Page 17 of Melbourne
“I understand.”Allen wiped at the tears that were streaming down his cheeks.“I promise you that I’ll be a good father and better man than I was.I won’t do you any harm at all.On that, you have my word.”
The rest of lunch was everyone talking.He could tell that Justine was making an effort to include her father in her conversations, but she was slightly stiff and sometimes had to take several deep breaths before she spoke to him.All in all, Melbourne thought it was a good first time for them getting together, and he couldn’t wait to see it when they got to the point where they were all getting along.It was Sammy who talked about their mother.
“I honestly don’t know what sort of person she’s going to be.”Justine asked their dad what he meant.“She’s still bitter about being put into prison.I don’t know that she’s going to be able to sit with us without losing her temper.As you might remember, it’s quite a temper she had on her.”
“She’ll either be nice or she’ll be cut off from seeing us.We will fight back now, we’re adults andknow how to protect ourselves.”Their dad only nodded and said they’d see.“You think she’ll want to hurt us again?You know physical hurts aren’t as bad as verbal ones.And I won’t put up with mental hurts either.She can just go fuck herself if that’s the way she’s going to be.”
Allen said that he didn’t know what was in her mind, but Melbourne did.He didn’t need a connection to her to be able to read her mind, and at this moment, all she was thinking about was how to get a nice home from her children, as well as money enough that she wouldn’t have to do without.Even as they all sat there, Belinda was thinking that she’d bully Justine into what she wanted, as she wasn’t as strong as Sammy.He didn’t think that that would bode well for her, Belinda or not.
She was going to be in for a rude awakening if she thought that either Sammy or himself would allow her to bully the older sister.She was his family now, and he’d do everything within his power to make sure that she was safe from her.His entire family would.
After lunch, things were cleaned up, and Justine had left for her job, the three of them sat around and talked about anything other than Belinda.Even Allen went out of his way not to talk about his wife, and he thought that he might be right in his thinking that she wasn’t going to be able to be around the girls.He finally asked if he thought that she’d be all right with him seeing the two of them or not.
“I don’t care.Like Justine said, we’re all adults now, and if she wants to cause trouble, I want nothing to do with it.”Sammy asked if he thought that she would cause trouble.“I don’t know.I don’t believe that she’ll try to cause hurt to the two of you, but I just don’t know.While we were behind bars, she talked about how she really wanted to get a new house and money all the time, but she never had a plan to make it happen.She doesn’t care for the fact that I’m working all the time.She’d rather I be there for her when she wants to talk to me.To be honest, I never told her about the cell phone that you gave me for work and to get in touch with you.I won’t either if I can help it.I don’t want her bothering my two girls for things that she should be working for.”
He loved that Allen was being honest about his relationship with his wife.And he was glad too that he didn’t mind telling Sammy that if she caused trouble or said anything other than what he said to her, then he was going to leave her.He was trying his best to make amends, and he didn’t want Belinda to cause him heartache when he was working so hard at making it work.
Melbourne was going to send a faerie to keep an eye on Belinda.If she caused them any trouble, he wanted a heads-up about it before she did anything to jeopardize the relationship that was slowly building between Allen and his two children.He was also going to have a talk with Sammy about what he’d already found out about her.There was no way that he was going to allow them to be blindsided by anything that she said or did.
It was nearly quitting time for him when Allen came back to the office.He’d been showing up right before he left for the last three days.Just to tell him what he’d been able to figure out with the houses.Melbourne had been surprised at the number of houses that were ready to be torn down and the empty ones that were up and down just Main Street.He was going to have his family get right on some of the ones that could be saved.The rest that needed to be torn down would leave room for other houses to go in and make the street look so much better.
“You’re doing a great job, Allen.I didn’t realize that there were that many homes on the main drag that needed attention.And the fact that you found out that people are using them too was a surprise.I noticed, too, that you included the house that you and Belinda are living in.”He said that he thought it needed a new roof, but the structure of the building was in fine shape.“You also said you have running water.I wonder how that works in the colder months.”
“I’ve not been there yet, but most of the roof is gone, and we pretty much sleep under the stars every night.”He laughed.“Belinda sleeps right through it all, but if there’s a thunderstorm, I’m trying to find a place for me to keep dry.She’ll just never wake up.”
“That’s some hard sleeping.”He said that she’d always been one to sleep like that when he’d be up several times in the night to move around some.“I usually sleep well when I’m in a bed that fits my size.I’m six foot ten inches and need a specially sized mattress when I get into bed.”
“I bet you do.”He wasn’t saying much, but Melbourne could tell that he had something on hismind.Or at least he thought that he did.He didn’t know the man well enough yet to get his emotions down yet, but he was working on it.Then he finally asked.“I would like someplace to live.Do you think that you could help me?”
“I will if you want.However, as I’ve said to you before, I won’t tolerate you hurting my mate or her sister.”He nodded and said that he understood.“What kind of place are you looking to get into?Nothing large, I’m assuming.”
“No, nothing like that.In fact, I wouldn’t mind just a room in this building.I noticed that there is a bath and a kitchen here that I could use.Belinda, too, if she’s willing.”He asked him if he thought Belinda was going to be trouble.“Yes.Yes, I do.I don’t know what kind of trouble she’ll cause, but I fully expect her to make a stink out of something that isn’t being done for her.Since I’ve been working, I’ve noticed how bitter she is about everything.I’ve never told her who I’m working for, nor the fact that you’re Sammy’s mate.I think she’ll be hitting you up for things, too.I don’t know that for sure, but I have it in my head that she’s going to be nasty to the girls when they don’t come through on what she wants.”
“What is it you think she’ll want?”Allen looked around like he was fearful that she might be close enough to hear him.“Allen, I need to know if you think she’s going to cause trouble for the women.My family will protect you, too, if you tell me you want that.But I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
“She’s going to expect things to go back to the way they were before we went to prison.She’ll want a large house, bigger than anything you and Sammy will have.She’ll expect to be pampered, too.”Allen’s face went a little pink.“She’ll hate that I want to live in this building with you working here too.It will be less than perfect for her, and I’ve only just come to realize that things have to be her way or no way.Even when you’ve paid me some extra money, I find myself not telling her about it.As I said, I don’t know what she’ll do, but she’s not going to be nice about anything that she doesn’t approve of.”
“We’ll have to wait and see.”He nodded as if he knew that was what he was going to say.“You can live here, the two of you.The bed isn’t too old, but it works better than a floor.Also, as you said, it has a kitchen that you can use.When you decide to move in, I’ll spot you some money for food so that you can cook at home.”
He started crying again.The man was so emotional sometimes that his heart hurt for him.As they were closing up the place, he handed him the key when Allen said he was going to stay there tonight so he’d be ready for work in the morning.He told him about the job that he had for his wife, too, if she wanted to work.
“I’ll tell her.I don’t know what she’ll do, but I’m going to tell her what a good man you are to work for.”Melbourne thanked him, and they went their separate ways.He had a feeling that it was going to be just Allen living in the back portion of the house while Belinda fussed about having to live in an abandoned house without heat or any place to cook.Not that he thought that she would be cooking all that much.
~*~
Allen was excited to have a good roof over his head.He was also happy that he’d be able to have a place to cook a meal when it was time for supper.Now all he had to do was talk to Belinda and see how she was going to react.He didn’t look for it to go well.
She was napping when he got back to their place.Since they didn’t have anything but the clothing on their backs, they could just go to the house and move in.Allen was going to get him some much-needed shirts when he got paid on Friday.There were other things that he could use, but he wasn’t sure what his check was going to be.He’d not had one in more years than he could count.
Deciding to just tell her what was going on and not beating around the bush about it, he watched her face when he told her where their new place was going to be.He didn’t know if they’d be paying rent for the rooms, but he decided to ask Melbourne first thing in the morning.
“What do you mean, it’s just a couple of rooms with a bed.You expect me to sleep on someoneelse’s mattress?”He told her that anything was better than sleeping on the cold floor.“I don’t know.Just a couple of rooms?How are we supposed to live in that small of a place?I don’t want to be crowded around.”
“You shared a room with fifty other women in prison.I’d think you’d like just having a couple of rooms to yourself for a change.And it has a kitchen in it that we can save money by cooking our meals instead of going out all the time.”
“I’m not going to be cooking anything, Allen.It’s too much work to get finished then to clean up.No, we’ll eat out all the time because we don’t want to have a mess when we have to live in such small accommodations.”He didn’t mention cooking again, and she seemed to be all right with that.“Where is this place?And what do we have to do for rent money?You’ve not even told me what you’ll be doing when we live there.”
“I’ll be doing the same thing that I’m doing now.There’s no change in my job.I’ll have to ask Melbourne what the rent will be, but he’s a fair man and I’m sure it won’t be much.”He looked around the room that they’d been sharing.“It’s close to downtown, so we can walk wherever we want to go.The library is just a block away, and the store is just another couple of blocks down the street.We will have neighbors, too, that we can make friends with.”
