B&C III - 8

Brian and Christine
Book Three
Saint Jane's
Part 8

Thomas Wong’s grandparents moved form Hong Kong to Los Angeles in the early 20th Century. Mrs. Wong’s recipes came with them and they soon opened a Chinese restaurant. There were many Chinese restaurants in LA at the time but the Wong’s Garden was one of the best and was soon successful. They had 4 boys. Three of them graduated from college, the fourth joined the U.S. Army. The youngest, Sam Wong, went into the insurance business, married a corn fed girl from Nebraska named Shelley and they had 2 boys. The eldest, Lee, went into his father’s business. The youngest, Tom, went to law school.

From the start it was clear that Tom would have a fine career in law. He enjoyed it and was very conscientious and compassionate with his clients. One day, in a court room, he met Lawrence Schaeffer and they decided to establish a partnership, hence the firm Wong & Schaeffer was established. Now they represent primarily people in the motion picture business. They negotiate contracts, deal with agents, managers and producers and get the stars out of trouble when they get into it, which is frequently. The firm has grown to have many Associates, but Tom Wong’s favorite is a gal named Wendy Klein.

Tom listened very carefully to the explanation about Christy and Saint Jane’s. He asked few but very pertinent questions. After about an hour he reached over, flicked a switch and said “Heidi would you please bring me that contract we got from Connecticut about Saint Jane’s Home For Girls?”

“Right away” a voice said near the switch.

Their conversation continued for another few minutes when Heidi, a pleasant woman in her 40s, with short dark hair, glasses and wearing an I-mean-business looking skirt and blouse. She handed a document to Tom who said “Thank you. Heidi, were you thinking of taking the rest of the day off?”

“Oh, no, sir.”

“Well do that. Okay?”

“I will. Thank you sir” and she left the room.

“She’s been with me for 15 years. I can say anything I want to her.”

While Tom was looking over the document Wendy said “The way I see it, the only way to get her out of there is to adopt her since it’s probably registered as a foster home already.”

“Are you prepared to do that?” Tom asked Brian.

“Well, yes, if I can. But I don’t know if I can, considering my age and some shady untruths about my reputation.”

“Don’t worry about your reputation” said Tom. “I can take care of that.”

“If Brian can’t do it, I can’ said Wendy.

Tom looked at her with a bit of suspicion. ‘Would you want to do that?”

“Yes. And if you met this girl you would know why. She’s a remarkable child.”

“No doubt” he said. “Well maybe I will meet her. Let me go over this contract and do some snooping around and let’s see what I can come up with. Call me tomorrow.” He stood up and ushered them to the door.

“Brian, how’s that new script coming?”

“Slowly. But I’m back to work on it finally.”

“Good. Bloom has been bugging me.”

“They left and went back to Brian’s place. When they got there Wendy parked the car, got out and came inside, uninvited, which pleased Brian. Brian tried a few more time to contact Christy on his cell phone, but it was still dead.

Wendy and Brian had drinks and dinner. and sat around talking about themselves. The mutual attraction seemed quite obvious to both of them, as if it was a perfectly natural thing for them to be interested in each other, as if they had known each other for years. It was just a matter of filling in the details. And so they spent the night together.

They rose early the next morning. The Romeros weren’t up yet. Brian took Wendy into the kitchen for a cup of coffee and then said he wanted to go for a swim. He did and Wendy sat on a bench with her coffee and watched him. When he finished and dried off he said “Wendy, I want to ask you a simple but serious and important question.”

“What is it” she asked.

“Will you marry me?”



(To be continued.)