In Dreams

That morning as she entered the house, she went straight to the kitchen. Up until now, he usually made breakfast for both of them when he was in town. Today, she was going to make their breakfast. Since he usually appeared around ten, she set about having the coffee ready when he came out and had the rest of the makings ready. She heard him padding his way in that direction but he stopped at the doorway.

"What are you doing?"

"I am making breakfast today. You got in late, so here is your coffee. Park it and let me do my thing. I'm not a bad cook either but not in your league. How did you become such a good cook?"

He sat down with his coffee, shrugged, and said a little off-handedly, "I started when I was younger and then later, I worked for a while as a cook. I used to hate it but then when I started traveling and trying foods in different places. I got interested again and started collecting recipes to try. I have a couple hundred on my computer."

"Interesting. So how was this trip?"

He was silent for a moment. "The concert was good but a couple of issues cropped up. We will talk about them after we eat." They both said those last three words in unison and then broke out in a laugh.

When they refilled their cups and went into his office, he began. "At our pre-concert meeting, a couple of the core people said that they had some conflicts coming up that might affect some of the concerts on the schedule. One woman is in a wedding and another one is taking his daughter off to college. These are just one-off kinds of things but I suspect that there will be more as time goes on. This core group has been together for three years and are really good but it dawned on me that we are asking a lot from them. Since we have more requests coming in than one group can manage, maybe we should set up two or three core groups, perhaps regional ones. We have the local musician contacts to do more requests but we are short on the core people. What do you think?"

"Actually, I have sort of been thinking about something like that. By the way, we got five more inquires while you were gone. They all look good but are spread out across the country; two on the west coast, two in the mid-west, and one the east coast. Oh, and we have been contacted by three hotels about New Year's events. They are each talking about a very nice payday. Take a look at some things I have been working on. This is a map for the past three years of where the concerts have been held. The color of the mark indicates the ticket sales and audience size. The nice thing is that the audience has been growing as have the revenues but some areas are still weaker than others. The other paper is a breakdown of the cost of each event. We have added some specialty acts and guest artists along with some lighting and production upgrades. Frankly, if we continue as we are, we either need bigger venues or a bigger guarantee."

"That's interesting. I kind of had a gut feeling along those lines but it is great to see that you worked it out like that. If we added more core groups, would that have an impact?"

"That's a little hard to predict but if we had regional cores, we could cut the travel and hotel costs quite a bit. But if we added more events in all areas, that could make the overall more productive. BUT...you are going to have to pull back some. You can't do what you are doing now with that many events."

"Thank you, mother." She swatted his arm and then pulled back in horror. "I am so sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

He laughed, "Hannah, you are completely free to tell me what I need to do and react to my reaction the way you want. I know that I can't do that many but you know as well as I do that I will try. Yes, part of this will to be to add more producer/stage managers. The more we get into this, the more potential I see. It is tempting to just jump into it with both feet but even I know that this would be a mistake. Go ahead and put all of the requests down on a schedule and let's see what the potential is. I'll call the group and see if they know people in other areas that might be interested in being in new core groups. You are doing good work and I appreciate it.

Hannah felt a surge of pride when he said that. "Ok, now to other things, your new book will be out in three months. They want you to do a round of interviews before the launch."

He sighed. "The short answer is, 'no, I don't want to' but I know that I need to. Will you do the travel and primary interviews? Perhaps, I can be available for a phone segment."

Hannah thought rapidly. "If you could do at least part of it that way, I can handle the rest I think. Let me see what I can work out."

"Thanks."

"Last but not least, your financial stuff is a mess. I am going to organize it and make sure that you stay solvent. Any problems with that?"

He laughed. "That might make you an old woman before your time but go ahead. I'll leave you the name of the tax guy I have used before. He has most of the tax records. You should probably also set up some investment accounts. I have kind of put that off until later. So now would be a good time to become later. I will tell you that I do have one investment account which I treat kind of separately. When I sold the rights to that book to the movie company, they paid me a lot of money and I still get royalties from it. They go into an account which I call my personal count. That is what I bought the house with. The rest, just makes money and to be honest, I donate most of that to various people and places for things. Everything else is just sitting in several bank accounts."

That shocked Hannah totally. "Just sitting in bank accounts? Not making any money?" He nodded. "That will change shortly."

"Yes, mother." She swatted him again and then they each got busy.

It took her three months to organize his financial affairs into a coherent structure. In spite of his generosity, he had accumulated a net worth in excess of twenty million dollars. It was now residing in several safe investment accounts rather than gathering dust in a bank. It came as a shock to her to realize that in spite of everything, he had overpaid his taxes nearly every year by ignoring or understating his charitable giving and business expenses. With the help of a new tax expert, they refiled his recent tax returns which resulted in a two-year prepayment of his taxes due.

As this effort was winding down, he told her to reserve twenty-five hotel rooms and a conference room after their upcoming concert in St. Louis. When asked, he smiled and said, "We are bringing in twenty new core people to meet with us and our existing core. Most of the talk will be done by the musicians but we need to talk to them about the mechanics of how we work and the revenue sharing plan. Will you put a presentation together on that along with the potential schedule we have right now? By the way, after that, I will be going to Europe. There is growing interest there? I am going to see how that might work."

"Fine; just make sure that I get a trip to Europe out of it."

"If things go as I hope, you will be spending a lot of time in Europe."

A month after the successful St. Louis meeting and decision to expand, Jeff asked her to meet him in the city for dinner one night. Not surprisingly, he chose the same restaurant where they met where he again ordered Steak Diane to her salmon.

For dessert, he took her hand and said, "Hannah, it has been exactly a year since we first met here. I told you that I was certain about hiring you and you have proven your worth and value a dozen times over and I don't have the words to tell you how thankful I am that you came into my life. Our agreement was for salary, benefits, and a bonus. Here is your bonus for this year and it represents only a partial sign of your value to me."

With tears glistening in her eyes, she slowly opened the envelope to find a check made out to her for five hundred thousand dollars. That was when her hands began to shake. He had told her often enough how good she had done and praised her for special efforts but this was the first professional and tangible sign that she had been successful. That made her already warm heart grow fonder of her boss although he wouldn't let her call him that in person. She only used that when she talked to others about her work and relationship with the notorious recluse.

"Jeff, if you must know, this is important to me because it tells me that I am doing good work for you but to be honest, just having dinner with you like this is just as important. I love our working relationship but I also love our personal relationship just as much."

Jeff turned red and began stuttering which she now realized was a sign that he was facing some personal turmoil. "Han...Hannah, I um...I...crap! I don't do this very well. Sorry. I...um I like both of our relationships very much too. Um...When I am home, do you suppose that we could go out to dinner like this more often?"

Hannah was surprised at the difficulty he was having asking her for a simple dinner date. Then it dawned on her that the one thing that she had never even thought about was that he seemed to only have a work life. She had never heard even a hint of a social life. She decided to keep her response very simple and replied, "I would like that very much."

That seemed to relax him and he returned to his normal demeanor. But her woman's intuition was now on high alert and her antennas were tuned onto Jeff like never before. There was a huge part of his being that was missing and she was determined to find out what that was.

Even though she checked around the house and office, she found no signs of his childhood or even college years. He obviously had a past but had none of the usual symbols of this part of his life. The first crack in this mystery occurred when Jeff was on his second trip to Europe. The local sheriff called and asked for Jeff. Hannah told him that he was overseas and asked if she could help him instead.

"Um...This is a little awkward. You are his lawyer, aren't you?"

Hannah thought for a moment before answering, "I am a lawyer and work for him but I am not his official attorney of record. I will be talking to him later tonight, if you need to talk to him personally. He can call you in the morning."

"Hmm... Well, I don't know what is right in this case. It seems he might be the only relative of a woman who just died south of here. The sheriff down there asked me to help track him down to see if he is the right guy and what he wants done with the body."

Hannah was shaken since she had never heard of an aunt or any other relative. "Are you sure that it is this Jeff McDaniel?"

"Truthfully, they don't know for sure if it is or not. One of the members of her church said that she raised her nephew until he got out of high school but he left and hasn't been back since. They asked me and others to check out any local Jeff McDaniel. There aren't a lot of them."

"Hmmm. I'll talk to him tonight and if he is the one, I'll have him call you in the morning. How is that?"

"That would be fine but have him call this guy. He's the sheriff down there. I'd just be a middleman."

"Fine and thank you."

Two hours later, Jeff called. Hannah knew that it must be after 2:00 AM and he sounded very tired.

"Hi. How is going today?" His weary voice asked.

"Nothing major but perhaps something personal. Do you have an aunt down south?"

The silence that followed told Hannah that he was the right Jeff McDaniel and that there was a story about come out that she hadn't heard.

"Yes; is she...all right?"

"Jeff, the sheriff down there has been calling around trying to find you. She passed away and they want to know what you want done with the body. Can you call him in the morning?"

"Yes. Certainly. Um...Hannah, if necessary, can you go down there and take care of any details? I can't get back for a week or more."

"Sure. Jeff, I told the local sheriff that I am an attorney and I work for you but that I am not your attorney of record. You might need to tell him that so I can act in your absence."

"Fine but figure out what we have to do to make you my attorney of record. I trust you to make any judgement in my place. I'll call you after I talk to the sheriff. And, Hannah...thanks." Then he hung up.

As Hannah put down her phone, she realized that the door to his past has been cracked open at least a little. She thought through how she should handle this and quickly came up with a list of questions that she would need answers to. Then she finished her work and went to bed.

Jeff called her shortly before ten the next morning. He sounded much less tired than before, so she assumed that he had gotten some rest. "I talked to the sheriff and confirmed that she is my aunt and that you would be down there today or tomorrow to make arrangements."

"Good. I thought of a couple of questions that I ought to know before I go. But first, what do I need to know about her?"

He paused before answering and then said quietly, "Hannah, to be honest I don't know a lot to tell you. She was my mother's sister. My parents were killed when I was ten and she came to raise me. She was a decent woman who didn't talk much about herself. She worked at the grocery store and went to church. When I graduated from high school, she gave me a thousand dollars and said that I ought to join the military or go somewhere else since there wasn't much future there. So, I left and joined the Navy. About ten years ago, her minister called and said that she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and asked what I wanted done. I went down there and had her admitted into a care facility. She didn't recognize or remember me. We weren't very close. That's about it. I have paid the treatment facility for her since then."

"What about any other relatives? Does anyone need to be notified?"

"Not that I know of. She never married and there were no other relations that I know about."

"So, you want to have a local funeral home take care of arrangements and bury her in the local cemetery?"

He was silent for a minute. "My parents are buried there; I guess if a plot is near them, that would be best. Hannah...I am putting you on the spot here. I know so little about any of these things. I was young when all of that happened and my aunt never wanted to talk about this kind of stuff. I feel kind of stupid and helpless."

"Jeff; let that go. You can't know what you don't know. I'll go down there and find out what I can and arrange things. Don't feel bad or anything. I'll take care of it."

"Thank you. Just do what you feel is best. I have never had to deal with something like this but I doubt that you have either. Call me if you have any questions."

"Jeff, just take care of yourself; I'll take care of this." That ended the call.

It turned out that Jeff's home was seventy-five miles from her own hometown, so Hannah decided to drive down and take care of Jeff's needs and then spend a couple of days with her parents. She packed and left at noon. At three, she parked in front of the sheriff's office. The town was not dissimilar to her own. It was worn, dusty, and showed few signs of growth. She suspected that it looked very similar to the day that Jeff left.

The sheriff was cordial and they quickly took care of the arrangements with the local funeral home. It turned out that there was a family plot at the cemetery with an empty space next to where Jeff's mother was buried. Unfortunately, the sheriff had no memory of Jeff or his family but suggested that she visit with the school counselor since she had been involved at the school for over twenty years. Perhaps she could answer some of her questions.

The next morning, she arrived at the school shortly after eight and asked to see the counselor. She was quickly shown in to the office of Mrs. Martha Cushman, a grey-haired woman in her sixties who had a warm smile and a long memory.

When Hannah explained her reason for being there and asked if she remembered Jeff McDaniel, the warm face darkened slightly and her memory went into overdrive. "Oh my; I most certainly do remember Jeff McDaniel. It was my first year here as counselor when his parents were killed. His father was the band director at the high school and his mother taught piano. They were driving back from a football game when their car was hit by a drunk driver. It was the first time I had to counsel a child who had lost his parents. Jeff had been a good student but a very shy one. He seldom spoke up in class and never got in any trouble. The only emergency contact we had was his aunt. She came and said that she would take care of him. She was kind of an odd person. She showed little personality, was very quiet, and only went out to go to church. I used to ask her about how Jeff was doing and she would simply say, 'I haven't heard from him.' That was it."

"How did Jeff react to this change?"

"He was obviously lost with this new set of feelings. He still did his work and made decent grades but seemed to recede even more from the other kids. That continued through high school. The only thing he participated in was choir. He worked after school and that was it. I often brought him in to talk. He didn't seem to have a dream about what he wanted to do after high school. I suggested that he might consider the military since a lot of the kids from here go there because college is not much of a reality for many of them."

"Did he have any other relatives that you know of?"

"No; neither he nor his aunt ever mentioned any. I have often wondered how he turned out. Since you are his attorney, I take it that he is doing well?"

Hannah smiled and simply replied, "I think that you would be very proud of him; yes, he is doing very well."

"I'm glad to hear that. When you talk to him again, tell him 'hi' from me."

As she left the school, the sheriff was standing by her car. "If you aren't in a rush, the county attorney would like to talk to you. Another issue popped up. He's waiting, if you are free."

"I am here to take care of all of the business that needs to be taken care of. Let's go."

Five minutes later, she was seated in the county attorney's office along with the sheriff.

"Thank you for coming in, Miss Bell. Give our regrets to Mr. McDaniel over the loss of his aunt."

"Thank you; I will. The sheriff says that there is another issue?"

"Yes. It turns out that his aunt passed without a will. The house she used to live in is now vacant but it turns out that the owners are still listed as Will and Margaret McDaniel. I presume that they are Jefferson's parents. To date, the taxes have always been paid annually, so there isn't an issue there but do you know what he might want done with the property?"

"Frankly, he didn't mention it. Do you have any suggestions besides trying to selling it?"

"That is what I wanted to explore. The sheriff has been trying to organize a sports program for the youth here to keep them out of trouble. The house is located next to the sports fields. The county has some money available to buy it if the price is agreeable. Do you think that he might be agreeable to consider this offer?"

Hannah thought for a moment and then said, "Let's find out." She took out her phone and punched his number. He answered on the second ring.

"Hi; is everything all right down there?"

"Yes. Your aunt will be buried next to your mother and the funeral will be Friday. I checked with the counselor at the school to see if there might be any other relatives to notify. Ms. Cushman said 'no' and also said to say 'hi.'" He started to speak but she cut him off. "Right now, I am in the county attorney's office and the question about the house came up. It appears that it is still in your parent's name. The county would consider buying it for a reasonable price to be part of a youth sports program they are trying to create. What do you think?"