ianscyberspace posted: " Photo by Sam Lion on Pexels.com The Pressure Continues Francisco sat stunned. "My grandchild was killed in that accident too?" He shook his head sadly. "My grandchildren need a Latino mother to nurture them through the loss of their moth" ianscyberspace
"My grandchildren need a Latino mother to nurture them through the loss of their mother so please consider Camila's offer. She is prepared to be that mother even though you don't love her. You will come to love her in time, that is our way. Only Benita defied us in marrying outside her culture, but we accepted you even though you are disappointing me now."
Stanley stood and embraced his father-in-law planting a kiss on each cheek.
"Please understand my feelings father-in-law. My love for Benita is too strong to consider desecrating that memory in this way."
They re-joined the group and Francisco indicated the Lopez family should depart. Customary respectful greetings were shared between the two families and Camila smiled at Stanley hopefully until her father whispered in her ear. She turned in tears and left the building with her family.
Gilma worked closely with Stanley's mother over the coming months to see the children were nurtured and helped through their grief and the two women bonded more closely during that time. Gilma was an organizational powerhouse and seamlessly settled into Benita's role working long hours but making time for the children sometimes delegating responsibilities to others under her span of control during the day when the senior Mrs. Gifford was unable to cope with all their appointments. The children had always looked on Gilma as a second mother as Benita and Gilma's lives were so closely entwined with theirs before Benita was cruelly removed from their lives.
Gilma also took an interest in her dearest friend's husband, not in a romantic way but she felt a responsibility to her friend who was more a sister to her than friend so while she was grieving, she kept an eye on Stanley to see his grief was not overwhelming his capacity to act as president. Occasionally Stanley and she would clash as she appeared to be intruding into his private life.
One such occasion happened when she noted him overworking to compensate for his grief and had a spirited fight with him in his office over not spending enough time with his children. While Stanley was quite angry and shouted at her for exceeding her authority by attempting to organize him, he quickly subsided after she was out of his office and scheduled his time so he could spend evenings and weekends with his children. Gilma was too important to company functioning for him to reprimand her.
On another occasion she organized membership for him in a fitness club as she could see he was not balancing his life with enough exercise to counteract the highly stressful work he had to do while nursing his grief. She then marched into his office and presented him with a schedule to workout at the fitness club before entering his work schedule for the day. Once again, he angrily told her to mind her own affairs, but when she'd left his office, he studied the literature left on his table and resolved to follow this discipline realizing this was in the best interests of he and his family. Stanley's personal assistant who listened to the loud interchanges laughed silently and spread the news among the other secretaries in the administrative building.
Six months after that and in improving mental and physical health he stopped by Gilma's office and sat patiently while she took two phone calls simultaneously and gave rapid fire instructions to her secretary who darted back and forth retrieving files and trying to deal with other phone calls herself. Gilma had gone through two secretaries this year each telling Human Resources in their exit interviews she was too hard to keep up with. He'd sat in his other vice presidents' offices and by way of contrast their offices were a model of serenity as they calmly dealt with their work and did it well. But Gilma was exceptional and would probably be a CEO of a company of her own someday he mused. He was glad she was still with his company.
Finally, Gilma finished her calls and waved her secretary outside to her own office. She smiled.
"Well. I'm honored indeed to have the president visit my office."
"I've come to apologize to you Gilma. You must have been really insulted at the way I shouted at you the last time you were there months ago. I only see you at the executive and board meetings now. I'm sorry, you were right and in all cases your urgings have improved my mental state and health not to mention the joy in spending time with my children, evenings, and weekends. I'd also like to thank you for taking the load off mom with the children. They really love you and your presence in our home is greatly valued. I miss your nightly visits since Benita died too. You were an important part of the scenery I miss very much. All of this done while taking a huge load in administration each day. I don't know how you do it."
"Well, I had a great mentor in my sister Benita, and I miss her so much. I couldn't bear to see you driving yourself into the grave too as you are part of my extended family so did what any sane person would have done. Motivate you to do better for the sake of your family."
Stanley laughed. "I knew you were right, but my male ego forced me to shout at your for doing your good deeds and I'm truly sorry. I hope you feel free to come to my office now I've apologized."
"Well, you did tell me to mind my own affairs and I've tried to do that as all the secretaries were having fun at our expense among them which I suppose your personal assistant was responsible for, but just remember I'm watching you on behalf of my sister Benita."
"Gilma what do you do in the evenings now, I know you are more sensible than I was and have worked out your grief in the gym since Benita died. Probably where you got the idea it would be good for me too. Do you have hobbies?"
"Only work and internet research to keep my mind active and up to date with best practice in our industry, why?"
"Why don't you join us for supper every evening like you used to do. The children enjoy having their grandmother there of an evening, but they miss you and if it's not intruding into your own privacy after a hard day's work, I'd like to have you back into our old routine."
Gilma eyed him carefully trying to understand what was behind this offer. She too missed those days but was trying to figure out if this was proper. It had only been a year since her dear friend Benita had gone to rest and would this be misunderstood. She'd come to know from Mother Gifford the demand made by Francisco Lopez on behalf of his daughter and did not want to get involved in a confrontation with that family. She knew them well from her days as Benita's friend at UCLA. But she bristled at the thought. She was Brazilian and more than a match for that family.
"I want to come so thank you so much for inviting me as I love the children and want to bring them some comfort in the loss of their mother. But I understand boundaries and if you decide to take up Francisco's offer, I'll quickly exit the scene so there is no conflict with the extended family. I will respect those boundaries."
Stanley laughed.
"How on earth did you come to know about that unfortunate incident Gilma?"
"Mother Gifford told me."
Gilma's secretary opened the door and peeped in. "More callers on the line Gilma."
Stanley went back to his office feeling good inside after his apology which was long overdue and began to filter through all the appointments for the day and make phone calls. There'd be an executive meeting in an hour, so he needed to get organized. He was already looking forward to the evening when one semblance of the past would be restored in the home with Gilma's reappearance evenings. The children would be overjoyed.
The family had settled into the restored routine and a month later sat in the living room with the children while Mother Gifford sat knitting and watching her favorite program on TV. Beverly now aged five sat on Gilma's lap coloring a book and chatting incessantly to Gilma who responded by stroking the little girl's hair. Stanley was down on the floor with Timothy watching as he raced electric cars around a circular track. Stanley glanced at his daughter and opened his mouth in surprise before speaking.
"Gilma I can't believe how much Beverly is like you in features and skin color. You must have been so close to Benita it has involuntarily affected the gene pool."
He laughed at his own joke then turned to study his son. His son had the Gifford features but now he looked more closely he could see Timothy had similar skin tone to his sister. He looked at his mother and saw the two women exchanging glances.
Gilma picked up Beverly.
"Time to put you to bed young lady. Come and I'll read you another chapter of your story and put you to sleep. It's time for your aunt to go home now."
She departed for Beverley 's bedroom and Stanley now focused listened as the story was delivered. Ten minutes later she appeared and wished them a good evening then opened the door pausing in surprise.
"Camila, I didn't hear you ring the bell!"
"Just arrived to tell Mrs. Gifford and Stan that mom and I are on a visit and see if it would be convenient to have the children for a few days. We have missed Benita's visits with the kids on holidays and as this is their vacation time thought we could visit and enjoy their company again. What are you doing here?"
Gilma could feel the chill as she opened the door and invited them inside as she left for home. She smiled to herself realizing this could have raised questions in her mind seeing she had her sights set on Stanley. She'd have to be more prudent and stay away from the Giffords while the Lopez family were in town. She didn't want to cross that family so would talk about it at the office with Stanley in the morning.
It was agreed that evening that Camila and her mother would be able to spend the day at the Gifford residence to be with their grandchildren and take them out on excursions on the understanding the children should be home in the evenings to follow their routines with the Lopez family to spend time at the home until they departed for their hotel after each evening visit. With Mother Gifford now occupying the guest room it was regretted that accommodation could not be provided as Stanley had no prior knowledge of their arrival.
Gilma sought out Stanley next day and indicated she wouldn't be coming around for supper in the evenings until the Lopez' departed for California and Stanley agreed that would be the best under the circumstances. Stanley was resentful they'd not informed him of their intended visit but determined to make the best of it. He was aware Camila was there to soften him up and had noted her jealousy when finding Gilma at the Gifford home on her arrival. So, this was the best solution to a potential problem visit.
Camila and her mother worked on Mother Gifford during the day and showered presents on the grandchildren with the old lady urging Camila to be recommended as a marriage partner urgently so the children would be well cared for. Camila pulled out all the stops to impress her hoped for mother-in-law. Mother Gifford wearily responded to the repeated promotional with the constant response her son's love for Benita needed to be respected and she wouldn't push him into another marriage before he was ready. They hinted Gilma was a gold digger obviously intent on trying to capture her son and this would be inappropriate seeing she was not Spanish and therefor unsuitable. Mother Gifford bore it patiently but let her anger out on her son of an evening when the two visitors had departed for their hotel.
Just before their departure they turned up to the house in the evening without the children and Mother Gifford inquired where they were anxiously. The Lopez women feigned surprise and protested that Mother Gifford had sent someone to fetch them because she'd forgotten they had a scheduled dental appointment. Stanley's mother phoned her son to find out if he'd send someone and Stanley rushed home to quiz the ladies. He phoned the police chief who was a member of the country club Stanley played golf with to lodge a missing person's report. The police were there within ten minutes and questioning the Lopez women getting drawings of the ones who'd been sent to collect the children. Then an alert was put out and a thorough investigation commenced. With the aid of credit card companies, a trail was established as to where the ladies had visited with children that day and a team spread out to investigate video recordings in those public places with security cameras nearby.
They did identify a man and woman who met the Lopez women and after a brief conversation departed with the children. Photos were distributed around the city and public transport venues. Had this been a planned kidnapping for money?
Then security at the airport reported two persons matching that description accompanied by two children had taken a flight to San Francisco. The police data base was searched to match photos on file with the plane boarding passes but no match could be found. The Gifford's waited for a ransom demand but none came.
When Gilma heard this, she went ballistic. She headed for Stanley's office and said she was taking leave as she felt she knew what was happening and would solve the problem.
Stanley tried to calm her down.
"Gilma you can't walk out on your responsibilities like this, leave it to us and the police they are working hard on this problem and making progress."
"These are my children, so I need to be involved."
Stanley remembered that last evening when Gilma was at their home, and he'd observed a striking similarity to Gilma and his daughter Beverly. He was present at the delivery of his two children and knew his wife had delivered these two children but there was this strong likeness."
He grabbed Gilma by the shoulders to prevent her from leaving.
"What do you mean my children are your children Gilma? I saw Benita deliver them."
Gilma broke his grip but paused a second and looked at Stanley.
"Ask your mother Stanley. I'll make proper arrangements for the work to be covered and will be back in a week and the problem should be solved. I never take vacation so you can accommodate me this once. She left to consult with her team and then left leaving Stanley to struggle with this surprise."
Stanley rushed to his office and phoned his mother.
"Mom is there something you are keeping from me. Gilma has just departed from the factory to look for the children and claims they are hers. That's impossible because I was at the delivery both times and know Benita delivered my children. But I saw you and Gilma exchange glances when I remarked about the feature similarity a few evenings ago."
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