The Shepherd of Ashburn Court Pt. 05

Now Ashley had no question in her mind that Catherine and Ben had shared more than just that one kiss. She looked at Ben and saw the blush burning up his neck and cheeks. He was studiously avoiding her eye. She thought the blush was charming but how many women in this neighborhood were involved with him? With the kids at the table this wasn't the time or place to ask that question... if she ever asked it.

"When you meet Gabriella she has an amazing story to tell- OH! and Rochelle has a white knight tale of her own now!" Catherine gushed with a wicked smile on her face her eyes practically twinkling with mischief as Ben scowled at her.

"Enough!" Ben growled and Catherine tried to suppress her smile but the teens and Ashley visibly twitched in fear. Ben immediately regretted his outburst. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be so loud! Please forgive me." he said contritely.

Megan saw the fear in the eyes of Madison and Savannah slowly fading and she recalled a film they'd just watched in her social studies class on spouse and child abuse. She recognized the signs the girls and Ashley were displaying. She connected the dots to when she'd discussed the after school activities. The Dad must be the source of the trouble. She wasn't sure if she should ask them about it. She'd speak to her Mom later.

Ben thought it might be a good time to bow out before he put his foot in his mouth again. "Thank you Catherine for a delightful meal. I think I'm going to head home. I'm beat! Ashley, I'll be out running errands tomorrow so I don't know if I'll see you but I believe Gabriella would like to meet you. I expect to be away until the weekend but if you have any trouble please feel free to contract Tina, Catherine, or Gabriella and they can get in touch with me. Hopefully your husband will get here and resolve the services issue soon." Ben winced and shook his head as a headache suddenly spiked behind his eyes. He rubbed his temples.

"You ok, Ben?" Megan asked.

"Yeah, just a headache." he sighed.

"When did that start?" she asked.

"Just now. I should get going. Good night everyone!" He stood up and bowed to Madison, Savannah, and Ashley getting a smile from them. Out of character for the private man he pressed a kiss to Megan's temple and kissed Catherine on the lips in front of the guests, surprising both Megan and Catherine who popped to her feet and followed him to the front door.

"Are you sure you're ok, Ben?" she asked, concerned.

He looked back and rubbed his temple. "Yeah, it's just a headache. Thank you so much for looking after them." He looked again at her worried, loving eyes and he leaned down and caressed her lips with his and gently nibbled on her lush lower lip. Catherine sucked in a breath and gripped his jacket as tingles shot down her spine. A quick caress of her upper lip with the tip of his tongue fired more sparks and he pulled back with a gentle smile. "Goodnight!"

Catherine's eyes flared with need. "I thought you said no more kisses like that before we go our separate ways!"

"Oh, right! Well, next time." he grinned as he stepped outside.

He walked home and went inside. Tina was in the living room and she came to see him when he grimaced and rubbed his temple.

"You are home early. What's wrong?" she asked.

"I just need a couple of pain killers. Got a headache." he grumbled. Tina hustled down the hall to the master bathroom as he followed. He sighed as he could have gotten his own pain meds. The sink ran then she was before him with two tablets and a glass of water. He gratefully took them and swallowed the water. He pulled off his clothes and Tina collected them. Then he crawled under the covers.

He opened his eyes and Tina was standing beside the bed looking at him with a worried expression.

"Tina, please! It's just a headache. I'm going to shut off the light and go to sleep. In the morning I will be fine." he said and she nodded. She emptied the pockets of his pants onto the dresser and left the bedroom as he shut the light off. Then she dropped his dirty clothes into the laundry bin in the hall. Tina walked back and waited in the hall outside the door until she heard his breathing deepen indicating he was asleep. She made her way to the kitchen and dialed Catherine's number.

"Hello?"

"Hello Catherine, it is Tina."

"Is something wrong?" Cat immediately asked.

"No, he took headache medicine and now he is sleeping. Did something happen with Ben at the dinner?" Tina asked.

"No, I don't think so. He left earlier than I was expecting and I don't remember Ben ever having a headache before." Cat said.

"Did he behave differently or strangely?" Tina pressed.

Catherine thought about it. "Well, he was a little distracted earlier but only for a moment. He got the headache later. Aside from that he seemed fine when he left. That man's kiss takes you half way to the moon! Megan! You didn't hear that!" she said to the side of the phone. Obviously her daughter was nearby and listening.

Tina actually felt a little better hearing Ben was able to get affectionate with Catherine. That was expected behavior. She sighed and smiled. Tina suddenly recalled she'd been on the phone with Hannah the previous night when Ben had yelled in his sleep. "Thank you Catherine! I will speak with you tomorrow." she hung up and listened for Ben but there was only silence. She relaxed and finished tidying the kitchen.

Ben was sitting up in bed, his eyes wild and his throat locked in a silent scream. Finally, his body relaxed and he sat there panting and confused. He flopped back down and in seconds he was asleep.

Tina slipped into the room, undressed and got under the covers next to Ben. His body relaxed as she pressed against him and Tina smiled.

Chapter 26

Ben left the bank with house keys in his hand and a smile on his face. He wished all his transactions at the bank went this smoothly. The manager, Dan, was very accommodating to one of his best customers of course. Ben was eager to hand the keys over to Tina for her to explore and he would as soon as he'd done his inspection and had the home's services restarted.

Climbing into his truck he set course for the custom milling shop to pick up his prototype. Earlier that morning he'd received a note from the tech who'd run his piece through the machine to say it was ready. They were on the outskirts of town in an industrial park so it took a little time to get there.

Ben reviewed piece with the tech. Seeing one of his creation in three dimensions for the first time was always the best part of the design process for Ben. While his practical side was satisfied to resolve a technical issue there was also an artistic side that delighted in the process of bringing a concept to physical existence. Each new piece was a sculpture for him even if they were often not that pleasing to the eye.

Ben took measurements to ensure the milling and polishing process produced a result that exactly matched the design specs. The smallest variance would have a significant impact in the performance of the piece so he had to make sure now, in the shop, that the prototype met his specs. It took him an hour of painstaking work to capture every dimension but finally he was satisfied. He shook the tech's hand and settled up his bill. This piece was much more expensive than his previous creations but it was also the largest one he'd made. Delighted with the end result he sent a text to his contact at STURN Enterprises.

"Prototype ready for test bench. Can travel to Austin tomorrow."

A response came back before he left the shop.

"Corporate jet already at your airport if you are available today."

Ben's eyebrows rose. He hadn't considered they'd be this desperate. He wondered how much it cost to park a jet at the airport and how much they were losing every day because of the issue. He decided that he could go today. He sent a reply.

"Will be at the airport in three hours."

Seconds later the details for the jet came in and a big thanks. Ben looked forward to meeting these fellas.

He drove home and wrapped the prototype in bubble wrap and put it into a large duffle bag. He quickly packed his suitcase with a change of clothes for four days. Then he got his briefcase ready with his laptop in case he needed to make some design changes onsite.

Seeing Ben's truck in the driveway Tina came back at lunch from visiting Daphne. She saw the suitcase and duffle by the door.

"I thought you weren't leaving until tomorrow at the earliest." she said.

"They actually had their corporate jet parked at the airport in case the prototype worked out. They must be losing a lot of money while they're waiting for this solution. The sooner I go the sooner I will be back." Ben replied.

Tina gave him a big hug. Ben squeezed her in return and kissed her forehead. "I have the keys to your old place. I'm going to make some calls to get the utilities back on then I'm going to go over and do an inspection. Would you like to join me? We can bring back anything you'd like. It's all our now."

"Sure! Would you like lunch first?" she asked.

"Just a sandwich maybe? I'm not very hungry." he admitted.

Tina gave him a look for his lack of appetite then walked into the kitchen to make lunch while Ben made the calls.

They ate and she asked him what he intended to do with the house. He admitted he had an idea but he wasn't ready to disclose the details yet. Tina said that she didn't really have much use for most of the contents of the house as it was all in James' taste which didn't care for at all.

Ben and Tina then made their way over to the house and let themselves inside. It would take a little while for all of the services to restart. Some required a technician to come to the house and Ben made appointments for those next week when he'd be available.

Ben inspected the furnace, water heater, water shut off valve, and electrical panel in the basement and everything looked fine. He found no split water pipes (they'd drained them earlier). He made his way upstairs and found Tina in the master bedroom standing at the foot of the bed with a sad look on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently.

"This is not a good place for me. So many unhappy memories." she said with a sniff.

Ben scooped her up in his arms and kissed her. When he was done her frown was gone and her eyes were twinkling. She had a silly grin on her face.

"What's with the grin?" Ben smiled back.

"I was imagining the look on James' face if you had done that in front of him!" she giggled.

Ben laughed. "I would LOVE to have done that in front of that son of a bitch! Come on, let's go home." He set Tina back on her feet.

They locked up and Ben glanced in the garage door window. Sure enough, there was the BMW. He sighed then they went home.

He gave Tina another kiss then he grabbed his bags and sent a quick text indicating he was on his way to the airport.

The drive wasn't too long as the airport was on this side of the city so he avoided most of the traffic travelling around the core. He parked in long term parking and made his way into the terminal. He met the pilot who had been informed of his arrival and they made their way to the jet. It was shiny, sleek and fast looking. The pilot promised him the jet was very fast and they would reach their destination in only a couple of hours so he boarded and got comfortable.

Soon they were in the air and Ben tilted back in his seat. He expected it might be a long evening running tests in the test bench so catching a few winks now would help.

Ben woke up when the pilot shook his shoulder. Ben looked up at him blinking the sleep from his eyes. The pilot said they'd arrived. He followed the man out of the plan and realized they were at a private strip next to a large factory. He saw the corporate name STURN printed in huge letters across the side of the building.

A tall thin man with a huge grin on a weary face rushed over from an electric cart. He wearing a rumpled sports jacket and well worn jeans. He thrust a big paw out at Ben who shook it. "I'm Bill Freeny, chief engineer here at Sturn. You must be Ben Shepherd! So pleased to meet you at last." the scarecrow of a man boomed with a thick Texan drawl. He obviously hadn't shaved in days and his straw yellow hair was wildly pointing in all directions.

"Great meeting you. I get there is a big time crunch so let's get started!" Ben smiled.

"That's what I was hoping you'd say! Come on!" he grabbed Ben's suitcase and strapped it into the cart with the briefcase. He eyed the duffle between Ben's feet as they both settled into their seats. He grinned and got the electric vehicle up to speed quickly and racing back towards a low rise white building next to the main factory.

"Do you have an onsite milling system or will you be outsourcing the construction of the production pieces?" Ben asked over the wind noise. He was a little surprised at how fast they were going in an electric cart.

"We can make them in-house. We have state of the art equipment. We just lacked the know how to use that equipment to resolve the issue. I gotta tell you there are a lot of people in this building holding their breath."

Ben smiled. "Well, tell them to take a breath. Nobody gets any work done without breathing."

"Our yearly bonuses are locked up in this project and some of the damn fools have already spent theirs!" the man cackled.

They pulled up to the building and Bill snapped the power off on the cart before they'd even stopped. He grabbed the suitcase and led the way into the building, Ben carrying the duffle and his briefcase. They entered the first door on the right and six men in different states of exhaustion looked up. They perked up immediately when they saw the stranger with a large duffle smiling back at them.

"It's here?" a short plump man with a dark bushy beard blurted.

Bill grinned. "Time to get to work fellas!"

The energy levels instantly increased and they fell into step behind Bill who led Ben further into the building. Soon they entered a lab which housed a full scale model of one section of a raw petroleum processor. Near the left side of the assembly was a gap in the extensive pipework. A folding table was set up next to the spot. Bill showed Ben he was putting the suitcase in the control room where they'd be sitting when they ran the tests. He put his briefcase down with the suitcase and carried the duffle out to the table where five men stood eagerly awaiting the unveiling. Two others were prepping the test bench.

Ben set the duffle on the table and opened it up. He pulled the prototype out and removed the bubble wrap exposing it to their sight for the first time.

You could have heard a pin drop as the men stared at the shiny new component. Then they were all talking at once. "What the fuck?" "How?" "Well damn!" "It looks- interesting!" "That's it?" "Geez I hope this works!"

Ben barely heard their exclamation as he ran a critical eye over the connections he'd need to make in the test bench. There weren't any surprises. The specs he's received from Bill were good. That man was grinning from ear to ear as he saw the simplicity and elegance of Ben's design and he just knew it would work. Ben carried it over to the test bench and the two men proceeded to integrate the prototype into its place on the tester. Once they were both satisfied that the coupling was sound everyone retreated to the control room. They'd carried the folding table into the control room as well so the test chamber was empty aside from the test bench equipment.

This part was all foreign to Ben and he watched with interest as the team spent considerable time bringing their machines up to operating levels. Measurements were constantly being read out and recorded and baselines were set. The prototype handled standard operating conditions like a charm. Then they began the real testing. A couple more hours of introducing the real life scenarios they'd been experiencing with substantial levels of pressure and back pressure, and one of the most critical issues they were faced with, hydraulic shock.

Some of the men were confused by the results of the new tests and asked to have the test bench inspected for leaks and to have it calibrated once again as they weren't seeing the results they expected.

Bill just smiled back at Ben who nodded. They powered down the test bench and Bill's crew went in to inspect the tester.

"I think you saved our bacon Ben. We'll set up a 48 hour stress test at maximum load with spontaneous load shocks but I'm optimistic based on what I've seen so far." Bill said once they were alone. "The old man told me he wants to talk with you once we've confirmed we have success. I assume you've filed for a patent." Ben nodded. "I'm ready to send you his way tonight or we could set up something after breakfast if you'd like to wait for the result of the stress test."

"I'm confident of the design as well but I'm actually a little tired so I think I'd prefer to wait at least until the morning." Ben said rubbing his stiff neck.

"Sure! I've set you up in the hotel just down the road. The penthouse suite with all the amenities. I'll take you there myself once we've got the test running." Bill smiled.

"Sounds perfect!" Ben smiled.

Twenty minutes later the men were all back in the control room. No leaks had been found and the integrity of the previous tests was confirmed. They started up the test bench once more and locked it into a stress test at maximum load. Once it ran for fifteen minutes the men were all grins and they came by to shake Ben's hand and slap him on the shoulder in their enthusiasm. Six of them would be taking turns watching the machine in groups of two for two hours shifts while the others slept.

Bill led Ben from the building into the main parking lot. They loaded into Bill's Suburban and drove to the hotel. Bill said he'd be by in the morning to have breakfast with Ben in the hotel restaurant at 8AM then he'd take him back to the lab. Ben got his room key then headed up to his room.

It was a nice room but what Ben was looking forward to most was a nice hot shower spray to soak his stiff neck muscles under. Before he did that he dropped off his bags and went back downstairs to check out the hotel gym. It was pretty well equipped so be made plans to revisit in the morning. He ordered dinner from room service and was told it would be up in 30 minutes so he hopped in the shower and stood there while the heat worked its way into his muscles. Twenty five minutes later he stepped out and dried himself in a big fluffy towel. The hotel gown was actually large enough for him which was a pleasant surprise.

Ben heard a knock on the door and opened it to see his dinner had arrived; the biggest, juiciest steak they had with a baked potato and steamed vegetables. He signed for it and set it up before the big screen TV. Before he tucked into his meal he made a quick call home.

"Hello?"

"Hi Tina, it's Ben."

"Ben! How are you?" she said excitedly.

"Doing good! The prototype is working as expected so I'm going back to the factory tomorrow to talk with the CIO who's probably going to try to buy the patent from me. There are too many applications for this new design so he's not going to get it but he can certainly license it from me for a decent price. How is everything at home? Any sign of Ashley's husband?"

"We are good here. He has not arrived yet. Gabriella is having Ashley and her family over for dinner. Catherine is taking her over now. I can see them walking by." Tina said waving to her neighbor who waved back.

"OK, well I was just checking in. I'm going to have my dinner, watch a little TV then hit the sack early. I have an early start tomorrow. I love you! Sleep well!" Ben said.

"I love you too, Ben. Sleep well!" Tina said sweetly.