Part 2. Christmas 1996
Seth Gonzales sat at his artist easel on the back-deck solarium of their wooded cottage in the suburbs of Seattle along with the trusted family beagle, Buddie, the dog formally known as Prince. After a circuitous path he was right where he felt his passion. Spending thirty years in corporate marketing and the last twenty-five as a senior Marketing Director of Cannon Street Coffee he had experienced it all and had enough. He was done. Although a successful career filled with travel around the world to new and perspective Cannon Street Coffee shop locations, he always felt misplaced and unfulfilled. Seated outside bathed in the filtered rays of the sun through the leaves he was finally where he was destined to be but not without a price. Early retirement at the age of fifty-five from the corporate rat race was his dream and transitioning into a full-time artist was always encouraged by his wife, Grace.
They met at Lynnwood High School as partners in a sophomore cooking class and for Seth it was love at first site. Before the Christmas break, he found a sprig of mistletoe on the kitchen counter and hung it over their station in hopes of a getting a Christmas kiss. When class was over, he summoned up the courage.
“Grace?” he said with a big grin and pointed upward.
“Oh,” and after seeing the green sprig above, she smiled and gave Seth a big kiss and hug. It was magical.
“Merry Christmas Grace.”
“Merry Christmas Seth, oh and by the way, that’s not mistletoe, it’s basil,” and they both broke out in hysterical laughter.
Eventually they were married and through the years most of their family dreams were realized. Unfortunately, she was not able to share the dream of retirement. Grace lost her battle with cancer during the Christmas of 1973. The loves of his life were their two daughters, Mary who was sixteen years old and still attended Shorecrest High School and thirteen-year-old Annie still in Kellogg Middle School. Working through some rough patches they were a very close family and always celebrated the Christmas spirit to its fullest. It was a way to honor their mother’s memory since Christmas time was her favorite time of year.
Seth’s fortune also changed when he met a free spirited thirty-year-old author, Layla McVie, while both volunteering at the Ballard Food Bank. As if the planets aligned she was a Children’s Picture Book author in search of an illustrator and he was an artist. She lived in an artist loft downtown in Pioneer Square. They struck up a fast friendship and became business partners in producing their books.
While working on their third book, Seth was receiving correspondence from Matsumoto & Ono a law firm in Tokyo. The many snail-mail communications where treated as junk mail that he threw in the round file along with the others. It was two weeks before Christmas break, when there was a knock on the front door causing Buddie to start barking. It was only 10:00 AM and too early for the girls to be home from school.
“Okay pal, hang on.” As he crossed from the solarium, through the house to the front door. Standing before him was a beautiful young woman in a fine tailored black suit and briefcase and what appeared to be a five-year-old boy.
“Mr. Gonzales?”
“Uh yes, Merry Christmas, how can I help you?”
“May we come in?”
“I’m sorry, of course, please come on in, pardon the mess.”
Immediately the little boy ran up to Buddie and they scampered out to the back-deck solarium to play.
“That’s amazing,” said the young lady as they both sat down, “he hasn’t shown that much emotion in months.”
“Yes, it is. Buddie usually isn’t that friendly right off the bat. Can I get you something, coffee, tea or eggnog? Maybe the little boy would like some Christmas cookies?”
“No thank you Mr. Gonzales. That’s very kind. You know, I bet you’re wondering why we are here.”
“It did cross my mind.”
“I’m Ms. Hana Aiko, a lawyer at Matsumoto & Ono out of Tokyo,” as she handed him her business card.
“Okay, did I win something or am I being sued?”
“Well Mr. Gonzalez. . .”
“Please call me Seth.”
“Alright… Seth, after numerous attempts to contact you have failed it was our decision to meet with you and conduct business in person. Do you know a Mrs. Atsuko Tanaka?” as she took some papers out of her briefcase and spread them out on the coffee table.
“Nope, doesn’t ring a bell. Who is she?”
“Well, please pardon my bluntness but perhaps you remember her by her maiden name, Atsuko Chihiro.” Thinking he misunderstood what she was saying he said, “Excuse me? What did you say?”
“I know this is a lot to take in but were you not in Tokyo in 1986? A Ms. Atsuko Chihiro who was then an executive vice president at Cannon Street Coffee claims you were.” Seth sat back on the couch and looked out at the little boy playing with Buddie outside.
“Ms. Atsuko married a Mr. Haru Tanaka, a local businessman, in 1988 and he accepted and adopted her infant son Itsuki as his own.” Tragically, they were both killed in an automobile accident six months ago. Other than Itsuki, they had no other blood relatives and in her last will and testament, in the event of their deaths, guardianship of Itsuki would be given to you, his biological father.
To be continued