Tom Ch. 07

"Hi Carl it's Tom Briscoe."

"Oh hi buddy. Some little birdie told me you and my sister have reconnected. I made no mention to the folk."

"Yeah, that's true. We have been living together three months."

"And going well?"

"Brilliantly. Can you give me two minutes?"

"Sure, talk for as long as you like."

"I want you to do three things for me. Jane doesn't know I'm calling."

"Sure, shoot."

"The first thing would you tell your mom, face to face and not on the phone, to call Jane and ask how the pregnancy is going?"

"Wow, congratulations. Yeah, I'll have fun telling mom that one."

"But make sure she calls Jane. Jane finishes work in a fortnight and we could be returning to live in Manhattan."

"I'd like that."

"I'd like your mother to like it as well. Your dad has been okay. I know he calls Jane frequently. She doesn't know I know."

"I didn't know either. The secret is good with me."

"The second thing is I want you to make your mother attend the wedding."

"Shouldn't be a problem, not with the grandchild on the way. She will become mother hen. I call around for a meal twice a week and when Jane's name is mentioned, usually by her I must say, I see the tears in her eyes but these days I don't see the pain in her eyes. Actually I think I should brief dad and then we approach her as a team."

"Do it as you think best. Now for the third thing and I can accept rejection if that's the way it has to be. Carl, will you be my best man at the wedding?"

"Tom, of course I will. I'd accept it as a great honor."

"Thanks buddy, that makes me like you a lot. We haven't set a date or a place but we are totally committed to marriage and sooner than later."

"Oh Tom I am so pleased. May I tell mom about being best man?"

"Yes, of course. You might find it useful to delay the announcement until in discussions it becomes tactical appropriate to do so."

"Yeah, good thinking. "Tactical appropriate?" You are using words I've not heard you ever use."

"I've been picking up a few things along the way from the university of life. I've been sitting here in gloomy thought about Jane and her mom for no longer than fifteen minutes and in that time two hookers have tried to pick me up. Are there hookers in New York?"

"Oh buddy, I think you memories of New York have dimmed."

"Thanks for doing this for Jane and me Carl. I'm not sure if she'd be in favor of it but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Make a big touchdown for us pal."

"Will do. You can count on me Tom. Bye."

CHAPTER 8

Tom arrived in Houston a day early to have a look around and next day took a bus to Galveston -- Tom was no stranger to riding on public buses -- and then went by cab to the Hilton Galveston Island Resort for lunch, being dressed smart casual.

Shona, carrying a well-fucked expression that some women get when staying at resorts, was all over Tom but not immodestly. Tom noted Saxton was watching carefully and when Shona released Tom, Saxton put an arm around her possessively and Tom thought that signaled the marriage must be going well. Saxton, who was fifty-one and on his fourth marriage, told Tom he and his father had big business interests in Houston-Galveston and he and Shona had used to opportunity to take a short vacation.

They seemed delighted that Tom was planning to marry in New York and exchanged glances when told his partner was an attorney and even more interested to learn Jane had also graduated in business management.

They started with champagne beside the pool and had a magnificent lunch and launched into business discussion that became far deeper than Tom had expected.

When Tom was ready to leave Saxton fell about laughing when Tom said he didn't drive so would call a cab to the bus station to ride to the airport, possible with bus changes.

"You can't drive?"

"Tom grew up riding horses and as there were few cars and even fewer roads where he lived in Loving, Texas, and nowhere to go really, it wasn't necessary to drive a vehicle," Shona explained.

Lifting up his sunglasses to wipe his eyes from laughing so much, believing he'd met the only adult male in American who couldn't drive a vehicle, Saxton pulled out his phone and order a hotel limo to take Tom to George Bush Airport and charged it to his suite.

* * *

Jane met Tom at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport highly excited. "Mom arrives later tonight. She's highly excited, and so am I. All is forgiven. You had called Carl and a few minutes later he bumped into mom entering the building to meet dad so he took her to a coffee shop and told her about the baby and she said her entire sour-puss just evaporated and she screamed at Carl to book her a seat to Dallas on the first available flight and to take her to the airport. She phoned me while waiting for Carl to fetch dad's car to the front entrance."

"Oh that's great," Tom said, hugging her deeply. "I am so pleased. I'm aware this whole thing could have been handled better. How the fuck after that goof I managed to continue my rise in public relations I'll never know."

They decided to stay at the airport for dinner and wait, knowing Clement would be served dinner on the flight.

Jane burbled on about how her mom was almost choked in excitement and said she'd been feeling so deprived amongst her friends at being one of only two not being able to take about their grandchildren then she had been becoming depressed about her self-imposed exile from her daughter who'd be more likely to have a child before Carl's wife or partner did. They were almost finished mains when Jane slapped a hand over her mouth and turned bright pink. "Oh darling, your trip to Galveston... I haven't even mentioned it."

"It doesn't matter."

"But it does. You are my husband... er... almost."

They laughed.

"Well?"

"If we accept there is a job for both of us. Saxton suspects that when his father dies there will be years of dispute and litigation over his father's estate with his four brothers and sisters contesting the will as his father has written them virtually out of it and he has brought in two prominent beneficiaries who are two, but no where near all, his illegitimate children. All very messy. And there is of course, the IRS who'll be wanting to go through everything with a magnifying glass looking for tax evasion activities."

"Oh dear. That could take years to unwind."

"Well Saxton and Shona have mutual assets built with clear paper trails being independent of the family business. They are held in interest-earning trusts and low-performing gilt-edge investments that produce minuscule yields in comparison to the return I produced for Sharon in her one and only speculative venture. So, with your consent and participation we intend setting up a venture capital company with Saxton keeping an eye on activity as chairman and myself as CEO and you as chief administration officer with responsibility for the paper work and all the legal work."

Jane laughed and said at least she would receive a title.

"And a salary."

"Oooh. This sounds better than working my butt off in law."

"Shona says they will hire a fill-in for when you are off on paid-maternity leave."

"Oooh. When can I start?"

Tom said he'd be on a salary of $60,000 with a 6% bonus on net yield above the amount invested in any project and Shona would receive a salary of $40,000 and to keep her interested and focused plus a performance 4% bonus on net yield above the amount invested in any project.

"I'm probably worth more than you pragmatically but what price entrepreneurial ability?"

"Quite."

"You conceited man."

"Well those were almost Shona's exact words and Saxton agreed, saying it was all about entrepreneurial flair and having successes outnumber dismal performances by a high ratio."

Jane smiled and lifted her soda to present a toast but paused, "Well, what a perfect setup. I suppose if we need office help we pay for that?"

"No, you could answer the phone. The types of deals I propose finding involve more running around and talking on the phone than paperwork although research via the Internet would be significant but you like doing that. The rest of the time you could sit around looking through sales brochures at baby clothes and nursery furniture. The nature of this type of business is it's mostly about allowing the money to do the work."

Jane presented the toast and said, "What funding will be at our disposal, two to three million?"

"Saxton has to restructure his finances, shifting out of some fund management investments and Shona too. They have to leave some on safer ground."

"So, how much will we end up managing as our seeding funding?"

"Around $8,000,000. "

THE END