My mother had just died about a week ago; she had finally
found peace after a long battle with cancer. I knew that she was terminally
ill, and had dealt with the inevitable a long time ago. It was good to see her
find the peace that she deserved. There was a small funeral for her, very few
people showed up as my mom kept to herself and lived through me. I was a
wrestler on the independent scene and was always traveling here and there. I
would write and call me my mom as often as possible about my escapades around
the world.
Today was the reading of the will and I was sitting nervously in the lawyer's
office. He said that we were waiting for the other party to show up. Though the
lawyer seemed reluctant that this person would show.
"Maybe we should get started, I will forward everything to the his
lawyers." Mr. Hillgaard smiled. He was just about to begin when his
secretary's voice came over the telecom.
"Mr. McMahon is here to see you." Her voice sounded really nasally,
kind of like how they sound in the movies. I smiled inside knowing that my mom
would see the humour in it to. Mr. Hillgaard had told her to send him in. You
can imagine my surprise as the Icon in wrestling walked in. The man with the
grapefruits, the genetic jackhammer, Vince McMahon. He looked pretty surprised
to be here himself.
"Mr. McMahon, this is Charlotte Neufeld, Marlene's daughter." Mr.
Hillgaard smiled. We made the polite introductions. "Mr. McMahon there is
nothing here in the will for you except this envelope. There is one for you as
well Charlotte." As expected all of her worldly possessions were left to
me. Mr. McMahon and I opened the letters.
Dearest Charlie,
I know that you must be wondering why Vincent K. McMahon is sitting in the same
room as you. But there is a very good explanation for all of this. I feel awful
that I never had the courage to tell you the truth, but at least you will know
all at the end of this letter.
First of all you were the greatest gift that God has ever given me. You brought
a lot of joy into my heart and God bless you for your love and your strength
you have given me. You were my living doll.
Whenever I talked about your father I always said that his heart was always in
the right place, but he did make mistakes. One of the mistakes was what happened
between us. I used to be the personal assistant to Vince many years ago.
At the time he was having marital problems and was spending a lot of time at
the office so he wouldn't have to go home. One night we were both working late
and having a few cocktails and well, the result of that night was you. I never
told him that I was pregnant, so you can't blame him for not being interested
in your life. He would have done something that could have ruined his marriage
to the only woman that he loved. I mean that him and Linda are soul mates, I
was a distraction, and I know that. There was never any love between us. Please
don' t think of me as the other woman. Linda knows about it and we were on
friendly terms till the end of my employment.
Charlie, I want you to get to know your father. He is a wonderful man. I love
you always and I will never leave you.
Love Eternally,
Mom
I assumed that the letter that Mr. McMahon had received was
about me. As he finished reading he looked at me. He smiled warmly; it made me
relax, as this was an incredibly tense situation.
"You have your mothers blue eyes and her wild black curls. Though you have the
McMahon gleam in your eye." He sighed. "Your mother was a wonderful person, and
it is a great loss to this world that she has passed on. She has asked me to
get to know you in her letter, though if you want to let it go I would
understand."
"If that is my mother's wishes, so be it." I smiled weakly. "Though this is
quite a shock to the system."
"I know the feeling. How about coming to Stamford and staying a couple of weeks
at the house."
"You are a terribly busy man, and I know that there is no way you will be able
to guarantee more than five minutes of your time. Between all the production
meetings and what not."
"Then come on the road." He smiled. "Although I cannot guarantee how my
children are going to react tI had a great series of shows in Memphis and Vince
called me almost every day. On the last show I was contracted for he was there
in disguise in the audience. I had no idea and managed to pull off one of my
all time greatest matches. After the show he appeared backstage with a dozen
white roses.
"You are fantastic." He smiled behind his sunglasses. I had to laugh.
"You look ridiculous in that Hawaiian shirt." I teased. "And that goatee." I
was holding back fits of laughter.
"I know I look pretty funny in this get
up but, I wanted to see you perform. We have a show here tomorrow night and I
thought that maybe it was time that you met the rest of your newfound family.
Shane and Stephanie are really excited about meeting you. Linda is already
preparing a room for you back in Stamford so you can come visit whenever you
like."
"Wow." I smiled.
"Did you want to meet Shane and Stephanie tonight? I was going to meet them for
a late dinner in the hotel restaurant and I would be honored if you were to
join us." I agreed to join them for dinner as I was going to have to meet them
anyways. Better sooner than later. I hit the showers and freshened up a bit.
Vince was waiting in his limo. I didn't have a car since the motel I was
staying at was across the street. Shane and Stephanie were waiting at a table.
Vince squeezed my hand assumingly. They both got up and hugged their father.
Stephanie then surprised me and threw her arms around me.
"It is so awesome to find out that I have a sister." She smiled warmly.
"Welcome to the family." Shane smiled. We chatted like we were always one big
happy family. I realized that a lot of my personal traits were McMahon traits.
The only resemblance to my mother was my appearance. We laughed a lot and I had
a wonderful time. Immediately I could tell that Stephanie and I were going to
be great friends, even though I was a couple of years older. Stephanie offered
to drive me back to the hotel, as she wanted some girl time. Vince agreed and
kissed our cheeks goodnight. Shane bid his goodnights as well. Stephanie and I
headed out to the car park where we bumped into Triple H and Chris Jericho.
They were yapping and headed to the rent a car that Triple HHH and Stephanie
shared.
"Going somewhere?" She laughed jingling the keys. Triple H checked his pockets
and realized that the keys in his pocket were for the car back home. Stephanie
laughed at him. "Paul, Chris I would like you to meet my half sister,
Charlotte. Charlotte, this is my fiance Paul and our good friend Chris." We
said our nice to meet you's and the guys decided that they were coming for a
ride. "So much for girl talk." Stephanie whispered. We laughed. There was
playful bantering the whole ride to the econolodge where I was staying.
"I remember wrestling in that hall." Chris sighed. "And staying at the flop
house across the street! oh sorry Charlotte."
"It's okay, I mean it isn't the Ritz but it is a bed and a roof over my head."
I smiled. "I am doing a lot better than when I first started, I was one of
those die hard people who would live in their cars to get the gigs. Now they
track me down for the shows and am higher on the pay scale."
"From what my dad says you should be in the WWF before too long."
"I will only accept if it is on my ability, not because of my relation to the
owner." I replied.
"Charlotte, a lot of people are going to think that no matter what." Chris
smiled. "They are going to think that you are greener than what you are and are
going to be hard to get along with."
"I understand that. I want to know that I did it because I am good not because
I discovered my dad is Vince McMahon."
"Charlotte, why don't you check out of this flop house and stay in the hotel we
is at." Stephanie suggested.
"I guess I could." I smiled. "As long as they have a room available I suppose."
"Paul can stay in Chris's room and you can share my room and we will girl talk
until we pass out." We decided that was the way to go. I checked out and we
were off to the hotel so Paul and Chris could drop us off and they could go do
whatever they were off to doing in the first place. Stephanie and I talked
until four in the morning. We were very similar in a lot of ways though very
different.
"You know I was terrified of meeting you, thinking that you were just going to
use your new position to get the money, then I saw you walk in with my dad and
I was like wow. You seemed to be so content with whom you are and that you
could care less about our father's position. I am so glad that we know about
you." She smiled as she drifted off to sleep.
"I am glad to know that I still have a family." I replied and drifted off to sleep. My cell started to ring at
7:30am. I got up groggily.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Charlotte, it's John Hillgaard. I have some bad news for you. Apparently your
mother had a sister and is contesting the will."
"My mom told me she was an only child."
I replied.
"You will have to come back here on the 26th that is the court date that has
been set. In the mean time I am going to do some research on this person and
see what I can come up with."
"Thanks for calling me." I replied as I powered off my phone. I sighed,
Stephanie was looking right at me with a confused look on her face.
"What's the matter?" She asked.
"I have family coming out of the woodwork."
I laughed nervously and filled her in on the details. Since sleep was a
lost cause we decided to get dressed and go and grab some breakfast. Chris and
Paul were at the elevator when we left the room. Paul greeted Stephanie with a
hug and kiss. Since Chris didn't want me to feel left out he gave me a huge hug
and a sloppy kiss on the cheek. I laughed at him. I knew that he was happily
married but he was just a sweetie. We ate together. A lot of the other
wrestlers were wondering who the hell I was and why I was having breakfast with
the company I was keeping. Vince McMahon came down and announced they were
having a staff meeting in one of the banquet halls as soon as we were all done breakfast.
I was included in the meeting.
In the banquet hall Vince had me sit right up at the front with his other
children.
"Before I get to the boring stuff I have an announcement to make before you
hear anything else from an outside source. Many of you know that I had to go to
Fargo, North Dakota on business a couple of weeks ago. All you need to know is
that I discovered I have another daughter who you all see sitting up front with
Shane and Stephanie. Charlotte would you please stand up so they can see you."
I did as I was told and did a small wave to the crowd. Vince continued to tell
them that when they saw me working at the WWF it would because of my ability in
the ring not because he is my father. He then went on to discuss changes in the
story lines that they had come up with the previous evening. Charlotte listened
intently as they all were assigned their parts to play that evening."And
Charlotte I would like to use you as a plant in an open challenge match against
Jazz for the women's title. That way we can see how you are in front of our
crowds, the indy scene is nothing compared to what we draw."
"Uhm, I wrestled in the Tokyo Dome last year in a main event match." I replied
softly.
"There are not main event women's matches in the Tokyo Dome." Hardcore Holly stated.
"I was doing this whole Luchador gimmick then and I ended up in an exploding
ring match and winning their coveted title."
"Your name wan't Spike was it?" Shane Helms asked.
"Yes it was." I smiled. I knew that Shane was on that tour with me but I even
kept the fact that I was a female a secret from all the other wrestlers. Once
the promoters found out I was a female they stripped me of the title since I
deceived them."
"Well then I will assume that you won't have any problems tonight." Vince
smiled.
"Thank god she WAS a girl." Shane mumbled to Chris Jericho who cracked up.
"Chris and Shane is there something that you would like to share with the rest
of us?"
"NO!" Shane said quickly.
"Shane, this is way too funny to keep quiet. We were both on the same tour when
Spike won the title. We were all weirded out by Spike having; I guess I can
say, her very own dressing room. We all thought that Spike was a guy but Shane
was acting strange. He thought he was turning gay because he was attracted to
Spike and well at least we know that he wasn't. Great babe-dar man." Everyone
was laughing.
"So that is why you turned into a major flirt on that tour, trying to prove
your straightness." I added. Even Vince
was laughing.
"OK back to business." Vince smiled. He concluded the meeting. A few of the
female divas were giving me the eye as they saw Vince giving me a free shot.
But anyone who had heard of Spike knew I have worked hard to get where I was
today.
"Charlotte." Shane called after me. "I was wondering if you would like to come
work out with Jeff, Matt, Amy, and myself." He smiled.
"I think that I could use a good workout. Let me make sure that none of my
family wants to spend time with me." I told Stephanie about my invitation.
"Go," She grinned. "We have a lot of storylines to go over anyways. Go and have
fun." She pushed me towards Shane.
"I guess I am free to go, I just have to go and get my gear and then I am
ready." I headed up to the room that I
was sharing with Stephanie. I grabbed my workout bag and retreated to the lobby
where they were waiting for me. Jeff Hardy was amazed that I was the Spike. The
one that Shane could not shut up about. They all told me these great stories
about growing up together and then being one of the hottest tag teams around.
Shane and I got along great. There was definitely something there but I was not
ready to act on it. After the grueling work out I made them go through some
basic yoga positions to aid in the cooling down process. They seemed to like
it. We were all starving as it was way passed lunchtime.
"Well if we are going to eat anything it may as well be now." Matt stated. We all decided on Perkins, as
it was closest to the hotel. They were recognized immediately, and we had a
good laugh. They were wonderful with all of the fans. Somehow we did manage to
eat and have a great time. We then headed back to the hotel where we cleaned up
and got ready to go to the arena. Vince told me he wanted me to look like a
fan, not a plant. As all the other girls were always picked out before the
match even took place. I scored some poster board, I wore the lime green
Hurricane shirt, cargo pants, I had my hair pulled back into a ponytail and
lastly I wore my sandals. I totally looked unprepared to get into the ring. I
also wrote on the poster board. "Pick Me Val Venis" with big red lips at the
bottom. I looked like a mark.
I was placed in the first row. I was given a ticket; I went through the doors
and everything just like the rest of the fans. I yelled and screamed at the top
of my lungs and had a helluva time. Then Jazz came out and did her challenge to
the crowd. She naturally picked me. I got in there and held my own. I knew that
I had to lose but we sure put on a show. Jazz even let me try to get my
signature move on, that was where I "missed" she nailed me with a DDT and I
jobbed for the three count. I was now "injured" since I wasn't a "professional
wrestler" Vince thought we did an amazing job out there and he saw a great Jazz
feud in my future. Most people agreed except for Stacey Keibler.
"Vince I thought you said you wanted to make me the women's champion." She
pouted.
"Stacey, Charlotte is a trained wrestler, you are still learning. I said that
if you keep up the good work you will be getting a title shot soon. You still
have a ways to go to get to the caliber that we want. Trish did it, and a few
other women before her learned how to wrestle without any prior experience." I
hopped off of the stretcher.
"Look, I don't want everyone to think that anything that happens here is
happening because I am your daughter. I worked hard to get to where I am today,
and if I didn't prove it out there tonight then obviously things are not going
to work out here for me."
"We all know that you are only here to get to know your daddy so you can get to
the top of the business so your little speech you made was utter bullshit."
Stacey spat.
"I am ten times the wrestler you are."
"Stacey, she used to wrestle in exploding ring matches, she won the New Japan
Championship title, and your crowning achievement was a gravy bowl match."
Shane retorted. Almost everyone was fighting back laughter. "If you want to get
into a ring with her, I would suggest that you do so with a lot of medical
insurance." Stacey stormed off.
"Don't worry Charlotte, most of us have heard about what you did in Japan."
Mark Calloway drawled. "We know that you are not here to ride on your daddy's
coat tails. To be honest with you that was one of the better women's title
matches I have seen." He patted my back and went on his way.
"Just so you know Charlotte, once you have his approval, you are set here."
Stephanie smiled. "Don't let what Stacey thinks get you down." I went and had a
shower and changed into my jeans and a tank top. Shane was waiting outside in
his street clothes.
"Uhm, Charlotte" He said nervously.
"Please call me Charlie." I
interrupted.
"Charlie, I was wondering if you would like to go grab a bite to eat, just the
two of us."
I frowned. "Shane, please don't take this the wrong way, I am attracted to you
but I have a lot on my plate right now and there isn't any room for a
relationship at this point. There are a lot of things that I need to sort out
right now." I smiled. He looked so disappointed.
"I am sorry to have bothered you." He
sighed as he walked away.
"If I tell you the whole story, you would be a little more understanding. I
will have dinner with you just so you know it is as friends." He smiled.
"Great, then lets go." I saw Stephanie
and told her that I was going out with Shane.
"I am kicking Paul out again just so I can get all the details." She grinned. Over dinner I told Shane how I
found out who my father was and about this aunt appearing out of nowhere and
how at this point I don't have the time let alone the energy to start a
relationship.
"I really do like you Shane, from the first time I saw you in Japan. The timing
really sucks, that's all." I squeezed his hand.
"I will wait for you to be ready." He
smiled. I talked his ear off about my mother and he listened intently. We got
along great and when we got back to the hotel he kissed my cheek. "Goodnight
Charlie." He whispered in my ear. I
walked into the hotel room. Stephanie and Paul were watching a movie. I had a
dopey smile on my face and my hand was touching the spot where Shane left his
kiss. I could still feel it lingering. Stephanie and Paul lost interest in the
movie and were now watching me.
"Ooh what happened." Stephanie beamed.
"We are just friends." I said dreamily
"Just friends don't ride in on the clouds."
Paul joked.
"We are going to take things slowly after everything that is going on I really
don't want a relationship right now." I
smiled as I flopped down on the bed. "You know I really should not be intruding
on you guys, I should get a room of my own."
"You are not intruding." Stephanie smiled.
"Don't think that, besides I would like to get to know my future sister in
law." My cell phone started to ring.
"Hello?". I answered.
"Hello Charlie, I found out about that lady who is claiming to be your aunt.
Her name is Glenda Powell and it turns out that she in fact was your mother's
sister. She had heard about the funeral through the newspaper and decided that
she deserved a stake in your mother's wealth. She is a nasty woman, and I
believe that she wants to contact you for some unknown reason. Be warned if you
hear a cackle of a witch and the whoosh of a broom out side your window." I laughed.
"Thanks for the heads up." I replied. We said our good byes and I put away my
phone. I filled in Stephanie on the latest of the contesting of the will. Just
then my phone rang again.
"Hello?"
"Is this Charlotte?" A voice demanded.
"Yes this is."
"Ahh, the bastard daughter of the whore of a sister I had." She paused. "I have a right to half of her
estate and I do intend on getting it, I have the finest lawyers in the land and
I may even get the whole thing. You are nothing but a mistake from a night of
whoring. Your kind is the kind that gets sent straight to hell, at least we
will know that your mother will be there whoring herself to the devil." She hung up the phone. Stephanie saw the
distress in my eyes. I filled them in on that conversation. Stephanie got her
dad to call his lawyers to help out with this mess.
"I think that I will leave you two alone for girl talk." Paul kissed Stephanie and then hugged me.
"By the way I prefer being called Charlie."
I smiled at them. Vince was at the door when Paul opened it. Vince told
me a little bit about this aunt that appeared mysteriously out of thin air. He
had known her before she even met my mom. She was at a bar one night and she
kept trying to get him to go home with her. She eventually gave up and ended up
going home with another well-dressed man. A few weeks late she was suing him for
sexual assault. Not a nice lady. So his lawyers were going to take care of
everything and that I should not worry. I thanked him with a big hug.