Chapter 87: Adriana

Monday, June 7, 1971

There was a beep from the intercom. “Mr. Wagner? They’re ready for you in your Grandmother’s office,” the pleasant voice said.

“Thank you. Tell them I’m on my way,” I replied to the unseen voice.

I left the safe open, as I pocketed the letter and unlocked the massive door. I’d have the combination changed later.

“Now,” I thought to myself. “Let’s see if I can find my way to Catherine’s office.”

I did finally find my way to Catherine’s office.

While I didn’t run into Jeannie, I met several other suits. All were polite and greeted me warmly, directing me to the other corner of the floor. Wagner Industries took up the entire thirty-fourth floor, but didn’t seem too crowded. I later learned that accounting took up most of another floor.

When I entered, Catherine was sitting at a conference table with Wally, Uncle Harry, two men in shirts and ties that I didn’t know, and a young lady, who was sitting beside Catherine taking shorthand of the conversation.

They all nodded politely, but Catherine didn’t stop the conversation to introduce me to them. She did nod towards the seat on her left, which was at the end of the table.

As they continued their conversation, I activated my shield, “Damn, I sound like a character on Star Trek!” I thought to myself. Then scanned the three strangers.

The first, Walter Goldstein, was one of the ‘legal beagles’ as Catherine referred to them. In fact, he was the head ‘legal beagle’. Grandfather had lured him away from a very prestigious New York law firm because his three older brothers, his two uncles, and a cousin, were all lawyers in the same family firm. And while, as a relative, he qualified automatically as a partner, he would have been the most junior partner, by birth order. So when Grandfather offered him the head position at one of the largest privately held companies in America, he had jumped at the chance. That was sixteen years ago.

Walter knew the firm inside and out, and had known my dad and even watched me grow up. He was concerned about my age and maturity, having never seen evidence of any particular leaning, on my part, towards running the company. He also wondered why Grandfather had set up his will, and the leadership transition, as he had done. But he understood the nepotism factors involved from his own family’s firm.

He was savvy, polite to a fault, and never forgot an important fact or detail. He especially remembered numbers, and frequently liked to use statistics to prove his point. He nodded at me and smiled when I sat down.

Billy Ray Longmire was an attorney, as well. He was also an accountant. His specialty was tax law. And he was busily pointing out multiple options and their individual repercussions concerning the transfer of the fuels process, and the subsequent receipt of the payments.

He was new to the firm, having been hired after my grandfather had died, and despite his southern sounding name, was born and raised in Cairo, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois, then earned a law degree from Yale, and a business degree from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He was married to a good Catholic girl, and together they had had five daughters, before she finally delivered the son he wanted.

“Good luck!” I thought to myself as I scanned him. “I hope my company pays you well. Because you’re gonna need it with five weddings in the next ten or so years!”

The third stranger, was not really a stranger. I had just read my grandfather’s letter concerning her.

Adriana Petrowski (Jeannie had insisted on adopting her and changing her name), was, according to the letter, eighteen years old. I studied her as I scanned her.

The first thing I noted was her temper. Evidently, she had one to match her hair which was so red, it almost looked like it had an orange tint to it. It hung straight, reaching to just below her shoulders, with big brown eyes that were flecked with gold, and she seemed to be able to see right inside of me, even from across the table.

I spent a little extra time scanning her, trying to uncover everything I could. She had been around the company, as the Executive Secretary’s daughter (and the owner’s pet), since she was five. Her office had actually started as a nursery, then a classroom, before finally becoming the ‘hub of the underworld’.

That’s what she referred to it as, because she hoarded all sorts of books, old ledgers, and even older files, including every annual report that had ever been issued. All the other administrative staff relied on her for a variety of historical information they needed for various reports and presentations the ‘suits’ had to do.

She was now famous, inside the company, for being able to lay her hands on the oddest or hardest to find facts and figures. Most of the time, she could write them off the top of her head. She had an amazing mind for numbers, deciding somewhere along the way, that numbers were easier to convey than words.

Her temper, I figured, was a direct result of her frustration at not being able to talk. She had been born with a severely under-developed larynx. As a result, she has never been able to speak. All of her communications are either written or in sign language.

I watched as she passed Catherine a note, while still writing down what was being said.

“Thank you, Adriana,” Catherine said.

Adriana smiled at the small praise.

“Billy Ray, Adriana suggests we route the last five or six wire transfers to our bank in Zurich. At least until we understand the tax implications better. What do you think?” Catherine asked.

“Catherine, I have begged Adriana to come to work for me, almost every day since I got here,” he said with a grin. “I think it’s an excellent suggestion. Do you want me or Harrison to handle it, and how much do you want access to now?” he asked.

They continued in that vein, with Wally and Catherine asking questions and Walter and Billy Ray trying to come up with answers.

Finally, they reached a stopping point.

“Are you sure that I can’t talk you into coming with me?” Billy Ray asked Adriana as he stood to leave.

She simply shook her head side to side in a negative response. Then she quickly scribbled a note and handed it to him. I learned that it was common practice around the company to read her notes out loud, as a way of including her in the conversation. That must have been why Catherine mentioned Adriana’s earlier note.

“Thank you for the kind offer, but no thanks!” he read the note to everyone, giving a faux pout.

Then he said, “I guess I’d better go and get started on digging up all this information you’ve requested on my own then!”

Of course, everyone knew that it was his staff that would be burning the midnight oil.

After he left, Walter said, “Welcome to Wagner Industries, Michael.”

“Thanks, I’m glad to be here. I just hope being here doesn’t interfere too much with my homework!” I said, referring to an old joke between Catherine and me.

They all laughed politely. Adriana just looked at me, her eyes sparkling.

“Michael, this is Walter Goldstein, head of our legal department. I know you remember him, Walter. But Michael doesn’t remember much of the past since he woke up from the coma,” she explained to Walter and Adriana.

“That’s understandable, under the circumstances,” he said. “I understand you’ve been talking to the White House.”

“Yes, sir. Are you the one going with us tomorrow?” I asked.

Adriana scribbled a quick note and handed it to Catherine. I waited until Catherine had glanced at it before she passed it on to me.

“Adriana asks why?” I read the one word note to them.

Wally chuckled. “I see you picked up one of our little quirks already, Michael. We always try to read Adriana’s notes aloud, when possible. We want her to feel like the valuable employee that she actually is,” he said.

“You want to explain this?” I thought quickly to Catherine.

“You go ahead. It’s time to get your feet wet,” Catherine replied.

“Thanks! Mata Hari!” I chuckled silently.

Before I could start to answer, though, Adriana jumped to her feet, her mouth dropping open as she stared at us. She had stood up so quickly, her chair toppled over backwards and her pad and pen dropped to the floor. Then she leaned against the table as if she was dizzy as she continued to stare at me.

“He spoke! I heard him! He talked to his grandmother without moving his lips, and no sounds came out. I didn’t imagine it. I’m not crazy...”

She continued talking to herself like that, while I connected Catherine so she could hear. The poor girl was going crazy with doubts, now. Trying to figure out if what she thought just happened, really did happen.

“Walter, would you and Wally excuse us now? Tell Carl we’ll meet him at the airport in the morning. I believe we are all flying down together,” Catherine quickly asked Walter.

“Of course. I’ll see you later in the week,” he said as he rose to leave. “Good to see you again, Michael.”

I didn’t reply because I was focused on Adriana, trying to decide.

Wally followed Walter, already discussing something else with the attorney, as they walked out the door.

Without mentally warning her, I took Grandfather’s letter out of my pocket, and passed it to Catherine.

Then monitoring both of them, I stepped around the table and picked up the fallen chair, placing it so Adriana could be seated.

In the midst of her jumbled thoughts and confused emotions, she noted how handsome I was.

“And well-mannered too! I’d go to work in his department in a heartbeat!” she thought to herself.

Catherine had a frown on her face as she read Grandfather’s words, but smiled when she heard Adriana’s thoughts.

“That might be arranged,” I thought to Adriana.

Catherine just smiled that sly smile as she thought, “Oh boy! Here comes the fireworks now! I wonder if the Foundation’s new Board of Directors just grew larger?”

Adriana jumped to her feet again, her eyes wide in panic, and her chair toppling backwards again.

“I heard it! I know I heard it that time! I’m NOT crazy. He spoke to me and then she said something about fireworks, and I don’t understand, and...” Adriana’s mental rant continued as I picked up her chair again. But this time, she just looked at me as I stood there, holding her chair for her.

Finally, she bent down to retrieve her fallen pad and paper, then sitting down in the offered chair, she began scribbling furiously.

“Adriana?” I thought to her.

“Be gentle, Michael,” Catherine thought.

“Don’t you have somewhere to go?” I said to Catherine, teasing her.

“Not really. I want to watch! I want to see how you’re going to get yourself out of this,” she said saucily. “And besides, this is MY office!”

“Adriana, there’s no need to write. We can hear your thoughts,” I told her.

Adriana stopped her writing and looked at Catherine and then me.

“How?” was the only thought she was able to form in her confused state.

Once more, I launched into my explanation of waking up with Empathic abilities.

Where most everyone else who had heard my story became sullen or upset over the loss of their privacy. Adriana was overjoyed. Her mind was flooded with questions and possibilities. She saw this not as an end of her privacy, but a key that unlocked the door to her prison cell. She could finally talk to someone, even if it was only in her mind. Finally, I finished my narration of what had happened, with how I could share my emotions with others.

Adriana looked to Catherine as she asked, “I don’t understand. Michael, I can see, since it just happened for him recently. But, you’ve known me for years. Why didn’t you tell me that you could do this sooner?”

“Because I can’t do it without Michael. It’s his gift. We are connected through his mind,” Catherine patiently explained to Adriana.

She became quiet as she realized what that small revelation implied.

“Back to the dungeon!” she thought depressingly.

Catherine looked at me with surprise on her face as she felt the pain.

“Oh, well ... It was fun to think about for a moment,” Adriana thought sadly.

As an Empath, it’s actually painful to watch someone go from the heights of ecstasy, to the depths of despair that rapidly. We tend to share their emotions, even if we don’t share their beliefs.

This time, Catherine got to experience it as well.

“Michael? Can’t you do something?” Catherine whined her thought to me.

Adriana looked up at me expectantly as well.

“I guess it depends on how much authority I have around here,” I told her.

“Okay. What would you do if you were king?” Catherine asked me with a smile. “Instead of a Prince!”

“Don’t confuse the issue!” I warned her with a mental laugh.

We could both feel Adriana’s mounting confusion.

“Sorry, Your Highness!” she added with a giggle.

“Ah ... Private joke. I’m sorry we are confusing you,” I told Adriana. Then to Catherine, I thought, “Well, the first thing I would do is grant Jeannie her wish. Give her a bonus, equal to say ... two years’ salary, and continued medical coverage for five years, to be effective as soon as she trains a replacement.”

“Okay, that’s good. What else?” Catherine asked, with relief.

“Next, I’d promote Adriana to the position of Assistant to the President. With a salary at least equal to Vickie’s,” I thought with a grin.

“Oh!” Adriana gasped. She went down the list of executives, trying to remember which one was the President. Finally, it hit her. She was looking at the incoming President, who just happened to be a sixteen-year-old empath.

“You’re kidding?” she thought the question.

“Adriana, Michael likes to tease, but not about something as serious as this. He means it. I just wonder if YOU have any idea what it means,” Catherine asked her in all seriousness now.

“Quite frankly, I haven’t a clue. I mean I’ve never even dreamed of doing anything else, what with my condition. I’ve always felt that I was lucky Uncle Greg even allowed me to be here at all,” Adriana thought to us.

“Michael still has to finish high school, Adriana,” Catherine said.

“Oh!” she thought.

“In Tennessee.”

“Oh!” she thought.

“And in order for you to be able to do ‘this’,” she said, referring to the empathic connection, “and the job he’s offered, you would have to be there, with him.”

“Oh!” she thought again. I could sense the doubts creeping in.

“But there’s an even bigger problem, Adriana,” Catherine told the young girl. “You have to understand that while Michael is a very handsome young man, he’s also very wealthy, and he has some very unique gifts. That makes him a very unique person, who also happens to have a very unique mission in life.”

Adriana looked at Catherine, trying to figure out where this almost unbelievable conversation was headed.

“That mission, involves doing as much good as he can for as many people as he can. The position he’s describing as his assistant, would require working with him, very closely, most of the time. Making it much more like a marriage, than a job. What I want to know is, if this ‘closeness’ is something you want to do with your life. And if it’s something you’re even ready for?”

Adriana was still. I could tell her mind was racing. I never bother to scan a woman when she’s making a decision. Too much change in too short a time span. I’m usually content to wait it out. It saves on my nerves.

So I sat there quietly, as Adriana weighed it out on the scales of her life.

When Adriana didn’t answer. Catherine continued.

“Michael also has many more women in his life than a normal man. Each of them ... are special in different ways, and for different reasons. But It means that while you might have a relationship that’s closer than a marriage, it’s like being married to a man with a dozen other wives. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Catherine asked her.

“I’m not sure. Do you mean I would be married to him? Along with twelve other women? At the same time?” Adriana asked.

“No. I’m not asking you to marry me. What Catherine is saying, is that some women are looking for a husband, and a mortgage, and kids. So, if that’s what you want in life, then this is probably not the position for you,” I tried to explain.

“It sounds like you’re trying to talk me out of accepting the position, now,” Adriana thought to us.

“No. Not so much trying to talk you out of it, as to make sure you understand it’s not a normal assistant’s position,” Catherine explained.

“Yeah! A normal assistant’s position would be on her back with her legs spread,” she thought sardonically.

“Pardon?” Catherine said quickly. I could see she was stifling a laugh. Catherine knew only too well how you had to learn to control your thoughts around an empath.

“Oh! How embarrassing! I didn’t mean for you to hear that!” Adriana thought back.

Catherine laughed. “That’s okay. It kind of proves what we were trying to tell you. The position is unique because Michael’s gifts are unique. And because these unique gifts tend to be ... intimate in nature ... I mean, he can hear our thoughts and feel our feelings ... so you can see how being around him, can’t help but become intimate as well.”

“Okay...” Adriana looked away, thinking. “Can you tell what I’m thinking right now?” she asked without turning around.

“If I wanted to. Although, in a case like this, I usually choose not to, because it does take effort and energy. And because of a personal preference I have,” I explained.

“Personal preference? Like the person you’re ... ah... ‘listening’ to has to have boobs bigger than mine?” she said with a giggle.

“Yeah! Something like that,” I said returning her tease. “Actually, I prefer not to scan a woman while she’s making a decision. It’s too confusing for me!” I said.

“You think this is confusing for you? You should try it from my side,” Adriana thought quickly.

“THAT is exactly what I’m talking about,” I chuckled.

“Would this mean I have to sleep with you?” she asked suddenly.

I liked it. She dared to ask up front, and she didn’t dance around the delicate issues. I marked it up to spending most of her life around adults.

“Absolutely not!” I said aloud. “That’s the last thing I need!” I thought to myself, forgetting they could hear still me.

“What do you mean, it’s the last thing you need?” Adriana asked.

“Yeah, I want to hear you explain this without lying!” Catherine thought, laughing out loud.

“YOU, Grandmother, are enjoying this way too much!” I thought to her, trying to scowl. But her laughter was getting to me.

Even Adriana was smiling, though we had her totally confused.

“Well?” Adriana asked again. “What did you mean?”

“I ... ah ... well I’ve...” I stammered.

“What he means, is that ‘Prince Michael’ already has a harem!” Catherine stated. “With two wives ... so far!”

“What!” she cried. “He’s only sixteen years old!”

I wondered if Catherine caught the disappointment Adriana felt.

“Explain it to her Prince Michael,” she said with a bigger laugh. “And yes, I did.”

I’m glad she was having fun. I’d have to figure out how to get even later, though.

“Adriana, it has been forever since I had breakfast. And since this is the first time I can remember being in New York, if you would show me where to go, I’d like to buy you lunch. I can try to explain while we eat, okay?”

“This sounds like too good of a story to pass up. Will you join us?” she asked Catherine.

“You two run along, I’m not hungry now. Remember, we need to catch up with your harem by three o’clock.” Catherine reminded me.

I looked at my Rolex, to check the time, and saw Catherine was smiling.

“I really do love you,” I thought. “And the watch, too!”

Adriana either didn’t notice, or assumed I must really love my grandmother.

“Let me get my purse,” Adriana said as we walked towards the reception area and the elevators.

Then she stopped. “Oh god! That’s the first time I’ve ever been able to say that to someone!” she said. “I can’t believe I can talk to someone like a normal person!”

Then she caught the irony of her statement. “Almost!” she added.

Her mom wasn’t in, so Adriana left her a note, per usual.

As we walked to a nearby restaurant, I asked about my grandfather, explaining that I didn’t remember anything about him, because of the amnesia.

She supplied me a long and detailed history of their association, from about the time she came to be with Jeannie, up until he passed away three years ago. It was interesting, hearing about him from someone who, although not technically family, had loved him all her life. I guess the difference was, she loved him when she wasn’t expected to.

She knew about Grandfather and her real mom’s illicit weekend, and the paternity tests being negative. She understood Grandfather’s ‘arrangement’ with Jeannie, including their occasional trysts. Mostly because the only time Jeannie left her with someone, was to go out of town with him.