New Family Position Ch. 03

The day before the wedding was hectic and busy as weddings are, but there was a tension in the air I couldn't identify. The rumor of a big announcement was heavy and Susan had a nervous energy unlike anything I had seen with her. She kept talking about how everything was going to change today and our lives would never be the same. I thought it was strange she kept referring to today as opposed to the reception tomorrow when John was expected to make the announcement, but I assumed she was just nervous and confusing herself with the big event.

There was a family lunch planned at noon the day before the wedding at one of the ballrooms at the upscale hotel the reception was going to be held. The family was encamped in the hotel and we all had suites for the week before the wedding and through the weekend. John and Stephanie had the penthouse suite on the top floor and the rest of us had suites on the floors below. I couldn't help but think of the hierarchy symbolized with this arrangement.

Susan was giddy as she prepared for the lunch but despite me trying to get frisky, she kept saying she was saving herself. I put on my best Brooks Brother suit and she wore a rather formal little black dress with black thigh highs, and black 4 inch strappy heels. She wore a string of pearls her father had given her for college graduation and some bracelets that matched the dress in a way a man like me can't understand.

As we approached the ballroom, Susan stopped me and held my hands in hers. She looked so serious and suddenly I was worried something was wrong. For the first time, my confidence was shaken the announcement was something horrible. All sorts of scenarios went through my head but she looked up at me with a tight grin and said, "I just want you to know no matter what happens you are the one I love and will always love. There is nothing that will happen that will change that no matter what has happened or what will happen."

"Oh sweetie, you don't have anything to worry about, I love you so much more than I ever have and we are going to be together until the day we die."

I took her in my arms and she said, "I hope so. You have never asked me anything about before we met and I want you to know I would have told you anything you asked."

"Baby, I never cared who you were before we met; I have always only loved who you are and who we are together."

"Just remember how I feel about you, no matter what happens."

I looked in her eyes and took her beautiful face in my hands and kissed her lightly, "Nothing is ever going to change the way I feel about you."

She smiled and set her shoulders like she was ready and she took and squeezed my hand like she was never going to let go. We walked through the doors and just like in the movies, all eyes turned to us. The whole family was already there which was surprising because some of the family was late in a habitual way. The ballroom was set up with a large, round table and the various family members were stationed around it, radiating from the head of the table, where John and Stephanie were stationed. Two seats were left open, where Susan led me. The family recovered quickly and John said graciously, "Ah, the late ones are here, we can have them serve lunch. There were various hugs and handshakes as the family took turns welcoming us and we all took our seats. Despite this being a family meeting, I noticed right away neither Brent nor any of his family was present, but Cindy was seated next to me, and John's long time personal assistant, Joan, was next to John. When I asked Susan, she said Brent's family were having their own lunch and off-handedly said, "Cindy is practically family anyway."

As one would expect, John spared no expense for the lunch and we all enjoyed an incredible meal and lively conversation. The family lunch was what I was used to with this group, it was fun and interesting and loving. I was enjoying it so much I started to dismiss anything was wrong and was started to chalk it up to pre-wedding nerves with the added pressure of the announcement weighing on everyone's minds. I decided I had underestimated how much the norm was going to change for the family and therefore had underestimated the stress. By the time lunch was done, I had convinced myself I was being ridiculous and I had let Susan get my imagination going. The sex the last two weeks had hit a new level and Susan acted each night like it was the last time we would make love, which based on our discussion in our suite had further made me wary.

When desert had been cleared, John whispered to the head waiter and the waiters filled everyone's glasses and then left discreetly. John stood up and started into a speech. It started as what one would expect; how happy he was to have his family together; what a wonderful wedding it was going to be; etc.

John was a good speaker and he said some wonderful things. You don't get to where he is and what he has accomplished without being able to move a room and John had the additional advantage of being completely sincere and heartfelt.

After a few minutes, John said, "But of course we have some family business to discuss. I know not all of you know what I have decided so it is time to let you all know as a family. Before I do, I want you to know I looked at several options."

He was standing behind Zack with his hands on Zack's broad shoulders. "I felt I was obligated to see how Zack would feel about taking the job, but frankly, Zack knew the way we should go and told me so. I have to tell you I have never been prouder of my son. He would have made a terrific CEO but he knows who he is and told me he never wanted that life. He told me he was doing what I had always told him to do; find something that made him happy and pursue it with all his passion. He has done this and dedicated his life to making others' live better. He and Janice are doing what they love and I am tremendously proud of them both"

Zack and Janice stood and embraced John and Stephanie got in the hug fest as well. Everyone else applauded politely but there were also looks of anticipation and curiosity as it struck everyone Zack would not be the new CEO.

I was stunned. I was so convinced John did not like the public option, so I had assumed Zack had agreed. Now I was anticipating he would announce taking the company public since I believed no one else was qualified. His next words convinced me that was what he was going to.

"The finances of this company have become complicated but incredibly lucrative. I realized I had the solution in front of me all the time but I was afraid to change the tradition of this family. Without Zack's blessing to go ahead, I am not sure I would have had the courage to go through with what is obviously the right choice."

"That is why I am naming Blake as my successor if he will choose to accept."

I remember a movie scene from Fight Club where the main character realizes he has a split personality and the room sort of cinematically collapses around him and as he tries to cope with it. This is how I felt, like there was suddenly no sound and all the focus was on me. Like some fever dream. I vaguely remember some applause; Susan hugging me; someone slapped me on my back. I found myself making my way to John and Stephanie. I was holding Susan's hand and we were both receiving hugs of congratulations. I reached Stephanie and just as if this couldn't get any weirder, Stephanie stood on her toes and kissed me full on the mouth, something she had never done before. She kept kissing me and I felt her tongue enter my mouth as she pressed her wonderful body against me. If it is possible, that just made this experience more bizarre. John gently eased Stephanie away from me and said, "Dear let's let Blake catch his breath, I imagine this is a lot to take in."

Stephanie's eyes were full of lust as she allowed her husband to direct her back to her seat. John turned back to the family and said, "This is sure to be a bit of a shock to Blake so I would like to take a moment to let him absorb it. Excuse us."

John escorted me away from the table into a side room that looked like a lounge. There was a bar and couches and John fixed me a scotch and I took a seat. I started to get my head about me and John waited a few minutes as I think he sensed the news had shocked me more than he thought.

Finally he smiled and said, "Susan is so right about you, you really are quite dim for someone so smart." He raised his glass in a salute to tell me he was teasing me. I downed mine as well and he went to make us both another.

"I'm sorry Blake, I really thought you had figured it out, both Stephanie and Susan did, obviously Zack. Maybe a couple others, you seemed to be the most shocked in the room. I didn't do a very good job of hiding my displeasure with taking the company public and felt you more than anyone else knew how complicated the finances are and how much experience it would take to run this company because of it."

"John, I am not a blood relative, can you even name me as a successor?"

John laughed and said, "The beauty of being a family owned business is there is no board of directors to tell me what to do and even though I am breaking tradition, it is still just a tradition. As far as I am concerned, you are family and by far, the best qualified. You know all the financials because you put them together and you have all the brains and character to serve as CEO. The whole family loves you and maybe as much as anything that was as important as any of your other traits you have. It would be very hard for me to do this if Zack hadn't been so enthusiastic about it"

John went on, "My brother is a better man than people really believe but he could never handle this company and while there are talented family members, none can hold a candle to your abilities."

He paused here and his face turned grim. He got up and got another drink for us and he took on a very serious attitude, "Before you accept, you have to know all the responsibilities. There are some family traditions you will have to uphold if you are to become the head of the company."

It was my turn to smile, "John I have watched you pretty carefully the last few years, I think I know how you run the business."

"Yes you do and that is important but not near as important as what I have to tell you now. This is why the family has kept the business to itself and the one in charge is handed down."

Suddenly my mind turned back to what Susan had said about all secrets being revealed.

I could see by his tension this weighted heavily with him. He paced a little, which I had seen him do when there was a complicated problem to solve or he was negotiating a big deal.

He sat down again as if he had steadied himself. "Blake, have you wondered why there haven't been any new children in the family since Chanel?"

I didn't think I heard the question right. I couldn't comprehend why this was important to being the CEO. Maybe I was still a little dazed from the announcement itself but I simply stared at him for a second before I said, "John, I have never had cause to think about it, I just never thought about it."

John shook his head, "This really isn't going to be easy." He looked at me with some seriousness and said, "Let me try another approach. Do you know why Karen left home?"

I shrugged and said, "I never care much about gossip and rumors John, you know that."

John grinned again and said, "I know, it's one of the things I really like about you but I am afraid if you take this job, you will have to get interested. See, about 19 years ago, I had an accident. I was sailing in a bit of a storm and the boat was hit by lightning. The mast broke apart and well, I was hit with debris in a place no man wants to be hit." He glanced down to his crotch.

"Oh, I am sorry John, I had no idea but I fail to see..."

John held up his hand and said, "Just let me get this out. The accident left me... let's say I can drive the truck but I can't deliver any packages. The world's first sailing vasectomy." He chuckled at this but I could see by the strain on his face, it had been very painful to admit this problem.

He stood again and paced a bit. He stopped suddenly, like he had made a decision and sat back down. He squared up to face me as if building himself up to something and said, "Blake, there are family traditions to be upheld by the CEO of this company. It started with the very founder of this company and has been handed down ever since. Due to my accident, it wasn't very important to reveal these traditions to you or many people outside of idle gossip. Now it is time to reveal it to you."

John took a big breath and said. "One of the most important duties of being the head of this company is that, as CEO, it is my responsibility to satisfy, and if necessary, impregnate the women of the company."

Back to the Fight Club surreal moment. I stared for a second and said, "I don't understand, you mean Stephanie, right?"

"No, I mean all of the women. As CEO, you satisfy all the women, or at least the ones you choose. "

"John, what do you mean by satisfy?"

"I mean I have sex with those women in the company who I see fit to satisfy and that's not all, tradition means I impregnate them if need be. That is why there have been no new children since Chanel."

Again, with the movie scene fade in. This was happening a little too much to me today.

I took another gulp of my drink and set it on the table. "John, are you telling me you are the father of all of the children?

"Yes Blake, I am."

I finished my drink with that bit of information.

John said, "You see, once I was...injured, I was unable to fulfill those duties but we decided the CEO responsibilities were just as important and so I should continue in that role. I don't think anyone thought it would take this long to get to an obvious successor. Many of those employees who knew what the tradition was before my accident; have either moved on or retired, so there isn't all that many who know. It was decided we would keep this information more discreetly and only those in the family would be told. At the time of my accident, we all assumed Zack would ascend in the company but he found his calling in medicine. A father does not want to rob his son of what he wants to do with his life so even though I worried, I encouraged Zack to pursue medicine. When the easiest route to a successor in Zack dried up, I wasn't sure how we should proceed. Frankly, you have been the first possible option in a long time."

I was still reeling but I was starting to rally, "Wait, I was never informed and I married into the family, why didn't I know about this?"

"Special circumstances, you technically came into the company as an intern and when you two decided to get married, we decided it wasn't necessary to bring you in on the secret until we figured out what to do about my successor. At the time, we had no idea how integral you would be to the company; and Susan doesn't work for the company; so she wouldn't necessarily have to be impregnated by the CEO. There was always a chance you would leave the company once a new successor was named. Eventually, it just seemed easier to keep it from you."

He got up and made us another drink and let me settle in on all of this. "Now you can see why I had to consider taking the company public. I had to decide if we could risk telling you and potentially lose the man who knows how it all works. In the end, I decided even if you don't accept, you would likely keep the family secret." He paused and then, took another sip of his drink, "I am almost afraid to ask you this but what do you think? Do you have questions?"

I slumped back in the couch and took a big pull of my drink. I was stunned but suddenly I came back around to something he said, "Wait, ALL of the women of the family? ALL the women of the company?"

John chuckled as he said, "I should have anticipated this would be the hardest part to wrap your mind around. You didn't grow up with the understanding like the rest of the family; it must seem bizarre and even a little scary. Yes, all of the women. It's also why none of the other women have had any babies, including you and Susan. It's also why Karen left home. When she realized I wouldn't be able to give her a baby, she got upset and decided to go out on her own. It has taken me all this time to get her to forgive me."

"My God John, are you asking me to make all the women of this company pregnant? I exclaimed!"

John chuckled and tilted his glass to me, "No, I am asking you to be CEO of this company. Maybe I need to be clear, the job I am asking you to do it be CEO. The traditions that have been part of this company are really up to you. You have no obligation to have sex with any women you don't want to. However, if you take the job, you will have to notify what your, shall we say, "boundaries" are going to be. Blake, we have had twelve CEOs in this company, all ancestors of mine. Most of the CEOs have been good to excellent business men, which has made us prosperous all these years. However, the family history has some CEOs who ran their peckers more than the company. On the other hand, we have had some who were more discrete, including one who didn't even prefer women.

As the company got bigger and the world more judgmental and this kind of things aren't as tolerated, my father and I chose to be more discreet. The direct family knows, of course, and some very special employees who have also chosen to be discreet. The rest of the company whispers in the halls or gossips about the scandalous past."

I felt I was over my initial shock and I started asking John question after question, which he answered patiently. We were at it for almost an hour. Finally I asked, "If I accept this, when would I start; and what role will you have?"

"It starts as soon as we do the legal paperwork to transfer the responsibility, which will be effective the Monday following the wedding. As for my position, it is really up to you but you have two options. You can retire me or you can keep me on as a Senior Consultant for a period not to exceed five years. If you retire me, I would be required to leave the city and Stephanie and I find a beach somewhere. If you keep me on, I would be able to advise you on legal and business matters. My, uh, privileges, would be revoked, unless I had your consent, to include my own wife. All of that would be covered in the non-public transfer paperwork."

"My God John, you would be a legal cuckold?"

He chuckled but said, "Yes Blake, but you shouldn't worry about me. I have had an amazing run as both a businessman and cock of the walk around here, if you pardon the pun. Business -wise, there is very little I could really advise you, no one in the company knows how it works more than you."

The he added, "Really as a consultant, the only advice I can give you is in a leadership role. While your reputation as a leader is very good, you haven't risen to a senior executive level so there may be some areas I could help you navigate."

I looked at this man I admired so much and said, "John, what do you prefer?"

"Truthfully, I would gladly stay on as a consultant; it would really hurt Stephanie if she had to move away from the family. Also, the truth is Stephanie is still a young woman and she still wants to have another baby."

It took me a second to realize what he was implying, John grinned a little sheepishly, "It is why Stephanie was so...enthusiastic with you in the ballroom; she wants to see if you can give us a son."

At this point, I sat back for a minute. When faced with big decisions I usually consulted with Susan but I knew this time, the decision was mine. So many things went through my head, the position; the money that would come with it; the chance to run this amazing company. In the end, being the CEO of this company was too amazing an opportunity to pass up. I looked at John and nodded my head. He smiled and jumped up to shake my hand and hug me. He called his secretary, Joan, who brought the public, legal paperwork for us to sign. Joan was 35, tall, leggy and blonde. She was wearing a white, semi-transparent blouse with a black, pencil skirt. She wore no stockings because her legs were magnificent; and black stilettos. She had once been a fashion model and was undoubtedly gorgeous but I had always looked at her as an efficient employee who was often a little coldly professional. Now I saw her differently. John saw me and grinned, "You will have to decide who your executive secretary will be, Joan came to me after the accident and I could not recommend someone more qualified, or more willing."