They spoke for another hour, about what sort of shots he wanted, how he wanted to have some made with his children and their families. Excitement was in the air when Blanche and Sara returned. Park kissed Blanche soundly on the mouth before swinging her around the room. They were laughing when he set her on her feet again.
“I love you, Blanche Peyton, with all my heart. If I wasn’t already married to you, I’d be sure to ask you again. I think I will.” Park got down on one knee and looked up at Blanche. “I love you with all that I am, my dear wife, and hope that you’ll be spending the rest of your life with me and our family. When the kids get here, we’re going to have all of us in one place, and the best mother is going to be right there beside me when the camera pops. Yes, ma’am, you are the best mother, friend, soul mate, that any man could have ever asked for. Will you do me the honor of forgiving me for not thinking about you when I concocted this stupid dream? From now on, love. I want you to tell me when I’m being an old fool.”
They left her there with Sara. She was wiping her tears away when Harper sat down at her desk. She’d noticed that about Sara—she was very emotional at times. When she was ready to talk, she told her about Park’s first wife.
“A horrid person. I know that I shouldn’t gossip, but I think it might help you to know a little of the background on that couple. Park and his first wife, they never got along. All the time she was alive, she never had a kind word to say to a soul. The way she talked about Park and the kids was shameful. It was small wonder they scattered to other states when she passed away. I believe that the only reason they stayed was for their dad.” Harper asked why he thought they would want a picture with her. “Age and memories like that sort of fade. You want to remember the best of people after they’re gone. I know that you will never think kindly of your parents, nor will the memories of them fade. But humans, that’s what they do. Perhaps to give themselves the blame about how it ended. I know for a long time, Park felt that he’d failed his wife. Up until he met Blanche, he was in a dark place. But she brought him right out of it.”
“Good for her. I’m glad now that I said something to him. I probably won’t be able to have that much say all the time, but in this, I’m glad that I did. Thank you for helping me earlier too. If I could have, I might have shifted myself if I thought that it would work. But I’m only a lowly human.” Sara looked at her oddly. “What is it?”
“Harper, you’re not human. I don’t know what you are now, but you’re no longer human.” Harper told her that she was incorrect on that. “No, love, you’re more than that. Even if you weren’t, you aren’t lowly anything.”
“Bryant told me that he couldn’t change me. That it was a condition that was told to you when you were changed.” Sara only nodded with a huge smile on her face. “You’re starting to piss me off with that look. It might work on your kids, but not me. What the hell are you talking about?”
Sara laughed and pointed out that she was afraid of her too. Before she could tell her she was wrong, which really she wasn’t, Sara sat down on one of the many displays that she’d gotten for her new digs.
“You’re immortal, for one thing. I don’t know if you knew that. But as I’m sure you’ve figured out, you can dress yourself in whatever you want. Read minds—but you’ll need to practice on that.” Harper said that she had gotten some magic from Bryant. “You did. A great deal of it. But if you want to work on it, I’m reasonably sure that you can shift too. Talk to Aurora. She’ll be able to guide you through whatever you need.”
She was going to call out to the queen as soon as she got home. If Sara was wrong, which she was sure that she wasn’t, then Harper wouldn’t embarrass herself by trying to figure out shifting. But she desperately wanted to be a tiger and to show her to Bryant. Closing up the shop after shoving Sara out the door, Harper headed for home. It was time to test her magic.
Chapter 12
Bryant looked at his brothers. They’d been at this all morning, interviewing people for the positions open. He thought seriously about hiring everyone that passed the background check. He said as much to his brother Harley.
“Why don’t you? I mean, it’s not like you don’t have the positions to fill. Then we can go out into the sunshine and not have to be in this building. We should have done this elsewhere instead of in the paint smell filled rooms.” The renovations were still going on, and it did smell in there. Thus the windows all being open. “By the way, don’t you have to appear in court later this afternoon?”
“Yes. At three. I have to give my side of what happened the day that Mark was terminated. I have no idea why. I owned the building before he was fired, so I see no reason for judgement to be passed on to us about how we had to fire someone that worked for us.” Harley said that even as long as he’d been around, he still had trouble with the judicial system. “I’m having a little trouble myself, as a matter of fact. But Randy is going with Harper and I, so we should be well represented.”
Harper and her family were at the courthouse this morning, hearing the last will of their parents for the first time in whole. That was something he didn’t understand either. They knew the will and the revisions to it that the children had made. Michelle didn’t receive, nor did she want, anything that might have been left to her. Other than the children, and that was slowly working its way through.
“Did I tell you that I’m going to walk the woods on the other side of where the Wilsons’ house was?” Harley loved to walk. It didn’t matter if he was welcome or not to walk along paths not taken, he easily made it through each area without ever getting shot at. “I’m going to take my new toy with me. I’ve always wanted a metal detector. And since I can afford a really nice one, that’s what I got myself.”
“I know that I don’t really have to say this to you, but please be careful. This has been a strange summer so far, and I would like to not have to worry about anything else.” Harley laughed and promised that he would. “All right. But if you need us, you know you only have to reach out to one of us and we’ll be right there.”
“Sure, Pops, thanks for watching over my little self.” They both laughed, and when the next person sat in front of them, Harley asked if they were going to do it. When Bryant nodded, Harley grinned at the young woman in front of him. “You’re hired. Just tell me which shift you want to work. If you have no preference, then that’s fine too.”
She told him that she’d rather have nights. Putting a two at the top of her application and having her sign it there, he told her to have a good day. Yelling next to the next person, they started moving through the line at a much better pace.
By one o’clock they were finished, for the most part. Harley left him so that he could go walking, and Bryant was only waiting on his mom and pops to come and take over the hiring process. Telling them when they arrived what they’d been doing, Pops was tickled that he’d not have to actually interview anyone. Mom liked that they were having them sign off on the shift they requested.
“What do I tell them about start date if they ask? Or training?”
Bryant told him what he had figured out. The people working for the cable company that wanted to stay with him, which was almost everyone, were going to train them. But they couldn’t do anything until the building was upgraded and finished being worked on. “If they ask, tell them that we’re having a dining area put in with more microwaves, fridge capacity, as well as some other perks.”
“Good for you, son. Using your past experience from working here to make improvements. I remember many a night when you came home complaining about things not working out in the breakroom because of the lack of space.”
“I could never understand why, when they knew there were going to be at least a hundred people working per shift, they only had room for three people to have their meal. That was costly too, having things brought in if you wanted a hot meal or something.” Bryant hugged his parents before telling them where Harley had gone. “He promises to call out if he
needs us.”
“Bryant, I swear you worry more than I did when you boys were younger.”
Nodding, he left them there as another group came into the building. He knew his parents would be all right, but they could be talking the arm off of each person they knew. Or knew some family member. It was what he’d come to love about this area, the way everyone seemed to know everyone. That was one of the things he hated most about this area too. The way everyone knew your business.
He had walked to town this morning, and now that it was midafternoon, he was glad that he had. The little chill in the air this morning had made him think that fall was right around the corner, which he supposed in a way that it was. But right now it seemed full-on summer again, and for that he was thankful too. Spring was his favorite time of the year. The snow was fine, but spring opened up so many wonderful things that he loved to be out of doors when it happened.
The courtroom was just letting out when he got inside of the big building. Bryant saw Harper before she saw him, and all he could do was stare at her. She was dressed in a business suit—not a skirt, but a nice fitting men’s type of suit. The only thing that was feminine about it was the shirt. The sleeves hung below the jacket in a ruffled cuff. The front of it was low cut, showing just enough of her cleavage to have men wondering what delights she had beneath it. Her hair was up in a pony tail that made her look ten years younger.
Harper smiled at him when she turned his way.
“You look good enough to eat, my dear.” She said that he’d done that, and she needed for him to repeat it. “Why, did I miss someplace?”
“You are wonderfully thorough, my dear husband. By the way, everything is official now. Everyone has signed off on the paperwork that Randy drew up. The land and all the surrounding buildings, I guess there are a couple, are ours too. Did you know that we own the rights to the waterway? It’s only a creek right now, but I guess in the spring it’s fast moving and floods some of the fields surrounding it.” Bryant asked if there were any farms below the waterway that depended on it. “I didn’t think to ask, but that should be easy enough to figure out, I would think. I never thought of that, but that could be why I got a certified letter in the mail via Randy, asking if I would remove the dam. I’ll have him look into that too.”
“I have to be in the courtroom in about twenty minutes, over the thing with Mark. Do you have time to sit with me?” She pouted. “Ah, I can take that as a no. More pictures?”
“Yes. When I started this, I had no thoughts of graduation pictures. They’re not too bad, so long as the parents aren’t in the room. They have this set thing in mind for the photos, and I can tell that the kids just want to get it over with.” He laughed. “I have another shipment of props coming in today too. So if you have time after this is done, can you come over to the studio and help me sort them out? I’ll make it worth your while.”
Bryant laughed when she wiggled her brows at him. Before he could tell her what he had in mind for paying him for his help, the bailiff called him into the room. Kissing her on the nose, telling Harper that he loved her very much, he went into the room and sat down next to Randy. Mark was there too.
Mark didn’t look the same. It took him a few seconds to realize that he looked relaxed. He had on a pair of jeans that were worn in places but clean. His shirt was a dress shirt, but not silk, as he’d been known to wear all the time. His shoes were tennis shoes that Bryant noticed had a bit of sauce on them. All in all, Mark looked like a new man. Bryant only hoped it was for the better.
The room was called to order and Mark stood up. Bryant was almost afraid to hear what things spewed from his mouth, but Mark politely asked the judge if he could say something first.
“Yes, but you well know that it will be recorded, young man. And in that, you say what you wish. But this will not be postponed. I have better things to do than to try and figure out what to do with you.” Mark said that he understood. “Good. Go ahead then.”
“I wasn’t a good person.” The judge cocked a brow at Mark as he continued. “I’m not now either, but I’m working on it. Every day, the first few days of making pizzas, I tried to find something positive that I was getting from being fired. In doing that, I figured out that Mr. Prince did me a huge favor by doing what he did.”
“Are you going to drop some sort of bombshell on this now that you’ve gotten everyone’s attention?” Mark said that he was only trying to make amends. “All right then, continue.”
“I was a selfish bastard when I owned the cable company franchise. I took things that didn’t belong to me. Made promises that I never had any intentions of keeping. I lied to get things to work out for me, and all I got out of that was things that I lost because of my inability to think of someone else instead of myself.” Bryant watched the judge and not Mark while the younger man continued. “Bryant was the best employee that anyone ever had. He would work overtime without any fuss. The customers loved him. He was helpful not just to the people online that needed his help, but to everyone, including me. I didn’t deserve such a man working for me, and for that I must tell him how profoundly sorry I am.”
“I’m very glad to hear that, Mr. Shaw. However, there is the matter of the money that you owe this man and a great many others. Mr. Prince is here because you owe him the greatest debt.” Mark told the judge that he was willing to work on paying it all back. “I’m not sure how you intend to do that. You don’t make much money now.”
Bryant stood up. When he was given the chance to speak, he had to clear his throat twice before he could. It wasn’t that he was moved by what Mark had said, but it was the whole of everything that he’d heard about the other man.
“Your Honor, I’m friends with Joe-Joe, the gentleman that owns the pizza place where Mr. Shaw works. He said that the day that he was fired by me, Mark came right in and asked for a job. Joe-Joe remarked on how he’s never been late, works well with others, and that he’s ready to show him more things he could help out with at the shop. I’m taking that as a man who has changed his life around.” The judge said that he could be just playing. “He could be, Your Honor, but I don’t think so. On that note, I’d like to forego any monies that Mr. Shaw owes me. Also, as a gesture of good will and paying it forward, I will clear his debt to everyone else at the cable company that he owes money to.”
Mark sat down, sobbing. Walking to him, Bryant lifted his head so that he could see him, and told him that he’d do this on one condition. Mark said he’d do it, no matter what.
“You pay this forward. I want you to help someone out, or some people out. Even if it’s just helping them change a tire. Giving the only change you have in your pocket to someone that might be able to use it. Pay whatever debt you can to someone that is in worse shape than you.” Mark got up and hugged him. Crying the entire time, he said that he didn’t deserve a person like him in his life. “You’re a good man now, Mark. Work on keeping yourself that way. But if I hear one thing that you’ve done—”
“You won’t. I can promise you that, Bryant. I’m working on being someone that I can be proud of, that isn’t making it on the coattails of someone else. You’ve given me a great gift in this, and I swear to you on my mother’s heart, I will pay this forward.” Bryant believed him. “You didn’t have to do this, and this just goes to show what a good person you are that I took advantage of. I’m sorry. I thank you from my heart, Bryant. Thank you for helping me.”
Bryant left after paying the money to the others. It wasn’t nearly as much as he’d thought it would be after taking his money off. He was worried about what Harper would say when he told her. For him, it was a great deal of money. Bryant hoped that she’d see that what he’d done was just what he’d told Mark—a way to make things better for a lot of people.
~*~
Harley was having a good time. He’d not found all that much, but it was something that he enjoyed to get away from everything. Sitting down to have a drink, he looked around the dense dark forest. That
was when he noticed the stone wall.
It wasn’t very big, only about three feet tall. It was in really good shape, he thought, for being as old as he thought it might be. Deciding to follow it to see where it led, he got up after putting his water away and started out on this new adventure.
Harley had heard from Harper once. She told him that she wanted him to know that the land that they owned went about seven thousand feet beyond the waterway. He didn’t know why that was important to him until she finished.
Would you look for some outbuildings on either side of the water? And a dam that will be holding back the water in the spring. More than likely year round, but that would be so helpful for me to find it and take it down before we get hit with flooding again. He told her that he could do that. Also, and this is from Bryant, he said to be careful. I would hate to see him around our children. He’s going to drive them crazy with always hovering around them all the time.
Harley was still thinking about his big brother being a father. He’d be good at it, if a little too protective. He was thinking about being an uncle, his parents being grandparents, when he found the end of the wall—and the house that it was protecting.
It was a huge house, like something that might have been built in the eighteen hundreds, with a wraparound porch that had a bay window, and a second floor one between them. The first floor porches were covered in vines now. The dark double door was fronted with a screen door, and on the other side was the same type of door, but the screen had been torn. There was even an old rocker on the porch under the front window.
Walking closer to it, he could see the big barn, which was in reasonably great shape. The curve around driveway was weedy, but still something that a person could use. Harley supposed the fact that it was so far off the beaten path was the reason that the windows were intact. Even the tri set of windows on the upper floor in the middle were still in one piece.
Bryant: Prince of Tigers – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 15