Sunny - Mona Lisa Awakening

"True," Aquila said. "But it is an easy enough matter to take money from humans and acquire a car. We took his Queen from him. So now he must find another, preferably a young Queen more easily controlled. You are not only the youngest but also the newest Queen."

"But not so easily controlled," I said darkly. "Would he be foolish enough to try for me?"

"He is desperate," Aquila replied. "But as you say, New York is a far distance from Minnesota. He may have chosen to go north into Canada and Tomas may indeed have just sensed one of Mona Sera's men. Still, I would suggest that everyone, you especially, milady, take adequate precautions and be on close guard."

I nodded in agreement and smiled wryly at Amber and Gryphon's carefully blank looks. "Warn the others. We'll follow whatever security measures you, Lord Amber, and Lord Gryphon deem necessary," I told Aquila. "It would be foolish of me to be careless when I have only just found my brother."

"Thank the dear Mother for that," Amber muttered.

I pretended to not to hear that and left the men to their planning.

Catching a familiar delicious aroma, I let my nose lead the way to the bright kitchen. It was decorated in the casual ambience of country, with pale frame-and-panel cabinetry, wainscoting, and plank flooring. Thaddeus and Jamie were just biting into gooey slices of pizza. I snagged a plate, slipped a hot slice onto it, and took a bite.

"Umm. It's good," I mumbled.

"Not bad for something organic and frozen. Mom made me eat this stuff instead or the fresh kind," Thaddeus said quietly.

"She loved you very much," I said.

"Yeah."

We chewed in quiet reflection for a bit.

"I'm going to have to make arrangements for them tomorrow," Thaddeus said. "The funeral and burial."

"I'll help you," I offered.

His lips spasmed. "Thank you," he said roughly.

Thaddeus turned to Jamie. "Have you lived among the Monère all your life?" He listened with interest as Jamie detailed his life-growing up at High Court.

"You never went to school?" Thaddeus asked with disbelief.

The information shocked me as well.

"No. Tersa and I were tutored by a Learned One in the basics until we were sixteen. Reading, writing, math," Jamie said. "The rest I gleamed from books and television. We were the only ones who had one. A television, that is. Had to get a satellite dish installed to get any reception up there."

"So you've never been to a city before?" I said.

"Never been anywhere," Jamie said with a grimace. "Manhattan was amazing. Those huge buildings that scraped the sky. And all those people, everywhere you turned. I never really knew how many of them there were," he exclaimed with bug-eyed amazement, making Thaddeus and I smile.

"Would you like to go to school, Jamie," I asked.

"I don't know," he said thoughtfully. "Tersa would, I know. But I'm not sure about myself."

"I'll talk to her about it then. What grade are you in, Thaddeus?"

"I'll graduate from high school this year," my brother answered.

"Skipped a couple of grades, did you?" I said, lifting a brow.

Thaddeus's lips twisted sardonically. It cast his features into sharp prominence, giving me a brief glimpse of the handsome man he would become. "My body developed slowly. Not my mind."

"So you'll be starting college soon. Any idea which one you wish to attend?" I asked.

"I've been accepted into both Harvard and Yale," he said quietly. "Mom and Dad were so proud."

"That's an amazing opportunity," I forced myself to say. "If you wish to go, I'll pay for your tuition. You could come to New Orleans on vacations and during the summer."

"That's generous of you, but Mom and Dad already put enough away in my education fund to cover everything. I haven't decided yet where I'll go. We'll see."

That night, if some of us heard a few sniffs, a few half-muffled sobs, we didn't comment on it.

Thaddeus was up at noon the next day, his quiet movements downstairs drawing me from my own bed. I silently dressed in the jeans and T-shirt I had reverted back to, and slipped out the room, leaving Tersa and Rosemary still fast asleep.

Thaddeus's eyes were grim and reddened and the skin around them puffy, but his voice was steady as he called and made arrangements to have his parents' bodies transported to a local funeral home. He arranged to meet with the funeral director in an hour to discuss funeral and burial arrangements, contacted the family attorney and scheduled an appointment with him several hours later. There were numerous other details to take care of and he handled them all with a confidence and maturity far beyond his years. He gathered information on how to obtain copies of the death certificate that he would need from the hospital, typed up a moving account of his parents' lives and accomplishments, and faxed it to the funeral director who in turn would pass it to the local newspaper to use in the obituary notice.

Remembering my promise, I awoke Amber and Gryphon and let them know Thaddeus and I were going out. Amber accompanied us while Gryphon remained behind with the others.

We swung by the medical center to pick up the copies of the death certificates first, then went on to the funeral home. Thaddeus chose the most expensive coffins and plots, and decided upon a closed-coffin arrangement. I he memorial service and burial were to be held the day after tomorrow. When the solemn-faced funeral director discreetly inquired about payment, Thaddeus pulled out a credit card and paid for everything in full.

"You didn't really need me," I murmured back in the car.

"It helped having you there, as well as the big guy. One look at him and nobody's going to try and take advantage of me just because I'm a kid."

Amber stoically ignored Thaddeus's comment.

The visit to the lawyer's office was just as efficiently handled. Mr. Compton, an attorney who specialized in estate planning, was a short, portly older gentleman, his lined, wise face one you instantly trusted. He had a copy of the Schiffer's will. To no one's surprise, it left everything to Thaddeus.

Thaddeus read and signed the various papers the lawyer put before him.

"A wise man, your father," Mr. Compton said, his fingers laced precisely on top of the will he had just read. "He had his affairs nicely in order. The house and car are paid off and your parents both had current life insurance policies and healthy retirement portfolios, all of which name you sole beneficiary. I'll just need ten copies of the death certificate before I can get started on the paperwork allowing you access to these funds and submit the claims to the life and car insurance companies."

Mr. Compton expressed no surprise when Thaddeus quietly handed him the copies of his parents death certificates.

"Efficient like your father," the lawyer said gruffly. "The government will take a sizable chunk out of your inheritance with the death tax, but not nearly the amount it would have taken, which would have been half, had your father not had the foresight to plan things. He came to me, you know, when he first adopted you. You made him—both of them—very happy."

Tears welled up in Thaddeus's eyes and only by sheer dint of will did not overflow. "Thank you, sir."

"You have access to a joint checking account in you and your father's name, do you not?" Mr. Crompton asked.

"Yes."

"Let me know if you need more," Mr. Crompton said. "It'll take several months for probate to clear."

"That's very kind of you, Mr. Crompton, but I have more than enough to meet my needs for now."

"Thaddeus."

"Yes, sir?"

"Your father was a friend as well as a client," the lawyer said with kind sincerity. "If you need anything, call me."

The moon was round and full, hanging like a pale globe in the sky as the ebbing day flowed like silver to the west. The others were already up and about when we returned, the men dressed and fully armed.