Page 13 of Melbourne
The sun was shining in the building when he realized that he’d not gotten one bit of sleep.Getting up when he heard the crunch of gravel, he watched as Sammy got out of the car she’d gotten in last night.Then, when another car pulled up, he felt his eyes fill with tears when he realized that the other woman could have been Justine, but he just wasn’t sure.
When they hugged one another, he looked harder at the two of them, just knowing that it was his daughters.There they were, standing not a fifty feet from him, and he couldn’t do a damned thing about it.Watching them as they got back into Sammy’s car, he had it in his head that they did this all the time.Meet here to go to lunch together someplace.Or in this case, breakfast.His belly rumbled in protest, but he didn’t look away.This was a treat that he never expected and would cherish for the rest of his days.He’d gotten to see both his little girls, and they looked just great to him.
Lying next to Belinda, he let the tears fall.He thought that he should have awakened her, but there really wasn’t time.Even to turn his back on the scene below him for a few seconds felt like he’d miss something wonderful.Now he had a moment in time that he’d look on as a gift he’d never thought he’d have, and he was somewhat glad that he’d not had to share it with Belinda.It was selfish,he knew, but he just couldn’t count on her to see what he’d seen.He wanted it to be both his daughters there below him.
He decided that he was going to get their plate numbers so that he’d be able to see their cars when they were out and about.Just so he could catch a glimpse of them going about their daily routine like their father wasn’t right there with them.Getting up when he realized that he wanted to know more about them and couldn’t get it lying there, he made his way down the stairs to the parking lot and got Justine’s license plate number.And when she returned, he’d get the same from Sammy’s car.
~*~
Melbourne listened to the faerie as she told him where the Taylors were hiding.He remembered the look on Sammy’s face when she thought that they were outside her door and knew that if she understood where they were right now, she’d be freaked out.Not to mention Justine, who he’d only met one time so far.They were both terrified of their parents, and with good reason, too.
He’d been able to read the report on their parents and how they’d been put in prison for child neglect as well as child endangerment.Justine had been an adult then and had been given custody of her younger sister.However, he couldn’t see where she’d ever taken care of her little sister at all.She’d been so traumatized by their parents that it took her almost six years before she would leave the house that she grew up in.Terrified, he supposed of them coming back and taking up where they had left off.
His mom had been able to get him the paperwork from their time in prison.After the first year, they changed so dramatically that even the warden didn’t believe their new personality.But they became model prisoners, never causing any trouble, and had gotten into a healthy program that had made them healthier than they’d been in their entire lives.Their one goal in life, they told the warden, was to be someone that their daughters could be proud of.Yet they never used their time in prison to contact either one of them, even though they might have had help from the system.Neither one of them wanted to bother their daughters for fear of what they still might think of them.
“I have a faerie on the two of them.The mister is a lot different than the missus.Not that she’s outwardly mean, but I see some of her meanness coming out when she’s frustrated about not having the things that she wishes for.She wishes for a good home with food in the cabinets as well as a car to get around in.The mister only wants a roof over his head as well as some time with his children.The missus never mentions the girls when she is upset.”He asked Juice if either one of them had looked for a job.“The mister has looked, but since he has no address nor a working phone, he cannot get one.The misses has not.I don’t know why, but I can find out for you.”
“That’s all right.Tell me what they’ve been doing since they found a place they can sleep at night.I want to make sure that they’re not plotting to harm the sisters.”Juice told him that they seemed to be keeping up with walking as much distance as they can a day and getting themselves something to eat.“The building has water, doesn’t it?I mean, I had you make sure that they could have at least that.”
“They bathe daily, even though they complain about the water being very cold.”That was good, he thought.At least they were trying.“Have you had any luck with talking to the man?I know you said that he watches Sammy nightly.”
“I believe that he holds the place where his daughter works close to his heart.The misses doesn’t seem to understand that he knows both their cars when he sees them.She seems to complain a great deal, but nothing ever comes from it.I believe that she simply likes to complain about things.”It said that in the report from the prison.That Belinda was a nagger and complainer, but she never did anything to change the way that she could get to the things that she wanted.“Mr.Allen washes out their clothing nightly and hangs them up to dry.I have been making sure that they’re stain-free and dry before morning.I hope that’s all right.”
“It is, and thank you.”He thought of the other things that he had in mind for Allen.He seemed to be the one he could talk to.He’d not had any kind of contact with either of them, but he had a feeling that Belinda would demand things while Allen would be appreciative of anything that he got.“Contact me if he looks like he’s going to approach either one of the women.He doesn’t seem dangerous right now, but that doesn’t mean that he’s got a plot in his head that would harm them.”
He knew that he didn’t.All he wanted was to talk to the girls; he called them and maybe have a meal or two with them.While he didn’t like eating from the dumpster, he would do it just knowing that he wasn’t bothering his daughters about it.The man just wanted a relationship with his daughters, no matter how little it turned out to be.
After Juice left him to go and follow the Taylors around, he put everything that he had in a file.He knew he was being dishonest with Sammy about the information that he had, but he wasn’t sure how she’d take them looking for them.Tonight, when he took her to the bank, he was going to have a talk with her about her dad and mom.That way, he could gauge how she wanted to proceed with whatever she wanted from them.Or them from her.Melbourne worried about Belinda some.She seemed to be unstable, but he wasn’t sure that was all it was.She seemed to have two sides to herself, and neither one of them was anything that he’d trust as far as he could toss her.When Sammy touched his mind, he smiled.She was getting really good at doing something that she said she wouldn’t do around him.
“I think I saw my parents today.At least my dad.”He asked her where they were.“Out on Route Forty, just walking along the side of the road.It looked like they were collecting bottles or cans, but it was hard to tell.”
“What if I told you that that’s just what they were doing?”She asked him what he meant.“I have had a faerie on them since I found out where they’re staying.It’s not far from your place of work.”
“Are they planning to harm me?If so, you’ll have to visit me in jail because I’m no longer the little girl they abused.”He said that as far as he could tell, her dad only wanted to talk to her, just to get to know her again.“Before they ram the knife in my back, you mean?”
“I don’t think so.”She didn’t say anything for a long while, and he was worried that she was mad at him.“Your dad has been watching you come and go from the restaurant.I don’t think he’s told your mother that he knows where you are.I don’t know that for sure, but that’s just the feelings that I get from them.I’ve read both their minds, and neither one of them seems to have any kind of ill will toward either of you.”
“Then what do they want?”He told her, as best he could, that her father wanted a job to feel like a human again, and her mother would just as soon have him pay for everything.“So she’s no different than before.”She paused, and before he could speak again, she did.“That was unfair.If he knows that I’m working here, he must know that I’m not worrying about what he can do to us.I’m supposing that they know where Justine is as well.”
“Not that I’ve seen.They know both your cars, or at least he does.When he sees them out and about, whether in town or at the restaurant, he keeps an eye out for each of you.He acts like he’s almost afraid to have you see him.”She asked him if he knew what he wanted.“Nothing that I can sense.Like I said, he wants to talk to the two of you.Maybe have a meal with you, but nothing more than that.”
“What about my mom?You don’t mention her very much.”He told her his opinion about her.“So she’s just hanging onto dad for whatever he says.That’s different for her.She was the one who would tell him to hurt us.I’ve always been more afraid of her than of him.She’s the devil we used to call her.”
“Since I didn’t know them before, I can’t judge them now.I know just what I’ve read in their minds.”She again didn’t say anything, and he was all right with that.Then she did ask him how long he’d been watching them.“About a week now.At least since you and I worked together that Friday evening, I saw him again when I took you to the bank that night.He was hanging around the vacant building across from your place.I’ve since found out that they’re staying there.It has no heat, but it does have running water for them to use.”
“Right now, I don’t know what to do about them.I guess they’re all right where they are.”He said that he could have them moved out by the police.“No, don’t do that.Just let them stay there until I can figure out what they’re doing.I don’t believe for a minute that they’re just hanging around us waiting for a chance to talk.There has to be more to this than that.”
“I’ll do whatever you want.You just say the word and I’ll have them out of that place by the endof the day.”She again told him to wait, and he was all right with that.“However, if they try to hurt you, there will be no place they can hide that I don’t find them.Understand?”
“I do, and I think I love you for that.”His heart swelled in his chest at her words.Since he already loved her and she thought that she loved him, it was making him feel things that he’d never felt before.He felt like a new man and all because of her.“Look, I need to get some work done.I’ll see you after work tonight, and I’ll think about everything you told me.Is there anything else I should know about them?”
“Not them, but I’d not mentioned anything to your sister.I saw her in town yesterday, and she seemed stressed out.Again, I don’t know her all that well from before she knew they were hanging around, but she seems like she’s one short scare from being locked up.Is that normal for her?”Sammy told him that she was usually stressed out all the time, but she had been more so lately.“I can understand that.You guys went through hell and back with them from what I’ve found about their trial.”
For the rest of the afternoon into the evening, he tried to get some work done.It wasn’t easy; his mind kept going to his mate and her family, but he did manage to get two of the contracts read over from the city and one list of things that he wanted to talk to his mom and dad about.
His dad was an ancient and powerful vampire when he met their mom.Mom was older than Dad by a great many years, so together their magic was powerful.And in turn, they’d passed down their magic to their six sons, who in turn shared it with their mates when they came along.They had powerful magic as well, which usually didn’t have anything to do with their mates.Like Amy could jump from flame to flame, looking as if her body was completely engulfed in the flames to get from one point to the other, Dad likened her magic to one very old, even older than him, and a powerful vampire; she was so strong.
None of the other mates were as strong as Amy, nor were any of the brothers as strong as her mate, his brother Fowler.They were to be king and queen of the faeries and other worldly creatures someday, and he would need to be strong in order to be able to do the job that had been in his family since the beginning of time.His mom and dad were taking care of the magic these days while their grandma saw the world that she helped to create.
