How Business is Done - Conclusion

Mom and Dad agree to meet with me at the house the next afternoon. I had no idea what I would say that might get them to reconsider. I did the only thing I could do, pray for wisdom and for the words I needed.

At the agreed time, we sat in the living room. It was tense as I began.

"Mom and Dad, I want us to talk through this and see if there's some way to save our family. I love your both, unconditionally and absolutely. What happened is behind us but what lies ahead is up to us to decide.

"Mom, you and I cried together in my room as you admitted that you'd screwed up bigtime and that Dad had given up on you. Dad, you admitted that years ago you were unfaithful to Mom in order to save money in your firm. The point is we all sin. We all are guilty of doing wrong and screwing up.

"Redemption is offered, according to the Bible, if we repent and ask God to forgive us and then we forgive those who sinned against us. What happened can't be changed. But we can forgive each other for what happened.

"You took marriage vows 24 years ago. Those vows are still in effect. Mom, if Dad had stayed long enough in the bedroom where he found you, what would you have said? How would you have explained what you did?"

"Sweetheart, I couldn't have explained it. I lost my mind and all sense of self-respect when I went to bed with that man. It was a primal urge I felt and I wanted sex and I knew it was wrong but I did it anyway. I have no excuse. I was wrong. I could only have apologized and begged for forgiveness."

"Dad, what would you have said if Mom apologized and begged for forgiveness?"

"Jackie, I don't know. I was hurt and mad and, in my mind, it was either fight or flight. I could easily have killed that guy with my bare hands but that could never be the right decision."

"Your anger was toward him or toward Mom?"

"Him, primarily. I know he had to do something to get your Mom in bed. He was not some innocent victim. Mom loves sex and always has. I do too but when I saw them together, I couldn't handle it. Call it jealousy, call it a sense of betrayal, I don't know. All my emotions collided, and I left to get away from that scene."

I said, "I've not read the Bible or prayed in a long time. I've been ignoring God and pretending that I was doing just fine without Him. Since I came home and learned about this, I've realized that I don't have the answers.

"I opened the Bible yesterday on my computer and searched for verses dealing with forgiveness. Acts 3-19 says, 'Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.' Now if God is willing to hear our apologies and forgive us, why can't you two do the same thing?"

Mom and Dad looked at each other. Tears flowed from both. After a minute or more, Dad stood and came to Mom and hugged her. They cried for many minutes as they both quietly apologized and asked each other for forgiveness. They both knew they were wrong, and that God's word was right. I cried with them.

We talked for another hour about what needed to be done. I suggested that they go away for a week or two and just be by themselves and renew their love for each other. Both agreed that was needed and that it should happen soon. Within another three hours, their flights and hotel in Maui was booked starting December 28th at Hotel Wailea, an adults only grand hotel. Dad shocked me with another offer. I was invited.

He asked me to call Deb and Alex and see if they wanted to go with me to enjoy the sun and surf. We girls would stay at a different hotel right on the ocean and likely never see Mom and Dad after we landed. Our classes at Yale wouldn't begin until January 10th. That gave us a nice vacation break, all expenses paid. It was 10:00 before I reached them. They were ecstatic and instantly accepted. "We might even meet some good guys," Deb said.

The next day, Mom and Dad called their offices to relay their plans for a holiday vacation. The office was quiet due to the holidays and it wasn't any problem for them to be away until January 10th. After that, several cases were scheduled.

Together as a family, we put up the artificial tree and decorated it. It was fun to work together and share the blessings of Christmas. I asked if we could go to a church. We found one near us that was having a special music service. It was wonderful and the brief message spoke to our hearts. Mom and Dad held hands throughout the service.

The flight from Boston to Maui was long. Deb, Alex and I sat together and talked constantly, probably bothering some of those around us. We worked on our Latin tutoring material and debated how best to teach what we knew. It was fun being with them. I said nothing about the problems my family had encountered. Mom and Dad sat four rows in front of us.

The Four Seasons Hotel where we girls stayed was gorgeous. It was on the beach with multiple restaurants and bars and the rooms were amazing. Dad sprung for a suite for us. It had two bedrooms, both with two queen-size beds and a large common room with sofas, a large TV, a dining table and a desk for computer hookups. We couldn't have asked for anything better. By 3:00, we were on the beach in our skimpy bikinis and sipping on virgin mojitos and diet Coke. Not yet being 21 was a pain.

Several young men walked by to admire the view, I suppose, but when they tried to start a conversation, we responded using Latin and pretended not to understand English. They were shocked, disappointed and left quickly. They had no idea what language we were speaking. It was fun.

For seven days, we worked on our tans and our Latin and enjoyed the best food we'd had in a very long time. We also watched from a distance as a wedding took place in a courtyard designed for that purpose by the hotel. A desk clerk told me that they had over 300 weddings a year booked by people from all over the world. They could do three or four a day if needed.

We met Mom and Dad in the airport lounge on January 6th for the flight home. They were also nicely tanned, very relaxed and in a great mood. Mom told me later that it was another honeymoon, and they enjoyed this one more than the original. I could tell they were reconciled and back in love.

We returned to campus January 9th and began learning our new class schedules, purchasing textbooks and doing the final preparation to be tutors. We dropped by the sorority house and met with Jane, our president. Deb and I resigned from DDG but paid our dues for the reminder of the year. Jane told us that several women had resigned for various reasons, but most all were related to the lawsuit fiasco. We told her about our tutoring agreement that would occupy us four nights a week. She had no idea we were fluent in classical Latin. There were no hard feelings, which was important to Deb and me.

Asst Professor Anita Austin e-mailed me on January 9th to say that she would inform her classes about the tutoring possibility the following week. She would highly recommend that those struggling to understand her lessons or the material to first contact her. She would then recommend the ones she thought we could help. They would contact us through e-mail. We would work with them on a first come -- first served basis as space allowed.

She also told us that the dean was excited about this new endeavor led by students, the first time it had been done at Yale. He informed the University president, who was also very interested in how it worked.

The first e-mail we received was from Olivia, a first-year student in Latin. She only said she needed help. About an hour later, Josh sent a similar plea. We scheduled them that evening for 7:00.

When they arrived at my apartment, both were very happy we might be able to help. After some fruit juices, sodas and finger-foods Deb had made, we began. We quickly covered the teaching plan Anita had provided to find where they were struggling. Both were having trouble with genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and the seven noun cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, vocative, and vestigial locative).

We spent the full hour going through examples and letting them fire questions at us, which they couldn't easily do in the large class. Deb and I couldn't tell for sure, but it seemed like they understood. At least their questions were becoming much more targeted. Both asked if they could come again.

The following night, we had three new students. The need was obvious as the requests for help poured in. From the fourth night on, our class was full. On that fourth night, something interesting happened. One of the students brought cookies to share. The following week, two of the men asked if they could come early and cook for everyone. Both were wonderful cooks and the entire class was thrilled by the generous action. We shared a great Italian meal before the class and everyone stayed to visit and help clean up after the class. It seemed like we were in the process of forming our own little Latin club.

That following week, Anita called me. "Jackie, I'm hearing great things about your class. One of the students spoke to everyone before the class this morning about how much she had learned from you and how the small class size encouraged her to ask more questions and be more open about her lack of understanding in certain areas. Well done."

I replied, "That's great to hear. We're happy that everyone is open to teaching, even from freshmen like us. We sense a common bonding of purpose and commitment to learning this difficult language. You're sending us great people with open minds and the energy to study and learn."

"Jackie, I also wanted you to know that the dean asked me for your apartment address. He may just drop in and see what you're doing."

"Oh, that's interesting. We'll be expecting him any evening. I've not yet met him."

The classes were full the following two weeks. Several students attended for the second and third time. Each of the pre-class and post-class visiting sessions were fun. Many brought food they'd made to share. We noticed that many of the men were staying later and later to talk and learn more about Alex, Deb and me. As we learned more about them, we could sense some possible husband material had arrived.

Then we were shocked. Just as we were beginning the class, the dean arrived with the University president. It was our first time to meet them, but two of our five students knew immediately who they were. They introduced us.

The president said, "Ladies, we have been hearing rumors about these classes and came to see for ourselves what all the excitement is about. You have the entire faculty interested."

Deb replied, "Thank you for coming. We're just beginning class and we'd love to have you join us."

The dean replied, "We'd love to, thank you."

The dean and president took two of the dining table chairs and crowded in at the back of the room. I was leading off that night and immediately jumped into the current teaching plans and materials given us by Anita. I was initially worried about class discuss and questions being dampened by the presence of these top administrators. I shouldn't have worried. The students fired question after question as we covered the material. Even the dean held up his hand to ask a question on a future perfect verb conjugation. When I responded, the president said, "I didn't know that." That caused the students to open up even more as they debated a number of legal terms that related to that verb. It was the best hour of interactive give and take I'd ever seen.

Instead of leaving immediately after the class, both administrators stayed and visited with us and the students. As discussions evolved, it seemed like everyone was on the same level and interacting like people do in real life. There was no deference paid to the dean and president, it seemed. They were just friendly people and open to all questions and opinions. It was an amazing night that ended at 9:45.

***

As I conclude this story, it's now been seven years since that night, and I still think it was the most exciting night of my life at school. A lot has happened over these years.

We each met our future husbands, two of us during the tutoring classes. I re-connected with Bert, the fraternity man who first licked my pussy at the sorority initiation. He came for tutoring and stayed to talk for hours. We agreed to begin dating and after a year, he proposed on a cold winter night as we stood admiring the New Haven Christmas tree. I gave him my virginity that night.

Were married a year after he passed the bar exams. I passed them the following year and we began our lives and careers together in Philadelphia. He was hired by the largest firm in the city, and I agreed to work for two years as a public defender. My mom convinced me to devote that time to learn how justice was decided in the bowels of the system. It wasn't pretty.

Deb clerked for a justice in the third circuit and has since joined a firm in Washington D.C. She is specializing in criminal defense and with all the criminals in that town, she's very busy. She married a lawyer from Baltimore that she met in court. He was the prosecutor, and she won the case and his heart.

Alex met her future husband during our tutoring classes, and they now live in Denver where both are in personal injury firms. She's expecting a boy in two months.

Mom and Dad continued taking one to two weeks a year to totally focus on each other. They've been to many resorts that are world famous. When Bert and I go to visit them, it's clear that they are in love.

That pesty lawsuit was dismissed under Title IX because men only and women only private clubs like fraternities and sororities are excluded from the legal language of that title. The three women also had their charges for sexual harassment and assault dismissed. The security videos in the houses where the harassment supposedly took place didn't support their accounts.

As far as I know, the sorority sisters are still training to become negotiators for firms whose ethics allow such methods of persuasion. In Philly, we see them often trying to convince male prosecutors to drop or reduce charges. It's well known that the district attorney and his team spend many nights in hotel rooms with these beautiful negotiators. It's so common now that very few actual criminals are prosecuted in New York, Philly, Chicago and Baltimore. It's amazing how many charges can be dropped along with trousers and panties.

The End