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A Dynamic new novel by Thomas M. McCormick, Jr. Adrianna, the globe hopping entrepreneuse intends to make her "the man" what ever it takes.  She has a surprise for the love of her life.   However, Chales Bouvier has a few stones he wants to throw in her path.

Liberia, the Journey Home Moilco....the power to fuel the future by Thomas M. McCormick, Jr. This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental. © 2005 Thomas M. McCormick, Jr.. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author. First published by AuthorHouse 05/20/05 ISBN: 1-4208-4745-7 (e) ISBN: 1-4208-4746-5(sc) ISBN: 1-4208-4747-3 (dj) Library of Congress Control Number: 2005904241 Printed in the United States of America Bloomington, Indiana This book is printed on acid-free paper.

An excerpt from Liberia, The Journey Home:     Chapter 1 Freedom to do as I would like was a luxury that I had never had. However, I found that nothing before love will ever be the same after. It was one of those evenings. Ready to go, I decided that it was time to call my beloved. Simple, dial seven digits and the onslaught of emotions would be held at bay for a while longer. It wasn’t that easy. I called and as had happened usually this day, there wasn’t an answer. Seriously dejected, I telephoned repeatedly; dialing again and again with the same results. No answer. My mind started racing and I really didn’t know the next move. Finally, she answered. What I thought was a relief, was a test of my endurance of the bizarre. Immediately she went into a spiel about why she hadn’t answered. Quickly rebutting her response, "Adrianna, I’ve been trying to reach you since about 5 PM, what’s going on?" Adrianna was an individual of rare qualities and the love of my life. This time I’d already made up my mind to tell her that I was through playing games. Already I knew that she would have a ready made defense. Carefully, I decided to broach the question. She replied sarcastically, "Ricky, I was trying to get prepared for the trip and the party. You wouldn’t want me look my best for your colleagues would you?" She had me. I was obsessed with her and her magnificence. Adrianna was the only person in my life that I had held in this kind of awe. Frankly, I didn’t have any idea of how to live without her. She said, "Besides I knew you would call back until I answered." Witch, she knew I would. Trying to come up with some answer to her assessment I said, "Lady, because I love you doesn’t mean that I can’t carry on my business without you," all along knowing this was weak. My business may not have developed into such an unforgettable move were it not for her. Not only was she beautiful, she was charisma personified, and an enterpreneusse to boot. This was going to be a difficult path. "I may go to this party with you. You don’t appreciate me. Don’t forget, if I didn’t know David and Serena Bias or Charles Bouvier you wouldn’t have gotten started in the import and export business" she said piercingly. "Dear, because you were busy being the floozy that you are famous as, doesn’t translate into an immediate introduction, does it?" I blew it, I not only knew she wasn’t going to attend the party now, but she was about to level me verbally if not physically. I weighed what was developing carefully. If Adrianna decided not to go to the party the opportunity that was waiting possibly wouldn’t come to pass. What a dilemma this dual obsession was becoming. We sat in silence after this ‘small’ exchange of heated emotion. The strange thing about this situation was I didn’t know if I was about to scream over Adrianna or my business. Things were going so well at Ricky Marcells Enterprises. I thought every thing was OK between Adrianna and me. Away from the bustling city, working in quiet New Haven, I assumed we had it all. The fact was I had invoked all the criticism that she’d leveled on me, I knew that but, still did I deserve this kind of treatment. Without her I was aware that all the magic would be gone. My business acumen dead; being the consummate businessman dead and the lonely nights would plague me. The independence I had become accustomed to would be vanquished. My love life would be in shambles without Adrianna. The conversation ended. We didn’t talk the next day or the day after. We hadn’t spoken for several days and I was bewildered. Then the phone rang. "Ricky?" Finally answering smugly, as if I had made an accomplishment. "Yes, it’s me." "You can have anything that you want, why do you question my motives?" Again, I had let my jealousy rule my entire being. I didn’t have an explanation knowing that I had acted like a fool. "Sometimes I really can’t understand. You expect me to be a perfect lady and you act like a Greek god and incapable of wrong" she said quite tersely. "Ricky, I’m crazy about you. How can we keep going on like this? You think I’m playing games, what about you?" After Adrianna hung up I was pissed off and got stinking drunk. She had a point. I did play the Greek god role quite a bit. Did I think about her feelings? I was wrong. This only led to questioning myself if we could possibly endure. I commenced to think of some of our better times together. The way that I had promised to spend my ‘free’ time with her. None of this had occurred. Thinking when we met that she had been just a pretty party flower, I was again wrong. I met Adrianna at David Bias’ seven years ago. She and David’s spouse Serena were just starting out with their gallery and I was trying my wings out in the merchandising business on the import/export level. The year prior I had graduated from Howard University with a Master’s in Business Administration. Without any connections I was going about getting some in helter-skelter sort of way. That is until I met Adrianna. David was an industrialist. He really didn’t have a choice but he loved it. His family had run Bias Industries for the last 40 years with David taking over for his father 10 years ago. He is a big person. David is about six feet three inches tall. Weighing about 265 pounds I could easily see why his father had started his business. He had to clothe his son. Anyway, because of Adrianna’s connection to Serena and David I got my chance. I’m tall and slim weighing 160 pounds. I’m not particularly handsome but, that is my opinion. I wear my hair closely cut and I have thick mustache. I was 43 a year ago and spend most of my time involved in the business. Adrianna is two years older than me. How I had misjudged this beautiful, intelligent individual. I started to pick up the phone to call. I knew she wouldn’t talk to me now. I needed to talk to her. She had know how I really felt. Just as life would seem to have it my vice president in-charge-of-sales called. Timothy Seles was an excellent vice president. Sales had increased quarterly since his coming on board. Business had taken a beat of its own. Tim had started as an executive assistant but with his savvy I had personally recommended that he take the post of the VP. And now with profit sharing, all the company benefits I could offer and a pretty new wife, things were looking up for Tim. "Ricky, it’s Tim. I just got back from Japan. It was a very profitable trip for the company." Tim Seles was a runner at the New York stock exchange when we met. He’d given me some unauthorized information and I made some money, not a fortune but, a good windfall that helped a lot with the startup of Ricky Marcells Enterprises. Tim attended Stony Brook for a couple of years but the fact was that he needed a job so he didn’t graduate. But he did meet Rachel. Tim came from an inter-racial background. His mother was African-American and his father born Panamanian. He had grown-up making some sort of sale all of his life. It wasn’t odd that he would show stellar ability in sales. Despite the trade deficit problems Tim had arranged an unprecedented deal with an exporting group in Tokyo. I had patted myself on the back for hiring Tim, at least something was going right. Enthusiastically, "Boss you won’t believe the deal we got on the parcel of hand-made rugs were bringing home. They practically gave them to me. I guess your being Mr. Isuto’s best friend was a big help too. The guy seemed to like me from the start." I was pleased with myself. He was a brilliant person. He had probably forged the deal himself but he had the tact and grace to give the credit to his boss. I couldn’t be luckier. You know the old saying lucky at cards, unlucky at love. The next morning I arrived at the office about nine-thirty. My administrative assistant had an entire pad of notes for me. I’d only been away from the office for a week. "Good morning Catherine." You’d think I was gone for the entire month. Anything interesting happen while I was out." Catherine Castle had been my Administration assistant from the day I got this business started. Catherine was dedicated, hard working and perhaps too smart to be a secretary. Catherine had graying blond hair. She was buxom and in her mid fifties. "Good morning Mr. Marcells" Catherine chimed. "Most of those calls come from Ms. Xavier. When she couldn’t reach you at home she called here." "I was home a lot of the time. I just didn’t want to have a big blowout over the phone. You know how Adrianna can be at times. I guess you could tell this is one of those times," looking for sympathy. Next, we had the regular Monday meeting.