Unexpected

Rain pelted the windows Tuesday morning masking the purr of his sleeping wife Kelsey next to him, as Tyler slowly drifted from a deep sleep to a semi-conscious state of awake. For reasons that she was unable to understand, Tyler loved these moments. The soft whisper of her breathing was a comfort to him. Normalcy in a life that had recently had more than its fair share of upheaval. She had become his rock and he knew that he would need her strength now more than ever.

           Though they had met later in life, they felt an instant attraction to each other; as if their souls had each found their mates. His reasons were really quite simple. Kelsey was incredibly smart, intelligent, and had an unpredictable side that kept him guessing. She had an effervescent, engaging personality that was rounded out with an intoxicating smile. He still felt the same way about her today as he had a few years ago when he had first seen her dark brown eyes and caramel-colored skin with long, straight, honey-colored hair. More than once he had borne witness as she not only helped friends in trouble, but also found ways to donate her time to one of the causes that she was most passionate about, the homeless community.

           Kelsey did not see the same things about herself as Tyler did. She considered herself of average beauty and where Tyler saw a softness and vulnerability inside, she saw nothing extraordinary. In him though, she had seen and fallen in love with his exuberance for life itself as well as the child-like innocence that he sometimes displayed. The fact that since the very beginning he had never given her a reason to doubt his love, caring or commitment to her did not hurt in the least. What a refreshing difference that was from her first marriage. She did not miss the abusive, controlling, egotistical man she had married soon after high school.

           He felt her stir then stretch, draping a long arm across his chest. “Morning beautiful” he whispered, gently kissing the top of her head.

           “Mmmm, morning” came the groggy reply.

           Lost in thought about the meeting they had in a few hours, he absentmindedly began stroking her hair.

           “Ty, you know that I love how that feels, but you are going to have to stop it” she said through closed eyes as she drew herself closer to his warmth. “We have an appointment in a few hours. Speaking of which, how are you feeling? Do you want to talk more about it?”

           “Okay, I think. No, not yet but one way or the other, we’ll be talking about it soon enough.”

           It was not the answer that she had wanted, but it was the answer she had expected to hear. She knew from her experience and training as a nurse that it was better to talk about something like this and not let it fester and eat away at you inside.

           The “it” was the bombshell that had dropped into their lives. While it affected them both, it was centered squarely on Tyler and therefore, she was very worried about him and the state of his mind. He received a couriered envelope from the attorney’s office of Drumheller & Associates the past Friday requesting Tyler to contact them as quickly as possible.

           Puzzled by why an attorney’s office, other than his own attorney, would be contacting him, he called once he had finished reading the letter. Explaining to the receptionist who he was and why he had called, he was on hold for a brief few seconds before the owner and Senior Attorney of the practice, Deann Drumheller, was on the phone to speak with him.

It was believed that he was to be the recipient of some important, life-changing information, but before she was able to go into great detail about the information and his role, if indeed there was to be one, they needed to confirm his identity. She had stipulated that he would need to take a DNA test and would then have all of his questions answered, pending the result, of course. So, Friday afternoon they had driven to her office where a nurse stood ready to obtain a suitable DNA sample. He was informed that his test would be given priority and they requested he and Kelsey to return mid-morning on Tuesday.

Wisely, Kelsey had told Tyler that she would drive them to the appointment. He was silent as they made their way to the office and on the few times that she glanced over at him in the passenger seat, his face held a blank look.

           “Hey, there is no need to worry about something you don’t know” she said.

           “I know. You’re right, as usual.”

           “Usual? Don’t you mean always?” she said with a smile.

           “I wouldn’t go that far” he said, a slight smile crossing his lips.

           Arriving at the office, they were met by the receptionist who immediately led them to a small, ornate conference room. “Ms. Drumheller will be right with you, please help yourselves” motioning to the glasses of water and pitcher on the conference table as she exited the room.

           The opening of the door announced the arrival of Attorney Drumheller, thick folder in hand, and consequently the start of the meeting.

           After introductions were made, Ms. Drumheller began. “What I am about to tell you will undoubtedly come as a great shock to you. I ask that you please hold all questions until I have finished. After that, I will answer any and all questions you have to the best of my ability.”

           An uneasy feeling began to spread throughout Tyler. Kelsey watched his eyes widen and could only guess what was going through his mind.

           “Please believe me when I tell you that this is not an easy thing for me to say” she began. “What I have here, is the last Will and Testament of your birth mother.” Seeing his jaw drop and the immediate question begin to form, she held her hand up to pause him. “You were kidnapped from the hospital the night you were born. Your birth mother spent countless hours and vast sums of money searching for you, following every lead or clue she could find. She had finally succeeded and was on her way to arrange a meeting with you when tragedy struck again. The private plane she owned crashed, killing both her and the pilot.”

           “You stand to inherit a substantial sum of money and property; however, there is a catch. In order to receive the inheritance, you need to do something that is completely outside of your comfort zone. Your birth mother had a task that she deemed sufficiently met this criterion, something that is outside of your comfort zone for you to accomplish. Upon successful completion of this task, you would receive your inheritance. Now, please ask your questions.”

           Tyler was in shock, too numb to speak. Questions raced through his mind faster than ice melting on a hot summer day. How are they sure that I was kidnapped? Who was the woman that raised me, that I’ve known as my mother all of my life? How did she find me? What happens now? What is the task? Is the inheritance worth it?

           Recognizing that Tyler was unable to speak for the moment, Kelsey said “would you please give us a few minutes. This is a lot to take in right away.”

           “Of course. Dial this extension when you are ready” the attorney said.

           Once the door closed, Kelsey stood up, took Tyler by the hand and led him over to the settee below the windows in the room. Sitting down, she took him in her arms and held him. She held him the same way he always held her when she came home from the homeless shelter, frustrated at her inability to help more people that she already did.

           Thirty minutes later, they dialed the extension asking Ms. Drumheller to come back to the conference room. They then spent the next four hours asking questions, trying to find some stability in the chaos in which Tyler had just been thrust.

           In short, Tyler was to travel to his birth mother’s vacation home, located on a small Caribbean island. Once there, he was to seek out Pauline, the local scuba diving instructor and Alistair, the owner of the town store. Drumheller & Associates would make all necessary travel arrangements. They would also contact Pauline and Alistair with the arrival details.

           Three weeks later, Tyler and Kelsey landed at the local airport and upon clearing customs, were met by Pauline and Alistair. Greeting them warmly, they helped them gather their luggage, stowed it in the old Toyota Land Cruiser, and drove to the vacation home.

           Once there, they gathered on the large veranda and began to discuss Tyler’s mother and what their parts entailed.

           “Your mother used to dive shipwrecks with me when she was here. On one of the dives, she had a small chest with her that she wanted to hide in the wreckage of an old schooner. She told me that when she finds her son, he will need to dive to the wreck and retrieve the chest.”

           “She wouldn’t have known this” Tyler said “but water and I don’t have the best of relationships. I nearly drowned when I was a teenager and haven’t gone near water since.”

           “Ty, I know you are not a fan of water in the least, but you are supposed to do something out of your comfort zone. This would certainly qualify” Kelsey said.

           “What is so important about this chest anyway? Why not just store whatever it is somewhere safe and dry?” he asked.

           “Because that was not your mother, Tyler” said Alistair. “She believed in living life to the fullest, taking chances and pushing your boundaries. She was an incredible woman, very vibrant and she will be missed a great deal by those of us in this small community.”           

           “Look, as if this wasn’t a lot to take in to begin with, now I need to wrap my head around strapping an air tank on my back and dive deeper than I can stand. I hope you’ll understand if I have misgivings about this. I didn’t even know her; I never met her in my life. If she loved me so much, then why didn’t she find me sooner?” he said, the agitation in his voice was clear.

           “Sweetie, you have to believe that she tried as hard as she could” Kelsey said. “I don’t doubt that she was every bit as relentless looking for you as you are when you run into roadblocks at work. Don’t make a rash decision based on your fear, think about it, sleep on it and talk about it.”

            “Your wife gives you some good advice Tyler” Pauline said. “Take your time and think about it. When you’ve made a final decision, call me at this number.”

           A week later, after multiple conversations and walks along the beach, Tyler called Pauline and simply said “please set it up before I change my mind.”

           The following afternoon saw Tyler, Kelsey, Pauline and one of her crewmen swaying gently in the ocean, less than a mile from the island. The water was crystal clear and they were able to see the sandy bottom for much of the trip out to the wreck site. Apprehension was evident in his eyes as final dive checks were made.

           “Try to relax Tyler; Kelsey and I will be right next to you the entire time. You are the one who will need to locate the chest though. The most important thing for you to remember is to keep your breathing normal. We will use hand signals to make sure you feel comfortable as we descend and also, equally important, there is no going straight to the surface once you find the chest. We need to ascend in stages.”

           “Ok, I got it. I think.”

           As they descended, Kelsey could tell by his rigid frame how ill-at-ease Tyler was and she did her best to try and comfort him. As they neared the bottom, they saw the ghostly wreck of the schooner appear.

           With a nod of her head, Pauline motioned Tyler towards the wreck to begin his search. Hoping that it would be an easy, quick search, Tyler swam over the top of the wreck, seeing nothing but rotting wood. A swim around the exterior proved fruitless as well. With a sense of resignation and foreboding, he turned on his underwater flashlight and swam into the chasm on the forward port side of the ship.

           Broken planks blocked any further passage to the forward part of the ship, so he turned aft. Keeping to the middle above the keel, he slowly made his way near the stern, alternately scanning his light left and right. There, behind a rib near the stern, he saw a dark gray, rubberized case, a thin layer of silt covering it.

           Grabbing the case, he cautiously turned around and headed back the way he had come, as quickly and carefully as he could.

           Back on the dive boat, Kelsey was beaming with pride. “I knew you could do it!” she said.

           “It is an entirely different world down there. I had to remember to breathe once or twice” he admitted. “I have the chest, but as you can see, it’s locked and I wasn’t given any keys.

           “A copy of the key is at my shop” Pauline said. “Your mother believed in having a back-up plan, especially for this. I can only assume that she had the original key with her when the plane crashed.”

           Gathered around a work table back at the dive shop, Tyler opened the chest. Inside the chest, in a water-proof bag, was a note with some numbers, directing him to take the paper to Alistair’s store.

           “This is where my part ends” Pauline said. “It was a great pleasure meeting you and I wish you both all the best.”

           After a short drive, Tyler and Kelsey found themselves with Alistair in his office. Relating the story of their dive and producing the paper directing them to Alistair an exasperated Tyler said “Now what?”

           “I can understand and sympathize with your frustration” he said. “Those numbers are the combination to the safe you see in that corner. It is yours to open.”

           Opening the safe, Tyler found several full binders labeled consecutively. Pulling out the binders, he set them down on the table and opened the first one. Staring back at him were pages and pages of newspaper clippings and police reports about the kidnapping. Opening the other two binders, he found dozens and dozens of reports from private investigators around the globe detailing their searches.

           “Your mother loved you Tyler, even though she never saw you again after she gave birth to you. She never, never in the over thirty years that I knew her, ever stopped looking for you. Take these binders, go to your vacation house and learn how hard she tried and how long she looked for you” Alistair said. “Myself and the other people in this small community that she touched so deeply will never forget her nor will we forget you. You will be greeted as one of us every time you return.”

           Tyler and Kelsey returned to the vacation house, both at a loss for words, their emotions spent. The phone rang in the early evening and Kelsey rose to answer it. Bringing it out to the veranda, she handed it to Tyler saying “It’s Ms. Drumheller.”

           “I understand that you have completed your mother’s task and for that, you must be congratulated. When you return, please come to my office; we need to finalize a bit more paperwork.”

           “Alright. We’ll be there later next week.”

           Returning home, they secluded themselves from friends and family for a few days so they could take time to both rest and catch their breaths. A week after getting home, they again found themselves in a meeting with Attorney Drumheller.

           “Again, I extend both my congratulations and condolences at the same time. Your mother was a treasured client of ours. There is an additional piece of information that I was unable to disclose until you had completed the task that she had set out for you. As you may remember, I told you that you stood to inherit a substantial sum of both money and property.”

           “Yes, I remember that” he said.

           “After these few documents are signed and notarized, you will be the sole owner of Kramer Shipping, a company that is worth an estimated ten billion dollars.”

           Arm in arm as they exited Drumheller & Associates, Tyler and Kelsey took a collective deep breath, looked at each other with smiles on their faces and stepped out into their new life together.