The pair were sitting in the small dining room, having just finished their breakfasts and now drinking coffee and reading their papers, an expression of their defiance against this new electronic world. Theresa came in and refreshed their cups, needing only a nod from each of them to express their appreciation. She headed back into the kitchen to prep the staff lunch.
"Oh, hullo," Karen mused as she read something. "Sotheby's just sold Botticelli's
Young Man Holding A Roundel
for ninety-two million."
Mike stopped reading just long enough to peer over the rim of his own paper at his wife.
"You are
not
selling your great-grandfather's Botticelli, young lady," he said in a quiet but very firm tone.
Karen responded by way of a sigh and then returned to reading her paper.
"I hate that stupid painting..." she muttered under her breath.
***
Disclaimer:
All characters are 18 years of age or older while portrayed engaging in sexual activity. This story is a prequel/sequel (sprequel?) to my other work, Alex & Alexa. As always, many thanks and gratuitous panty shots from Freja and Jeanie to my long-suffering editor and beta-reader for their assistance in polishing up and improving this work. Reviews are welcome; flames will be snickered at and deleted with extreme prejudice. Enjoy!
Please Note:
There are incest themes with a secondary couple in this story. Just a forewarning.
Chapter XXV-- Home Is What You Make Of It
Later that morning, in the seneschal's office in the west wing ...
"Mrs. DeBourne is interested in seeing that you start understanding the duties of running the Manor, not to mention hosting events," Tatyana said from behind her desk while Alex and Alexa sat on the visitor's side in comfortable chairs. While Tatyana may have preferred a more compact space for herself to work in, she needed to be able to accommodate visitors, sometimes two at a time. More than that, one of those visitors might be her employer, the rather gigantic Michael DeBourne, so space was a necessity.
Alex and Alexa both nodded, having been instructed by Karen to see Tatyana and start getting a feeling for how things were going to be now that they all lived here. The housewarming that officially declared the Blackwell Manor 'occupied' was just about a month away, and there were endless details to be seen to. While they had no doubt Tatyana would have it all under control, she was under orders to begin imparting her organizational wisdom to the young couple. While they might have learned from Mike and Karen, the elder couple were probably too busy to really be bothered explaining themselves. They did that often enough when teaching at the university.
"The first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with the names on the invites list," the Russian woman said, sliding several printed sheets across the desk to them both. Naturally, she had the entire list in the database, but she liked to have hard copies handy, just in case. Having lived in Russia when she was younger, she had little trust for public power grids, and couldn't wait for the entire residence to be converted to privately owned solar panels with backup generators. Not to mention the power outage they'd suffered here at the manor just over a week ago. "Take a look through the list and see what names you recognize. Mr. DeBourne, you have A through M, Ms. Blackwell, you have N through Z..."
The young couple began scanning down the lists, making notes in their heads about who they were likely to see. The list indicated who had responded already, with confirmations, declines (almost none of those), and a few tentative unsure. Alex recognized several names from the Bridle Path neighbourhood- a judge, a megastar rapper, sports icons, a few business magnates...
His father's family was coming, or rather, a small delegation of the sizable clan was. At this point, it was Alex's grandfather Orion, patriarch of the DeBournes, his grandmother Anne, his uncles Connor and Josh, his aunt Ronnie, and Connor's wife Stevie, along with their two kids, Derek and Starsha. It'd be good to see them again, especially considering that Alexa was going to be a surprise for them.
The DeBournes were the nicest people on the planet, a stark contrast to the Blackwells. It never ceased to irk the Blackwells that Karen preferred her husband's family to her own. Not that Alex blamed her, mind. He mostly took after his father's family in any event. Good times ahead.
"Oh, hey, Uncle Hannibal's gonna be here," he remarked casually as he read.
"He is?!" Alexa exclaimed, promptly forgetting her own portion of the list and leaning over to look at her nephew's. "As in Hannibal Blackwell the Fifth?! Mom told me a lot about him!"
"I saw that name, and just assumed he was a member of Mrs. DeBourne's family," Tatyana said, intrigued at the response from Alexa. "Is he of special note?"
"He's really,
really
different for a Blackwell," Alex replied. "Y'know how mom's Blackwell family is all scary-intelligent and talented and stuff, right?"
The seneschal nodded. "As if your Hall of Ancestors and the various other portraits and busts around the property were not enough to indicate, yes, she has told me something about them and their gifts. But this Uncle Hannibal of yours has never come up."
"We call him uncle, but that's maybe a bit of a stretch," Alex said. "He's from the U.K. side of the family, the younger line that holds all the peerages and titles. His full name is Hannibal Fotheringay Phipps-Blackwell, titled Baron Snelgrove, and he's named after Hannibal Blackwell, one of the most ruthless and gifted members of the family way back in the day. He was a privateer for King James, and apparently scared the bejeezus out of royal courts across Europe."
