By The Time I Get to Houston...

We were all sitting around in our kitchen drinking coffee....

My wife, Olivia, Her niece, Beverly and her husband Nelson and Beverly's mother Alfreda..

''Wow!  You guys just came from Hawaii ,then went to New Orleans and you're back on the road to Houston..I'm jealous..."laughed Alfreda..

''Alfreda have you given some consideration to what we talked about?" asked Olivia.

"Working for you as your office manager? Wow Livy!" said Alfreda..

"I can pay you more than you're making now" said Olivia..

"And I can get to see you more mommy.."said Beverly...

"Come on Ms. Jay.."said Nelson ,who kissed Alfreda on the cheek and hugged her...

Alfreda smiled and looked at me...

"Well what do you think, Tall Dark and Southern?" she asked..

"I'm all for it...It was my idea..."I said.

"Now that Josie is a Para-legal and in court with us more...She spends less time in the office...We could use the help.."said Olivia..

"You're really doing good for yourself Livy, Baby girl..Traveling around the country....You got Tall dark and southern workin for you, Josie and now you want to hire me?... Wow!  Okay...I'm in..I'm proud of you girls....."said Alfreda.

"And Donnie Ray or I can drive you home after work...."said Nelson..

"Rockland will pick me up and bring me here.."said Alfreda...

Beverly smiled at her mother...

"Rockland really loves you doesn't he Ma?" she said..

Alfreda sighed...

"He says he does... I can't seem to get rid of him... He's conflicted though....I know he is...One day he's going to realize he should be with a younger woman....I'm preparing myself for that day...But for the time being...I'm enjoying myself.." she said..

Olivia smiled and hugged Alfreda..

"Maybe he won't!!...Maybe he's the one! Maybe you're the one for him...I've never seen him looser of happier than when he's around you...."said Olivia..

''We'll see..but enough about Rockland...This calls for a celebration...!" said Alfreda..Smiling broadly...She knew she had Rockland wrapped around her fingers..

I grabbed five flutes and filled them with orange juice and then poured a half drank bottle of champagne in them..

 Mimosas for all!!!

''Cheers to our new team member...."I said.

"Here, Here.."said Nelson, raising a glass...

Olivia and Beverly kissed Alfreda on the cheek and hugged her......

II-

A few blocks away in an apartment complex....Keith Jones and his girlfriend, Beatrice "Bee Bee"Evans..

were standing in the doorway of her and Sofia's apartment kissing passionately......

They were both packed.....

Her room-mate Sofia smiled ,looking at them...She was finishing up packing...

"Wow, you two plan on coming up for air anytime soon, ?" she joked..

"It's not me...It's him..."gushed Bee Bee... "I never knew he liked me so much....Do you know how happy I could have been in college if I had known?"laughed Bee Bee.,.Keith was now kissing her neck...

"Me too...Do you know how many dreams I had about you in law school...?" asked Keith Jones..

''For real? I wish you'd of said something.." asked Bee Bee..

''Oh My God....You two! Aye Mios Dios...." laughed Sofia..

Khalil and Jade came to the door with their suitcases...

 "Everybody ready?" asked Khalil..

"The Bus will be here in a few minutes...I hope Ms. Yvette is ready." said Jade..

"Anybody call her?" asked Sofia..

"I'm here!!!....Gary just dropped me off.." said Yvette...out of breath and blushing....

Their Firm, McClusky/Cozen and Associates had provided a passenger bus to transport them and us  to the airport.....

"Well Here comes the bus....Let's load up guys..."said Keith...




III-

The Bus was nice...Yvette's crew loaded up. and then the bus dropped by our place...

 ''Wow! Nice!"I said, admiring the bus...

 "The perks of working for a corporate law firm.."said Olivia..

 "One day Auntay...One day we'll be like this firm.."said Beverly...

Olivia smiled and hugged her niece...She was always so hopeful...She herself never imagined she'd be this successful, but Beverly always did.

 "Nice.....Heyy Guys."said Nelson as he helped both Beverly and Josie with their suitcases...

"Hi Everybody."said Josie as the five of us got on the bus...

 "Heyyy."said Bee Bee..

 "Not bad huh?" said Keith Jones..

 "What's happenin folks?" said Khalil..

"We should team up more often.."said Sofia...

"I agree...Your firm really knows how to support it's staff..." said Olivia..

"I'll say.."said Beverly...

"Our partner...Mr. McCluskey and Slim Johnson are old friends from way back....I didn't know that...When Slim asked for us...Mr. McClusky supplied the van and the house the firm owns in Houston..."said Yvette...

"I take it you guys have an Office in Houston?" I asked..

"We do and in a couple of other cities...New Orleans, Miami, San-Francisco, Los Angelas, Chicago.."said Yvette.

"WOW!  Maybe I should have come to work for your firm.."laughed Olivia..

"Nah, you and Baby girl are doing just fine...You have freedom and Autonomy I'd die for.."said Yvette.

We laughed and joked the rest of the way to the airport...This was more like a camping trip than work, I mused..

IV-

At the Airport, Gary Lockwood, to no one's surprise was there to see us off...

"Wowwwwwwwwwwwwww nice.....yall traveled here in style..."he said..."I'm going to be bored without you guys around..." he said with a smile..

"Aren't you coming down?" asked Bee Bee.

"Later in the Week." he said..

"He loves you sooo much Vettie.."whispered Olivia in her friends ear...

"I know, I didn't trust him for a long time...but I can see it now...."said Yvette, who pulled Gary to her slowly and kissed him..

"Be good Boo....I'll wait for your call.."whispered Yvette..

Gary was aroused by the softness and warmth of her body...He didn't want to let go, but he knew he had to...

''Well there's our flight number...Uh tell Mom and Dad,it's time to go." said Khalil..

Beverly cracked up...

So did Josie..

"Mom and Dad?" she asked...Laughing along with Bev..

"They kind of are like our Mom and Dad"laughed Bee Bee.

"Yeah, they are.."laughed Sofia..

"Showtime folks.."said Keith...

Jade,Olivia, Beverly,Myself, Nelson and Josie followed , Keith, Bee Bee, Sofia and Khalil to the plane....

Yvette was the last person getting on the plane, blushing and out of breath...We all laughed...

V-

We arrived in Houston FIVE OR SIX HOURS later...It was indeed hot...We had no one to meet us or contact us unlike before...

Slim had given us all the information we'd need...A Photo of our client, the location of the facility she was being held in, The location of our living quarters and keys...

Our legal fees and Airline tickets were paid for by The Innocence Project....McCluskey/Cozen and Associates offered us our living quarters.

which was in a nice section of Houston . This cut down the cost of putting us up in a hotel...

Keith Jones and I rented an SUV a piece from the Airport to get us on our journey..

He brought Yvette, Bee Bee, Sofia, Khalil and Jade with him....

While I had Olivia, Beverly, Nelson and Josie in mine...

"It looks Nice..."I said..

"Yes it does...Let's go inside and unload our stuff,pick our rooms.."said Olivia..

"I don't care where my room is , as long as we are together.."said Beverly to Nelson...

and giving him an extra passionate kiss...

"Wow", was all he could muster up to say...The fact that he was now married to Beverly was the stuff of his wildest dreams , but that she would feel the way she did about him was something also..

"Let's go see these rooms."said Josie..

 Bee Bee and Keith were the only ones of Yvette's people who were on the floor with Olivia,Beverly,Nelson, Josie and I..  There were four rooms on each floor...We took the second floor...

"Ouuuu I like this honey bunny.."said  Bee Bee.

"I just know you do...You're on the same floor with Olivia and Beverly, your idols"laughed Keith...

"Oh Hush up silly goose."laughed Bee Bee.. They already sounded like they were married...

Right over us on the third floor was Sofia and Khalil

 "Ouu these are nice rooms." said Sofia...

"Any room with you in it is nice.."said Khalil...

"You want some already...buttering me up..."said Sofia laughing and kissing Khalil..

Jade was next door to them....

and Yvette had the third room room..The end room, the empty room is where we stashed our suitcases...

She looked a little sad...Seeing most of us coupled up...and Gary not being here..but he was coming..

The kitchen was beautiful......

So was the common room with a law library and a wide screen television and music streaming...

Because we weren't registered in any area hotel ,No one could look us up and know our whereabouts..I liked that...

"Let's see if we can find a supermarket nearby and buy some groceries..."said Beverly...

"Yeah, That's what we did in Hawaii..We cooked the majority of our meals.."said Josie..

 "Sounds like a plan to me.."said Bee Bee...

"Yeah ,I'm with it.."said Sofia..

"We can take my SUV.."said Keith..

"Cool, you coming Khalil?" asked Nelson..

"Yeah,let's go." he said...

and they headed out to find a supermarket...

Olivia smiled.

"Young people...They just got off of a six hour flight and they're out on the town.."laughed Olivia..

"I know right? That was us a few years ago.."said Yvette...

I smiled...

"Don't I know it.." I laughed...

"Well what is the game plan?" asked Jade...

''Well for now , relaxation...Tomorrow, breakfast....We'll go over the case and we'll put teams together.."said Olivia...

 "I think me, you Vettie and Nelson will work on Jury selection...If it even comes to that!"said Olivia..

 "That's a good idea..."said Yvette..

"I've heard Nelson has a talent for that too!"said Yvette...

"I think Sofia, Khalil and You ought to work with Jade and Donnie Ray on locating the facility her 5 year old daughter is in and getting her out..

said Olivia....."and for the meat of the case...Getting this young woman out...It's going to be me and Beverly...with Keith Jones and Bee Bee Evans arguing for her defense..

and of course Josie assisting.." she added..

 "Most people don't get one good attorney...This woman has 8 and a para legal and two investigators.."laughed Yvette...

"And we still might not win.."sighed Olivia..

Darkness came...Houston looked beautiful on the horizon...Our next case was beginning...


(TO BE CONTINUED)