"Bob, it's Ralph Dineen." Ralph said as the administrator of Massachusetts General Hospital answered the phone.
"Ralph. So good to hear from you. Let me guess this isn't a catch up call." Bob said.
"I wish it was Bob. Toby was just over here and we talked about what is going on." Ralph told him.
Bob sighed.
"I tell you Ralph, in this day and age, things have changed so much since we grew up. Back in the day if a girl's parents were satisfied with the situation she could be friends with whoever she wanted. But in this day of hypervigilance it is a fine line to walk." Bob admitted.
"Trust me Bob. No one is more worried about their daughter's wellbeing than I am over my daughters. I'm also worried over Toby's reputation and legal status. Was this so-called anonymous tipster Jeremy Bottoms?" Ralph asked as he decided not to beat around the bush.
"I can't say Ralph." Bob told him.
"You can, you are choosing not to. I looked up the guidelines of Massechusetts General before I called. And there is nothing in there about protecting tipsters. Jeremy is a troublemaker looking to ruin someone's life because he doesn't like Toby being friends with Happy. And I need to know the truth so I can go to his parents to settle this before it becomes a legal issue." Ralph explained.
"HR is trying to amend it to like what it is in the employee rules on the issue to cover outside tips as well." Bob explained.
"You're the head of the hospital, Bob. You have the ultimate say and if they are just trying to change that, it leaves it open for you to tell me now. Come on Bob. Toby's future rides on this." Ralph told him.
Bob sighed and then promised to send a copy of the recording Jeremy left over the matter shortly.
"May I help you?" A pleasant looking woman asked as she opened the door of her home and saw Ralph and two Secret Service agents with him.
"Good afternoon." Ralph smiled. "I'm Happy's Father, my name is Ralph Dineen. These gentlemen are part of my protection detail. Are you Mrs. Bottoms? Jeremy's Mother?" Ralph asked.
"Oh Mr Dineen, it is nice to meet you. I'm Cheryl. I'm so sorry about the bit of unpleasantness that happened between Jeremy and Happy. I trust nothing is wrong?"
"Cheryl, it is nice to meet you. Please call me Ralph. Is your husband and son home by chance?" Ralph asked.
"Please come in." Cheryl nodded as she moved back.
Ralph stepped in along with the two agents.
Cheryl led them through their house to the living room where her husband sat reading his paper.
"Tommy, this is Ralph Dineen, Happy's Father. And two members of his protection detail. Ralph, this is my husband Tom." Cheryl introduced the men.
"Nice to meet you Ralph." Tom stood up and shook hands with Ralph and then invited him to sit down.
"Tom, it is nice to meet you too, I just wish it was for something else." Ralph gave him a half smile as they all sat down. "While on the surface I'm not here about our kids' disagreement and the decision not to associate together anymore. But the matter still has a bearing from it. I don't know what Jeremy told you." Ralph explained while seeking information.
"Not a lot actually, just that she didn't want to be his girlfriend?" Tom said as he looked at his wife and she nodded.
"That was pretty much all he said. That she was more interested in another person." Cheryl told them.
"Okay, well that isn't quite the full story, but Happy does have an older male friend named Toby. Trust me when I say I'm not comfortable with her being friends with any boys." Ralph smiled as Tom laughed and Cheryl nodded as she recalled her own Father. "He's also way older than I'm comfortable with, but their friendship started long distance while Toby was working on his thesis project. Happy was a participant when we lived in Ireland. He's about seven and a half years older so no, I'm not comfortable at all." Both Tom and Cheryl seemed shocked at the age difference.
"It is a very drawn out tale, but throughout this whole time he's demonstrated his respect and cognizance of the situation." Ralph continued. "He's never pursued anything beyond friendship with Happy. And Happy has no interest beyond the fact that they are friends and both have extremely high IQs. So there are things that they are able to talk about and understand that people with lower IQs won't understand." Ralph told them. "While my Happy is more willful about my "overprotection" she still understands that my concern isn't just for her but for Toby's reputation. They both obey the restrictions I ask for from them as well as Toby goes above those restrictions to help demonstrate he only wants to be her friend. They don't try to sneak away from her detail and they don't seek any, out of the way, places so there aren't so many eyes on them."
"Anyway last night I guess Jeremy was upset that Toby was over at our house. Now as the best man for my oldest daughter's upcoming wedding Toby was there to give his input into color schemes and such. Jeremy made a demand of my daughter, that she kick Toby to the curb." And when I say I wish she would kick every boy to the curb, that is the fastest way to make her whoop a knot on your tail. Now I had assumed that was the end of the problem, unfortunately today Jeremy called Toby's place of employment and made vicious and deliberate lies against Toby." Ralph was interrupted.
"Wait. Are you sure it was our boy?" Tom asked him.
"So I was hoping we could get this worked out between us." Ralph nodded.
Tom pulled his phone out and dialed a number.
"Get your butt down here, this instant young man." Tom said as the phone was answered.
Instantly they heard a door close upstairs and then feet shuffling down the stairs.
"Yes?" Jeremy said as he came around the corner of the door and then froze as he saw Ralph Dineen sitting there.
"Do you know what Mr Dineen has just told us?" Tom asked a nearly petrified Jeremy.
Jeremy shook his head rapidly.
"Maybe this will help jog your memory." Ralph explained as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and played the audio file already queued up.
They all listened as they heard Jeremy leaving his message on the tip line for the hospital. Explaining how he has seen Toby stalking Happy. Exaggerating the age difference and hinting that Happy was on the autism spectrum. As such she wasn't able to understand that Toby was touching her and being very inappropriate with her. That Toby was constantly taking photos of Happy that were lewd and probably illegal.
"Now I can assure you, other than you stating Toby's name and Happy's first name, everything else was a complete fabrication and if Dr Curtis wanted he could sue you and your parents for slander. And I promise you, after hearing this recording, I would not only testify on Toby's behalf, but I'd hire his attorney and pay for the lawsuit myself. I am beyond angry about this, Jeremy." Ralph told him.
"I don't know what to say Ralph. I'm stunned and disappointed to hear my son say those things." Cheryl said with tears.
"I know in part what to say." Tom said, looking at the floor. "Did you not learn anything three years ago boy?" Tom asked. "I had my reputation destroyed by someone doing this exact same thing to me. Three years and my name is still on a sex offender's list. I make less than half of what I should make because someone did this and I can't get a job I'm qualified for. Not to mention you besmirch legitimate reports of true victims. And the only thing that saved our family was your Mother. Because she knew the date I was accused of having attacked my coworker, we were together the whole day. But as my wife they wouldn't take her word for it. Had that woman picked a different date, we'd probably be divorced on top of that." Tom stood and began pacing.
"I'm sorry." Jeremy said quickly. "I didn't think."
"No you didn't." Cheryl cut him off. "Give me your phone and go to your room. You're one hundred percent grounded until we can decide what to do. And yes, that includes TV, computer, radio and house phone."
Jeremy swallowed hard as he pulled his phone out and handed it to her.
"Tomorrow, when you get out of school, we're going to the hospital. Where you are going to recant this rubbish and apologize for what you have done." Tom told him as he stopped pacing.
"Ralph, I'm embarrassed and I don't know what to say. Sorry does not begin to make up for this. We will do our best to make Jeremy understand what he did was monstrous and to make sure the hospital doesn't hold this against Dr Curtis." Tom told him as he stood there with his hand out.
"I don't blame you for feeling embarrassed over it. And I am sorry someone did this to you as well. But I do thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you calmly about this matter. I also thank you for taking it seriously like it should be and to go and to try to ensure that Toby isn't punished for something he didn't do." Ralph stood and shook his hand.
"How did it go Ralph?" Veronica asked as she sat down on his lap as he sat at his desk.
"Real good as far as them accepting and promising to try and rectify this with Toby and the hospital." Ralph sighed.
"What's wrong?" Veronica asked.
"Tom seemed like a nice enough guy." Ralph told her and then went on to explain what Tom told him that happened to him three years ago.
"So what do you want to do about it?" Veronica asked.
Ralph smiled at her as she knew him to the core.
"I'm thinking I might try and look into this case against Tom. After so much time, unless the woman was to recant her story there isn't much that can be done legally for him. But maybe if I can at least feel assured she lied that I can find someone willing to give him a chance so he could earn a better living." Ralph told her as he held her hands.
"I might not have liked Jeremy in the slightest before but now I truly hate him. But I don't wish ill on him or his family." Ralph nodded to her smile.
"You better call Bob and let him know what to expect." Veronica told Ralph before she kissed him.
"That sniffling, snot nose, dimwitted punk!" Happy screamed as Toby and her parents explained what was going on. "If I see him again I'm going to put my fist through his ugly, pimpled face." Her fist slammed into her open hand as she stood up.
"No you are not." Ralph and Toby told her together. They both grinned at each other for a moment.
"Happy, I love that you want to defend our friendship but this is just what your Dad has been trying to make sure we knew could happen." Toby told her.
Happy glared at him for a moment.
"This is what I get for trying to be friends with a dimwitted normal." Happy growled.
"Is that how you view your Father, sister and I?" Veronica asked shocked.
"No, you three might be normal IQ wise but you are all geniuses when it comes to understanding." Happy told her.
"Happy, just like Jeremy, even geniuses get jealous and act inappropriately at times." It was like she read Toby's mind through his eyes.
It made her think of how she always felt towards his girlfriends and she huffed before sitting back down.
"Especially when interacting with those below genius level. It might be worth considering going to an online only relationship for a little while." Toby told her softly.
"What?!" Happy screamed as she stood up again. "Absolutely not. I will not have my life dictated to me. I choose who my friends are. I choose what is right for me out of the options I'm given."
"Sweetheart." Veronica said sternly. "We're just talking right now about options."
"I don't care. That is not an option." Happy told them. "We haven't done anything wrong. And we shouldn't be punished or have to take even more precautions just to appease other people."
"For crying out loud Daddy." Happy appealed to him as tears ran down her face.
"Pumpkin." Ralph said as he extended his hand.
Happy slowly reached out and took it in her hand. She stepped to him as he pulled on her hand.
"Look, you are our baby girl. We're just talking, we're not saying you have to give up being friends face to face. We want you to have what you need or want. But we don't want something worse to happen. If that kid had done this differently the first we'd have known about it was when Toby was arrested. You don't want that do you?" Ralph told her as he looked her in the eyes.
"Of course I don't. But you are my parents. You know we are not doing anything inappropriate. Give me a letter and I'll sign it so that my detail can tell you anything about what Toby and I do. While I don't surrender my right to be friends with who I want, I do make my decisions basing and weighing them on your feelings. I get to be guided by you to make the decision if Toby is my friend and everyone else can go pound sand." Happy said with fire.
"We're not trying to change that Happy." Veronica said as she reached over and squeezed her hand. "Toby just brought it up as an option to talk about."
"The option has been overruled and thrown out." Happy told her with a slight smile even as a tear ran down her face. "You guys know how hard my life was before you. No one wanted me, for who I was. Just you guys. Everyone else has always wanted to change me. Jeremy is only the latest. Toby's the first person outside of our family that hasn't tried to change me. And I will not be abandoned again. I can give you the name, place, time and date of each one of them. Because each one of those times are seared into my memory. Most people only get a small handful of the emotions of a painful memory, but for me when I remember it, the pain comes back full force."
Happy looked at Toby and his heart broke seeing that trail of a tear down her face.
"You can't do this to me." Happy said as her lower lip quivered. "I'm not a robot without feelings anymore."
"Happy." Toby said as he took hold of her hand. "I don't want to do anything like that to you. And of course you aren't a robot without feelings, you never were. We've just got to be careful or others will do it to us. Even if I didn't get locked up, a judge could order us to have zero contact, none at all. You know I've been involved with court cases for over a year now and I see how this stuff plays out. Until you are able to legally make a decision about our friendship, we have to be careful. It sucks, but that's the law. Three more years and only your Dad can put a kibosh on us." Toby grinned.
"No one is putting a kibosh on us." Happy said defiantly.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Pearliegirl - Glad you liked it! Yep, it is 2005 and yes, the Muse is taking us to the wedding. lol The Muse hasn't gotten to December yet. So, we'll see. Right now the story is only written to late July...
Marie Mac - You're welcome! lol Mud would be clearer I think...currently about halfway through chapter 5 of the new story. I hope the roll is one of those sweet rolls! lol All I can say on the new story is...buckle up tight for the 1st chapter. It's a loop and a half...maybe more!
To the Adventure! -Tim