He's Nothing but a Man

"Since I haven't officially asked you," I said as I opened the box holding the three-ring set. "Will you marry me as soon as my divorce is final?"

Of course, she said yes. Miranda had captured it all and sent it to Amanda with a text. Yes, it fits. I had found out her ring size from her brother.

About half an hour later Helen got an unexpected call. Both Miranda and I looked at her in concern because she had unexpectedly teared up. I didn't understand until she handed me her cell phone. As soon as the person said congrats dad I understood. It was my eldest daughter.

"You on the road yet?" I asked.

"I left at four yesterday been driving basically none stop since then." Amanda explained. "there is a lot less traffic when you're driving at night and not as many cops on the highway. My car cruises well at just over a hundred. Let my sister know I got her stuff."

I said I would and asked how much farther she had to go. She replied what time is it there. I said about 2 pm. Why. She said I need you direct me I just pulled off unto the off-ramp at Cape. I told her I would text her the directions. I did. I didn't know whether to be proud or upset because it appeared that she had driven twenty-four hours straight.

The girls heard the car coming up the driveway and were at the door waiting for her before she got out of her car. Amanda looked tired but otherwise was fine. Then it hit it me hard. I was seeing my three girls together. First thing Amanda had to do was see Helen's engagement ring. That was when the house phone rang, I ran to answer it.

"John, we have been swamped today," Chris said. "Some of the clients we lost because of the rumors are coming back and we got a lot of new ones calling to set up appointments and a lot of them are out of state. If this keeps up, we're going to have to hire a lot more staff."

"Working on that as we speak. My daughter Amanda will be starting as a junior next week." I said. "She's green but is working towards her master's in business administration."

"Can I have her on my team," Chris asked? "It will be long hours, but she will learn the ropes the hard way."

I said ok. Chris Acker was a go-getter. I had hired him right after he graduated at the head of his class. Like us all, he had learned the hard way and it had cost us but with time he had more than made up for it. It did not take long for him to learn that what was taught as business theory had no practical use in the real world. He knew and was not afraid to admit it. Everyone working under him was learning the same way. It was his approach if you saw someone making a mistake you stopped them to teach them as to why their thinking or approach was wrong. The only question that was considered wrong in his eyes was the one you didn't ask.

"Chris, Helen and I will be taking the rest of the week off. We still got a lot of things to straighten out." I said. "With our engagement, and the girls coming home we got some legal messes to sort out with them besides enrolling Miranda in school."

"Engaged wow! That reminds me we got a couriered letter from the FBI can you swing down and pick it up at five." Chris said.

"Hell, yes thanks for reminding me. I had let it slip my mind." I said just before saying goodbye.

At four-thirty the four of us were heading into town. We had decided to celebrate our first official meal as a family at Red Lobster a place my daughters picked. I pulled up in front of our office and I asked Amanda if she wanted to see where she was going to work. She said yes so, we all went in. As we walked in the receptionist stood up and lead us to the biggest conference room. Inside were a large cake and a huge banner that said congratulations. Amanda met her new boss. Everybody met my new family. It was noticed that my daughters were already calling Helen mom.

We finally made the restaurant about six-thirty. It was during there annual all the shrimp you can eat deal my daughters quit counting after a hundred and forty and couldn't believe I now ate raw lemons like most people eat oranges.

My daughters and I read the court ruling together. He first noted that the document used was one that could easily be found on legalzoom.com which required no lawyer to make it up. The second point was that the writing experts said that the signature of John Allen Masters had been traced over to copy it. Doing this had caused major breaks in the natural flow of the ink during tracing. When comparing each of his signatures on the document the breaks were not in constants in each signature to establish the pattern of behavior one develops over time with their signature. The third point was that the way I signed my name I had never used my full middle name. The fourth dead giveaway was that the recorded date of my signature according to the witnesses of it was after they had left the state of Missouri.

The second page was the court ruling that Amanda and Miranda Peterson were and had never been their legal names. Therefore, in the eyes of the court, they had always been Amanda Masters and Miranda Masters and that all legal representatives of their identification should be altered to reflect that fact.

We spent the week cleaning up the legal problems. First was the social security office, then the state attorney's office to have their birth certificates restored to their original names. Then to the motor vehicle department to get new drivers licenses in their original name. For me personally, I took great satisfaction in sitting across from the very same school principal to register Miranda in grade eleven who had told where to go and how to do it five years ago. The last thing I did on Thursday was to pick them up their new cellphones.

On Friday I had Amanda and Miranda follow Helen and me to the Ford Groves dealership in Jackson. She had given me permission to trade in her car along with Helens. The ladies each took home a brand new leased to own through my company a 2019 ford escape. Once home I wrote Amanda a cheque for the trade-in value we were allowed against our huge down payment.

My divorce lawyer called for the first time in five years. My daughters and I were to be in court for a hearing set up for one pm on Monday. I asked Helen if she wanted to go with us. She said dam right.

We were all seated before Judge Donald McDonald watching Adelia Lynn Peterson as she took her seat in the huge monitor before us. Without her bells and whistles, she didn't look like much. The color orange really did not suit her. The judge asked her lawyer if he had anything to say on the charge of contempt. He said that according to her, she had not understood that fact that she had to be in court that day.

The judge asked her lawyer did you reminded her numerous times as you worked out the settlement. He answered yes. Are you that incompetent in your field to believe that the defendant might be telling the truth? The lawyer responded no. How does your client wish to plea? No contest your honor. I sentence her to five years to be served after any federal time the Judge said in coldness. Your honor her lawyer said isn't that a bit extreme, Judge McDonald replied not in my eyes, but she has the right to appeal.

As for the divorce it is granted in favor of Mr. Masters. All assets remaining from their marriage she forfeited any rights she had to them the day she left the state with her minor daughters. He turned to my lawyer and said draw up the divorce degree and put in a wavier for the required number of days. I think your client has waited long enough.

"Your Honor," My lawyer said, "My client does have one final request that he like you to grant."

"What is that?" Donald said while looking at me with questioning eyes.

"He's recently got engaged to Ms. Helen Beard and he was wondering if you would handle the civil ceremony when they got married." My lawyer said.

Helen and the girls almost jumped out of their seats. I had a big smile on my face. My lawyer and I had thought it might play out like this. If it did he was to use the funds I had to put in his trust to pay ford Groves for the lease of the cars and have the ownership transferred into Helen and the kid's individual names and write me a cheque for what was left.

"I would be honored to and congratulations to both of them it's long overdue," The Judge said with a huge smile.

We could all still see Adelia face on the monitor. Her face glowed in the whiteness of pure shock. I felt that she believed she would get off the contempt charge with thirty days at most, not this. It had to be smarting like hell for her to learn in court I was marrying her younger cousin.

The Judge brought down his mallet and said the court is adjourned.

As we stood up to leave the judge walked over to me and shook my hand. I introduced him to my future wife and my daughters with the formal respect I thought He deserved. He told them all I'm not on the bench right now so it's just Don. Before we departed, he said we got to go fly fishing soon John before it gets too dam hot.

No man I believe has ever seen three more girls excited than the three girls in my life were. They all started talking up a storm. Having been used to the sounds of silence for so long I was wishing for a good set of earplugs. That's when I caught a glimpse of a couple quietly leaving the court. It hit me hard. They were the last persons I expected to see. It was my mom and dad. As my dad said when he ended our relationship and disowned me "Forgiveness is easy, Forgetting is not," I was learning the hard way how true the fact was.

Nothing excites girls more than anything then being invited into the planning of a wedding. That is what filled our home as we got back into a normal routine. Helen put her house up for sale. Amanda was fitting in with my staff really well. It had been commented that she had a sharp keen mind. Miranda during the first week had rediscovered some of the friends she had known before and was reconnecting.

Masters Consulting was being swamped as we landed two new corporations that month that needed completely restructured if they were to survive along with a major cash inflow. Amanda surprised the hell out of us all when she pointed out things that we had completely overlooked that were costing our customer millions in prospective sales. It took her three weeks to turn that part around. The increase in sales, as a result, surprised everyone.

Helen and I were lying in bed just cuddling one night. She was adjusting to becoming a mom. Just like I was at being a dad again.

"You know dear my biological clock is ticking how long do you think we should wait before trying for one or two of our own," Helen asked while looking at me with her dreamy buttercup eyes.

I have to admit I had never given that a thought, but I knew after all she had gone through with me, I had no right to refuse.

"Let me answer your question this way as long as you're not showing for our wedding pictures, I will leave that up to you," I said.

I don't think I have to explain why neither one of us got much sleep that night.

It was on Mother's Day that we finally said our vows. Amanda was the maid of honor Miranda and another niece maid's in waiting. Chris Acker was my best man, and two of my nephew's ushers. It was a small affair held at the back of our house with the lake in the background. Helen's brothers had been in charge of getting the yard ready. The Judge married us while standing beneath an arbor of spring flowers. All of us men were dressed in blue jeans-wearing cowboy hats and matching boots. Of course, the ladies went all out. Helen wore a traditional white wedding gown. Her brides' maids wore yellow dresses. Her extended family went all out as the barbeque spread was a delight. That night our patio turned into a huge dance floor with live music.

Life went on. Adelia and Ronald's criminal trial had begun. Ronald had filed for divorce. My civil lawyer was in discussion with their lawyers and Bank of America's legal team hired for this case. Our first Father's Day as a new family was approaching. I knew my wife and daughters were planning something, but I had no clue as to what.

On Father's Day, Helen and I were up on the lake in our canoe fishing at the crack of dawn. The fish were really biting. It seemed that as soon as the flies hit the water they were hitting. In less than an hour, we had our limit. Just before we started to head back to shore Helen handed me a card she had hidden on her body. I opened it. It said happy Father's Day daddy. Were pregnant and it's a boy. I jumped in excitement and flipped the canoe. We lost everything the fish, the fishing poles and our tackle box. We ended up going back to shore in our canoe completely soaked. When the girls found out about how I found out they thought it was a hoot. They had already been told about Helen's good news.

It takes time for things to mellow. But that is not always true. For me, it took watching the birth of my son. He came into the world screaming weighing seven lbs. It had shocked my mother when I called asking her to come to the hospital maternity ward as soon as possible. When my mother arrived, I rushed her into Helen's room where she was holding our son.

"His name is Collen Richard," I said.

My mother lost it that had been her grandfather's name. As for my father and I, we still don't speak. He would have to come to me and as of the time of writing this he hasn't. but each morning is another day and life goes on.