Seeing Grandma Gemma

"Maybe not looking like this." Said Julien as he looked at his clothes covered in wood chips and dust. "I'll make a better impression if I take the time to bathe and shave first." Looking critically at James he added "You should change as well, you know how Granma hates that leather lab apron." James looked down at the apron he wore habitually when he was working. The apron had saved more than one set of clothes from electrical burns, ink stains and grease smudges but the evidence of its effectiveness lay in discolored blotches all over the garment.

It took the boys a little over thirty minutes to wash away the grime from the past week's labors, pull their wet hair into neat pony tails, and scrape the stubble from their faces. Another ten minutes was spent selecting shirts, pants and jackets that their Grandma would approve of. Julien left his rapier and main gauche in his room and instead wore the dagger that his grandparents had given him on his twenty-first birthday. James tucked his watch into the vest pocket of his jacket leaving the chain hanging fashionably to his belt. Finally, looking like the pair of gentlemen that their grandmother would expect, they went to find her in her sitting room.

Gemma Caruthers was indeed in her sitting room enjoying the afternoon light when the two gentlemen found her. Her face broadened into a smile when she saw the two enter dressed so neatly. She knew that the brothers, like their grandfather and father before them, preferred simple clothes that allowed them freedom to move and get dirty; when her boys dressed like this it was to please her. Of course, usually it meant that they wanted something from her, but at least she reasoned she had taught them how to approach their elders when they had a request.

For the past week the two had been preoccupied by something, twice they begged off of dinner. When they broke fast with her in the sunroom their faces showed signs that they had been up far too late the night before as they sipped gratefully on the coffee in their china cups.

"Come in dears" she said rising from her seat with more grace than many women twenty years younger than her "It seems like I've barely seen you this past week, what have you boys been up to?"

The boys each hugged Gemma before taking their customary seats on the couch across from her chair. For as long as the three of them could remember the brothers always sat in the same seats, Wilhelm's seat sat empty as a reminder of his presence next to hers. No one ever used his seat, but Gemma couldn't stand the thought of replacing it with a different piece; even empty it kept her company and whenever she felt the need to talk to her husband of over 45 years she would sit in the sitting room and talk to the empty cushions.

"We've been following a trail of clues left by Grandpa." Explained Julien, "It led us to something that he wanted you to have." Julien nodded to his brother and James pulled the sealed letter from his inner pocket and placed it on the table in front of their grandmother. With a slight sigh of resignation the only mother they had ever known leaned forward and picked up the folded packet. Glancing just once at the letter before setting it unopened on her lap she turned back to the brothers.

"He used to think he was fooling me you know, when he talked about his different hobbies." She smiled at the two young men sitting across from her. "That stubborn old man had only one love as great as his love for me." She stroked the sealed packet on her lap almost lovingly. "I know he found what he was searching for, and I know he had great hopes for the two of you. Oh he'd never say it to me, but when you've lived with the same man for long enough, it didn't take much for me to know what he was thinking." Ringing a small silver bell by her side she asked the brothers. "Would you like some tea? I imagine that you have a lot you wish to tell me."

"Maybe we should give you some privacy so you can read Grandpa's letter?" Suggested James, but Gemma just laughed. "This letter? I could tell you now what it says. He might use a different word or two then I would expect, but I don't need to read this to know that you have his blessing, or that I should give you mine as well." Gemma turned to the maid at the door, "Tea for three, and have Jenners make some of those sandwiches that the boys like." As the maid left she leaned forward in her seat and took the twin's hands.

"You have my love boys, and respect. But you'll never have my blessing to go questing after some dusty relic filled room." She squeezed their hands firmly in hers before continuing "The vaults took my only son from me, and a good deal of my husband's time and attention as well. I understand that you boys need to go as well; but be sure to come back. Don't let them take what is left of my family."

Silence filled the room for several minutes. It wasn't the awkward kind of silence where you feel you must say something to break the tension, but more of a moment of balance. The three sat enjoying each other’s companionship without needing to say a word until the tea and sandwiches came. Then as they sipped their tea and ate the sandwiches using only the tiny bites that their grandmother approved of they started sharing the story of the clues and how they found the final letter and journal.

"Oh yes," added Julien apologetically just before they finished the long description of the search. "You'll need to send for a woodworker from town before you use the fencing room for parties."