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least enough to have a home to come back to. John constantly wanted to move on to another of his schemes for success—one more suited to his area of expertise—but they both wanted to live on the Oregon coast.
    Kate and John scouted for condos to buy, but those they looked at felt cramped and too close to other units. They were about to give up when they found a perfect spot in Gold Beach. It was a house surrounded by trees, a small shake cottage with a shake roof, Dutch doors, and a yard full of sword ferns and rhododendrons. It was a rental, but they had an option to buy this secluded, woodsy property. They hoped to do that as soon as possible. There was room for a big garden, and neighbors close enough that they weren’t completely isolated but not so close that they had no privacy. It was rustic, but not rugged, with thick-piled carpet, new appliances, a modern bathroom, and a big deck.
    John’s bequest from his mother’s estate was long gone, and they couldn’t afford to buy the house outright, butDoris and Bill Turner, the couple who owned it, became their good friends—especially Kate’s—and they wanted the younger couple to have the place.
    “It was like living in a park,” Kate said. “A forested park, and we had a glimpse of the ocean through the trees. We were as likely to see deer in our yard as we were squirrels. We both loved it.”
    John Branden, however, insisted that they clean every corner of their new home before they moved in. He was fanatic about germs. He washed his hands compulsively—almost like Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth.
    “John wouldn’t wear clothes inside if he’d worn them outdoors,” Kate said. “He insisted on changing so we wouldn’t bring in germs. If I sat in ‘his’ chair with ‘street clothes’ on, he freaked. I had to be really careful when I washed dishes, and make sure I wiped out the sink ‘to get rid of bacteria and water spots.’ He usually had to go back and do it over, which was also a way to erode my self-esteem.”
    John was horrified once when a neighbor brought Kate a cat that had been run over by a car. She cradled it in her arms, trying to find a pulse—but there was none. When John saw the dead cat in her arms, he yelled at her to get away from it. Didn’t she know that bacteria and germs jump off animals when they die?
    Their futon had to be made a certain way, the bedding folded just so and put away, and their towels had to be folded to John’s precise specifications. He drove her crazy when she cooked because he hovered over her, cleaning up and putting away measuring cups before she was finished with them.
    But these were irritating and annoying peccadilloes, and not nearly as troubling as his jealousy.
    To keep them afloat financially, Kate occasionally returned to American Airlines, flying out of San Francisco. She had so much seniority that she could stay on the American roster, even if she didn’t fly as many trips as she once did. It left her free to help John with his plans for a new enterprise. He forbade her to fly very often.
    At first, that didn’t bother Kate. John wanted her with him, and not in some city at the other end of the country. And they did have plans to make.
    John had been seeking an “overnight success” business, although that didn’t matter much to Kate. She would have liked to buy their home instead of renting it, and to have a stronger financial base, but she wasn’t looking for great wealth and fame. Not at all. She loved to walk the beach, and she enjoyed the muted woods that surrounded their house, making the rest of the world and its problems seem far away.
    John wanted more. He began to research companies that sold nutritional supplements, and he read about a Texas corporation that was a rising star in the stock market: Emprise, which soon became Mannatech, Incorporated. Although he read the financial reports on the company, which showed constant growth and millions of dollars in sales, he wasn’t