Page 2 of Lorna's Savior
“Oh, Sunshine and Levi are true New-Age gurus.” Andy sighed. “Everything they do is organic. They own and operate a small business where they sell anything from soaps, and shampoos, to herbal remedies. I swear, the last time I was in my mother’s store, they sold everything that you could buy at any store in the nation. However, in my family’s establishments, everything is home-grown, organic, or herbal. Absolutely no chemicals of any sort are in their products.”
“Five,” Helen said with a grin, and waved the fingers on one hand at him.
“Five what?” Andy frowned at her.
“They own and operate five stores. There’s the one you probably mentioned, the flagship store, your parents still run that one, but your siblings have opened a store where they live.”
“Holy shit,” Andy looked at her in shock.
“When was the last time you saw your family?” Brian frowned at him.
“I don’t know. It’s been several years. It’s not like they want to come to Montana to see me. I know I should get down to see them, but the road to my house is a two-way street. I talk to them on the phone all the time, but we never talk about the business.”
“Because, you don’t want to.” John nodded at his statement of fact.
“This is true.”
“Are you on the outs with your family?” Raymond asked.
“No, but I don’t agree with all the New-Age organic, herbal, nature crap. What’s wrong with going to the store and buying what you need? Anyway, to get this conversation back on track, when mom was pregnant with all of us kids—there are five of us—she had to rest most of the time. I think that’s the only time in her life she’s ever watched TV.”
“It was,” Helen said. “Sunshine always loved nature, and was outside as much as she could be when we were growing up, but when she was pregnant, it wiped her out, and she was confined to the bed, or at least to rest. When she was pregnant for Andy, that’s when she got the idea of opening her first store.”
“That’s not the only idea she had.” Andy scowled at her. He looked at Raymond, and this time, his statement had some heat behind it. “I’m going to say this once, andonlyonce. If you repeat it, I will knock you on your ass.”
“Okay,” Raymond said, after several moments of silence, and when he saw no help coming from his future family.
“My actual name is Monk Andrew Ball. When mom was laid up with me, she not only designed and planned her store, but she binge-watched TV. She’d never done that before. Last time I visited her, there wasn’t even a TV in her entire house. But, she did that with each of her pregnancies. I’m the oldest of five children. Each one of our first names is from a television show she couldn’t get enough of.”
“So, you’re named after that crazy, washed-up detective? The germaphobe one?”
“Correct.”
“What about your siblings? I’m sure I’ll meet them at the wedding, but I’d like a heads up on their names.”
“As I said, I’m the oldest, we are all roughly two years apart, give or take a couple of months. Like I said, my name is Monk, then there’s Ren, Mac, Pip, and Liv.”
“That doesn’t seem so bad.” Raymond frowned when the people present snickered, or giggled. “What am I missing?”
Monk sighed heavily. “Ren is for Renegade, Mac is short for MacGyver, Pip stands for Pippi, and finally Liv is short for Olive.”
“The first two I understand, but why Pip and Liv?”
Caryn snorted a laugh as she looked at her cousin. “I’m sorry, Andy, I don’t mean to laugh. But honey, Pip is for Pippi Longstocking, and Aunt Sunshine named Liv after Olive Oyl from the Popeye cartoons.”
Raymond’s mouth dropped open in shock as he stared around the table, waiting for them to all tell him it was a joke. When they didn’t, he shook his head in wonder. “Oh.” Not knowing what else to say, he only shook his head.
“Yeah, now you know why I go by the name Andy. The others only used the shortened version of their names I mentioned earlier.”
“I understand.”
Just then a phone went off, and everyone looked at theirs. Andy picked his up, and said, “It’s mine, I’m going to take it outside.” He rose, but didn’t answer the phone until he stepped out on the deck.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Ball, this is Marvin, when can we meet?” the caller demanded, without even a greeting.
“Mr. H, I’ve told you in the past, I’ll be back in Montana after the holiday.”
