Laura's Big Win (2 page)

Three days into the course, he
discovered another reason for teaching: Mary Younger, sitting about
the middle of the room. But this was business, and as he had done
at the resort, he kept his distance, only taking admiring glances
when he was sure she was not looking. Ryan was very good at
maintaining business confidentiality, but the personal level was
something he was not practiced at, and it was down to a matter of
hours before Mary was made aware of his interest by every other
woman in the class, even if he did keep his distance. She had been
doing course work at a junior college part time, trying to decide
what career to follow, and now in her mid-twenties, she had decided
business courses were where she needed to be and she transferred to
full time. A dedicated and bright student, she seldom needed help
with anything in the course, but that didn’t stop her from creating
opportunities for Ryan to step up. Meeting in the campus coffee
shop to allegedly discuss a class, Ryan finally broached the
subject of their relationship and explained why he had been
maintaining his distance, the student-teacher thing and all that.
Mary understood his dilemma, but it didn’t change her mind. This
man was worth going after, and she opened the dialogue.

“We’re on quarters, and we are now four
weeks into this course. In eight weeks the class will be over. I
guess what I really want to know is, when the class is out, is that
it for us, or is there more? A girl has to sort of know these
things, you know, and truthfully, I just can’t read you, so I’m
asking.”

“You know me, at least some, and you
know why I’ve stayed at arm’s length; I think that’s only fair to
the other students. But I’m not blind, or unaware of you. At the
end of class, if I reach out, will you be there?”

“If you want me to be there, I’ll be
there.”

“I want you there, and I think it’s
going to a damn long eight weeks; if we can stand that much, it’s
good practice for a lifetime.”

Mary was startled at this turn of
events, from a simple dating situation to a comment about a
lifetime commitment, but she realized this was a man who knew what
he wanted, and she was apparently what he wanted, pretty much sight
unseen. Maybe he was a quick learner, or a good reader of people,
or something. She only knew for sure that she wanted to know all
those things about him, and it would indeed be a long eight
weeks.

Chapter 2 – Mary, In The
Beginning

As things turned out, the commitment
ran a little over the eight weeks they had planned. At the end of
the spring quarter, Ryan and Mary enjoyed two graduations and a
wedding all in the same week. After a two week honeymoon traveling
about the globe, they returned to home base and started looking to
the future. Mary was aware that he was ambitious to a point, less
for the personal wealth he would gain than for the challenge of the
project, and she enjoyed wrestling with the data to see how they
could work things out. It was not unusual for them to be up at all
hours working on something, but the important thing was that they
were together and they enjoyed each other to the max. When he
became be too serious, she would poke fun at him, and where her
data became boring, he knew just which rib to tickle to get a
wrestling match started. They were a duo to reckon with. One of the
late nights Ryan had been scanning the internet looking for real
estate potentials, maybe a place they could take over or buy out,
and convert into a really exclusive business oriented resort with
all the A/V, IT, and every other gadget modern business needed to
function, combined with tight security. One thing they had not
looked for was a home since they had agreed they would take five
years to work out their wild ideas, then settle down for the long
haul; couple of kids, and probably a pet or two to fill up the
house.

“Mary, look at this place for sale in
some burg called Conyerville. It’s an old family estate the heirs
want to get rid of. Come see. I think we should go take a look.
What do you think?”

“Wow, it has everything. Are you sure
we can swing the deal? It looks huge, even has a golf course
attached to it, and at least in the pictures it doesn’t look like
it needs a lot of work. What are they asking? Oh, okay, I see the
price. God, that’s all? Are they crazy?”

“No. I’d say they’re spoiled brats who
have no idea what a gold mine they have on their hands. All they
see is an old building from which they want to get some money, then
go down the road. People like that have no vision, no sense of the
possible. Think we should take a look see?”

“Yes. I can get us a letter of credit
in the morning. Do we have any hours left on the
Gulfstream?”

“Enough hours to get us there and back.
I’ll call up the schedule, and if it’s clear, I’ll e-mail the pilot
now so he gets it first thing in the morning and we can make the
run.”

The Conyerville airport was a rather
nice field, albeit a little small, and didn’t see many planes like
the charter Gulfstream that came rolling in. Worse, there was only
one rental car left, or as Ryan surmised later, maybe one car was
all they had. Regardless, they made their way to the place called
Windmere and met with the realtor. He seemed a little reluctant to
be there, as though he thought maybe these kids were simply a waste
of his time. He quickly learned it was not a fools errand when the
questions came rapidly, on point and in depth: taxes, utilities,
easements, any liens, any problem with neighbors, current zoning
and could it be changed without too much difficulty later, police
protection, fire protection, any plans for airport expansion, local
workforce availability, and so on it went for several hours. Both
Mary and Ryan took copious notes and shot dozens of photo’s inside
and out of the house, carriage house, cottages, golf course club
house and potential for a pro shop. Quick estimates were drawn up
of the remodel and repair work needed, and refinishing of surfaces;
the utilities were marginal and the air conditioning units were
showing tell tale oil seepage around the gaskets. All told, it
would be a substantial renovation project, but it was within range.
Ryan suggested they retire for a late lunch, then meet in the
realtor’s office with the owners; there was no sense, he said, in
the realtor taking offers and running back and forth between the
parties when they could do this eyeball to eyeball and see where
things shook out. The realtor was indeed grateful since he was not
accustomed first of all to dealing with people like this, or
property like this, and the owners were, as Ryan surmised, spoiled
brats who were difficult to deal with at best.

Over lunch, Mary and Ryan planned their
strategy, good cop/bad cop, and nailed down all the numbers they
would need. That done, they discovered the food they had been
mildly ignoring was rather good, and home baked pie even better
heated, with vanilla ice cream on top. And Ryan noted as they paid
and left a generous tip that it was a curious fact that the cook’s
name was Cook, Doris Cook. He’d have to remember to dine there
again if the deal went through.

And go through it did. Meeting face to
face, the heirs were no match for Ryan and Mary; every counter
offer was countered lower and documented, leaving no doubt about
who was really in charge of the negotiations. But finally, they
decided their time per hour was worth more than they could gain per
hour of negotiation, and they made a last offer, payable in cash,
right then. To say the realtor was stunned when they made one phone
call and transferred the entire purchase price was a significant
understatement. The heirs were left with enough after the
negotiations that they could enjoy it for a few years before it was
squandered; Mary and Ryan found themselves with a project level to
the top of their heads and couldn’t wait to get started. It would
be a long haul the first year, although the final price was well
within their reach and their financing would cover nearly two years
of renovations, if it took that long. Ryan still commuted to
consulting jobs, taking Mary along when possible. After a long year
of hard work, including much of their own sweat, Windmere got a new
ornate sign at the front entrance and a power security gate that
could crush a small car. With things well in hand, and bookings
starting to pick up, Ryan suggested in passing one day that the
small stand of woods off to the side of the main drive had a
clearing large enough for a house. Up until that time, they had
been living in adequate quarters in the main house, working all
hours, and enjoying each other, but Mary quickly picked up on where
Ryan was going with the house idea.

“Yes, I think maybe it’s time. But I
want to build exactly what we want, so don’t be in a hurry. First
of all, I have a basic idea what I want, but what it really comes
down to is how many bedrooms and bathrooms. Wild guess?”

“Yes. Five and six. Maybe seven. I
mean, suppose your mother comes to visit; we’d need at least one
bathroom just to store her curlers. And ….”

Mary had lunged at him, bowling him
over and jamming a finger into his ribs. “Make comments about my
mother will you? Take that, and that, and Oh God….”

Ryan had retaliated by rolling her in
his arms and legs and had her totally helpless while he nibbled on
an ear. The planning resumed later in the afternoon, and it did
include five bedrooms and seven bathrooms, although Ryan could not
be specific as to why. He just said that seemed like a nice number
for some reason or other, but that if the house was designed right,
they could add a room or two later and it would still all blend
together. The basic plan would be two story frame, with the first
floor arced so the kitchen, breakfast room, dining room and great
room were all one open space, but the kitchen would be out of sight
from the great room, and mostly out of sight from the main dining
room. The bedrooms would be cantilevered over the great room so the
access balcony would have visibility into the great room but the
bedrooms themselves did not. Mary dove into the project, but it was
always their project, not just hers or his.

Almost a year later, and without the
loss of any large trees, the house had taken final shape before
them, complete with some antique appurtenances they had discovered
in their travels, such as the double door entrance with stained
glass sidelights they had discovered in a house about to be
demolished in New England. The house had run a tiny bit over budget
according to Mary’s numbers, by a large 30% according to Ryan’s
numbers, but Ryan’s attitude was that money in the bank wasn’t
food, or shelter, or warmth, and brought him no happiness; spending
for the house did bring him happiness if for no other reason than
the smile it brought to Mary’s face. For that alone, price was no
object, although they were hardly breaking their bank with the
revenue they were seeing. Furnishings took months to acquire,
carefully selected piece by carefully selected piece, and only two
of the bedrooms were furnished with very specific items, although
one of the other bedrooms was comfortably furnished to be a guest
room. The main bedroom was a work of art, complete with a work
alcove with all the bells and whistles and connections, huge “his”
shower and an equally sized “her” bathing room, king sized bed, and
a massive flat screen television on the wall that could be fed a
multitude of signals; there was even a balcony over the porta
cochere with sliding doors to enjoy the evening breeze, and a table
with a couple of comfortable chairs for reading or maybe drafting
some piece of an idea. The second bedroom started to acquire
furnishings for very small occupants, although no specific
traditional color pattern was developed. Mary decided the colors
would be neutral so there could be no gender bias, although Ryan
reminded her that he was very gender biased, particularly for her
gender and all the things she brought with her.

Move in day included a staff party,
house tour, all the good things that come with a completed project;
everyone was impressed with the noted transitions in the house,
from the more farm house style large kitchen through to the more
ornate and staid great room. Even in the formal great room there
was a diversity of furnishings, at once tasteful and refined, while
retaining comfort as a primary goal. It was a house to be lived in,
a home, and the homeowners were delighted both with the final
results and with themselves.

“There’s just one more thing we need,
maybe two.” Mary noted later that night. They had finally retired
for their first night in their beautiful bedroom after a long day,
and with the lights out had opened the cover on the expansive
skylight to look at the stars.

“I’m not sure the budget can stand just
one more thing, but for you, anything my love. Could I go slay a
dragon or something, just so it doesn’t involve having to get out
of bed now that I’m all warm and comfortable with your cold feet
all over me.” Ryan responded.

“Nope, no dragons. And you don’t have
to get out of bed. In fact, that would sort of ruin my plan. I
stopped taking any birth control meds two months ago. Wanna play
baby roulette with me?”

“You know, I thought something was up.
You’ve been a little different the last few days, and I like it.
Sure, I’ll play. Any instructions?”

“Shut up and use Braille.”

In a fairy tale they would have lived
happily ever after, but as the months went by and there was no
pregnancy, they started looking for reasons, never blaming or
accusing, always as two people with one life and one goal. Testing
didn’t seem to rule anything in or out for either of them, although
one doctor did say he knew something was wrong but just couldn’t
quite identify what he was seeing. And then there was the tired
feeling Mary seemed to get from time to time, although she always
gutted it out as was her nature. They still had a thriving business
to run and she had every intention of doing her full share until
other duties called. It was during one of those tired spells that
Mary decided to go from the office area to the house to lie down a
bit, not something she ordinarily did but today things just seemed
to be a little worse. Coming back from an errand, Ryan asked her
whereabouts, then went to the house to see how she was. It was then
he found her comatose, and the run to the hospital was on. Again no
one could seem to find the problem and Ryan pulled out all the
stops. Calling people with the right contacts, they flew to
Minnesota for a consult, and wished they had not gone; at least now
they knew what they were dealing with. The oncologists simply said
there was no radiation, no chemo, no nothing that would even slow
down the tangled entrenched tumor in her brain, that the end was
inevitable and not too far distant. They could prescribe pain
medication, but were otherwise helpless. They were also quick to
point out that it would have made no difference if the tumor had
been discovered sooner; it’s malignant nature and fast growth made
it a killer without equal as cancers go. Worse still, there was no
surgery for removal or even reduction because of the way it grew in
the brain cells.