Chapter 11

They waited with Emmy and Stacy at the elevators and said they would see them tomorrow when they got in. Brian's mom led the way to her parents' condo once the door closed.

"Everyone ready for this?" she asked looking at the two of them.

They nodded back at her and she smiled and then knocked on the door. They heard someone walk to the door and then after a hesitation, probably to look through the peep hole, open the door. A tall grey haired distinguished looking man appeared as the door opened.

"Hello Dad" Brian's mother said.

"Hello Sandra, it's good to finally see you again" her father said to her. "And this must be my grandson Brian and his lovely girlfriend Heather. It's nice to meet you two. As you can guess I'm your Grandfather Bruce Ross. Please come in and meet your Grandmother Alice. She's anxious to meet you all."

He waved them in and shut the door behind them and then led them to the main floor living room where a matronly grey haired woman stood up to greet them.

"Sandra, you're looking quite beautiful after all these years" the lady said. "Thank you for coming to see us with Brian and Heather."

"Hi Mom, the years have been kind to you and Dad I must say" Sandra replied.

"Oh, we're starting to feel our ages now I'm afraid" her mother replied with a smile at her husband. "We don't get up the stairs as fast as we used to and our walks seem to take longer."

"So can I get anyone a pre-dinner drink; a martini or a scotch perhaps?" Bruce asked everyone.

"I'll take a martini Dad" Sandra said.

"Good, Heather would you like one as well?" he asked.

"I'll try one thank you Mr. Ross" Heather responded with a smile.

"That's two for two. Brian?" his granddad asked.

"I'm going to have to go with a scotch on the rocks please" Brian responded.

"Here's a man after my own heart; two martinis and a scotch on the rocks coming right up. Alice, can I freshen up yours dear?" Bruce asked his wife.

"No thank you dear, I've barely started this one" she replied.

Bruce smiled and walked over to the bar against the far wall and busied himself making the drinks.

"So how was the trip here?" Alice asked. "No problems I trust?"

"Very good Mom, the plane was something else" Sandra replied. "No problems at all."

"That's good to hear. That Stacy seems to be on top of everything I must say. I'm glad to see a woman do so well in a typical men's profession. Is she treating you ok Brian?" Alice asked.

"Yes she is Grandmother" Brian said. "I think she's very competent as much as I can see. Tomorrow will let us know for sure."

"I've waited 25 years for you to say that to me Brian. You've made an old foolish woman so happy" Alice said with a smile.

"It's too bad it took 25 years to get everyone together that's for sure. I only found out about you last week I'm afraid, when Mom and I were talking about Heather's Mom" Brian said. "Her Mom acted the same way you two did when she found out about Heather wanting to date me. I wasn't good enough for her it seems, even after saving her son."

"I can only hope that Heather and her mom can get past that in a shorter amount of time than it took for us" Bruce said as he handed the ladies their martinis and Brian his scotch. "A toast if you don't mind; let old mistakes by this stubborn fool, while not forgiven or forgotten now; make way to a new happier time of a family reunited where we can all get to know one another again and in time become the family we always should have been."

Brian and Heather looked at his mother who sat and thought about what her Dad had said before answering "I guess I can live with that Dad, though it's coming way too late. It would have been nice for my husband and Brian's father to hear that before he died. But I didn't come here to hash up old wounds or start a fight. So as long as you mean that toast I will say cheers."

"Cheers" said the rest of the family as their glasses clinked together and they took a drink.

"I have a question, why did you wait so long to get in touch with us, in fact you didn't; I had to find out about it through Miss Burns after asking about you" Brian asked.

"We obviously handled everything badly and we apologize to both you and your mother" Alice said. "Our pride got in the way of what was right. We always made sure your family was doing ok and we would have stepped in if it was necessary. We liked the way you grew up Brian and we felt you knowing about us would have caused issues in regards to the money issue. We saw how it affected our son and we wanted you to grow up knowing how to work for a living, to earn your own way. We felt twenty five was a good time for you to handle the knowledge of what your inheritance will be."

"This didn't have to be about the money, I would have been happy to know you without ever getting a dime. Think about all the time we could have spent together over the last 25 years" Brian said.

"Brian, part of that is my fault for not telling you about them. I also prohibited them from having any contact with you, to hurt them as they hurt me long ago. In time I moved on and you never had much interest so it never came up" his mom told him.

"Well I have to say that I would never have believed that this could happen to a family if I didn't just have it happen to me. Luckily the girl wanted me more than money as well" Brian said, looking at Heather with a smile.

"Well you two make a great couple. I'm sure that if or when you want to get back with your folks, Brian's financial situation will come in handy" Bruce said.

"It will be a while before I forgive her for kicking me out of the house for simply dating Brian, that's for sure" Heather said angrily.

"You remind me of my daughter, and that's a good thing" Bruce said. "She stood up for what she believed in and gave up a life of luxury. I think she made the right choice and it shows in how they raised Brian."

"So what made you establish a trust fund for me? I appreciate the gesture but I don't really need it" Brian said.

"We wanted to make sure there was something for you down the road. We had the resources to do it and we knew your mother wouldn't take the money from us; she's as stubborn as her old man!" Bruce said with a laugh.

"Yes, I'm quite aware how stubborn she can be Grandfather" Brian said wryly.

"Ok, now that we got some of the old history out in the open and no swords or duelling pistols were conjured up, let's go have some dinner shall we" Bruce asked everyone.

The all stood and walked into the next room where a very elegant long dining room table was all set up for the five of them.

They all sat at one end and Bruce poked his head into the kitchen and let them know we were ready. Two waitresses in uniforms came out with an appetizer tray and ice water and the meal started. Soon the ladies were having one discussion about shopping while Bruce and Brian were talking automotive bankruptcies and the economy. Brian found that his grandfather was a brilliant man, as his portfolio led him to believe. He had a grasp of what was really going on behind the scenes of all the banking troubles and the world economy that Brian didn't have more than a slight knowledge of.

The meal passed quickly from course to course as the men's discussion got deeper into the current economic mess. The ladies had tuned into their discussion and were listening quietly until the men finally realized that they had an audience.

"Sorry ladies, my grandson and I were having a very good discussion about our current economic situation and we have neglected you three. I apologize to you all. I must add that you have raised a very intelligent son Sandra and should be proud of him. He has a fine grasp of the situation, despite not being in the field" Bruce said.

"For the most part he's been a good son, except for some doofus moments" Sandra said. "It's up to Heather now to break him of those habits."

"I'll try, but a woman's work is never done is it ladies?" she said with a dramatic sigh.

They all laughed at her antics as Brian just shook his head.

They finished up and took their after dinner drinks to the outside terrace, also overlooking the courtyard and the back street.

"So tomorrow you go in and take over your trust fund. Do you have any ideas on what you plan to do with it Brian?" Bruce asked.

"I don't know anything about it yet so I just want to review everything. If I get a warm and fuzzy about everything, I could just leave it in their hands. I assume it's not a small one as Miss Burns has told me that there are ten or more people handling it with her, in three firms. I'm not sure why they thought the fund needed a plane or so many condos here but I hope to find out tomorrow" Brian told him.

"That's a good plan, don't rush into anything, there's a slush fund for you to have a bit of spending money so you can treat these ladies to a shopping trip and you can buy some things you might have always wanted" Bruce told him. "I know anyone coming into money will want some things so go ahead and enjoy yourself for a bit. That's why the plane is available for you to go wherever you might want to go, you deserve a vacation, maybe the two of you can get away for a couple of weeks soon. You'll find out tomorrow where some good places might be to go."

"Well, we'll see, I do have another couple of weeks before I should get back to work" Brian said.

"We'll have a discussion about that tomorrow when you get back Brian" Bruce said with a grin at his wife.

"Oh Bruce, quit teasing the boy. Brian, you won't have to work anymore, at least not for anyone but yourself, after tomorrow" his grandmother said.

"Wow, it's that much? Thanks I guess, but what am I supposed to do with my time now? Brian asked.

"You can take some time off and then you can manage your trust fund and decide how to invest it, or get involved in a cause or even start up your own company" Bruce told him. "You have total or part ownership in a lot of different companies in different fields; if you like one of them in particular, you could concentrate on that one if you like."

"It's totally up to you Brian" his grandmother said. "We started this up so you would have options to do whatever you wanted. We can help with advice and so can your mom and Heather, but it's your decision to make however slow you want to make it. Please take the time to enjoy life for a bit before you make this decision though. Take this wonderful young lady on a nice romantic vacation at least."

"Well I'll certainly take some time to think everything over" Brian told them.

"That's all we're advising Brian" she said smiling.

The conversation moved on to other things and Brian had a brief moment to read their minds. Both were just so happy to see the three of them and were scared of ruining the moment by saying something wrong. They seemed genuinely happy to see them and had no other motives for anything. Brian was happy to have that verified.

Alice asked what the girls had planned for the next few days. They told her about meeting Emmy Rossum and getting together with her tomorrow afternoon when they came back. Saturday morning was tied up but hopefully Saturday afternoon and evening was open she was told.

"Well can we get together tomorrow night or Saturday afternoon ladies?" Alice asked hopefully.

"Well, even if the young ones can't make it I can come see you Saturday Mom if you don't mind just hanging out with me" Sandra said. "These two might have Emmy already making plans for them."

"She's such a nice girl isn't she?" Alice asked. "We always try and make her operas or concerts when she's in town. Sorry to say Heather, but we always had a small hope that Brian and her would get together when he came here but we're quite happy that you two hooked up instead. Emmy will be a good friend to have in New York and out on the west coast if you ever go out there on business."

"Well sorry Brian, you should have waited a week to ask me to lunch and you could have gotten together with Emmy!" Heather said to Brian.

"Oh well, I'll suffer through it, I guess" Brian responded with a sigh.

"Emmy is away too much. I think she has to go back to LA soon and to Asia for that new movie of hers" Alice assured everyone.

"Well I guess I'm stuck with the ugly duckling here" Brian said sadly.

"You will be roast duck if you keep that up" Heather warned.

"Yes dear" he replied.

It started getting dark so they went inside and had some dessert and another drink and then it was time to leave for the night.

There were hugs and handshakes all around and Sandra said she might pop in tomorrow afternoon if they got back early enough but they would definitely hook up on Saturday.

The three walked back and, after having a quick conversation on how the evening went, Sandra wished them a good night and went into her bedroom on the main floor. Brian took Heather's hand and they walked up the stairs and went into their bedroom.