RENEE, Student, Business Woman: BOOK TWO

By Christie O'Sullivan

This is the second book of the Renee series by Christie O'Sullivan. She is a young kid who has grown up to become a teenager and then on to become a young adult. Her parents spend time in France everywhere but keep quiet about it. Renee lives with her paternal grandmother until it is time for her to become a businesswoman. She wants to add value

• Language: English
• Publisher: Writer Cosmos
• Release date: Dec 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9798869080769

Book preview

RENEE, Student, Business Woman

BOOK TWO

Written by

Christie O’Sullivan

Copyright © 2023

All Rights Reserved

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Dedication

I wish to dedicate this portion of the book to my late husband, Lawrence Peter O’Sullivan. He continued to support my writing with lots of encouragement. The love of a good man is nourishing, supportive, and valuable.

He was an intelligent individual who studied all his life. He was an avid reader and could talk on any subject. He also had a listening ear. He could speak many languages. He graduated from two universities and served as a Monk. He was an honorable man with high ethics. I believe he would enjoy the family strengths and the frailties of some of the characters in this book. We all can learn from the choices of others and strengthen our own commitment for good.

Acknowledgment

I would like to acknowledge mothers who spend their time at home with their children, teaching them about life and how to express their adventures on paper. 

To those mothers who Home School, I give my admiration for the many hours behind the scenes where they prepare the lessons approved by the school district and then teach those required concepts throughout the day to their children. The minds of these children are opened to continued learning.

About the Author

I have had a wonderful life, full of possibilities and freedom to live in states across this land, with travel to many foreign countries. I have been a writer of stories and poems since I was a child. My great-grandmother was a poet and faculty at Oklahoma University. She encouraged her posterity to learn the beat, the rhyme, and the message. Life has been full of adventures, opportunities, and disappointments. Instead of the easy life, I had the ‘work for your supper’ or ‘do without it’ life.

My parents believed in the Golden Rule. They provided education and other opportunities to develop skills. My mother wanted me to graduate as a Nurse. My father wanted me to have a business degree. My middle brother and I both graduated with a BSBA. I also returned to school in my fifties when I was downsized from my job. I furthered my education in the healing energies of the mind and body. I worked another 20 years as a Licensed Massage Therapist and Energy Healer.

I added night school and online computer classes to develop my writing abilities and to share my life’s fascination with stories of love, adventures, mysteries, and opposition. I also add a bit of education for the mind of the builder.

May your life be filled with joy in all the choices you make.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgment

About the Author

PROLOGUE

BOOK TWO – RENEE: Student, Business Woman – Short Recap

CHAPTER ONE – Preprtions and Flight to France

CHAPTER TWO - A Beautiful Gift Hides a Secret

CHAPTER THREE – Remorse on leaving the Life Grandmother Loves

CHAPTER FOUR - Leaving Her Home and Friends Brings Tears

CHAPTER FIVE – Julianne’s Surprise Birthday Dinner and Dance

CHAPTER SIX- The Round-Table Family Meeting, Rex’s Dream

CHAPTER SEVEN – The Villa Has Theft. . Investigations Occur

CHAPTER EIGHT – A Look Around the Beauty of France

CHAPTER NINE – Rex Has to Save His Lipizzaner Horses

CHAPTER TEN – Oxford for the Two Children – Meeting Students

CHAPTER TELEVEN – Life is Full of Choices, What’s on Your Bucket List?

CHAPTER TWELVE - The Twin’s Marriage Possibilities

PROLOGUE

This is a story that continues from Book One about ancient Indian people who fled for survival. They settled in the rugged mountain area behind the forests of Henry, his father, and his son Rex. They kept their traditions and honored their agreements with the family.

To protect their culture and to enjoy the beauty of the earth with all of its hidden passageways and mysteries, they established a code to keep others out.

Rex is a kind man who believes in helping others become their highest and best selves.

I hope this story will assist readers in overcoming stress and building inner strength instead. Love one another as God has loved you completely, despite flaws, and be forgiving.

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BOOK TWO – RENEE: Student, Business Woman – Short Recap

Let me give you a short recap of what happened in the first book.

Renee has been wondering why her parents stop in France every year and whom they visit. They never bring it up and avoid any questions about it.

Her grandmother finally tells her that her mother’s parents live in France. In fact, Julianne, her mother, was born in France. Her mother’s parents have a winery business to run, and they are getting old. Therefore, Renee’s parents stop by every year to help out. They run the motorized equipment up and down the rows as the hired help pick the grapes and load the grapes onto the trailer. Once the entire orchard is harvested, the next step begins.

Her parents use their years of business experience to give an overall assessment of the wine operation, perform an official tax accounting, and compare how successful the harvest was for this year over last year.

Since Julianne, Renee’s mother, has parents who still live at the Villa, Renee’s father, Rex, helps them every year for two months with the harvest of the grapes, the fermenting process, bottling the juice, advertising, marketing, and selling the wine. This produces the yearly income for the Villa.

Why the mystery? Renee would have easily understood! Instead, she always felt she had no value to them. Her parents rarely stayed at the Estate in America, where Renee and Grandmother Grace live, except to regroup for their next sales trip. Yet, they spend a pre-committed two months per year at the Villa in France. Renee feels left out. She wants more of their time.

They have kept their international business adventures hidden. Grandmother Grace believes that Renee’s next birthday will be the last time they can tell her their secret. Renee’s parents have waited way too long to break this secret to her – to uproot her into a new country or to tell her who she is.

Renee is unaware that her parents have plans to move the whole family. Julianne’s idea was to move everyone to France and spend more time building her parent’s winery before she and her husband reached retirement age. She believes they can leave the American Estate with the guards and gardeners to keep it updated. No decision has been made yet about selling it. That would be impossible for Rex. His horses run wild in the forest. This family has many connections to the town and farmers in the area that depend on them.

Both metal and wooden barrels are used in wineries today.

Grandmother has been weakening and wants to tell Renee just a few little pieces of the secret to alleviating the big blow. Julianne’s ideas may not be fair to her American spouse and their daughter. It is quite selfish, in fact.

Would a trip to France to meet her mother’s parents do the trick? It could all backfire! Renee may become very angry, so angry that she was never told about it. Will she want to be included in all the family’s new business, or will she feel abandoned, like a stepchild, and hide her disappointment?

Her mother is sure that even if Renee gets her feelings hurt, there is really no place that she can run away to. Renee has never been to France. She knows no one there.

This year must be the year that Renee learns about the family secret at the Villa in France. They can hide it no longer.

And the story begins...

CHAPTER ONE – Preparations and Flight to France

Grandmother Grace is a bit worried about the trip planned to France that Renee does not know about. She must find a way to make it a fun experience for her and not a surprise that she will reject. Her Grandmother isn’t sure if leaving the Estate will be a good move for herself either. Does her son think it will be a resting place for her? Very soon, after arriving in France, Renee is scheduled for a trip to England. She will be attending Oxford University. This is the school that her father has been so serious about her graduating from.

Grandmother Grace goes into the kitchen and talks with the cooks about a new idea.

Gather around me for a minute, please, she says to the kitchen help. I have an idea, and you three can assist me with pulling this off. I want to have a small party for Renee to tell her about her mother’s plans to move the whole family to France. You all are invited because I need a send-off atmosphere for this little party.

"I want a chocolate marble cake with cream cheese frosting. Instead of candles, I want the words ‘Let’s take a trip to France’ on top. Can you have this ready by noon tomorrow? I will have the chauffeur pick up the other party supplies after he drops off Julianne at the beauty shop."

That should give us plenty of time to prepare our surprise party. I think Julianne will be telling Renee to pack her suitcase after returning from town. I just don’t think Julianne should dump the idea on Renee that way. If it is done right, Renee will be all excited to take a trip to a foreign country. Just between us, Renee needs to be handled with gentleness because she is still in my care until she is twenty-two.

Yes, Mam! We will have that cake ready tonight, so we can help you decorate tomorrow in a big hurry. I hate to see the family go abroad. We will miss that little girl so much, says the cook.

As the chauffeur arrives back from town, the group quickly puts up the decorations, and the cake is placed in the center of the table. Grandmother Grace calls Renee down from her upstairs bedroom. They all make the event fun for Renee.

The surprise party goes very well. Grandmother, the Cooks, the Chauffeur, and the Butler sit around the table and fire off pop-its and