Julian

by Kathi S. Barton

  His family had not only waited on them to join them, but had also been very busy. Mrs. Stanton had a day bed set up for Ruby to sleep in when she visited, and a plethora of other items that she’d love as well. It looked like, to Tess, that they had adopted them both, and her granddad could not be happier for them. Tess was still trying to figure this all out.

  Willing to go to his home, just to see what she could use at the hotel, Tess knew that Jules had to know it all. Not just that she really did think that Dexter had killed Kenneth, but all the other stuff that was going on as well. Like the money that kept coming up missing.

  Chapter 3

  The surgery was set for this morning, but Kendal wasn’t sure that this was a good idea. He was feeling better, and his head didn’t hurt nearly so much now. But his wife, Sandra, told him if he backed out of this, she’d have his head hurting more than it was now. She was not one to mess with. “Mr. Wayne?” He looked at the beautiful woman standing in his room and smiled his greeting while taking Sandra’s hand. “My name is Dr. Tess O’Rourke. My granddad is going to be doing your surgery, but he’s running a little late today. I’m sorry. As soon as he gets here, we’ll begin. Did you have any questions for me?” “You think this will work, Dr. O’Rourke? I mean, those other doctors have told me that it would kill me to have it removed. That I might be a vegetable or something.” He looked at his wife. “We’ve not been able to start a family because we were so worried about her having to do everything on her own and care for me too.” “Kendal, my granddad is the best there is at working on the brain. You should have no fear on that. And if he thinks that it’ll harm you more than you have been, I promise you that he’ll stop and not do any damage to you.” He nodded. “Let me give you some information that you might not have gotten from the other doctors. Once the bullet is removed, you’ll need to recuperate for a while. Not as long as you might have by being a wolf, but you will need to not shift for at least a few weeks. At least until the bone is set.” “They said that they’d have to cut into my noodle.” Tess laughed and told him that was right. That was why he’d been shaved. “Yeah, that’s not so comfy. I’m wondering if my wolf will be bald as well.” “I have no idea. That’s a good question, but don’t go trying to figure that out. We need you healthy and strong. This surgery is going to take a few hours. Then you’ll be in recovery for a few hours after that. I’ll keep Sandra updated while my granddad works, but you can rest assured, both of us have done this several times and we’re very good. That’s why Dr. Stanton called him in.” When she left him, he looked at his lovely wife. “We’ll have a baby when you go into heat next. And I’ll be home to help you all the time.” She laid her head on his chest and he held her. “Mr. Stanton came in last night. He said that he’d meant to come in earlier, but he’d gotten sidetracked. He offered me a job when this is finished.” “They gave me one too. And while at first, I thought it was a pity job, but it’s not. I feel needed, Ken. Like I’ve never felt at other jobs. They put me in charge of procurement of supplies for the new center.” He hugged her, afraid of what might happen if he didn’t pull through this thing. “Don’t think like that. You’re going to be just fine. Like she told us, they’ve done this before. We’ll be just fine.” “I’m still worried about you.” She said she wasn’t going to leave at all. “You’d better not sit here for eight hours, honey. Go have some lunch with that friend of yours.”

  “She isn’t very helpful, nor is she all that nice either. And her husband is all huffy because I have a good job now.” Ken asked her what she meant. “Shirley is telling me that I’m a fool for allowing you to do this. That you are going to be a burden more so than you are now to me. And after I told her, in no uncertain words, you were not a burden, she put that little nose of hers in the air and left in a huff. I decided I need better friends. Like the Stantons.” He started to caution her about making friends out of their reach, then remembered what Levi had told him when he’d come to offer him the job yesterday. It started off with him calling him by his first name, then went downhill, as far as Ken was concerned, from there. “What do you mean, I’m your better? Better at what?” Kendall told him. “This is the twentieth century; you are aware of that, aren’t you? I’m a person, just like you, with issues, bills, and everything that goes with that. I’m just a man, like you, a shifter man that has a little more money. And with that, I’m going to help you because I like you. If you ever say that to my parents, however, I will put flowers on your grave and tell you that you fucked up.” They were both laughing by the time he convinced him that they were equals. The job was for him to come to his office every day and help him with cleanup. And while it did sound like a crappy job, Levi told Kendall he didn’t know what sort of a slob he was. Levi showed him pictures of his work area, and Ken wasn’t sure that he could even do that for him. “I need you. I have a couple of shows coming up soon. One of them is in Germany and then the other is local, as in the States. You’d have to go with me to those too. I mean, you could stay home. But if you do, then we’ll have to work out something. I’d be grateful. My parents would be grateful as well.” He asked about his house. “My house is immaculate. I have a butler and a housekeeper. If not, then I’d hate to think what sort of mess I’d have there. Probably some kind of science project too.” When Levi left an hour later, leaving behind a check and some cash, Ken stared at it for several minutes before he called his banker and told him what had happened. The man didn’t seem to know anything about it until he was put on hold for a moment. “Mr. Stanton just came in and set you up on his payroll, Mr. Wayne. He suggested that if you needed me to come over and pick up the money and check, I could do that for you.” Mr. Wayne? He’d been everything but a mister since he’d gotten back from the Army. “You just let me know if I can do anything else for you. Oh, and your house loan is paid off, as well as the back taxes. You are free and clear with us.” Free and clear. He’d not been clear with anyone since he’d been eighteen and joined the service. Now he was caught up on his house, his car was no longer in threat of being repossessed, and he had money in his account. He wondered what sort of person did that to a near stranger. Holding his wife, he told her what had been done. “Really?” He nodded. “My goodness. This is.... How do we pay them back?” He told her what Levi had told him. That to mention it would be a breach of good manners. “Good manners. I don’t think when my momma was beating those into me, she ever mentioned paying someone’s loan off and not bringing it up again.”

  “Maybe because, like with us, there was never a chance for it to happen.” Sandra said that was right, and laid her head back down on his chest. “I’m worried about this. You’re to move on if I die. I don’t want you to go out and end your own life.” “I won’t.” He laughed. “What a thing to say to me right before they pop your skull open like a can opener. You’re going to be fine. I’m going to be fine. All of us are.” He said he hoped so. “Me too, but we have to believe it, Ken. If not, then why bother?” A few minutes before noon, a man came to get him. They were going to prep him for surgery. And Sandra wasn’t able to go with him. Almost as soon as he was in the next phase of the hospital, Dr. O’Rourke came to see him. The mister this time. “I’ve fallen and broken my wrist.” Ken said he was sorry to hear that, then asked when they were going to reschedule. “No need for it if you’re willing to have my granddaughter operate. She’s good, if not better than me. And she’s younger. These old bones aren’t as strong as they used to be.” “She’s all right with this?” Dr. O’Rourke said that Tess was more than all right with it. “All right then, but don’t tell my wife. She’s nervous enough as it is. I don’t want her thinking that this is an omen or something.” “I won’t. I’ll assist, in that I’ll be there with Tess, but she’ll do the operation. You have nothing to worry about, Ken. She’s better than I am, like I said.” He nodded as the nurse told him he was going to feel slightly lightheaded. “Go on now, let the drugs take you while they prep you the rest of the way.” He did feel woo
zy, but not too badly. When they asked him if he could move, he tried, but he wasn’t sure if he could have made his arms move. Suddenly in the air for a moment, he felt the softness of the bed under him, then Tess was there. “Hello, Ken. How are you feeling?” He must have answered her because she told him she was glad. “I’m going to put you under for a little while, then about halfway through, I’m going to wake you up, talk to you a little bit, then you’ll go to sleep, all right?” “Yes, whatever you need. You’re very pretty, did you know that?” She laughed, and he felt silly. “I’m sorry. I’m not feeling myself.” “Well, we’ll get you there. You just hold on for me.” He felt the magic of meds go over him. When he closed his eyes, the entire world seemed to just go away. Even the pain in his head was gone. His last thoughts were, he sure hoped he felt this good when this was finished. ~~~ Tess washed her hands three times. The happiness was making her old habits start up again, and instead of feeling terrible, she felt like a million bucks. Her granddad joined her a few minutes after she was drying up. “You did wonderful in there.” Thanking him, she realized that it was the first time that they’d worked together. “I had no idea that you’d gotten that perfect at this. Even his wound is going to heal much better once he can shift.” “I was concerned that he’d have speech trouble when he couldn’t talk there for a minute.” Granddad nodded. “Then we just lowered the meds more and there he was. I think he’s going to be just fine now, don’t you?”

  “I do. But this has gotten me to thinking. I think it’s about time that I hang up my scalpel.” He’d said that before, but now it sounded different, like he meant it. Before she could tell him no, he spoke again. “I’m not going to stop taking in patients, honey, just not operate any more. I want you and me to go into practice together. We work as a team, you get your name out there, and before you know it, I can stay home with Ruby and any other children that you and Jules have, and be the best great grandda there ever was.” “I’m not ready for this. I mean, you know what I have going on.” He said he was no longer worried about that. “I am. You know what sort of person Dexter can be. And now that he’s free to roam around like he owns me, he’s never going to stop.” “You think that Jules or any of the rest of them is going to allow you to be hurt? They won’t. And Ruby could not be in better hands unless she was with you. Lucy is even teaching her to call her Grandma. Have you been to see the house that Jules owns?” “No, not yet. Last night Ruby was so exhausted that I couldn’t leave her. And this morning Jules had some work to do at the office. Did you know that he was a beat cop turned PI?” He said that he did. “Dane said that she’s looking into Dexter for me, but I don’t know what she’ll find from there. He was never like this before his mom died.” “I think there’s more to that than we know as well.” Tess asked him what. “I don’t know, but something. I’ll let you go for now, honey. You go and talk to Sandra and let her know that he’s come through with flying colors. All right?” After she changed her shirt, she made her way to the lobby. Tess was surprised to see Jules there, with Ruby sleeping on his chest and him sleeping with her. The two of them looked as if they really could be father and daughter. When Sandra said her name, she moved with her to the next room and smiled. “Ken, he’s all right?” Tess told her what they’d done and how he’d done too. “I’m so happy. I guess he’s going to be out for a while, correct?” “Yes, a few more hours. I want him rested so that he doesn’t try and harm himself.” She wanted to let the woman go so she could go and watch Jules and Ruby. She must have looked funny, because Sandra laughed. “I’m sorry. Did I miss something?” “He’s been playing with her since he brought her in. And he got her to stand up next to the table. She was wobbly, but he had so many nurses coming to see her that you’d think she walked. Anyway, the two of them have been sleeping for the last half hour. I took pictures. I’ll send them to you.” Tess thanked her and gave her a card with her personal email on it. “Jules is a good man. And you couldn’t ask for a better family to be a part of. I’ve known of the Stantons my entire life. And if you ever needed something, they’d be there for you. No matter what.” “He’s taking me to see his home today.” She said it was massive. “That’s what he said. And that for the most part, there is a lot of furniture still in it. A pink bedroom for Ruby too.” “I knew the Jacobs. A nice woman she wasn’t. The mister was nice enough, but they thought that they were so much better than anyone that came around. My mom used to cook and clean for them. Nothing was ever good enough for her. And the mister had some kind of phobia where he was fearful that there were germs in his bathroom. Mom had to use all kinds of cleaners in there just to make him happy.” Tess asked her about the baby. “It wasn’t his. The wife had had numerous affairs even before they were married, and when he figured out the truth about the baby, he kicked her to the curb, so to speak. But the judge decided that there was too much anger for them to divide things up equally, so he ordered the house and contents to be sold. Jules asked what the buying price was and bought it. He offered Mr. Jacobs anything he wanted, but he said there was nothing in the house that he needed now that he was moving on. Good for the both of you, I think.” “I’ll let you know.” She looked at the other woman. “I don’t have any friends in this town. I was wondering if you’d be one for me. You can say no if you want. Though I don’t know why you’d want to—” “We are friends, Tess. And I’m honored, even if you didn’t know, that we are. Thank you.” Tess told her she was sorry. “No reason to be. I think it’s great. And with you and Jules being a couple, maybe, if I can get my husband out of the house again, we can do things together.” “I’d like that too.” She made her way to her daughter then she lifted her head up off of Jules’s chest. She thought that she could just take her and let him sleep, but he grabbed her arm before she got her loose. Fear was on his face before his grip loosened and he smiled at her. “I didn’t want to wake you.” “That’s okay. I wasn’t fully asleep anyway. She snores.” For some reason that made her laugh. “How did things go? Is Ken going to have a better life?” “Oh, I hope so, but we’ll have to wait. I didn’t know what to do with the bullet, so I did the whole chain of command thing and had my granddad put it in his safe. I’m not sure what it might be needed for, but when we have that sort of thing happen, we make sure that it’s done well for court, if it comes to that.” He told her he’d send someone for it. “I’m starving.” “Good. How about I take my two favorite girls out to dinner?” He took Ruby from her and smelled her butt like a pro. “I guess we need to freshen up. You do your thing, we’ll do ours. And so you know, Ruby is a real flirt. She had anyone that walked by eating right out of her hands.” She went to take a shower and to change after talking to the staff and giving them Jules’s number. Tess would need a cell phone soon if this became something she did for Granddad. As she was dressing in her street clothing, she heard her name being yelled from the locker room. “Tess? Where the fuck are you? They said you were up here. Yoohoo? Tess? Come out, come out, where ever you are.” She was terrified, and in that moment, she knew that the next time she was with Jules, she was going to have him bite her. Then she could be found. “Tessie, where are you, goddamn it? This is fucking bullshit. Where the fuck are you? And you’d better have that brat with you. I have told Dexter several times, no kids.” Told Dexter? She didn’t understand, and thought perhaps she’d heard him wrong. As she backed deeper into the room, she could hear him yelling for her in the same singsong voice of his. Tess had gotten dressed in the shower room, so her locker was open and all her things were on the bench. Tess heard them crash to the floor just as Dexter came around the corner. He lunged at her, knocking her back against the wall, and everything went black. But she heard him, just as clear as day, saying over and over, “No kids, no kids, no kids.” ~~~ Dexter tried his best to wake Tessie up, but she was bleeding really bad. He was panicking now, his heart racing. What if he had killed her? he asked his mom. She didn’t want her dead, just the kid. The little girl was unsafe with his mom around, and he kne
w it. What to do, he hadn’t any idea. “No kids. No kids.” He heard it over and over while he found a towel and laid it over Tess’s face. Then that freaked him out a little, so he just wrapped it round her head. “Too much this time, Dexter. I told you to behave with women, didn’t I? You have never been a very good boy, and even with you being the son of God, you still manage to fuck things up.” “You did this, not me, Mom. Why do you constantly want to hurt her? She’s done nothing to you.” His mom told him that she had a kid, and she had told him once, or a thousand times, no kids, no kids, no kids. “It’s not my child, you know that. Why don’t you just leave them both alone? Now look what you’ve done. You’ve hurt her, and now she’ll die.” “I see it all, Dexter Shipley and you’d better remember that. And why shouldn’t she die? I think that anyone that has a child, they should die with it. They’re nasty, and the Lord has told me so. You have to get me that child, Dexter.” He told her he was sorry, but he wasn’t going to do that. “You’d better do what I tell you to do or else. Get out of here before you’re caught. Go now before someone comes.” Dexter left then, running down the hall. Seeing the doctors coming his way, he moved into one of the big rooms that his mom told him was empty. How she knew these things, when she wouldn’t even tell him where she was in person, he didn’t know, but Dexter’s mother was all he had. She must have told him that fifty times a day. “Get to the house and pack you a bag.” He said that he would, and then asked her where he was going. “I don’t know. You just go home; it’ll take you some time, so when you get there, I want you to be careful that no one is in there waiting for you. You know what will happen if you’re caught, don’t you? I’ll never get to talk to you again. They’ll take out your brain. Not that you have much use for it anyway.” Dexter told his mom he was sorry about that, but ran like his life depended on it. He was sure that he’d killed Tessie, and all he’d wanted to do was to talk to her. But she was always with that baby. If she was with the baby when he found her, his mother would make him take her. And he didn’t want to hurt either of them. But the baby—the word hurt his head. Terrible pain took his breath away. “No. No kids, Dexter. How many times do I have to tell you that? Run through that grocery store. That’ll slow them down.” He did as he was told, knocking over a stand of chips while he was running. “You ignorant fool. What is wrong with you? Walk now, and be quick about it.” Walking gave him time to think. His head was hurting really badly again, and when he stopped near the new building they were putting up, he closed his eyes and asked Mom to give him a moment or two. She was making him hurt in the belly too. For some reason she did as he’d asked this time, being quiet so that he could rest. Thinking about poor Tessie, he wondered if she was going to be all right. He needed her. She was a doctor, and he needed her to help him. Dexter had been such a smart person when he’d been living at home. His mom had told everyone that he was. He’d graduated from high school at fifteen. He’d gotten into college not long after, and had excelled there as well. Graduating from Harvard, he’d been ready to start his life. But Dexter knew that he’d never find a girl and bring her home. Not then. His dreams had been shattered, if he’d ever had any, of having a family as well as a home with children. Those things had never been a part of his life since she’d hurt him one day when he’d been a teenager. After that, Dexter couldn’t get far enough away from her. It took him a long time to want to come home. He wasn’t sure why he had— something to do with a person. But his mind didn’t go there. He knew that something had happened and it was bad, but he couldn’t, or perhaps didn’t want to, think about it. But after a few years of just living in his house, someone wanted to meet her. His nose started bleeding when he tried to make himself remember. And when bits and pieces of it came to him, he would feel his belly lurch up and he’d be sick again. He wished that he could remember something about this other person. “No, no, no, no.” Dexter tried to make his head stop spinning; the colors hurt because they were so bright. And when he blacked out, his head just too much for him, the dream or thoughts, he wasn’t sure which, started again. But he knew someone was going to find him and put him away. Just like his mom told him they would for what he’d done. “Look at this mess, Dexter. This is all your fault.” He couldn’t see what he’d done, but then, he didn’t remember doing anything to anyone. “If anyone finds out what you did, what do you think they’re going to do to you? I’ll tell you, they’ll lock you away for good. Not even being the son of God will help you with this.” “No, I don’t see it.” He could see the bed, the floor, but nothing on it. Like it was all rubbed out. “Mom, where is Alma?” “She’s a bad girl. You’re better off without her. She’s gone.” He asked again where she’d gone. “Never you mind, you just clean this mess up.” He didn’t see a mess. He didn’t seem to be able to remember things. Just knew that she was his Alma. It bothered him to no end that he couldn’t remember where she’d gone with their child. As for the mess, Dexter might have seen it then, but now all he could remember was picking up the blankets and sheets and putting them in the trash bags. Then since the weather was just perfect, Mom told him to burn the trash. He did that in the night, because the lights were so pretty when they sparkled in the sky. That, he remembered. Moving slower now, he made his way to the bus station. Mom told him that he’d have to hit the bank again when he got there. She used to work there, at the same one that Tessie had her account in, so she told him how to get the money out. Tessie didn’t need money, Mom told him. She didn’t know how to manage it correctly. He didn’t believe that, but he had to do what she told him or he’d have problems. Painful ones. So every week, he’d go and get her cash out and the tellers would never say a word. The bus trip took him the better part of the night. He saw the police lights there when they pulled in, and he did what his mom told him. Slipping out the back window of the bus, he was gone before they boarded, and was on his way to his home. There he would eat, rest, and be on his way to the bank first thing in the morning. Taking out the credit card, he looked at the name on it, and wondered, not for the first time over the months, who this Alma person was and why he had her credit card. “You never mind about her. I told you, she was a bad girl. You need to work on getting that child from Tess. That child will be your ticket to Heaven. The Lord told me so. Without a kid, you’re just like everyone else. Lazy. And my Lord does not like lazy people. Give me that child, Dexter. I’ve told you before. You never listen to me. Did you hear me, Dexter? You will not make me a grandma before I’m ready. I mean it. No kids, no kids, no kids.” He told her he knew that, but getting the baby was hard. “You just work harder at getting her, and then bring her right to me. I know just what to do with the little thing.” Dexter’s mind skittered across something horrific. He only saw it for the briefest of moments, then it was gone. Going into the living room, he sat there in the darkness waiting for the sun to come up. First thing, he was going to the bank. Then he had to make the trip back to Tessie and her baby. He had to warn them all. “Why can’t I just keep the baby?” She told him that she didn’t like children. “I know, but you’re not here right now. I can just not bring her over to see you and care for her myself. She’s a pretty little thing, and I think—” “And how will Tess feel about that? You already killed off her husband, that bad man, didn’t you?” He wasn’t so sure about that either. Someone had killed him, but Dexter wasn’t the murdering type; someone had told him that. “You probably killed Tess. I think that makes you a murderer, don’t you?” Rocking back and forth as he used to do as a child when things got too stressful, he started saying the presidents of the United States and the years they were in office. When that list was finished, he started on other lists, other things to keep his mom out of his head. Dexter could think really well this way while his mind was working out another problem. But his mom, she couldn’t get into his head while he was doing it. He figured she might one day, but for now, his thoughts were his own. And he had to think what happened to the other person and Kenneth. He’d liked him, and now he
was gone too. Too many things going on that he couldn’t remember. Too many things. But first and foremost, he had to warn Tessie, to tell her to run with her little girl. Not to ever allow his mom to watch or even to touch her. Something was wrong, and he didn’t know what. Only that she’d hurt her if she could.