Just before lunch was served, Heather came to the door. She had dressed in a black suit, fishnet stockings, and a see-through shirt, and she had smeared her mascara down her face. I could tell that it was purposely smeared, however, as her eyeliner and her eye shadow weren't smeared at all.
"Hello", I said, "how may I help you?"
"I notice that Aunt Lindsay and Angus are here, and I wanted to come and grieve with my family."
"I'm sorry. Family members care for each other, yet you attacked me. Family members don't attack each other and that's how I know that your claims are bogus."
"I didn't really attack you."
"No? The nurse who had to clean me up afterwards might disagree. My husband, who had to step in and stop you, might disagree. I definitely disagree."
"If I wanted to attack you, I would."
"Sounds promising. Love to see that sometime."
"Why don't you fucking get upset?"
"Life's too short to get upset about little people."
"Are you saying I am unimportant?"
"I just said it. It is totally up to you as to how you take it."
Ranger came to the door and stood behind and to the side of me, in full protective mode. Kai and Joe followed and placed themselves directly behind, and the other person to the side. "Hey, babe", said Ranger. "Lunch is almost ready."
"Excellent", said Heather. "I'm hungry."
"I'm sorry", said Ranger. "I didn't make enough for another guest. How are you today?"
"Good." She smiled at Ranger, and I knew he could feel the irritation sparking out of my body. She turned on the charm. "When is the funeral?" she said.
"We aren't having one", I said.
Heather looked at me in shock. "Why not? Daddy has to have a funeral."
I sighed again. "First of all, he does not have to have a funeral. There is no law that says he has to have a funeral. Second of all, we are following his wishes in honoring his death. That is what is important to us."
"What were his wishes?"
"He asked us all, at some point in the week of his death, to each get dressed up as a clown and to walk down the street and hand out flowers to strangers." There was a burst of laughter from the family room, and I knew that everyone was listening to me.
"How can you laugh at a time like this?" said Heather. "That's revolting."
"I'm sorry that you didn't care more about your dad. Colin was an incredible man, but he was in a lot of pain and had been for a long time. Yes, I'm upset that Colin died but I'm grateful that Colin is no longer in pain. I'm grateful that he is no longer suffering. I did my crying last night, Heather. I had my pity party, and now I am thinking about what was best for Colin. Do you live around here?" I said.
"I did. I have an apartment in town that Daddy bought me. As far as I know, the castle is mine now."
"Interesting. Is the castle close to where you work?"
"Close enough. I work at Castle Force. That is another thing that Daddy promised to leave me."
"Really? What does his company do?"
"It's a security guard company. Daddy built the company from the ground up. He now has thirty-thousand security guards on staff."
"That's a lot of staff. Does the company do anything else?"
"No."
"So that thirty thousand are all security guards?"
"Absolutely."
"Hunh. I wouldn't have thought that Inverness needed that many security guards."
"His company is used throughout Europe and the States. If you were really his daughter, you would know this."
"Really? Colin and I didn't talk much about the company. Instead, we talked about family and our lives."
"He talked to me about the company because he wanted me to take it over."
"Okay. I'm glad you are prepared then. So, what do you do right now? Are you a security guard?"
"Yes. I am the head guard in the Eastgate Shopping Centre. Daddy was going to promote me to a higher position to prepare me for taking the company over, but he got sick and died before he did it."
"I see. If you are taking over the company, I guess you are on the hook for all the debts."
"Debts?"
"Yes. Debts. Debts that will need to be cleaned up by the person who inherits the company."
"There aren't any debts. Daddy was rich."
"I don't know about corporate balance sheets, but I do know that most companies have loans and things and the person who takes over will be responsible for the debts. It's part of taking over a company. You pay the debts off and start with a clean slate, and then you can make your own debts."
"Daddy left me money so that I can do that."
"Really? So according to you, Colin left you money, his company, and his house?"
"Yes." But she didn't look too sure.
"I see. As I said last night, that would be pretty difficult. Colin didn't own Castle Force any longer, he didn't own the castle any longer, and he had given away all his money."
"No! You lie! Daddy would never do that to me. I spent hours with him."
"So did Maggie. So did Lindsay. So did Angus. So did I. Does that mean the four of us should have inherited the company?"
"No! It's mine!"
I sighed. "Heather, give it up. You know that Colin didn't leave you the castle or the company or a great sum of money. Stop flogging a dead horse."
"But I spent hours with him. He had to have given me something."
"When did you discover that he was your supposed father?"
"About five weeks ago. My mum told me just before she died."
"I'm sorry for your loss. Did your mother die recently?"
"Five weeks ago. She told me my father's name on her deathbed."
"I see. What did she say?"
"She said Colin Stewart was my father, that he was rich, and that he had left her when he found out that she was pregnant with me."
"Isn't 'Colin Stewart' a common name in Scotland?"
"Yes, but I have the right one. There is only one Colin Stewart in Inverness that is rich. He broke my mother's heart when he left her."
"So now you are trying to get everything you think is owed to you."
"Yes, dammit. He was my father. Where was he when my mother had to sell herself for money? Where was he when my mother drank away all her money and left nothing for me for clothes or food? Where was he when I had to dumpster-dive to survive? He was living in his wealth, happy that I was living in squalor."
"That's upsetting."
"Yes, so I met Daddy and told him what had happened, and he said that no child should have to grow up that way but that he wasn't my father."
"Why didn't you just do a paternity test? Then you would have known for sure. If you had done a paternity test and proved that Colin was your father, Colin would have recognized the relationship. He was too honorable to do otherwise."
"To do a test was to say that you thought there was a chance that he wasn't my father. There was no chance. Fathers should trust their daughters."
"I see. So you believed that Colin was your father and you came to him five weeks ago to push that thought and to get whatever you could from him. He told you that you were definitely not his daughter and instead of being willing to prove it, you tried to force the issue."
"He's my father."
"Why is that so important to you?" She glared at me. "You know, I tell my kids that no matter how much you insist, a lie is still a lie. If you believed it, you should have been willing to prove it."
"Well, I can't now. He's dead."
"That's true, but he prepared for that. He did his half of the paternity test before he died, just so that you could prove to us that Colin was your father. As you can imagine, that is important to us."
"I'm not doing any goddamned paternity test."
"Okay? Then I guess that you aren't his daughter. His daughter would be bouncing up and down to prove the relationship. You'll have to excuse us. As my husband has said, my lunch is ready."
