Chapter 15

From the Tales of Flynnagan Rider

Love, Friendship, Engagements and Marriage

On Dr. Martin's orders, I waited outside until his examination was finished. I heard the clock on the mantel downstairs strike three and knew then that almost two hours had passed. I started to get up until the door opened and Dr. Martin walked out. He closed the door, turned and looked up into my eyes.

"Your father's death has taken a lot out of her, Rider. She'll need you close now, more than ever. "

"How is she doing, Doctor?" I asked.

Arthur smiled. "She'll be fine, son. I've given her a sedative to calm her nerves. I guess it's the excitement of the day. By the way, she wants to see you. We had a very long talk in there. That's what took so long."

He grabbed for his hat and headed for the door, but he turned back. "Oh and Thomas, I'll be back here to check on your mother in a few days. I also would like to have your permission to see your mother on a regular basis, if that's alright with you. It's been awfully lonely with Abby gone and your mother and I…"

I smiled and clapped him on the back. "You have my permission, Arthur. If my mother is happy then I'm happy. Please don't worry."

Dr. Arthur Martin smiled as he put his hat on his head. "Thanks, son; I was hoping that you'd agree." He patted the hat further down on his head. "Well, I'm off, Rider. I'll return in a two or three day's time."

He turned, opened the door and closed it behind him. I smiled, turned and opened the door to my mother's room.

She was sitting up and actually smiling. She motioned for me to sit beside her and I did. She asked if I had heard about her and Arthur and also asked my approval. I smiled. I was sure that wasn't the only thing she wanted to talk about.

XXXX

Greta sat down and smiled. She brought her hand up to her necklace and touched it. Everything was working perfectly. It truly was a charm in the best sense of the word. She always wondered why her aunt wouldn't have wanted her to wear it. Why would she give it to her in the first place, then?

She had always wondered what would happen if she removed the necklace for just one second. She just didn't think that she'd just disappear right away or crumble into dust the minute she took it off. It was always in the back of her mind to experiment, but she always changed her mind at the last minute. She really didn't want to find out, did she? Well, maybe this time she'd go through with it. Nothing would happen she was sure. She reached back and touched the clasp when she caught sight of Eugene and Eric in the garden talking to one another. Well, it didn't seem that they were talking so much as yelling at each other. She watched their faces out the window as the argument became heated.

She was so absorbed in the argument that she didn't hear or see a very confused Rapunzel standing next to her.

XXXX

Rapunzel searched the Internet for Greta Gothel. She already had some of the pages bookmarked so it was easy for her to pinpoint the name. She was of two minds about this, maybe she should leave well enough alone, but the curiosity was getting to her.

She found a reference to the Flynnagan Rider book and then smiled when she saw an old newspaper clipping declaring that Greta had become indispensable to the Fitzherberts. Her promotion of the Fitzherberts new mall resulted in three people renting space there. She was given a raise in pay, promised a promotion at Flynn Rider and Associates and that Eugene Linus Fitzherbert was very proud of her; enough to show her off to reporters.

Then she found something that she never expected to find.

Greta Gothel had been under investigation once before, 18 years ago and by the exact same agency. It had something to do with the King's missing daughter Danielle Morgan. There were people who had witnessed a woman answering to Greta's description and swore that they saw her playing with the tiny baby, picking her up out of her stroller and rocking her back and forth until the baby fell asleep. It was then she placed the baby back in the stroller and walked away. Nothing suspicious, everyone thought that it was her baby.

They never once thought that the woman sitting on the bench with her eyes closed was doing anything else then sleeping, but of course later on they found out that the nanny had been drinking on the job and had let her go.

Except that the nanny swore up and down that she never, ever touched the stuff.

Another article showed births of that year, but there was no Rapunzel Gothel listed among the names.

But there was a Danielle Morgan King.

She shook her head and switched off the laptop. She decided that the only thing left to do was question her mother about this.

She opened the door of her room and saw Greta standing over by the window looking out at something.

She went over to join her and to see exactly what was going on.