This story contains descriptions of graphic sex between males. If that kind of thing does not appeal to you, stop reading now.
This story is pure fiction. If this resembles something that happened to you, it must have been an incredible experience. But it's simply a coincidence.
All comments are welcome: djwarner1984@hotmail.com Please donate to Nifty: https://donate.nifty.org/
-DJ
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The Inheritance Clause - 9
Adam was confused, but he followed Dawson. He stuffed the pun book into his back pocket as Dawson excitedly led him up the main staircase. When they got to the landing, Dawson turned toward the west wing.
"Dawson..." Adam said, trying to get his attention.
"C'mon," said Dawson, "if I'm right, you'll want to see this."
They reached Clayton's bedroom. Dawson opened the door and went over to the armoire.
"This struck me as a bit odd for Clayton to have in his bedroom. But I just assumed there was some sentimental reason I didn't know about. Then, when you said monkey, it clicked" Dawson said.
He reached over and picked up one of the ceramic figurines, the lion. In his other hand he picked up the giraffe. He moved them up and down in the air, as if he were comparing their weight, and then put them down.
"What clicked? What are you doing?" Adam asked in confusion.
Dawson picked up the tiger in one hand and the monkey in the other. He moved them up and down. He grimaced and put them both down. He picked up the zebra and the hippo. He moved them up and down.
"Aha!" Dawson said.
He put the zebra down and picked up the alligator. He moved the hippo and the alligator up and down in the air.
"Bingo!" Dawson said.
He put the alligator back on the armoire. He held up the hippo so Adam could see it.
"When is a key not a key?" Dawson said to Adam, waving the hippo figurine.
Adam was still confused.
"Watch this," Dawson said.
He took Adam's hand and led him to Clayton's office. He squatted down in front of the door. He placed the hippo against the metal plate above the door knob. They both heard a click. Adam gasped.
"Magnetic lock..." Dawson said.
Dawson stood and grabbed the door knob. He turned it and the door opened.
"Oh my god, Dawson!" Adam said as he patted Dawson's shoulder.
Dawson slowly pushed the door open. They both stepped into the spacious office and stood in the doorway. Adam looked to the left. Dawson looked to the right.
"Adam, look!" Dawson said, pointing to the right side of the room.
Adam gasped when he saw. There was a rocking chair and a floor lamp that matched the decor of the couch, chair, and tables in the master bedroom. Underneath them was a hand-woven rug. It was just like Adam had envisioned adding to the master bedroom when he was dictating his ideas to Dawson.
"How is that possible?" Adam whispered.
"I don't know," Dawson said slowly, "Are you sure you've never been in here?"
"No, never," Adam said.
Dawson stepped into the room. It was the same size as his bedroom in the east wing. There was a large sliding glass door that led to a balcony, which overlooked the lake. On the left side of the glass doors, there was a huge oak desk with small piles of papers on it. On the right side of the glass doors, there was a huge computer desk, which had a keyboard, mouse, and monitor on it. On one corner of the computer desk was a printer. There were bookcases and filing cabinets along the walls on either side of the door. There was a safe against the wall on the left.
Adam stepped toward the rocking chair and floor lamp. The entire wall that faced the rocking chair had pictures all over it. They were all pictures of Sarah, Adam's grandmother. It appeared as if Clayton had set up a private space where he could sit and reminisce about his wife.
Adam stood on the rug and looked at the pictures. He reached out and touched each picture as he slowly moved across the wall. Dawson stood in the middle of the room, holding the hippo, watching Adam.
"My granddad must have done this to remember my grandmother," Adam said quietly to Dawson, "That must be why there was no other artwork in the room. And why no one else was allowed in here."
"My lord!" the boys heard behind them.
It was Niven, standing in the doorway.
"How did you open the door?" Niven asked.
"Magnetic lock. The key was this hippo Clayton had on his armoire," Dawson said as he held up the figurine.
"How did you figure it out?" Niven said with a surprised look on her face.
"Bad puns," Dawson quipped.
Adam snickered. Niven looked confused.
"I'm sorry, it's a long story... We were just about to start looking around," Dawson explained, "Is there anything in here you and Krantz were expecting to find that we should look for?"
"Let me check with Krantz," Niven replied as she scanned the room.
Niven took out her communicator and contacted Krantz. She told him the boys had unlocked the study and for him to come take a look.
Niven stood in the doorway as Adam kept looking at the pictures of his grandmother. Dawson began looking around, considering where they should start. Finally, Dawson went over to the safe and crouched down. He examined the combination lock.
"Any idea what the combination might be?" Dawson asked Niven.
Krantz appeared in the doorway, somewhat out of breath.
"Try Sarah's birthday. Um... 12, 17, 30," Krantz said, breathing loudly.
Dawson tried the combination and the handle clicked when he pulled it. He swung the safe door open. Dawson looked back toward the other three in amazement. There were three shelves inside with documents on them.
"How did you unlock the door?" Krantz asked.
"It was a magnetic lock," Niven said to Krantz as he walked in, "The boys figured it out."
"Dawson figured it out," said Adam proudly, "I told you he would," as he gestured at Niven and came over to stand next to her.
"It was nothing. I just happened to stumble across it," Dawson said.
Krantz came over to the safe. Dawson lifted the first pile of documents. It had some stock certificates, Clayton's passport, his marriage certificate, and other personal documents. He put them back into the safe.
On the second shelf, there was a large manilla envelope with "WILL" written on it in big letters. Dawson bent his elbows and lifted his hands in the air.
"With the will being contested now, maybe I shouldn't touch that," Dawson said.
There was a document tray on the oak desk with some papers in it. Krantz gestured to it.
"Can you hand me that?" Krantz said, "It's best if we use extra caution and none of us touch it."
Dawson removed the papers and picked up the tray. Krantz took a handkerchief out of his pocket and picked up the envelope by the corner. Everyone watched as it dangled in the air. It looked like there were a substantial amount of papers in it. There was also something small inside causing a slight bump to stick out. He brought it to the tray Dawson was holding and dropped it. Dawson took the tray, now holding the envelope, and put it on the desk. Niven and Adam watched Dawson as he looked at the envelope and turned his head. He read a sticky note on the envelope.
"For Carmen Castillo -- in case you need it," Dawson read.
No one said anything. Krantz turned back to look and see if anything else was on the second shelf. There was nothing. Finally he spoke.
"I'll contact Ms. Castillo when we've finished looking through everything," Krantz said.
Krantz picked up the third stack of papers from the safe. It was the deed to the lake house property and some old receipts. He put those papers back into the safe.
Dawson passed by Adam and gripped his shoulder gently for a moment as he went to sit down at the computer desk. He found Clayton's password written on a sticky note next to the keyboard. He logged into the computer and began looking around in the computer files.
Adam went over to the filing cabinets and started opening them. Krantz began lifting the piles of papers on the oak desk and looking through the contents. Niven opened the sliding glass doors to let some air inside the room. Krantz and Niven then began going through the drawers of the oak desk.
"It looks like this connects to the same server that Clayton and I would access from the library. There's no extra storage space, so nothing here that we don't already have access to," Dawson said. "There may be some flash drives with documents on them somewhere, so we should look for that."
Dawson began opening the drawers of the computer desk. He found some folders with recent invoices related to the real estate holdings. But there weren't any flash drives or anything else significant.
Adam found some prior years' tax returns in the file cabinet. He closed that drawer and opened the next one down. He saw some folders with Sarah's name on their tabs. He pulled the first one out of the drawer. He opened the folder. He looked at its contents with surprise. He began paging through what was in the folder. While paging through the contents of a second folder Adam gasped.
"Dawson..." Adam said in a serious voice.
"What? Did you find something?" Dawson asked as he stood up.
Everyone looked at Adam as he lay the folder out on the computer desk.
"It's my grandmother's original drawings for the lake house. Look at the design of the master bedroom," Adam said in disbelief.
The sketches showed the room almost exactly how Adam had described it. Sarah's design had beige-colored curtains made of a thin material like the tan color Adam suggested. And the walls were bluish green, matching the subtle blue ocean theme Adam had described. The rocking chair, floor lamp, and area rug were arranged with the other furniture like Adam had described it.
"How is that possible?" Dawson said slowly.
"What? What is it?" Niven asked with concern.
Dawson explained how Adam had described what he wanted to do to the master bedroom when they were doing the artwork inventory. And how Sarah's drawing was practically the same. And that they had discovered the rocking chair, rug, and lamp when they came into the office.
"You must have seen the room decorated like that before your granddad changed it," Dawson said.
"No. It's not possible," Krantz said, "I've never even seen the room look like that. He must have changed it before I started working here. I didn't even know the rocking chair existed. There's no way Adam saw it like that."
"You must have gotten your grandmother's gift for interior design passed down in your genes. You see it all the time, with actors, athletes, performers... They have the same gifts passed down generation to generation," Niven said.
They all remained quiet as Adam paged through the folder. He went back to the filing cabinet and sifted through a few of the folders.
"There are a whole bunch of ideas in here," Adam said to no one in particular.
Dawson looked at Adam with compassion. He reached out and subtly rubbed Adam's shoulder. He then focused back on the task at hand.
"Anything important, Krantz?" Dawson asked.
"I found some invoices on some things he recently purchased. But nothing significant," Krantz said.
"Nothing significant in these drawers either," Niven said.
Adam continued with the filing cabinets. Krantz opened another drawer of the oak desk. Dawson went over to a couple shelves on a bookcase that had sliding covers. He lifted the cover of one shelf and slid it back.
"Oh, Adam... C'mere," Dawson said with a sympathetic voice.
"Hmm?" Adam said as his head popped up from the cabinet he was looking inside.
Adam came over and a wave of emotions came over his face as he looked at what Dawson found. It was about a dozen photo albums, stacked in two piles.
"Oh, wow," Adam said softly.
He picked up one of the albums and opened it to a random page. There was a picture of Clayton as a young man, standing with another man on the property near where the fence is today.
"That's my granddad," Adam said softly as he touched his grandfather's picture.
He then noticed that there was a caption typed on a separate piece of paper, inserted into the protective album sheet, below the picture. It said, 'Jorge Santos and Clayton Jameson -- June 4, 1979'.
"I didn't know these albums even existed," Adam said.
Adam slowly slid his fingers across the laminated page. He closed the album and reopened it to the first page. He saw there were a couple photos with dates. He flipped open the cover of the album on the top of one of the stacks. He confirmed there were captions with dates on that one, too. He did the same to the album on the top of the other stack. It also had captions with dates. Adam got excited.
"I should be able to put these in chronological order," Adam whispered.
Only Dawson heard him. Dawson slid open another shelf.
"There's another dozen or so here, too. These look older," Dawson said.
Dawson slipped one of the albums off the top and opened it to a random page.
"Adam, look. I think this is your great grandparents," Dawson said.
Adam put the album he was holding back onto the stack and leaned over Dawson's shoulder. There was a picture of a woman, standing next to a man. She was holding a baby dressed in white. The caption read, 'Clay's Christening - May 1939'.
"Wow," Adam said softly.
"Adam, we should go through these and scan the pictures, so we can preserve them," Dawson said. "Krantz, did Clayton have a digital scanner?"
"No," Krantz replied.
"Can you please request the money from the ruling panel to get one?" Dawson said.
Niven and Adam both nodded in solidarity as Dawson spoke.
"I'll take care of it," said Krantz.
Adam put his hand on Dawson's shoulder.
"Thank you, Dawson," Adam said, trying to keep his emotions in check.
He squeezed Dawson's shoulder.
"We've finished with this desk," Niven said.
"That is the last of these shelves and cabinets," said Dawson as he returned the album to the shelf.
Everyone looked around.
"I think that's it," said Adam.
"I'll contact Ms. Castillo," said Krantz as he picked up the tray holding the manilla envelope with WILL written on it.
"I need to finish preparing dinner," Niven said as she closed the sliding door.
"Krantz, after you talk to Carmen, let us know what she says. We'll be in the living room," Dawson said.
Krantz nodded as he and Niven left.
"C'mon, help me," Dawson said.
"What are we doing?" Adam asked with confusion.
"I need a drink. And you definitely need a drink," Dawson said as he looked for confirmation from Adam. "We're taking the albums down to the living room, so we can go through them."
Adam tilted his head with gratefulness as he smiled at Dawson. He reached out and squeezed one of his biceps. Adam turned toward the albums. He stacked as many albums as he could carry and began to head downstairs. Dawson followed him with his own stack of albums. Adam and Dawson put the albums onto one of the console tables against the back wall in the living room. Without saying anything, Dawson went back up to Clayton's office. Dawson got the last of the albums while Adam began to sort them into chronological order. Dawson came back with the remaining albums and put them on the table.
"Manhattan?" Dawson asked.
"Yes!" Adam said with relief.
Dawson went to the bar in the back corner of the living room and made two Manhattans while Adam finished organizing the albums. Adam stood and looked at all of the albums lined up on the table when Dawson came over with the drinks. He handed a Manhattan to Adam and they both took a sip.
"Mmm," Adam hummed, "thank you. I feel like I've been on a roller coaster of emotions today."
Dawson put his hand on Adam's shoulder and then gently began to caress his back. Adam leaned into Dawson. Both boys took sips of their drinks.
"I want to look through these with you," Dawson said.
"I was just about to say that. I sorted them by date. I think this one is the oldest one," Adam gestured to an album on the left side of the table.
Dawson picked up the album and the boys moved toward the huge sectional facing the sliding glass doors which led out to the terrace. The boys put their drinks down on the coffee table and sat down. Dawson pulled the coffee table closer and put the album down on it. The boys sat close together and leaned over the album. Adam opened it.
The boys paged through the first album. There were a lot of pictures of Adam's great grandparents and his grandfather at a house Adam hadn't seen before. They were most of the way through the album when Krantz came in. The boys looked up. Dawson grabbed his drink.
"I have some news," Krantz said, "May I sit?"
Adam gestured to the sectional, diagonal to them. The boys were surprised that Krantz asked to sit down. It indicated that it must be something serious. Adam realized Krantz looked concerned. Dawson took a sip of his drink.
"Krantz, do you need a drink?" Adam asked.
"No," Krantz said with some hesitation.
"I'll make you a Manhattan," Dawson said with a commanding tone as he got up.
Krantz didn't protest.
"What's the news?" Dawson asked as he started pouring the vermouth.
Adam closed the album and pushed it to the side. He picked up his drink and took a sip.
"Your fiance and your father have acted quickly," Krantz said as he looked at Adam. "They've already filed their actions with the court. Ms. Castillo assumes they are acting quickly because of the secrecy around what's happened with the two of you."
Dawson came over and handed Krantz the Manhattan. Krantz took a sip. He then cradled the drink in his lap. Dawson sat down next to Adam. The boys both sipped their drinks.
"Someone in the probate court has taken notice and is fast-tracking things. The claims have been bundled together," Krantz continued, "A probate court judge named Brenda Lynch has been assigned to the case. Ms. Castillo says she spoke with Judge Lynch. She's very critical of the way Mr. Jameson excluded his son and included a member of his legal team as a beneficiary. These are usually red flags when looking at the legitimacy of a will."
Krantz paused. It sounded like he had more to say. He took a generous sip of his Manhattan. The boys looked at him in anticipation.
"The judge is also critical of the way Mr. Jameson structured his will, that he has, in her words, 'imprisoned' the two of you."
Adam and Dawson looked at each other. Krantz took another sip of his Manhattan.
"So..." Krantz said and then he paused, "She has called for an inquiry. She has summoned the ruling panel, Miss Cartwright, Mr. Jameson, the two of you, and me and Niven to appear before her."
Adam and Dawson sat still holding their drinks. Dawson furrowed his brow.
"When is this inquiry supposed to take place? And how do Dawson and I appear at the inquiry without breaking the conditions of the will?" Adam asked.
Krantz took a long sip of his drink, swallowed, and then cleared his throat.
"She's holding the inquiry here. In two days... Because the conditions of the will are still in the process of being met, she has the authority to suspend the conditions so you can take part in the inquiry," Krantz said.
Dawson looked at the floor, deep in thought. Adam turned to look at Dawson for his reaction. Krantz took a sip of his Manhattan.
"Can she just come in and do what she wants in our house?" Adam asked Dawson.
"She can," explained Dawson, continuing to look at the floor, "The probate court has authority because the will is still being executed. Technically, the lake house is in the custody of the probate court until the conditions of the will are completely met. The judge can decide which parts of the will's conditions are in effect and which ones aren't. If she is trying to maintain the essence of the will's conditions, we must remain at the lake house. And if she determines that an inquiry must be held, the only place to do it is here."
"Is there anything we can do?" Adam asked with a bit of desperation in his voice.
Dawson shook his head as he continued to process what he was hearing while looking at the floor.
"Ms. Castillo said there's nothing the two of you can do right now. She plans to brief you when she gets here for the inquiry. The judge can allow her to speak to you directly during the suspension," Krantz said.
Adam took a sip of his drink. Dawson looked up at Krantz.
"Does the envelope we found help?" Dawson asked.
"I don't know. It wasn't mine to open, so I don't know what's in it. It's on its way to Ms. Castillo right now," Krantz explained.
Everyone was silent for a few moments.
"Anything else, Krantz?" Dawson asked.
"No. When I get anything more, of course I'll let you know," Krantz said.
The boys both nodded. Krantz downed the rest of his Manhattan and sighed. He got up and looked at the two boys with sympathy. It looked like he was going to say something, but he didn't.
"Was there something else, Krantz?" Adam asked.
"No... No, nothing else," Krantz said slowly.
He turned and carried his empty drink glass as he left the room. The boys were quiet for a while as they contemplated the news Krantz had just delivered.
"Wow," Adam finally spoke.
"Yeah," said Dawson.
Adam put his drink down on the table. He turned slightly, slipped his loafers off, bent his knees, and brought his feet up onto the sectional. He embraced Dawson as he leaned into him. He nestled his head under Dawson's neck. Dawson put his drink down and wrapped Adam in his arms.
"Are you ok?" Dawson said softly as he began caressing Adam's hair.
"Um...I was ok..." Adam said.
They both smiled. There was silence for a few moments as they both remembered their first meeting.
"I'm so glad I met you," Dawson said softly.
"Huh," Adam half-chuckled, "I was just thinking the same thing."
Adam nestled closer to Dawson.
"What do you think is going to happen?" Adam said as he thought about all of the possible outcomes.
Dawson paused before responding.
"I don't know," Dawson said, then he took in a deep breath and exhaled, "but I don't really care about the money, as long as I get to be with you."
Adam sat up and turned. He forced Dawson to lean back against the corner of the sectional. He climbed on top of him and straddled him. He leaned down and kissed him. They mingled their tongues as they kissed and embraced. When Adam broke the kiss, he pulled back and looked into Dawson's eyes.
"I feel the same way. I don't really care about the money. Mostly..." he said.
Dawson got a curious look on his face. Adam nestled himself into Dawson, leaning his head into the crook of Dawson's neck.
"I mean... Being with you is more important to me than the money," Adam said, "but I don't see any scenario where I will be ok with it if my father gets any of it."
"Mmm," Dawson said in agreement, "Carmen is a good lawyer. I'm sure she'll have a good strategy. We just can't worry about what we can't control."
"Mmm," Adam agreed.
They lay like that, just holding each other, comforting each other, for a while.
"Hey..." Dawson said as he tapped Adam's back, "It's getting close to dinner. We should move. I don't want to add Niven and Krantz finding out about us to our list of things to worry about."
Adam reluctantly lifted himself up. He rolled off and stood up. Dawson stood up. Adam slipped his shoes back on. They both fixed and smoothed out their clothes. Adam picked up his Manhattan and downed the rest of it. Dawson only took a sip. He grabbed Adam's glass and put them both onto the service tray. Adam returned the album they looked through to the console table with the rest of the albums. They looked at the time and realized they had about 20 minutes until dinner.
The boys went up to their rooms and peed. Dawson checked his hair in the mirror before they gathered in Dawson's room. They still had 15 minutes. Dawson took Adam's hand.
"C'mon," Dawson said as he led Adam out of the room.
Adam didn't protest or ask any questions. He simply followed Dawson as they made their way down the hall. Dawson let go of Adam's hand as they started down the stairs. Dawson led them to the terrace and they went outside. It was a bit windy and some clouds were rolling in. They both went to the railing and leaned on it. Neither of them spoke. They just stood next to each other while looking out over the lake. Each of them quietly contemplated what might happen during the inquiry.
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If you liked this story, tell me: djwarner1984@hotmail.com And then donate to Nifty: https://donate.nifty.org/
-DJ