The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation - 22. A Major Surprise

“Hi, Brandon. Thank you for calling me back so quickly,” Mark greeted him.

“No problem. We missed you last weekend,” Brandon told him.

“I know I was telling Dad that I hated not being with everyone, but unfortunately it couldn’t be helped this time,” Mark explained. “More importantly though, I wanted to talk to you regarding the account I set up for your son.”

“Right, that’s what Dad said. What’s going on?” Brandon wanted to know.

“Well, after I talked to Danny, when we first set this up, he asked me to make this a straight trust,” Mark informed him. “He explained he wanted it to be the same as I did when I started managing all of the boys’ accounts.”

“Right! We wanted to set up an account like Dad did for all of the others,” Brandon confirmed. “The lawyer in charge of Elliot’s father’s estate was supposed to sell off the house and other things, and then talk to you about how to go about wiring the money into the account you set up.”

“That’s what he did,” Mark acknowledged. “In fact, I spoke to Mr. Courtney just yesterday. During that call, he acknowledged that everything had been taken care of on his end and confirmed the money was sitting in an escrow account, merely waiting for the wire transfer to happen. I had everything ready on my end, so I gave him the account numbers he needed and the bank called my office this morning to confirm that the wire transfer had gone through without any problems.”

“Great. That’s one less thing we have to worry about then,” Brandon confessed. “I know Danny’s been a little concerned about how long the lawyers might take to wrap things up and I know Elliot will be glad to hear it’s all been taken care of. I guess you’ll be sending us whatever paperwork we need to sign then. Right?”

“Well, there’s a little more to it than that,” Mark told him. “I guess I should have asked more questions when I spoke with Danny the first time, because we can’t just dump this much money into a savings account or certificates of deposit like we did for everyone else. It would be a foolish move, because your son will end up losing a ton of money in interest. Had I known how to plan for this, I could have set up some investments and made other arrangements.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Brandon admitted. “I know it was a nice house, but it couldn’t have sold for much more than three hundred grand. The cars and other possessions would have added a little more to the amount, once they were auctioned off, but I doubt that would have come to more than another couple hundred grand. I know that’s a lot of money, but it shouldn’t be a problem for a financial wiz like you.”

“Brandon, when the bank called this morning they confirmed a transfer well into the seven figure range,” Mark advised him. “I don’t want to give specifics out over the phone, but I will send you the paperwork, so you can see the amount for yourself.”

The line stayed quiet for quite a few seconds, as Brandon tried to wrap his mind around the number Mark had just hinted at. In fact, Mark was beginning to think they’d been disconnected.

“Brandon, are you still there?” Mark asked, hoping for a response.

“Yeah, sorry,” Brandon apologized. “Are you certain there hasn’t been some kind of mistake, like a transposed decimal?”

“Yes. I had the bank double and even triple check the information,” Mark confirmed. “Since then a few boxes of files have arrived at my office that the attorney sent over. I’ve got records here for financial transactions, stocks, bonds, a hedge fund, some property in Pittsburgh and even a few additional investment accounts. My assistant is still going through all of these records, but no matter what she finds, it still adds up to a lot of money. You mean you guys didn’t know about this?”

“The attorney never mentioned anything about a dollar amount,” Brandon replied. “He just said it would be a substantial amount. He never indicated it would be that large of a sum. I guess he must have assumed we already had some idea about what Mr. Kennedy was worth or that Elliot had said something to us about it. Unfortunately, Elliot isn’t much for talking about his former life, but I would have thought he’d have mentioned that his father was a millionaire. All he told us was that his dad worked for a bank. We met some of his father’s colleagues at the funeral, but we never really had a chance to speak with any of them, other than in passing. It would explain why they never mentioned anything either.”

Brandon’s mind was still reeling, thinking about the figure Mark had hinted at.

“From what I can tell from the files I’ve looked at,” Mark continued, “Mr. Kennedy worked for Penn Capital Partners. That’s an investment bank out of Pittsburgh. He was not only a millionaire, he was one several times over.”

Brandon’s head was really spinning now.

“Listen,” Mark continued, “I’ve got a lot of work to do here to make sense out of all of these files, but I wanted to let you guys know I’m working on a new strategy, now that I know how much money we’re dealing with. Once I have everything set up, I’ll have a bunch of paperwork that you guys will need to sign.”

Brandon finished his call with Mark by confirming their full faith and trust in him to handle this account on Elliot’s behalf and would see him at Christmas. Still somewhat dumbstruck, Brandon called Danny and shared Mark’s revelation with him. Not surprisingly, Danny was also at a loss for words. Once he regained his composure, they decided they would need to have a conversation with Elliot this evening. They mainly wanted to discover if there might be any other little surprises that were still waiting to reveal themselves.

Even though Brandon tried to keep his focus on his patients, he often found his mind running over the last several weeks to see if he’d missed anything. Elliot had never mentioned that his father had such a sizeable nest egg and they’d never thought to ask. Yes, Elliot’s home in Fox Chapel had been very nice, well tended and in a very lovely and upscale community, but it wasn’t huge or overly elegant. It was merely a comfortable home, which you might find in any of the upper middle class suburban neighborhoods just outside one of the major metropolitan areas.

Brandon also remembered helping Elliot pack his things when they went back to his old house and had notice that most of Elliot’s clothes bore high-end labels. That might have been his first clue, if he’d been paying attention. He’d even seen the tuition bill for the Benjamin Rush Academy and noticed how expensive it was, so that should have been a second red flag. Maybe he should have expected this.

Yes, Elliot could also be a little haughty at times, but he seemed to be aware of this minor flaw and tried hard to curb it, as much as possible. Danny and Brandon had merely chalked up that particular trait to his being an only child. They figured his father had probably spoiled him to some extent, but he certainly wasn’t a brat. This led Brandon to start questioning if Elliot even had a clue about what his father had left him. If he did, he hadn’t hinted that his father’s death would require them to deal with this amount of money.

For the most part, it had been a fairly typical day for the rest of us. After Mark called, I went back to my coffee and took some time to read. Before I knew it, the boys were storming through the door and heading off to their room to change, after they finished saying hello to me and grabbed a snack. Jesse explained he had a considerable amount of homework to do, so he wanted to get an early start on cracking open the books. Elliot didn’t have as much homework, so he offered to help me keep an eye on Joshie while I started dinner. He was trying to teach Joshie how to play ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ on his piano when Brandon arrived home and found me in the kitchen.

It was my turn to be shocked, when Brandon shared the contents of Mark’s call with me. I was as surprised as Danny and he had been. Once I got over the initial shock, we sat down and had a cup of coffee while we waited for Danny. Once he got home, the two of them talked for a few minutes and then called their son to join them in their room for a little family chat.

When he walked into the bedroom with them and looked at their faces, Elliot thought he might be in trouble. His first concern was that they’d learned what Jesse and he had been up to. He had no idea what he was going to say to them about it, if this was truly what the meeting was about, so he opted to play dumb.

“Hi, uh… what’s going on?” he asked, tentatively.

“Elliot, we were just wondering if you could tell us what kind of work your father did before he died,” Brandon began, getting right to the point.

“Oh, he worked for a bank,” he answered, a little relieved.

“You mean like Chase or Bank of America or something?” Danny asked next.

“No, it’s called Penn Capital Partners,” Elliot replied. “It’s not like a regular bank, with saving and checking accounts or stuff like that. It has something to do with businesses and investments.”

“Do you know what your father did for them?” Brandon continued.

“Yeah, he was a vice president,” Elliot answered. “He tried to explain to me what he did once, but it was really complicated. All I know is, he spent a lot of time traveling around Europe, where he met with boring financial people. That’s why he put me at the Rush Academy. He got a promotion about six months ago and it meant he’d be traveling a lot more. He didn’t want to leave me home alone, so he put me in boarding school. Why? What is this all about?”

Danny and Brandon exchanged looks, before answering Elliot’s question. They were beginning to realize that Elliot really didn’t have any idea how much his father had been worth or what he’d inherited.

“Elliot, do you remember me telling you back at your house that once your old home was sold and all the paperwork was done, I’d have Uncle Mark open an account for you?” Danny asked. “We were going to have him invest that money for you, so you could use it for college or to get started in life.”

“Yeah, I was pretty upset back then,” Elliot answered, “but I do remember you telling me that.”

“Well, Brandon got a call at work today,” Danny explained, “and Uncle Mark told him it’s all been taken care of. Your father’s estate has been settled and all of the money has been put in a trust for you.”

“Oh, cool,” Elliot agreed, and then he got up to leave. “Can I go now? I told Joshie I’d be right back, so I could finish teaching him that song.”

“Just a little longer,” Brandon answered.

“Elliot, did your dad ever talk to you about money or what to expect, should anything ever happen to him?” Brandon continued.

“Well, one time, right after 9/11 he did. What happened that day really scared me, so I asked him what would happen to me, if something happened to him. I knew I didn’t have a mom or any family, so I was kind of scared. He just told me not to worry about it, because he’d made sure I would be taken care of, but we never really discussed it after that,” Elliot stated.

Elliot started thinking back to the night when he’d asked his father about what would happen if he died. His dad was tucking him in at the time and looked surprised that Elliot had asked him that question.

“Elliot, we found out today that your father left you a very large sum of money, in the millions,” Danny advised him. “We don’t know the exact amount, because your Uncle Mark didn’t want to give those details out over the phone. He will be sending us the documentation however, and will give us the exact amount then. I take it that you didn’t know how much was actually there.”

“HOLY SHIT!” Elliot exclaimed. “Err, sorry about that. I meant holy crap. I had no idea that my dad had that kind of money.”

“That’s probably because it wasn’t sitting in a bank or savings account,” Danny informed him. “It was tied up in a bunch of different type of investments. Some of it was also tied up in some property, but that has all been sold and the money is sitting in your account now. He certainly took very good care of your financial future, so you shouldn’t have to worry about a thing.”

“I had no idea he had so much,” Elliot confirmed.

Danny and Brandon were both smiling now.

“We didn’t think you knew,” Brandon confirmed. “I’ve been thinking about this all day and I couldn’t recall any time where you had mentioned such a large sum of money.”

“No, I hadn’t, but what happens now?” Elliot wondered. “Can I get a new tennis racket?”

Danny and Brandon shared a laugh.

“We’ll talk about a new racket when the snow melts,” Danny offered. “In the meantime, nothing really changes. That money is for college and for you to get a head start with your life after school. It will just be a bigger head start than we originally planned. Uncle Mark is going to come up with some investment ideas and see if he can’t make that money work for you a little, while it’s sitting there waiting for you to grow up.”

“So that means no Ferrari when I turn sixteen?” Elliot whined.

Brandon chuckled and then reached out to tousle Elliot’s hair.

“Nice try, sport, but I think the best thing to do is to keep this quiet,” Brandon suggested. “You won’t have direct access to this money anyway, so you shouldn’t go showing off and telling others. Besides, you don’t want people trying to suck up to you just because they’re hoping to get something out of you. Do you?”

“No, I don’t want that and I understand,” Elliot concurred. “Remember my friend Thomas? You met him at my old school. Anyway, his family is loaded and some kids were only nice to him because of that.”

“Well, just keep this to yourself then,” Danny advised him. “If you do, you’ll have nothing to worry about. Right?”

“Right, mum’s the word,” Elliot agreed.

Just then, I called the family together for dinner. Once we were seated, I noticed Danny, Brandon and Elliot all looked much more relaxed after their chat. We all enjoyed a pleasant dinner and then the boys went off to do their homework.

Once we were alone at the table, Danny and Brandon shared the details of their chat with me and I think they’d handled things very well. I believe we all went to bed that night thinking of the opportunities this money would provide for Elliot’s future. That’s a lot of money for a young person to deal with and it will be our job to make sure he’s ready for the responsibility when the time comes. Fortunately, Elliot’s father raised a boy with a good head on his shoulders, and all the Ferrari jokes aside, I think Elliot will be an excellent steward of his father’s legacy, once he is old enough.

Now that Thanksgiving weekend was officially behind us, we immediately began to gear up for the next major holiday, Christmas. As is usual with having so many children, this means there is a considerable amount of shopping that will need to be done. In addition to that task, this year I also wanted to spend some of my time making Christmas cookies with Jesse, Elliot and Joshie’s help. This would allow me the opportunity to help them gain a few cooking skills, while giving all of us some extra treats to enjoy, even though my waistline doesn’t really need it.

We had a great time in the kitchen and the boys frequently ended up covered in flour or their faces were smeared with excess icing. No matter how much of the ingredients wound up on them, they had a good laugh and did a great job. We made several different types of cookies and the boys were eager to sample them, both before they went in and after they came out of the oven. It appeared that they were enjoying baking the cookies, as well as spending time working with each other, despite the differences in their ages.

They also helped me decorate the interior of the house, while their fathers and Jake worked to put up the lights and other decorations outdoors. Since some of us have allergies, we put up an artificial tree and Joshie, Elliot and Jesse helped me trim it, once I had strung the lights. They each dug through the boxes of decorations, which included handmade ornaments either they or their uncles had made over the years, and selected the ones they wanted to see on the tree. I made suggestions as to where they should put each item though, so they were spaced out on the tree and not all clumped in one spot, and then I helped Elliot place the angel on the top. Jesse was actually the one who suggested that Elliot should be allowed to do it this year, and I immediately agreed. I think Elliot was thrilled when we gave him this honor.

I also wanted to make certain that Elliot’s first Christmas with us would be a memorable one. After all, it was clear this kid should be entitled to enjoy a decent Christmas; especially after all of the crap he’s had to deal with. With that in mind, I sat down with Jake, Danny and Brandon, so we could discuss what we were going to do for him and what gifts we were going to buy. I didn’t feel it would be good for us to make it appear as if he was getting more than anyone else, but I thought it would be wise to make sure the things he got were items that would have a special meaning for him.

As we entered December, it was time for us to keep another obligation we had made. We’d promised Kevin and Vinnie that we would help them move. After Kevin rented a truck, Jake and I, along with some of the other boys, helped Kevin load his bedroom set and other items, so Vinnie and he could take them to their new place. Before we got to their apartment though, we also stopped by the Shays house, since they had told the boys that they had a few extra pieces of furniture they wanted to donate to them. After loading those items in with the other things, we dropped it off at their new home and then they showed us around.

It was a first floor apartment, which made it easier on Vinnie, and it was quite nice. It had two bedrooms, so they’d have one for visitors. After seeing their guest room, I told them they could also have the bedroom set we’d just taken out of Elliot’s room, if they wanted it. Once they agreed, we drove back to the house to pick it up and move it over as well.

Once we had everything in its place, we returned the truck and I told Kevin and Vinnie that I’d meet them the following day, after they got out of work. At that time, I’d take them to the furniture store, so they could choose some of the other items they were lacking. I was happy to offer my help to do this, and they seemed pleased that I was willing to do it for them.

The following afternoon, I drove over to meet them, so we could go together to the store. After they picked out a dining room set, some end tables and a recliner, I told them I’d split the cost of it with them. I explained they could consider it as part housewarming gift and part Christmas present. They thanked me for doing this and then they arranged to have everything delivered. Once all of these items were in their new home, they’d be able to enjoy their newfound privacy in semi-comfort.

Now that I’d done this for them, I went back to preparing for Christmas. Actually, other than the decorating and shopping, this Christmas season was fairly mild for us, at least when compared to what we had experienced in the past. Since Jesse didn’t play an instrument and wasn’t in the chorus, there were no commitments of that nature to attend with him. Elliot, on the other hand, was a different story.

Once the music department discovered how well Elliot played the piano, they recruited him to play with the orchestra and asked him to accompany the chorus when they performed at the holiday concert. After seeking permission to do this from Danny and Brandon, Elliot enthusiastically agreed.

This meant we would have two concerts to attend this year. We’d go down to listen to Elliot play with the orchestra and chorus, but we’d also be attending Joshie’s first concert. He would be performing with his class, when the kindergarten through fourth grades performed at the elementary school concert.

Joshie’s concert was held first and Dion and Trey made sure he was dressed up for this big event. When he came out to join us, he was wearing slacks, a dress shirt, vest and bowtie. He looked positively adorable. As soon as we got to the school, Dion and Trey took him down and dropped him off at his classroom, while the rest of us went to find seats.

We quickly found a spot fairly close to the front of the auditorium and shortly thereafter Dion and Trey returned to join us. Then Joshie’s mother and other grandparents showed up and sat behind us. True to his word, Dion had been keeping them involved in Joshie’s life and had informed them about the concert, so they could see Joshie perform too. We had a fairly substantial wait until the concert began, so we sat and chatted with each other, until the principal stepped out on the stage to greet us.

The kindergarteners were up first and Joshie was on the top row, just right of center. His class sang two songs, ‘Up On the Rooftop’ and ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.’ They were absolutely precious and received tremendous applause after each number. In between the two songs, Joshie tried to coyly wave at us, once he located where we were sitting. He had a huge grin plastered across his face and I could tell he was enjoying this as much as we were.

We then sat and listened as grades one through four each did their two numbers and it was a cute and pleasant outing. Once it was over, Dion and Trey went down to get Joshie from his classroom and they took Joshie’s mother and other grandparents with them, so they could spend some time with Joshie before we left. After Dion and Trey returned from retrieving Joshie from his classroom, they met up with us again, back at the car. Now, we began our return trip home.

“Was I good, Papa?” Joshie asked, once he was inside.

“You were fantastic,” I agreed.

Then he asked similar questions of Jake, Jesse and Elliot. He had obviously done the same to his fathers, mother and other grandparents when they came to fetch him from his classroom. We thought it was adorable that he was so concerned about how he had performed.

A few days later, it was Elliot’s turn to shine. Everyone came with us again and once we arrived at the school, Elliot had to go off to meet up with those he’d be performing with. The rest of us went in and tried to find a good spot to watch him from. We located seats on the left side of the auditorium, fairly close to the front; since that’s the side the piano was located on. After we got comfortable, we had about a twenty-minute wait until the concert began.

The orchestra was up first and Elliot came out and took his place at the piano.

“Hi, Elliot,” Joshie yelled out, when he saw him.

Elliot merely turned his head in our direction, smiled and gave Joshie a shy little wave. It was enough to make Joshie happy though.

I could tell Elliot was slightly chagrinned that he had to play an upright piano here, instead of something as nice as the baby grand he had at home, but he didn’t let it affect his performance. The orchestra played four numbers, two traditional pieces and two holiday selections, and they were actually pretty good. We didn’t hear a lot of squeaking strings, as you typically hear from novices, and there were very few sour notes. I may be bias, but I thought Elliot did a terrific job. Once they finished playing, the members of the orchestra stood up and took a bow, to the heartfelt applause from those who had listened to them play.

The band came out next, but Elliot wasn’t part of this group. They also played very well, but I was eagerly waiting for Elliot to return, along with the chorus. When the band finished playing their final tune, they bowed and received their applause, and then they exited the stage. As soon as they were gone, the chorus filed out to stand on the risers, which were slightly behind where the band and orchestra had been seated.

Once the chorus was in place, Elliot took his seat at the piano again and then received his cue to begin playing. The chorus also performed four selections and I thought Elliot played brilliantly. When they finished and had taken their bow, the high school vocal music instructor acknowledged Elliot and had him stand, so she could recognize his talent. She also thanked him for his help and mentioned that he was the only instrumentalist to have performed with more than one group. She also gave him a very nice compliment.

“Elliot did a wonderful job playing tonight, even though he still has a cast on his right wrist,” she stated. “This means that next year he’ll probably blow us all away.”

He received a wonderful round of applause after she said this and the teacher encouraged him to take another bow. Even though Elliot seemed slightly uncomfortable about being singled out like this, I knew he would be inwardly pleased by the recognition. I thought it was very nice that the choral director had done this for him.

Now that the concerts were out of the way, we began to look ahead to the big day. I made sure I spent a little extra time with Elliot in the interim, so I could find out more about his likes and tastes. I wanted to make certain the gifts we got him were ones he would truly enjoy and would make him the happiest he’s been since his father’s death.

As the big day drew near, we were all looking forward to spending time with family. The house was going to be full again, and for us, that’s what makes the holiday so special and enjoyable. I was convinced this Christmas was going to be a truly wonderful and magical time.