Page 18 of Ayden

“Oh, honey.” When Ayden sobbed a little, she looked up at him. “I don’t know a thing about having fun with the holidays. Iknow you guys, you and Mac and Brandy have been good to us in our lack of—I thought about the socks that I got my brothers. Not because I put any thought into the gift but because that was what we always did. Like I said, it was practical for us to get each other what we needed not what we thought that we would like. I wouldn’t know the first thing about buying a gift for someone simply because I could.”

His tears moved her in a way that nothing else could have. He was genuinely upset about not having any idea how to get a gift for someone. She had realized at some point today that he’d gotten the girls what they told him. He was not looking around for anything that would surprise them, no. It was just a thing that they had asked for, and he got it. She was sure that it was the same for her. She’d asked him for something that she’d been looking for the other morning, and she’d bet herself that it was wrapped up under the tree with her name on it. He was, for lack of a better term, uneducated about getting things that he thought would be a good gift for someone.

“I’m going to teach you how to spend money on gifts.” He told her that he’d like that. “It’s a bit late this year, but we’ll start as soon as the new year rolls around. It’s your birthday in February, and we’re going to get you things that we find fun and nothing to do with socks. All right?” Ayden laughed. “Good. All right, we’re going to teach you how to have the best holidays in the world.”

The plan was set. As soon as they got up in the morning, they were going to start putting together a plan for the Christmas holiday. So far, they were going to spend Christmas Eve in the pack house to work on things for the pack. This wasn’t something that they wanted to do, but with the things that were going on right now, they needed to get things organized before the kids went back to school in January. Then, for the rest of the day, they’d be putting together a plan for the teachers to follow.

All of them had been arrested, and the entire staff was gone.The buildings were being torn down today and tomorrow, and by Christmas day, things would be clean slated. There would be nothing in the field to show that there had ever been a mess of a school.

Then, that evening, they were to go to Lica and Brandy’s home for the evening meal. It was going to be epic as well. It was being catered again since there was so much going on, and no one had time to plan it. Their daughters had made placards with names on them, and she thought that they were going to be doing that for years to come.

The day after Christmas, they were going to start hiring teachers. The other packs around had been very helpful in giving them a list of teachers that would teach in the new buildings. The trailers wouldn’t be like a room, but it would be the first of many changes to the kids’ school year. She didn’t know how to thank her girls for what they’d done in getting things squared away. Even Lica said he was humbled by what they’d gotten done for him.

Then, from the New Year until mid-January, when the kids went back to school, they’d be scrambling to get things prepared for them so that they’d be able to learn more than one plus one equaled two. At least, she hoped so.

Summer was going to see if she could help out at the school. She knew that Mac was going to be working there as well as Brandy, but she didn’t want to spend all her time at the school. First of all, she thought it would be odd for her children, and secondly, she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom so she could help with homework, not assign it. Now that she’d been able to do it, she didn’t want it to change.

~*~

That night, when they went to bed, Ayden had a lot on his mind. A lot of it had to do with his beautiful mate, but there were other things as well. Like the money that he’d found in the ledger thathad been at the school. Nearly seven hundred thousand dollars of found money was there for him to turn over for the new schools. He wondered what they had planned to do with the money. There was so much of it that he had a feeling that it was going toward something huge, but for the life of him, he couldn’t think what it might have been. All he could center his thoughts on was that the money had been on the books for the last ten years, well before his brother had taken over the pack. He called his brother as soon as he got up.

“That’s a great deal of money.” He said that he knew that, but he couldn’t figure out how they had had it. “I have no idea why, but I have a feeling that you do know where it came from. You do, don’t you?”

“I think I do. And if I do, then it’s a lot worse in this pack than I thought Lincoln said it was.” Lincoln Bates had been the former alpha when Lica had taken over. “I think that he’s been funneling money to the teachers to keep them quiet. And in doing so, he allowed them to do what they wanted so that there would be good reports about the school so that it would get more money from the state. That’s the only thing that I can think has happened.”

“So he gave them free reign and money to make sure that the money that he wanted was there all the time. I wonder why it’s still there? I mean, why didn’t he take it with him when he left?” Lica told him what he thought. “He was waiting until the end of the year bonuses and going to take the rest? I guess I can see that. He’d have to be aware of what was going on, don’t you think? There isn’t any way that the entire school could run like it did without him knowing.”

“I didn’t know.” Ayden told him that he thought he’d have gotten around to it eventually. “That’s not making me feel better. I know that the girls told us what was going on, but I’d like to think that I did what was necessary to make things right. But Ihave to admit, I do feel like I went a little overboard with this.”

“Why?” He told him that they had no buildings to teach in. “Yes, we do. They’re coming soon. And there wasn’t anything left for the kids in those buildings. Even the heat wasn’t up to par. Had you waited until summer to react, Lica, then the kids would have thought, just what the girls did when we bought our house. That it would be put off and off because you can say things that you want to do but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to actually do them. You did what needed to be done, so show that you’re not one to put things off. You did just what anyone would have…no, you did what you needed to do so that the people of the pack know that you’re a good man and a better leader. Had you put it off, do you think that it would have made as big an impact as it did? I don’t. The pack respects you for what you did, and I can’t tell you how proud I am of you.”

“Thank you.” Ayden asked him what he wanted to do about the money. “I don’t know. I’m hoping you have a plan. I can just take it and use it for the schools like it should have been done, but I have a feeling that you have a better idea.”

“I’ve been learning a great deal about the holidays and the way that we used to celebrate it. I think that we should take the money that is found and divide it up between the families of the pack. Give each household a percentage of the money according to how many children they have in the household. We don’t have a large pack, but I was figuring that a family of four would get about ten grand. That’s a chunk of money for them anyway. The families with more would, of course, get more, and those that have less would get a great deal, but not like the families with kids would get. Even the elderly would get about three grand a household.”

“You’ve figured it out.” He told him how much of the money would be used to give to all the families. “that would help a lot of families this year.”

“I have it worked out so that I can have the checks made out by tomorrow. I know it’s a little late, but it could also help the town out with after-Christmas sales.” He asked if he had to do anything. “Yes, you need to sign the checks, you and Brandy. I’m calling it the school fund. That way, we can let them know that things are going to start to improve.”

Lica said that he’d meet him at the house. Having the computer print out the checks, he was about as excited as he’d ever been about this. A few days ago, he would have put the money aside for a rainy day. But after talking to his wife and children, he was excited to be able to do this for the other families. However, he didn’t know how his brother would feel about him getting a check as well, but in order to make it fair, it was what they had to do. Everyone in the pack would receive a check.

His would be a little more because he had two children, but his brothers would get about fifteen hundred dollars apiece. Then, the married ones would be about twenty-five hundred. He met both he and Brandy there ten minutes later.

“I’m going to hire you to work on the ledgers from now on.” He told Brandy that he didn’t know that he’d be able to find money all the time. “It doesn’t matter. You did great with this, and the pack is going to be grateful. I know that I will be.”

Even after explaining how they’d get a check, too, they seemed to be all right with it. After putting them in the envelopes that he had printed as well, he was ready to go take them to the post office. However, they did it better by just going to each house and handing it over. They got to see the gratefulness on each face as they realized that the money was theirs with no strings attached. Also, it got Lica out to see the houses that were in his pack. He was going to be making improvements on those as well when the spring and summer rolled around.

By dinner time, they had handed out all the checks. It wasas if Christmas had come early for him, seeing the faces of the people they were able to help. Of course, there were a lot of people going to complain about others getting more than them, but he was all right with that as well. Next time he’d tell them, he’d think twice about handing over money that was found.

Tonight, they were having dinner with the family. He was so excited about that, having a new outlook on things that he was cheerful, even when his brothers were complaining about the money being spent. But they did perk up when Lica handed them over the checks, and it was Guy who said he was going to buy himself something special with the money and not use it to pay off something. That’s what they were hoping: that the money would be something to stimulate the economy a bit, too.

By the time they were finished with dinner, he was exhausted. Having been up most of the night and early this morning getting things ready for the money, he hadn’t slept all that well. Now, all he wanted to do was sleep for a few months and get up when spring was here. He didn’t care all that much for the cold weather, but his wolf loved it.

He and his brothers were going to start meeting once a week to go running. They used to have dinner in town, the six of them, but things had started getting in the way. He was also going to make sure that they did that again as well. He was going to make sure that family, no matter how large or small, came first. And he was going to make sure that he lived every day like it was his last. Just as he was getting into the bed, he saw that there was a message on his cell phone.

“I got this message on my machine just now and wanted to share it with you.” It was his brother Lica. “It’s from Mrs. Rodney. She’s raising her son’s five kids, and I’m so happy that you took that into account when you were putting the money together.”

“Alpha, this money couldn’t have come at a better time. Ihad no idea how much it costs now to have so many young ones around. I’ve been fretting and wondering how I was going to clothe the lot of them for summer after getting them a little something for Santa Claus. Now, thanks to you and your family, not only can I get them some nice things to wear but a little something extra too. Even shoes are going to be gotten for the little ones at the same time. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to my growing family.”

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