“You just hand that stuff over to me, honey. I’ve got this one.” While her dad made short work with the mess that Dru had made, she filled him in on why they were there. “My first grandson. I never in my life...well, I did hope, but I have a grandson. Just look at him, Isabella. He’s absolutely perfect. I love him all ready.”
It was more than she could have hoped for, and she nearly sobbed. Holding it together for the three of them, Bella laughed when Dad went into the hall to show his new grandson off to all the nurses on staff. Things were all right, she thought. Everything would be all right so long as she held all these moments close to her heart.
Chapter 10
Oakley couldn’t believe that he might well have been as tiny as Little Dru when he was born. Calling him that had gotten him in trouble already with Dru’s momma, but he loved the little guy as soon as he’d been handed to him.
“Are you going to let someone else hold him?” Oakley pretended to think about it, then said nope. Rodney growled at him. “I swear, if you’re going to be this selfish with him all the time, I’m going to make sure you can’t hold him until after the rest of us do.”
“Empty threat. I’m older than you, so I, by my seniority, get to hold him as long as I want.” Grandda came by him and snatched Dru right up. The kid was laughing loudly, like he knew that the best man had him now. “I guess we all lose. Is his bed together yet?”
When Dean got home with his new family, they’d all stopped working to see the newest member of the Marshall family. Not only had they the new baby, a great addition no matter how anyone looked at it, but they’d been able to bring Fletcher home as well.
Oakley had gone to see the older man several times while he’d been in the hospital. They mostly talked about his sadness about what was coming up with his son. Oakley had a feeling that Fletcher knew more than he was letting on, and had decided that if he could, he’d be there for him whenever he could. Which Oakley thought would be often.
He was also working on a computer program, an old one that he’d come up with for children that could be adapted for people that were going through things like he was. Memory issues. It was going to be a program to which Fletcher could add photos to the narrative if he had them to make memories. It would also help Fletcher remember faces with names when things got a little more advanced for him. Like there would be a picture of Bella, and now Dru, that would show the picture and repeat the name several times for him. It might not work—Oakley didn’t know—but it might, and that was all that he could hope for.
It was all verbal, as Fletcher had told him that his typing skills weren’t anything he was very proud of. The memories didn’t necessarily have to be ones from now, but things that he might well remember from his childhood. Oakley was going to go through some photos Fletcher had told him where to find, and add them to anything that he wanted. It was going to help a great many people, Oakley thought. If it worked.
By the time pizzas, Chinese food, and drinks arrived, they not only had the baby bed together, but they had remembered Mom’s old rocker out in one of the barns on Oakley’s land and cleaned it up. Dean was touched when Shep told him that he should be the one to keep it forever since he’d been the first to have a child.
Oakley knew that none of them would ever treat Dru like anything but a blood relative. He would never be singled out because he was adopted. No one would ask him to do anything that they’d not a blood child, either. He was a Marshall now, and that meant a great deal to all of them.
Keeping an eye on Shep, he could see that he wanted a child of his own. Even Oakley did. Having a son or daughter was all he’d ever thought about when he was alone. Mom had too, talking about having a little girl to bounce on her knee. Of course, she did tell them that she’d take a little boy too, but a girl to dress in frilly things would have been better.
“Whatcha thinking about, son?” He looked at his grandda when he spoke. Fletcher had Dru now, rocking him in the big rocker. “I bet it’s close to what I was thinking about. Your momma, huh?”
“Yes. She would have been in her element right now. Fussing at each of us for manhandling him so much. She’d be all over this and smiling so big too.” Grandda smiled and wiped his nose with his hankie. “Grandda, do you ever think about what it will be like...? What it will be like when we’re all mated and have children? I mean, what will you do with a couple of dozen great grandkids hanging on your every word?”
“That’s not what you were going to say, boy. Tell me. I deserve to know what you were gonna ask me. Don’t I?” Oakley looked at Fletcher, then out the window. He could’ve seen his momma’s headstone if the night wasn’t so dark. He could have walked the mile to see his grandma too. “You thinking about me passing on? Is that what has you all closed up? Boy? I have to tell you, I thought for sure that I’d died some time back.”
“What did you do? Christ, Grandda, don’t do whatever it was that had you thinking that again. I need you around.” Grandda told him that he needed him as well, but it wasn’t like that. “Then what? You said you had thought you’d died. Now I deserve to know what you’re saying.”
“Right after your grannie passed on, I thought for sure that I’d just roll over in my bed and die right along with her. I was barely hanging on, it felt like ten years after she’d gone away and left me. I didn’t see it then, but I do now—you boys started avoiding me too. I know now that you was caring for your momma and her death. But back then, I thought you were just too busy for this here old man.” Oakley told him he was sorry. “I’m not. Had you been with me, trying to get me to come back home to start living, I wouldn’t have done it. And then knowing that your momma, my little Jill Ann, had passed too would have ended me.”
“What happened to get you motivated into living again?” He looked at Harris, and so did Oakley. “Did she hit you? I wouldn’t put it past her. She can be a little bitchy when she wants to be.”
“No, she didn’t hit me. Not physically, anyway. But it was that last time she went away that she came up on me out there at the grave. She told me, in her own fashion, that if she came home and found me there, she was going to do me in just to have me doing something other than dying while sitting up. It wasn’t just like that, but pretty close.” Oakley knew that his grandda and Harris had known each other, but he didn’t think that he’d heard that part of their relationship. “There was your father, blowing his horn and yelling at me to come on. Like he’d had something more important to do than to talk to his own momma. Nothing but pure meanness, that’s what he had in him. Nothing but pure, red hot meanness.”
Oakley didn’t miss his father. He’d not been dead long, physically anyway. But he’d been gone from his heart for a very long time. Oakley and his brothers had grown up in an abusive home. If not for the love of their mother and grandparents, Oakley wasn’t sure how he’d take being a mate to anyone. His grandparents had shown them all that there was more to loving than just fists and screaming at each other.
Even his two brothers seemed to have gotten winners in the mate lottery. Smiling to himself, he thought that if any of them were to get mates like the first two, he’d never be able to call them lottery winnings. He’d sure as shit get his ass kicked.
Before he knew it, Dru was in his arms again. Watching his little face for signs of stress, Oakley had to laugh when he smiled at him. He was sure that his mom would have told him it was gas, then she would have told him that the baby trusted him. Taking his little hand into his much larger one, Oakley decided to tell him a little about his grandma.
“She would have been all over you, buddy. Checking to see if you have all your fingers and toes. Tickling you to make sure you had a good laugh. I think she only did that to babies to see if they had a pretty smile when we both know that you’re going to have the best there is. Mom would have been baking cookies with you, even if you were no bigger than you are now.” When Dru wrapped his litt
le hand around his finger, it melted Oakley’s heart. “You would have had her wrapped around your fingers. Mom would have been hauling you to everything she did. Grocery shopping. You’d be going out to the garden with her and pulling weeds. There is no doubt in my mind either that she would have had you cooking right there with her when we all got together.”
Wiping at the tears that had formed and fallen down his cheeks while talking to Dru, he wondered what his dad might have said about this little guy. He would never have accepted him. Oakley didn’t know why that popped up in his head, but he also knew that it was as true as anything that he’d thought of. His dad would have found him to be inferior to the rest of them. And there was no doubt in his mind that his father would have found a way to hurt him. Or worse.
“If you ever have any trouble that you don’t think you can handle without fists, then you come to me. Or any of us. There are better and much safer ways to handle a problem than to have to hurt someone for things to go your way.” Bella handed him a diaper and wipes. “See how they treat you when you’re doing nothing more than talking? Women will always make you do something you don’t wanna just because they can. But I have to tell you, buddy, there isn’t anything sweeter or more loving than a woman that loves you right back. That is how I feel about your momma. She and Aunt Harris might be all kick a...butt, but they are the best ever. Of course, until my mate comes along. Then she’ll be the best aunt there is. You remember that.”
“What on earth are you telling him?” Oakley said it was manly stuff and for her not to pry. “You were telling him about his grandma, weren’t you? I’m so glad that you all can do that. I wish I had stories about her that I could share.”
“We’ll keep him well informed.” Oakley laid him on the changing pad that had been brought to him as well. “You, little man, do not get used to me changing you. You have a stinky butt, and I don’t care to be in full view of your being able to pee in my face.”
Changing him took a little more effort than he had thought, and he finally had to turn it over to his mom. When she showed him what she’d learned in the last few hours, he thought that next time he’d be better equipped. And there would be a next time, he decided. He wanted to be prepared for his own children, from his body or just hers, in the event his mate ever came around.
It was late when they finally all left them. Oakley hugged his brother three times before he left. He’d hugged Bella several times before he made it out the door as well. Grandda was spending the night with them, it seemed, and Fletcher was going to sleep in one of the smaller bedrooms until tomorrow, when his aide would come to hang out with him.
When Oakley pulled into his drive, he sat in his car, thinking about how much more he had to do on his house. There was quite a lot, he realized. Not so much the little things, but more huge things that he knew he couldn’t handle on his own. It also occurred to him that only having two bedrooms in his home was going to make things crowded when his mate came. Especially with Grandda telling them all he was going to move around to each of their homes and hang out with their mates. The house was too small.
Looking at the time, he decided that he’d wait until morning before he called Sampson, a buddy of his that had his own construction company. This job, adding more rooms and making the house bigger than he had started out with, was going to take a crew, not him working on it off and on when he had time. The sense of urgency seemed to weigh heavy on him all of a sudden.
The shell was up. There was a great deal more to do with just putting in the electricity. Also, there were windows that had to be put in, as well as— Stopping himself before he made himself overwhelmed again, he sat down on the front steps and thought about how much work had been done and how much more would need to be done for the house to be as big as he wanted.
Are you all right? He looked up to see Sampson Parker, as his wolf, standing in front of him. Grinning at him, Sampson laughed again. I don’t think I like that look on you. What’s up?
“I need to expand here. I didn’t think about how much room I’d need down the line when I started this. Two bedrooms? What was I thinking?” Sampson sat down and eyed the building as Oakley continued. “I don’t know if it would be easier to add on or just begin again someplace else. I have a good deal of property. You’d think that I’d be further along than I am right now after several months of working on it.”
You’re fine. Why don’t you just add on to this part? You could leave this part of the house for bedrooms. It looks like you have about six rooms there now, correct? Oakley told him that was right, and it had been plumbed for three bathrooms. That won’t be any trouble. In fact, it would be easier with the walls off for us to plumb more if you want to put more baths in. I can work with this and make it blend together like you meant for this to happen at the start. When did you want to start on it? I have a few that can start on it in the morning. Or I mean later this morning. Then the entire crew can be here starting Monday.
“Let’s do it that way. I should have known not to go elsewhere when I was looking to build. Or at the very least should have asked you to recommend a company that could help me out. You’ve been so busy that I—”
You’re a good man and a better friend, Oakley. I’m great with being able to help you now. When he started to protest again, Sampson told him to shut up. Just say, ‘Thanks for helping me out, Sampson. I’m glad that we can work together on my new home.’”
“Thanks for helping me out, Sampson. I’m glad that we can work together on my new home.” Oakley grinned. “You’re going to have to bring the missus over and meet the newest member of the Marshall family. Dean and Bella have a little boy now.”
After the sun started to come up, Oakley had a better idea of what they were going to be doing. He could work on his projects anytime so long as he had Internet. Going over to hang out with one of his brothers—basically, to get a nap in—Oakley felt better than he had in some time. He didn’t know if it was just the baby or what, but he was feeling settled. Like he was ready for shit to happen. Laying his head down on the couch, Oakley simply let sleep take him under.
~*~
Dean got up when Dru did. Going to the crib that was in his new room, he picked the little guy up, talking to him about how glad he was to see him, and put him on the top of the dresser to change him. He thought that he was getting good at this changing thing.
“You do know that you’re going to have brothers and sisters. So you’re going to have to show them the ropes when they come around.” Dru sighed at him. “Yes, I know. It’s going to be a big responsibility, but I’m sure that you can handle it just fine.”
After getting him changed and redressed, he sat in the rocker with him. “My mom rocked all of us in this chair. It’s only fitting that we do the same for you, don’t you think?” Dru started to fuss, and Dean moved him around until he settled down again. “You and I, we’re going to have to get used to each other. I’m going to be a house hubby while Mom is off, making the world a much better place. Also, we talked it over tonight, and your momma, she feels much better about this house now. You see, it’s not been a walk in the park for her over the last few months. You and I are going to have to figure out ways to cheer her up. All right?”
Dru watched his face like he understood every word that was coming out of his mouth. After rocking him for a few more minutes, Grandda joined them in the room. Grandda told him that he really loved the little bugger.
“Here, Grandda, you rock him.” He started to tell him, no, but Dean put him into his arms anyway. “He loves to rock. And I know that you do as well. I’ll just sit here in this chair, and we’ll tell him all about his new life. I did find out why he was placed in the hospital.”
“I know more than you do, I’m betting. Harris, she’d get you the facts. I’m giving you what I got from the hospital. It don’t make it all that much better. It’s a shame that those two kids didn’t have any
help when they got themselves a child on the way. I can’t believe that there are people out there that would toss their own little one to the side when she finds out that she’s in the delicate condition.” Only Grandda would call it a delicate condition. “Anyway, she finds out she’s gonna have a little baby, and her parents tell her that they don’t want her anymore. I guess that happens more than I think it does. But the boy’s parents, did you hear that? They said that she could live there, but that she had to give them the baby. That ain’t right either. Do you think so?”
“No, but then I don’t know anyone involved. I mean, there could be a reason that they didn’t think the girl would be able to raise him right. So how did it end up that the in-laws didn’t get him? For that matter, how did he wind up in the hospital?” Grandda told him. “Now that pisses me off. So the two of them tried their very best to raise Dru right, and they realized they couldn’t do it without support. To know that your own parents would sabotage any job that you tried to get just because the two kids messed up is terrible. I think those two should be commended for trying. So what did you do for them, Grandda?”
“Now, how do you know that I did anything at all?” Dean just stared at his grandda. “All right. I did. I helped them not only get jobs but a little apartment too. They’re both old enough to be out on their own, eighteen and nineteen. They also got them jobs that can help them get into college too. Before you ask, no, they know that this is the best thing that they could do for little Dru. And they won’t be coming back for him. Sad, don’t you think?”
“I do. Do they want to have pictures of him as he’s growing up? I wouldn’t mind doing that. So long as, as you said, they don’t come here and try to take him from us.” Grandda said that he’d helped them without them knowing his name. And the state couldn’t share that anyway. “Good. I’ll hire someone, an attorney, to make sure that they get pictures so long as they want them, and perhaps allow them to send him things through the attorney too. But if things go south, I’ll rain a shitstorm down on them that will make their parents look like saints. This is my son, and I will not have him hurt in any of this.”
Dean: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance (Marshall's Shadow Book 2) Page 14