Theodore (21 page)

“Do you still want to go to the art museum today?” grinned
Bill to the group.

They had been in the penthouse for almost four hours and
had made a pleasant time of it, but welcomed serious offers to get back onto
their schedule...

“If it's safe,” offered Theodore, glad for the change.

“I thought we were going to do the art museum on Friday,”
interjected Anna.

“Well, we are definitely rearranging your schedule...”

Anna quickly caught the wisdom of changing around their
plans.  “I guess we'll need to buy new tickets for everything!”

“Nah, the Home Office is going to cover for it,” grinned
Bill.  “So, shall we?  It won't be subtle, but it should still be a good day
out.”

Anna quickly explained things to Meagan and the parade of
smiling faces said it all: salvage the day!

Incognito was just not going to happen.  Two fur covered
Taiks walking hand in hand with a pair of humans, not common at all.  Same
group with a second quartet of grouchy humans loaded with enough firepower to
level a building, they were certain to make the news.  Add twenty plainclothes
agents who all took smiling lessons from a brick, the evening news.  Landing on
the roof of the museum in a heavy gunship?  Um, wow...

Bill
tried
to smile at the other patrons at the
museum but that just seemed to make them more nervous.

“Stop that,” teased Janice.  “You are scaring the
children.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“The name is Janice.”

“Yes, ma'am.  It is,” grinned Bill.

Janice just rolled her eyes and did her best to enjoy the
pleasant company.  Meagan and Anna were
finally
able to relax and
chatter away as Anna did her best to show her around the massive art museum. 
The museum was not a calling so much for the planet, but for art as a whole. 
The collection spanned hundreds of planets and thousands of years.  A few works
of the old great masters from the human’s home world, on traveling display, rounded
out the exhaustive collection.

As the afternoon rolled on, Meagan suddenly went giddy and
almost hysterical in the portrait gallery.  Theodore was confused at first, the
pictures were all of stuffed shirts, political bigwigs who were trying to immortalize
themselves.  What could silly Meagan find so funny?  Someone in the buff?  As
he approached, his own smile threatened to consume his face.    

“Your
First Mother
painted that one!” laughed
Meagan as she hugged Anna.

Theodore's smile was going to be hard to extinguish as he
carefully double checked the signature as well as the caption.  “We are how far
away from home?” he laughed as he hugged the girls.

Anna cut lose with a raspberry, “Just proves this place
has good taste!”

“Well of course this place has good taste,” grinned
Meagan.  “Anna is from here!”

Meagan and Theodore both had a good run of watching Anna
change various shades of red.

As the afternoon wore to a close, Anna had her revenge. 
For reasons none of them could fathom, a large number of school aged girls
wanted their pictures taken with Meagan.  Meagan wouldn't dream of
disappointing the younger girls, but she was just as quickly embarrassed by all
the attention.  

“She seems to be the darling of the museum,” grinned
Janice.

“We need to be going soon,” replied Bill, adding the only
gray cloud in hours.

They all nodded and knew what that meant: they'd been seen
in one place for long enough that... that unpleasant things might happen to the
locals.  Anna was still able to hold an honest smile, they had made a good run
of the museum and Meagan had become the local rock star, as it were.  A fun day
out, just shorter than planned. 

They expertly moved to the roof and the waiting gunship
for their short trip back to the safehouse.

“Thomas Westmore has been in contact,” began Tim to
Janice.  “Trying to coordinate dinner.  Back at the safehouse is best, we can
fly him out and back easily enough.”

Janice smiled, “Whatever works!  I'm just happy that he is
being big enough to show up.”

“Understood...”

Dinner was civil, bordering on actually fun.  Thomas was
very
polite and friendly to Meagan and did his best to be civil to Theodore.  Smiles
graced the table as they ate.  The only overt problems were associated with
Thomas' language skills not being quite on par with his lovely wife's.  Long
smiles were had with the good food and then Thomas left for the night and the
press of the day soon bid them all to sleep.

“So the late morning is going to be hitting the shopping
districts and we hit the aquarium in the afternoon?” asked Theodore.

Anna grinned, “I take it from your
excellent
poker
face that spending three hours shopping is not your idea of fun.”

“Why not leave the poor boy here and we girls will make a
morning of it,” grinned Meagan.

Theodore laughed at the mental image of Janice being “one
of the girls.”  That was good to see.  Very!

“Um,” began Janice hesitantly, “Thomas is coming by for
lunch.  You going to be okay if you are stuck alone with him for a bit?”

Theodore offered himself a small smile, “I'm sure some
things need to be said.  Might as well get those out of the way.”

Janice smiled as she straightened Theodore's shirt and
vest, not unlike Emily those months ago.  “You are a good lad.  Don't let
anyone
tell you otherwise.”  She kissed him on the cheek and rejoined the rest of the
girls.  Anna and Meagan quickly bolted back to offer kisses of their own before
they headed out with their small army in tow.

Theodore smiled as the girls departed.  He knew that
things could quite easily get unpleasant with Thomas.  But he also knew he had
their strength and support and that made all the difference in the world.

“Dr. Thomas Westmore is here,” announced Lori.

“Good!  Send him in,” replied Theodore with his best
smile.  He checked the clock: there was easily a half hour before the girls
were due back.  And that assumed they didn't get distracted.  He laughed
briefly to himself, Bill wouldn't let them get too distracted.  Now... now was
time for him and Thomas alone.  He wasn't looking forward to a fight, but he
was hoping for... well... anything.

Thomas smiled as he entered the room and thanked Lori
politely at the door.  He stood across from Theodore, nervous in his manner and
presentation.

“Would you like a seat?” offered Theodore, his own
apprehension showing in his voice.

Thomas flashed a forced smile as he found a chair.  “You
seem to have found a wonderful girl there in Meagan Rose.”

Theodore smiled, “I'd say she found me, but yes, she is a
wonderful girl.  Quite dedicated and beaming at the thought of being a Second
Mother.  She and Anna get along splendidly”

Thomas shifted nervously in his seat as he fought for
words.

“We are alone, sir,” began Theodore.  “Just speak your
piece.”

Thomas sighed and held his tongue for a bit before he launched,
“What's with you Highlanders?  So greedy that you have to have four wives?”

Theodore sniffed, “They would have me.  The First Mother
sets the house, not the Father.  It isn't about greed, it's about what
they
want.  Anna wants me.  Meagan wants in as a Second.  Anna and Meagan are best
of friends.  They want me in as a family.”

Thomas scoffed, “So you would let them speak for you?”

“I speak for myself.  But for the family?  Yes, First
Mother speaks for the family.”

“And you call yourself a man?”

“Yes,” sniffed Theodore, “and a Highlander.”

“And what is a Highlander?  What is so important about
your stupid land?  It's just a continental shelf and you people bask in it like
it's the cradle of civilization!”

“I look around the lands I've traveled and I see greed and
hatred, bigotry and fear.  The Bella-Shona are just one of many diseases that
infect your planet but you would brush them aside and let them hurt your fellow
countrymen and kin.  What do
you
know of civilization?  We have to
travel with an armed escort in your lands because you people are unwilling to
deal with the corruption that lives under your very noses!  The Highlands isn't
about a place; it's about an ideal!  The Highlands are
anyplace
that a
Highlander calls home!  What are Highlanders?  We are people that share that
common vision, that ideal of how people can live together and work together. 
To confront our fears, to confront demons around us and fix them rather than
sweep them under the rug.  Anna is a Highlander; everyone in our town will
proclaim that loudly and with both eyes looking back.  Even the town thug knows
that.  We aren't perfect.  We never claim to be, but we all share that common
ideal and we work to make it happen!  Are there bad people there?  Of course,
we aren't exempt!  But it's the attitude...”

“Anna will never be one of you.  She'll always be the
outsider that is politely tolerated...”

“What do you know of our people?  Of my town?  Have you
been there and talked with them?  Have you seen the warm glow in the eye of the
midwife?  Have you seen the broad grins of the other girls she calls friends?”

“But she'll never have children of her own...”

“Children?  Is that what you are so hung up on?  A
marriage is about a family!  The family first and foremost!  If we are graced
with children then so be it.  If you met a family that were both humans yet
they had no children, would you be giving them this much grief?”

“Well, no.  But...”

“But what?  Is this all about the fur coat then?  Would
you be content if I shaved it all off?  Would that suddenly make things all
better?”

“No, but two humans together is natural...”

“People who love each other, being together: that is
natural!  It doesn't matter the color of my hair or the length of my coat: Anna
and I love each other.  Why can't you seem to understand that?”

“You lust for each other, granted,” snarled Thomas.  

“You have put your daughter through hell and back as you
have lashed out against her and her choices.  We, Anna and I, have held fast
and strong beside the storm that you have created, beside the storm of hate and
greed of both you and the mafia.  You daughter loves you dearly, but she will
set you aside if she has to for the sake of our new family.  She doesn't want
to, she
really
wants you to embrace our new family and share the
warmth.  That isn't about lust; this is about caring and sharing.”

“None of the kids will ever look upon me as their
real
grandfather...”

“Oh, crap, we're back to kids again!  If you were so
desperate for biological grandkids, why is Anna an only child?  Where is your
parade of children filling your house with a warm smile?  Your entire future
happiness is entirely on the shoulders of Anna?  Does she deserve that
emotional baggage?  And no! at this rate the kids will
never
call you
'grandfather'.  They
will,
however, call Janice 'grandmother.'” 
Theodore snarled, “You don't get Highland families.  Who is my biological
mother?”

Thomas blinked, “Um, Fiona.”

“Really, are you sure it isn't Emily or Charlotte?”

“Well, she is the First Mother.”

“First Mother is head of the family.  Why should she
necessarily be the first one to have a child?  Having a child gets in the way
of work, and the last thing a young family needs are financial hurdles as
well.”

“So, Emily then.”

Theodore laughed, “Have you talked with your wife about my
parents at all?  The odd little gossip points that I
know
Anna wrote
about in her letters...”

“Ok, well, Charlotte then!  What's the point?” snarled
Thomas.

Theodore grinned, “The point is, if you ask any of them,
they will say that
they
are my mother.  They all claim me, just like
they all claim my sisters Rose and Abby!  You know what?  I don't know who my
biological mother is, and I don't care!  I know it isn't Emily, but whether it
is Fiona or Charlotte, no clue.  And I have no need to know.  A family is all
about loving everyone who is in it.  It's not about partitioning or parceling
out love.  That's the beauty of love: the more you give, the more you have.”

“You and your delusional Pollyanna world...”

Theodore permitted himself a laugh, “Yes we are optimists,
and I'm probably the biggest optimist of all.  But we aren't delusional; we
know there are trials and tribulations out there.  But we, we Highlanders,
approach those as solvable problems.  You did volunteer work off world: were
you doing it out of some sense of self-guilt about how life had
unfairly
been
kind to you, or did you do it because you thought you could make a positive
benefit?”

“We were trying to help people!  How dare you imply
otherwise!”

“Then when did
you
give up?  Give up on people? 
Aren't you every bit as much of a Pollyanna as I?  How many of those desperate
situations you went into were natural, and how many were the side effect of
people exploiting others for political or monetary gain?”

“The worst were all man made...”

“Yet you
kept
going in and trying to make a
positive difference!  You are a good person, you've proven that.  So why,
why
is my fur getting in the way?  If you
let
them, any and all the children
will call you 'grandfather'.  Just
let
them...”

Thomas paused; for once no snarl came back so Theodore
just held his breath.

“No... no, it just won't be the same,” finally blurted
Thomas.  “And... well... I guess it won't matter anyway.  You'll be dead soon
enough.”

Theodore's fur flared, “What did you
do?
”

Thomas tossed his phone to the floor.  “Got rid of an
unwanted suitor,” he snarled back evilly.

“It's being tracked,” mewed Theodore softly.

“Yes.  Yes, indeed!”

“They'll kill you too.”

Thomas laughed, “Nah, I'm too good to them.”  He turned and
headed to the door.

“You've sold out everything your wife and daughter ever
stood for.  And now you have created your own pit of hell...”

“So long as my daughter isn't in it!”