When he’d located his mother’s book, he’d not had much time to look it over. When they’d first moved to New Town, Duncan read it from cover to cover. Sometimes he’d read some passages over and over. Not that he wanted to read any words she’d put to paper for him back then, but he’d been grief stricken by her death. However, now she had a daily chore for him to do with the Christmas party she’d told him to have. Today he was to rest. He was no better at that then she’d been, he thought with a grin.
“When she gets here—well, perhaps not exactly when she arrives—I’m going to ask her to marry me.” He had rethought that several times over the last days. “Or I’ll have her propose to me. I don’t know yet. However, I do know that she is going to make the perfect queen for us. She’s the most beautiful creature ever made. With the exception of you, Mom.”
Duncan didn’t think he was off his noodle in talking to his mom daily. He had a good head on his shoulders, and he’d been highly educated, having gone to several colleges in his lifetime. Duncan thought himself easy to get along with as well. But he was sure of one thing. Every thought, every word he’d been practicing to say to Judith, would go out the door when he laid eyes on her close up.
“I’m going to be worse than a small school boy, all tongue-tied and everything. I swear to you, Mom, I’m going to make a total fool of myself, you just watch and see.” He laughed at himself. “I’ve seen other men with their loves. I would love to say that I’m not going to be so sappy around her, but I have a feeling it’s a male thing, and I’ll be so much more sappy than any other of my genre.”
After telling her everything he’d done since their last talk, Duncan made his way outside. Out here was where most of the decorations were being put up. Standing back out of the way of the workers, Duncan thought it looked just like he’d envisioned it, like a castle made of fun and sweets.
The children, twelve of them in total, not counting the men and women that were there to help, would be arriving on the morning of Christmas. He had thought to have them spend the night in the castle, but it wasn’t to be. The red tape he had to go through to simply have a party for them had nearly taken all his time. The gifts also had to be approved by the home the children were going back to.
“Your lordship?” He turned and looked at Billy. The young man, William Sheets, had been with him since he’d had the renovations started on the castle and the keep surrounding it. “I’ve been looking around, and I don’t think there is a single thing out of place. Mayhap you need me to do something else?”
“No. You have the plans, correct?” He showed him that he had them. “Good. You just keep things like it says in the book there and we’ll have the best decorated castle in the world. Don’t you think?”
Billy grinned at him, then walked away. He had been born with a disability, but it hadn’t stopped him from being a great person. Every time he saw Billy’s mother, when she’d come to get her son or just to drop him off, Duncan would tell her what a wonderful job she’d done in raising him. He was not just a joy to be around, he took his work seriously.
Going back to his office, he started looking over some of the paperwork from the last few days. Duncan needed to get some work done, or he’d not have things finished up in the coming year. Excitement was making him lazy, he thought with a grin.
Not only did he run several businesses, but Duncan also had an exceptionally good portfolio. His mom, in seeing the future, had told him what to buy and how much it would be worth. Even without the stash his mom had left him, Duncan made enough money on other ventures that he was able to not touch the gems and gold and live on what he made now.
Deep in thought of what he was reading, when his phone rang, he picked it up without looking at the caller identification. As soon as he heard the heavy breathing on the other end, he closed his eyes and waited for the man to start spewing his rhetoric to him.
“If one of them damned kids comes anywhere near my property, I’m going to shoot first, then I’m going to sue you. I told you when you got that stupid idea in your head, I wasn’t going to tolerate it.” Duncan said nothing. “You hear me, young man? I’m not joking with you at all. I see one foot on my side—”
“I have six thousand acres here, Mr. Bloom. I’m willing to bet my life on the fact that not one person will step anywhere close to your place.” Mr. Bloom had been a pain in his backside from the moment Duncan had started renovating the castle to its original form. Bloom told him he’d be keeping an eye on it. “You do that. In the meantime, Merry Christmas, you old goat.” Duncan then hung up.
Normally he would never have spoken to a human like he had with Mr. Bloom. But there were times when Duncan despaired of ever having the man just relax on his side of the property line. He’d even invited the grouch over for the party, and he’d heard an earful about that too. Christ, there just wasn’t any way to please the buzzard.
At almost midnight, Duncan got up to stretch. He didn’t need to sleep, so he would roam the halls late at night and make plans. He had always thought he had the best ideas when he was the only one around. Stopping in front of the large painting of his parents, Duncan wondered what his mother had been thinking when she’d had to sit so close to his sire.
The painter had captured his mother’s pain quite well. The hand on her shoulder, the one his sire had put on her, was clenched deeply into Mom’s flesh. Duncan always wondered if Mom had been bruised by the grip at her shoulder. Knowing it would have been something she carried for at least a few hours made him hate his sire all the more. Duncan had heard all the stories about his sire and was glad he’d died before he was born.
The next row of paintings brought him to the grandparents. Lord and Lady Beswick had been his mother’s parents. He knew a little about them, but not too much. Duncan also thought they were still alive someplace. If only, he thought, if only I could contact them and let them know I am alive and well.
Just as he was turning from the painting, something moved at the corner of his eye. Duncan turned in that direction slowly. Whatever it had been, or in this case whoever it had been, was still standing in the long hall in front of the very picture he had been looking at. When the specter smiled at him, his knees simply went out on him, and he fell to his ass.
“Mom?” She nodded at him, then pointed to her parents. “What are you...? How are you here?”
“I visit you on occasion. I thought today of all days I’d speak to you, son. I wish for you to find them—your grandparents on my side. They are alive and have been living poorly in a ramshackle place. You need to find them. Bring them here.” He said he would. “I mean, for the wedding. I would like for you and Jude to find them and bring them here for the wedding. You know just where they are, Duncan. We visited them there when you and Mary and I went on a little adventure.”