E & E Ch. 04

"I am a lawyer, but first and foremost I am a wife and mother. If we don't need the money I will quit tomorrow."

"Ginny, I am afraid I went through all my savings and I sold the Motor home and everything else I own except for some acreage in Florida that is worthless."

"Sweetie, don't worry about money. While you were so sick I instituted a lawsuit against Jose and his estate for over a hundred million dollars, US. My attorneys have been in contact with the legal people in Mexico and what with what he did to me and with what I learned about his dealings they want me paid and silent. Besides that my IRAs are bursting with money. I also have investments worth quite bit. We can live anyway you want to live. We can even do a job or two for the President if you would like to. I have to confess that in doing our bills I looked through your files found the title to your land in Florida. I called the Court House there and found you were delinquent in paying your taxes. I paid them for you. They came to $135,000."

"WHAT?"

Ginny grinned, "Darling, that worthless property has been rezoned along with the adjoining parcels. It is worth Millions. It sits slap dab in the middle of high scale gated communities now. It is prime Real Estate now."

"Well I'll be damned, I thought that some day it might do something, but I had given up hope. I have been distracted for a while and just forgot about it."

"Mack, I think we need to take a trip down there before we make any decision about what to do. We need to get some idea of the true value first."

"That sounds good to me. I also have a meeting with the president schedualed for tomorrow. I want you with me, we are invited to lunch at the White House after the meeting."

"I haven't a thing to wear."

"No, don't even think of going shopping without me. It ain't gonna happen. Ring for Mike."

Mike was fastening his uniform jacket as he entered. "Yes Sir, General, how can I help you?"

"Mike, Ginny needs to go shopping. Call 8th and I and ask for a platoon of armed Marines to accompany us. We will not take any chances."

"Err, ah! I'll see what I can do sir."

"Forget it Mike, I was just kidding. You and I will accompany her. Arrange for transportation. Civilian Cab will do."

"Sir, I love Mrs. Mc Dermott too. Cookie already told me to guard her with my life. If anything happens, she says I will no longer have a happy home."

"Thanks Mike, we appreciate that. You might see if we can borrow a folding wheelchair, I give out pretty fast still. Ask Cookie if she can go too. She is having lunch at the White house tomorrow too."

"Yes Sir, she'll love that, she says she hasn't had a chance to shop since the baby came. She weighs less than she did when we first met. She is a real hottie now, just like Mrs. Mc Dermott she says."

"OH! Mike, Cookie is so sweet, I love her too!" Ginny said.

Mack and Mike went in uniform with the girls. They went to several exclusive shops Cookie knew of and got super service from the sales people who were in awe of Mack in his uniform with row after row of ribbons on his chest and three silver stars on each shoulder, Mike with his blaze of ribbons, and twin silver bars on each shoulder pushed the wheel chair. It was still very warm in Washington and the girls modeled sun dresses for their men. They were both stunning. Cookie had really bloomed into a real beauty with a few tips from Ginny about her clothes and grooming. Cookie loved the attention Ginny gave her. She had spent so much time in Moslem clothing she didn't know how do things the average woman had done all her life. Ginny tried to show her how to accent her beauty. Mike loved it.

They went to a shoe shop next. The both got very high- heeled sandals to go with the new dresses. Naturally they needed purses to match the shoes. Mack grinned in delight the whole afternoon. He wanted to shop some more but the girls were tired.

The next morning General and Mrs. Mc Dermott and his Aide, Captain and Mrs. Mahoney sat in the Oval Office with the President and the First Lady. The First Lady was enthusiastic in her greeting of Ginny and Cookie. She hugged Ginny and kissed her cheek, then held her at arms length looking at her carefully, "Are you all right Dear. We are so happy to have you home."

"I'm fine Ma'am, Mack is the one who suffered." They both turned and looked at Mack. He was still gaunt and thin. His gray hair was starting to darken a bit on top. The First Lay walked to Mack. She looked at him carefully. "General Mack, I admire you so much, is there anything we can do to help?"

"Thank you Dear Lady, they tell me it will just take time to rebuild what I didn't take very good care of."

"General, we know that, the President and I have checked on you every day for months. We get a report on your condition the first thing every morning. We have been very concerned about both of you. Please get well soon, we need you."

The president smiled at Mack, "She is right about that, General, but I have new orders for you, I have extended your active duty time indefinitely. Your orders are to return to your home in Georgia or wherever else you might like. I am authorizing a small office and a staff of four. You will receive a daily briefing on matters I want your advice on. If I have questions or you have a question of me we will have a top-secret satellite phone connection coded and decoded on each end. Unless otherwise directed you will send me each weekday morning a brief written summary of your ideas or your 'take' on certain matters I shall refer to you the previous evening. Some things may take longer to research. Just give me a 'off the top of your head' reaction, then research or think about it and get back to me. Am I clear?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good, now I want to congratulate you on the fine job you did for us on the Southern Border Command. General Zeigrfeldt has been promoted to Major General and is now in command of the Combined Military Southern Border Command. You did a fine job of organizing planning for its existence. Not all the physical changes have been completed but they are well underway. The results are much better than we had hoped for. Unauthorized border crossings are at 7% of what they were when you started. You slammed the door. I really love the way you work, Mack, cost wise you are at 30% under budget. Most of this was accomplished when you were under the tremendous pressure of your personal tragedy. God bless you and your sweet Ginny. We are both very happy to see you back together."

"Thank you and the First Lady for your concern sir. I am doing much better now that I have a personal slave driver watching my every move. Every calorie and gram of fat is recorded. Every erg of energy I exert is also tracked. Woe is me if I don't perform up to standards."

"Oh! You are back in the 'Love Slave' business I guess." Laughed the President.

"Yes Sir! It is the best workout you can find."

"Do all Marines have such beautiful wives?"

"Sir, My aide and I are very fortunate these lovely girls chose us for husbands."

Cookie smiled, "Sir, the General really has no idea of how lucky Mrs. Mc Dermott and I are to have our husbands. He is right, we both chose them above all others."