My name is Lucas Moore, I'm 54 years old and I own a small packaging company in Brunswick, Georgia. I grew up in Athens, Georgia and married the love of my life, Jeri Colton, right out of high school. Jeri was not your typical southern belle, she had short jet black hair with the bluest eyes and a smile that would melt anyone's heart, a true knockout. Fortunately for me her smile melted my heart.
We were in love when I got her pregnant. I did the right thing by marrying her, but mind you we would have gotten married anyways as we were in love.
I went to school at UGA. My parents were kind enough to allow us to live with them while I attended college. This was a wonderful benefit to us as it allowed Jeri to stay home and raise our new born daughter, Megan. Megan was the love of our life and we, along with both our parents, spoiled her rotten.
After I graduated UGA I got a job selling graphic packaging to CPG companies. CPG stands for Consumer Product Goods, companies like Coke, Nabisco, Kraft Foods, etc. Within a couple of years we had saved enough money to buy our own home. Being that my main clients were mostly situated in or near Atlanta we bought a starter home in Peachtree City, GA. Now that was back in the early 1990s when housing was more affordable in Peachtree City than it is today.
When our daughter, Megan, turned 6 years old it allowed Jeri to find a part time job to help supplement our income. Before long I had grown my business to the point that I was making some serious cash allowing Jeri to become a stay at home mom.
It was at this point in my life that I decided to roll the dice on my abilities to provide for my family. After many confidential conversations with my most important clients, conversations about whether they would follow me if I left my current employer, I decided to invest in a small packaging company in Brunswick, Ga.
With the help of my parents, my liquid assets, and a small bridge loan from the SBA we closed the deal. I found myself the majority owner of a company with 95 employees and approximately $12 million in yearly revenues. I renamed the company Lucas Enterprises and set out to see if I had made the correct decision to invest in myself. We sold our home in Peachtree City and bought a much larger home right on the ocean in St. Simons Island.
Before long it became obvious that I had made the right decision, thanks to three loyal clients. After a 6 month wait, for appearance sakes, they moved all their packaging business to Lucas Enterprises. Within the year I had solicited outside financing to acquire a larger facility. This allowed me to get more equipment increasing throughput. Long story short, revenue's tripled as did profits. We were on our way and I never looked back.
At the age of 30 I was a self made multi millionaire without a care in the world, that is until I came home one day to find my wife looking very somber. Jeri had been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. It was like getting hit by a locomotive. I was shocked. I said we would get through this together but Jeri knew that wasn't going to happen. In less than a year Jeri passed away. She fought valiantly but in the end it was to no avail.
Both Megan and myself were distraught, Megan, more so than I, as she was younger and had spent all her life being nurtured by her mother. I tried as hard as I could to be tough for Megan's sake but I cried myself to sleep every night for as long as I could remember.
At work I relied on my Administrative Assistant, back then known as my secretary. Her name was Penny and she had my complete trust. She had been with the company when I had invested in it. Immediately I sensed that Penny was someone I could rely on. Even though everyone looked at her as my secretary, I viewed her as much more. She was a confidant, someone who could hear my daily frustrations and help point me in the right direction.
For the better part of a year, following the death of Jeri, she was the CEO defacto of Lucas Enterprises. We communicated everyday but Penny was the one in the building making decisions in my absence. Our company continued to flourish at an unprecedented rate under her stewardship. Upon my return I immediately promoted her to Executive Vice President, second in command on the Org Chart, reporting only to me.
As much as I tried to help Megan through this difficult phase she was intent on finding her own path. Saying she was a handful was putting it mildly. She was into drugs, alcohol, and bad boys. At the age of 17 she became pregnant. I never liked the father which was probably not a good thing and soon she gave birth to my granddaughter, a beautiful little girl named Brandi.
Brandi soon became the apple of my eye. I tried my best to get along with Megan and her husband Mac, but it was fruitless. Both Megan and Mac were more concerned about their social calendar than providing for Brandi. As I voiced my concerns, it became apparent that I was an outsider rather than a dad and grandfather.
I did my best to stay close to Brandi. As she got older she started to call me Poppy. She would smile at me and say, "Hi Poppy!" It broke my heart when Mac got a new job in Birmingham, AL. It didn't sit well with me and I think they realized it as well.
After the move to Birmingham our communications became less frequent, our get togethers almost non existent. It saddened me so much that I just immersed myself into my company, which at this point had grown to a multi plant regional manufacturer, employing over 500 people with revenues in excess of $200 million.
This brings us to today. I haven't seen or heard from my granddaughter in over 4 years. She just turned 18 so I sent her what I thought to be a nice birthday gift. I didn't receive any thank you nor any acknowledgment from my daughter which was par for the course.
I was in my office reviewing budget numbers for the upcoming year when Penny popped in and said, "Lucas, can I interrupt?" I looked up and said, "Of course what's up?"
Penny approached, closing the door behind her, and said, "Sheriff Rice just called and said he has a young woman under custody who says she is Lucas Moore's granddaughter."
My heart stopped for a split second as I tried to digest what Penny just told me. I said, "Wait a second, is Bobbie, Sgt. Rice, saying this girl is claiming to be my granddaughter?" I looked at Penny as she just stood there, frozen in her tracks, nodding yes.
I stood up and said, "Let's go see what this is all about."
I hurried out with Penny racing behind me trying to keep up. "Lucas, slow down." she shouted.
I stopped and waited for her to catch up and said, "Penny I haven't seen my granddaughter in over 4 years. I don't even know what she looks like. Oh my god. what is she doing all the way here and by herself!"
We got in my car and sped towards the Sheriff's office. As we approached I slowed down and asked Penny, "Now Penny, you and I go back a long way. Why am I feeling so god dang nervous?"
Penny laughed and said, "Oh Lucas, you're nervous because you haven't seen your granddaughter in four years! My Lord you don't even know if it's her. You'll be fine. Let's just go in and see if this young lady is indeed who she says she is."
We walked into the Sheriffs station and saw Bobbie sitting at his desk. He got up and came to us, shaking our hands he said, "Lucas this girl does not have any ID on her but she did have 2 joints and $24 in cash. She looks like she's been on the lam for several days."
I said, "Well let's go see if I can tell if she is who she says she is. I haven't seen her in four years so I don't know if I'll be able to tell."
Bobbie led us back into the building we're they had several jail cells. We stopped just outside the door and waited for Bobbie to get the young woman claiming to be my granddaughter.
