Many thanks for reading and reviewing. All mistakes are mine.
Chapter 26
Stephanie was working at her cubicle when Hector materialized behind her. She was wearing her ear buds and jumped when he touched her shoulder. Ripping out her ear buds, she spun around ready to rip someone a new one for scaring her. She stopped in mid breath.
Hector passed her a piece of paper and disappeared.
She looked down at the typed sheet of paper then carefully read it.
**Patricia Jean Wilson lives in Miami with her husband, Murray. She has three children, two boys and a girl, ages 12, 10 and 8 years old.
**Her parents were Jean and Earl Lawrence and they lived on Staples Avenue in Key West.
**Michelle, Patricia, Larry and Charles all attended the same high school in Key West.
**Both Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence passed in 1996 and the house was sold and the money from the estate was donated to their church (Fifth Avenue Baptist Church on Staples Street).
**John and Mary Margaret Morrison moved from Key West to Philadelphia in 1983 to take a new job.
**Charles Benjamin Morrison moved to Philadelphia in 1984 where he settled into the family home.
**Charles Morrison was charged with the murder of a fellow employee but was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced in 1985.
**Charles Morrison suffered a fatal injury during a prison riot in 1985.
~~~o0o~~~
Stephanie wrote Patricia again.
Dear Patricia. 'I recently found out that my birth parents are not the parents that I have spent my entire life with."
She looked down at her notes to just confirm the names then typed again.
'I know that my birth father was Charles Benjamin Morrison and I have a few pictures of Michelle, Charles and myself. I have seen a DNA result with positive confirmation that Charles and I are related. At the same time, I am having my own test completed for confirmation.
Her fingers began to fly over the keys now.
'I know coming into contact with you must have come as a shock. I am so very sorry to write you in such an impersonal manner, but is there any way we can converse and share some information from that period of time?'
She chewed on her pen once more.
"I live in Trenton, NJ, but as it turns out, my husband has some business in Florida next week, and I am planning on travelling with him. Would it be possible to visit you then at your convenience? Stephanie
~~~o0o~~~
Ranger and Stephanie slipped into the turbo and drove out of the garage. Dinner, a play on Broadway, then a couple days away from RangeMan.
It was Stephanie's birthday and Ranger wanted to treat his babe.
They drove down the road, holding hands. First, supper in New York, then an evening of entertainment. Ranger had procured tickets for the play The Lion King. Ranger knew she loved the movie and he hoped that the play would be just as exciting.
They had dinner, watched the play and walked into their suite. The Do Not Disturb sign was hung on the outside knob.
~~~o0o~~~
Larry contacted his mother on his phone.
"Hello Mother, it's Larry."
Mary was stamping around her living room railing at how her life was falling apart. She was about to open her phone to blast whoever was on the line about bothering people at ungodly hours of the day when she saw Larry's name on the call display.
Too upset to sit down, she continued to pace as she spoke. "Well, it took you long enough! What have you been doing that you haven't seen fit to phone? And what's this, moving all your junk out of my house while I was away? A neighbor had to tell me what she'd seen before I discovered your boxes missing. And while we're on the subject of secrets, I'm in trouble with the law because you decided to take a little holiday and took everything without letting me know where you were. I paid for a motel room for you and you don't use it? I came to Trenton to find you and since you never came back to the room, I had to pay for another motel room and another rental car!"
Larry could practically see steam coming from his phone. Yup, his mother was in quite the mood. He waited for her to slow down before he spoke.
"Mother, I didn't know what you wanted to do with Stephanie and I'm sorry I was ever a part of this. And the cage in the basement? What were you going to do? Lock her in it because she's your last and only part left of Chuck?"
Mary couldn't believe it. Her remaining son was rebuking her?
"You good for nothing worthless piece of skin. I took you in when you had nothing. I fed you, and gave you a place to live. How dare you abandon me in MY time of need? It's your fault that that scum bag took the comic book from my boys' room? That room was a shrine and because of you it's been debased. If you had any sense of honor you'd find the money to get me out of this situation and beg that awful man to give me back what's mine."
She took a breath and spat out.
"You are such a pansy and always have been. It was always you and your father and me and Charles. I wish I'd never given birth to you. You a complete failure in my eyes."
Larry took a deep breath. He'd told Nancy that he would try to assist his mother but well, after that, why?
"First of all, Mother, you did this to yourself. I think you need help. I want to see my family, and watch my boys grow up."
He felt sad that this had happened but her acidic attitude would have poisoned his family if he hadn't done what he had.
He continued. "You can call this number all you want, but after I hang up I have arranged that this number will be disconnected forever. Goodbye Mother."
Larry took his ear away from the receiver just in time to hear his mother scream in frustration.
He pressed end. He looked at Hector.
Hector smiled and pressed some buttons. He looked at Larry and nodded.
Job done.
~~~o0o~~~
There was a beep on Stephanie's computer and she opened up the little icon.
My dear Stephanie. I am so excited to hear that you will be in our state and I look forward to seeing you. If you feel comfortable travelling to my home, I can show you everything that I have. Hopefully we can compare notes and get some more ideas on where to find Michelle. Would it be out of place if I signed this, Aunt Patricia?
~~~o0o~~~
Larry saw on his new phone that he had an incoming call from Heritage of New York.
He pressed the button and spoke.
"Larry Morrison speaking."
The voice on the other line spoke.
"Mr. Morrison, this is Barney Summers. I have some good news."
Larry took a ragged breath. Here it was.
The voice came back over the phone.
"Thank you for making time for us to come and see your comic books. We have done some research and I can't help but be very excited with the news. It looks like there is certainly interest with the collectors. As I mentioned when we met, if you choose to list your comics with our firm, I would suggest that we not put them all on the auction site at the same time, but stagger them over a sufficient period of time to keep all the values at their peak. We are excited that you chose to contact us and wait confirmation if and when you wish us to pursue this on our on-line auction site."
Larry looked and felt a bit unsteady and sat down in the couch in the apartment on four. Mentally he thanked his Dad once again for his forward thinking that one day the comics would be worth something.
Thanking Mr. Summers he hung up. The contract would be faxed to the RangeMan number and he was planning on letting them go to auction with Heritage handling the details.
He phoned Nancy. "Honey, I'm booking an airline ticket after I talk to you and should be there in a couple of days."
Nancy put her hand over her heart. Her man was finally coming, coming to live with them. They could be a family again.
She whispered softly so as not to disturb the rest of the household.
"I think I found us a place to live. It's just down the block from mom if that's OK. I know the owners who are selling the house and they've lived there their entire married life. It could use some minor touch-ups and modernizing but big enough for us and has a really nice yard for the boys. I'm sending you a couple of pictures."
Larry couldn't wait to see them. A house for his family. He could take his time looking for a job that he wanted to do, and until then he could do any of the fix-ups needed to make it their own.
"I'm so excited to see the pictures Nancy. If you love it, I know that I'll love it. You've always had such good taste."
Nancy smiled. Larry had always complimented her on her decorating skills and she'd loved to use what money they'd had to spare to make their place comfortable and welcoming.
Nancy spoke again. "They are willing to let us live in the house and just pay rent until the bank loan goes through. I made a tentative appointment with the bank for next week and I've already let my employer know that I will require a letter confirming that I'm working full-time. I think that it's going to work, honey."
Catching up on the past few days, they prepared to end the conversation.
Larry whispered into the phone. "Sweetie, you have no idea how much I've missed having you in my arms and our family together once again under the same roof."
Nancy wiped a tear from her eye. "Oh, honey, I've wished for this since that awful day you drove us to the bus to come and live with my mother. You protected us at the expense of your own freedom. I love you with all my heart and can't wait to see you."
Feeling giddy and childish they made kissy sounds to each other. Eventually, they both pressed end.
~~~o0o~~~
Stephanie knocked on Larry's door on four. He opened the door and she looked at his face. It looked to all intents and purposes like he had been crying but was trying to compose himself and she moved in quickly and gave him a hug. She had no idea what had happened and waited for him to give some explanation.
Larry gave a little hiccup and pulled back. He spoke to her as he held up his phone.
"Nancy sent me some pictures of a house just down the street from where she and the boys are living with her mom. The older couple want to move closer to their grandchildren and mentioned to my mother-in-law that they were getting ready to put their home up for sale. Nancy asked if they would consider a private sale and they agreed, since they know both my Nancy and her mother.
She just sent me some pictures of the house, and Stephanie, I just love it! My Nancy has always had excellent skills at seeing the value in something. She thinks the bones are good and while it needs some upgrades, she can already see what she wants to do to decorate and make it our own."
He stopped.
"I was going to speak to Mr. Summers at Heritage about advancing me some money so that I could fly there. I'm too excited to take a bus."
Stephanie pulled an envelope out from the back of her cargoes and handed it to him.
"I spoke to Ranger and together we decided to present you with a plane ticket. We're also giving you $5,000 to tide you over until you can get a bit more settled and on your feet financially. We've got your possessions in one of our storage rooms and they're safe until you're ready to have them sent to you."
Larry could only stand there literally with his mouth open. Here was the woman in front of him offering him a new life and not long ago he had been sending her packages with pictures.
Tears threatened to escape again and she stepped in to give him another hug.
"You helped me to answer a few questions about me and my life that would never have surfaced if we hadn't met. I'm going to meet an aunt I never knew I had. I might never have met you, and while it seems a bit odd, after what we've been through, you are my uncle."
Larry shook his head again. Too much had happened in just a few weeks indeed.
