Honor Thy Mother & Thy Father Ch. 14

"I know her three days, and I told her she could not possibly have memorized a complete cookbook."

"Brad, be thankful you only bet one year of your life to her. Every time the United States Government needs her help us, we pay her $1.4 million a day."

"How much do you pay her per day?"

Patricia grabbed the phone from his hand, and said, "$1.4 million a day, Brad. Now go inside and watch television, like a good little boy, before I smack you."

"Hello Michael, I am sorry I worried you so much."

"I am so relieved to hear your voice that nothing else matters, Patty. Melody and Harmony ask me every day, if I have heard from you. They have been very upset since you left. Today, they will get the best news they have heard in a very long time."

"Let me call them Michael; let me explain to them why I had to go away as I did. I hope it will make it easier for them to understand."

"That would be wonderful, and I know, the girls will be thrilled to hear your voice."

"Michael, you can also tell Marie to stop looking for my money transfers. She is too cute with the way she was trying to hide her intrusions into my computer, and I did not want to hurt her. I will be contacting everyone soon enough. I have to get used the idea I am getting married. I had given up on that thought. I had given up on that lifestyle. I had given up on the hope of having children. Then that jerk shows up at my doorstep again, and I start right back where I was four months ago. Is life always this hard Michael? Does it ever get any easier?"

"No Patty, it doesn't get any easier; we get stronger. Every time something bad happens to us, it makes us better and more capable of taking care of the next bad thing that comes our way. You have had an exceptional life in every way, from the very beginning. You were never allowed to have a normal life. Your mom could not marry your father. Your mom would not marry any other man, because she loved your father so much. This prevented you from having any constant male influence in your life. You had no clue as to how to deal with a man on a 1 to 1 basis, for any extended period of time. When you did, it was with Stephano, and it was under the worst circumstances possible. He had one set of goals, and you had another. You were looking for a way to kidnap him, and put his father in jail. He was looking for a way to get into your pants. You were not looking for love, and it smacked you right between the eyes. It scared you at first, but when you realize you were in love with him, and he with you, you did not know how to handle it. You set up roadblocks for him, at every turn. When he was able to overcome them, you became more frightened each time.

However, he showed his true colors, when you spoke to his mother, and you realized how he treated other women. It was your wake-up call, and after everything you had been through, you could not handle anything more. So you left him at the altar, and ran. He had to do the chasing. At that point, you would have been just as happy, not seeing him again. Just like the last time, he showed up, like a bad penny, at your doorstep. He did it with his parents' blessings, your father's blessings, and mine, because this time he really means what he says. He wants to marry you desperately. After that, you two can argue all you want, for the rest of your lives. Then you can go to bed and make up. There are many types of sex, Patty, but makeup sex is the best, and most intimate."

"Michael, are you trying to get my panties wet?"

"After everything I said, did you only listen to the last line?"

"No, I heard everything you said, but it was the first time you ever said something so endearing to me, and I thought I should point it out to you."

"You are very special to me, in very many ways, Patty. I want you to copyright and patent both your programs immediately, but without the cues. I had a conversation with the head of the NSA, after your little expose'. He threatened me with my job. I told him his computers would never operate again if he said another word, and I had him speak to the head of my computer division to see if I was lying, to prove it.

When he got off the phone, his face was ashen. He said, "It's not possible."

He just told you what she did. She also destroyed two computers the mob had overseas. One was in Israel, and the other in China. It was done from a comfortable chair, in a computer lab, in Massachusetts. Only she can do it. No one else will ever know how. Congress will have to approve every use of it; Congress and not the NSA will have the ultimate power to use her programs, because she is going to charge a fortune every time it is used. Now get out of my office, before I get pissed off, and call her. He got up, apologized, and left quietly.

"I would suspect you will be getting a visit, from some strange people very soon. Now that I know where you are, do you want me to have some of my people watching you?"

"No Michael that would certainly send them to me. Give me time to patent the programs and call your friend back. Tell him if I see or hear anyone around my home, looking for my programs, the NSA will go 'Black' within 24 hours, whether I am dead or alive. I will have two computers pre-programed to have inputs by me every six hours. If they don't get those inputs, they will automatically input the programs, and kill every NSA computer around the globe. I am going to start on that next week."

"Good girl, Patty, I will call him and tell him what you said. Send me an invitation to the wedding and all four of us will be there."

"I will be very happy to see all of you Michael; goodbye."

Patty yelled, "Goodman, get in here."

Brad jumped out of his chair and ran the 10 feet to be near her. "Yes Patty, what can I do for you?"

"It seems to me that you owe me one year of your life. You are now the manager of my property. If it needs anything you are to take care of it. If a blade of grass is brown you are to find out why, and fix it. If there is grease on the driveway, you will do the same thing. You are going to design and build our house; not a regular house, but a beautiful large house, over the area my mother and I used to live. I want to see a rough drawing, within two weeks. Six large bedrooms, five full baths on one level, with a fire suppression system. I want a big family kitchen and a fantastic living area for my children to play in. An office for Stephano, and me. An English type library with bookshelves built into the walls, from floor to ceiling, with a brass rail, and a rolling ladder to get the books on the high shelves. Since A fully completed attic, in the second story, with a completed, Maple hardwood floor, accessed by a main and auxiliary stairway. It had better be your best work, because if it is not, I am going to buy a whip, and you are going to be at the wrong end of it. I will need computer, Wi-Fi, and satellite communication capability, throughout the house, garage, and barn. We will need a windmill for self-sustaining power, an underground natural gas generator for backup power, and solar panels, which I will design myself, for maximum efficiency, over the house and garage. The 5-car garage is to be freestanding, with a covered portico, attached to the main house. I have a lot of money Brad; don't skimp on anything. I can pay for the house by working for the government for fewer two weeks, and you know it. Now get your ass out of my house, and get to work, before I call Donna."

"Donna who?"

"Your mother Donna, you idiot; you don't think I would have done any of this to you, without speaking to her first, do you? She has a few choice words for you, when you get into the office."

"I am a dead man. She is going to kill me, as sure as I am going to walk out of this motorhome. Can I borrow your gun? Shooting myself will be less painful than facing her."

Patricia laughed, "Now why would I want to make your punishment less painful Brad. Guess what your grandmother is making you for dinner tonight?"

"Crow?"

"No, chicken carbonara; I gave her my recipe. I hope you enjoy it."

"I am going to buy a gun, and shoot myself."

"New York has a three-day waiting period. Can you hide from your mother and grandmother, that long?"

"No, my grandmother will find me. That old women could find the needle in a haystack."

"Go to work Brad, and design my new home. I want to be living in it, in less than a year."

"Patty, unless we have a very mild winter, with very little snow that is not going to be possible."

"Brad, who was responsible for my property?"

"I am."

"I am sure you can find a way to remove the snow away from the building site, so the workers can continue building my house. If the shells are up, before the first snow, there should not be any problems finishing the interiors; am I right?

"Are you always right Patty?"

"Yes, I am."

Stephano said, "No, she is not; but when she is wrong, I am right."

"Stephano will take care of the contracts. I hope the contractors know what they are getting into, when they deal with him. He will rip there nuts off, if they don't follow the fine print."

Stephano took Patty's shoulders in his hands, rubbed them gently, and kissed her head. "Baby, it will not just be there nuts. If the house is not everything you want, they will owe you a year of their lives, just like Bradley does."

Brad looked at them both, and said, "You two deserve each other, you are both insane."

Stephano kissed the top of Patty head, again and said, "Thank you Brad, I think that's the nicest thing anyone has said about us. Now, why are you still here, and not at work?"

"I think I hate you, both."

Stephano opened the door of the motorhome, and Brad thought he had escaped with his life. That is, until he saw his mother sitting on the hood of his Corvette. He turned to go the other way, and saw Patty and Stephano standing behind him.

"I no longer think I hate you both, I am sure of it."

Brad walked towards his mother, with his head down, waiting for the inevitable explosion to happen. When he reached her, he said, "Hi mom, anything new happening in the office?"

"Yes dear, one new thing is happening in the office. You are going to be there, seven days a week, 365 days a year, 12 hours a day. Your free time is gone. Your love life is gone. I don't care if I ever have grandchildren. They might turn out to be like you. Your grandmother wants her car back. You can walk to work as far as she is concerned. There has never been an indentured servant in this family. You are a disgrace to us all. Now get to the office and start working on Patricia's house. It had better be great, because if it is only good, you are going to get hell from me."

"Yes mom, I'll get right on it."

Donna walked towards Patty and Stephano to introduce herself to her newest clients. Brad would never know that they were paying for her services. They invited her in for a glass of wine and a nice afternoon talking about her newest project.

Stephano added one thing to Patty's list. He wanted Donna to be sure the house was childproof.

A new, long lasting, friendship had begun.