Page 2 of Kingston
“My parents are Matthew and Delilah Connor.I’m sure that you’ve heard of them.They have heard of you.”Tucker said that he’d had a few dealings with them, too.“I thought so.They don’t have a very high opinion of you and your cousins.You’re not old money like they are.I’m not sure where they got that, as I’m sure you’re older than this town, but they think that you shouldn’t be allowed in respectable places because of how you got your money.How did you get your money?”
“As you guessed, we’ve been around forever.Made investments in things that were new then but are still around today.Like lumber companies.Computers and phones.You might as well know that we’ve been the start-up for a lot of things that are going on in his world today.One of them being airplanes.”Matt said that he knows about investments as well, and that was what had saved his parents from ruin.“However, I stopped doing that as well when I got smart enough to know that they didn’t care if the company was selling shares or not.They were going to invest in it.”
“I’ve heard about that as well.They’re being looked at for a couple of murders, too.I wouldn’t put it past time to kill, but I don’t know them all that well.”Matt said that he did and knew that they had done that and more.“I would imagine.”
Matt told them of a few other things that he could do as well.“My father figured out that I could see a bit into the future when it came to investments.As far as I know, he never said anything to my mother, but he would beat me regularly when I didn’t give him what he wanted.What he never figured out was that not only can I see the futures on a lot of the things they wish to invest in, I can see the ones that fail after a few years, too.Those are the only ones that I would give him.As you can well imagine, they didn’t appreciate that too much.”
“So this man, Jason, he’s been looking for you, and he just so happened to be looking for Skye as well.”Kaida snorted and asked for the real truth as to why she was with him.“I saved her a couple of times.She knows I have some abilities.Whenever Jason gets too close, I can tell her.I messed up this time because I wasn’t paying attention to the signs that were given to me.He figured out that she was with me and then that I was the boy who was worth a million dollars.He told me once that he was killing two birds with one pistol.Jason isn’t very bright and has a one-track mind.Also, he bets on the ponies, and that is why he’s desperate for the money he’ll get for turning me in.”
Kaida was beginning to see other things, too, that the boy could do.He’d brought a Danish to himself at dinner.Also, his napkin that had fallen in the gravy on his plate was once again clean when he gave it a hard shake.Little things that she had to wonder if the kid even knew he was doing.Looking at him now, she wondered, too, if he realized that he could hide from his family without much in the way of thought.
“I know that.”She asked him what he meant.“That I can hide myself away.I could have easily taken all their money, too, but I have to protect Skye.She’s the only person that I know who has never expected anything from me other than her friendship.Not to mention, she’s been kinder to me than anyone I’ve ever encountered other than you guys.”
“Thank you, young man.You’ve no idea how much we appreciate that.”He nodded and then looked around the room.“What are you looking for.You’ve been looking around this place since youarrived.”
“There are secrets in the walls here that you could get to.Some of its money and jewels, but there is not just a journal tucked away, but an old bible as well.”Tucker asked him if he knew where it was.“I do.It’s just above the fireplace and near the pocket doors.I know you have no use for the money that you find, but I have a feeling that the people you brought this house from could use it.”
“I’ll do that.”Matt showed him where each piece of history was hidden.In addition to the things that he’d told them about, there was a bundle of silverware, several more diaries, as well as the first deed to this place that had been built by the family on the original fifty acres.“Are there any pictures of this place?”
“Plenty that have been hidden away as well.There is an old barn out back that you might want to go through as well.You’d be surprised at how much one family can hoard away when they don’t want anyone to take it from them.The original name for this place was called Manchester Manor.When you make the improvements on this place, the extra three bedrooms and baths, you’ll find a hidden room that is also full of things that were stashed away during the wars.”
They’d only just spoken of adding other rooms to the place this morning.It thrilled her that she’d be able to find a bit of history about the place and perhaps put some of the pictures on display around the rooms.She was especially happy to find the old money.She’d frame it up and hang it on the walls as well.
After Matt left them, they headed up to bed as well.Almost too excited to sleep, she curled herself about Tucker’s warmth.In the morning, they were going to have to figure out what to do about Matt’s parents as well as the man looking for Skye.He needed to be dealt with by one of the dragons, she thought.
Kaida wondered if Skye was mated to any of the cousins.She was disappointed when she realized that they’d all been around her, and no one had said a thing.Maybe they were just supposed to help her.She could do that, too.Help someone who was as down on their luck as she’d been before getting with this family.
Sure, she had a bit of money in the bank, but now she had so much more than currency.She had a love of her life, a home, not a house, as well as magic that she could use to help others.Kaida thought that she could help others all the time if it were as easy as it had been with Skye and Matt.She also knew that this was a rare case and that she wasn’t going to have it as easy as she did today.Things just clicked for the two of them.
~*~
“How long will you be gone?”Kings was packing his things as he spoke to them.He told her that he’d be gone for about two weeks, but would have all the investments that they had taken care of.“Taken care of how?And why can’t you do that from here?”
“I’ve been doing it from here.And it’s not getting done.I have to go there and have a face-to-face with them so that our money is where it belongs.It’s millions of dollars that are tangled up in a weave of lies, and if I don’t go now, we may never get it back.”She asked him if he needed to go alone.“No.But my cousins are busy.I’d take you with me, but I think that Tucker would have a cow.”
He would too.They were having so much fun being a married couple that she couldn’t stand for him to be much more than an arm’s length away from her before she missed him terribly.Not even explaining to her that they had lifetimes together could she get over the fact that he was going to leave her somewhere.That had come from Kings’ parents.His father had said it would only last six months before he’d drop her to the curb.Kaida was very insecure like that.
Taking him to the airport, she felt like she was losing a part of herself.The man was only going to be gone for a couple of weeks, and she was being silly.On the way home, she tried to console herself with thoughts of the party when he returned, but that wasn’t working either.She missed him too much.It wasn’t as if they didn’t have a lot to do while he was gone.
“Matt’s parents arrived in town this morning.They’re staying at the hotel just outside of town.It’s a nice little place, much nicer since it was renovated some years ago.”She asked Tucker what theplan was for them.“Nothing yet.It’s not like we can keep their son from them.Just keep hiding him away so that they don’t do a snatch-and-grab with him.I shudder to think what it is they’d do to him when they find him.They’ll more than likely put him under lock and key, and that would be bad for him.”
“What about that guy, Jason?What can we do about him?”Tucker told her that he was in jail and would be for a while yet.“I guess opening fire in a restaurant full of people will get your ass in trouble in more ways than one.”
“He didn’t have any kind of permit to carry either.Not to mention him being a convicted felon who had a gun specification on his record.”They stopped just outside of town to pick up some things for dinner.They were having fun feeding Matt.He had the appetite of a full-grown man and the silliness of a child.Plus, he was very intelligent, too.
Thanks to Matt, they knew what his parents looked like.So when they stepped out of the grocery store with a photo in their hand, Tucker stepped back so they’d not have to encounter them.They looked pinched in the face, plus years older than she thought they would be, with a child of Matt’s age.She was going to look into that as well.
Keeping an eye on the couple in the parking lot, the two of them picked up the things to make your own Sundays for dessert tonight.They were also having pizzas as it was the cook’s night off.She was going to make things for a cookout, but it was Skye who wanted hot pizza right out of the oven, and who could turn that down.
“Excuse me.”She turned when someone spoke behind her, and she smiled at the couple.Up close, they looked beaten, like not having their son around was making them lose some grip on their livelihood.Taking the picture when it was shoved at her, she looked at the picture of Matt.It was an old picture taken when he was about seven or so.“Have you seen our grandson?”
She nearly let the cat out of the bag when she nearly asked if he was her son or grandson.Looking at the picture, she could see too that Matt didn’t look a bit like his parents, not even an eye color that would maybe make it so that they looked related.
“I don’t remember anyone like that.I think that I would too if a child that little was all by himself.”She explained that he was ten now and not necessarily hanging out alone.“Oh, so he’s with his mother or something?Not that it matters.I’ve never seen him before.”
“Why would you say that?”The woman’s voice was sharp and mean.Taking a step back, she told her that she’d not meant anything by it.Only making an observation.“You think that I’m too old to have a son this age?Well, I’m sick of people assuming anything when it comes to him.He’s my son, not my grandson, and I don’t want to hear another word from you.”
They had drawn a crowd now, and she hated that.When Mr.Moore, the store manager, asked her if she was all right, she told him that she was but that the woman seemed out of sorts.As her husband—whoever he was, started pulling her along, Kaida could hear him telling her to hush up before the police were called.
