Terry Terry

Chapter 64 "My bag"

The Susanns were dumbfunded by Candy and the duke's departure.

- What a pretentious man! Said Mr. Susann.

- He's a duke, said his wife, it's nobility title.

- He's not a king...

- He's very powerful, said Marlowe, Candy would've left with him for good...

- But we're blackmailing her, said the mother .

- Mom, Candy is staying with me because I saved her life... she put all these people at my service...

- But she's not giving herself to you...

- She's faithful to her love... and now she's going to have a baby...

- A second baby, she's not going to let go of her love... unless you manage to convince her to give us her baby... to get her to say it's yours.

- But it's not mine! Said Marlowe angry, she's going to give it to the father...

- You know damn well she's never going to abandon her baby...

- She abandoned Esther...

- Esther is big, we're talking about a newborn baby, who will need it's mommy

- Mom, leave me alone...

Mr. Susann was looking at them shaking his head.

- We forgot a very important element...

- Which one? Asked his wife

- The duke of Granchester...

- You're right dad, with him, Candy can do whatever she wants

- But she stayed with you, said his mother

- By loyalty only, said Marlowe, mom, dad, leave Candy alone!

- But, if something would happen to her baby, said Mrs. Susann

- Shut up mom!

oOoOoOoOoOo

The duke of Grandchester was in Chicago a few days later, in the suburb where there was beautiful houses where rich families lived. That's where Whilemina Andrew's adoptive son lived. He regretted the Monaco castle, one more time... His car stopped in front of Terry's house and his bodyguards got out of the car.
Terry and Esther had just had dinner. They were cleaning up, Esther wanted to help. She has a little table with plastic chairs, with plates and accessories made in plastic. The took her little chair to step on it so she could reach the sink in the kitchen.

They finished the dishes and they were about to go upstairs, when they heard the doorbell.

- Who could that be? Said Terry.

- Maybe it's mummy coming back? Said Esther.

Terry's heart got tight, but he was happy to see that Esther was still waiting for her mommy...

- Wait for me in the living room, I'll go see who it is...

He walked to the front door and he opened it and he was surprised to find very big men coming into the house, checking up everything, making sure that everything was clear. Then the duke arrived at the door.

- Good evening, Master Andrew?

- Good evening your grace...

- I came to see my granddaughter, Esther

- Come in, please...

- I'm sorry to come unannounced, but for security reasons...

- I understand, said Terry, it cost to be one of the most important man in the world...

The duke looked at him. This young man had never been intimidate by him, even when he was teenager. Now he's a reputable doctor...

They arrived in the living room where Esther was waiting for them playing with one of her dolls. She stood up.

- Esther? Said the duke

- Your grace? She said

The duke smiled, it was so cute to ear her call him like that, "your grace"...

- Yes, I came to see you..., he said

- Oh yeah! You're mummy's daddy... you're my grandpa!

The duke approached her and took her in his arms and kissed her on the cheek.

- I'm happy you're my granddaughter.

- I'm happy to have a grandfather. Since daddy is an orphan, he's got three mummies, but no daddy...

The duke sat down with the little one in his arms... Then she told him how much she missed her mummy and how she wanted to have a family like everybody else with a little brother and a little sister. The duke felt bad for Esther... Candy could've taken care of her daughter! Especially since she could have everything she wanted with his daughter pregnant ! But knowing his daughter, she didn't want to come, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to go back to her duty... The Susanns didn't know , they were being watched and if they tried to hurt his daughter, they were going to pay dearly...

The duke watched at Terry gave his daughter her bath and he tucked her in with Terry. Esther was ecstatic; having her mummy's daddy, gave her the impression that her mummy was a little bit there with them.

Before he left, the duke gave Terry some papers.

- This is a trust fund for Esther... it's a family tradition, I'm sure you have one too...

- Yes, I understand. Thank you. But I already opened a trust fund for her...

- Plenty is no plague. I'm sure Candy also opened an trust fund for her and Eleonor too...

- Thank you Your Grace

- Don't lose hope...

- When I think about our first meeting, you wanted me to give up on your daughter.

- I had plans for my daughter.

- Oh yeah, to sell her to prince eurotrash!

- I didn't sell her... I wanted he to be well in life...

- She would've been happy with me, if it was about money, you know my adoptive mother is rich and that I'm a doctor... but you wanted the title, the highest in the nobility...

- You're the one she wanted from the start. I thought it would pas her, but no, after all these years, you're still the one she wants... if she hadn't met you, everything would've been perfect...

- With or without me, the prince would've still been worthless...

- Yes, I could've found her someone else, but after making sure he wasn't worthless... But there's you, there's Esther, and...

He wanted to talk about the baby, but he didn't say anything. Terry was presumptuous; if he learned that Candy was pregnant... No, he wasn't going to give him that pleasure... Because of him, he wasn't able to manipulate Candy...

- And...? Asked Terry.

- And she loves you... I'm going to let her be...

- You're way too nice, said Terry ironically

The duke looked at Terry and he saw he was wearing a gold chain with a medallion on which were engrave a coat of arm; two swords with a knight mask...

- The chain you have around your neck, where does it come from? He asked

- It was on me when I was found in front of the Pony House, my orphanage...

- You've never tried to find out what those coat of arm meant? From which family they're from?

- Why would I be looking for them? My mother didn't want me... why would I look for her? She knows where she left me, if she wanted me...

- I understand your anger. But I'm not the one who's going to tell you the you have to forgive... I'm going to leave, said the duke standing up to walk towards the front door. His bodyguards were preceding him and they made sure everything was fine before walking him to his car.

- Good bye young man, take good care of my granddaughter.

- Good bye Your grace, thank you for coming to see us...

The duke left. Terry look in the folder the duke had given him. There was a trust fund for Esther. He also saw that there was a deposit made on his account of a very large sum of money...

- How did he get my banking information? I don't even want to know, said Terry out loud.

There was a note saying that it was no use trying, the deposit was permanent, even if he changed bank account. Terry burst out laughing. He had given up arguing with the riches... There were nice little old ladies at the hospital giving him large amount of money to thank him, for a thing or another and he had learned just to say "thank you" instead of arguing. He put his hand on his medallion. He hadn't worn that for years and he didn't know why he put it on today. It was the only thing he had left from his mother. Maybe because Esther didn't have her mommy and he was also thinking about his mommy who had abandoned him... the duke had just brought up a subject he had never thought about; what did those coat of arm mean on his medallion? Should he do some research? He wasn;'t really interested, for the moment he was only thinking about Candy and he was wondering how long he was going to be able to take their separation... He needed his family to be complete...