Beau, p.13
Beau, page 13
They spoke about the gardens until lunch time and then changed the subject to getting ready for Halloween. The courthouse was going to be handing out candy, with Weston and Rogen there to hand it out. Then there was Jameson’s law office, too, going to hand out the big kind of candy bars that the kids loved. It seemed to him that the town was going all out this year, and he couldn’t be more proud of them. He and Danielle were going to be handing out candy, too, at their home with the faeries. They were excited about being around the children, too.
They’d already gotten lots of bags of candy since they were situated right off the main road going through town. He’d been telling kids that they were going to be disappointed if they didn’t see some of the kids at their home, too. Beau thought that this was going to be the best holiday ever.
~*~
The faeries were going to help her with her costume for trick-or-treat night. Danielle was happy to have them with her and Beau as part of their costumes. Beau was going to dress up as a faerie lord, and she was going to be a faerie princess. They’d been planning it all month so that the faeries could be a part of the night. They were going to be flying around like part of the show.
“Do you suppose we could give a little magic to some of the children?” She asked Stack what he meant. “Just to ones that seem to be needing a little extra loving and friendship. It would only be a spark that would last through the night. Then it would be gone the next day. But it might give them what they need in order to be brave about becoming friends with some of the other children.”
“I don’t see a problem with it so long as it’s not dangerous. Nor does it last that long. We don’t want to harm the children in any way.” Stack said he’d never do that but would like to see the children happy. “You know, parents go all out on this holiday as well. Some of them work really hard on costumes for their kids, too. They might need a little boost from you as well.”
“Oh, how exciting for us.” Stack was going to rotate all the faeries that wanted to be a part of it throughout the night. It might only be for a few minutes, but with the number of kids in their town, they might well get to see a lot of children. She’d heard from them that they get a special kind of magic from children that they can’t get anywhere else.
The faeries had been very helpful since they got the house finished. She still felt bad for not allowing them to do the house when she first moved in with Beau. It would have saved her a great deal of time and heartache. Going through the things that had been left behind by her father had been hard, but things from her grandmother had really killed any kind of love for the woman. She was a mean, nasty sort of person that had ruled them all with an iron fist. Even when they were adults.
She was setting the table when Beau came home from work. In the morning, they were going to the courthouse to find out what happened with the two people they had an interest in. The other Sheppards were going to be there as well because they were going to support Rogen and the rest of the Watson family. Jameson was going to be their attorney, and she thought that he was looking forward to that as much as they were getting things done with the other woman. She’d caused enough trouble as it was.
“What are we having?” She told him. “I love pot roast and potatoes. Especially with bread to sop up the gravy with. How was work today?”
“Better. I think that I’m getting used to their gossip and can tune it out better. I don’t mind that they say things anymore about people, but I wish they’d stop it. Some of the things they say are just plain mean.” He agreed with her but never asked what they were saying. She’d tell him if it involved something that they could do something about. But usually, he would only hear about it if she mentioned it in passing. “Did I tell you that tomorrow is my day off? I’m going to the library to read to the younger kids at noon.”
“I wanted to do that when we were younger, but Mother wouldn’t allow us to be associated with those sorts of people. She treated us with disdain when we even mentioned it.”
Beau had told her the other night about how his grandfather had beaten him so badly that he had three broken ribs as well as a bloodied lip. He wasn’t allowed to shift either to make himself better. It was his punishment for asking if he could get a job after school in his junior year. While he did heal faster than a human would, it was still several weeks before he could get around without wincing. “I don’t miss them at all. Not even when I’m down in the dumps about something do I think about them in a good way. I’m not glad that they’re dead, I wish they could have gone to prison for some time for what they did, but I’m happy that they’re not in my life.”
Danielle couldn’t believe how well they turned out for what had been done to them as children through their adult years. She didn’t think she could have survived had she even had half of the way they’d been treated. But each one of them was kind and well-mannered. They treated their fellow man the same way they treated everyone, with compassion and tenderness. Sometimes they could be harsh when the time called for it, but otherwise they were the nicest men that she knew.
After dinner, they stayed in the dining room just talking about their day. Beau had several investments of his own that he was keeping an eye on, and he was happy to report that the woman he’d been trying to get to expand, Tess the soap woman, was going to take him up on his offer to help her so that she could get into a bigger building and make a name for herself. Jameson was going to go over the contracts with her next week, and that would be the beginning of a whole new relationship.
“She’ll be making the kind of money that she only dreamed of once she gets up and going. It’s going to take about a month to get all the equipment that she needs in place, but after that she’ll be rolling along.” She asked if she was going to make other kinds of soaps. “Not at first. She just wants to get her product out in a timely manner so that she can get some reviews from people who bought from her.”
“Well, I’m happy for her. You said that the building that you’re getting for her would have a shop where she could sell things too. I’m going to make it a point to go there weekly to make sure I don’t miss any of her new designs or smells.” He said with a laugh that she should work for her. “I thought about it. But I was worried that she’d think I was spying on her for you. I don’t want her to think that when you guys have a good relationship going on right now.”
“I guess that’s true. I’d hate for her to feel obligated too in thinking that she’d have to hire you. You’re brilliant, have I told you that?” She told him not enough, and they both laughed. “Anyway, I’ve been reaching out to other vendors that I’ve come across when we’re out and about. Did you know that there is a quilting club in town? They make the most beautiful quilts I’ve ever seen. And they usually donate them to causes so that they can be raffled off. That’s where the one they’re working on now goes to the Center for Adults. I guess they need new books in their library, and this is a good way to make the money to purchase them.”
“The town library has had a raffle too. They get money from late fees and such, but sometimes they need to have whole sections replaced. The children’s area is in such a state of flux all the time that I’m surprised when they have raffles and fundraisers that get them money enough to buy whole sections of books.” He asked her if they take donations; it seemed like a good cause to donate to. “Yes, they do. I don’t know the address right now, but I can get it for you tomorrow. I’m excited to be a part of the library where people can go to use the computers and books at the same time.”
After locking up the house, they were headed to bed. Danielle was exhausted and needed about fifty hours of sleep, but knew that she’d not miss a night making love with Beau for anything. However, almost as soon as her head hit her pillow, she was out for the night. She woke up briefly when Beau wrapped himself around her, but then she went right back to sleep. It would be good to get a full night’s rest when she had so much to do tomorrow.
Chapter 10
On cross-examination, Jameson seemed to be getting answers to questions that he didn’t ask. Every time he brought up the ‘game’ that Allison had been playing, she’d go on this tirade about how nobody should be upset with her for having some fun. Even bringing up that no one had had any fun with her supposed game, she still didn’t understand why she’d been jailed when the Watsons had won.
“Won what?” She could never get past the fact that she thought what she was doing was just fine, as she’d not hurt anyone nor had anyone died. “But they did have to relive the death of their mother over again when you thought to tease them into thinking that she was still alive. Most family members were upset with you because of the way that you treated them. Lying to them about their mother.”
“It’s just something that I do. I can’t believe that anyone would believe that I was their long-dead mother anyway. That’s what makes it so much fun for me. To see who breaks down first. Usually it’s the oldest children, but this time I couldn’t fool any of them. That’s how they won against a professional like myself.” He asked her where she got the DNA from that said she was their mother. “I didn’t use it, so you can’t bring that up. But it was easy enough to get when you grease a few palms. Do people still say that? Greasing a few palms? Anyway, that’s what I did when I was preparing for this game. There’s a great deal of work on my end to make this work. Not to mention money. I had to have my hair dyed a certain color. Boy, was that hard. And have a tattoo—that caused harm to my person getting that done, but am I suing them for that? No, I’m not. I’m just saying that they won, and they should be happy that I’ve given up so soon. I just don’t understand these people.”
“Perhaps it’s you that they don’t understand.” She waved him off. She’d done that several times since he’d been talking to her. “I don’t understand what that means when you wave me off. Are you admitting that you were wrong to do this? Or are you saying that it doesn’t matter how they feel because you’ve declared them the winner? Of what we still don’t know, but there you have it.”
“Of course, I’m not going to admit to being wrong about this. I wasn’t. They were just more stubborn about listening to me. You know, I had an entire life I was building up just for them. I had things all worked out on how I didn’t remember certain things. It was going to be because of a head injury that I had when I was in the accident.” He told her that she’d not been in an accident. “You’re stupid, aren’t you? Not myself, but their mother had been in one. Will you please pay attention?” He only looked at the judge.
“You’re going to keep your opinions to yourself about the attorneys. I’ve told you this before. Just answer the questions they have, then we can get out of here in a reasonable time.” There were times when he wanted to shake the shit out of her. But when he’d gotten nothing from her, he sat down. She wasn’t going to get away with this, and he was going to do his damnedest to make sure that she ended up in prison for a while. “Mr. Toddler, it’s your turn to ask questions. Though I don’t know what you’re going to expect from her. Mr. Sheppard has been trying for the last several hours.”
As Toddler asked about the time she pretended to be a long-lost daughter of a couple, he turned them off. He knew that it was going to be more of the same, and he was frankly sick of dealing with her. But he would simply to get her off the streets and out of the way of trying this again.
“You did really well.” He smiled at Rogen when she reached out to him. “We all knew she was off her noodle, but she’s proven that her noodle was wet and without substance, too.”
“If she asks the judge about making this all go away one more time, I think he’s going to hit her with his gavel. She seems to have a one-track mind about everything. I wish I could have gotten her to state the rules of her game, but all she did was wave me off again. I wonder what that means in her mind.” Rogen said that she probably made up the rules as she went along. Thus making it impossible for her to tell anyone what they were. “I can see that. She’s been playing this game for the last twelve years, and I don’t see her ending it just because she’s been caught this time. The rules will change again, and there won’t be any more winners as far as she is concerned.”
“That’s what scares me. She’s going to go to some family that is desperate for their family member to be alive and hurt one of them badly, and they’ll take it out on her.” Rogen said that she could only hope that happened. “I know what you mean. But it won’t stop her. Not until she’s someplace where she can’t get to others to hurt.”
He heard his name being called out, and he looked up at the judge. He was asking each of the attorneys who were on his side of the room if they wanted to take a break. That he needed one badly. He’d not realized that it was nearly noon when he sat down and agreed that he could use a break as well.
Once he was out of the stuffy building, he drew in a deep breath of air. It had been raining this morning, and now the sun was out and shining brightly. Fall was fast approaching, and he couldn’t wait for the cooler weather. It was his favorite time of the year.
“How did the estate sale go?” He grinned at his brother, Nash. “That good, huh? I’m happy for you. I’ll help you move it in when you get it here. You did buy enough to fill out more of your home, didn’t you?”
“I bought it all. Even the little salt wells that she had in her China cabinet. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I even have glasses and silverware that I didn’t think that I’d get when I went up there.” Nash patted him on the back. “It’s being packed up as we speak and brought here over the weekend. The delivery company is even giving me a good deal on bringing it to me because they have another load to take back from here. It saved them money by having a return trip.”
“What kind of things did you get? Besides silverware and salt wells?” He told him about the bedroom suits that he got, as well as the records that came with the stereo. He had a list of things that he couldn’t believe that he’d gotten for so little money. “You sound like you had fun too.”
“I did. The only thing that I didn’t buy was the car. It wasn’t anything that I could see myself driving around in, so I declined the offer to purchase it.” He told him what it was, and Nash agreed that it would be out of place in a town like the one they lived in. “Yeah, expensive cars would have made me stick out like a thumb with a pie on it. Remember when grandma used to say that?”
“I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately. Her and Dad. I think that he’d be proud of us all with how we’ve made something of ourselves with what he left us.” Jameson didn’t remember his dad all that well. He’d been only seven when he’d been killed over twenty years ago now. “I forget about that, too. That you were so young when he was murdered.”
“Do you ever wonder what would have happened to us had he not been killed? I mean, do you think that he would have divorced Mother given the chance?” Nash told him that he didn’t think their dad had much of a backbone when it came to standing up to Mother. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too. I just wondered if he would have taken us away from her and we’d be better off with him.”
“I don’t think he would have been able to. She was a strong force, as you know. I think that even if he had not been killed when he had, if he’d tried to divorce her, she would have killed him then. She was forever in control of everything that went on.” Nash patted him on the back again. “I’m proud of you for how you turned out. I never thought that you’d make it through school with the way that Mother treated all of us. Grandfather didn’t help either. I still have the scar that he gave me when I was twelve and asked about dinner being put on the table. He used one of the silverware that was on the table on my arm and stabbed me four times before Archie got him off me.”
“I remember that. I thought you were going to bleed to death before you could shift and take care of it.” Nash nodded and ordered his lunch for him when they finally made it in line at the ice cream shop. “They make a good burger here, and I’d gladly eat three of them myself. But I don’t want to be too full when I have to go back in. I might fall asleep.”
The two of them had a good lunch and were joined by the rest of the family. They talked about anything but the trial, and he was glad for that. His mind was working hard enough without adding their opinions to his already overworked mind. And the way things were going, it was going to be a long day, too.
“I have to leave. I have some things to do today.” He kissed Danielle on the cheek and told her that he loved her when she made her way to the library. Beau was lucky in his mate because, of all the women, he thought she was the nicest. She sure could make him feel good when he was down in the dumps.
When it was time to go back into the courtroom, he noticed that Allison was missing. Apparently, she’d caused some trouble with the judge and had been sent back to jail for the duration of the day. Thankfully for him, he’d gotten his questions out of the way before she’d left. He didn’t know what the others were going to do.
As it turned out, they had plenty of evidence to turn over to the court system and witness statements, too. He was impressed with the others who were sharing the table against the woman and told them so when he had the chance. They were impressed with him because he’d shown her true colors when asking her about her ‘game’ that she’d been playing. By four-thirty, they were closing up for the day, and he was going to have to come back in tomorrow. He had to admit that it went much smoother with Allison gone.
He and the other lawyers went out for pizza after gathering up their things. He liked them and was glad that they all had a common goal to get Allison off the streets. David said that he had been working on this since she’d approached his client about being his daughter from a previous relationship.
