"Thanks. I'll be spending that week chasing it with the man I love. It doesn't get any better."
"And that's how you take care of your mental health?"
"Just knowing he is there in my life takes care of that. Uh, now you've got me started, Hannah. He'd better be home at a decent hour tonight, or tomorrow morning he's going to find me hanging off you know what."
"Why Dr. Como, am I watching my shrink devolve into just another horny woman?"
"At the end of the day, do we really want to be anything else?"
"Not me. I'm right there with you. You absolutely must come by to see us for New Years. I entertain every New Years Day at my townhouse in Center City. People go to and from the parade, they eat a little something and take a load off. Our soups that day are very popular. I didn't even ask you if you were a Mummers person."
"I've never really liked string band music. But the parade is very colorful. I just love being downtown when stuff is happening. Do I have to reserve?"
"Nope. If you show up, great. If not, we'll understand. There's always have a good crowd. We really don't stay up that late after the ball drops, so we are raring to go in the morning. Most of our crowd doesn't come till after noon and we generally serve till about six. In fact, we always spend a couple of hours at the parade when the string bands are coming by. So many of our friends come and go and we never even see them. Think about it, and we'll see you next week before you go."
With Dr. Como gone, I finally got a chance to spend some time with the kids. We just had a temperature drop of twenty-five degrees and it was crazy cold out. So, we girls just sat around and chatted. I wanted to get their impressions of the schedule we had set up, which in many ways mirrored last year's agenda. We added something we hadn't done before; we would be taking two days up in the Poconos. They generally start making snow around mid-December, and by the time we hit the slopes, barring unforeseen warm weather, the hills should be nice and white with mostly man-made snow. It will be the first time the kids will be sledding, skiing, and snowboarding. Celeste was in it for the Olympic sized pool they had at the resort we were staying in.
We would be leaving the townhouse super early Monday the 28th, and have breakfast at 'The Jube.' It's Van Gilder's Jubilee, and for three generations, the Van Gilder's have been serving the best breakfast in Pennsylvania. And they served scrapple. Holly loves that.
We expect to get to the Lodge before noon and hope to be on the local slopes by one or two. Then dinner at The Dock at Wallenpaupack, another decades old favorite, where tonight you could eat a trout that this morning was swimming a hundred feet from your table. Oh yeah. It's that cool.
Tuesday we'd hit the slopes again in the early morning before checkout, have a late lunch at the restaurant, and again hit the Lodge's indoor water park. Then we'll head home and catch dinner whenever. We're on a holiday schedule and anything goes."
The kids cheered when I finally stopped to catch my breath, and I looked over at Holly who was smiling. "Mmmmm, scrapple," she said. It was bath and bed time, and, well, by now you know the routine.
With the kids in bed, we went downstairs and joined Bertha, Aggie, Duane, and Davante. All the bodyguards were out and about. "You know," Duane said, "if you want to do all these wonderful things during break there's much to be done with the businesses before then."
"And for that reason, Linnie and I will be spending a lot of time both together and apart working on it, starting tomorrow morning. And don't worry, Duane. We've put you first. Royce Field Services will be the first of the three companies up and running. We really have to just link it to the informal operation you've got running now. The other two don't concern me. They will happen as they happen. At this point I don't have one employee for either of them. But I want Royce up and running itself by January one. And it will be."
"Well, my love, I have every faith in your ability to make this happen. Do you need me on board for anything in that regard tomorrow?"
"As a matter of fact, I have a conference call with Linnie at eleven, and then you, she and I have another conference call with the licensing people. You and I will talk before bedtime about what you will need for the meeting."
"Don't worry, I'll be ready. In talking to both you and Linnie I believe I know all the documentation I will need and have it pretty much ready. So, it should be a good meeting. But, like you said, we'll talk tonight."
Everyone drank tea and we discussed the upcoming weeks. Duane and I would be on the run every day and it would be up to Bertha and Lizzie and Holly to control the house and the kids. Mostly my kids. Lizzie stepped up big time, and Holly was starting to show promise. The Smith girls, as always, were stepping up big time and putting in a lot of hours. Mac was even spending a lot of time with us and was a big help during the winter harvest. Carrots, garlic, potatoes, Brussels sprouts and my favorite, Bok Choy.
Before the night was over Duane and I went up to the office to make sure he had the necessary paperwork for tomorrow's meeting. Mama also got a little tune up in the video conference room. We really do have to put a day bed in that room. Or at least a more comfortable chair.
Wednesday's meeting with Linnie and the licensing department went well. Duane's experience and his stellar reputation was like grease, slipping the paperwork right through the system. But the next two weeks were a blur. I hardly remember seeing the kids. Before I knew it, it was time for our end of year meeting with all our advisors, and on Wednesday, December 16th, at the empty space that would be all of our new offices, Linnie Lawrence introduced three new companies that would be working under the Todd-Bernstein umbrella, starting January One. Everyone cheered.
At that time one of my bodyguards came in carrying eight pizza boxes and a box full of hoagies. Everyone put their work aside and started chatting, either about the work they were doing on my behalf or Christmas plans, or whatever. And then back to work.
While there was a break in the action between lunch and work, I asked everyone, "Is there anything you can see getting in the way of us bringing the year to an end today?"
Everyone agreed we could except for some things that will have to be taken care of at the last minute, all things that were planned for. There were no loose ends out there. As the song says, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas." After everyone reported in and I thanked them all for a great year, we parted and Linnie and I hugged and kissed and congratulated each other for the hard work and accomplishment. Larry did not attend the meeting. He did none of the work. This was Linnie's baby, and I was on board. With a baby of my own, actually. This operation was one hundred percent Mama driven.
One week left until we leave for vacation, and everyone is on pins and needles. Celeste and Georgia have mid-terms on the twenty-second and twenty-third, then a half a day of partying in school before we take off for the city. The girls and Holly and I would be spending a fair amount of time studying until the weekend which they would have off to just chill until the tests came. That weekend was good for the girls, but not so much for me. I was going crazy. What Lizzie calls Cray-cray. I've been going nuts to both hear from my doctor about the baby and to tell the family that we are growing as a family. The thought of having twins had me torn. Happy for Duane, but frightened at what that would do to my body. A body that has already weathered three pregnancies.
We were so pleased with the girls' hard work studying, that Saturday we took them to New Hope and Peddler's Village to see the incredible Annual Christmas displays. New Hope was always well supported by its wealthy residents, but Peddler's Village, a spot popular with local tourists and shoppers, fell into hard times in the 2020s. After a long time mostly sitting empty, the Village was revived as part of the Great Recovery of the middle Thirties. It now sits at ninety-five percent occupancy and the businesses are thriving. And the restaurants are to die for.
Sunday was a very big day for us, and it took my mind off babies for just a minute. Of course, I had that wonderful reminder this morning as I dry heaved into the toilet almost the minute I woke up. Oh yeah. I'm so pregnant. Today the architect is coming. And the Tuttlehill women are coming for breakfast and to advise us as we review the plans with the architect. When they arrived, Celeste was all over them. Could she get them anything, do you want to see the house? What can I do to make you more comfortable? Can I see the plans? Harry calmed her down until the architect arrived.
When he came in, we were all together, including the kids, and he was with a woman. He introduced her to us as Priscilla Maign, an aquatic architect. She was tall and athletically built. "Prissy Maign, the Olympic Gold Medalist?" Celeste called out?"
"Yes dear," the architect said. "Gold and Silver in 2040 and Silver and Bronze in '44."
"Can I get your autograph?" Our little pup asked. Which sparked an outcry of laughter amongst the adults.
"Oh, young lady, friends don't need autographs, and we will become great friends. Where do you swim now?"
"I swim at school and at my friend Harry's house. Harriet Tuttlehill."
"Oh, I know the Tuttlehills. I designed their pool space. Harriet and I have had the opportunity to swim together. I hope you and I will too."
Celeste's mouth was hanging open. And she was nodding her head enthusiastically. Once Celeste got herself under control and stopped drooling over Ms. Maign, we looked over the blueprints together and they answered all our questions and those of the kids. It would be a beautiful space. The first floor, which would run beyond the length of the south side of the house, would be a two lane Olympic sized pool, with a full bathroom, sauna and large hot tub. Of course there was a full bathroom. Upstairs, on the second floor, there would be a large nursery, designed to be split into two rooms if there were two of them and once the kids got a little older. There was a good sized playroom and a 20' by 20' bedroom for whomsoever had the night duty. There was also enough of a bathroom to keep the kids clean and a petit kitchenette, just enough to warm a bottle or to cook up some oatmeal when that phase starts. And there was lots of closet space. Enough for four babies or small children. And enough room for a million diapers.
Ms. Maign explained that although this is one building, attached to our current building, they are treating it as two buildings, separate and apart, because of the humidity from the pool. They would provide every possible barrier between floors as well as horizontal space, to keep the humidity downstairs, including fifteen-foot-high ceilings on the first floor, but just eight footers on the second. After we discussed those basics the kids, except for Celeste, were getting bored so we sent them downstairs so we could get to the stuff we didn't think they'd care about, or we didn't want them to know about.
First, we talked about the additional solar and how or even if it should be plugged into our current array, and a third windmill. We definitely would need the extra juice with so many new things to run and heat to keep things comfortable in the winter. The feature I hadn't asked for but was highly recommended was the windows along the entire wall. They were more like doors and were seven feet high. We'd open these during the summer months and cut down on the humidity and save on electricity. The addition being on the south side of the house would allow sunlight to add additional heat year-round. With the exception of the nursery, it was very much like the Tuttlehill's addition.
"This is sweet," Gloria said, "I know you're gonna love it. What do you think Harry?"
"I want to reserve the first race with Cee Cee when the pool is opened."
"Cee Cee?" I asked, having never heard that before.
"That's Celeste's swimmer's name. I'm Harry and she's Cee Cee. Right Ceece?"
"That's right. From now on my name is Cee Cee." And from then on if that wasn't what you called her, she just wouldn't respond.
Before the architects headed out, Duane and I pulled them aside to review a portion of the blueprints that were for our eyes only. Amongst the many reasons this was going to be a long project, is because we were building a basement and subbasement under the pool. That's a shitload of concrete, and it's gonna take time to dry. We hadn't designated the basement yet, but the subbasement, which would only be half the square footage of the great long basement, that we knew what we wanted. It would be our combined top-secret storage and safe room. We would be building things into this room that half the security companies in the country don't even know about. In this regard Duane has been working very closely with the architect. Looking at the entire project, the architect estimated two years until completion. That means Celeste would be ten or eleven. It would give her years to be able to practice on her own terms before the big races started to rule over her life.
