Savanah smiled with glee as her grandmother Victoria set the cake in front of her. The entire family of grandparents, parents, her older brother Blake, Uncle Mason and Aunt Courtney, her cousin Jennifer, and of course, Ms. Holloway had all just sung her a happy birthday. The only ones who were missing from the event were her oldest brother Jason and her cousin Beau, but Savanah understood that they were both away at school. Although her entire birthday weekend had been fun filled, this was the crowning moment. What made the day even better was that she could stay up late on this Sunday night, as the following day was a school and national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday.

After blowing out the eight candles and taking a good look at the cake, Savanah began to laugh. It must have been Blake’s idea for the decoration, as her thirteen year old brother was always looking for ways to be creative with numbers. Aside from the candles, there was a big eight in the middle. Both of those made sense for her eighth birthday, but she didn’t initially understand the rest of his message. Then she asked him, “Hey Blake, why did you have Ms. Holloway put some ones and eights all over the cake?”

The bright young man hoping to someday follow their parents’ and grandparents’ footsteps by attending Texas A&M then replied, “Because today is a special day of three ones and three eights. You were born on 1/18/18 and today you are eight. You will have other birthdays that have only ones and eights, like when you become eleven or eighteen, but today is the only time that you will have three of each!”

Running the numbers through her head, and realizing that her brother was correct, Savanah smiled and said, “Hey that’s pretty neat. Thanks for thinking of that Blake.”

“You’re welcome Savanah, and happy birthday.”

Samuel was seated comfortably in his favorite chair, with a smile nearly as large as that of his youngest grandchild while he gazed upon the majority of the Tillman family. He was proud to have built them such a marvelous home with plenty of room in the various wings for each faction of the family, and the massive central family room that they all currently occupied was his most favorite spot in the mansion. None of it had come without hard work and a savvy sense of business however, as Samuel had amassed a huge fortune via early oil, cattle, and real estate investments. Then after the dawn of a new century, he and Victoria had parlayed a large portion of their fortune with a move toward the even more lucrative information technology sector that had blossomed and prospered in Austin. Always searching for added diversification, Samuel had also invested heavily in the transportation sector of commerce with trucking, rail, and shipping companies that were now at his command. Those interests, although currently of huge benefit, would become even more so to him and the family during the course of the most recent endeavor and well beyond.

As for the family, Samuel loved each and every one of them for their respective strengths or shortcomings, but most notably for how they peacefully and respectfully interacted with one another. What Blake had done for his little sister’s birthday cake was a prime example, and he hoped that the young family numbers whiz had been correct at claiming that Savanah would someday celebrate an eighteenth birthday. While sipping from his coffee and attempting to force the bad thoughts of her health from his mind, Samuel noticed something a little odd. As his wife Victoria was helping Savanah cut the cake, their youngest surviving son Mason stood and moved toward Ms. Holloway. After seeing him whisper into her ear, the elderly woman nodded as if receiving instruction from a superior and took his previous seat close to Courtney. On the surface it would have appeared to be a gentlemanly gesture, but although they were subtle, Courtney showed visible signs of her displeasure in the act.

Later that evening, when many of the family had retired to their respective wings of the mansion, Samuel strolled into the kitchen area to find his wife and Ms. Holloway enjoying a quiet cup of coffee. After receiving an invitation to join them, and pouring his own cup, Samuel said, “I want to thank you for your efforts this weekend Ms. Holloway. As usual everything was excellent, and it was abundantly clear to anyone paying attention that Savanah had a really good time.”

“Thank you Mr. Tillman, she is a sweetheart of a young lady.”

“She is indeed, and please don’t tell any of the others that Savanah is my favorite.”

With a wink of her eye and a slight wry smile, Ms. Holloway replied, “I’m very sorry Mr. Tillman, but I’m afraid that I couldn’t hear what you just said.”

With a nod of approval, Samuel returned her smile and said, “That’s excellent dear lady, excellent. Now I need to ask you something, and I apologize if this is uncomfortable or too intrusive. Did Mason disrespect you in any way earlier this evening?”

With a curious look upon her face, she replied, “No Mr. Tillman, why do you ask?”

“Well it looked to me as if he demanded that you take his seat next to Courtney, and if that was the case, then his behavior was improper.”

“I understand Mr. Tillman, but that was not how I interpreted his actions. He was rather insistent that I sit next to Courtney on the couch, but I would not have called it a demand.”

“So you didn’t mind taking his seat?”

“No. I would have preferred to remain standing in the event that Mrs. Tillman or Savanah needed help with passing around pieces of the cake, but I certainly didn’t mind sitting next to Courtney.”

“Alright, thank you Ms. Holloway. If you’re sure, then we will leave it at that.”