Page 12 of Ayden

“I think from what I heard, your parents beat all of you like that.” That was true, but he didn’t like to think about that right now. “Selma is coming to see you. She has a dad question. Are you all right with them calling you dad?”

“Are you kidding? It’s the best thing ever. I love it when she calls my brothers uncles, too. It’s like they were born into this family, and we’ve been together forever.” She laughed a little with him. “I get a wife and two daughters right off the bat. What man wouldn’t be happy about that?”

“I guess I never thought about it as you having a family. They’ve been mine since…well, for all their lives. But having you in our lives has made so many changes. They do sleep better, and I know that I do as well. It’s nice having a home to go to and not to mention an entire family to depend on, too.” He said that he loves that as well. “Oh, I have to go. I have some things that I have to take care of right now.”

After she left him to do her thing, he opened his computer to look at the investments that he’d been playing with. He’d not ever been one to take chances with his money—not that he’d had all that much, but he did want to make sure that if Summer wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, he could still provide them with the things that they needed.

It was nearly an hour later when he finished up with Selma. She’d been having some issues at the new school and wanted to talk to him about them. She told him that her mom would have gone in with guns blazing to take care of it, but all she’d wanted was for him to advise her on what to do. Not solve it for her.

“If he’s giving you a hard time, just talk to him.” She said that she’d tried that, but he was so rude. “Boys are like that. When they like someone, they have to show off. I never did. I was too afraid of women to even talk to them very much. Teasing them would have given me a heart attack.”

The two of them laughed, and she sat down in the chair across from him. He was never sure what was going to come out of Selma’s mouth. Harley was easier to read and more fun to be around, but with Selma, he felt as if he needed to be on his best behavior. Sometimes, he was actually afraid of her. When she looked at him, he decided that he was going to get to know her better. Even if she did frighten him a bit, he needed to know her as well as he did her sister and mother.

“I’m not sure what I want to be when I grow up. I’m afraid that the ghosts will have a lot to do with how I get a job and stuff.” He asked her if she’d been thinking about what she wanted to be when she got older. “You know what mom would have said? She would have told me that I had plenty of time to figure that out and I didn’t need to worry myself. Thank you for that.”

“You’re so very welcome. But what is it that you’d like to do? I’m sure that you do have plenty of time, but it’s nice to knowwhat you have to do to get there. Like what sort of education you might need to work on. And now that you’re in third grade, that means that you’re nearly halfway finished with your high school. You know what, you don’t have a lot of time.” He laughed again, and it felt good to be able to do that. “Selma, I’m going to make sure that you and your sister have a good education. And that you won’t have to work during college if I can manage it. Brandy said something about setting up a fund for the kids that come along, but since I’ve not talked to her about it, I don’t know what the requirements will be.”

“She’ll probably…I was going to say that it would be only for kids that were born of this family but she’d not do that. She’d think of us all as being born into the Frazier family.” He said he thought that she was correct in that. “I think so as well. Anyway, I’m going to apply for some grants and scholarships, too. And I’m going to keep my grades up so that I can win some money that way, too. It would be smarter for me to know that I can get into any college I want because I’m smart, not because I have the money to get in. Does that make sense?”

“It does, actually.” Closing up his computer, he devoted his time to her and the conversation that they were having. By the time dinner was called, not only had he found out that she was a good deal smarter than he was, but that she was compassionate as well. He loved her. He had always loved her, but today helped him get to know her better, and that felt good.

After dinner of sloppy joes and tater tots, he was ready to call it a day. The girls had to clean up the kitchen since he and Summer had cooked, and he loved the way that the two of them seemed to know on some level that they had to give as good as they got.

Ayden loved that Summer hadn’t asked about what they’d talked about. Even though Selma had told her most of it, she never badgered him into talking her into anything. He supposedall families were like that, but since he didn’t know, he was learning as he went.

The snow was coming down pretty hard when he was locking up the house. He figured that the kids wouldn’t have school tomorrow due to the roads being covered and was happy to be able to spend the day with them. Summer had a luncheon with Brandy at the main house, and since it wasn’t canceled, he was glad when she said that she was going to walk there rather than drive. He had more paperwork to fill out and file, so his day was going to be at home anyway. Just as he was headed up to bed, he heard from Guy.

“They’re releasing me tomorrow. Can I stay with you?”Ayden told him that he would enjoy that.“I can’t be alone until I don’t have a headache anymore. It’s better, don’t get me wrong, but I’d rather not have a sick episode like I did before.”

“I don’t want you to either. I was just thinking that the girls won’t have school tomorrow, so they’ll be home to be around you. Take advantage of them, please. They’ve been looking forward to pampering you for the last few days.”Guy said that he didn’t know how much he could take of that.“Just don’t hurt their feelings by yelling at them to go away. All right? I’d hate to have to send you back to the hospital for making my daughters cry.”

“I won’t, I promise.”They talked about the things that he was going to be doing when he was better. “I’ve been looking at houses since I’ve been in here. I can’t look all that long, but I know enough about houses to kind of have an idea of what I want. I don’t want fucking huge, but I would like something with a few bedrooms in it. When the kids come along, I’m going to be the uncle that they stay with for fun.”

“You’ll need to have a big house simply because if you’re the fun uncle, they’ll be wanting to stay a lot more.”He told him that he could live with that.“Good. Aren’t you planning to havea mate, Guy? I mean, it’s in the cards, I think what with the three of us having one so far.”

“I don’t want a mate. I mean, if she comes along, then great, but otherwise, I’m not going to go out looking for her. I don’t have my life set right now, and I don’t see that happeninganytime soon. I’m just loving the way that I can come and go as I please and not have to worry about anyone else.”He paused, but before he could say anything, he continued.“I don’t have my life in any kind of order. I’m twenty-five years old, and I’m just now getting to the point where Ithink I can live with myself. I don’t have any kind of furniture, no good memories from when I was a kid—none of us do, and I’ve gotten to the point in my life where I want people to just leave me alone, not family, and let me do my own thing.”

“You sound set in your ways if you ask me. Don’t be that guy who yells at kids for being on his lawn after he mows it. Nor the person with a hundred dogs around. You’re better than that.”He laughed which what he was going for.“I’ll come and get you in the morning. If there is any change let me know. As I said, the girls will be off school, I’m betting, and Brandy and the other women have some things to take care of. Also, you can help me think of something to get the people of my house for Christmas.”

“Money.”He had been thinking the same thing but didn’t like that money was just all he could think of, but he knew that a lot of people struggled this time of year. Going into the bedroom that he shared with Summer, he was disappointed that she was asleep already. He’d wanted to snuggle and with her asleep, she’d kick him to the side if she was comfy already.

Waking once in the middle of the night, he was surprised to see that Summer was already up. She’d gotten a text from the school saying that the girls would be off, and he was all right with being home with them. After telling her about Guy, she rolled over toward him and wrapped her now cold body around his.Almost before he could tell her that she was too cold, she was sleeping. He wished he could fall asleep that easily.

It took him until nearly midnight to get his mind to slow down enough that he could relax. Every time he would close his eyes, he’d think of something new, and he’d be off again. Before the sun came up, he finally closed his eyes. Since he didn’t have to get up too early, he was going to sleep as late as his brother would allow him to.

It was nearly noon when he heard from his brother. Getting out of the shower, he was dressed and at the hospital at one. The roads had been taken care of, and it wasn’t that bad. He was glad, too, that he’d had the girls stay home. He was stressed enough by the time he got his brother and was home again that he needed another nap. Things were working out well for the household, and he was having a good time being the one who could take care of his little brother.

Chapter 5

Donna hid as best she could in the trash area in the back of the restaurant. She’d been hiding out for days now, and she was no closer to being out of town than she’d been all those weeks ago. Having an abusive husband wasn’t what she wanted in life. In fact, what she wanted was someone to love her and to take care of her needs. Instead of her taking care of everyone else’s needs.

Hearing the man from the place bringing out the trash for the night, she stayed as still as she could. He’d been good to her so far, bringing her out food that he’d made rather than her having to dig around in the trash. When he lit a cigarette, she waited for him to speak. He did this nightly, telling her what he’d brought her to eat.

“There is a phone number that I left you in the bag. There is a phone too, as you said you didn’t have one.” She watched him, barely breathing so she’d not miss what he was saying. “There is a place too that you can get help. It’s all on the paper that I put there for you. A man came in looking for you today, and nobody said where you were.”

Someone other than him knew that she was around? It made her sick to think that she might well end up back at Donnie’s house. The man was a terror to her, and she didn’t want to ever have to be back in that house again.

When they married three years ago, she thought him the best person in the world. He’d had a good job and a nice car, and he even had a couple of credit cards that he’d given her to use for groceries and stuff. Her job of being a dental assistant had dried up when the doctor she’d been working for was charged with sexual deviancy. He’d not bothered her, but she did read in the paper that he’d been fondling little kids when he’d put them under for teeth being pulled. She’d also heard that he had donethe same thing to other men, and she was glad to be out of there. Then Donnie lost his job.

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