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meds you’ve been on. I mean, maybe it makes the
baby sick or ill or… We don’t know about the Crohn’s either. I
talked to Steve and he said his sister Cindy, and Delphie of
course, are working on good recipes for you.”
    “ MJ,” Honey said.
    “ I know you didn’t like some of
the things she made for you, but it’s still nice of her to try.
Delphie froze all that food from their garden. They’ve found some
really great stuff too. Or at least I’ve thought it was great. And
you beat the infection. And you haven’t had a flare up in
a…”
    “ MJ,” Honey said.
    “… while. I mean, I know it’s been
really hard. I travel a lot, but you’ve been so happy the last
month or so. Working with Bambi and having Steve help you. Steve
told me Leslie is thinking about staying home when the baby comes.
That means he’ll be available to help even after his baby
…”
    “ MJ!” Honey yelled.
    “ What? Why are you
yelling?”
    Honey pointed to the beige plastic stick. MJ
looked at the pee stick in his hands. Yelping with joy, he lifted
Honey from the toilet. She laughed as he danced around the bathroom
with her in his arms. With great intensity, he kissed her lips.
Helping her back into her motorized wheelchair, the pee stick, with
its two pink lines, fell. Honey caught it before it hit the
ground.
    With any luck, they were going to have a
baby.
    ~~~~~~~~
Sunday evening – 5:17 P.M.
     
    They had expected one venture capitalist. A
friend of his mother’s. His buddy who split his season tickets with
Jacob. Five suits arrived. It seems this friend of his mother’s had
Twittered that he was going to look at a construction company and
four of his venture capitalist friends wanted to take a look. Of
course they weren’t looking to invest in Lipson Construction. They
wanted to play with the construction equipment. It was Sunday after
all.
    Well, one guy wanted to meet Valerie. He’d
followed Valerie around all day like a love sick puppy
dog.
    Jacob rested his head on his desk. He was bone
tired and nervous at the same time. The investors – four men and a
woman – were nice people, really smart, and knew business. In
between sites, they asked him solid questions about Lipson
construction. He felt like he had spent the day defending a PhD
thesis in front of business experts.
    Aden came through with flying colors. The VCs,
that’s what they liked to be called, loved the idea that he started
at Lipson as a day laborer. More than once, they commented on the
rapport Aden had with the employees. The VCs liked Tres too. And of
course, Sam charmed them completely.
    They left the real grilling for
Jacob.
    And now Jacob waited. The VCs had been in the
conference room for over an hour. Every once and a while, he heard
them laugh. He looked up as Aden came in the door.
    “ How are the kids?”
    “ Good.” Aden plopped down in an
armchair opposite Jacob’s desk. “They spent the afternoon at the
zoo. Everyone’s waiting for us at the Castle.”
    “ Everyone?”
    “ Well, the family,” Aden
said.
    Jacob nodded. Valerie wandered in the room and
sat down next to Aden.
    “ How’s Mike?” Jacob
asked.
    “ Excited. He and Colin are going
to start a little martial arts school for kids,” Valerie said.
“Colin’s been working with Katy and Paddie since last summer. Aden
agreed to let Nash and Noelle join. I guess Honey wants to learn
what she can do. Jill and the girls are probably in. Anyway, it’s
not for money. They’re doing it for the chance to do
it.”
    “ Sounds fun,” Jacob
said.
    “ Oh, Mike volunteered you to help
too,” Valerie said. “So it’s you and Colin and Mike. I guess Colin
has a couple other kids in mind too. There’s a boy living with Alex
that’s Nash’s age. Teddy, I think his name is. Does Nash know
Teddy?”
    Aden shook his head.
    “ He’s their pilot’s kid,” Jacob
said.
    “ Right, Teddy is Zack Jakkman’s
son.” Valerie laughed. “I don’t remember Zack but I guess he