispered, "You are the best nanny of all."

Oliver and I were dozing when Natalie climbed out of the pool. He was buried under his floppy hat and quiet on my chest. "I had an idea in the pool. I think the three of us should visit my sister in Carmel on the weekend. She has been after me to come down as soon as Oliver can travel."

"Our absence will be good for the Persephone discussions?"

"Yes. We don't want their decisions to be influenced by us. Going away won't eliminate that, but hopefully reduce it. The new sober management needs to take ownership of their enterprise."

She folded into my arms across from her son. It felt good to have them both close to me. "You are full of tough love this morning."

"I'm going to make a catty comment. All this great sex you have been delivering is not the real world. There are bumps ahead for them. They are individually tough from past competition, but need to be collectively tough on behalf of a vision of where they want to take the company..."

I kissed her forehead. "You should be dishing that out as a management consultant."

"We are here as their backup. Soft when they need soft, hard when that is needed."

Bodies were filing out with towels and lotion and hats for sun time. "Marsha says she has to pay dues and is providing lunch. You are to stay where you are."

Looking at Madelyn, Natalie asked, "How is London this evening?"

"Tired, but happy. Life is settling down. Erica and Inge are a big help. Talking about ditching their airline jobs. Sarah said Lisa has been so nice to her in bed that she doesn't think of males anymore."

That brought a round of hisses. "Yes, it's foolish. She hasn't been around Oscar enough."

Lunch arrived, carried by a naked Marsha, who needed tanning to catch up with the others. "My god, this is like a sorority house backyard."

A voice answered, "Yes, but someone allowed the gardener to stay and he has designs on us!"

EPILOGUE - One year later.

Oscar was in his life vest, inside his circular float. With the big green sunhat, he looked like a bug that had gotten lost and dropped into our pool. I was babysitting, but also talking to WHO headquarters in Geneva, which wondered if I would mind a quick trip to Africa to check on an alleged Ebola outbreak.

"I thought you were hiring tigerish recent graduates to do these nasty chores?"

"She is going to meet you in Accra. Only been here a month. Can't turn her loose in that snake pit of disease politics on her own. I would consider it a great favor."

"I am on a leash since the baby. Natalie insists on talking to any new females."

"What if I fly her there instead? She has family in San Francisco. Smiles all around before the two of you deal with African epidemic politics."

I quickly agreed and rang off. Suzanne and Wilma were in the pool, playing with Oliver, who had pet names for them and was being very verbal.

"That was Geneva. They are sending a new field operative to us on the weekend for some instruction!"

Natalie heard the end of that as she came up the walk from a morning at work. "I suppose it is another fiendishly smart and attractive female?"

"I only know she is female. Geneva is sending her here for your approval. There is family in San Francisco."

The three women went inside to fix lunch. I slipped into the pool to propel Oliver to the deep end and back. Lisa would be here later this afternoon. I wondered about her state of mind. Memory of the now infamous weekend a year ago was fading. Natalie and I had returned from a relaxing weekend in Carmel to find an angry and bitter group of females. Sarah really wanted startup glory and an expansionist future. But, after hours of back and forth, she was outvoted. The others told her they intended to have a boutique approach, with careful growth, if at all.

Two weeks afterwards, wounds were healing, but Persephone was dead. Sarah was back in her old office and looking for another alliance. The revived West Enders wished her well and promised referrals. From time to time, a weeping woman found my shoulder, where she was told that the future was bright and a few potholes along the way were not really a big deal.

Marsha was a wonder. Declaring that she was not going to work underground, she designed a quick addition to the pool house where her drafting table and other instruments of trade looked out in one direction at the pool, and in the other at the East Bay hills. The work output was prodigious. Even better, she turned out to be more organized than any of us. Lisa and Madelyn almost collapsed reading the first thirty day schedule she showed them.

In addition to being a shoulder to lean on, they found a part time niche for me. Dressed up and properly briefed, I did a creditable job as senior executive for customer relations. Madelyn and Lisa cursed when they needed me for a particularly sexist older client, but I told them to relax and take the money. I even softened some hard shells with stories about the brilliant quant skills of the women who managed West End.

Natalie divided her time between being a devoted mom and a laboratory researcher. At night in bed, she pulled my hair and kissed me and said how lucky she was that sleeping around with a strange guy who chased epidemics had found her a mate and produced a wonderful child.

The End.