Chapter 10

The weekend went entirely to fast for Sean and Brooke. Before they knew it, the time had come to return home. They spent the last remaining hours left on the yacht, enjoying the views, and they enjoyed the carefree atmosphere of the yacht itself. They decided to tell their parents the news as soon as possible.

They docked late Sunday night, and the first thing Sean did once he got the car loaded, and Brooke and he was settled, was call Tom to check on Candi. After the report, which was promising, Sean asked Tom if he’d be his best man at his upcoming wedding to Brooke. Tom answered a resounding yes, and started to ask all sort of questions that Sean did not have answers for.

Sean took Brooke to Whitehall to formally announce the news to his parents. Even though she had been here many times over the last year, Brooke was still taken back by the palatial size of Whitehall. She had been raised among those with money, but she had not seen a house of this magnitude. She had thought her father’s mansion was large, which it was, but it did not have the amount of land or the manicured beauty of Whitehall.

They went up to the door, and were greeted by Mr. Watts, who took them into the theater, where Sean’s parents were getting ready to view a film.

“I thought you were retired Mr. Watts, I mean after all those years of working for my grandfather you certainly deserve the rest.”

“Well, I tried retirement, I found it boring, and not at all to my liking, so had I returned here to ask if my services could be used. Your parents found they liked the idea of having a true gentleman’s gentlemen about the house. Of course my duties are not nearly so demanding, as when they were for Mr. Whitten.”

Ian stood up when Mr. Watts announced their arrival.

“Good-evening Sean. Brooke, good to see you again, how is everything?”

“Just splendid, thank-you for asking Mr. Mallory.”

“Please, call me Ian, it makes me feel younger” Ian joked.

“So Sean what brings you here tonight? You all set for the big day tomorrow?”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be” Sean answered “As for the reason I am here, I came to announce some terrific news.” He paused for dramatic effect, and then started with the announcement.

“Mom, dad, I’ve asked Brooke to marry me and she has said yes!”

Blaire got up and went to Brooke and gave her a big hug.

“Welcome to the family. It’s about time he got around to asking you, I was beginning to worry he would never get to it.”

Ian reached out to his son and patted him on the back.

“Congratulations son, I ‘m real proud of you.” Then he went over to where Brooke was and gave her a gentle hug.

“Once again welcome to our family, we truly have been waiting to see when this kid would leave the nest now he’ll have no choice. We know that you guys love each other, and we’re all for it. Have you decided on a date yet?”

“No, not yet we haven’t even told her parents yet, you are the first to know, well except for Tom, we told him when we asked how Candi was doing. She’s doing better by the way.”

They moved from the theater to the family room, the movie forgotten with the announcement of the planned wedding. The women talked about where to hold it. Here, or at the church, inside or outside? They discussed colors, and what was the best time of day for a wedding, early morning or late evening maybe mid-afternoon. These and many other subjects concerning the perfect wedding ceremony were each analyzed in minute detail.

While the women talked about the perfect wedding and the honeymoon to accompany it, the men were playing a game of pool. They were also discussing the wedding but in a much more archaic terms.

“Sean you realize that this is a major step, that this is the one that makes you a real man. You now have to think of Brooke before anything else, now she will be your number one priority. That means she comes before your business, and that even goes for us, you think of her before you think of us, your parents. I have to admit I haven’t always lived up to those criteria, myself. I let your grandfather’s behavior get to me I took it personally and I sometimes made you mother choose between her father and me. That is a recipe for disaster. Usually the woman will choose her father, its instinct; he’s the one who got rid of the monsters under her bed. He’s the one who taught her that the lightning and thunder were harmless. He’s the one she cried to when she got hurt. You should never try to interfere with the father daughter relationship. Every father is the same, he sees the man who wants to marry his daughter as a threat to that relationship. He sees him as someone who is stealing his little girl. You see son, to a father his daughter never really grows up, to him she’s always that little girl who fell asleep in his lap, while being read her favorite story.

He will always want to keep her from harm. One last piece of advice, he will never think that any man is good enough for his little girl. Don’t take this last personally, it’s the same all over the world. And if you should ever have a little girl, you will be the same way, a father can’t help it. I just wish my father had told me this when I was your age it would have prepared me for a better understanding of how to deal with your Grandfather Whitten. It took me years, to understand his problem wasn’t me personally, it was the idea that I was doing for Blaire, what until then he had always done for her. That added to the fact she had no mother to bond with made his pain even deeper, it wasn’t until his death that I found all this out.

I read the apology he wrote to you mother, and was sorry I never tried to get to know him better”

Having given Sean what he thought was the most important advice for a young man about to embark on marriage, something that he never received. Ian sank the nine ball and won the game.

The hour became late and Sean took Brooke home. He went straight home and right to bed he had to be up very early in the morning. It was to be his first day on the job as the CEO of The Whitten Companies, He tried to sleep, but it was no use between to the anxiety of taking over a major corporation and combined effect of Brooke saying yes to marriage, he was too keyed up. He tried everything from counting sheep to an old home recipe of warm milk all to no avail.

Sometime before 3:30 in the morning Sean’s body took over and he fell into a fitful sleep, he dreamed of an elevator ride, it seemed to never end. It just kept going up and up, then for no apparent reason the car stopped. The doors however remained closed. Then the car started to descend, slowly at first, then it picked up speed, then Sean realized that the he was falling, and it was his own screams that woke him up, in a cold sweat. Sean looked at the digital clock on his nightstand. It read 5:45, he decided to get out of bed and start his day early.

He showered and shaved, and put on a thick terrycloth robe then went to the kitchen and started breakfast. He ate light, just a couple of eggs and two strips of beacon, with a glass of milk. After breakfast was complete, Sean decided to go to his closet to choose his outfit.

He decided to wear a gray suit with a medium blue shirt and a mustard yellow tie. This was a somber look for him, but he figured it would be best not to appear to be too flashy. There would be those who resented any change, especially when it involved new leadership. Especially if that new leader were younger then most of the workers own children. Sean started to put some unfinished reports into his new attaché case. Then he grabbed his Blackberry, and out of habit he made a cursory check of the day’s to do list. He learned that he needed to pick up his diploma from the university. Although he already knew he needed to pick it up. He just wanted something to put into his new Blackberry Pro 2.

Sean got out the door and on the road by 7:00 and was confronted with rush hour traffic. He hadn’t really any experience with it yet. He usually scheduled his classes to avoid Houston’s infamous morning traffic.

Houston traffic was second only to LA in severity and in the amount of time it took to go from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’. Thankfully it hadn’t got to the point of gunfire on the interstate, but Sean wondered when that to would be a Houston standard. Sean took the University Drive exit and turned into the main entrance of the college. He parked in the visitors parking and went to the business office.

He received his diploma and carefully read it to ensure there were no mistakes, or misspellings. He had done in four years, what most needed five to accomplish. He graduated with a double major, Business administration and International Finance, with a minor in communication. He felt that the next step would be maybe later go back and get a law degree and concentrate on international corporate mergers. He wanted to bring Whitten Inc. into the 21St century and prepare it for the dominance of space and space travel.

Sean arrived at The Whitten Companies, Inc. headquarters at exactly 9:00. Blaire, as well as the rest of the executive staff met him. Even Mr. Hardy, Sr. was there to congratulate him on his first day. He was shown to his office on the top floor of the new company headquarters. After the two companies were merged, there was an issue of whose building to use as the headquarters. Since more room was required then any of the buildings had individually, they decided to find a new location. They finally agreed on a five-story complex, with two smaller buildings that were three stories tall. These would be used for R&D and accounting, personal and various other divisions. It was also close to an industrial complex, so they bought it as well and turned it into a new factory for improved productivity. The entire complex surrounded a small park like setting that even had a duck pond. The move had allowed the company to almost double its office space, and it allowed Whitten Avionics to upgrade its plant. One added benefit was that they were now in a better location.