“Eureka!” Eric said as he pulled out his cell phone to call. Unfortunately, the call went to voice-mail. Eric looked at his watch and realized he had run out of time. His mother’s birthday supper would be starting shortly and he knew he couldn’t be late.
* * *
“Thanks for coming,” Brian said to Tom Beamish as he came walking through the door of the restaurant.
“I wouldn’t miss one of Jean’s birthday suppers for the world,” Tom said. He recalled the many happy times they had had over the years. Jean’s birthday suppers used to be known as quite the parties with lots of people attending. Tom wondered why Brian continued to have them after Jean passed away but he felt honoured to be invited every year. It was his way to stay connected with Eric and Chip.
As they stood there waiting for the others to arrive, Brian couldn’t help wondering whether Tom had heard the results of the investigation yet. “So, any word yet?” Brian asked.
Tom knew exactly what he was talking about. “Yeah, my lawyer and I just met with them today. They said they wouldn’t be pursuing any criminal charges or imposing any fines.”
“That’s great!” Brian said.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t all good news. They wanted to suspend me for a year for misapplication of funds. They said if I agreed to just retire from the business, they’d drop the matter.”
“Are you going to fight it?” Brian asked.
“No, it’s about time I retired and passed the business on to my partners. It’s something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while anyway.”
“I don’t understand why they’d want to suspend you,” Brian said. “You didn’t gain anything from this.”
“Financially, no,” Tom said. “But I actually gained quite a bit from it – I got your two boys back safe and sound.”
They both looked at each other knowing it was all worth it and they’d do it all again. They turned as they saw Eric coming through the door.
“Hi Dad,” Eric said. “I hope you don’t mind but I brought Maria along with me.”
“Maria,” Brian said giving her a hug. “It’s so good to see you again. What brings you up to Canada?”
“Maria’s been accepted into the nursing program at George Brown College,” Eric said. “I figured that since she did such a good job taking care of us at the compound, I’d encourage her to apply to pursue it as her career.”
“Are you sure you didn’t have any ulterior motives?” Brian asked.
“Well, I suppose there might be a bit of an upside for me as well,” Eric confessed.
“You better watch out for him,” Brian whispered to Maria. “He might be trying to lead you astray.”
“Yeah, I thought of that,” Maria said, “but I’m keeping my eye on him.”
“Okay, everyone’s here except Chip,” Brian said. “That son of mine is late for everything. If he’s not here in five minutes, we’ll start without him.” Brian took another look at his watch. “We’ve got a private room reserved for our supper tonight,” Brian said, pointing to a private little room that had stained glass doors separating it from the main part of the restaurant.
“Excuse me sir,” the hostess said when she overheard Brian, “but I believe your other son has been here for quite some time.” The hostess led the way to the private room and opened the glass doors to reveal Chip and a young woman sitting at the table. Brian didn’t recognize the woman.
“Hi Dad, this is Robin,” Chip said as they both rose from their seats. “I met Robin at the Olympics, as she was on the Canadian team. I knew we shouldn’t have gotten here early, but Robin’s a stickler about being on time.”
“Nice to meet you,” Brian said as he shook her hand. “I’ve been trying to get Chip to be punctual for years, without any success. What’s your secret?”
“She just leaves without me if I’m late,” Chip interjected.
“If you snooze, you lose,” Robin teased. Brian instantly like her.
They spent over two hours enjoying Jean’s birthday celebration supper. Brian told stories about the good times they’d had over the years, including a few embarrassing stories about Eric and Chip when they were kids. Eric and Chip had heard many of these stories before but it still felt good to recall them. But every year, their father seemed to come up with at least one new one that they’d never heard before. Robin found a few more things to tease Chip about and Maria loved the feeling of being part of such a family.
“Well, I guess we’ve come to the part of the evening where I reveal the details of my legacy,” Brian said, “unless you’ve already figured it out,” he continued, looking at Eric.
“It’s sort of a moot point, isn’t it Dad?” Eric said. “I believe the kidnappers made off with your legacy.”
“You still don’t get it,” Brian said. “But it’s not a moot point at all,” he said pulling out the cheque he had received earlier that day. “Elizabeth Noble gave me a cheque today for a million dollars to reimburse me for the ransom I paid for her daughter’s release. But a legacy is not about the money. Leaving a legacy is about leaving things better than they were before and I believe your mother and I have built a huge legacy.”
“I don’t understand,” Eric said.
“Estúpido,” Maria said under her breath.
“I don’t speak Portuguese, but even I know what estúpido means,” Eric said turning toward her.
Maria blushed with embarrassment. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud, but surely you must know what your father’s legacy is.”
Eric and Chip looked at each other confused.
“You are,” she said to them. “He’s leaving his two sons behind as his legacy.”
“You better hang on to her son,” Brian said. “She’s a keeper.”
* * *
Later that night Brian looked through some old family albums as he lay in bed, recalling some of the past birthday celebrations that he’d had with Jean. Slowly he drifted off to sleep.
“Thanks for the birthday party,” Jean said to him in his dream.
“You’re welcome,” Brian said.
“But you should probably stop having them. I’ve been dead for six years now. It’s time to move on.”
“What’s it to you? Don’t you like birthday parties where you don’t actually get any older?”
“You have a point, but it’s still time to move on. Elizabeth Noble seems nice. She’s pretty and now that she’s getting a divorce, I thought you might want to pursue her.”
“Why would I want to do that?” Brian said. “I’ve already had the love of my life. No one can replace you.”
“That’s sweet of you to say, but I don’t want you to be alone. Besides, I think she’s going to be pretty rich after her divorce.”
“It’s only money,” Brian said.
“Yeah, but you don’t have any,” Jean said. “You’re going to give away most of that million dollar cheque, aren’t you? What are you going to live on?”
“Well, Eric put some money in some mutual funds for me and I plan to use some of the money I got from Elizabeth Noble to top it up. It’s not much, but it’s enough to meet my needs. And I’ve already got all of my wants.”
“I think you underestimate how much money you’ll need to retire,” Jean said.
“Maybe,” Brian said, “but I wanted to pay for Tom’s legal fees because he put himself out on a limb to get the money to rescue the boys. I also wanted to give some money to Chip so he could finish off his last year at Ohio State. Even with the scholarship, he’s going to need more money to finish off his degree and he’s talking about getting his MBA someday. I know how much you wanted the boys to get a good education. And Maria’s practically family now so I thought I should help pay for her to get her nursing degree because she doesn’t have any money and doesn’t qualify for any student loans.”
“Leaving a legacy really is your most important objective,” Jean said.
Brian rolled over in the bed so he could look into
Jean’s eyes. “Absolutely. Have I told you lately that I love you?”
“Not for the longest time,” Jean said.
“Well, I do,” Brian said. “I love you passionately.”
“I love you passionately too,” Jean said.
As he slept, a small smile appeared on Brian’s face. “So exactly how rich did you say Elizabeth Noble is?”
“I didn’t,” Jean said. “Just go to sleep dear.”
Other Books By
E.A. Briginshaw
Goliath
Henry Shaw leads a relatively quiet life trying to balance his work at a growing law firm with his family life, including supporting his teenage son who has a promising soccer career ahead of him. But all of that changes when Henry’s bipolar brother, in one of his manic states, tells him that Goliath didn’t really die as told in the biblical story – and that he is Goliath.
When his brother disappears along with a media magnate, the FBI and the local police believe they may have been part of a secret international network and that Goliath was his brother’s code name. The solution to this puzzle may reside in his brother’s laptop computer, which mysteriously disappears during a break-in at his house.
Is his brother dead or just hiding from forces trying to destroy the network? Henry tries to solve the puzzle along with an intriguing woman he encounters at an airport bar.
Goliath is available for purchase on the Amazon.com website.
Book (ISBN 978-0-9921390-0-1)
eBook (ISBN 978-0-9921390-1-8)
The Legacy Page 17