by Zoe Piper
"Go ahead, son. No matter what it is, we'll work it out together," his father reassured him. Jase hoped he still felt the same in a few minutes time.
Taking the envelopes he'd brought in from the car, he gave one to his parents, one to each of his siblings and one to his best friends. They looked at him questioningly. "Open them." He gestured and then waited as they took out the sheaf of papers. There was a moment's silence as they scanned the paperwork.
His father was the first to speak. "Son, I don't understand. This is from a lawyer and it says that a transfer of funds will be made to our accounts once we've signed the attached form." He looked at his son, confusion on his face.
"Ours says the same, and there's stuff here about a trust fund for Mia." Sarah was just as confused. "Jase, what's going on? Where is this all coming from?"
"Hey, isn't the Loxley Trust the one that backs the Sherwood Foundation?" Matt had read further through the paperwork, his quick analytical brain picking up what the others hadn't seen yet.
"Mate, I know you're now the head of the Foundation, but you can't use the money like this." Mike pointed to the papers in Sarah's hand. Jase could hear Sarah muttering under her breath as she continued to read. She suddenly stopped and stared at him.
"Oh." She put a hand to her mouth, realisation dawning. "Loxley Trust. Sherwood Foundation." She breathed. "No. No. No!"
"Sarah, what? What's wrong?" Mike grabbed his wife's hand, but her focus was totally on Jase.
"Robin Hood," she stated. Jase nodded.
"It's taken you long enough. Thought you would have figured it out years ago."
"Guess I wasn't looking for it," Sarah replied, half smiling.
The others in room looked between the two of them. "You know I hate it when you two do that. It's creepy that, as non-siblings, you have a better connection than we do as siblings," Matt observed.
"Sarah. For love of all that's holy. What the hell is going on?" Mike dragged his wife's attention off Jase.
She looked at him. "Do you remember that Christmas we got bows and arrows? We would have been about ten or eleven." Mike nodded.
Jessica laughed. "Oh goodness. I was about eight, I think, and was so annoyed that I didn't get one." Sarah nodded.
"And do you remember what game we played all summer?" Not giving Mike a chance to speak, she rushed on, "Robin Hood and his merry men. We'd seen the Kevin Costner movie on tv and we became obsessed with it."
"What does that have to do with all this though?"
Sarah sighed exasperatedly at her husband's denseness.
"Robin Hood. Robin of Loxley. Sherwood Forest," she spelled out. Mike was still looking at her blankly when Jessica gasped.
"It's your money, isn't it?" she asked her brother. At his slow nod, she looked down at the papers in her hand and back up at him again, face going pale. "How?"
Everyone was looking at Jase in amazement now. He grinned ruefully. "I won the Lotto."
"What the fuck?" Matt burst out. He then quickly looked at his mother. "Sorry, Mum."
"I agree with you, son, so I'll let it pass this time," Sharon responded. "Jason Charles MacKenzie, explain."
Ouch. Full named by his mother. No one ever called him Jason. He'd been Jase since he came home from the hospital and Matt had found Jason too much of a mouthful.
"Twelve years ago, just after my eighteenth birthday I won the Powerball draw."
"Twelve years?"
"How much?"
His mother and brother spoke at the same time.
"Um. Twenty-five million plus change," he admitted. The room fell silent, six pairs of eyes staring at him with a mixture of shock and disbelief.
"You're telling us, twelve years ago you won millions of dollars and you've never said a word to anyone?" Matt glared at his younger sibling.
"But why didn't you say anything, son?" his father asked.
"I'm sorry, dad. I'd just told you I was gay, and you were nothing but supportive," he looked at all of them, "but you were also coming to terms with the news. If I'd told you I was suddenly richer than our wildest dreams, then I just felt, maybe wrongly, that it would have been too much, and you would have lost sight of me as your son. That I would have become more of a freak in your minds." Jase felt tears prick the back of his eyes. He dropped his gaze to the floor. He didn't think he could bear to see the condemnation in their eyes. He heard a shuffling noise and then his mother was beside him, her arm going across his shoulders.
"Oh, my baby boy. We never, ever thought you were a freak. Yes, it was a shock when you told us you were gay, but we never thought of you as anything but our son." Jase looked up to see tears tracking down his mother's face. His own broke free and he buried his face in the comfort of his mother's embrace. He gave in to the emotion and stress he had been holding in. His mother stroked his back and murmured calming words under her breath to him. After a few minutes he gathered himself. A handful of tissues was shoved at him by his sister. She leaned down and gave him a hug and a kiss in support.
Wiping his face, he dared to look up at the others sitting watching him. Their expressions were a mixture of love and pride, but he could see they were also bursting with questions. He gave a half chuckle.
"Sorry, guys. I've been stressing about telling you for a long time and I guess it all caught up with me." Taking a deep breath, he summarised. "So, twelve years ago I won the big one and freaked out. With the help of the Lottery Commission, I put everything into a trust fund until I was thirty and then tried to live as normally as I could."
"But you've been working for the Foundation for five years now." Sarah commented.
"When I got back off my OE, I knew I wanted to do something positive with the money, but I didn't want anyone to know it was me. I roped Peter Harris into helping me and being the head of the Foundation and then told everyone he'd recruited me."
"Peter knew the truth then?" his father seemed a bit wounded that Jase had turned to another man for advice.
Jase nodded. "He has mentored me since school and I knew he would do a great job at the Foundation. It's not that I didn't trust any of you, but I wanted someone fairly impartial, who wasn't going to bring emotion into it, and I didn't think any of you would have appreciated working for someone younger and well, to put it bluntly, a hell of a lot richer than you."
"I'm glad you didn't say better looking 'cos I would have to disagree with you on that point." Matt grinned at his brother. Jase grinned back, realising Matt was okay with the news.
"Thanks, bro. Appreciate it." Matt understood what Jase was thanking him for and gave him a small nod.
"Mate. This is too much." Mike spoke up. He had been reading through the paperwork and he shifted his sleeping daughter onto his shoulder. "You've set up a trust for Mia and said matching ones will be set up for any more children we have."
Jase nodded. He looked at his brother and sister. "Same goes for you two. If you have kids, they will also have trusts set up in their names." At their astonished looks he explained. "Chances are I'll never be a dad myself, so this way I can know that my nieces and nephews and," with a grin at Sarah, "godchildren, will always be looked after."
"Why won't you be a dad, Jase? You and Kyle would make gorgeous babies." Sarah grinned at him. Jase didn't grin back. "Wait. What's happened with Kyle? Has he dumped you?"
"No. I don't think so."
At the vague words, more explanations were demanded, and Jase told them about what had happened with Kyle's parents. There were the expected shouts of outrage and indignation on Jase's behalf, but he calmed everyone down.
"So, what are you going to do now?" his mother asked.
"I need a couple of days away to just get my head on straight, mum. I'll be back before next weekend." He stood up to leave. "Please read through the paperwork. My lawyer is one of the best but if you want to seek separate advice, then please do. Also, it's up to you if you want to say anything, but I'd prefer if my name was left out of it as much as possible. I li
ke the anonymity."
"Where are you going, love?"
Jase smiled at Sharon. "Just a little place I have hidden away. I'll invite you down one day soon, but now I just need some time alone to regroup."
"Well, if you aren't going to tell me where, you will message me to let me know you've arrived safe," she told him as she hugged him tight.
"I promise, mum. It's only a couple of hours drive away, so you'll hear from me by late afternoon."
Jase hugged and kissed his family and left. He had one stop to make before he left the city and then he'd be on his way to his childhood happy place.
Chapter 18
Kyle was equally worried about and pissed at his boyfriend. He had got back to their cabin only to find Jase gone and a message on his phone that he'd left in the room. He had raced down to the wharf in the hope of catching Jase, but the last ferry had left ten minutes earlier. Feeling heartsick, he had returned to the cabin where he had tried in vain to get hold of his runaway lover. After a couple of hours of leaving voice mail and sending text messages, each one reassuring Jase that he loved him and that he didn't care about the money, he had resigned himself to the fact that Jase had turned off his phone and didn't want to talk to him.
After a night of virtually no sleep he had left word for his family that he had returned to the city and that he would see them when they returned in a few days' time. He had caught the first available ferry, and after picking up his car from his apartment, drove straight to Jase's Mission Bay home. Finding no one there, he had gone to Sarah and Mike's, only to find them out as well. He had just pulled his phone out to call Sarah when Mike's sedan pulled into the driveway. He hurried out of his car and rushed over to the couple.
"Kyle, what are you doing here?" Sarah asked him as Mike got Mia's capsule from the back of the car.
"Have you seen Jase? I need to talk to him urgently," he pleaded, not caring how desperate he sounded.
Sarah nodded as she said, "Yes, we've just come from his parent's place."
Before she could say anything else, Kyle rushed out, "Oh, thank God. He's okay then?"
She laid a hand on his arm in reassurance. "Sort of. He's a bit stressed and upset, but he's okay."
Kyle felt awful. He should have not let Jase leave without talking to him, reassuring him. "Okay. Is he still there? Do you think he wants to see me?"
"He left a couple of hours ago. We stayed to talk with his family. He dropped a huge bombshell on us today. We're still trying to understand it all."
"You guys really had no idea?" Kyle asked her.
"Look, come inside so I can settle Mia and I'll tell you everything we know."
Kyle followed the couple into the house and waited while Sarah settled Mia into her bed. Once she was back with them, she filled Kyle in on what had happened that morning. Once Sarah had finished, he asked "Where has he gone then, and why?"
Mike passed Kyle a mug of coffee. "We don't know, he just said he had a little place hidden away and it was a couple of hours drive from Auckland. As to why, well, I've only ever seen him do this once or twice before, and it was usually when he was stressed and needed time to clear his head. He always came back after a couple of days, so I wouldn't worry too much."
"I need to find him. I can't wait a couple of days." He looked at the couple. "You have no idea where he may have gone?"
"We could try ringing the guys, they may think of something," Mike suggested.
Sarah shook her head. "Only Charlie is around. Stuart is over in Aussie with his cousin and Brett is camping somewhere in the back of beyond."
Mike picked up his phone and dialled Charlie. He put it on speaker so they could all hear. After a few rings, Charlie answered. His voice echoed over the speaker.
"Yeah. Charlie here."
"Mate, it's Mike and I've got Sarah and Kyle here. You're on speaker."
"Hi, mate. What's up?"
Kyle leaned a little closer to the phone on the counter. "We're looking for Jase. He's taken off and no one knows where and he's not answering his phone. You haven't heard from him, have you?"
"What do you mean he's taken off?" Charlie replied. "Why?"
The three of them glanced at each other. Sarah shook her head. "There's some things that have happened but it's not our place to say," Sarah told him.
"What? Is Jase okay?" Charlie sounded worried.
"He's fine. We had a situation and he's taken off," Kyle told him.
"Look, I have no idea where he might be, and I'd come and help look but I'm driving out to the airport."
"Why are you going to the airport?" Mike asked.
A disgruntled growl came over the line. "My idiot brother is arriving back with a couple of mates, but he only let mum know as they were getting on the plane in LA. She's got her hands full as she's fully booked, so I have to go and pick them up. God knows where she's going to put them."
"If you need a bed, sing out. You can always stay here," Sarah offered.
"Thanks. I'm almost there, so if I hear from Jase I'll let you know."
"Thanks, Charlie. I appreciate it," Kyle replied. "We'll let you know when we find him."
With a quick goodbye, Charlie hung up.
"Back to square one then." Kyle ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Sarah's phone chimed with an incoming message. Kyle looked up hopefully.
Sarah grabbed her phone. "It's from Jase. He's arrived and he's okay. Says he'll see us in a couple of days' time." Kyle was already reaching for his phone and dialling the familiar number. The call went straight to voice mail. Kyle growled in anger. He was going to throttle Jase when he found him.
"Kyle, I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do." Sarah looked close to tears.
"Don't apologise. It's not your fault your best friend is a stubborn ass."
She laughed at that. "Oh, I'm well aware of how stubborn that man can be. I just feel bad for you. I can see you’re hurt and I'm so cross at him for doing this to you."
A squawk from the bedroom sounded. "Ah, the princess awakes." Mike smiled as he went to get his daughter. A few minutes later he returned and handed the little girl to her mother. "I reckon Jase's punishment for this is dirty nappy duty for a month."
Sarah laughed. "Good idea, but we'll postpone it until she's on solids, then it will be a real punishment." She sat on the couch to feed her daughter. Kyle wasn't sure what to do next. He didn't want to go back to an empty apartment, but he didn't want to outstay his welcome. He picked up his keys and phone.
"Where are you going?" Mike asked him, a frown creasing his forehead.
"I should head home."
"And do what? Sit and mope? No. Stay here tonight. We can have dinner and a couple of beers, and we can tell you stories about Jase that will embarrass him."
"Yes, stay, Kyle. Please," Sarah implored him.
Touched by the offer, he accepted gratefully. "Thanks. I will."
Sarah smiled as she fed Mia. A look crossed her face as she suddenly thought of something. "Peter. He'll know where Jase is."
"Peter Harris?" Kyle queried.
"Yes. He's known about everything since the beginning. Jase confided in him when he won, and Peter has been looking after the trust fund since it was set up." She pointed to the counter. "His number is in my phone. Ring him, Mike."
Mike did as he was asked. He shook his head when there was no answer. He left a voicemail and hung up. "Hopefully, he's just out of range and will call back soon. Let's get some steaks going on the barbie and we'll try again after dinner."
They had just finished clearing the plates away after their meal when Sarah's phone rang. It was Peter Harris returning their call. Sarah put him on speaker phone as she answered.
"Sarah, what is going on? I'm sorry it's taken so long but I was out fishing, and my phone battery ran out." The older man's voice was a gentle rumble.
"Peter. Thank you for calling back. I hope you can help us." She explained what had happened and that they were desperately trying to fin
d Jase.
"Oh, the silly boy. I've been telling him for months to come clean with you all. He's been ignoring it in the hope it would go away."
"Do you know where he may be, Peter?" Kyle asked, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice.
"I do. I normally wouldn't violate his privacy, but in this instance, I'm going to."
"Where is he?"
"He bought a cottage down in the Coromandel a few months ago. He said it was his happy place. I can't remember the address, but it's in Flaxmill Bay, near Cooks Beach."
"Thank you, Peter. You've been a big help," Kyle said.
"No problem. I look forward to seeing you on Saturday. I presume the party for Jase's birthday is still going ahead?" the older man asked.
"Yes. He'll be there if I have to drag him kicking and screaming," Kyle reassured him.
They rung off from Peter and Kyle asked Mike and Sarah.
"Where is the place and how do I get there?"
"It's roughly 170 kilometres away near Whitianga but the road is through hills and is about a three-hour drive. Definitely too late to go tonight. Get a good night's sleep and you can head out in the morning," Sarah told him. Kyle didn't want to wait but he also knew that he couldn't be driving on unfamiliar roads in the dark.
Sarah brought up the map on the computer to give Kyle an idea of the route as he would lose GPS coverage for some of the journey when the road wound through a series of hills. Looking at the map, he could see Flaxmill Bay was directly east from their current position. "As the crow flies it's not very far, is it?" he commented.
Mike agreed. "There is a ferry service down to Whitianga, which is the main town just across the estuary from Cooks Beach. It's a nice way to travel down, but it still takes a couple of hours though. Whitianga does have a small airport, too, for light aircraft and helicopters for those that want to fly in."
"Fly in?"
Sarah nodded. "I don't know how easy it would be to arrange a flight down at short notice, but we could try. If you fly into Whitianga, you can catch the ferry over to Flaxmill. It will be a lot quicker than driving."
