Lucky Mr. Peters
Chapter 40
The alarm going off made for a rather rude awakening on Tuesday morning. I thought about telling Allejandro to get up and let me sleep a little longer, but I knew that wouldn’t stick, so I put my legs over the edge of the bed and forced myself up. Both Allejandro and I got ourselves ready for the day ahead and then moved downstairs. We went straight for the kitchen and were happy to find a pot of coffee waiting for us. I think somehow Allejandro had become hooked on coffee in the morning as much as I was. Pietro told us that breakfast would be ready in about 5 minutes, so I went into the dining room to count heads and was happy to see the full herd was accounted for.
After breakfast most of the boys started to get ready for school, except Hugo and Russel who wouldn’t go to school and the twins and Roque, whose lessons only started at 10:20. The five who didn’t need to go or go early went down to the game room to relax. I had another cup of coffee in the living room as one by one the others came down and took their leave. When it was Rafael’s turn, he hugged me and said he was sorry for being such an ass the previous day. Of course, that left him open for a counterstrike, so I told him that at least he hadn’t been a jackass. His face turned an almost bright red, but then I bent forward and just whispered that I would never stop loving him. He gave me a meek smile and then was off after the rest of the gang.
It was close to 8:30 when I called the International School and asked to talk to the principal. Learning my name, the secretary quickly put me through. After the greetings were over, I came right to the point and explained why Hugo wouldn’t be in school for the next few days at least. I noticed the principal was clearly shocked and he told me it wouldn’t be a problem as long as Hugo kept up with his homework. I asked him to make sure the teachers would cooperate and give the homework assignments to either Rafael or Fernando and I would take care of things on my end. I also asked him to keep an eye out for any reporters or photographers showing up and possibly harassing his students. He said he’d be on to it right away and thanked me for letting him know about things this quickly. He would make sure there would be no trespassing on school property by either reporters or photographers, but could do little to prevent such things outside. I told him I understood, thanked him for his cooperation and then ended the call.
I knew I’d have a long and busy day ahead of me, so after finishing my coffee, I got myself another one. At 9:30 I called down to the twins and Roque that they were down to half an hour before they needed to get going. A few minutes later I saw them going up to their rooms to put on their uniforms and get their book bags ready. At 9:45 the doorbell rang and as expected, it was Julia, who looked a bit haggard. When I told her about my observation, she laughed and said I should have a look in the mirror myself sometime. I knew what she meant, the last couple of days had definitely taken a toll on me. She welcomed my offer of a cup of coffee and we’d just sat down on the couch when Roque and the twins came walking in. The boys immediately swarmed Julia and each gave her a hug and a kiss. I got mine too and as they were about to leave, I reminded them to wear their helmets. They gave me a typical ‘yes, yes, we will’ response and then were gone.
Julia meanwhile gave me a questioning look, so I told her about the mopeds they’d gotten the day before. She shook her head and accused me of spoiling the boys rotten. I simply explained that it was only fair since Rafael, Fernando and John all had one too. She gave me a wee smile and said I was too good for this world. I just forewent commenting on that remark.
When we’d finished our coffee, I suggested I’d first get Hugo set up with a lawyer and that I wanted her to listen in, just in case there were any questions I couldn’t answer. She agreed, so we went into the study and I got in touch with a lawyer that had been recommended to me. After clearing up a few issues, the lawyer, a Mr. Gonzalez, agreed to take on Hugo as a client, but insisted he’d talk to him personally. Seeing no problem in that, we settled on him coming over to the house around 3 o’clock that afternoon. We signed off and I was glad we had at least that part dealt with.
I then retrieved the stack of paperwork we’d gotten from the safe in Hugo’s house and proposed we’d go through them at the dinner table. We’d have plenty of room there and Hugo could join us. Julia approved, so we moved to the dining room and after setting both of us up with another cup of coffee, I called for Hugo to come and join us. Russel asked if he needed to come up too, but I said he could just go on with whatever he was doing. With Hugo joining us with a glass of orange juice, it was time to see what all Hugo’s dad had put in the safe.
The first few papers were mainly financial statements, which he’d probably kept for tax purposes. Then there were the German birth certificates for both Hugo’s parents as well as for Hugo himself, which could be quite useful. Attached to each were certified translations into Spanish that made Julia happy. Next there were two deeds, one to the house in Marbella that we knew of, the other to a house in Hildesheim in Germany. I asked Hugo about it and he said it had probably been the house they lived in before they moved to Spain, but he wasn’t sure. I put it aside as it would be something for Mr. Gonzalez to look into.
Our next find was a sealed envelope with the name and address of a local law firm printed on it. I looked at Julia and asked her what we should do. She advised that we should call the law firm first, so we could find out about the possible contents and its legitimacy. I could only agree, so I got out my cell phone, put it on speaker and dialed the number that was printed on the envelope.
After stating our business to the telephone operator, we were put on hold for a few minutes. We were then connected to a Mr. Pental and repeated our business.
“Ah, yes, the Lässig’s, I remember them well. How are they doing?” he asked cheerily.
I gave him the short version of events and for a moment it was quiet on the other side of the line.
“Am I correct to surmise that young Mr. Hugo Lässig is with you now?”
“Yes, he is.”
“Please accept my sincerest condolences, young man, your parents were incredibly fine people.”
“Thank you, sir, but could you tell us what’s in the envelope please,” Hugo piped in.
“Ah, yes. It should contain three separate testaments, two of which are now null and void as there is no surviving spouse. The third one is definitely valid and legally binding as it pertains to the situation at hand. I would advise you not to open the envelope unless in the presence of a lawyer or civil servant, though,” Mr. Pental stated.
“Mr. Pental, my name is Julia Peralez, I’m a case worker with Malaga Social Services, and I think that qualifies me as a civil servant, don’t you agree?” Julia intervened.
“Eh, yes Mrs. Peralez, I’m sure it does. You can open the envelope. There should be two versions of each testament, the official one in Spanish as was drawn up by me on behest of the Lässig’s as well as a certified translation into German. It was something the Lässig’s insisted upon,” Mr. Pental said.
“Well, thank you, Mr. Pental, you’ve been very helpful. I assume we can contact you again should the need arise,” I said.
“Yes, please feel free to do so if it is necessary. And let me tell you again, young man, how very sorry I am for your loss,” Mr. Pental stated and he sounded quite genuine.
Hugo thanked the man again and then we signed off.
I handed the envelope over to Julia to let her open it. She did, rather unceremoniously and took out what looked like three smaller envelopes. She quickly discarded two of them and then opened the third, taking out two neatly stapled stacks of paper. She took one of them and started to read.
“Oh dear, they really thought of everything,” Julia said after a while and I could see her smile.
“I hope that’s a good thing,” I said, not daring to touch the German version.
“Oh yes, I may never have met them, but I do love them already,” Julia stated as she was blinking away tears.
I think it took Julia close to 10 minutes to read through the whole document and then she put it down. She then turned to Hugo and told him he was very fortunate to have had such clever parents. Hugo asked Julia why she thought so and I could only ask myself the same question.
“Well, first of all, you are the sole beneficiary of your parent’s estate, except for the house in Hildesheim. They bequeathed that to either a younger brother of your father or a nephew, I can’t be sure, but the date of birth makes him 24 now. It also says that you yourself, Hugo, are to determine who is to be your guardian and who is to be the trustee. The only stipulation is that they are not to be the same person. There’s also mention of a family plot that they purchased at the Virgen del Carmen Cemetery where they want to be interred. Any cost pertaining to your education, clothing and daily living are to be derived from the trust, up to a maximum of € 60,000 per year. There’s a lot of legal mumbo jumbo, but that’s basically what it boils down to,” Julia rattled.
“That’s easy then, Mr. P will be my guardian and you can be my trustee,” Hugo smiled.
“No, I can’t. First off, my job wouldn’t allow it and secondly I don’t have any clue on how to handle money, that’s Ronaldo’s job,” Julia smiled.
“So, Ronaldo can be my trustee, that should be good, right?” Hugo countered.
“Well, eh sure, but that’s something you would have to ask him yourself,” Julia stammered.
“Why don’t you give him a call. Let’s get this settled, so we have something for Hugo’s lawyer to work with this afternoon,” I interjected.
Julia made the call and Ronaldo readily agreed as long as it wouldn’t take up too much of his time. I told him that, as Hugo’s guardian, I would only send in the food bills once a week and any other bills bi-weekly or when they occurred. Ronaldo simply countered by telling me I had a sick sense of humor and to please limit his wife’s exposure to it. We then quickly signed off as Ronaldo still had his work and we had also a little paperwork left.
Going through what was left, we found mostly German documents pertaining to the Lässig family history. It would be nice to at least keep those for Hugo, even if he wasn’t particularly interested in them right now. I did come across one small stack that was all about Hugo’s great grandfather. Reading through it gave me some cold chills, especially when I came across the letter typed on Nazi writing paper. It was a notification that Albert Hugo Lässig had passed away in Dachau concentration camp on September 27, 1942. When I asked Hugo about it, he just shrugged his shoulders and said his father never talked much about his family. I put the small stack aside with the rest of the family history papers, sure that one day Hugo would recognize its significance.
With everything sorted, I had a look at the clock and, to my horror, discovered it was almost noon. I asked Julia is she would have lunch with us, but she started to object, saying she still had a lot of other work to do. When I told her I was sure that work could wait until after lunch, she smiled and gave in. Hugo and I quickly cleared the table, telling Julia to stay put as we moved all the paperwork back into the study. Once in there and with the paperwork out of the way, Hugo quickly hugged me.
“This means I can really stay here, doesn’t it?” he asked, rather emotionally.
“Yes, as far as we can see, it does. But let’s wait and see what your lawyer has to say about it this afternoon. He probably knows more about the legal side of things than either me or Julia,” I told him.
“I think it’ll be ok, my dad was always really good at this kind of stuff,” Hugo smiled.
By the time we came out of the study, Allejandro and John had arrived home from school and Russel had come up from the game room. John and Allejandro quickly changed out of their school uniforms and joined us in the dining room, where Pietro had started putting out lunch. I noticed how he stared jealously at Julia’s growing belly a few times and told him it was no use wishful thinking. We all laughed when he started to blush and shot me an indignant look. Julia told me I shouldn’t be mean like that, even if it was meant to be in jest.
“You told me this morning I was too good for this world but there’s a pair that really deserves to be called that. If you ever have a boy or girl, just out of diapers, that needs a loving home, think about them. They plan to get married probably somewhere in June or July,” I smiled.
“You’re incorrigible, Mr. Peters, but I promise I’ll keep them in mind,” Julia retorted.
When lunch was over, Julia excused herself, saying she really had to get back to the office. As I was seeing her out, she said that she and Ronaldo would probably visit during the weekend as we still had a problem. I knew she was talking about Russel and I told her they could drop by anytime. When I got back to the dining room, it was clear that Hugo was getting the third degree. As Allejandro saw me walk in, he asked me if it was true that Hugo could stay with us.
“Let’s just say it looks pretty good. But as I told Hugo, let’s wait and see what his lawyer has to say, he should be here around 3 this afternoon,” I replied.
I then told Allejandro, John and Russel to make sure that Carlos and Damarion remained dressed properly in case Hugo and I weren’t available when they returned home. They all grinned at me, knowing exactly what I meant. John said it was going to be a boring day, but I assured him he and the others could change as soon as the lawyer stepped out the door again.
As Allejandro stayed with me in the living room, the other three boys went down to play games. When asked, I gave Allejandro a short version of that morning’s events and he seemed genuinely interested. He even asked if he could read the testament, so I took him into the study and got it out for him. As he started reading, I could see him shaking his head a few times. After getting through three of the five pages, he put the document down and told me I could put it back. After I did, I looked at him and he told me that just reading the stuff had made him feel dizzy. He then asked me if I had a testament like that and I told him that mine was really very simple, if I died, he’d get everything. I could almost see his jaw drop when I made that statement and he asked if I was serious. I got down on the couch and put my arm around him.
“You’re the most important person in my life and my love for you has no limits. If anything happens to me, everything will be yours, because I know you love all those other boys just as much as I do. And I know you’ll do everything in your power to make sure they’re as safe and happy as they are now,” I whispered.
We just snuggled for a while, then Allejandro jumped up and saying he needed to make a call, hurried out of the study. I got up and went into the living room to have a look at the latest news, which wasn’t very good. When Allejandro returned, his face was an unreadable mask, so I thought it better not to ask him about the call he’d made. I did ask him if he’d seen anything out of the ordinary on or around school grounds, and he told me he hadn’t. I knew it didn’t mean we were out of the woods yet, but at least we stood a chance.
I told him to go down to the game room and have some fun as I needed to check my email and some of my financial reports. He gave me a weak smile and then left for the basement while I made for the study again.
I had just wrapped up and it was only 2:45, when I heard the doorbell ring. I quickly made my way to the front door and opened it to a fairly good looking guy in his early thirties, who introduced himself as Mr. Gonzalez. I invited him in, led him into the study and asked him to take a seat. I quickly retrieved the testament we’d found and handed it to him, telling him he should read it while I went to get Hugo. I made a detour into the kitchen and told Pietro he should see if the gentleman in the study wanted anything to drink. Then I went down to the basement and signaled for Hugo to come up with me. We walked into the study, just as Pietro was about to leave and he asked if we wanted anything to drink also. Hugo asked for an orange juice and I told Pietro I’d have a white wine. He gave me a wry smile, then went out to fill our requests.
I introduced Hugo to Mr. Gonzalez, and I immediately noticed the warm smile Mr. Gonzalez gave Hugo, putting him at ease as they shook hands. When I took a seat too, Mr. Gonzalez gave me a stern look and said that he’d like to talk to his client in private first. I told him I was to be Hugo’s guardian and wanted to be present. Mr. Gonzalez then pointedly told me that guardianship hadn’t been established yet, and that he insisted on privacy. I didn’t like it, but I knew he had me on that point, so I got up again and walked out of the study into the living room. I picked the glass of wine from Pietro’s tray as I walked past and he continued into the study. When Pietro came out a little later, he asked me why I left them alone in the study. I told him it would be ok, as I started sipping my wine and fervently hoped it would indeed be the case.
After about 20 minutes, the door to the study opened and Mr. Gonzalez asked me to join him and Hugo inside. I did and took the seat I had vacated earlier.
“Well, Mr. Peters, I’m very happy that you found it prudent to give me the testament of my client’s parents at the earliest opportunity. As my … uhm, Hugo told me, the document was opened in the presence of a civil servant, but of course I will have to verify it against the copy that is undoubtedly held at my colleague’s offices.
“Now, Hugo has expressed his wish that you be his guardian and a Mr. Ronaldo Peralez to be his trustee, in accordance with the stipulations in the testament. It is my duty to ask you if you’re willing to take guardianship with the knowledge that the yearly stipend will not exceed € 60,000?” Mr. Gonzalez asked, rather formally.
“Yes, I will and I can further assure you that not a penny will be used out of the trust. I will pay for his education and day to day needs, just like I do for all the boys in my care,” I replied with a bit more vehemence than intended.
Mr. Gonzalez smiled and said he’d already expected an answer like that.
“Mr. Peters, I was 14 when my parents threw me out of the house for being gay. I lived out on the streets for nearly four years, getting raped, abused and doing everything I could to just survive. Then I met a man who took pity on me, who helped me back on my feet and allowed me to get an education. If not for that man’s help, I wouldn’t be here right now. You’re doing the same thing for what … 10 boys? Just thinking about it blows me away,” Mr. Gonzalez said and I could see the tears welling up in his eyes.
“Mr. Gonzalez, please, I never really intended to, things just got a bit out of hand,” I smiled.
“I’ll make you a deal, Mr. Peters, you just keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll take care of any legal issues free of charge, it’s the least I can do. And please, my name is Aidan, Aidan Gonzalez,” he replied.
“Well, Aidan, we don’t have a lot of legal issues in general, but we do need to get things sorted for Hugo. With his parent’s death being rather high profile, I think it’s imperative to keep him out of the spotlights, so you’ll need to be his spokesperson. I want him to go back to school as soon as possible, but I don’t want to see him harassed by reporters or paparazzi, if you know what I mean,” I told him.
“Oh, yes, it’s already happened in Germany where they traced family member of others on board and tried to get them on camera. It’s just plain disgusting,” Aidan said.
I could see the shocked look on Hugo’s face as he realized I’d been right about the possibilities of being harassed.
“They really just put a camera in people’s faces?” Hugo asked, not addressing anyone in particular.
“Don’t worry, Hugo, I’ll ask for an injunction as soon as I get back to the office. Anyone putting a camera in your face without prior permission will get a € 500,000 fine, that should put them off,” Aidan said, giving a wink and wicked smile.
Just then I heard some noises coming from the living room and I knew something was going on. I quickly got up and opened the study door to find a bunch of very upset boys, all talking at the same time. With a loud ‘hey’, I got their attention and silence, so I could ask what was going on. Fernando was the first to speak, saying that there were a bunch of people with cameras and microphones waiting outside the school grounds when they got out.
“They all asked about Hugo,” Felipe piped in.
“A few of the other kids pointed to Rafael, saying he was Hugo’s boyfriend and then Rafael quickly drove off on his moped,” Juanito added.
“Yes, and those people went after him but we have no idea where he is now,” Roque supplemented.
“I know exactly where he is,” Allejandro said, having listened in to the conversation.
All the boys turned to look at Allejandro, curious to learn what he knew and none of us, including me, did.
“He’s at Julia and Ronaldo’s. He knows that once he’d scaled the walls, they can’t come after him,” Allejandro said, almost triumphantly.
Just then, my cell phone went off and seeing it was Rafael, I quickly answered. I could hear him breathing heavily, but as Allejandro had predicted he was indeed at our old house, hiding out. He told me the news crews were still hanging around the front gate and he wouldn’t be able to get out unseen. I told him everything would be ok and that we’d get him out as soon as we could.
Looking back into the study, I could see Aidan was making some frantic calls of his own. Right then and there, I knew he’d do anything he could to stop this madness and I was happy to have him on our side.
One of the other boys, I don’t know who, had called Julia and handed me his phone so I could talk to her. I quickly explained the situation to her and could hear her curse, then say she’d take care of it. In the meantime, one of the other boys had called Ronaldo and his reaction was quite similar to that of his wife, though more metered.
I looked back into the study again and could see that Hugo was about to have a serious breakdown. I quickly made my way over and picked him up, telling him that none of what was happening was his fault. As I held Hugo in my arms, the other boys gathered around, and it became a big group hug. For some reason, I wasn’t surprised to see that even Aidan Gonzalez had joined in.
TBC