know about the Order, but aren’t members. Your cousins Ian and Alex don’t know anything about the Order, and I don’t think that they ever will. I’ve spent years recruiting, training, and assessing potential members, and of all the kids in the family, I see in you the potential to be a great addition to the Order someday. You’ll have to be older, of course, and there’s a lot of danger involved, but there’s also a lot of reward because of the people you can help. You’ll never get credit for helping them because they’ll never know that you were involved; but knowing that someone is better off because you acted on their behalf is a feeling like no other.”
“You want me to become a knight?” Jamie asked with a sense of wonder. All her life, her parents had told her stories about the knights of old, but she never realized there were still knights like that in existence. Now she was learning that her parents were knights like that, and her grandfather was suggesting that she could be one, too, some day.
“If it’s something you want, yes,” James replied. “Again, you can’t tell this to anyone – especially not your parents. You have to be approached by an existing member before you can petition for membership.”
“Isn’t that what you’re doing?” Jamie asked.
“Yes, but you’re too young to join now.”
“Why don’t you approach me again when I’m old enough?”
James hesitated before answering that question, but finally decided that there was no need to hold back the rest of the truth. “Because I won’t be here when you’re old enough, Jamie.”
Jamie’s eyes filled with tears as she realized what her grandfather was telling her. She wiped her eyes and asked, “How much longer, Granddad?”
James appreciated his granddaughter’s gentle but straightforward manner. “Not long, Jamie, not long. The doctors aren’t certain, or at least they’re not telling me anything certain, but I know. That’s why I’m telling you these things years before you’re supposed to hear them.”
Jamie reached for his hand and held it tightly, unable to say anything.
After a few minutes, James said, “But I’m still here for now, and there’s one more thing I need to tell you.”
“Yes, Granddad?” Jamie asked, looking up at the old man’s face.
“When I’m gone, there’s something I want you to do for me.”
“Okay.”
“In my study here in the house, there’s a wooden panel between the two wall lamps. Do you know the one I mean?”
Jamie nodded.
“If you push against the panel in the dead center, you’ll hear a click, and the panel will slide open. Inside, there’s a box with a letter attached to it. The letter is addressed to you. Take the letter and the box, but don’t let anyone see you do it, and don’t tell anyone about it. It’ll take you a while to figure out how to open the box, but when you do, it’ll explain everything. Don’t even try to open the letter or the box until after your eighteenth birthday, and whatever you do, don’t break the wax seal on the back of the letter. Do you understand? It’s important that the box stay closed with the seal intact until after you’re eighteen and that it stay hidden until you’ve opened it and done what it tells you to do.”
“What’s in it, Granddad?”
“A choice. It’s my legacy to you. What you do with it is up to you, but I have my hopes that you’ll make the right choice.”
James fell silent after that, and Jamie sat quietly, holding his hand until her dad came to pick her up and take her home.
James was right about the time he had left. He passed away peacefully in his sleep two nights later. Jamie remembered when her grandmother had died and how it affected her dad, but he took losing his father much harder. Jamie didn’t see her dad much for the next several days as he and Aunt Sophie made the funeral arrangements.
The funeral service was the largest funeral Jamie had ever seen. There were hundreds of people who attended to pay their respects to the family. Jamie sat next to her cousins and their families during the service, thinking about her grandfather and remembering the promise that she made to him the last time she saw him.
There were a number of people who got up and spoke about how James had touched their lives. His former business partners spoke at length about how he had helped people through his law practice, and several other colleagues talked about the impact he had on them. At the end of the service, Tom stood up and gave the final eulogy.
“My father was a great man,” he began, hesitating at first to collect his strength and his emotions. “It can well be said of him that he put his family first, but it can also be said that his sense of family was larger than most. He considered his friends, his colleagues, his clients… all part of his family as well. He believed in being inclusive, rather than exclusive, and his capacity for love was legendary among those who knew him. My father taught me many things, but most of all he taught me that our choices have both consequences and obligations. Before we start down a path, we need to weigh those consequences and those obligations, and then choose our path knowing full well that the results of that choice will dominate our experience for the rest of our lives. My father never took the easy path, but he always took the right path and stood by his choices until the end. He acted based on a deep conviction of what was right and honorable, even if it didn’t always seem so to a young boy who never understood his father until much later in life. Those of us who knew him will never forget him. Those of us who have been touched by his presence will never be the same. His legacy lives on in all of us, and it’s for us now to commit to carrying forward his great legacy so that, through us, my father will live forever.”
The next night after the funeral, Aunt Sophie and Uncle Liam, along with their kids, were over at the house to discuss the will and the estate.
“It’s pretty straight forward,” Tom said as he gave Sophie and Liam a copy. “With the exception of a few specific items, everything is split evenly between us. The office building that dad owned where his law office used to be, as well as several other real estate holdings around the country that were part of the ‘other business,’ goes to a trust to be managed by me. There’s also a trust fund set up for each of the grandkids that they can access when they turn twenty-five. Apart from that, you and I get everything in equal share.”
Sophie nodded. She understood why Tom would manage the office building and other real estate holdings, since they had something to do with the Order. She was glad that the grandkids were being taken care of, and she was surprised by the amount in the trust funds they each received. Evidently, James’ investments had done better than anyone knew!
What Sophie didn’t know, but what Tom had learned when he became Grand Master of the Order, is that their dad owned a great many properties in several cities for use exclusively by the Order. Most of the properties were safe houses and other secure locations, but some were specifically for investment purposes. James had a knack for identifying properties that would end up being in prime locations eventually, and as a result of careful planning and market analysis, he had been able to sell some of these properties at a huge profit. The proceeds from these sales not only funded the grandchildren’s trust funds, but also gave the Order access to tremendous funding to help its operations. There were several members of the Order who had been handpicked by James to manage these properties, but Tom would be considered the overall trustee.
“Is there anything in particular you want from the house?” Tom asked.
“There’s a lot of the furniture I’d like to have, either for myself or for the boys,” Sophie replied. “Is there anything special you want?”
“I’d like the furniture in Dad’s study, if you don’t mind. I’ve always admired it and want it to replace my office furniture here in the house.”
Sophie nodded in agreement. “What about Mom’s guns?”
“Do