Chapter 186: Reading of the Will

Sunday, June 27, 1971

“Are you alright?” Izzy asked me.

“Uh-huh,” I replied groggily.

“Do you remember what happened?”

“Yeah,” I replied. Boy, did I remember!

Izzy and Kip stood there with Mr. Graham, waiting for an explanation. I was half sitting, half lying on the couch as I regained consciousness. I glanced down to see that I was fully clothed. Then, looking around the cabin, I noted that the nine sisters had done a good job of putting things back to where they had been. The fireplace was cold with no indication of the recent fire and there was a layer of dust on the furniture. The long table seemed to have shrunk back down to a smaller size and was covered with a layer of dust as well. The whole place looked as if no one had been inside in a long time.

“How long?” I asked Kip.

“From the best I can tell, it’s been about three minutes since you left the helicopter. Mr. Graham dropped his briefcase as he stepped off the helicopter. I stopped to help him and when I looked up, you had disappeared. I had Izzy and Mr. Graham wait while I circled the farmhouse. Then we came in and found you here,” Kip reported. I was sure that his watch and the chronograph on the helicopter would reflect the same elapsed time. It was becoming routine, when I dealt with extra-terrestrials, to put up with their manipulation of our world’s time continuum.

“I think I experienced another one of my dreams,” I told them. Kip and Izzy realized that I didn’t want to go into detail with Graham there.

“I think we should probably head back,” Kip said to us. But I knew he was speaking mostly to Mr. Graham.

“I’ll fill you in later,” I thought to Izzy and Kip as he gave me a hand to help me stand up.

“What happened to your sword?” Mr. Graham asked.

I’ll have to hand it to him, he was sharp! I hadn’t even noticed it yet. However, when I looked, it was obvious. The hilt of the sword now held a large red stone, like a ruby, that was glowing. I ran my fingers over the stone, feeling the hundreds of facets as they sparkled in the dim light of the cabin. When I did, the ring on my finger began to tremble in excitement. Pulling the sword from its scabbard, I examined it intently. But there were no other changes.

“Mr. Graham, I am not sure how the stone got there, or why it is there,” I told him truthfully. “However, I think we can safely conclude that this is what my grandfather sent me for.”

Of course, I knew now that my grandfather had nothing to do with this meeting. I doubted that he had anything to do with the original purchase of the property and found myself wondering if they had somehow altered Graham’s memory of the event.

“Did you find anything that would explain how my niece’s name was on the deed?” Mr. Graham asked.

His question caught me off guard. Chatterbox had been the farthest thought in my mind. I scanned him, to see what his real concern was. I almost laughed out loud. I shared it with Izzy before I answered him.

“Your niece’s only tax obligation will come after she has the name ‘Wagner’ affixed to hers,” I told him. “In the meantime, I’ll have my attorney check into the legal ramifications as they exist today.”

“Will this property be probated with the rest of the will?” Izzy asked the attorney.

“There’s nothing to probate. Greg set this up several years ago, when the children were much younger,” he replied. “I didn’t even know he knew about Aida.”

“Then the only question is what happens if she does NOT become Mrs. Wagner,” Izzy said.

“There is another option,” I thought to Izzy.

“What’s that?”

“I could always adopt her...” I told her.

Izzy snorted and then laughed. She happened to be stepping off the porch when I told her and it was again Kip to the rescue as he grabbed her arm to keep her from falling.

“Are you okay?” asked Mr. Graham.

“I just had a funny thought,” Izzy told him. “What if Michael adopted her?”

Mr. Graham didn’t think this quite as funny as Izzy had. He was well versed on the extent of my grandfather’s company, and the idea that his niece might become intimately involved had already tickled his fancy. It wasn’t greed necessarily, because Graham was wealthy in his own right. It was more the idea that his family might become intertwined with mine, creating an even greater legacy.

The engines starting up on the S-61L made further conversation impossible. As soon as I was buckled in, I connected all the girls and began to replay my memories of my visit to the farmhouse.

The big Sikorsky touched down at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport on Pier Six just before eleven o’clock. The return flight had been smooth with only a small amount of Sunday morning traffic slowing our approach to Manhattan. Mr. Graham had arranged a car to take us to the office on Park Avenue.

“I’m going to drop you off at your office and run to my office to get the other things I’ll need. The reading of the will is scheduled for one o’clock,” Mr. Graham told us as we pulled away from the heliport. “So your family may not be here for another hour or so.”

“That’s okay,” I replied. “Will I be able to access my grandfather’s office now?”

“Since it’s yours now, I would say you can, although I do not know how they handle security inside the building.”

The Sunday morning traffic was light and ten minutes later, Izzy, Kip, and I were standing at the reception desk on the ground floor of Alliance Tower. My office was on the thirty-fourth floor.

However, the appearance of a teenager wanting access on a Sunday morning while wearing a sword, was creating a dilemma for the weekend security guy. He had to call his supervisor, who in turn, called his supervisor, before we were allowed access to the almost empty building. Meanwhile, I connected with Adriana to let her know what was happening. She and Catherine were just leaving Seven Oaks.

“I’m so sorry,” Adriana thought as she monitored my exploits with the security team. “I’ll make sure that it doesn’t happen again, Michael.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I told her as the elevator whisked us up to the thirty-fourth floor. “They were just doing their jobs. It actually makes me feel better that they were following the proper protocol.”

“I think we should take a look at tightening it up some,” Kip added. “I’ll need to talk to Penny about it, though.”

I just nodded as the little bell clanged, indicating we had reached our floor. The security guard that had accompanied us up in the elevator bid us a good day and I started across the plush lobby, intent on trying to find my own way to my grandfather’s office.

“Take a right,” Adriana informed me when I came to the long hallway. “It’s at the end of the hall, those big double doors.”

“It looks like your mom has cleaned out her office,” I noted to Adriana as we reached the double doors. Her mom used to have the office next to my grandfather’s.

“I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to her since Houston,” Adriana replied drily. Since I didn’t want to open old wounds, I let it go. I made a mental note to discuss it with Catherine privately later.

The big double doors to his office were locked.

“Step into my mom’s old office. There’s a small hook on the door frame behind the door. That’s where she used to keep the keys,” Adriana told me. Izzy was already moving before I could say anything. She came back moments later, shaking her head.

“Anywhere else they could be?” I asked Adriana.

“They could be anywhere, but knowing Jeanie, she turned them in to security on Friday and had them signed for,” Catherine said. “We’ll be there in thirty minutes or so. I’ll take care of it then.”

I shrugged my shoulders. Kip and Izzy had heard the conversation, so there was nothing to say. Izzy stepped back into Jeanie’s old office and began opening drawers. Kip began a reconnaissance of the floor, but I noticed he never got out of my sight. I stood there for a moment, then closing my eyes and breathing deeply, I relaxed and focused on the doors and the latch mechanism. It took me a few tries, and honestly, I was really just experimenting without expectations, when I felt the tumblers move and heard a slight click as the latch retreated. I reached out tentatively and turned the knob.

Neither Izzy nor Kip said anything as they abandoned their endeavors and followed me silently into the old office.

I stopped in the middle of the room facing the tall windows that looked out on Park Avenue, then slowly turned around in a circle. The first thing I noted was that the empty safe behind the picture of Seven Oaks was still open, almost exactly as I had left it.

Closing my eyes, I repeated the maneuver. Just as I had done in the cavern, I focused on the room. The energies from the assembled pictures, trophies, and items my grandfather had collected were easy to read. I was surprised to find that the crystal decanter set was a gift from his good friend, the Amir of Qatar. And the picture over the bar was an original Picasso. Many of the books on his shelves were signed, first editions. Most he had never read.

As I stood there, the other energies of the room became clearer. I began to see scenes of arrivals, departures, meetings with Jeanie, Wallace, Harry, and even Catherine. There were hundreds of meetings with clients and customers. It all went by quickly, until Jeanie came in with a little girl who climbed on his lap and hugged my grandfather’s neck. I knew that I had just seen Adriana for the first time.

I actually paused when I arrived at the scene where my grandfather had Adriana listen to the vendor who had threatened to sue. And then followed closely as she returned a few days later with a large stuffed bear.

I followed it right up to the day he gave Jeanie the envelopes for me, with his instructions on exactly what to say and do. I’ll have to hand it to her, she had followed his instructions to the letter. I was a little disappointed that there had been no meetings with Mr. Graham discussing his will. After thinking about it, I guessed that he had done all that in Graham’s office. My thoughts were interrupted by a movement at the door.

“It’s almost time, Michael,” Adriana said from the doorway. “I brought you a change of clothes.” I knew that she must have just arrived with Catherine.

I just held open my arms to her. Adriana hesitated a fraction of a moment, then dropped the case and the bag in her hands and hurried into my embrace, hugging me with all her might. I bent my head to kiss the top of hers. I didn’t have to say anything; I simply opened my heart to show her what I felt for her.

After a few moments, she returned to the doorway where she had left the bags. Closing the door, she held out the overnight bag to me. Taking it, I set it on the floor and began removing my clothes. She just stood there with this funny grin on her face.

“What?” I asked her.

“Oh ... I’m just wishing we had more time,” she replied coyly.

I grinned as I winked at her. Then tucking my dress shirt into my slacks, I thought to her, “I saw you. When you brought that ridiculous stuffed bear into his office and sat on his lap holding it. It was almost as big as you were.”

“Not as ridiculous as you changing your clothes in the middle of your office when you have a dressing room right there,” she laughed. Then walking towards the wall where she had pointed, she pushed on a hidden panel and the wall swung open to reveal the room next door. This room was as big as the office and contained a bed, a dressing area, and a bathroom, complete with a walk-in shower large enough for four or five people.

When Adriana pressed a button on the nightstand, the blinds shifted to block out the sun and the room became almost dark. Another button caused sconces to backlight the room, bathing it in a soft, romantic glow.

“I was ten years old when I first found out about this room. I wasn’t feeling well and Mother was busy and something was going on in the room where I usually stayed, so Uncle Greg brought me in here and put me in the bed. It was so soft and comfortable. He closed the blinds and turned on the soft lights. I thought at the time, it was the most wonderful room in the world,” Adriana told me dreamily. “It was the first and last time I was ever in here ... until today.”

I watched her. I could sense there was more to her story, so I didn’t scan her.

“Later, when I began to dream of such things, it was this bed that my husband took me on for the first time. Ever since then, it has always been a central part of my romantic fantasies,” Adriana revealed, blushing.