Roswell Fanatics

LilLoucfer:I don't think she's seen any pictures of Max and Liz...she was too occupied with Liz's husband, Maria was the one who kept her informed of Liz's whereabouts!
Janet:Keep reading...
Kate:My mind isn't that good Kate, but it does get worked out!
Natalie:I like nimrod!!!Good one...I like 'numb nuts' too!!!
destiny:we'll see!

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chapter: 34

Back in Farmington a confused and unhappy Tess Harding didn’t know what to do with herself. She knew the police would be looking all over the place for her and she couldn’t think of where to go, who to call or what to do. She really wasn’t quite sure why she had been arrested… they said conspiracy to commit murder but she never really conspired to kill anyone and she had no one to discuss it with. They gave her a public defender who, after talking to her, came back to her and said she was being transferred to a mental facility for observation. What in the hell would they transfer her to a mental facility for. She wasn’t crazy…all she ever wanted was Max Evans to love her….there was nothing crazy about that. She needed someplace safe where she could think. ‘I know where they would never look…Liz’s. She’s not there, no one would ever know it wasn’t her at her place’. So Tess found her way to Liz’s house and went around back…broke the window on the back door, opened it up and went in. ‘Boy, nice digs’ she thought to herself.

She went to the refrigerator and checked out the food situation. She found some pretty rancid salad in a bowl and some spoiled soup in a container. She quickly disposed of those items and then checked out the freezer and found a couple of steaks and some other meats and frozen vegetables. There was canned goods in the pantry so Tess proceeded to heat up some canned soup and make herself comfortable. She really needed to eat something and rest. She needed to think this out.

After she ate the soup she headed upstairs and found Liz’s bedroom. The closet was full of clothes in Tess’s size…although they weren’t her style they fit. She took a nice long shower and changed her clothes and crawled into bed…turned on the TV and settled down for some much needed rest. When the news came on she saw her face plastered all over the television screen and she was listed as possibly armed and dangerous. What in the hell were they talking about? Armed…where in the hell would I get arms and when did I become dangerous? What is going on in this world she thought…I need some sleep…I will think about this tomorrow and she turned off the TV and went right to sleep.
Back in Philadelphia Max and Liz left the mall in time to get to the cathedral for Mass and then when it was over Liz made Max wait until the monsignor came out of the sacristy to tell him that they would be in the VIP box again. Apparently the crazy woman she told him about had escaped and so they were watching out for her safety again. Liz felt like laughing, the whole thing sounded so bizarre that laughter was in order. The monsignor looked at her and then at Max and said…you don’t seem too upset about this.

“Well I am I guess, but to be honest…it’s getting old. I’m too happy to be upset over this…I just want it over.” Liz said.

Max shook hands with the monsignor and told him his tickets were at the box office as usual and that he would have an escort waiting for him to take him to the VIP box when he arrived,

“Thank you Max…play good.”

“I will…save souls.” Their usual banter with each other.

“Will do Max…see you tomorrow….bye Liz, and be careful.”

“I will, good night monsignor.”

“Good night.”

Back in the car Liz mentioned to Max that they needed to set up an appointment with the Monsignor’s office for pre-nuptial instructions.

“What kind of pre-nuptial instructions do we need for God’s sake…we’re practically living together as it is…we have waited years for this. It’s not like we’re 18 and don’t know what the hell we’re doing.” Max was on a roll and Liz just sat there and kept her mouth shut for a change and let Max rant.

She knew he was upset over this Tess situation and the upcoming games and he needed something to vent about and some one to listen to him so she did. This wasn’t fun banter this was nervous release. Pretty soon Max calmed down and Liz took his hand and kissed his palm…”feel better?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Welcome…where are we having dinner?”

“At Luigi’s…okay?”

“Absolutely.” And she gave him a great big smile and within minutes they were in the parking lot of the Italian restaurant where everyone was waiting for them. Unbeknownst to the two of them it was a small get acquainted party to give Liz a chance to meet everyone.

When they entered Luigi himself escorted them to a room in the back that had been set up for a large party…Max didn’t even know there was a banquet room in the place. When they entered the room the entire baseball team, the coaches and all of the wives and significant others were there. Max held Liz’s hand and they both stared at all of the people…the gang yelled surprise and Max and Liz both smiled and looked at each other in shock. How nice this was.

Max took Liz around and introduced her to everyone and they all made small talk before sitting down to a feast fit for a king. None of the food was on the menu. Luigi had his wife oversee the dishes for the evening and she outdid herself. She had the chef’s prepare a lot of Max’s favorite recipe’s as well as some new ones and everything was wonderful. There was alcoholic beverages available for anyone that wanted them but no one ordered anything with alcohol except a couple of the wives who had a glass of wine with their meal but for the most part that was it.

Max and Liz both enjoyed the evening and then Liz told Anne and Kadee about the blond bombshell that escaped and she wouldn’t be able to sit with them in the bleachers tomorrow. She was so looking forward to the whole ball game experience but it would have to wait. They couldn’t believe the story Liz related to them, and Liz just shrugged. She said that when they find her that she(Liz), Max and most of the people that knew her from Roswell would testify on her behalf. Liz told them that she felt Tess had needed help for years but everyone just sidestepped her shenanigans and allowed her to get away with everything and now it finally caught up with her. Hopefully it wasn’t too late for her. The women couldn’t believe how nonchalant Liz was about this and Liz told them that she had been through so much in the past couple of years that this seemed like nothing. They all looked at each other and wondered what in the hell she was talking about. Oh well, maybe someday she would know them well enough to relate the rest of the story…in the meantime she didn’t seem to want to go into it so they let it rest.

About eleven o’clock Liz motioned to Max that she was ready to leave so he stood up and thanked everyone for their well wishes…thanked them for the lovely party and explained to them that they had family and friends coming in from Roswell and they needed to be up and ready to greet them. They all gave a rounding cheer and told Max that he did alright for himself. This embarrassed Liz to no end and she turned red as a beet. Max looked down at her and chuckled…pulled her in close to him and said “Thanks everyone… I think so too.” He kissed her on top of her head and said “good night” and headed for the door. Everyone in the room watched the young couple leave and Anne and Kadee said a silent prayer that they were safe.
Max and Liz got home about midnight and Liz got her silk plants out of the Jag and waited for Max to close the garage before heading to the back door. Max opened the door up and Liz headed for the elevator…Max chuckled, “You like that don’t you?”

“It has it’s moments…like right now…I really don’t want to climb any stairs, I have been up and down those stairs a hundred times today…I think I’ll ride up this trip.”

Max leaned in and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be right up as soon as I check and make sure everything is secure.”

“Okay sweetie…see you up there.” And Liz took her greenery and closed the elevator door and pushed two on the pad. When she got off upstairs she headed right for the end bedrooms and placed her plants on the shelves next to the showers and stood back…yes, that’s just what they needed. She turned around and saw Max smiling at her…

“You Like?” he asked.

“Oh yes, don’t you?”

“yes, now come to bed. You look worn out.”

“I am and I don’t know why, I had a really long nap this afternoon.”

“And you had a very busy morning as well. Come to bed sweet…Olivia will be all bright eyed and bushy tailed when she gets here and I am sure she will want to know everything about New York, your left hand and I do know you will be getting a serious lecture for cleaning this place, so be prepared.”

Liz just shook her head in acknowledgment and followed Max down to the other end of the hallway. She was getting quite used to by-passing her room altogether…and more than that, she was also getting used to sleeping in the nude. Not bad, not bad at all.

“Oh, Max, did you tell the folks about the engagement?”

“No, I want them to discover it for themselves.”

“Well once they see this finger there won’t be any surprise…that’s for sure”

Max chuckled at that and said…”Yeah, you’re probably right, now come to bed.”

Liz never said another word…she took her clothes off, laid them across the chair in the corner and crawled right in next to Max…Max spooned right in behind her, pulled her close to him, kissed her shoulder and they went right to sleep. All Liz dreamed about all night was Amber eyes, ornery grins and black hair…and she felt safer than she had ever felt in her life.
When Olivia arrived at the estate the next morning around 8:00 a.m. there was no one in sight. She figured Max and Liz had a busy night and she was ready to start cleaning to get ready for the visitors and then she looked around the hallway…went to the kitchen…headed to the entry hall and the living rooms and everything had been polished, waxed, scrubbed and vacuumed. What tornado hit this place she wondered. Did Liz hire a cleaning crew or something…then she realized…Liz did this herself. What is wrong with that girl anyway? She didn’t have to do this. My God, even the windows have been washed.

So, realizing that she didn’t have to do any housework she headed to the kitchen and found a note from Liz on the refrigerator.

Olivia,

Besides the Evans and Whitmans the Guerins are coming as well…I just wanted to warn you that there will be eight of us instead of six and Michael is a big eater, at least he used to be. Good morning by the way and we will see you when we wake up…the entire team had a party last night and we got in late. See you…

Liz

Olivia smiled how sweet of her to be thinking of me. I wonder what time the guests will be arriving? I know the game doesn’t start until 6:00 so we will probably be eating lunch in…I guess I’ll just wait and find out. And with that Olivia took a pad and pencil and started in the pantry and worked her way to the freezer and then the cold storage refrigerator to take inventory. She would place her grocery order and then go and water the plants. She wondered if they had been watered in her absence. Then she looked at the ones in the kitchen window and noticed these cute little tubes sticking out of them. These are those new watering bulbs she saw on TV…how clever. Didn’t she leave anything for me to do she thought. Then her curiosity got the best of her and she just had to sneak upstairs and check out the back bedrooms. When she rounded the staircase at the main hallway she noticed Liz’s bedroom door was wide open and the bed was made…Oh…she thought, things got cozy around here. She just kept to herself and headed to the farthest bedroom and when she opened the door she couldn’t believe her eyes. It was beautiful. The windows were covered in baby blue sheers with white drapes trimmed in baby blue and finished off with a white and baby blue valance. The comforter matched the white drapes as did the pillows and Euro pillows. The lamps were silver with white and blue shades and the flowers on the dresser picked up the same blue tones. There was a painting hanging above the chair that sat at the other end of the room with silver wall sconces with crystal candle holders that held blue tapers that matched the blue tapers that were on the dresser. She went into the bathroom and smiled at the beautiful blue and white towels adorning the towel racks and shelves and the green silk plant on the top shelf by the shower did the trick…then she noticed the silver basket on the bath tub and all of the fine toiletries in the basket and thought to herself, this girl has spent some serious money on this room that’s for sure.

Soon she heard some rustling at the other end of the hall and figured she’d better get herself back downstairs and start some breakfast. She wasn’t worried about getting caught upstairs…she came up here all of the time, she just didn’t want the young couple to feel awkward. Little did she know that they probably wouldn’t feel the least bit awkward around her, it was Mr. and Mrs. Evans Sr. that they might feel a little awkward around but they shouldn’t. If anything they are going to be elated.

Kate:Thanks...keep on reading!
destiny:Thank you...
Chula:Is that good or bad?
Ken:You are so right...but do you think the fans want to read just about Tess? Boy, what a great young actress to have brought so many people into this love/hate/pity relationship. I never did think the show needed her character but what do I know? I really think it would still be on the air had they used a different approach to things.
LilLoucfer:Yeah, I guess it is a little creepy!

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Chapter: 35

Back in Roswell Philip was on the phone with Jesse who had just finished a conversation with Kyle Valenti and there still wasn’t any news on Tess. Philip just shook his head and wondered what in the hell they were going to do about this mess. How many more things can go wrong?

Diane was busy getting her things together and wanted to know what Philip wanted packed…

“Diane, you have been packing my suitcase for years, it doesn’t matter what you pack, you know I’ll wear whatever you tell me to anyway.” Diane knew it was the truth but Philip sounded a little short this morning. “Philip, what’s wrong?” she asked and Philip looked at her and knew he had to tell her. He really didn’t want to put a damper on the day but she would find out sooner or later so he gave in…”Diane, Tess escaped the mental facility and they can’t find her.” Now Diane wasn’t one to use profanity very often but this called for an “Ah Shit Philip…when is that girl going to get a break?” meaning Liz…

“I don’t know Diane, but she sure as hell is due for one. Now, just make sure I have enough clean clothes for a couple of days and we’ll play it by ear…okay?

“Okay Philip…I am going to pack a suit and tie in case we need something dressy.”

“Good, you do that and then we can go pick up Izzy and Alex…do you think we should call Michael and see If they want to ride with us?”

“Yes, do that. …it won’t hurt to ask.”

So Philip called the Guerins and talked to Michael…Michael told Philip that they would be taking their own car because they were only going to stay three days and they would need transportation when they came back. Philip said that sounded abut right and told Michael he would see them at the airport. Michael said great and hung up.
Back in Connecticut Tess was up and about early and took herself a shower, found some jeans and a tee shirt in Liz’s closet and headed down stairs to fix herself some breakfast.

She still didn’t know what to do about any of this. She knew it wasn’t safe for her to go out anywhere and she couldn’t call her office to see how things were going there so she busied herself about the kitchen and watched some television. She thought Liz had a pretty nice house here… the furniture was nice and it was very cozy.

She needed to get some fresh fruits and vegetables if she was going to be here for very long but she didn’t know how she was going to manage it. Finally she went into Liz’s office, got on line, checked the yellow pages and found grocery stores that delivered in the area. Then she logged into her computer at home and got her credit card numbers from her private line that was set up for her business that she could access from remote computers. She wrote one of the numbers down and all the information she needed and called a grocery store and placed an order and then gave Liz’s address for delivery. She asked that they bring the groceries to the back door and the person on the other end of the line said he would see to it and when she gave the credit card number her name and address came up on the guys screen. ‘Holy shit, this is the woman that escaped from the nut house yesterday’ he thought to himself and he immediately called the police station when Tess hung up.

Kyle was on duty when the call came in and when the duty sergeant gave him the information Kyle couldn’t believe it. She went to Liz’s place. Kyle went in to see his captain and told him that they located Tess, where she was and what she was up to. The captain told Kyle that he didn’t know if the woman was a flippin’ genius or a damned idiot. Kyle told him she was a little of both. Shall we have one of our guys make the delivery and haul her ass back over to the mental facility. I think if we take her back there we need to put her in restraints until we find out just how dangerous she is. “I agree Kyle…why don’t you just go ahead and take care of this…after all it is your baby.”

“Okay captain…I’ll get Jonesy to take a box up to the back door, he looks like a kid, then we can just waltz in and grab her.”

“Fair enough Kyle, but please be careful. Like you say, we don’t know just how dangerous she is.”

“Captain, I’m just shooting from the hip here, but I don’t think she’s very dangerous…she’s just not right upstairs if you know what I mean.”

“I know Kyle, but still, be careful.”

“Sure enough.”

And with that Kyle went out of the captains office and set up the plan to pick Tess up again.
Meanwhile Max and Liz were waking up and when they looked at the clock it was already 9:00 a.m. Max pulled Liz in closer and nuzzled her neck and she melted…”morning Max…”

“Mmmmm, morning Liz…do you feel better this morning?”

“Yes, much…how are you feeling?”

“Great actually…I think I heard Olivia earlier. Shall I call down and tell her to start breakfast?”

“Nah, let’s wait until we get down there and then decide what to have. I don’t have a clue as to what I want.”

“Me either…wait til’ Dad gets here, we won’t have any problems at all deciding, hash browns everyday.”

“Oh God, yes…work out city here we come.”

Max laughed at her and then rolled her over and started to run his hands down the side of her waist and headed on to her backside and Liz just purred...oh this felt so good she thought as she scooted closer, turned to face him and draped her leg over his…it wasn’t long before they were wrapped around each other and saying good morning in the nicest of ways.

Max had found Liz very receptive as he found her nub and ran little circles over her ‘happy spot’ as he liked to call it. Soon she was moving in rhythm with his hand and he inserted two fingers into her and whispered to her to cum for him and it didn’t take her long. She was in the throws of passion and Max was elated. It was so wonderful to be able to pleasure her like this and then Liz took his solid erection into her hand and started to work some magic of her own…when she had Max about where she wanted him she rolled herself over on top of him and impaled herself right down on his rock solid erection and rode him to completion. Max had a very tough time keeping his noise to a civil level. He was groaning from the depths of his loins to his throat and the harder she rode the louder he got. Liz was completely turned on and soon Max felt her quivering, he felt her juices engulfing him and she was coming again, that was all he needed and he let out a roar and released at the same time as Liz. They stayed locked in each others embrace for what seemed like forever. When they finally came down from their high Max pulled Liz up to him and gave her a very sweet and tender kiss and said “WOW!!!” and Liz just grinned and said in a very sultry voice “Yummy?”…Max replied…”You know it sweet.” And they both laughed at each other.
Olivia could have sworn she heard yelling from somewhere in the house but when she stopped and listened there was nothing. Oh well, maybe Charley had a radio on outside…then she had an epiphany…upstairs, and she just smiled and kept on working in the kitchen. ‘Bless their hearts’ she thought to herself.
Upstairs Max and Liz got up and Liz started to make the bed…Max gave her a look but took the other side of the bed and they were finished in no time…then Liz picked up her clothes and headed to her room.

“Why don’t you move your stuff in here? Don’t you think it would be more convenient?”

“What would your Mom and Dad say Max?”

“Probably ‘goody-goody’?”

“Max, I’m serious.”

“So am I…wait a second…I’ll get a robe and we can bring it over together.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes I’m sure…now come on…that chest of drawers over there is empty, you can put your underwear in there and you can have the empty closet…okay?”

“Okay…” So the two of them went to Liz’s room and started hauling her clothes over to Max’s room and in a half hour she was moved in and the two love birds were in the shower together sharing round two of the mornings activities…

At least the sheets were still clean on Liz’s bed. She put some of the new toiletries on Max’s large Jacuzzi bath tub and she was ready to go. Max just smiled at her as she busied herself making room for her things. Lord knows there’s enough room for them he thought. He was so happy he could fly. It was about eleven now and they were dressed and headed down the back staircase together.
Meanwhile back in Farmington a young policeman dressed as a delivery boy went up to the back door of a very nice home in a quiet neighborhood to make a delivery and when the petite blonde answered the door to let him in the young officer put the grocery box on an island and turned around and immediately cuffed the pretty young blond woman and called for the rest of the squad to come on in, the coast was clear. Kyle walked in and looked at Tess and wanted to cry for her. She looked so small and pathetic. She couldn’t believe that Kyle would do this to her…she really didn’t understand what all the fuss was about and Kyle realized she had no clue as to what she had done wrong. He looked at her and said…

”It’s okay Tess, we will work it all out and it will be alright, I promise.” She looked up at him with tearful eyes and smiled.

“I trust you Kyle.” And with that they took her out the back door. Kyle made another phone call to Roswell and told Jesse that things were all okay again. Jesse could only breathe a sigh of relief and he called Philip and gave him the news as well. “Thank God.” Was all Philip had to say.
The first thing Olivia noticed when Liz entered the kitchen was the sparkler on her left hand and she went over and gave Liz a great big hug and held up her hand.

“How did this happen in such a short time?” Olivia smiled…

“Oh Olivia, it wasn’t a short time…to quote Max we just picked up where we left off six years ago. My annulment came through and the world is a better place for it. I will fill you in later on that. In the meantime…did you have a chance to talk to Jane?”

“Yes, she said she will see you at the game and you can discuss the particulars. Will you need her husband to come to Connecticut or will you take care of it here and stuff like that.”

“Well, he doesn’t need to come to Connecticut…I probably will transfer to Philly but we can always use a courier service if she wants to get started immediately.”

“I see…well you can discuss it with her and Paul when you see them.”

Max looked at the two women and wondered what in the hell they had up their sleeves and then Liz noticed the questioning look on his face and she explained to him that Jane would like to have a little girl so she was going to remove all the xy chromosomes from her husbands sperm and do an invitrofertiliazation with only the xx chromosomes so she would be sure to be impregnated with a little girl.

Max shook his head and said…”You can do that?”

“Of course I can do that Max…it’s what I was trained to do.”

“My God, that sounds so tricky.”

Both women started laughing and Liz said…”Yes, I guess it is a little tricky.”

“Anyway, I told Olivia that I would take care of it for her…that way Jane would be guaranteed a little girl…if the pregnancy takes on the first couple of tries we may even have enough sperm to give her the second little girl if she would like…of course with invitro she could have multiple babies and we wouldn’t need to try for another one.”

“My God Liz, isn’t that kind of like playing God?”

“No Max, God gave us the knowledge to do this why shouldn’t we use it.?”

“Well, I guess you’re right…anyway…Olivia what are we going to have for breakfast?”

“Whatever you would like Max…since the entire house is sparkling clean I really don’t have a whole lot to do now do I?”

“No you don’t, I told her not to do it but she wouldn’t listen to me. Maybe you can talk to her.”

Olivia smiled at Liz and said…”I am sure when you move in and start
working in Philly you won’t be having a whole lot of time for house cleaning and redecorating.”

“You’re right Olivia…it takes a lot of work to keep this place up. I’m just surprised that you don’t have help.”

“Oh, it’s only a lot of work when there are a lot of people. There’s usually only Max here and he’s no work at all.”

“I see.” And Liz smiled a happy smile…life is good she thought to herself…very good!

Jan:Now you have it!!!
Chula:I agree with you about a parent not knowing what goes on in a child's life...especially if that parent doesn't have a close and loving relationship with that child...but in Jeff's case I believe the man was just plain clueless. He allowed his wife to run the home and he brought home the bacon so to speak. Having grown up in a home like that I know first hand that it happens. My mother wasn't quite as nuts as Nancy but she was close. I was fortunate enough to have been reared by a very loving and caring aunt who preached to me constantly about how good my mother was, bless her heart. And until I had children of my own I had no idea that my parents were a little strange.
Natalie:Yes, 'numb nuts' is good and Olivia is cool.
Roswell4life:Glad you're all caught up and yes they did get a little 'rowdy' didn't they? Making up for lost time, don't you think?
destiny:I forgot...glad you're enjoying!
Kate:They're on their way!
LilLoucfer:It's here! Two actually...they're short...
Jeanne:Welcome to my story, I am so glad you're enjoying and I fixed the 'chromosomes' ... the only excuse I have is that I am old and my story is fiction...sorry for the error.
Chapter: 36


The house phone rang and Olivia answered and handed it to Max, “It’s your father Max.”

“Dad, I hope this isn’t more bad news…” Max said,

“No son, as a matter of fact it’s good news…Tess was picked up at Liz’s. That’s where she went after escaping. They found her when she tried to use her credit card to order groceries over the phone.” Max didn’t know whether to laugh or cry…

“Liz’s…what in the hell was she doing there?”

“They figured it was a genius move on her part…no one ever thought of looking for her there…anyway…she’s locked up safely this time so you guys can relax and get on with your lives again…I hope everything is going well there.”

“Oh yeah dad…better than ever…see you later…drive carefully and give Mom a hug for us.”

“Will do Max…kiss Liz for us.” …

“Oh you better believe it Dad…see you soon.” And the two men hung up.
About that time they heard someone come in the back entrance and yell “Good morning” down the hall but the voice never made an appearance.

Max smiled at Liz and said…come on…you need to meet Kathy. She works about 4 hours a day three weeks a month. She keeps up correspondence, pays bills and makes sure Olivia and Charley are taken care of.

Olivia smiled at the retreating couple and went to the pantry to get the waffle iron and supplies for Max’s breakfast. Liz would probably eat corn flakes again. It’s going to be so nice having her around she thought.

Max made his way into his office with Liz by his side and Kathy was just putting her purse down on the table behind her.

“Good morning Kathy…I would like you to meet my fiance Liz”

Kathy got this shocked look on her face and Liz started to giggle … she could tell the woman was shocked by Max’s announcement since no one even knew he had a girlfriend let alone someone he wanted to marry.

Liz held her hand out to the 30 something woman and she took Liz’s hand and apologized for her reaction.

“It’s okay Kathy, I’m sure that anyone who knows Max is shocked by the news. Hell, I was shocked as well.”

Kathy laughed at Liz, she knew she was going to like her. “You are a doctor, is that right?”

“Yes” Liz answered…”but not a medical doctor in the sense that I treat patients. I am a microbiologist.”

“Oh, I see. Do you live in Philly?”

“Not yet…I live in Connecticut but I am sure I will be moving here shortly. As soon as I get things settled in Connecticut.”

“Well good, then I will be seeing more of you. It was so nice to meet you. Max, do you have any special things you need me to do?”

“No, nothing special, just do your regular routine stuff and we’ll see you later maybe.”

“Good , then I’ll get busy.” And with that Max and Liz left his office and headed back to the kitchen.

“She seems nice.” Liz said.

“Yes she is…she just lost her husband a few months ago to cancer…she has two teenagers in high school and she works for me part time. She will probably find something more permanent after the kids leave home but in the meantime she wants to be close to them.”

“I can see why…Oh Max, I hope we find a solution to this cancer problem soon…this new project I just finished will most likely open some doors but not enough to make that big of an impact yet…but someday. All we can do is hope.”

“You mean you were working on cancer medication?”

“Yes…but it’s not for publication yet. My part in the testing is over, now we have to sell the idea to the medical industry and find willing patients to test it out on. The lab test results are very good but when it comes right down to it the final stages, people, are the most important.”

Max pulled Liz into him and kissed the top of her head…she’s so damned humble about all of this…he could just burst with happiness for her.

They reached the kitchen and Olivia had the waffle batter ready and the sausages were frying, the juice was poured and the coffee was perking.

“Where would you two like to eat?” she asked.

“At the counter, less mess.” Liz said

and Olivia laughed at her and said “Less mess it is.”

“What time is everyone getting in Max?” Liz asked and Max checked the clock and said they should be arriving around 3:30 which would give them just enough time to get settled and put their stuff away and head to the park. Max would take the truck and Liz could bring the escalade…that way there would be enough room for everyone… “Whatever Max…you know I could take the truck…” she said with a little giggle…

“Liz, you know I told you that you could drive whichever vehicle you wanted to but I really don’t think you should be driving the truck.”

“why not Max…is it a macho thing or something?” She said as she put another spoon full of cereal in her mouth, grinned and chewed…

“No… yes…I don’t know. I just don’t think you should be driving the truck.”

“Okay, I won’t drive the truck unless I absolutely need to. Is that fair.”

“We’ll see.” And Max ginned at her…maybe it was a macho thing.

Olivia just kept making waffles…she would freeze whatever they didn’t eat and then she asked Liz if they had enough food for the gang last time they were all here and Liz laughed.

“Yes we had enough…finally after three days Mr. Evans sat down and started eating the last of the chicken and told everybody to grab some before I made them eat it again the next day.”

Max piped up and said…”And she’s not kidding either, we ate fried chicken and potato salad for three days.”

Olivia laughed at the two of them and said she would try to judge the needs a little better the next time. Liz assured her that it wasn’t the amount of chicken that was the problem it was the steaks, hot dogs and hamburgers that were also served that were the problem. They didn’t need that many meats at one setting. Max just looked at her and kept eating his waffles.

“It’s true Max…if you don’t want the leftovers for three days then don’t fix three days worth of meals at one time.” Liz chided.

“Whatever you say sweetheart…now what are you going to do before the group arrives. You’ve scrubbed, cleaned, washed, ironed and redecorated to you hearts content…do you have anything left to do?”

“You know what?”

“No what?”

“I think I’ll read a book.”

“Well ‘hal-le-looyah’...I’ve been trying to get you to relax for two weeks now and today you decide to read a book. Will wonders never cease?”

“Oh shut up Max…I know how to relax…sometime.”

Max just laughed at her and told her he would be back in a bit…he had some errands of his own to run and to take it easy. She said she would and headed for the library and started to check out the books to see what she would like to read. She heard the escalade pull out of the garage and wondered where Max had to go in such a hurry. Oh well, it’s none of her business so she found some light reading and settled down in the big comfy chair and was asleep again in no time. Something wasn’t right with this scenario.
Max headed right on over to SS. Peter and Paul’s to see the monsignor…he had called him earlier and asked for an appointment and the monsignor was more than happy to see Max, he was one of his favorite people.

Max arrived right on time and the secretary showed Max right into the office and the two men shook hands and took a seat.

“What can I do for you Max?” The kindly gray haired gentleman asked.

“Well Monsignor, it’s like this. Liz has informed me that we will need to take some pre-nuptial classes and wait for about six months before we can get married. I want to know what can be done to speed this up because I have waited a very long time for her and I really don’t want to wait any longer if I don’t have to.”

The Monsignor looked at Max and smiled, “Well, I guess we could forego some of the waiting period and as far as the instructions are concerned…since I know you fairly well and Liz seems to be very well versed in her religious training I don’t see any need to delve too deeply into the pre-nuptial exercises. Basically the instructions deal with family, dealing with problems, understanding each other and things like that. Since the both of you have a strong religious background, and neither one of you seem to have any problems with ego or maturity I would venture a guess that we can forego some of the pre-nuptial regimen. How soon would you want to get married? “

“As soon as possible. Liz doesn’t know I’m here and I didn’t want to tell her where I was going this morning because I didn’t know whether or not this was possible…I didn’t want to get her hopes up and then have them knocked out from under her. I will get back to you father….is there some restrictions on getting married during advent…I know you don’t perform weddings during lent… so how about advent?”

“Advent is okay Max.”

“Good…can I tell Liz that we can get married whenever she’s ready then?”

“Yes Max, whenever she’s ready.”

“Oh good, thank you monsignor…the folks will be arriving in a couple of hours and we’ll probably talk all of this over with them before making a decision. Will you perform the ceremony for us and are there any weeks available?”

“Max, I will be more than happy to perform the ceremony and you can get married whenever you want to…we will make it work.”

“Good then, thank you again and I’ll be calling you…see you at the game, oh and they found the lunatic so everyone can sit in the bleachers.”

“Fine Max…play good….” And the monsignor had to laugh at Max and his statement about the bleachers.

“Great.. save souls.” And Max practically danced out the door and headed on home…but before he did he stopped at the florist and bought the biggest bouquet of white roses you ever saw. Oh he was one happy man.
Chapter: 37

When Max entered the house he went straight to the library where he expected to find Liz reading…instead he found her curled up in the big over stuffed chair with the book in her lap and her head resting on the back of the chair. She was sound asleep again. Now Max wasn’t one to get concerned about people sleeping but this was unlike Liz and he wondered if she was feeling poorly and not telling him. He went over to the chair and bent down and kissed her forehead, letting his cheek rest against her for a minute to see if she felt warm. She seemed okay, she started to stir and opened her eyes and saw him standing over her and she gave him a great big smile…”Hi love…when did you get back?”

“Just now…are you feeling alright Liz…you were asleep again.”

“Yes Max, I feel fine. I think that all of this Tess and Don business has finally caught up with me. I have a chance to relax now and I really don’t want to think about it so I am using sleep as an escape.” Then she noticed the huge bouquet of roses and looked at Max and pointed to the flowers…”Are those for me?”

Max smiled at her and handed her the roses…”They certainly are…shall we find a vase for them?”

“Yes…and then we can sit and look at them for awhile.”

Max chuckled and helped her out of the chair and headed to the butler’s pantry for a pretty vase.

“What room would you like them in?”

“How about the entry…I think they would look lovely on the table next to the stairway. What do you think?’

“I think you’re probably right…the entry it is.”

Olivia saw the beautiful flowers and smiled at Max…he was as sweet as she knew he would be, she had never seen him interact with a woman before and he certainly was attentive. Liz is one lucky girl…of course Max is one lucky man as well.

After they put the flowers in the vase and stood back to admire them Max took Liz by the hand and lead her into the small living room, sat on the couch and took her onto his lap and told her he wanted to tell her something. So she sat and listened, he asked her…

“Liz, how soon would you want to get married if there wasn’t a waiting period?”

Liz looked at Max with a puzzled expression and then thought about it for a minute… she knew Max well enough to know that he wasn’t making idle chit-chat.

“Well, I guess just as soon as possible Max. As you told the guys the other day…we’ve waited long enough. Why?”

“Well, I saw the monsignor this afternoon and we discussed the waiting period and the instructions and he said that we wouldn’t have to do all of that if we didn’t want to since we both have a fairly strong background in our religion. So the question is…when would you like to do this?”

“Oh my.” Liz’s stomach started to do flip flops and she didn’t know what to say… so she repeated herself…

”Oh my…Oh Max, you know what, I really hadn’t thought that far ahead because I thought we had time…but, oh my… Max I would really like to wear a gown and have the family present. We don’t need to invite the world, but I would like our family to share in this with us…and I definitely want to wear a gown…I consider this to be my first marriage AND my last and I want it to be a memorable occasion.”

Max pulled her into his lap and wrapped both arms around her and said…”As soon as the series is over Liz, we will have a beautiful wedding in the cathedral and we will have our families present.”

“Well, maybe not mine but definitely yours, which are mine as well.”

“What do you mean, not yours. Don’t you want your family here Liz?”

“That would be nice Max, but I won’t get my hopes up that’s for sure.”

“Okay sweetheart…but we will definitely ask them…and if they don’t come we will not be disappointed…agreed?”

“Agreed…how about Pete, Josh, John and Jay…will we invite them? And Olivia, I definitely want Olivia and Charley too.”

Max laughed at her and said…”Yes, we can invite whomever you want…now when would you like to do this?”

“Let’s wait until the folks get here and discuss it with them. We want to make sure that everybody will be free at the same time. I would Like Izzy and Maria to be in the bridal party with me.”

“Fine sweetheart, you let me know when and I will call the monsignor and give him the date we want. He said we can have any date we want that advent is not like lent.”

“Oh good…now how about something to eat? I’m famished.”

“You’re famished…Liz, you don’t get famished you really are nervous aren’t you?”

“I guess so…but I really am hungry Max.”

Max set Liz down on the couch next to him and held out his hand as he stood up…let’s go raid the refrigerator Liz. And with that they headed back out to the kitchen where they found Olivia cleaning out the pantry and getting ready to restock it…”Hey Liv…Liz is hungry.” Olivia sat the two cans she had in her hand on the shelf and headed to the kitchen and Liz held up her hand and shook her head no...

“We can make our own sandwiches Olivia…honest.” And Liz gave Max a look that said behave yourself. Max laughed and told Olivia that they would fix their own snack and to go on about what she was doing.

“Oh Max, did you bring the dishes down from upstairs that we took up for dinner the other night?”

“No sweetheart, they’re still in the dishwasher up there…I’ll get them later…just find yourself something to eat.”

“Oh, okay Max.” and with that the two of them headed to the refrigerator to find something good. Liz spied hot dogs and she grabbed them right out and found a pot to heat them up in. She has had more hotdogs this past week than she normally eats in a year. This is really strange she thought to herself. Max just raised an eyebrow at her and found some Swiss cheese and ham for his sandwich. What’s with her and these damned hotdogs. She ate hotdogs at the mall too. Oh well, I guess she likes them and he put the thought out of his head.

After they had their lunch and cleaned up their mess they headed out the back door to take a walk. The trees were almost bare now but they were still beautiful. Charley had the yard vac out picking up the leaves, which was a losing battle by the way, and smiled at the young couple as they passed him on their way to the pond…Max was definitely a lucky young man.

Around 3:00 Max and Liz headed back to the house so Max could get ready to head to the ball park. Liz was just going to put her new sweat shirt and baseball cap on and she was ready to go…so all she had to do was relax and wait for everyone to show up. She headed to the kitchen to see if she could help Olivia with anything and Olivia told her to just sit and talk to her…that this was just a one person job…so Liz did just that.

Jan:You know what? You guys make me almost want to post this whole story!!! But I won't
Destiny:The six month waiting period is a Catholic Church thing...they put the couple through some pre-nup exercises, education type stuff.
LilLoucfer:It's coming!!!
Katy:It's "FICTION" sweety...pure fiction. Although I can honestly say that the old "It's not what you know but who you know" cliche` is true!
Roswell4life:Me Too!!!
Alysluv:Good to hear from you again...
Natalie:Whether she is or not remains to be seen, but keep in mind we aren't talking teenagers here...Max and Liz are adults.

*~*~*

Chapter: 38

Right around 3:30, just as Max had predicted, the limo pulled up to the front gate and Olivia opened it up for the driver…Liz yelled for Max and headed to the front door. Max was coming out of his office upstairs and smiled at the ruckus…God this was great he thought, and headed down the stairs to greet the new arrivals.

Liz was so excited she was jumping up and down and Diane, who was sitting next to Philip looked at her in amazement…then she spied it and jabbed Philip, knocking the wind out of his sails and Philip looked at her like she had lost her mind. Diane pointed to her left hand, Philip looked out the window, then back at Diane and smiled the biggest smile his face could make. Diane could hardly contain herself, she couldn’t wait to get out of that car and hug her daughter-in-law to be. Life was getting better every day.

Then she saw Max come out of the front door and head over to Liz with a proud grin on his face and when his eyes locked with his mothers’ Diane started to cry…Max smiled at her knowingly and nodded his head once in agreement and started to tear up himself. There was just something about the moment that meant so much more than an engagement announcement. It meant so much more to all of them.

Soon everyone was getting hugged and hands were being shaken and then Liz spied Maria standing a little away from the group, not sure what to do with herself and Liz walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her old friend and told her how happy she was to see her. Maria started crying and told Liz how sorry she was and Liz told her that she didn’t want to hear ‘sorry’…it was time to move on. That made Maria cry even harder and Liz grabbed her friends hand and drug her into the house….then it hit Maria…what had she just walked into. “Jee-ee-eeze louise…is this Max’s house or did he rent a hotel for the week?” This was the first time Maria had ever been here. Michael had told her it was a pretty big place but he sure as hell didn’t cover this.

Liz looked at Maria and started to laugh uncontrollably…and then Isabelle joined in…they all looked at Maria and finally Liz said “Welcome to the rich and famous.”

Maria replied, “Holy shit…I guess maybe. Max, are you out of your mind? Who in the hell lives like this? Certainly not us!” Max just scratched the back of his ear and grinned at her…there was no stopping her until she got it all out of her system so he let her rant and asked the men if they would like to head out to the park with him…the girls could come later.

Philip, Alex and Michael all agreed to go along and they all bid their significant others good bye…When Max pulled Liz in for a kiss goodbye everyone but Diane and Philip were shocked and then Maria noticed the rock on Liz’s left hand…

“Oh my God Liz…when did this happen?” Liz held her hand out for all to see and announced that her annulment came through on Tuesday and she and Max got engaged on Thursday…There were tears and well wishes from everyone and then the men left. Actually, Max was more than glad to get out of that atmosphere…he was used to more peace and quiet…

Max took the men out to the garage and headed to the ball park in the truck and told Liz to just call his dad on her cell when she got to the park…she knew where to park and she agreed. Then she took everyone to the elevator
with their luggage, got the luggage into the elevator and hauled it all upstairs while the ladies took to the staircase. Liz would introduce Maria to Olivia after she got them settled in their rooms…besides she wanted to show off her handiwork to Isabelle and Diane.

Liz met the ladies on the second floor with their luggage and told Mara she had her choice of three bedrooms…she could choose after she checked them all out…Diane and Isabelle looked at each other and Isabelle mouthed ‘three’ to her mother…Diane just nodded in understanding…Liz wasn’t in one of the spare bedrooms anymore. Diane and Isabelle took their luggage to their rooms and then joined Liz and Maria for the tour of the newly decorated rooms…Liz had shown Maria her previous room first since Isabelle and Diane had already seen it…then she showed them the newly decorated blue room and Maria immediately chose that one to stay in. Diane and Isabelle were both impressed with what Liz had done with it and told Liz just how nice it looked. They were very sincere.

Diane asked …”Are you going to redo Max’s rooms Liz?”

“Oh no. Max suggested that I do something with them and I told him I would rather wait and we would do it together…it should be a part of both of us not just me.”

Diane smiled at her and gave her a hug…”I am so happy for you two. You will never know how delighted I am at the news of your engagement. Have you decided when you want to get married?”

“Well, Max wants to do it right away and I told him we should wait and discuss it with all of you first to make sure that everyone can be here. He agreed so we thought we would discuss it over dinner or something. Okay?”

“Of course it’s okay…how long do you have to wait and when will you start your prenuptial instructions?” Isabelle wanted to know.

“Well, Max went to see the monsignor this morning and he said since we both have a strong religious background that he didn’t see any need for us to take the mandatory instructions, although I would like some literature on the subject just to see what we might be missing, and that we could get married whenever we wanted to…the Monsignor will perform the ceremony and we will get married at the cathedral. I was wondering if you, Isabelle, would be my matron of honor and would you be my bridesmaid Maria?”

Both women said they would be honored and then Liz piped up with…”Maybe we can go gown shopping tomorrow before the game…what do you say?”

All three of the women were delighted at the prospect of going wedding gown shopping and couldn’t wait to get started, but in the meantime they had to get to the ball park or there would be some pretty pissed off men to answer to so they deposited all the luggage in the chosen rooms and headed out to a ball game.

Liz was dancing on air…she called Max on her cell and asked him to get Maria a tee shirt and ball cap…he assured her it would be waiting for them when they arrived…she smiled into the phone…”Love you.” And hung up.
Max smiled and made his call to the gift shop.

Liz got everyone into the escalade and was off to the ballpark in no time. And just as Max promised, Maria had a tee shirt, a sweat shirt and a hat waiting for her along with some pretty anxious men as well. They were questioned of course as to why they were so late and then Liz introduced the Monsignor to Maria and the other wives and of course ‘the magnificent seven’ who seemed to be on their good behavior for some reason.

Liz decided that their mothers must have told them that the gray haired gentleman with the Evans’ was a member of the clergy or something, they sort of all kept an eye on the middle aged gentleman…who knows. Anyway, Liz told the monsignor how happy she was that he could make it. He of course assured her that he had every intention of being there and then the game was the main topic of conversation…and the ‘magnificent seven’ were in full magnificent mode…all bets were off and everyone was having a great time.

When it looked like the Philly’s were going to win everyone got up and left Liz sitting there alone with her eyes glued to the field, even the kids gave her a wide berth. She didn’t even notice that they had moved out of her way…the wives all grabbed their children to make sure they were safely tucked away from her frenzy… It was a pretty funny sight to behold…most everyone in the stands around Liz had their eyes on her instead of the field or TV…they knew what the outcome would be just by watching her and pretty soon their questions were answered. She was up and jumping all over the place and the rest of the people around her were seriously watching out for their own safety. Finally when she calmed down enough they all took their seats and started cheering along with her…She was one happy young woman…she had every right to be…the man she loved was on his way to becoming one of the ‘rich and famous’ and he loved her too. Life was wonderful! And the Philly’s were three games away from being the baseball champions of the world.

After the group settled down and the players left the field for their pep talk and instructions for the next game the group in the stands were standing around visiting…Anne came up to Liz and lifted her left hand to have a better look and then she hugged Liz and told her congratulations as did Kadee, Marge and Susan …there were too many people at Luigi’s the other night to really have a chance to talk to Liz the way they would have liked to. They all liked her and were so happy for Max and the kids were just as happy as the adults about all of this.

Liz had a brainstorm as she was talking to the women and watching the kids all carrying on with each other…she would have to discuss it with Max when they were alone tonight. She smiled and turned her attention back to the adults and continued on with her conversation with them.

Soon the players were all standing there next to the group, shaking hands with the various guests and well wishers and wanting to get home and relax. Max took the men in his group and said his good byes and then Liz managed to gather her women and they were all headed back to the estate for the “light” feast that Olivia had left for them in the refrigerators. It may have been light in Olivia’s eyes but it was definitely a feast. After they had all eaten their fill of the various salads and the hot soup on the back of the stove ( Olivia had set the timer to start heating up at a certain time) and all of the home made rolls and pastries, Liz brought up the subject of a wedding and the men all looked at her like she had a third eye…We have plenty of time to discuss the wedding Liz, Michael said.

Then Max piped in…”Well, no we don’t actually…we want to get married right away and Liz said she wanted to make sure it was convenient for everyone so we need to make sure that all of you can be here. We would like to schedule it for after the series…so what do you all say. Can we decide on a date say next month…before Thanksgiving…during Thanksgiving? Well?”

Everyone looked dumb founded and then Alex, being Alex, said…”What about your instructions and stuff?”

Max piped in again…”We don’t have to take the instructions and stuff…the monsignor said to pick a date and we could get married when we wanted to.”

“Oh…” was all Alex had to say.

“Well son, you pick a date and we’ll be here. How’s that?”

“That’s great dad, but are you sure it won’t interfere with anything else?”

“Trust me Max, nothing will interfere with this…okay. Now you just pick a date.”

“Well, okay then…get the calendar Liz…we’ll pick a date.” And that’s exactly what Liz did. Six weeks from Saturday they would get married. That would put them right at the Thanksgiving holiday. “Oh Maria, what about your Mom and Jim…will they want to leave Roswell at Thanksgiving?”

“Liz, they won’t have a choice will they? And if they don’t want to leave Roswell they can stay there alone.”

And with that settled they cleaned up their mess and headed for bed. It really had been a long and glorious day.

Jan:They weren't taking any chances after the pounding Alex took!
Destiny:Me too
LilLoucfer:I hope it's great!!!
Kate: Thanks ...
Chula: You are so right!
Natalie: She does get excited!

*~*~*

When Max and Liz finally got to bed Liz whispered to Max…”Max, how would you feel about the ‘magnificent seven’ taking part in the wedding. I think it would be absolutely priceless if they took the place of flower girls and ring bearers and just preceded the wedding party down the aisle and then formed an honor guard. They could be Jr. ushers and seat the parents…no?”

Max pulled Liz in just a little closer, if that was possible, and squeezed her just a little harder and smiled…”Liz, I think that is probably one of the sweetest ideas I have ever heard of and I think they would be so proud to be a part of the ceremony. Have you said anything to anyone else about this?”

“Of course not…I wanted to see how you felt about it first… and maybe their parents won’t want them to do this…but we can ask them, no?”

“We can ask them yes…I love it and I know they will be thrilled at the idea. Can you just picture them all decked out in tuxedoes? My God, talk about fish out of water…it’s positively priceless. I love it…I love you…”

And soon he had her in a very passionate lip lock and she just scooted up his body and said, while peppering him with loving little kisses, “OH…..Yummy Max, Yummy, yummy, yummy.” And Max chuckled into her mouth and kept on kissing. Life was beautiful in the land of the ‘rich and famous’.
The next morning Max was up and out of the house before anyone ever woke up and on his way to practice. Liz woke up and missed his arms around her but she found a little note on his pillow that simply said…”Good morning sweetheart…I love you.” She smiled and wrapped her arms around his pillow, took in his scent and stayed that way for quite awhile before making any moves to get up. Finally she heard noises coming from the other end of the house and pulled herself from the confines of the comforter and got herself up. She grabbed her robe which she now kept at the foot of the bed due to her new sleeping habits and put it on. She pulled the bed clothes down to air out while she took her shower and got half dressed, she then found a pair of slacks and a button down shirt to wear. If she was going shopping she needed something that would be easy to get in and out of…she made her bed and gathered up some laundry and headed for the laundry chute. Maria was coming her way when she noticed Liz throwing dirty towels and underwear into a closet looking thing and asked her what in the hell that was. Liz giggled and said…”Maria meet the laundry chute…it deposits the dirty laundry into a basket right in the laundry room down stairs which has, by the way, 3 large washing machines and 2 industrial sized dryers. Wait til’ you see this place Maria…it’s HUGE.”

“I believe it…and what’s this little cupboard for?” as she pointed to the dumb waiter…

“Oh, that’s a dumb waiter. You don’t have to haul the clothes back up either. Just open the door downstairs, put the basket or whatever in the dumb waiter, close the door…push the button and ‘voila’ there’s your stuff right up here waiting for you.”

“Holy shit Liz…and you’re going to live here?”

“Well, we will for awhile, but Max and I have some plans for it maybe. We may start a home for mentally challenged children…hopefully we can prevent things from happening to someone like they happened to Tess. We feel that if she got some help when she was younger maybe she wouldn’t be in such a bad place now.”

“Liz girl, you are just too much…I don’t think there is another person on earth that would feel the way you do about this. I would rather scratch her eyes out myself and you, you want to help her.”

Neither of the girls knew that Philip and Diane overheard their conversation and they just looked at each other and smiled. Max told them Liz would want to help Tess and he was right. She is one of a kind.

Liz smiled at Maria and then said…” Let’s get downstairs and see what we can help Olivia with…you haven’t met Olivia yet and are you in for a treat. I know we will be having hash browns because that’s Philips’ favorite but maybe she needs help with something else. We will have to get an early start if we are going to go shopping. I checked out some bridal shops on the internet this morning so I have some places in mind.”

And with that Liz headed to the back stair case and came out into the kitchen just in time to see Olivia getting ready to peel the potatoes…”Hey Liv, I’ll do that and I would like you to meet my best friend Maria, who is also Michaels wife.”

Olivia wiped her hands on the towel she was holding and gave Maria a big hug and told her welcome. Maria’s eyes were as big as saucers…she wasn’t ready for a greeting like that. Liz giggled and left Olivia to deal with Maria while she headed to the drawer in the corner and got her and Maria a makeshift apron for the hash brown brigade. “We’ll have these potatoes peeled and grated in no time Liv and you can get on with the other tasks. We ladies are going shopping this morning and so you can consider us as light eaters…but that leaves Philip, Michael and Alex…so just feed them plenty and we will see you when we return…Oh, and Olivia…the Saturday after Thanksgiving…keep it open okay, don’t make any big plans you are invited to a very big party.”

Olivia left Maria’s side and came over and gave Liz a very big warm hug and kissed her on the cheek…”Oh Liz, I am so happy for you. Of course I will keep that day open.”

“Oh, and Olivia, you have Thanksgiving off to spend with your family. I think there will be enough women in this house to fix a turkey dinner and if there isn’t we can eat hot dogs. Okay?”

“Okay Liz…now get busy with those potatoes we don’t want Mr. Evans to feel neglected do we.”

“Oh goodness no.” And Liz and Maria started peeling potatoes. Soon Diane and Izzy came into the kitchen and wanted to know what their duties were and Olivia pointed to the oranges on the island. Isabelle immediately headed to the pantry for the juicer and Diane went to the cupboard for the dishes….”Is the sun porch okay for everyone?” She asked and they all answered together..

“The sun porch is perfect.” They almost sounded like the Vienna Boys Choir.

Maria couldn’t get over how everyone just pitched in and got to work…it was like Olivia was one of the family…and after Liz’s arrival she was definitely that.

“Liz, just how many rooms is in this place anyway?” Maria asked.

“God Maria, I don’t know…maybe we’ll go exploring later. I’ll bet Max doesn’t even know. He did tell me there were a couple of class rooms in the other end of the estate…there’s a gym, an indoor pool a huge living room, formal dining room a smaller normal sized living room an eating room off the kitchen, right over there a great sun porch where we’ll be having breakfast and God knows what else. I know there are 6 bedroom suites upstairs with their own bathrooms and sitting/study rooms…then there’s Max’s quarters which are bigger than any apartments in my complex in Connecticut and I don’t know what else is up there. Max said there’s a huge ballet room on the third floor that is used for storage right now and another huge room off of it for more storage. I have never been up there. Then there are the three pantries down here that I’m aware of along with this huge laundry room and this cafeteria sized kitchen, which was a cafeteria at one time. This used to belong to an ice skating champion who had an ice skating school here for girls. Each one of the bedroom suites upstairs housed four girls. There is an ice skating rink on the property, a nine hole golf course, a fishing pond and various out buildings. There’s three garages with an apartment or something over one of them. I think it might be the chauffeurs’ quarters and then there’s a really nice house at the other end of the estate where Charley the gardener and his family live. It’s quite impressive.”

“Shit, I guess maybe….but back up a minute…what about this apartment complex in Connecticut you spoke of? Is that where you live?”

“No, it’s where I used to live. I have two apartment complexes in Farmington but I live in a subdivision not far from the lab that I work at. It’s a nice four bedroom home with a front and back yard and a two car garage. I have a small laundry room that I have to tote my clothes to and from…it has a small bathroom downstairs, one in the master suite and one centrally located on the upper floor. There is no attic or cellar and I have one automobile, a nice little Honda parked in Max’s garage right now and that’s about the extent of my wealth. I don’t live in anything like this.”

“Not yet anyway…not many of us do Liz. But if you and Max are planning on doing what you say for those kids it will be a wonderful place for them, that’s for sure.”

Olivia, Diane and Izzy all kept quiet while the girls got caught up with each others’ lives. Diane was the only one privy to the idea of helping mentally challenged children and Isabelle had to ask. Olivia was curious as well but didn’t feel it was her place to ask.

“What do you mean about kids Liz?”

“Oh, Izzy, Max and I were talking the other night about turning the estate into a home for mentally challenged children. We feel, that if people had listened to us when we were younger and trying to tell them that Tess was different maybe she wouldn’t be in the position she’s in today.

If we can provide a place for these types of children to work out their problems and get the help they need while they are young perhaps we can prevent them from being unacceptable adults.

Max is so close to his doctorate in psychology and with my biology background maybe we can just provide the help people need. I personally feel that there might be some biological reason for these types of behaviors …wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to isolate a gene or something and discover a breakthrough into something like that?”

Liz was totally unaware that everyone had stopped what they were doing and all eyes were on her…they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Number one…to think that she felt that Tess was the victim in all of this and number two, that she and Max wanted to do this for people.

They were all surprised that she was as well off as she was also. You would never know it to look at her or to talk to her…she was one of the most common, down to earth people they had ever met.
Soon the kitchen was filling up with more people, male type hungry people, and the women all grabbed plates of food and headed to the sun porch. Liz informed all of the men that they had clean up duty since the women all had cooking duty. It was agreed that this was a good idea and so after their meal the girls headed out to the garage to start on their shopping spree while the men helped Olivia clean up the kitchen before heading to the golf course.

Olivia smiled as she headed to the laundry room and put the wet clothes into the dryers. Life was certainly going to be different here with the young Doctor Parker in residence…that’s for sure. She wondered if Liz and Max would stay here or move to other living quarters once the mansion was opened to the children. It will be interesting to see how this plays out she thought.

destiny:Maybe the girl just likes hot dogs
LilLoucfer:Thanks, and keep on reading...
Jan:Questions are good!
Ken:You are so right but some stories are better than others. The good thing is, since we don't know any better we think it's okay.
Chula:Good comment, glad you're still with me.

*~*~*

Chapter: 40

Soon the women were on their way to the major shopping areas of Philadelphia and it’s finer stores and Liz keyed in the address to the first bridal salon on her list…they pulled right in next to the large building that the salon was in and parked in the large parking complex beneath the building and they all took the elevator to the third floor. When they exited the elevator they were in a very large carpeted room surrounded by glass walls and on the other side of the glass was this elaborate interior with one of the most gorgeous chandeliers Liz had ever seen. It was even bigger than Max’s chandelier and that was big.

All four of the women entered the large double doors and stood in awe of all of the white that surrounded them. Liz started to giggle…”I’m not so sure I belong in here.” She whispered to the other three.

Diane looked at her and decided that this was just about enough of the pomp she could handle and told Liz…”Why the hell not…it’s just a big room full of white gowns.” And they all started laughing at her…that’s exactly what she was going for…now that the girls were relaxed they could get busy and look at dresses. So with a mission in mind Liz started down the first aisle she saw and kept working her way back and forth…”Izzy, you and Maria look for your dresses too. You find something you like and that you will want to wear again okay. I don’t care what you choose…I will leave it up to you guys…I trust you both.” And on that note both Isabelle and Maria both headed to the bridesmaid section of the store and started to discuss colors. They were both blonds with fair complexions so it was a no-brainer that they would be able to wear coordinating colors without any problem at all.

“Hey Maria, what do you think of fall colors since it’s a thanksgiving wedding?” Isabelle asked.

Maria thought for a minute and then said “Hey, that’s a great idea…let’s see if we can find something nice in bronze, gold, brown or beige tones…that would be rich don’t you think?”

“I agree, and I think Liz would like it too…I know she said to get what we liked but lets see if we can get something she’ll like also.”

“Great idea Iz, we’ll ask your mom when we find something and get her opinion as well.”

“Great...” and both women started to seriously look at the dresses.

Diane in the meantime found something that she fell in love with before she got past the first rack of dresses. It was a two piece number…a sheath dress with a gorgeous jacket done in charcoal blue. It was just the ticket for the mother of the groom…she latched onto that like it was going to run away from her and found herself a seat and waited to be beckoned by the rest of the group. Soon a saleslady came over and asked her if she could be of any help and Diane pointed to the other three who were busy checking everything out and said she was waiting for the rest of her group. The saleslady said she noticed the girls all looking and wanted to give them their space.

“It’s the policy of the store to let our patrons browse. We find that most young brides really don’t know what they want until they see it even if they come in with something in mind. But I notice you have finished with your browsing, would you like to try the dress on? We also have all of the accessories to go with it, the shoes, purse, gloves and hat if you’re interested.”

“Oh, I’m interested in all of the above.” Diane said…and the sales clerk took Diane to a dressing room, got her shoe size, glove size and told her she would be right back.

Diane took off her slacks and sweater and tried the dress on and then the jacket…soon the clerk brought in the shoes and other accessories and Diane left the dressing room looking like ‘Lady Asterbent’. Liz was the first to spy her and came over and looked her up and down and smiled and said…

”One down and three to go. You look absolutely gorgeous Diane…Positively and absolutely gorgeous. Maria, Izzy…come here.“

The other two young women came and stopped dead in their tracks…”Oh, mom, you are so beautiful!” And Isabelle started to cry…Maria just stood there with her hand over her heart and smiled…”Diane, you are beautiful.” Diane didn’t know what to say…did she look that bad that a new dress would bring the girls to tears…shit…what was wrong with all of them and then she looked in the mirror behind her and couldn’t believe it was her. What that color and style did for her was nothing short of a miracle…

“You know how the groom is not supposed to see the bride before the wedding…I don’t think I’ll let Philip see the grooms’ mother in this get up before the wedding.” They all started to laugh, including the sales lady and then the girls went back to their quest.

Liz went up and down every aisle in the store and saw many dresses that she thought were beautiful but none that caught her fancy enough to want to buy. Maria and Izzy were having the same problem…but the morning wasn’t a total loss, Diane found the perfect outfit. Liz was so happy for her…then they thanked the saleslady and were on their way.

Their next stop was a bridal shop within a department store. Liz double checked the address before parking the car and sure enough, it was in the department store so they parked and went in. Maria and Isabelle went one direction and Liz headed the other. It wasn’t as elaborate as the other bridal shop but the dresses were positively beautiful.

There wasn’t one single dress that wasn’t displayed to it’s fullest potential and every aspect of the dress could be seen perfectly. The way it hung, the way it fit…the length of the train, the fullness of the skirts...everything about them was displayed to perfection. Liz was very impressed and was glad that she could see what was being presented. She saw one that had a scooped neck which was actually a part of the bodice that started at the waist, worked its way up into a curve that was actually a strap over the shoulder and down to the center of the back and then the right side of the bodice wrapped up around the right shoulder and met at the back of the gown to finish it off. It had a skirt that started out straight at the waist and then billowed out to a very full back with a chapel length train. It had an intricate embroidered design starting at the arm of the bodice and down the left side toward the side seam lower toward the hip and then more embroidery around the bottom of the skirt. When you got around to the back of the dress the embroidery was intricately woven into the fabric here and there around the train. It was very simple in it’s design but very elegant. Liz thought she might try that one on if she didn’t find anything else that she liked better and then Izzy and Maria came up to her with their choices for her approval.

Isabelle held out a light gold colored silk organza straight skirted, scooped neck number and Maria had the matching dress in a very light caramel color. Both dresses were slit to right above the knee in the back and the colors looked radiant next to the young women. Liz was elated…”Is this what you guys really want?” She smiled at them and they knew they had ‘done good’…

“Yes…this is what we want…do you like them?”

“I love them…now get the shoes and gloves and stuff that go with them…decide what you want to wear in your hair or on your heads and I’ll try and find something to cover up this body of mine.”

At least the day hasn’t been a total loss. About that time Diane joined the group and saw what Izzy and Maria had in their arms and was as happy as the girls were. “The dresses are beautiful.” she said “and so are you three.” She was so proud of her family, no mother had the right to be this happy.

“Well, I might as well try this number on before we leave…if for nothing else at least the size and the style, just for an idea I guess…” So Liz, Maria and Iz found themselves a clerk and headed to the dressing rooms with their choices. Maria and Iz came out of the dressing rooms first and they both looked like visions in their dresses…the colors and the style suited both women perfectly…they both had beautiful figures and the dresses were just the ticket to show them off. Then Liz emerged from her dressing room with the sales lady carrying the back of her dress behind her. Liz stepped up onto the platform in front of the wraparound mirror provided for the patrons and turned around to take a look at herself. The dress ‘on’ looked nothing like the dress that was on the hanger. She looked like something that had just stepped off a cloud and landed down from heaven. Isabelle went to the door of the dressing room and called her mother…”You have to see this mom…hurry.” Isabelle never let on to any of them what the label said…

Diane stepped into the dressing room and had to step back…she couldn’t believe that the dress that was on that hanger looked like this…”Oh Liz!”
Was all she could say. Liz could just stand there and stare…then she said a silent little prayer…’Thank you God, thank you for making me try this on.’
And with that she looked at the three women and shook her head yes and they all stood there and shook there heads yes in return…then Liz asked the clerk if she would bring her a very full veil and Isabelle just had to interject a thought,

“No, bring her a very full finger tip veil, using a single white rose holding the veil at the crown and some elbow length gloves”…

The clerk said “absolutely”…The clerk left the room thinking to herself…that dress never looked like that on any of the other patrons that tried it on…it was made for that girl…and Isabelle smiled…she knew she designed that for someone special.

When Liz was dressed in the veil, gloves and the gown she looked radiant and then Isabelle reached down toward the hem of the dress and lifted it up for Liz to see the label…in simple lower case script it read “isabelle” Liz looked at the label and then at Isabelle and started to cry…”Isabelle, when Max and I were in New York I had to buy a dress for the theater and when we got back to the hotel guess what the label read?…It was a champagne colored straight skirt with a fitted bodice and a matching coat slit up the back.” “Oh My God Liz…I designed that too.” “I know you did. It seems I only choose your labels for special occasions…we are going to have to work out some kind of a deal here aren’t we?” And then the sales clerk caught on…”You designed this?”

“Yes.” Isabelle said and the sales clerk couldn’t believe she was looking at a real dress designer in her store. Come to find out, the bridal shop belonged to the sales clerk…she was just getting started and she only purchased a few choice items at a time to sell in her store because she couldn’t afford to go out on her own into a bigger establishment. Isabelle gave her a card and told her she was glad to meet her and she felt she had the right idea. Her clothes were all very elegant and well chosen.

Liz purchased the gown, the shoes, the veil and gloves, Maria and Izzy bought all of their items from the girl as well and they were on their way. They wouldn’t hear of Liz paying for their dresses.

“Well, I would say that we had a very fruitful morning…what do you think?” Liz said as they drove off…everyone agreed…it was a beautiful day and they all decided to put their purchases in the attic, or on the third floor, until thanksgiving. Things were moving right along beautifully.

When they got back to the house the men were just leaving for the park and the women waved to them as they passed them in the driveway. Philip pointed to his watch and they all nodded and kept on going. The minute they got to the house Liz pulled up to the back door and opened the rear of the escalade and then headed for the back door of the house and opened the elevator…they all piled in with their garment bags and sacks and headed to the third floor.

None of them had ever been up there before and when the elevator door opened they all just stood there and gasped…they had to come up here tomorrow…there was a rack to hang their garments on and they sat their packages on a table and took off. “Boy does that place look interesting” Liz said. “yeah, it surely does” said Isabelle and they all started chattering about their purchases and laughing. Life was good.

destiny: Me too!!!
Jan:Shopping is so much fun...
LilLoucfer:Thank you.
Ken:It's a girl thing...

*~*~*


Chapter: 41

The girls arrived at the stadium in plenty of time to find the men and say hello to everyone before the game. Liz got to meet June and Jane, Olivia’s sons and husband and even had time to talk to Anne, Kadee, Marge and Susan about having the boys in the wedding. The women looked at Liz as though she had lost her mind.

“You’re sure about this…Max didn’t twist your arm or something?” Kadee asked. Liz laughed at her and said…”Kadee, it was totally my idea and Max thought it was great…he can’t wait to see them all dressed in their tuxes…honest, it was totally my idea. I really want them.”

“Well, if you’re sure about this I can’t see why not. Maybe you’re right.” Then Kadee looked at the boys all running around like little hooligans and thought to herself ‘Liz is nuts…totally and irreversibly nuts!’ Liz followed her line of vision and thought to herself ‘isn’t that the most precious sight you’ve ever seen. God, I hope my kids are that happy someday’ and she smiled to herself. Yes, they will make the wedding perfect…

The Philly’s won another and now were two away. The stands went wild as did Liz and everyone was elated. Max was a little quiet at dinner that night and when they all headed to bed and things were quiet Liz draped her arm up around his neck and nuzzled in. “Scared?” she asked.

Max put his hand over her arm and said, “Yeah, a little. This is really big you know.”

“Yeah, I know but ‘one day at a time’ remember. You can’t fret about something that hasn’t happened yet, as hard as that may seem. I told you before…no one is a loser at this point, whatever happens.”

Max rolled over and pulled her in closer…”I know love…but it’s still scary.”

“Okay, you’re allowed to be scared for a minute…now shake it off and think about something else.” Liz scooted up Max’s chest just a little.

“Yes maam. Oh, by the way, how did the shopping trip go? Were you able to find anything?” Max planted a kiss at Liz’s temple…

“Yes, as a matter of fact…we are all outfitted to the nines and are ready to go.” Liz rubbed little circles on Max’s chest….

“Really! All of you? Even mom?” Max smiled into Liz’s hair…

“All of us, even Mom…and guess what? My dress…it’s an ‘isabelle’ design.” Liz was still drawing little circles…

“No shit…she does wedding gowns too. Or did you decide to wear something else?” Max just hugged and smiled…

“No, it’s a wedding gown…apparently she designed a couple just for the fun of it and they were picked up. I love it Max…I love it as much as the dress I got in New York. I told her that we were going to have to work out a deal with each other if I was going to continue to buy only her designs. She seemed very pleased that I liked her work so much. It is beautiful Max. And Isabelle and Maria chose beautiful matching dresses in different colors…oh, and Max, wait until you see your mom…she’s a real knockout.” Liz leaned up to look at Max now… “She bought her outfit at the first place we went to and then the rest of us got ours at the department store by the Liberty Bell. At first I thought I had the address wrong but it was definitely located in the department store. The owner leases the space for her shop. She said it’s less expensive than anywhere else.” Liz was really getting excited about the entire day now…

“So, do you like the dress?” Max smiled…

“Yes…it’s in the attic along with the rest of our dresses so don’t go exploring okay. Although we are going up there in the morning to look around. That place really looks interesting. Oh, Max, what is above that one garage out back?” She said as she now positioned herself atop Max’s body to continue their conversation…

“Oh, that’s an apartment. I believe they had it for the chauffeur at one time. I’ve never really taken a good look around, just peaked in when we first looked the property over. Why do you ask?” Max wrapped both of his arms around Liz and smiled …

“Just curious. That’s what we thought it was too but weren’t sure.” She continued to look Max in the eyes with a tiny grin on her face…

“I see…are you getting tired yet?” Max grinned back.

“Yes, do you feel better yet?” Liz smiled,

“Yes, now let’s get to sleep. Tomorrow’s another big day.” And Liz scooted off Max and took her place next to him.

“Yes it is…” Max held Liz’s head up to where he cold reach her lips and gave her a very sweet goodnight kiss and our lovebirds both went to sleep with smiles on their faces.

Down the hallway there were three other women almost as happy as the young woman wrapped up in her fiancés embrace. Happiness was contagious.
The next morning all the women headed for the attic together with Olivia as the men headed out to the golf course for a quick nine holes before getting ready to head out to the ballpark. Olivia couldn’t wait to see what they had purchased yesterday.

She had been up to the third floor many times to dust and vacuum and to make sure that all of the stored items were in good condition, but she never knew what Max was going to do with all of this stuff and she never thought to ask him. If he was going to start a facility for children he just might need all of these beds and linens she thought. Then the elevator opened and the women all stepped out into this huge room.

Liz went over to the clothing rack and started to remove her garment cover from her dress and Olivia just stood there in awe. “Oh Liz, it’s positively beautiful…” she said in a very low voice…

“Oh, and Liv, Isabelle designed it which makes it extra special.” Liz was smiling so big that everyone was smiling…it was contagious…

“Oh My! Isabelle, I knew you were a designer but this goes beyond my wildest imagination. It is out of this world.” Olivia was awe struck.

Isabelle was starting to get embarrassed with all of the complements so she went over to her garment bag and showed Olivia her purchase just to shut her up and then Maria joined her in kind.

Diane just stood there and smiled…”I’m not sharing today. I’m keeping my dress a surprise…not because I think it’s so great but if I take it out of that bag I will definitely want to show it to Philip and I’m just not going to do that until the day of the wedding. So it will stay right where it is. But I definitely agree with Olivia, you will all look radiant…I can guarantee it.”

They all looked at her and smiled and said thank you. And they knew exactly how she felt about her dress, it was beautiful, and she looked beautiful in it. After the ‘oohing and ahing’ was all over with the women departed the attic and headed to the kitchen to see if they could help Olivia with anything. She informed them that she had it all under control and to go enjoy themselves. Liz excused herself and went up to her room to take a nap. She had no idea what in the hell was going on with her system. She slept fine last night. She would check in with her GP when she got home.

Home she thought…she really had to give some thought to getting back to Connecticut….and then she really got tired. She never wanted to go back there again and yet there was a part of her that couldn’t wait to get back to the lab and start on a couple of new projects. One for the company and some for herself. Her mind was working double time and soon she calmed down and was back to sleep.

When Max and the men finished up their nine holes it was almost lunch time and then he would have to head out to the park again. They all came into the back door talking and joking and soon split up to find their significant others.

Max checked out the library, living room, sun porch and the gym before heading to the kitchen to find Olivia…”Have you seen Liz anywhere Liv? She seems to have disappeared.”

“She’s upstairs napping Max…I think the excitement is taking it’s toll on her and she just needs some rest.” Olivia replied…

Max looked at his trusted housekeeper and said thanks and took the back stairs two at a time. ‘I hope you’re right Liv’…he thought to himself and then he entered his room and saw her all curled up in a little ball under the throw that had been laying on the chair. ‘She looks so tiny’ thought Max…’Please God, just let this be a tiredness, okay.’ Max prayed silently and then he slipped off his shoes and laid down next to her. He reached over and brushed the hair away from her face and smiled. She looked so peaceful and …’oh no boy …down’…she didn’t need him all over her now. He scooted over and put his left arm under his head and reached out with his right and pulled her in closer to him. He kissed her forehead to see if she was fevered, she wasn’t, and then he just held her and fell into a light sleep of his own.

Diane walked past the two sleeping quietly and pulled the bedroom doors closed just in case any noise carried up from the lower level of the house.

A little while later Liz started to awaken and felt Max laying next to her. A small smile appeared on her lips as she opened her eyes and was looking into Max’s chest. ‘Oh how nice she thought’ and then Max opened his eyes and met hers…”Are you feeling alright Liz?”

“Yes Max, of course, I’m just worn out from all of the running around, excitement and company. I’m not used to all of this activity, I haven’t been this active in my entire life…I don’t think. At least not in a very long time. It’s usually get up, go to work, come home, eat, go to bed and start all over again. You have to admit that this has been a very busy few weeks for me. An exciting very few weeks at that.”

“Well, if you’re sure you’re okay then I’m okay. Would you like to stay home today…maybe watch the game on TV?” Max asked with concern in his voice.

“Are you NUTS! I wouldn’t miss this in a million years…hell no I don’t want to stay home.” Liz practically shouted to the roof tops…

“Whoa…okay…you don’t have to stay home. I was just trying to help.” Max was really surprised at her reaction…this wasn’t like her at all.

“Oh Max, I’m sorry…I know that…c’mere.” And Max did as requested and soon the boy was at full mast again and Max allowed him to reign supreme. Max was one happy man…After their little make out session both young people headed for the shower to get ready for the game. And soon they were all off for more excitement.

Mr. Jarred even called Liz and told her to congratulate Max. He had heard through the grapevine that Liz and Max had gotten engaged and wanted to know when Liz would be back…She assured him that she would be back in the office on Monday morning bright and early and she definitely would stop in before heading to her lab. He smiled and thanked her and asked her if it would be alright to set up a press conference on Monday. She told him it would be fine and she would see him then. Then Mr. Jarred had an epiphany…

“Oh, Liz, what about the series…don’t you want to see it through?”

“Yes and No…I am so excited about the whole thing that I think I just might come unglued Mr. Jarred. Max doesn’t know this but I am really close to screaming with anticipation. I don’t know if I can handle much more. They only need one game and they are headed out of town. I know it shouldn’t make a difference but the home team usually does have the advantage if for nothing else but the fan support. I don’t think I can take much more of this…it’s all so overwhelming. I would love to see the end but I don’t think I can handle it.” Liz assured Mr. Jarred.

“Well, if you want to go you let me know…we can survive until you get back. Let me know okay?”

“I will Mr. Jarred and thank you.”

“You’re welcome Liz…”

Then Liz had a brainstorm…”Mr. Jarred, would you and your wife like to come to the games?”

Mr. Jarred only took a nano of a second to answer…”Yes…”

“Good, when you get to the stadium you just give them your name…your tickets will be there waiting for you…I am so sorry I didn’t think of it before. You can sit with us and get to meet everyone…I know you will like them.” Liz rushed out…

“It’s okay Liz…if I would have thought of it I would have asked. Thank you. I will see you on Saturday.” Mr. Jarred said with a smile in his voice.

“Oh good…see you then.” And the two hung up. Liz felt like a fool not thinking of this sooner.

Destiny:I quit feeling guilty a long time ago...
LilLoucfer:It's coming...
Kate: Still thinking!!!
Jan:You and Kate are always thinking...I'm not as bad as graywolf...Now that one keeps my blood pumping

*~*~*

Chapter: 42

It was none too soon that the Philly’s took the pennant and Liz was able to get Max to go to a printers and choose some invitations to get in the mail. After they made their choices and found a calligrapher to do the addressing Max called his dad. He had some very important business for him to attend to before doing anything else.
After Liz got back to Connecticut she called and made an appointment to see her regular doctor…she knew she was just overtired but wanted to make sure before making any more plans. She was right…nothing really major going on but she did have some news for Max that would have to wait for a one on one visit.
Liz was getting ready to plan her new project and get her crew ready and then she decided to ask Mr. Jarred about transferring some of her crew with her when she made her move to Philadelphia. She no longer went through her immediate supervisor for anything … she went straight to the top. It was no secret to anyone in the company that she was now the fair haired girl and it had nothing to do with her fiancé. It was all on her own merits and the major break through on her last project. She had proven herself in the short time that she had been with the company and was well recognized in her field of work.

Mr. Jarred listened to the young doctor present her case and then asked her if she had asked anyone if they wanted to move.

“Well no, not yet…I thought I should find out if it was possible before presenting the idea to any of them.”

“Well Liz, I know you are excited about your pending marriage and I really don’t blame you…but you must realize that the people working here are more or less happy with their quiet life style. Philadelphia is a much larger city than Farmington, Connecticut and I’m not so sure they would want to move. You can certainly ask them and of course they will be permitted to transfer but don’t be disappointed if they don’t want to. And besides Liz, the people in Philadelphia are very well trained in what they do also. You can give them a chance you know.”

“Yes, I know, but I am so used to working with this group that I thought it would be nice to take them with me.”

“I am sure you can get just as used to the new group should you need to. Now, will it be better for you to wait until you get to the new Lab before starting your work?”

“Yes. And I also have a wedding to get taken care of in the next few weeks. I pretty much have things settled here as far as my properties are concerned. I am going to rent my home and keep one of my apartments vacant for when I have to be here. Other than that everything seems to be coming right along. Why don’t I head on out to Philadelphia tomorrow and visit the new lab and introduce myself to the people there and see how it goes. What do you think?”

“I think that’s very wise of you…in the meantime I will let your crew know where you are headed and then I would like to discuss a new crew chief for this facility. Do you think there is anyone available in your lab that is capable of advancement?”

“Give me time to think about that Mr. Jarred. I can think of several but I would want to be fair to them as well as you…it should be the best and the best is not always the most obvious.”

“This is very true Liz…so you go to Philly tomorrow and give me a call and let me know how things are going. I don’t expect to see you back until after your wedding…okay. You can plan your new project around the Philadelphia office. I don’t plan on giving it to anyone else.”

“Thank you Mr. Jarred…I won’t let you down…I’ll see you at my wedding won’t I?”

“I wouldn’t miss it Liz and good luck.”

“Thanks.”

And so Liz was on her way home and called Max to tell him that she would be arriving later on this evening…he was elated to say the least. “I’ll see you soon sweet and I love you.” “Love you too Max…soon Love…bye.”

And then Liz had a brain storm…she drove right over to the county mental facility and walked right in the front door and asked to see Tess Harding.

Liz was led to a pleasant looking room with bars on the windows and a locked glass door. There was a solid door that closed over the glass door but the glass gave the feeling of less confinement. She took one look at Tess and her heart ached. Tess saw Liz and couldn’t believe her eyes…

“Liz, what in the hell are you doing here?”

“Well Tess, I’m marrying Max in a couple of weeks and I wanted to come to see you before I moved. I didn’t come here to gloat because gloating has nothing to do with my visit. I wanted to tell you that I am so sorry that you have to be in a place like this and to tell you how sorry I am that you couldn’t have received help long ago. I hope that someday you will be out of here and be able to find someone to make you happy and to live a happy normal life. God Tess, what ever possessed you to think the way you did?”

“I don’t know Liz…it just seemed so right at the time. It all made so much sense to me. They have me on some kind of medication in here that makes everything that I did seem so insane. Was it really that bad? My behavior, was it really as bad as I think it was?”

Liz giggled…”Yeah, it was pretty bizarre sometime. But maybe you can eventually get off the medication and start thinking normally without it…only time will tell, but at least your getting some kind of help. I just wanted to make sure you were okay and being treated right Tess. You take care and I’ll be thinking of you.”

“Yeah Liz, you too…and thanks for coming to see me.” Tess walked over to the window and looked down at the children playing in the park and smiled…maybe someday….
Liz hurried home and packed a couple of suitcases, grabbed all of the toiletries from her bathroom and threw them into a box, grabbed her dirty laundry, a brief case full of important papers and loaded her car up with everything that would fit and headed out of town. She would call the movers tomorrow and she and Max could meet them here on Saturday morning and get this over with. By 11:30 p.m. she was pulling into the driveway of the estate and Max was there to greet her with a great big smile on his face and a dozen white roses in his hand. She turned into a puddle of big happy goo. God how she loved this man.

“Welcome home angel…did you have a good trip?”

“Yes I did, thank you…God you look good.”

“Mmmm. So do you…do you need any of this right now?”

“Nope.”

“Good, lock it up and let’s get inside.”

Liz pointed her keys toward her car, pressed the lock button and Max had her in his arms and halfway up the stairs before she could catch her breath. To say they were happy to see each other was the understatement of the millennium.

By the time they were undressed they were practically uncontrollable. Max was planting kisses all over Liz’s face, neck, and body and she was as animated as he was.

Their first session was speedy and hardly controlled but enjoyable just the same. The next session was slow, deliberate and full of ecstasy. They loved each others bodies as passionately as any two people had ever made love and when they were through they slowly started all over again. By the end of the third round Max felt as though his body had left him for another planet and his soul was hanging around for the ride. Liz couldn’t speak…she was completely sated and breathless. Good Lord, could life get any better than this Max thought…and then Liz remembered…she didn’t want to just blurt it out but she really needed to share this with him so she crawled up his chest and looked him right in the eyes as she lay draped over him…Max Looked at her and grinned….

“Oh sweetheart…I don’t think I can do this again right now.”

Liz giggled and then took his face in her hands and smiled…”Max, I have something I need to share with you.”

“Oh, well then go ahead and share sweet…I’m listening.”

“Max, you’re going to be a daddy.”

Max looked at Liz strangely for a second or two and then it dawned on him what she had just said…

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty much…at least the doctor is pretty sure. I went to see him because I was so tired and he agreed with me, it was all of the excitement and everything that was causing it. It wasn’t the pregnancy because it was way too soon for that to be affecting me, but, yes, I am... Surprise!”

Max grabbed Liz into a fierce hug and kissed her senseless. “Oh baby, you have no idea how happy I am about this…when do you think it will be.”

“I’m not really sure Max. We’ve only been intimate about five weeks so let’s just figure from there…okay, I figure nine months from October is about July.”

“July…I don’t think I can wait that long…”

“Max, you’ll have to wait that long. This isn’t something we can control like the temperature in the pool…we have to wait. Let’s just enjoy the experience okay and don’t share it with anyone until after the third month. Anything could happen between now and then and we don’t want to have to deal with that if we don’t have to.”

“Oh God Liz, don’t even talk like that, of course everything is going to be fine. Now, what do you want? A boy or a girl?”

“I want a healthy baby Max…sex doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, me too Liz, me too…Oh God Liz…this is so cool…we can put a nursery in the office and I can move my office downstairs so we won’t have to make any noise…and we can even put another nursery downstairs. Liz, this is so great. I can call the contractor tomorrow…or do you want to have a nursery in here?…We can have it anywhere you want it Liz…where do you want it?”

“Max, calm down for God’s sake…the baby is no bigger than a thumb tack right now…there’s time for all of this…besides…let’s just get married first and then we’ll do baby stuff…okay?”

“Okay Liz…if it’s a boy what are we going to name him?”

“Oh God Max, I’m almost sorry I told you…go to sleep already.” Liz was almost to the point of hysteria…

“Oh, okay…good night Liz…” Max kissed Liz on the forehead and she curled up and just started to doze off when Max sort of shook his arm that he had wrapped around her…”What Max?”

and Max whispered…”Can we name him after my grandfather?” “

“Yes Max and my grandmother too…goodnight.” She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry…

“But if it’s a boy how can we name him after your grandmother?”

“We’ll think of something …please, goodnight Max.”

“Goodnight Liz.” And finally Max allowed Liz to sleep, but his mind was on a roll…if happiness was in the dictionary as a picture it would have Max Evans depicting the word. HAPPINESS EQUALS MAX EVANS in big bold letters. And Liz slept on.

Jan:
Destiny:
LilLoucfer:
Natalie:

Thank you all so much

*~*~*

Chapter: 43

The next morning Liz was up at 7:00 a.m. and trying to be very quiet. She knew Max hadn’t gotten to sleep as soon as she had and she was really tired. She made her way into the bathroom and closed the door to allow him to sleep and took a shower and did everything she needed to do before going back into the bedroom to get dressed. When she went back to Connecticut she didn’t take any of her clothes with her…why move them twice…so she put on one of her new skirts and blouses with matching shoes…changed her purse over, grabbed her jacket and was down the stairs by 8:00 a.m. She ran into Olivia just as she was headed out the back door and the older woman gave her a huge hug and Liz told her she would most likely be back by 10:30 or so. She had to go in to Philadelphia to the new lab she would be working at and get acquainted with everyone and see how things were set up. Olivia smiled at her and told her she would see her when she got back…Liz smiled and bid her goodbye. Then she made her way to the garage…she took the Jag this morning only because her car was still packed with all of the stuff she had brought with her. She grabbed her briefcase from the front seat and took it with her just in case she might need something out of it and took off.

Max rolled over and started reaching across the sheets and found the bed empty…he couldn’t imagine what was going on and then he saw the note on Liz’s pillow…just like he had left for her.

Max,
Gone to work for a bit…see you in a few….

love you,

Liz.

Max smiled and lazily rolled over to his own side of the bed and got up to face the day. He had a lot to do before she got back so he’d better get busy.

After he took his shower and was dressed he made his bed. A bad habit he picked up from Liz…then he went into his office and called his father.

When Margaret, his dad’s receptionist answered he asked if Philip was in. “Of course he is Mr. Evans, one moment please.”

Philip was on the line almost instantly…”Max, how are you son? Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine dad…Liz came in last night and brought a car load of stuff that I’ll unload as soon as we’re through here. Did you have a chance to talk to Jeff yet?”

“Of course I did Max…he is definitely coming to the wedding and is trying to convince Nancy that she should come as well. She is seeing a therapist but things are going slowly. Jeff has even got their pastor working in conjunction with the therapist to help her realize just how wrong her conception of religion is. We can’t totally blame her Max…her parents were as bad with her as she was with Liz…let’s hope it isn’t hereditary.”

Max groaned at that…God forbid…

“Anyway, Jeff will definitely be there. Have you told Liz yet?”

“No, not yet. I wanted to talk to you first. I guess she will be transferring to Philly…that’s where she is right now. She went over to the new facility to meet the head of the place and to check out the lab and the people she will be working with. We didn’t go into things in depth last night but she said she asked Mr. Jarred about having some of her crew from Connecticut move here and he basically told her it would be okay but he would like her to meet these people before moving perfectly happy people into a new environment. Makes sense to me but Liz likes her crew. She’ll like the new ones too…I’m sure.”

“So am I Max…I’m surprised she wanted to do this. It’s bad enough that she’s moving let alone taking a bunch of people with her. That doesn’t sound like Liz…not at all.”

“Well Dad…she is kind of under some stress right now…I doubt that she’s giving a lot of thought to anything she’s thinking about. Mr. Jarred told her not to report back to work until after the wedding…at least one of them is thinking clearly.”

“It sounds like it. Anyway…we are dealing with the Jeff and Nancy situation here and we will be flying in on Wed. before Thanksgiving. Amy and Jim are also coming and Jeffery for sure. Hopefully Nancy will be with him. So we will see you soon Son…give Liz a big hug for us and take care. Oh, have you got the suit sizes for the Tuxes?”

“Yeah, mom e-mailed them to me the other day…it’s all taken care of…we will be fitted on Friday morning and then have rehearsal on Friday evening and dinner afterwards. See you then Dad and thanks.”
“Love you son, til’ thanksgiving.” And the two men hung up.
Liz pulled up to the non-descript building and found a parking place way in the back of the parking lot away from heavy traffic and walked to the main entrance. It was a fairly large place when you were standing outside looking in. Much larger than the Connecticut facility. She walked up to the receptionists desk and went to announce herself when the girl took one look at her and smiled…

“Good morning Doctor Parker…we’ve been expecting you.” And she handed Liz a badge with her name and picture on it. Liz was flabbergasted to say the least. She was ready to identify herself and present her credentials but apparently none of that was necessary. “Mr. Appleby will be with you shortly, please have a seat.’

Liz smiled at the girl and walked over to the comfortable looking lounge area and waited. She figured someone would come and get her and take her to Mr. Appleby’s office. He was, after all, the head of the entire facility. Soon a pleasant looking gentleman in a very expensive business suit appeared at her chair and Liz looked up and recognized the man …Mr. Appleby in person. She got up from her chair and held out her hand which he took immediately.

“Liz, it’s so nice to meet you and I am so happy that you will be working here with us. Let me show you around.”

Then he took her over to the receptionist and introduced her to Joyce. Joyce would be the first person she would speak with at anytime she ever called the building…unless of course she used private numbers. Mr. Appleby was very familiar with the fact that Liz had Mr. Jarred’s private number and wasn’t really sure how he felt about that but he would give the young doctor the benefit of the doubt.

Liz smiled warmly at Joyce and told her she would be looking forward to working with her…this impressed Mr. Appleby…maybe she isn’t a prima-Dona like he thought. (Of course he had no idea how the private phone number got into Liz’s hands in the first place…he shouldn’t be so quick to judge.) Then the two colleagues were in the elevator and on their way to the basement. This was where all of the work was performed. It was sheltered from the rest of the world and all very private.

When they got off the elevator Liz was shocked at the atmosphere. It wasn’t at all like she thought it would be. It was very clean and sterile without being sterile looking. The labs were all sectioned off behind glass windows but the walls were painted a very nice warm golden color and the counters and cabinets were all color coordinated in various shades of yellow, gold and brown. All in all it was a very nice warm atmosphere…there was even piped in music. Liz turned to Mr. Appleby and smiled…”this is very nice Mr. Appleby.” Liz said.

Mr. Appleby was very pleased that she thought so and told her “Thank you.”

“Let me introduce you to some of our technicians Liz…they are all anxious to meet you. You will be choosing your crew from any number of them and they are all looking forward to working with you. Some of them know a few of your crew from Connecticut and they are all impressed with your work. We hope you will find them to your liking.”

“Oh my God Mr. Appleby, you make me sound like some potentate or something. I’m just a person that conducts experiments…I am sure that all of the people down here are more than qualified to work with me, please don’t make it sound like some sort of a contest or something…I am sure I will be happy here. I know I’ll be happy here, after all I’m getting married in a few weeks and that happiness is enough to last me a life time…this is just the icing on the cake.”

Mr. Appleby smiled at Liz and then realized why Mr. Jarred insisted that he conduct this tour himself. The man was a genius. This young woman has absolutely no idea of her worth to this company.

“Liz, let’s just put it this way…I will give you a small background of everyone down here that wants to work with you. You take the information home with you…read it over and then when you start work…let’s say in January…you will have an idea what the people are capable of before you even work with them what their various strengths are. That should help you decide who you want on your team.”

“Oh Mr. Appleby, that sounds wonderful but do you think that I should wait that long to return…how about the new project and then…I have a couple of ideas I would like to present to you as well.”

“The new project will be here when you get back and don’t worry…if there is something you want to work on we will work it out. You have a great holiday season, a lovely wedding and we will see you after the new year. Is that okay with you?”

“Oh my word Mr. Appleby…it’s more than okay. Thank you…and I will see you in January.”

“Very good Liz, now let’s get back upstairs before Joyce thinks we kidnapped you.”

Liz giggled at that and when they reached the main lobby Liz bid Mr. Appleby good bye and then went over to Joyce and handed her a personal business card and told her she could call her on her private cell if anyone needed to talk to her. Joyce in turn handed her a folder that Mr. Appleby’s office had prepared for her and then she was on her way home to her husband to be. She was one happy doctor.

destiny:
Jan:
LilLoucfer:
Natalie36

Thank you all for the feed back!

*~*~*


Chapter: 44

When Liz arrived back at the estate Max was in his office working away. When he saw the Jag pull into the gate he immediately shut down his computer and headed out toward the back door to greet his fiancé. She got out of the car and met him with a great big smile and he immediately lifted her up off her feet into a great big hug and asked her how she was feeling.

“Great actually…I don’t have to be to work until January and I am feeling positively ecstatic. Why…did you have something in mind?”

“No, I was just wondering how you felt. Do you have any plans? And if so I hope they include me…” And Max waggled his eyes at Liz in anticipation.

Liz giggled and told him that she would really like something to eat and Max informed her that he could arrange that…so off to the kitchen they headed with Liz’s purse, brief case and jacket in her hand. Olivia looked at the two of them and could only smile.

“I’m so glad you’re here Liz…he was really becoming a pain.” Max looked at Olivia in disbelief…

“I was not...” he said indignantly…

“Oh yes you were…and you’re never a pain…but you were really becoming one…in the worst way.”

“Oh..” was all he said as he looked at her and grinned…”Well, maybe just a little pain?” He questioned with a grin.

“No, maybe a big pain…” she teased back and Liz smiled at both of them. It was so good to be home.

Then she said in all seriousness…”Max, can you drive back to Connecticut with me and help me get ready for the movers on Saturday? I’m going to leave the place furnished and Hank will take care of renting it for me but I have to get my personal things packed up and gone before I can even think of renting it. Then it will have to be cleaned and brought up to rental standards.”

“Of course Liz…when do you want to leave?”

And as she ate her cereal she thought for a minute. “As soon as possible…you know what, why don’t we check out that space over the garage and see if we can’t just put all of that junk up in there until I have time to go through it all.”

“Well, we can do that if you want to…but don’t you think you would rather put it in here somewhere. Wouldn’t it be more convenient. Let’s check out one of the classrooms. We could have it set up as a private office for you and you would be right here in the house if you were needed.”

“God Max, that’s a great idea…I keep forgetting there is a whole section of this place that isn’t even used. We’ll take a look later and see what can be done with it. Maybe I can even bring some of my furniture with me…we’ll see. If I bring my desk and file cabinets…computer and other things like that it would sure save a lot of sorting and packing. What a brilliant idea…remind me to thank you more properly later.”

“Oh, you can count on it baby…” And Olivia pretended like she didn’t even hear them.

So, after Liz finished her meal she and Max headed to the other end of the building and checked out the classrooms…they were ideal. Then Max took Liz’s hand and pointed to a small area that would have been the instructors office and smiled…”a mini nursery no?”

“A mini nursery yes…It’s perfect Max…thank you.” And Max just pulled Liz in closer to him and kissed the top of her head…this is going to be absolutely the most wonderful experience in the world, he could hardly wait for it all to happen.

When they got back to the kitchen where Olivia was cleaning up from breakfast Max told her to call in a crew to clean up the classroom…she smiled and told him she would do that and then asked…”Are there any special instructions regarding the room?” Max and Liz both assured her that all it needed right now was a good dusting and cleaning. Liz assured her that she would decide what she wanted done with the place once everything was in there. Olivia smiled and then asked…”when are you heading to Connecticut?”

“Just as soon as we’re packed actually. I really need to take care of some last minute business and it will take me a day or two. Max can help me unless he needs to stay here.”

“No sweet, I can go with you…there’s always telephones. Is there anything we need to take care of as far as the wedding is concerned?”

“Nah…the wedding planner can take care of all of that and Olivia can answer any questions if they come up…I trust her to know what to do.”

Olivia looked at Liz like she had rocks in her head. “Liz, for God’s sake this is your wedding…you should be handling every little detail.”

“No Olivia, everything that I wanted is taken care of…I wanted Max, I have him…I wanted a wedding gown, I have it…Everything else is just fluff and either you or Kathy can deal with it. The invitations have all been mailed and if someone calls and is put out because they weren’t invited give them to Kathy and let her send them one…hell I don’t care who comes really as long as Max shows up.”

Olivia looked at Max…Max shrugged and then he and Liz took off up the back stairs to get packed.

“Liz, you are kidding about the wedding arrangements aren’t you.”

“Not really Max…I have you, we’re going to have a beautiful baby in about eight months and it doesn’t get any better than that. The wedding is all superficial. I know it will be beautiful…God knows we are paying enough people to see to it that it’s beautiful. I trust them to do what they are being paid to do. I answered all of their questions…told all of them what I wanted and now I have to trust them to do their jobs. If it doesn’t suit me Max…you can believe that they will not be paid. It’s as simple as that.”

This was a side of Liz that Max did not recognize. She was dead right of course but she definitely seemed different since last night. “Liz, has something happened since last night that has you in this mood?”

“Yes and no Max…this morning I had to drive across town, meet new people check out a new facility and prepare myself to work with an entirely new group of people who seem to be taking my arrival as some kind of contest to be won. I’m not quite sure how to wrap myself around this Max. I have a brief case full of data on people and I have to choose from these pages who I want to work with. I would rather meet all of them face to face. See who I am compatible with, who I can work with in comfort and trust to do as I instruct without questioning me. I’m not sure about any of this and the only real thing I am sure about is that I want to be your wife. So if I seem indifferent right now…please…I’m not. I just don’t know what to think about first and whether there are enough place settings in a reception hall is not upper most in my mind.”

Max pulled Liz into a fierce hug and held her as close to him as he could without squeezing the life out of her. And then he chose his words very carefully…he remembered the other guys on the team talking about their pregnant wives so he wanted to be sure to say this the way he meant it and not upset her.

“Liz, I know you have an awful lot on your mind. Getting married is a big step even if it is what we’ve always wanted since we were kids…Even though you aren’t changing companies it is almost as though you are changing jobs. You are moving to a new city…meeting new people and really you are starting a new life and not only are you going to be a new bride…honey, you are going to be a mother.

I just want you to know that if any of this starts to be too much, we can fix it. You really don’t have to work if you don’t want to…you can even do your own research here at the estate. We can set up a lab for you here in the house…up over the garage or even build you a separate building. We can hire a crew for you…You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do anymore. You have earned the right to be your own person so please…relax and enjoy life…it’s time Liz.”

“Thank you Max…you know I just might give what you said some consideration…now let’s get busy and get to Connecticut. The sooner we get there the sooner we can get back.”

It was just an hour later that the Jag was on its’ way down the highway and our two young lovers were discussing the scenery, a wedding and the ‘magnificent seven’. How they came into the conversation was very interesting…Liz decided that she wanted them to escort her down the aisle. Now it was Max’s turn to get antsy…

“Uh, Liz…about that…honey, your dad is coming to the wedding. Whether or not your mother will be there remains to be seen. She is currently seeing a psychiatrist and the parish priest is also helping with her therapy. She has all kinds of emotional problems right now and your dad is being a real trooper about all of it. He had no idea that your life was such an ordeal and he really feels terrible for letting your mom control things the way she did. But Liz, he does love you and are you sure you don’t want him to walk you down the aisle?”

Liz felt like she had just been hit by a train…

“Max, why didn’t I know any of this until now. When did all of this happen?”

“Honey, I haven’t been trying to keep anything from you…I wanted to tell you this face to face…Dad had lunch with Jeff a couple of weeks ago and filled him in on what your life has been like. Dad was ready to take Jeff to the cleaners so to speak after that phone call from your mom. Jeff had no idea any of this was happening nor did he know that your life with Don was so unhappy. Of course none of us knew that but let’s not go there…Anyway, according to dad, Jeff put an ultimatum to your mom…’seek help or get out’, she chose to seek help. Apparently she has realized for a long time that she needed help but didn’t know how to go about getting it. I think maybe she just might be feeling a little guilty…I don’t know for sure but maybe. So, don’t you think you would like your dad to walk you down the aisle.”

Liz thought about that for a moment and then said quite sincerely…

“Max, I know the ‘magnificent seven’ better than I know my own dad…I don’t want to be mean or cruel about this and I don’t really give a shit about propriety…but at this moment in time I want the kids…Give me time to digest this new information and I will consider it but trust me on this…as forgiving as I am I’m really not so sure about this. It doesn’t have anything to do with forgiveness at this point…I wish them both well, I don’t want anything bad to happen to them and even though my mom has problems my dad didn’t and doesn’t, so give me time on this one okay?”

“Okay sweetheart…we will do whatever you want to do, believe me, I know how you feel and trust me…I love you.” Max’s heart ached for her…and he would see to it that her every wish was met no matter whose toes got stepped on…they would just have to suck it up.

“Thank you Max…now lets talk about fun things…what’s your grandfather’s name by the way?”

Max looked at her and grabbed her hand and squeezed…”Are you ready for this?” he said with a twinkle in his eye…

“Yes…now what is it?”

“Rufus!”

“WHAT!!! NO MAX…NO!!!”

And Max practically had to pull over to the side of the road he was laughing so hard…Tears started clouding his vision as he was trying to keep the car on the highway.

“Liz, I swear, Rufus Gerard Evans.”

“Well, let me just say right now Maxwell Philip Evans…we can name a son Gerard but I’ll be damned if he will be called ‘RUFUS’…NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS.”

“Liz, I’m kidding…why do you think my dad’s name is Philip? Grandma felt the same way even if she did love Rufus she never called him that…she called him Reggie…for RG. Honest honey…I agree with you, seriously.”

“Good…” and Liz sighed and looked out the window…Max chuckled and kept on driving as he reached over with his right hand and gave hers a little squeeze. Liz just looked over at him and giggled…”Rufus? Really?”
By late afternoon they pulled into Liz’s driveway. The backdoor window had been repaired and the lawns had been raked by the gardener. Max was very impressed with the nice sized home in the well manicured neighborhood.

“This is nice Liz…how long have you lived here?” Max was very sincere when he spoke to Liz about her home.

“Oh, almost two years now. As I told your dad…it belonged to one of our employees whose husband was being transferred. I merely took over the existing loan, bought some furniture and moved in. I really like it here…It’s nice and quiet and I’ve always felt safe.”

Liz opened the garage with the remote she had put in her purse before leaving Philadelphia and Max pulled in and removed their luggage from the trunk…Liz’s neighbor looked out her back door to make sure everything was okay and Liz waved over to her to let her know things were fine and then she headed for the back door dragging her suitcase with Max close on her heels bringing the rest of the luggage. Liz opened the door and Max was greeted with a very pleasant small entry before walking into the nice sized kitchen. Liz took Max into the hallway that led into the living room and up the stair case to the second floor. Max was very impressed and told Liz as much.

“Thank you Max…it’s not the home of the ‘rich and famous’ but it has its comforts.”

“It certainly does Liz…you can be very proud of yourself. Are you sure you want to rent it?”

“Of course…it would be a shame to just have it sit vacant. Someone needs to enjoy it.”

“You’re right. Now where do we put the luggage?”

“Oh, follow me” and with that she took the smaller of the suitcases and Max grabbed the other two and followed her up the stairs to her room.

When they got to her room Liz instructed Max to just put them on the bed and then she opened her closet and hung her jacket up and took Max’s from him and hung it right next to hers. She showed him around the upstairs and then they went back down to the main living area. There was a large sized living room with a nice sized formal dining room just off it and then at the other end of the hall she showed him the smaller den and her home office right off of it. There was a laundry room, a very nice sized kitchen with an island that had four barstools placed around it for informal dining then a small dinette off to the left with windows facing the back yard…the yard was landscaped like a small English garden. It was very homey and Max said as much. It is a reflection of you Liz…very cozy and comfortable.

“Thank you Max, I’m glad you like it.”

Liz opened a package that she had brought with her and removed a half thawed container that Olivia had packed for her and she proceeded to place it in the microwave….

“What’s that?” Max asked…

“Our dinner, Olivia sent it with us.”

Max chuckled to himself. One thing was for sure…between Liz and Olivia no one was going to go hungry.

After Max and Liz finished their meal Liz took Max and they went to the garage and retrieved some empty boxes that she had instructed the movers to leave and they headed back to the house. Max wanted to know if she would just rather wait until in the morning to start sorting through stuff and she said sure…but at least we won’t have to get dressed to come out here…and then…

“Hey Max, would you like to take a tour of our city. It isn’t very big and it won’t take long…What do you say?”

“I say lets do the tour sweetheart…let me run up and get our jackets…I think I remember where you put them.” And Max was gone in a flash.

Liz smiled when he came back down the stairs carrying their coats…he seemed so at home here, he had no idea that she needed to just get away. Maybe they could stay at the apartment and come back tomorrow and pack…Too many memories of the criminal that tried to end her life…thank God he’s locked up for life she thought.

“Max, get our luggage. We aren’t going to stay here tonight, I don’t want to sleep here ever again.”

Max never said another word…he went back upstairs and came down with all of the luggage and they headed back out to the Jag and took off.

“Do we need to get a motel or something before it gets too late Liz?”

“No, we have alternate living quarters Max. I’ve kept my apartment as well as this place. Sometime I would just stay there rather than come home when I had to work really late or the weather was bad. And sometime I just didn’t want to be here so I never rented it out. It’s still furnished and looks the way it did before I ever married the jerk.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t just rather stay in a motel?”

“No, I really want to stay there…it represents a happier time in my life and I need that right now okay?”

“Okay love…now where do I go?”

“Oh just turn left at the intersection…we’ll pass by the lab on our way and you can see where I’ve worked for the last two years.”

And so they were off. It wasn’t but half an hour before Max pulled up to a beautiful area with green lawns and private entrances. Each apartment had it’s own little carport and gave the appearance of small cottages. Max was very impressed.

“Liz, this is positively beautiful. I can see why you like it here. Which one is yours…or which one do you occupy I should say?”

Liz smiled and thanked Max…”I have the end one Max…just pull into the driveway and I’ll open the garage.”

“There’s a garage?”

“Yes, I had the carport enclosed when I bought the place because I left a lot of papers in my car occasionally and wanted to make sure they were safe…just hold on a sec. okay.”

“Okay…” And Liz got out and keyed in a code and the garage door opened for Max. She has a remote but it’s in her car.

When they entered the apartment Liz turned on the light and Max was immediately greeted with a very warm and cozy little space that radiated Liz. The furniture was adorned with throw pillows of bright pinks and mauves and there was a throw on the back of the couch in varying shades of pink and gray. The dining area was directly off the living room and led to a u-shaped kitchen. Through a door on the right of the living room you could see a small hallway and Liz took Max in that direction to put the luggage on the nice king sized bed in a fairly large bedroom. She had one double dresser and two night stands in the room and then off to the left of that was a walk in closet…it was practically bare but there were some jeans and casual clothes in there. On the other side of the hallway was the one bathroom…a very nice sized bathroom with a separate stall shower as well as a bathtub. Max was suddenly overcome with a feeling of great pride for this sweet young woman he was marrying. She had managed to take care of herself quite nicely without the help of anyone. It was a very good feeling really…he knew that if anything ever happened to him that she would be able to make it alone. He prayed this would never happen but it was comforting just the same.

Liz looked up at Max and gave him a big smile and said “Well, what do you think?”

“I think I am very impressed with you my love…come here and let me show you just how impressed.”

Liz didn’t hesitate, she was in Max’s arms in a split second and he had her up in his arms and was making his way to that nice big inviting king sized bed in no time. Liz couldn’t wait…this is what her dream had been since she first laid eyes on that bed and now it was happening.

Even though it was still early evening our couple stayed right where they were and initiated that bed several more times before finally falling to sleep. After the third time Max couldn’t have gotten out of bed even if he wanted to. This was one of the best nights of his life…right in this little one bedroom apartment with the woman he loved at his side.

The next morning Liz made a pot of coffee and retrieved some granola bars and a can of mandarin oranges from the pantry and they ate a light breakfast before heading over to the house to get busy.

They talked of the wedding, a honeymoon, family, work, the team party for the series winners coming up next week and the magnificent seven. Max sort of raised an eyebrow when the kids came into the conversation and Liz just looked at him and shook her head no…meaning she didn’t want to talk about it and Max understood. Then they took off.

Soon they were passing the small church Liz attended with a school sitting just behind it and Liz pointed out the park and playground down the street. The shopping center wasn’t too far from there and soon they were headed to ‘the suburbs’ as Liz called them. Actually the housing development was about four miles from town and the ride was very pleasant. It was a rural area and Max liked it a lot. He took in the few farm houses that had not been sold to the major developers yet and was glad that some of the old remained.

When they got back to the house Liz’s neighbor poked her nose out the back door again to make sure the intruders were supposed to be there and Liz waved and said “Good morning Mrs. James…this is Max, my fiancé…we’re going to be working around the house today, hope Mr. James is feeling better.”

“Good morning Liz…I was hoping that was you and not another intruder. Mr. James is doing just great thank you and hello Max. I hope to see you before you leave. Congratulations by the way…I saw the papers, cute pictures.”

Liz giggled…”Thanks Mrs. James…I will stop in before we leave on Saturday. You take care now.”

“Will do, don’t work too hard.” And the elderly woman went back into her own home.

Max smiled at Liz and asked…”Just how old is she?”

“Oh I don’t know. Her husband has been quite ill for some time now and their daughter comes by everyday to check in on them. She’s really a sweetheart…always looking out for me and bringing me homemade goodies. Just what I need…but she needs something to keep her busy so she bakes.”

“Good neighbor.” Max said. Liz smiled at him and they went in, rolled up their sleeves and got busy. They started upstairs and Liz went to work on her closet first. If she hadn’t worn it in a year she put it in one box…if she absolutely loved it she put it in another box and by the time they sorted through the contents of the clothes closet she had two boxes to go and four to take to the salvation army. Then they headed to the dresser…that one wasn’t as big a job as one might think…she put her underwear in a suitcase from the hall closet from the top drawer…her pj’s and nighties were in the second drawer down…she threw all of them into the suitcase with the exception of one really pretty set which went into the goodwill box…Max didn’t have to ask what it was…he knew by the look on her face…and then they started on the third drawer. Everything in that drawer went into the box to be moved. It was full of photo albums and journals along with yearbooks and mementos.

One box contained an old corsage that had been flattened and when Max really looked at it he recognized it as the one he had given to her for their prom. The woman saved everything. And then he noticed a particularly nice picture frame and when he picked it up there they were, all dressed in their prom finery smiling into the camera as though they were the only two people on earth. Why hadn’t he ever noticed this before. They were in love with each other back then and were too immature to say anything. Maybe it was for the best…God knows where they would be now had they acknowledged each other so many years ago. Probably neither would have pursued their goals. But they were together now and that was all that mattered.

It was around noon when they decided to take a break and head out to one of the local café’s and have some lunch…

The Jag was really getting some extra attention in the town square…which was something Liz hadn’t even thought about until she saw some teenage boys slowing down to have a better look. Then when they came into the café their eyes became saucers. Liz looked over at Max who looked up from his menu to see what the sudden silence was and noticed an awful lot of people staring at him. He smiled at all of them and then motioned for the boys to come over…

“Hey guys…like the ride do you?”

“Oh God yes.” Replied one of the youngsters…”Can we?” and he handed his note book over to Max…Max grinned and said “Sure, what’s your name?”

“Tom.” Said the boy and Max wrote him a nice long message and handed it back to him and the other boys just stood there agape…

“Would you guys like an autograph as well…it will probably be worth something someday.”

They all laughed including Liz and handed Max their notebooks. Max wrote each one a message and signed it with his name and world series 2008 under it…they all but floated to the counter to get their lunch. The patrons took note of the athlete’s patience and were all impressed. They recognized Liz from being in the café before but had no idea that she was the one engaged to the baseball player from Philadelphia. How nice they thought.

Max and Liz finished their lunch and then Liz took Max over to the lab to introduce him to her crew…Mr. Jarred was just coming out of the building as they were going in and he stopped and shook hands with Max and gave Liz a hug.

“Have you had a chance to decide who I should replace you with yet?”

“No Mr. Jarred…it’s a tough call really. They are all qualified and when it comes right down to it I think you should get to know all of them and make the decision for yourself. There are some people that we are more in tune with than others…and I truly believe that you should make the decision based on personality rather than qualifications…because all of their qualifications are exemplary.”

“I see. I never thought about it like that Liz…if you feel that is what I should do then I will spend some more time in the lab and get to know them based on compatibility rather than ability. Very good Liz. Enjoy your day. What are you doing in town anyway…don’t you have a wedding to prepare for?”

“Well, I’m letting the wedding planner do what she’s getting paid to do” and Max snorted at that remark… “and Max is helping pack up my personal things for the movers on Saturday. We are going in to see the crew and to bid them good bye actually.

I met with Mr. Appleby and he doesn’t want me to start until after the first of the year. He has given me backgrounds on the technicians to read over…but like I told you, I would rather work with them first before making any final decisions.”

“Good, good…what did you think of Mr. Appleby?”

“Well, actually I was shocked that he was the one to show me around. I found him to be very personable and very helpful. I felt as though they were having a popularity contest to see who would get to work with me…and this was a little discomforting but I’ll get past it.”

“Yes, I’m sure you will…Well you two take care and I will see you at the wedding in a couple of weeks, and don’t overdo it…you want to enjoy your party.”

“Yes I do, and thank you for everything Mr. Jarred.”

“No Liz, you don’t seem to realize…it is we who thank you. God bless and I’ll see you soon .”

Max could have flown of his own accord he was so proud of her…she didn’t have a clue as to her importance.

They went into the building and by that time the lobby was full of the employees waiting to see her. The receptionist had called all of the departments and told them that Dr. Parker was outside talking to Mr. Jarred and was headed in. Everyone applauded her and Max as they entered and Liz was overwhelmed. She smiled and waved at everyone and then someone handed her a portable mike...

“Hi guys…I’ll be moving on Saturday and most likely won’t be seeing you for awhile and I wanted to come by and tell you how much I have enjoyed working with all of you. Although we will be working for the same company we will be worlds apart. My work will bring me here occasionally and I will be seeing you but in a different capacity so know that I sincerely thank each of you from the bottom of my heart for all of your help. Without all of you I would never have been able to complete my work. Oh, and I brought someone very special for all of you to meet. This is Max Evans…SUPER BASEBALL HERO…and my fiancé. Max, take a bow.”

Max turned beet red and looked at her as though he would cheerfully throw her into a duck pond full of shit right now and she just ignored him and threw him a big kiss…the place went nuts. This was a side of Liz they had never seen and Max was wishing that they hadn’t. And then Liz stood on her tiptoes and gave Max a kiss on his beet red cheek and handed the mike back to the fellow standing next to her and took Max’s hand and introduced him to everyone individually. They all shook Max’s hand and wished him well and soon the couple was back outside and on their way back to the house.

“Liz, I don’t think I have ever been so embarrassed in my entire life. What in the hell has gotten into you anyway?”

“I really don’t know Max…one minute I was on the verge of tears and the next I just had this overwhelming need to put you on display. That’s why they were all there anyway, why not gloat?”

“Oh Liz, you have no idea why they were all there do you? Honey, those people have you on a pedestal so high that the tower of Babel wouldn’t hold a candle to it.”

“Oh get real Max…” and Max just kept on driving, she is priceless.

“Oh Max…that’s where Tess is.”

“Oh Liz.” Max said with the same influx as Liz. “I hope that’s where Tess stays! You can visit her and be nice but trust me…I don’t care if I ever hear her name mentioned again…okay?”

“Oh Max,”

“Don’t ‘oh Max’ me Liz, I mean it…please just don’t say it.” And Max was very determined to keep it this way.

“Okay love…I won’t…now, do you know how to get back to the house?”

“I think I can handle it…Oh…what are we going to do for dinner?”

“Oh, stop at the grocery store and I’ll pick up some salad makings and fresh vegetables. I have some steaks in the freezer and some chicken as well. We just need to finish up whatever we can before Saturday…anything that’s left in the refrigerator we can move over to the apartment.”

“Fair enough, is the market on the way or do I have to do some maneuvering?”

“It’s on the way. You won’t recognize it though…I’ll point it out.”

And sure enough Max would have driven right past the little building with the front porch and a small sign saying ‘GROCER’S’. Max smiled and pulled up in front and parked. Liz hopped out and was in the store before Max even had the keys out of the ignition. Does she ever slow down he wondered.

When Max entered the small little grocery store he was taken back in time to when life was simple. There, in bushel baskets sitting on the floor under a large table full of fresh vegetables were potatoes, corn, apples, and oranges. Off to the side of the table was a meat refrigerator with slabs of uncut meat waiting to be put through the large meat cutter located behind the showcase. On the other side of the room was a bread rack that held fresh bread and then another refrigerated case that held some beautiful pies and pastries. Liz was talking to the elderly gentleman behind the counter as she picked up one of the biggest heads of lettuce Max thought he had ever seen…then she squeezed a couple of tomatoes before settling on two of those and she also picked up a very long cucumber and some carrots and celery. Max couldn’t believe the vegetables. They were beautiful.

Liz noticed how he was looking everything over and asked him if there was something he especially wanted and he only asked…”Where do they get these, they are beautiful.”

“Oh, they are all locally grown and hand picked daily. Mrs. Johnson makes the bread right in the back room there and also the pies. Max, they are to die for…do you want to try one for dinner?”

“Do I want to try one, are you nuts, buy them all, we’ll take them home with us.” Max’s mouth was watering and he couldn’t believe it!

Mr. Johnson started to laugh…”Max, we will be glad to take an order for you…would you like to pick some up before you leave town…Hazel will bake them fresh for you.”

Max looked at Liz and she shook her head yes…”Oh, Mr. Johnson, have her bake more than one…we will freeze them when we get back to Philly okay.” She said while looking at Max.

“Sue Liz…do you have a large enough freezer?” It was Liz’s turn to laugh…”of course we do Mr. Johnson…You just have Hazel put a dozen pies together for us and we’ll pick them up on our way out of town on Saturday. But in the meantime what kind do you want tonight Max?”

“Which one is the best?”

“Just pick one Max…you will like all of them, I can guarantee it.”

“Oh, okay, blackberry?” Mr. Johnson smiled…his favorite also.

“We can have these for thanksgiving…everyone will love them.”

“No Liz…we aren’t sharing these pies…they’re our pies…” Max was adamant.

“Maxwell Evans…you shithead…what’s gotten into you…we will share the pies.”

“No Liz, we won’t share the pies…” and with that Liz turned around and looked at Mr. Johnson and said…

“Make that two dozen okay?” And Liz shook her head in disbelief.

“Of course Liz…two dozen it is…do you want a couple of pumpkin as well?”

“No, just the fruit…my friend Amy bakes a delicious pumpkin and we don’t want to rain on her parade. Thank you and we’ll stop on our way out of town for the order.”

“Have a good day you two…enjoy the pie.” Max smiled at Mr. Johnson and asked if he had a fork he could borrow…Mr. Johnson laughed and waved the two out the door.

“Max, I hope you were kidding back there…”

“I was not…Liz, I know that Liv bakes a great pie and so does Amy, but my God…those pies are made with fruit just picked fresh from bushes and trees. Can you imagine how good that is?”

“Max, I don’t have to imagine, I have eaten those pies and trust me they are heavenly but we can share…honest.”

“No we can’t Liz…some things are just plain sacred and those pies are heaven sent.”

Liz didn’t know if Max was serious or not…she couldn’t believe what she was hearing…he had to be kidding. Max just wasn’t like this, he would give the shirt off his back if someone needed it he surely wasn’t serious about a pie. My God…this borders on insanity. Nah…he’s kidding me, I know he is.

“Hey Liz, do you have any ice cream?”

“Yes Max, I have Ice cream. Now lets get back to work okay.” And so Max headed back to the house so they could finish up with the upstairs and tomorrow they would tackle the downstairs. Actually things were moving along quite nicely.

Liz took her cell phone out of her purse and gave Olivia a quick call and told her to make sure there was room in the freezer for two dozen pies…Olivia almost asked what the occasion was and then she thought twice and figured Max found something he liked on his little excursion and she told Liz she would make room. Liz looked at Max and smiled…we shall have pie for quite awhile I think. Max just smiled and kept on driving…life was good.

They were back in Philadelphia by Saturday and things were whipping right along and the two weeks were here in nothing flat.