Chapter 19

“Well, hello there handsome, you must be the His Honor’s 4:30.” Judge Kennedy’s secretary was a stunning thirty-something black woman. Humorous, intelligent brown eyes looking out from sky-blue eyeglasses helped her pull off the sexy secretary thing perfectly. The nameplate on her desk read Sylvia Potter

“Yes ma’am, I’m Steven Conner.” I said trying to keep my eyes out of her impressive cleavage.

“Seriously Mr. Steven Conner did you just ma’am me.” She stuck out her lower lip, stood up and struck a pose. “Do I look like a ma’am? Hmmm?”

“Oh no. I mean yes, I did ma’am. I apologize. I was just trying to be polite.”

“You’re too easy, handsome,” she laughed. “Have a chair and I’ll tell himself you’re here. I gotta warn you he’s a bit irritated with you right now. He’s been trying to get in touch with you for a couple of weeks.”

Huh. Wonder what that was about.

I looked around. Trying not to get caught looking at Sylvia Potter’s incredible ass as she tick-tocked it to the door leading I assumed to the judge’s office. I sternly told myself to keep my hands off the ring, but the thought she might have a sexy kink to go along with that hot body made my cock twitch.

“You can go in now Mr. Conner.” She caught me looking, grinned and mouthed naughty naughty.

Red faced I walked into Judge Kennedy’s inner sanctum. The room looked like every lawyer’s office you saw on TV. Expensive looking leather-bound books sat behind glass doored bookcases that lined three of the four walls. A couple of framed diplomas and lots of pictures of important looking people shaking hands and smiling into the camera lined the fourth.

The Judge who I now recognized as one of grandpa’s buddies sat behind a big desk messing with a pipe. Blue eyes underneath some really bushy white eyebrows glared at me.

“It’s about time, young man. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you since last week. Why didn’t you call when I left a message with your stepmother?”

“Uh. Excuse me sir but I never got the message. I called because my aunt is planning to sell my house. I want to know how to stop them.

He didn’t answer me instead tamped down the tobacco in his pipe, flicked a lighter and took a couple of puffs. Fragrant pipe tobacco smoke that smelled like cherries wafted around him as he studied me.

“Your grandfather and I tried our damnedest to stop your father from getting involved with those people and their church. But he was always a hard-headed kid, stubborn as a Missouri mule.”

“What do you mean. What’s wrong with the church.”

He ignored my question. “The will is clear. The house belongs to your stepmother. So, you’re out of luck trying to stop the sale. However, you have other options. Did you ever meet your Uncle Ernie?”

“No, I know that he lived in Hong Kong. My Mom told me one time that he was kind of the black sheep of the family.” I didn’t mention the mysterious box and the ring.

“Well, he apparently knew all about you. Two weeks ago, I received a letter saying he had passed away and that his estate had settled. You stand to inherit a considerable sum of money. Approximately thirteen million cash and bonds after taxes. Your stepmother got it as well.”

He sat back and watched me.

“Jesus.” It was such an unreal statement that my reaction was numbness.

“He also included a letter addressed to you.” He pushed the letter across the desk. “Look I know this is a lot to take in. Since your grandfather is not here, I’m going to involve myself in this. You’re a minor. That means your stepmother is going to be able to take over management of that money. Which effectively means your aunt will get her hands on your money. Which in turn, means that damned church will get their it. I’m not going to let them do it.”

“Okay. How are you going to stop them,” I said woodenly. My mind pictured a savings account with 13 million dollars in it and my aunt walking in with her big orange suitcase and withdrawing it.

There was a knock on the door. Sexy Sylvia stuck her head in the door.

“Bill’s here. You ready for him?”

“Finally. Send him in.”

Silvia ushered in a tall blond-haired man. He was big enough that he looked like he could play left tackle for the Bears. He might have too; his nose was crooked and he had a deep wrinkle at the top of his nose between two bright green eyes.

“Good afternoon, your Honor,” he said cheerfully. He looked at me and grinned. “You must be the Steven Conner I’ve been hearing so much about. Come with me and we’ll have ourselves a little talk.”

“Bill, bring him back here when you’re done.” The judge waved us away and went back to his paperwork.

He led me into a conference room down the hall from the Judge’s office.

I started to speak but he held up a hand and stopped me.

“Got a dollar?”

“Sure.”

I fished out dollar. He motioned me to give it to him. I put it into his hand.

“Good. Now you got yourself a lawyer. A damn good one, I might add,” he said with a grin. “My name is William Winfield. You can call me Bill. I was a friend of your dad’s. I feel guilty that I ignored you, I should have been checking up on your situation long ago. Your dad sure would have if the situation was reversed. But all that’s in the past. The Judge gave me some background but I prefer my information direct from the source. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been up since your dad died.”

This was all very mysterious, but I was a kid and he was an adult so I went ahead and told him all about how I’d been the “Man of the House” for the last two years. I told him about learning to cook and clean and iron and all the other stuff. I left out all mention of the ring and all my deviant sinful activities.

He muttered something under his breath and looked pissed off, but then his face cleared back to his cheerful persona. “Hmm sounds like you’ve been handling your life challenges far better than a lot of adults I know—certainly better than I have at your age—my only goal back them was to try to get laid. Here’s the Judge’s solution to your predicament. In this state if a minor had reached the age of sixteen the court can emancipate him and recognize him in the eyes of the law as an adult. You’ve managed to conduct yourself with maturity and it’s obvious you can take care of yourself so if you agree, that’s what we’re going to do. I’ve taken the liberty of preparing some documents for your signature, sign where the tabs are and then we’ll go back and see the judge.”