'Theoretically, of course.' I offered.
'Theoretically.'
'Thank you for your time, Mr. Thompson. Will you bill me for your services, or may I pay on my way out?'
'There won't be a charge for this meeting, Mr. Marshall. My first consultation is usually free, and as I said, you have an 'interesting' mind; it was a pleasure talking with you.'
'And if it should happen that a young lady seeking manumission were to meet you, how might she be billed?'
'Oh, for such a worthwhile cause, I doubt that I would bother; it would be a public service to be able to help a young lady in troubling circumstances achieve her freedom and happiness.'
'You are quite a gentleman, sir.'
'For a lawyer.' he smiled.
With that, I left, thanking his receptionist on my way out.
The next morning, Kelly called him at my suggestion, and was able to see him just before lunch. After their meeting, she called the other lawyer he'd directed her to, and got an appointment for a few days later. I'd been careful not to tell her what Thompson had said about manumission; both to surprise her, and to avoid putting any pressure on her.
When she came to stay with me for a few hours, I could see that she was excited about something, but was careful not to 'notice' or mention it until she brought it up herself. When she did, I agreed that it sounded like an ideal solution – not just for us, but also for HER. As we cuddled on the couch, we made tentative plans for her move, but leaving the timeline open until after she'd met with the lawyer that would be handling things for her.
Thompson had been right; there was a manumission law in our state, and Kelly's home life certainly qualified her to apply for it. The lawyer she saw was willing to do it 'at cost' – that is, simply for any filing or other fees outside his office. He started the paperwork, and suggested to Kelly that she say something to her parents before the paperwork was delivered to them, so that they would have some warning.
When she told me about it, I backed him up on it, pointing out that if it hit them without warning, they might decide to fight it just because it pissed them off. She was still hesitant about it, but brought it up with them, anyway. To her surprise, they actually seemed mildly pleased at the idea, and told her that they wouldn't have any objections to it, or fight it. In fact, they even told her that they would be happy to give her a few thousand dollars to help her get started, along with the title to the car they'd bought her. With that kind of response from them, she even brought up the idea of moving out, perhaps even before the start of the school year. They agreed to that, as well, saying that they would pay for her final year of private school, as well, as a gesture of 'good will'.
When she got to my house, she was almost in a state of shock at how it had gone with them, and how agreeable they'd been – and more than a little saddened by those facts, as well. I reassured her as best I could, holding her in my arms and telling her that I loved her. After a while, she perked up a bit, and we finalized our plans for her to move in with me. The next day, she called her lawyer, and told him what had happened; he assured her that moving out before the paperwork was finalized wouldn't have any impact, that if anything, it would strengthen the basis for her request.
So, the last weekend before school started, Kelly gathered up her things, and moved in. True to their word, her parents gave her the title to her car, and a receipt for her last year's tuition at school, along with a certified check for $10,000. A couple of weeks later – and after a brief appearance by her in court – her manumission papers arrived.
With them in hand, she went to the bank to open her own checking and savings accounts. The bank fussed, a little, but ultimately gave in, setting both accounts up as requested. That it was the same bank I used for my personal and business accounts, and she liberally dropped my name, helped a bit.
Back at home, we'd gone out and gotten some additional furniture, mostly for her to put her things in, in the bedroom. I provided her with one of the encrypted garage door openers I had; the remote being encrypted, the garage door wasn't subject to some clown driving down the street hitting a commercial or generic remote to see which doors opened. We also went through a 'crash training' session with Mabel, so that Kelly had
During all of this, Paul was surprisingly supportive – particularly after Jan told him about what had passed for Kelly's home life. He told me that the boys had asked about all the stuff that was going on, and that he and Jan had explained things to them in such a way as to satisfy their curiosity without going into too much 'detail'. They were old enough to notice that something was going on, but not old enough to really understand the what or why, so once satisfied that they weren't being left out of something, it didn't take much to appease their curiosity.
While all this was happening, Jan came over a few times; she seemed quite willing to accept Kelly's primacy in my life, and didn't seem to have any reaction or express any opinion when Kelly and I would exchange touches, or kiss or caress. Then again, Kelly didn't seem to mind when Jan would kiss me, either. I downplayed it as best I could by not making a big deal of it, either way – whoever was handy got kisses and caresses when the mood struck, and I didn't object to whoever wanted to kiss or caress me.
Things went along pretty well, at least, until the middle of October: talking to Dan, I found out that he'd been set up to go on another long trip out of the country, scheduled to start a few days before Halloween.
As he and I talked about it, we finally came up with something approximating a plan. Initially, I offered to take all of the kids, but the boys weren't real impressed with the idea: the Trick-or-Treating around my house was slim pickings. A little more discussion, and we came up with an alternative idea: they boys would stay with some cousins (where the goodie quality was significantly better), and Jan would stay with Kelly and me. Jan, of course, was more than agreeable to the idea – but was courteous enough to conceal it from Paul, out of consideration for his feelings.
The see-Paul-off process went off pretty much as it had the first time, with the addition of Kelly – who surprised him by giving him a hug and kiss on the cheek before wishing him well.
When we got back to my place, Jan didn't hesitate to move her little bit of luggage into the second bedroom, and get herself set up there.
That night, things went along pretty quietly – supper, a little television, and off to bed, since they had school the next day.
The next evening, I got home to find them both sitting on the bed in the second (Jan's) bedroom, chatting. When I went in, they both jumped up, and came over to give me a welcome home hug. I was feeling a bit pleased with myself, having come up with a rather elegant solution to a problem I'd been having with the design for a client. Not only would it save me a couple of week's worth of installation labor, but was simpler and easier to expand, as well. So I was quite willing to offer to take us out for dinner, if they wanted. They most definitely did, and after a few minutes discussion, we settled on going to a Chinese food place that I favored because it offered genuine Chinese food, versus the Americanized stuff most places dealt in.
Rather than fight the Friday evening rush, we decided to relax for a while before heading out to eat. I went in to lie down on the bed while the two of them discussed what they wanted to wear.
When it finally came time for us to leave, I changed clothes; when I stuck my head in Jan's bedroom, I found that they'd changed, as well.
Since we were all ready, we headed out to dinner.
When we got there, they were surprised to find that the restaurant was fairly small – only a dozen tables or so, well separated. When he saw me, the owner greeted me in Chinese (Cantonese), and I replied, quickly exhausting my limited knowledge of that language. It was enough, though, to please him all over again, and he quickly had us seated, telling his daughter – the waitress – to take good care of us.
After looking over the menu, and hearing the evenings special, we each made our selections; the girls were quite ready to listen to my advice after I explained to them that real Chinese food wasn't anything like what they were used to. I went with shark fin soup and a couple of other smaller dishes, while the girls played it safe by ordering more conventional dishes.
We sat there, sipping tea and nibbling crackers, until the food arrived.
I quickly had my chopsticks ready; the girls seemed baffled by them, until the owner's daughter came by and gave them a lesson in Chopsticks 101. After that, things went along a bit better – and even more so when they realized that it was not only okay, but expected, that they hold the small dishes under their mouths to help the
