Joel: Book Eight ~ The New Patriarch

Mel, Luke, Hildy and Manfred got into the elevator and looked to see if I was going to follow. I motioned for them to go ahead and turned to Antonio. I had a few things I wanted to speak to him about.

After briefly talking with Antonio in the hall outside of the courtroom, I headed back home. Once there, I poured myself a cup of coffee and made a call to ASEC's attorney, Carlos Martinez. I wanted him to start the paperwork for the new charity to aid in getting prosthesis for Vets and to come up with a suitable name for it. He agreed and said he would let me know the name and when the IRS had approved its tax exempt status.

I went and found Gilda in the kitchen. I informed her that we would have five additional guests for supper tomorrow evening. I explained to her who was coming.

"I would bet we have five more as well," she said, laughing. "I can't see Lenore and the other girls letting a chance to play with another girl pass, and that means the rest of the family will follow."

I thought for a moment and then said, "That means there will be twenty-one for supper. I can call the caterers if you like and have them fix everything and deliver it."

"Nonsense," Gilda responded. "Between Hildy and me, we can do it easily."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," she said. "You need to find out if any of the Kims have food allergies."

"I can do that," I said. I walked up to Gilda and gave her a hug. "We don't tell you often enough how much you mean to the families. I can't imagine this madhouse running without you."

"Ah, go away, now. You'll make an old woman blush."

"Yes, ma'am," I said and went back to my office to make a call to Fenton Bigelow, our sales manager for the Las Vegas project. He wasn't all that pleased that we weren't planning on purchasing the adjoining properties to our development. He said he would go ahead and close down the onsite sales office, since there were so few lots left to sell and he would run it out of his downtown Las Vegas office. I agreed that it was the right thing to do and thanked him for the outstanding job he had done selling the development.

My next call was to Paul Coulter at ASEC. "Paul, Crane Johnson. I'm glad I caught you in. I have a few questions to ask you."

"Sure, Crane, I hope I have the answers."

"First, I have some information for you. The new charity is in the process of being set up. It may take up to a month to get the IRS's okay. Now, to my questions, could you set up a lunch meeting with the person you said would be a good person to run the charity? Most any time next week would be fine. What's his name, by the way?"

"Randy Wexler," Paul said. "I'll see what his schedule is for next week and let you know."

"Thanks. What's his background and does he have any experience in management?"

"I have his file right here. Let me check," he said and paused for a minute or so. "Yes, here it is. He's 32 years old and has an MBA from the University of Houston. It doesn't show that he has any hands-on experience. He spent some six years in the army. His rank was captain at the time he was injured. I guess that's the closest thing to a management position."

"What's your assessment of him?" I asked.

"Bright, self-assured and eager," Paul said.

"Let me know if and when we can have lunch with him," I said. "Thanks, Paul."

I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost time to go pick up the kids from school. As I was leaving my office, Mel came in the back door. "Mind if I tag along?"

"Not at all," I said. We climbed into the van and took off for the school.

Luke's eyes lit up when he saw his uncle and ran to him, gave him a hug and began telling him all about his classes. All Mel could do was to smile and nod his head at the non-stop description of his day.

The three musketeers emerged from the school with the Kim twins. As they headed for their mother's car, Lenny hollered, "See you tomorrow." That got two thumbs up from Chin and Cho in response.

The girls had already boarded the van before I ushered the seven boys and Mel onboard.

"Dad," Chris said, after everyone was buckled in, "coach had to change the days we practice."

"What's the schedule, now?" I asked.

"It was going to be Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but now we can't on Tuesday, so we practice on Friday instead," Chris said. "Is that okay?"

"Sure," I said. "Will you still be done with practice by five o'clock?"

"I guess," Larry answered. "At least coach didn't say it would be different."

"It's possible that I could be a little late sometimes," I said. "Starting Monday, I will be working with Donald at his office."

"Why?" Larry asked.

"I'm going to be filling in for his Vice President of IT until he can hire a new one. If I am late, I want you guys to stick together and wait outside the school door until I get there," I said. "The only reason I would be late is if traffic is backed up by an accident."

"That's okay," Chris said. "Some of the other guys have to wait on their rides to get here. We can wait with them."

"Did you guys remember to bring your running clothes with you? I'm sure they need to be laundered."

"Oh!" Larry said. "We forgot."

"Run and get them before they lock up the school," I said.

"Sorry, dad," Chris said, as he climbed out of the van behind the twins.

It didn't take more than a couple of minutes before they were back in the van and we headed for home.

I was surprised to see Donald's car in the garage when I drove the van in. "You're home early," I said. "Did you get fired?"

"Some days I wish I would," he said, giving Lenore a hug and kiss before setting her down. "And this would be one of them."

"Anything I can help with?" I asked.

"Not unless you can get that Mexican contractor off his butt and get the renovations to the Cabo hotel finished," Donald said. "They're almost a month behind schedule and the prime tourist months are coming up and it won't be finished in time to take advantage. We've been on the phone nearly all day trying to figure out what the holdup is. The contractor we hired came highly recommended, but I'm having my doubts about him. I'm going to have to send a couple of my people down there to see if they can't build a fire under him to get the job done."

"I don't think I can help you there," I said.

"My, you guys look serious," Manfred said, as he came in the back door.

"Oh, just some problems with the Mexican hotel," Donald said.

"That reminds me," Manfred said. "I don't think we will be able to go with you all over Spring Break."

"Oh, really? Why?" I asked.

"The court won't allow Luke to leave the state and I'm sure leaving the country is definitely out of the question. It would be a miracle if we would be able to adopt him by that time. I don't know if he has heard anything about it from the other kids, but if he has, I'm sure he will be disappointed."

"There's always the next year," Donald said.

I heard the clatter of dishes being loaded into the dishwasher followed by seven boys heading out the patio door to check on the dogs.

"He loves those dogs," Mel said, as he joined us.

"If we get to keep him," Manfred said, "we'll see that he gets one."

"From the way the judge talked, I don't think there is much doubt about you being able to keep him," Mel said. "You know you have my vote."

"Thanks," Manfred said. "Hildy and I appreciate that, and if it does happen, we want you to always be a part of his life."

"Count on it."

Fifteen minutes later, the three musketeers rushed back in the house. "We're gonna run some," Lenny said.

"Yeah," Chris said. "We got to get in shape for cross-country.

"Don't run too far away from the house," I said. "You'll need to be back in time to shower before we eat."

"Why?" Larry asked.

"We don't want you to stink up the place and ruin our suppers," I laughed.

"We don't stink," Larry said with a frown, and headed up the stairs behind his brothers.

"That's a good idea," Mel said. "I've been sloughing off my exercise routine since I got here."

"I guess we forgot to show you the exercise equipment in the room over the garage," I said. "You're welcome to use it anytime. Follow me and I'll show you where it is."

"Who's the drummer?" Mel asked.

"Chris is," I answered.

"You've got a pretty decent setup here," Mel said. "I played drums in a band while I was in college. Does it get a lot of use?"

"Mostly when the weather is cold or rainy, otherwise, the boys are outdoors."

"I'll run with the boys tonight and use the equipment in the morning. I can't go back to Bragg out of shape. I've got to set an example for my troops."

"I don't think a few days without exercising will turn you into a couch potato," I said.

Mel left for his room to change and I went down to speak with Gilda. Hildy and she were deep in conversation when I walked into the kitchen. "Is there anything you need me to help with for tomorrow?"

"I think we have a handle on it," Gilda said. "Hildy is bringing the salad and dessert and between the two of us we'll take care of the rest. We're going shopping in the morning after we meet the Kims."

A half an hour or so later, Mel and the boys arrived back from their run. "Those guys keep a pretty fast pace," he said. "I thought I ran at a decent pace, but I was barely able to keep up with them. Now, I know I need a shower. I don't want to stink at the dinner table."

"Manfred, what's the news on the new addition to your house?" Donald asked.

"Everything is set to start first thing on Monday," Manfred replied.

"That won't keep you from playing school bus driver, will it?" I asked.

"Not at all," he said. "If I'm not there, Hildy is fully qualified to supervise."

"That I can believe," I said.

"Do you guys have any homework to do this weekend?" I asked the boys when they came downstairs after taking their showers.

"Just a History chapter to read," Lenny answered. "It won't take us long to read it."

"Good, you can read it tonight and then you will have the whole weekend to play."

"Okay," they all mumbled. I was sure they were planning on using their free evening playing video games on the Xbox.

Mel appeared, freshly showered and went to find Luke. A few minutes later the two of them were back. Manfred called for his girls to get ready to go to their house. When they came down the stairs from Lenore's room, they all headed to the garage for their ride back to their house. Mel was part of the group that left.

We had another one of Gilda's wonderful meals before the three musketeers went off to do their reading and the other boys went to do their homework. Donald and I settled down in the living room with a glass of California Merlot. Gilda soon joined us.

A little later, the phone rang. I answered it. To my great surprise, it was Joel.

"Hi, dad," he said.

"Joel, it's great to hear from you," I said. "How are things at college?"

"Fantastic," he said. "I love it, but I miss all of you."

"We miss you, too. How are your classes?"

"They're going great. I had a really hard test in calculus today. I know I did all right. I really studied hard for it and it was a good thing. The professor is really good. He makes the hard stuff seem easy. I think one of the guys in my class thought the test was going to be a push-over, because he said he didn't study."

"You think you only did all right?" I wondered.

"Well, I don't think I got any of the problems wrong," Joel said.

"That's better. Be sure to let me know how you did."

"Tomorrow night we're going to the opening of the Houston Symphony," Joel said. "Jeremy and us are going to wear our tuxedoes."

"I assume the 'us' is you and Jimmy."

"Yeah, he really raised a stink when I showed him the tuxedo you got for him, but he's going to wear it."

"Is Jeremy's girlfriend going with you?"

"Yeah, I like Beth Ann."

"I know you'll enjoy the evening. Are you going to have dinner before or after the concert?"

"We plan to stop somewhere afterwards. We'll probably have a snack before we go."

"Why don't you make reservations at Brenner's Steakhouse? The food is excellent and the atmosphere great. Use the credit card I gave you and pay for everyone."

"I heard that place is expensive," Joel said. "We could go someplace cheaper."

"After an evening of fine music, it should be followed by an evening of fine dining. I don't have the number, but you can find them listed in the phone book."

"Dad, do you know where the closest parking is to Jones Hall?"

"Your level of tickets allow you to use the valet parking," I said. "Just remember to tip the valet."

"How much should I tip?"

I told him.

"That much?"

"Yes, it's better than trying to get from the parking garage to the hall if it happens to rain."

"Okay, dad, I'll let you know how it was. I gotta go. I have some studying to do. Love you. Tell my brothers I love them too."

"We love you too, son. Study hard. We miss you." I said. With a sigh, I hung up the phone.

"Not getting any easier, is it," Donald stated, more than questioned.

"No, it's not."

"I can remember when my Celia went off to college," Gilda said. "It was hard on us, her father in particular. He doted on her, He wanted her to go to college close to home so she could stay with us, but she had wanted to go to the University of Missouri at Columbia for their school of journalism. We didn't worry so much about Bradley when he joined the army. He was always so independent." She stopped there and I remembered that she had told me about him not returning from Viet Nam. She took a last sip of wine, said goodnight and left for her rooms.

Donald and I sat drinking our wine until Gilda left. Shortly, we heard Mel come in the back door.

"Would you like a glass of wine?" Donald asked.

"I don't think so," Mel said. "I had a glass or two with Hildy and Manfred. I think I will head on to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

We decided against another glass of wine and I went to check the house and set the alarm.

I was pouring myself a cup of coffee the next morning when Mel came out of the guest bedroom dressed in workout clothes. "Want some coffee or juice?" I asked.

"I think I'll wait until I finish my workout," He replied and headed up the back stairs.

Gilda entered the kitchen and started getting ready to fix breakfast. "When will the Kims be arriving?" she asked.

"I told Mrs. Kim that any time after nine would be fine." She nodded and went about her business and I went to bring in the morning paper. Donald was seated at the breakfast table drinking a cup of coffee when I returned with the paper.

"Anything interesting in the paper?" Donald asked.

"Just the usual. Locally, murders, robberies, and fires. On the national front, Washington is compounding their stupidity with even more stupidity," I answered.

"Oh, so nothing new."

"How soon will breakfast be ready," I asked Gilda.

"By the time you get them rousted out of bed, I'll have it ready," she said.

That was my cue to start the round of wakeups. Donald said he would get Lenore up. It didn't take long for the boys to wake up when I mentioned the breakfast was waiting.

"When are Chin and Cho gonna get here?" Chris asked around a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

"It will probably be an hour and a half before they arrive," I said. "You'll have plenty of time to brush your teeth and get dressed. And take care of your dogs."

Mel came down the back stairs after his workout. "Sorry, I'm late for breakfast. I was really enjoying your equipment. Give me a few minutes for a quick shower and I'll be ready for that coffee."

"I fixed bacon and eggs and fruit," Gilda said. "I can fix you some toast if you like."

"You're an angel," he said and left to take his shower.

Hilda and family arrived and she was in the kitchen conferring with Gilda.

A few minutes after nine, the three musketeers started watching the security monitor for the front gate. You would have thought it was one of their video games that they were watching. Their eyes were glued on the screen. When a car finally pulled up to the gate, they were off like a shot to the front door. They forgot to activate the gate opener, so I went to do it and then followed them to the door. The rest of the family followed.

The silver Mercedes drove up to the steps. Chin and Cho were first out of the car carrying gym bags and were greeted enthusiastically by the three musketeers. They started for the house, but I stopped them, instructing them to wait to be introduced to the rest of the Kims. Mrs. Kim exited the car and extended her hand to me, which I took. A gentleman, who I assumed to be Mr. Kim was helping a young girl out of a child's car seat.

It took a while for all the introductions to be made. We learned that Mr. Kim's name was James, their daughter's name was Soo Jin and Mrs. Kim's name was Mee Jung-soon. I indicated for us to go inside where I introduced them to Gilda and Hildy. After all the introductions were handled, Gilda inquired if any of them had any food allergies or dietary restrictions. Getting a negative to both, she and Hildy excused themselves to go grocery shopping.

"Let me show you around," I said, leading them to the living room and the rest of the downstairs areas. "I see that the tennis players are already on the court."

"Our two would play tennis all day long if they could," James said. "We belong to a health club not too far from where we live that has a pair of courts. Most weekends are spent with them trying to monopolize the courts."

"You have quite a number of children here," Mrs. Kim said.

"Yes," I said. "I adopted six, four from one family and the two others from different families. Donald adopted his sister's two after she died. Hildy and Manfred adopted their two girls and are fostering Luke. My oldest son is currently enrolled as a freshman at Rice University."

"So who belongs to whom?" James asked.

I laughed, "Chris, Larry, Lenny, TJ and Peter are mine."

"William and Lenore are mine," Donald said.

"That leaves Jeannie and Ginny as our adopted daughters," Manfred said. "And Luke is our foster son. We hope to be able to adopt him as well."

"I have a question," I said. "James is not exactly a traditional Korean name. What's the story?"

"You're right," he answered. "I was born and raised in San Diego. My parents were second generation Americans. We lived in a small Korean community and I grew up speaking both English and Korean. After I got my Masters in Finance from Berkley and went to work for one of the large brokerage houses, I was sent to Korea as the manager of the office in Seoul. That's where I met Jung-soon. Her father was one of our clients. A couple of years later we married. Just after the twins were born, I was transferred back to the US and spent the next almost thirteen years in Houston."

"Mrs. Kim," Donald said, "I couldn't help but notice that your English is very good with hardly a trace of an accent."

"Thank you, Mr. Baker," Jung-soon responded. "My family sent me to a private girls' school where we were immersed in the language. From the time I was in, what you would call, primary school, all our classes were taught in English. Many of our teachers were either British or American."

"Please, let's go back inside," I said. "Would you care for coffee? We almost always have a fresh pot going. There's iced tea, if you would prefer."

"I'll stay out here and watch the kids," Manfred said. "I think Luke wants to go play with the dogs."

The Kims both requested coffee. I told them to take a seat in the living room and then asked Donald to help me get the coffee.

Shortly, we returned. Donald had a tray with cups, milk, sugar and napkins on it and I was carrying a tray with the coffee carafe and an assortment of pastries that Hildy had brought over when she came this morning. I poured the four coffees and left it up to each one to adulterate their coffee anyway they wanted.

"Where's our daughter?" Jung-soon asked, looking around.

"I'm sure she's up in my daughter's bedroom," Donald said. "That's where the girls usually congregate when they're here. I'm a bit ashamed to say it, but my daughter has way too many toys and it's entirely my fault. She gets spoiled being the only girl in a houseful of boys."

"If you would like to check, Lenore's bedroom is the first room you come to at the top of the stairs," I said.

Mrs. Kim nodded and went upstairs to check on the girls. When she returned, she said, "I can see that we will have a hard time getting her to leave. There are enough toys to keep her entertained for the rest of the day."

"She's welcome to stay," Donald said. "I know my daughter and the other girls would love to have her to play with."

"That's very kind of you to offer, but we wouldn't want to impose on your hospitality," James said.

"It wouldn't be any imposition," I said. "She's welcome to stay, but of course, it's your decision."

After we all had finished our coffee, James said it was time for them to go. He went out to talk to his sons and Jung-soon went to get her daughter.

"Are you sure you don't mind if she stays?" Jung-soon asked when she came down the stairs alone. "She begged me to let her stay."

"She is more than welcome," I said. "Don't worry, Gilda and Hildy will be thrilled to have another girl to fuss over. She'll be fine."

"Very well," she said, reluctantly.

"We will probably eat around seven," I said. "If you and your husband would care to join us for a glass of wine prior to that, we'd be pleased to have you."

"Thank you, James and I usually have a glass before dining."

"Where's Soo Jin?" James asked, coming in the patio door.

"She wants to stay and play with her new friends and all those toys," Jung-soon told her husband.

"We'll take good care of your daughter," I said, following them to the door. "We'll see you for wine this evening."