It wasn’t until Ann went to see about things in the kitchen that what Steve had gotten himself into sank into him. Yes, he had come to like Ann a lot. Love her? The jury was still out on that, although the possibility of it happening was now wide open, not the closed road it had seemed like less than a day before. Ann as his wife? Again, not an impossibility, although he really hadn’t contemplated that – but then, neither had he committed to it, at least not yet. On the other hand, having Ann as a servant was laughable; perhaps Uncle Homer could manage that, considering his age, but there was no way Steve could.

Besides, he could do worse – much worse, in fact; he only had to think of Teri to know that. Teri had less than no loyalty to her friends and lovers, and he’d learned it the hard way. If anything, Ann had too much loyalty, but could there ever be too much of that? Granted, Ann had problems and life with her would be a little out of the ordinary, but it would almost certainly be interesting too – and not interesting in the obviously stressful way it would be with Teri. Besides, Teri was history and had been for a long time; other than a comparison, she wasn’t worth thinking about any more, and there had been no other prospects on the horizon for a long time.

Fortunately it didn’t have to be decided on now, and Steve had the impression that Uncle Homer and Ann weren’t done with him this morning.

He was still considering the complications when Ann called them to dinner. “I’m sorry it was a little hurried,” she told them as she served them, “but under the circumstances I didn’t want to spend much time in the kitchen, and this is one of my favorite meals, anyway.”

“Mine, too,” Uncle Homer agreed.

Steve hadn’t had any of Ann’s meat loaf before, but it seemed a little pedestrian compared to the way she normally cooked. He gave it a try; it was nicely spicy. “Very good, Ann,” he told her, and he wasn’t just being nice. “I remember how my mother used to cook it. She liked it very wet, falling apart, but it wasn’t as good as this. Am I tasting some sausage mixed in with it?”

“Yes, you are, sir.” Ann explained. “It may be a touch on the dry side, but this is a recipe Mrs. Cooper particularly liked. In fact, it’s among several things she taught me to make. When she was in her iron lung she couldn’t have foods that needed much chewing, but it had to be solid enough to stay on a fork to get it to her. I could accomplish that easily with this recipe, so I still like making it this way.”

“Those were interesting days,” Uncle Homer grinned. “Agnes would talk Ann through making a lot of things. Of course, the atrium room and the kitchen aren’t close, so Ann had to do a lot of running back and forth, and she got some exercise learning to cook. I remember when I was young that Agnes’ mother was an exceptional cook, so it’s good to see the traditions were passed down.”

“The more I learn about Agnes, the more I realize what an exceptional woman she must have been.”

“She was one of a kind, Steve, and I still can’t believe how well it worked out. Ann, did you tell Steve of how you came here?”

“Quite a bit, sir,” she replied. “Not all the details, of course, but enough to give him the picture.”

“Then I’m probably safe in saying that when I brought Ann here she was very withdrawn. She was quite literally scared of her own shadow. That’s not an allusion, it’s a statement of fact.”

“If I could see my shadow, sir,” Ann explained, “it meant that I was in the light and light could hurt me. I associated light with pain, and I had every reason to feel that way.”

“I guess that would follow,” Steve replied. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

Uncle Homer went on, “Let’s just say that by the time I got her here, I realized that I was in way over my head with her. I had her away from that monster who had hurt her so badly, but I had no idea of how I could help her beyond that. I had come to the conclusion that my only real option would be to place her in some kind of residential psychiatric home and hope for the best but with little real hope. I knew that, much like Agnes in her nursing home, such places often just warehouse people without helping them, and besides, if I were to put Ann in a place like that, there would be too many awkward questions asked that I didn’t want answered.”

“Why was that?”

Uncle Homer let out a sigh. “Ann, I hate to ruin your fine dinner, so if you wish I’ll defer answering Steve on that until you don’t have to be present.”

“No, sir,” she replied. “Things are different after last night. Please go on.”

“All right, but it’s your choice. Steve, the questions I didn’t want asked were simple ones, like her name, who her parents were, why I was the one involved. We might as well not mince words, Steve. I kidnapped Ann, pure and simple.”

“Kidnapped?”

“It was the only way to get her out of the hands of that monster, especially in the time I had to work with. I felt then and have felt ever since that I did the right thing, but it was still kidnapping, and I could have wound up behind bars for the rest of my life. Worse, Ann would very likely have been back with that monster, and it was the one thing I did not dare let happen. Besides, by that time I also knew Agnes would be coming to live with us, so if I didn’t keep what happened a dead secret, Agnes would also have been back in the hands of those idiots in the nursing home. I never expected Agnes to work such magic on Ann, but she did and we were all better for it, and still are for that matter.”

“How did you wind up kidnapping her?”

“Steve, despite what Ann said a minute ago, I’m going to defer answering that question, for I’m afraid I’ll ruin all our dinners. Ann is aware of the details, but I’ll tell you later. Ann can sit in if she wishes, or she can be elsewhere. It is not a pretty story, and I’m afraid I’ll get pissed off all over again and get you pissed off in the process.”

Steve remembered the rage he had felt when Ann told him of what life had been like for her, and decided that Uncle Homer probably had made a wise choice. “Fine with me,” he said.

“It is a story you need to hear, but there are other things we need to cover as well, and Ann really needs to sit in on them. Just for the sake of moving to a safer topic, let’s suspend our rule about talking business over the table. This really isn’t business anyway, but personal.”

“I have no objection,” Steve replied. He didn’t want to say it, but after last night he was a little leery about letting Ann remember too much of her past, and presumably Uncle Homer was thinking the exact same thing.

“Good. Steve, have you had a chance to reflect on what Ann and I told you a little while ago? I mean, about the need to transfer her loyalties to someone else?”

“I can see why both of you think it needs to be done, and you’re probably right. I’m still a little surprised that you picked me.”

Uncle Homer took a bite of his meat loaf and smiled before he went on, “I thought from the beginning that you were the best available candidate, but we had several other possibilities under consideration. Only your living so far away kept you from being approached sooner, and that was probably a mistake, but at least we got to you in time. The other people we were considering not only didn’t make it to first base, they never even got near the batter’s box. I’m not sure what we would have done if you hadn’t panned out, but we’d probably have had to go with a much less optimum solution.”

“I still can’t quite believe it.”

“Believe it, Steve. As I mentioned earlier, Ann and I have been talking about this for some time, even as far back as when Agnes was a part of the discussion, but only recently have we started to get serious about it. Waiting so long was probably a mistake too, Steve. Let’s face it, I’m ninety-one years old. I could have a number of years left, or I could be lying next to Agnes out on the hill overlooking the pond this time next week. It was only the recent death of an old colleague that made us realize just how imperative this was. I’m very glad we’ve gotten this far, because it clears up a few other things that needed to be decided.”

“You mean there’s more?”

“Yes, there is. Steve, we decided to concentrate on you for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that you’re a fairly close relative. Steve, let’s not mince words. I don’t have any blood heirs. Until now my only living heir has been Ann, and she’s no blood relation. If I were to leave my entire estate to her she’d have to fight for years to protect herself from lawsuits. I have blood relations, and others, who would gladly cut off their left arms to get the fingers of their right hands into the pie. I shouldn’t have to point out that your stepfather is near the head of that list, even though neither he nor your mother are blood relations at all.”

The old antipathy rose in Steve even at the mention of the man. “It doesn’t surprise me, not about that bastard.”

“I have no doubt that your feelings and goals in that regard are just about the same as mine,” Uncle homer grinned. “Which is to say that if his heart was on fire I wouldn’t piss down his throat to put it out. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t realize the problem that you had with him at the time you graduated from high school and had to join the Army to be able to afford college. I was much too wrapped up with Agnes and Ann at the time, and I just wasn’t paying attention to what was happening among relatively distant relations I had little use for at the time. If I had realized what had happened I would probably have arranged for some kind of an anonymous scholarship that your stepfather wouldn’t have been able to trace back to me. I’ve done exactly that elsewhere in the family.”

“Thank you for saying that, Uncle Homer. As it was, I think it worked out all right. I learned a lot in the Army, and I think I did better in college because I knew what I’d had to do to pay for it.”

“You’re probably right on that. It’s one of those things we’ll never know, but it seems likely that things may have worked out better this way, but that’s all water under the bridge. In any case, my intent is still to protect and benefit Ann. To get to the point, a large share of my estate will still go to her. In fact, she already has a good deal of it, partly because I have a living trust, rather than a will, and those are harder to break. Also, she has a part of it in an attempt to transfer the money to her without letting the Internal Revenue Service get more of their sticky fingers on it than absolutely necessary. But again, to protect Ann, you’ll get a good share of it, and that should prevent a lot of whining and lawsuits complaining that none of my money went to anyone in the family.”

Steve managed to keep from dropping his fork onto his plate – but only just. He should have seen this coming; he’d had an inkling of it, especially in the last couple of minutes, but still this hit him with a huge shock. It was a few seconds before he managed to say, “Uncle Homer, you’re kidding, aren’t you?”

“No, Steve, I’m not,” the old man grinned. “It’s a moderately considerable sum of money. I can’t tell you how much right now since it slides around with investments, the state of the stock market, and many other things, but we’re probably talking high eight figures after everything settles out. Ann will receive somewhat more, of course.”

“That’s incredible!”

“It’s a fair chunk of change, I’ll admit that,” Uncle Homer laughed. “Not a huge fortune as things go these days, but enough to keep the wolf from the door if you’re moderately careful with it. And that’s another point. We have learned that you’re fairly conservative financially and personally. I was quite satisfied when you were offered a new car at an extreme discount you selected a Buick rather than a Cadillac for what would probably have been about the same amount of money. That tells me you don’t want to be ostentatious, and that was no small consideration.”

“Don’t tell me you set that up as a test, too.”

“No, we only found out about it after the fact, but it was a test we would have been willing to set up if I’d known about it beforehand. Look, we could talk for a long time about financial strategies, but there’s no point in doing it now. Ann can tell you more about the current ones than I can, anyway. I’ll just limit it to saying that most of the money is in rather conservative, steady investments, things like mutual funds and municipal bonds. But it’s nice to keep some money fairly liquid for the sake of fooling around in things like venture capital. That can be fun, and it can keep you from watching daytime television.”

“Mr. Taylor,” Ann spoke up. “We need to get serious fairly soon about getting some more transferred to Steve. The longer we wait, the more of a tax penalty he’s going to have to pay.”

“You’re right about that, of course, Ann. I have some ideas about how to handle that, and I’m sure you have more. We’re going to have to introduce Steve to our tax lawyers as soon as possible.”

“I suppose,” Steve shook his head, “but I hope you’ll forgive me if I say it doesn’t quite seem real.”

“Sir, if I may,” Ann smiled. “I’m aware of the fact that I’m worth several millions of dollars. In fact, many millions, but it doesn’t seem quite real to me, either. Do you know what seems real? When I get a notice from PayPal that I’ve sold a nickel for twenty or thirty dollars. That’s real money to me, not just some elusive bookkeeping figure. I spend nothing of that money, it just goes to a simple bank savings account in Wychbold, and I use it for some special things. But the few thousand dollars I have there is more real to me than all the money the computer screen says I have, mostly because I earned it personally. It tends to keep me grounded.”

“You know,” Steve replied thoughtfully. “That makes several things understandable about you.”

“I think she’s wise in doing it,” Uncle Homer smiled. “It’s easy to let money go to your head. You don’t have to do much more than turn on the television to see it happen. It’s part of the reason I’ve sometimes fooled around in things where I really won’t turn much of a profit, mostly so I can see the results of my input. The loan to Forrest Baldwynn is a good example of that. Yes, you’ll make some money on that, but you also get the satisfaction of seeing the money get earned as a result of your effort to fix a crappy situation. Steve, don’t let yourself get too wrapped up in numbers on the computer screen. Yes, they are important, but they aren’t everything. You’ll find you get more satisfaction when you can see the results of your efforts on people.”

“I think I can see that in the things you’ve had me doing the last few weeks.”

“You’ve learned a few things. You’ve still got a lot to learn about handling that kind of money, Steve, but I’ll try to pass along what advice and words of wisdom I can while I’m still able. And, while I think Ann already has the message better than I can believe, you two ought to plan on living like you have a couple million dollars, not a couple hundred million or whatever it works out to. I think you’ll both be happier that way.”

“I may have learned that lesson from you, too,” Steve smiled.

“I hope you have. Steve, I’m aware I live in a big, dreary old house that a lot of people think is haunted, with all due respect to Molly Carrillo’s ghost sitting there” – both he and Ann got a big grin out of that – “but I’ve been happy here. In my younger days much of my life was spent pursuing money to the exclusion of a great deal else, and I missed out on a lot of things that most people think are important. I only learned what I’d missed in life when it was almost too late to do anything about it. Ann and Agnes put me on the right track. I told you that the years the three of us were here together were the happiest I’d ever been in this place, although Ann has done well in keeping me happy since Agnes left us. But I realize my run is nearing an end, and it’s getting to be time to prepare for the next step. What I’m trying to tell you, Steve, is to not let money deprive you of the good stuff in life. Money can be a powerful tool, but it’s a dangerous one and can easily be misused.”

“You were the one who said you only had to turn on the television to see that,” Steve replied, and let out a sigh. “I can see you’ve given me a couple big responsibilities today, and I only hope I’m up to handling them like you would want me to.”

“Something like this is a gamble, but it always is,” Uncle Homer replied. “Right at the moment I think you represent the best odds I can come up with. At least now we have the process started. Steve, I told you that I had three things I wanted to accomplish before I die, and we now have the ball rolling on two of them. The process won’t be over until after I die, and maybe not until after you or Ann dies, but it’s under way.”

“What’s the third thing?”

“That’s a little different, and it’s personal,” Uncle Homer sighed, “but let’s not get into it now. Ann, did you have something for dessert?”

“I’m afraid not, sir,” she said. “I had intended to make some brownies earlier, but I, well, sort of overslept.”

“What a shame,” Uncle Homer grinned. “But I guess you needed your sleep.”

Ann flashed a grin at Steve before saying. “I believe I slept very well, sir.”

“I have to say you look, well, not rested, Ann. Very relaxed might be a better term.”

“You might say that,” she smiled.

“I suppose I’d better ask for Steve’s sake. Are you going to be happy with this arrangement?”

“Of course, sir. It’s much like we have discussed many times over, and I agree that Steve is easily the best person we have considered for this responsibility.”

Uncle Homer turned back to Steve. “There are a couple of points I may have missed in the rush. The first is that the two of you won’t get all my estate. Virtually all of it, but not all. There are a few old friends and colleagues who will get small shares. Unfortunately most of the people I would have liked to award are dead now, so there’s no point in rewarding them.”

“That’s fine with me, Uncle Homer. It still seems like a lot of money, though.”

“It is a lot of money. Steve, the big reason I’m giving you a fairly large share of the estate is to protect Ann, as I’m trying to do in other ways. Steve, I hope this will work out and you’ll be a friend and competent protector for her. But you’re getting so much money that if we guessed wrong, you might be a little less tempted to try to get into hers as well. There will be some safeguards in place about that, too.”

“I was going to suggest some if you didn’t.”

“I think we’re talking the same language, Steve. But we have other things to talk about, too. Ann, I think you know what they are. Why don’t you serve us some coffee in the living room. You’re welcome to join us, or stay away.”

“No, sir,” she replied. “I told you earlier that things have changed since last night. I think I want to be part of this discussion since I may be able to add a thing or two. If things get too tense I will just get up and leave, but I share your goals in this, as well.”

“Very well, Ann. It’s your choice.”

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