Rich Man, Poor Man

"Now all of the other men in the department are afraid to ask her out because they want to keep their jobs. The call her "The Ice Princess" and stay away from her."

"Thanks George, you done good buddy," I told him.

On the way home, I felt really good. Apparently Rebecca was telling the truth about changing her life style. Maybe it was time to take this relationship past the friends hanging out stage; I was sure Rebecca felt the same way. Before I did, I wanted to know the real reason why Rebecca changed her ways.

The next Saturday Rebecca and I went to a fund raiser given by a charity that she was involved in. It was a relatively early night and we were back at my place by 11 PM. We had coffee delivered and were sitting on the couch when I began my quest for information.

"Becky, these last few weeks have been great." She agreed and I waited a little trying to decide how to say what I wanted to. Finally I said, "We've been good friends and I would like to see if we can be more than that. What I'm trying to say is I think I'm falling in love with you."

"I'm so glad Jamie because I feel the same way," she responded. "I want to....."

I interrupted her by saying, "There is something I would like to know, if you'll tell me. I mean, before we get any closer." She nodded for me to continue.

"You said you had grown out of the "wild child" life style, but was there some reason that you changed your mind?"

Rebecca's smile left her face and she tensed up and sighed. "Yes there was a reason, something happened while I was in Europe. Are you sure you want to hear this? You may not like me anymore when you do."

"If you don't want to tell me it's okay. Maybe it's really none of my business but I remember what happened in college and it worries me. I want to love you Becky, but the way you used to be scares me."

She looked into my eyes and apparently saw what she wanted and said, "I was raped, well maybe sexually assaulted is the term, I don't know. It was in Italy and I was with a man in his apartment. We had just finished making love when his two roommates came into the bedroom and jumped on me too. I didn't mind the first man but the other two basically raped me." Rebecca stopped and got a shot of whiskey to put into her coffee.

"I fought and struggled but I couldn't get away and the gangbang was on. After the two roommates got finished, my "date" used me again and then the other two came back for more. I was always smart enough to make my sexual partners use condoms, but these two didn't and neither did the other guy after the first time. I must have passed out because I woke up on a park bench."

She was crying so I pulled her into my arms and held her. After a minute or two Rebecca sat back up and continued her story. "Thank God I was on the pill but I took a morning after pill anyway. Between the two of them they prevented a pregnancy. But they couldn't prevent an STD, three different ones in fact. God I hope their dicks fell off, those bastards."

Rebecca shook her head and almost chuckled. "So here was Princess Colman in a bad situation. Daddy had always turned his head at my wildness, as long as I didn't embarrass him he paid the bills and stayed out of my life. My mother had an affair with her personal trainer and Daddy kicked her to the curb, I guess by letting me run wild he was trying to make up for throwing her out. But if my medical problems and the reason for them became public knowledge I could lose my free ride."

"What did you do? How did you keep it quiet?"

"Having money is a good thing in this situation because my girlfriend helped me find a doctor that would treat me and then "misplace" his records. His services were quite costly comparatively speaking but well worth it. I came back home and continued treatment with my own doctor. He rationalized that since my sexual partners were in a different country there was no need to report my STDs to the local authorities."

I refilled our coffee cups and again added a shot of whiskey. "I'm sorry you had to go through that and I'm sorry I asked you about it. I didn't mean to hurt you Becky."

She nodded, hugged me, and said, "Well that's the reason my life changed. Hell, if those other two had been more romantic and asked me I might have agreed to do them too. Hopefully I wouldn't have but I was really nuts back then. At first I blamed them for what happened but came to realize that if I hadn't have put myself in that position it couldn't have happened; it was my fault for being so nutty."

Rebecca stopped talking and hung her head; her shoulders were shaking as she cried again. Pulling her back into my arms seemed to help and she got control again. Her story had taken the better part of an hour to tell; an hour full of sadness, crying, remorse, and anger. She pulled herself together and went to the bathroom; when she returned she looked me in the eye.

"Now you know my sad little tale. So where do we go from here, Jamie?"

I looked at her beautiful face, tear streaked and without makeup. She wasn't guilty of anything but bad judgment; those three assholes were responsible for their actions not her. I knew that it really didn't matter to me, other than being pissed off at the assault. The important thing was how she lived now.

"I don't plan on going anywhere, at least not tonight," I said with a smile. "Why don't you take a shower and join me in my bedroom. I don't mean for sex, you need to be held so let's just snuggle all night. Your White Knight will make it all better Becky, I promise."

She gave a little laugh, kissed me and ran to the bathroom. I heard the shower start, went to get a T-shirt and that same pair of sweats she had used before and put them in the bathroom for her. As I opened the door far enough to lay the cloths on the counter, I saw her silhouette through the frosted shower door. I hope I can keep my word and only snuggle tonight, I thought.

Rebecca came back to the living room, dressed in my cloths and drying her short hair. She had no makeup on and her hair was all tousled; she looked like a fresh faced young girl of 16 instead of a sophisticated young woman of 25. She had never looked more appealing.

We went to my bedroom and got into bed and fell asleep spooning. I normally sleep nude but I put on a T-shirt and sleeper bottoms; there was no need to tempt fate. This was a night for therapy and comfort for Rebecca, not a sexual romp for me.

Early the next morning, I woke up with Rebecca kissing my neck, nibbling on my ear lobe and with her hand down my sleeper bottoms. So much for therapy and comfort I thought as I came fully awake. The rest of the day was pretty much an instant replay of that night in college years ago. We didn't leave the bed except to shower and get something to eat. I think we answered the question that Rebecca had asked last night about where we were going from here.

I had told Rebecca that I was falling in love with her but that wasn't the truth; the truth was that I was already in love with her. After her story the previous night I felt there was no reason to be on my guard anymore.

Sunday evening after an early dinner, Rebecca went back to her apartment. We made plans for dinner on Tuesday evening and kissed good bye. All day Monday I wasn't worth much, I kept thinking about Rebecca, our evening and the next day together. I must have been smiling a lot because a couple of people asked me what was so funny.

Monday evening as I walked through the lobby I nodded and waved at Jacob, the concierge; it was a prearranged signal. He would pick up the phone and order coffee and a few snacks for me. The serving tray would have a menu of what room service had readily available for dinner although I could order almost anything I wanted. Jacob smiled and nodded back but didn't pick up the phone.

I found out why when I got to my suite; Rebecca was there and had already ordered dinner for us. When I walked in my door, she greeted me with a smile, a kiss, and two fingers of Gentleman Jack over ice. It sure beat the hell out of walking into an empty apartment.

"I hope I'm not being too pushy Jamie, but I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to see you. Do you mind?" She asked with the evil little grin of hers. "I've already ordered dinner; it should be here in 20 minutes. Why don't you jump in the shower and relax for a little?"

Smiling, I went into my bedroom thinking, you know I could get use to this. When I came of the bathroom drying myself, Rebecca was lying across my bed wearing a smile, a ribbon around her neck, and not much more.

"Foods here, do you want to eat right away or can I persuade you to wait until later?"

You couldn't have pulled me out of that bedroom with a John Deere tractor. The salad was wilted, the steaks was cold as were the baked potatoes by the time we got to them but that's what microwaves are for. We ate dinner with Rebecca sitting on my lap wearing nothing but a T-shirt. I don't remember if the food was any good or not.

We made a quantum leap from being friends to being lovers and in love. For the next month and a half we were together almost all the time. Rebecca and I learned more about each other; our likes and dislikes, what things we liked to do, and our philosophy on life. I know its heavy stuff but important if a relationship is going to succeed.

Rebecca surprisingly liked the outdoors; camping and hiking were a good time to her. She liked sports but loved football, she would rather get a root canal than watch the political bullshit called the Olympics, and thought crushing a golf shot was the ultimate joy. Who knew, the Princess Colman was really just a down home country girl; well almost anyway. Other than her previous "wild child" philosophy we fit pretty well on many other things too.

On our trips to hike or camp we discussed everything from politics, we're both moderate conservatives, to our favorite authors and movies. One of the most important things we agreed on was that we both wanted to have children someday.

I surprised her early one Saturday morning waking her up by knocking on her door. Rebecca answered the door and saw two rather large men and me.

"Jamie, what are you doing here and who are these gentlemen?"

"This is Ron and Jerry, they work on the loading dock at JCOL and have generously offered to help," I answered.

"Help with what?" Now I really had her puzzled.

"We been together almost constantly for the last six weeks or so and I'm getting tired of running back and forth between our apartments." I told her with a grin. "I thought between the four of us we could get you moved into my apartment today. What'd you say Becky, care to move in with your White Knight?"

All at once I had an arm full of woman, Rebecca jumped on me putting her arms around my neck and wrapping her legs around my waist.

"Yes, yes, yes," she yelled as she kissed me several times.

Ron and Jerry were smiling and I finally got Rebecca back on her feet. It took all day, but we got her packed and moved into my place. I thanked the guys for helping; I would thank them later financially. On Sunday we finished organizing her clothes and things.

Rebecca sublet her apartment leaving her furniture except for her chair and a few paintings and a sculpture she had bought in England. No matter how much time we had spent together, long weekends, sleepovers, and nights out; it is different when you actually live together. Maybe it's the fact that there's no haven to run to once you give up own place and live 24/7 in the same home. The process of settling in together began and finished that weekend; it was all good.

********************

About six months later I received a very interesting call from APEX SOFTWARE, the company that had bought my inventory control program. They wanted to make some modifications and expand it and felt than I was the best qualified to make the changes. I was offered a job as a consultant and a percentage of any future sales; this percentage was worth much more than the royalty I had gotten on the original program. Best of all, I could work on it in my spare time and from home.

I told APEX that I needed to check with my employer to make sure we didn't have a conflict of interest and that I would get back to them in a few days. They encouraged me to hurry as they wanted to get the new version up and running and available for sales very soon.

No time like the present, I thought and went to Bill Myers' office. I practically ran the department but he was the head of it and technically my boss. I sat down, told him what was going on with APEX, and asked his opinion. Bill said he thought I could go ahead but let's find out and picked up his phone.

"Hello Sylvia, its Bill Myers in IT. Is he in and can I get a few minutes with him?" He waited for about ten seconds and said, "We'll be right up."

Bill motioned to me to follow him and we went to the elevator. Noticing the puzzled look on my face, he explained, "We'll check with the boss and see what he wants to do. If he gives his okay then go for it."

"The boss, who ......?" I started to ask and then realized he was talking about Mr. Colman himself. I hadn't seen Mr. Colman since the Christmas party and I wasn't looking forward to the meeting. Rebecca hadn't said and I hadn't asked about how her Daddy felt about us living together. He knew about her wild life during and just after college but that wasn't up close and personal. Rebecca and I being together was the talk of the company and right in his face.

Bill and I walked into the big man's office and was greeted by a receptionist; a very pretty young woman. She told us we could go right into the inner office. The inner office was commanded by Mr. Colman's personal assistant, Sylvia Jackson. If Cindy, the girl at the Christmas party was a trophy date, then Sylvia was the 1st place trophy of personal assistants.

She was about 40, a dark haired beauty with big green eyes and a body just this side of a young Marilyn Monroe. Sylvia stood to greet Bill and he introduced me to her. One look into her eyes and you knew that as attractive as she was, that wasn't the reason Mr. Colman hired her. Her eyes showed intelligence and a self confidence that would make her an asset to any corporate executive.

When Bill told her who I was she smiled and said, "So this is Sir White Knight. We've heard all about you Jamie."

I didn't know if I should be complimented or scared. "What...I mean who...How...?" I stuttered.

She laughed interrupting me and told us, "You can go right in, Mr. Colman is expecting you."

Into the lion's den I thought as we entered the office; I wasn't looking forward to this. If the consultant fee and percentage of sales potential hadn't been so large I would have forgotten the whole thing.

"Bill, Jamie, good morning. What can I do for my I T team?"

We both greeted him and Bill explained the offer I had received. "We gave Jamie the okay to sell the original program and I don't believe that we can use the software or its modifications. I think we should give him the okay to do the job on his own."

Mr. Colman asked both Bill and I a few probing questions and stopped to think for a couple of minutes. He may appear to some to be just another playboy industrialist but he was a very astute business man who never passed up a chance to improve his company or make money.

The two or three minutes while he was quietly thinking seemed like forever, at least to me. The consultant's job would mean an extra income, but I already made a very good salary and could live very well without it. Although Mr. Colman hadn't said anything about it, his reaction to Rebecca and me was what I was worrying about.

Finally he said, "I agree with you Bill, I don't see where this software could help JCOL. Go for it Jamie and congratulations; just make sure you work on it on your own time. Don't short change us, Okay?"

I nodded, thanked him, and Bill and I started to leave his office. "Stay back will you Jamie? I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes," Mr. Colman requested. It wasn't actually a request, more like a command.

After Bill left Mr. Colman led me to a seating area that was less formal and motioned for me to sit. He looked at me for another damned two minutes, chuckled at my discomfort, and patted me on the shoulder.

"Don't look so glum Jamie. You're not facing a firing squad here. I wanted to talk about Rebecca and you," he explained.

Oh boy, I thought, here it comes. Keep away from my daughter if you like your job and other ultimatums ran through my mind. Continuing my thoughts I realized that it was going to be a bummer to quit my job, but I wasn't going to cut things off with Rebecca; I cared more about her than about Colman's job or company. I braced myself to tell him to take his job and shove it.

"I've heard the gossip and rumors concerning you and Rebecca," he said. He waited a few seconds to judge my reaction and when I didn't give one he continued. "I know that you two are living together," another pause and then, "I'm very glad that Rebecca has someone that cares about her. From what I understand her wild ways are behind her; thank you for that."

Rebecca's change in life style really didn't have much to do with me but I couldn't tell Mr. Colman that without betraying a confidence so I kept my mouth shut. I nodded as he talked, too surprised to do much more.

"I'm not trying to pressure you or push you but there's something you need to know if you two decide to get married. My lawyers will demand that you sign a prenuptial agreement to protect the company."

He held up his hand to stop my reaction to his statement. "I don't want you to think I don't trust you or your motives; it's just a business decision. If I had my way I wouldn't worry about it but the board of directors will insist on it. I just wanted you to understand."

Bullshit I thought, you run the board and this company they don't run you. But then again, he didn't have to try and make me feel better; that's assuming Rebecca and I decide to get married. I told him I understood and went back to my office.

Rebecca and I took a weekend off from all the awards dinners, charity function, and art show openings; instead we went on a camping trip. She had been bugging me to take her; she said she gone camping as a little girl and wanted to sleep under the stars with me. We didn't sleep outside because it started to rain but we did have a tent and cuddled all night.

The next afternoon we were in a boat on the lake fishing; this was something else she had done as a little girl.

I cast my line out and waited about 30 seconds and then yelled, "I got a big one here."

Rebecca was excited, clapping her hands, and bouncing up and down in her seat. Just as I got my "catch" close to the boat, I pretended to lose the fish. Rebecca slumped and said something like, oh no.

"I guess it got away and I'm left with nothing," I said frowning and pretending to be upset. "No wait, there still something on the line." I pulled the last of the line in and asked, "What's this?"

Tied on the end of the line was the engagement ring I had put there earlier. I untied it and turned to Rebecca holding it out. If you looked up surprised in the dictionary there would have been a picture of Rebecca there. Her eyes got big, her mouth opened, and her hands went to her face.

"Becky, I love you. I want us to be more than roommates. Will you marry me?"

I don't advise surprising someone when you're in a canoe in the middle of a lake. Rebecca let me put the ring on her finger, looked at it lovingly, and jumped into my lap. We ended up swimming in the cold water because the canoe capsized. It didn't matter, we held on to each other kissing with Rebecca saying yes several times and treading water but it was good that we both had life vests on.