A few days before, Alice had arrived in Fing City. Debbie had picked her up from the train station and driven her to Silver Hill. On the way in, Debbie stopped at the gates to introduce her Aunt Alice to the guards posted there. She asked for her aunt to be given clearance to come and go as she required. Alice was impressed by the tight security. As they continued on toward Ting Gap, Alice remarked on the beauty of the area. "This is an amazing place. And to think that it is so close to everything, but in a peaceful and quite setting. I think that I will be very happy here." Debbie chuckled and replied "And you have not even seen the villa yet! We are so grateful to you for agreeing to help us. Even more so now that it's to be triplets! If this had happened a year ago, I have no idea how we would have been able to cope." Alice had a thought "How is your mother dealing with the news?" Debbie got a frown on her face. "I need to talk to you about Mom. She is livid that we asked
The day that Debbie went back to work, Rick went down to see Old Wilson and the general. That left the household staff alone for the first time since Rick and Debbie had returned to Fing City. Li Fan had called a staff meeting in the servants' hall. He wanted to make a good impression on Alice. He began the meeting with "I have some extraordinary news for everyone. Madame and the Master are expecting! More over, it is to be triplet boys! This will mean a great change over the course of the next few months. To begin with, I'd like to introduce Ms. Alice Thomas. She is Madame's aunt. She will be Head Nanny. She will supervise the additional nurses and aids that will be required when the babies are born. I hope that you all will extend Miss Alice your respect and full cooperation as things progress. She will be staying in the room next to the nursery. As you can imagine, this will mean a lot more staff will be taken on. To that end the Master has decided to build a servants' lodge out
Old Wilson had yet to tell Rick what he had learned about his father's death. So he called and asked Rick to lunch. Rick met Old Wilson at a downtown cafe that Old Wilson favored. As they sat talking about this and that, Old Wilson finally came to the point. "I have some news for you. While you were away, I found out more facts about your father's accident. In fact, it was no accident at all. Your Uncle Roy had contracted the whole thing. He hired an assassin to kill your father to keep him quiet. Byron knew too much about certain members of the family, and was ready to expose them all. Roy did the only thing he could think of to silence Byron. He took the easy way out. By getting rid of Byron, he thought that his embezzlement would go unnoticed. But it was that very act that evenually exposed him anyway. One could say that Roy's own greed was what killed him as well." Rick was not upset about this news. He had always known that his Uncle Roy was corrupt. He even thought that Roy h
Rick replied "The new training center for General Han. With Larry's flare with design, we could disguise the property as an exclusive resort. Members Only type of feel to the outside world. With Larry designing the main house that is close to the public road, it will need his touch to make it look very exclusive and forebidding to the general public. The real propose of the property will be General Han's domain. He can design it anyway he wants. But the public view should be anything but obvious as to what the property is really about. The front of the property could be fenced off with a real exclusive looking stone or brick wall, a gate at the entrance with a guard shack. That should deter any unwanted snooping from the locals." Old Wilson was impressed with Rick's thought process once again. He always seemed to think outside the box. This would be the perfect cover for the new training center, and throw attention away from it's reality. Old Wilson said "What a fantastic idea! I'l
Debbie was just about ready to leave the office for the day, when her assistant came in and said that Lois was waiting to see her. Debbie groaned inwardly but said "You may as well send her in. But after this, I'm going home, so no more calls or meetings, OK?" Lois came through the door in a bit of a huff. "I called Alice today to ask her out to lunch. But she said that she was too busy. Has she already started working? I mean, what is there for her to do now? The babies aren't due for at least three more months if not longer." Debbie sighed and said "Aunt Alice is overseeing the renovation of the nursery. She was to meet today with the designer, as well as the head of our security. We have left it up to her to get the room ready. As it turns out, they are going to knock a wall out and combine two of the bedrooms into a very spacious room for the triplets. They will certainly need the space. Aunt Alice is in charge of that, so I'm sure that she is very busy. We want everything
When Rick got the call from a frantic Anita Cord, Debbie's assistant, it threw him into a panic. He rushed out of the villa, and drove as fast as he could to the City Hospital. There he found Debbie hooked up to all kinds of machines and wires and tubes all over her body. That made matters worse for him. He knelt beside Debbie's bed with tears in his eyes. "How are you feeling my love?" That was all he could get out without bursting into tears seeing her like this. She looked over at Rick and weakly said 'I'm so sorry to frighten you. It's just that I got very upset and my blood pressure went sky high. But the doctor says that I'm fine now. They want to keep my here for a while to monitor my vitals just to be sure. Please don't be mad at me!" "Why would you think that I'd be mad? I love you and am just worried about you, that's all. I hate seeing you all tied up with these tubes and wires. But if the doctor says that you will be fine, then I'm sure you will be. What got you so
By the end of the week, Lois' new residence was ready.`Rick had the movers pick up and deliver her belongings by noon that day. He went by just after the movers had left. He looked around the house to see that everything had been done that Larry had told him about. He couldn't help but marvel at what a great job he had done in such a short time. Before Rick left, he asked Lois if there was anything else that she needed. Lois was still a little put out at his attitude with her, but she also knew better than to make matters worse by trying to argue with him. So she answered "If you aren't going to help me unpack, I guess that is all I need for now. By the way, how is my daughter? I have not heard from her, nor has she been in the office." Rick replied "The doctor told her not to go back to work yet and to stay at home and get lots of rest and relaxation. I don't think that she will be returning to the office anytime soon. I have put Old Wilson in charge until Debbie is well enoug
Old Wilson had good news for General Han. He had scheduled the renovations on the new training center to begin. The general was really needing the space for all of his new recruits. Luckily, the construction time was only going to take a little over a month. The outdoor training area was up to the general. It was a top secret plan known only to the general at this point. The general was very secretive about his designs as not to alert anyone but those who would actually use the facility. For now, the original space was packed to the gills with men training and taking security detail shifts. But now things were looking up. Rick was going to give his first demonstration today as well. Rick left Ting Gap early that morning to make the drive up the mountain to the training lodge. On the way he had time to plan out his lesson. He first wanted to show his skills off to the trainees, to earn their respect as a martial artist Master. Without that respect, all of his efforts would be in va
It was a sad day for Rick. Today, he was to bury his beloved mentor, Old Wilson. Old Wilson had been frail, and his health had declined slowly. If someone didn't see him every day, they would notice a vast difference . But since Rick would go down to see his old friend regularly, he did not realise just how bad Old Wilson had gotten. It was on such a visit that Rick found Old Wilson sitting in his favorite chair out in his back garden. At first Rick just thought he was asleep, as Old Wilson would nap out there almost every day. But after sitting down beside him, Rick finally realised that Old Wilson had passed on. It broke Rick's heart. Old Wilson had left instructions as to what he wanted done after his death. He asked that Rick bury him next to Ruth, his wife, and their son, Christopher. It was out in the countryside, north of Fing City. Rick had made all of the arrangements, and that morning, he and Debbie headed out. He had made the announcement of Old Wilson's death to the com
After the kidney transplant, Debbie's health improved tremendously. She had regained her strength and stamina to the point that she was able to resume her duties at RBG LLC. Over the years, she had expanded offices in all of the major cities in the south. Every big company clamoured to have RBG LLC handle their accounting needs. It became a status symbol to have Debbie work for them. After such a huge expansion, Debbie and Rick had set their sights in a more global presence. So they started with Cairo, Eygpt. Since Anita had done such a good job organising that pharmaceutical office years ago, it had become the premier branch of RBG Pharmaceuticals. So it was a natural place to start the global expansion of RBG LLC. Rick and Debbie spent several months in Cairo setting up the branch, and even acquired a residence in Eygpt. It was an expansive villa right on the banks of the river Nile. Larry had designed it to reflect the location and local culture. The villa was named 'Alhudu
As time flew by, Lois had been in Jelang and had been doing very well with her shop 'Second Chance'. The local population had, for the most part, forgotten about her sordid past. She was a valued member of the business community. Last yesr, she had been nominated to run for the local Chamber of Commerce Chairman. She was of course flattered to be nominated, but was very surprised when she actually won the position. It was the peak of her life to have been given this post. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever imagine that she would reach such a height in her life. Even though it was just in a small village such as Jelang, the fact that she was overwhelmingly the popular choice humbled her even more. Rick and Debbie both were just so proud of Lois, and even came to her investiture ceremony, along with all of the rest of the Thomas family. Howard had really been putting his all into the Thomas Shelter. Along the way, he met a very nice lady, who had come in for an interview fo
The day dragged on as George frantically looked for his missing man. Since the man had no pockets, he didn't have his cell phone on him. So he could not call the general to tell him what was going on. He had all of his contact numbers in his phone, so he had not bothered to memorize any of them. After a long afternoon of being interrogated by the police, they at last let him make a call. He decided to call the resort, and if nothing else, he could leave a message for his boss. After this was done, the jailer put the man in a cell to wait for further instructions from the police Chief in charge. George finally went to the front desk to ask the desk clerk where the nearest police station was, thinking that it was a place to start looking, and to file a missing person's report. The desk clerk then remembered to give him the message that had come in for him, and it just so happened to be from his missing man. George went and sought out Matthew and Rick to accompany him to the p
After ensuring Su Ma had everything that she needed, the group left to return to the yacht. They were to spend the next few days at sea. Everyone was back on board, then they set off for their next port of call, Manilla, Philippines. It was an exotic port, and nothing like anything any of the group had experienced before. They had a wonderful time seeing all of the sights. Then they set sail for Singapore, Malaysia. This trip was a smorgasbord of many different cultures and sights, not to mention landscapes. Singapore was a bustling city, full of high end shopping centers with branded stores, as well as the local cultural sights. Museums, art galleries and the like. The kids especially liked the Singapore Zoo. It was filled with all of the animals that they had studied in school. The adults were partial to the Singapore Botanical Gardens and the National Orchid Garden. They all enjoyed the trip to China Town. It was a taste of home for them, but in a different way. There was really
The years had flown by. The Greens had expanded their businesses in every direction. The most profitable were the ocean shipping company and the pharmaceuticals. Medical supplies was running a close third. Rick was planning a big suprise for the kids' ninth and tenth birthdays next month. They had grown so much, and still all of them got along so well with each other. Li Fan had gone on to be a managing director of one of Rick's local offices, and he was proud of his work. His son, Ricky, was looking more and more like him every day. Alice was a very good mother. Ricky had grown up with the Green children, and seemed more like one of the siblings, rather than just a cousin. George and Anita's daughter Leah was also part of the "tribe". Since George paid close attention to the security of Ting Gap, Leah had grown up in the house as well. It was an exclusive daycare that Rick and Debbie were proud to provide for the two kids. All of the Green kids were very protective of them
General Han gathered all of the evidence that he had collected and called his friend at the police station. They sent the fraud investigation team over right away to go over the documents. They agreed with George that this was an embezzlement case, cut and dried. After informing Debbie and Rick of their findings, Debbie called a meeting of those involved. The head of personel walked into the conference room, stopped dead in his tracks and turned to flee. He was stopped by the security guards at the door. He was made to sit down and shut his mouth. Next, the other two culprits walked in together, chatting with each other. They sat down across from the upper managment team and waited. George introduced everyone. "Mr. Waits is the head of personel, this is Mr. Floyd, head of accounting, and that is Mr. Grooms, the managing director. Gentlemen, this is Mrs. Green, CEO of RBG LLC. The man next to her is Mr. Green, Chairman and owner of the RBG Group. Then we have Mr. Moore, Vice Pr
The crowd outside the venue were so excited to see their favorite stars and public officals as they arrived at the gala. The men dressed in tuxedos and the beautiful gowns that the women wore were worth standing in the night air to see. All of the attendees made use of a step-and-repeat banner set up for press photos. These glamour shots would been seen all over the media in the coming days. But the most stunning had been Debbie in all of her finery. Her jewels shone like the stars in the heavens. They cast a glow around her like nothing else could. The evening was filled with surprises, and a lot of money was raised for the Green Children's Foundation. Brandon was thrilled with both the turnout and the donations total. It had been a very successful night. The day after the gala, everybody at the Green villa slept in late. They only got up in time for a scumptous brunch prepared by Chef Matthew. It was well worth dragging themselves out of bed for. Then everyone started to get
Once again, the Thomas family came together for a family weekend. The highlight of the weekend was of course the gala for the Green Children's Foundation. Since Jonathan and Betty lived in Beijing, they were to be included in all of the festivities as well. Rick and Debbie loved having their family around them, and this weekend was no exception. Rick and Debbie's Beijing villa was not as big as Ting Gap, but no less opulent. After all, Larry had done the design work and supervised the work himself. It was large enough to hold most everyone coming from out of town. Lois, Rebecca, the Old Thomas', Howard, Heyward and his wife , Aunt Alice and Li Fan and of course Matthew and Brandon. So the Green mansion was full to the brim. Matthew decided to cook on the first night of the gathering. Dinner on that Friday night was a master piece of culinary delights. Matthew rarely got to indulge himself in the kitchen of late, so he went all out to prepare a meal fit for a royal banquet. His dish