When he saw us enter, he leaped to his feet and bellowed a welcome with a burst of energy that made me feel as if a gusty wind had swept into the room. He was barrel-chested, maybe just five feet six, and bull-necked.
"Amazing, amazing," he said, coming around his desk to greet me. "I would have known her anywhere," he told Pru. "She looks like both of them. Come in, come in," he beckoned, guiding us to the leather sofa on his right.
"So," he said, pulling a chair up to face us. "You've made your way home." He shook his head. "I shouldn't be surprised. I anticipated this day. Your grandmother once told me that the land, that farm, all of it was as much a part of you all as--"
"My grandmother?"
I looked at Pru, and she quickly rolled her eyes back to Mr. Nokleby-Cook.
"Oh, my God," he said, sitting back, "of course. How would you ever have known?"
"Known what? I don't understand. What are you saying?" I asked with more authority.
"Well, how do I explain this?" he asked, looking down and thinking aloud.
"Just tell it to her straight," Pru advised, and then looked at me. "She's a great deal stronger and more mature than you can imagine."
"I bet. Sure. Well," he continued, leaning forward now with his hands pressed together. "Your sister, or should I say, the one you thought was your brother Noble, had a relationship with the boy next door, Elliot Fletcher. When she became pregnant with you, your grandmother kept her secluded, and when you were born, as you do know, you were kept secluded and hidden away for some time. Your grandmother eventually married Dave Fletcher, and the world . . . the world," he said, smirking, "I mean the local community, came to believe you were Dave Fletcher's child, a child he had with your
grandmother. She wanted it that way. She wanted your mother to remain your uncle Noble, you see."
Somewhere, deep in my soul, I could hear a small laugh, like the laugh of an infant. Should I say I always knew? For surely I did. I sensed it, felt it, and in my way, understood it. We were too close, Noble and I, Celeste and I. I was always more than a sister. I saw it in the way she looked at me when she didn't know I was watching her. I heard it in her voice and felt it in her soft touch.
"I'm sorry you had to learn all this in this manner," Mr. Noldeby-Cook said.
"Who else would be able to explain it to me?" I asked him pointedly. "I had no family, and my guardians, my foster parents, would surely have fled the very sight of me had they known all that."
He nodded.
"Perhaps so."
"What about Panther?" I asked.
"Oh, I don't know all that much about him anymore. He was taken in pretty quickly by foster parents who later adopted him. I had some trust money to forward to him, or to them to keep for him, but all that was done about eight, nine years ago.
"Which brings me to other news for you, good news. There was a man with whom your grandmother had an
ongoing business relationship. His name was Bogart, and he had something of a New Age shop. He sold your mother's special herbal mixes and arranged for them to be sold in a more
commercial manner. At one time she was producing quite a bit, in fact.
"Anyway, he had no children of his own, and recently he passed away. His attorney contacted me to tell me he had left the bulk of his estate to you."
"To me?"
"Yes, and I might say it's a considerable sum. Makes me want to invest in these New Age shops, with their crystals and stones and herbal magic," he told Pru. "The fact is, Celeste, when you turn eighteen, you will be a rather wealthy young woman."
"Isn't that wonderful!" Pru cried.
I shook my head in wonder. All this happening now, now that I had returned. Mrs. Cukor would never know how right she was when she said I had to go home.
"Anyway, I want you to give a good deal of thought now to what you want to do with yourself. You have more than just an old farm to consider. For now, the funds are well invested in safe entities. I'll have a full accounting for you in a day or so."
He slapped his own knees and stood up.
"Brice is getting her enrolled in the school?" he asked Pru.
"Yes, he is. She can start tomorrow here if she likes," she said.