Family Forever

by Valerie J. Clarizio

  EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2016 Valerie J. Clarizio

  ISBN: 978-1-77339-057-4

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Stephanie Balistreri

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To all my farmer friends. Your hard work and dedication does not go unnoticed. Thank you!

  FAMILY FOREVER

  Valerie J. Clarizio

  Copyright © 2016

  Chapter One

  “Up next, the forensic team,” announced Vice Principal Henning. He glanced at his notecard. “It says here they are each auctioning off eight hours of spring cleaning at your home.”

  Dylan’s brother elbowed him in the ribs and laughed. “What a bunch of geeks. I wouldn’t pay twenty-five dollars for the lot of them.”

  Dylan cut Aric a sideways glance. The boy was knocking on the door of sixteen and sometime during the past year he developed a smart-mouth attitude about everything. “Show some respect. Those girls are contributing just as much as the rest of you are for the student spring trip fundraiser.”

  His brother pointed at the six girls standing on the stage. “Come on, really, the forensic team. What the heck kind of team is that anyhow?”

  “Just zip it.”

  Aric’s eye-roll didn’t go unnoticed, but it went ignored because he just didn't have the energy to deal with it at present.

  The bidding started. The first two girls went quickly for a hundred dollars each. Not bad. It took a bit longer for the next three to go. Thank goodness for family and friends, another three hundred dollars rolled in for the forensic team. The auctioneer called for another bid. Nothing. He called out again. Still nothing. Dylan knew this girl on stage right now, there was nothing wrong with her, but he also knew there would be no family or friends to save her. Marissa Geyer was a loner, the motherless daughter of the drunk who lived on the next farm over. The poor girl stared at her feet as silence filled the room. Her pain shot across the room causing Dylan to lift his bid paddle. “Three hundred dollars,” he yelled out.

  All heads turned in his direction, including hers, her bright blue eyes lit up with surprise. She smiled.

  “Sold!” yelled the auctioneer.

  His brother elbowed him again. “What in the heck are you doing?”

  “It’s a fundraiser. I’m supporting the cause. You got a problem with that? Because if you do, you could easily scrub the floors and vacuum in her place.”

  The teenager shook his head. “Nope, I’m good with her.”

  Next, and last on the docket, was the Future Farmers of America livestock auction. Members, including his smart-mouth brother, Aric, sold their prized swine, beef, and poultry. This group of kids always did well with fundraising. There were so many in the program, but that made sense. After all, they lived in a farming community.

  Dylan went to the cashier and paid his three hundred for eight hours of cleaning. Was he nuts? Maybe. But the poor girl looked so pathetic standing there he couldn’t help himself. The cashier handed him the girl’s contact information and, though he didn’t need it, he stuffed it into his pocket.

  After the livestock auction, he rounded up his four younger brothers and headed for home. The boys were so loud during the short drive he could hardly hear himself think, and he darn near missed seeing Marissa, the girl, and neighbor, whose cleaning services he just bought. Though she lived nearly seven miles from school, this wasn’t the first time he’d seen her walking home. Her no-account father forgot to pick her up again or was simply too drunk to remember she needed a ride.

  Pulling up beside her, he lowered the window. “Hey, Marissa, why don’t you hop in?”

  She nodded and walked around the front of the truck to the passenger side. His brother, Aric, slid out and Marissa climbed in as Dylan lifted the center console to make room for her in the front seat.

  “So Marissa, which trip are you planning to take?” Dylan asked.

  She smiled and kept her shy gaze focused on the dashboard. “Madison. I want to see the capital. I’m so excited I finally get to take one of these trips, being a senior and all, it was my last shot.”

  He wasn’t surprised by her choice to take the more academic trip. He’d heard she was a pretty good student, despite her lack of support at home.

  Her gaze drifted toward Aric. “Which trip did you sign up for?”

  “I signed up for the Wisconsin Dells trip. Last year, I did the white water rafting trip in Crivitz, it was awesome.”

  Dylan turned onto the long, narrow, gravel driveway leading up to the old decrepit farmstead the Geyers called home. The foreclosure sign he passed had been there for a while now, making him wonder how much longer Marissa and her father would be living there. Nobody in their right mind would buy the property for the structures on it. The house was about ready to fall down and the barn had already caved in several years ago. But the condition of the machine shed wasn’t too bad.

  The land was the only thing worth anything, and that he knew because he was the one renting and farming it. He really needed to call the bank to find out when it was going up for sale, and then the courthouse to inquire about its current assessed value.

  There wasn't a lot of acreage that came with the farm, but he needed to snap it up before someone else did and he lost his rights to farm it. Its location was perfect, as it bordered his property.

  He parked his truck next to her dad’s rusted out pickup.

  Aric slid out of the vehicle to let Marissa out. She turned to him keeping her gaze from meeting his. “Thank you for the ride. And thank you for bidding on my cleaning service.” She tilted her head even lower. “Without that generous bid, I probably wouldn’t be able to go on the trip.”

  “About that, are you available to come over this Saturday, say eight o’clock?” He glanced around the truck, studying his noisy brothers in the backseat. Braden and Nate were pushing at each other over their sleeping little brother, Luke. The kid could fall asleep at the drop of a hat and stay that way through anything. He returned his gaze to the timid girl. “I’m afraid what I paid may not be enough to clean up after these guys.”

  She giggled nervously and managed to lift her gaze to meet his. “Your bid was very generous, Mr. Jacobs. I’ll see you on Saturday, and I’ll do my best.”

  Mr. Jacobs, when had I become Mr. Jacobs? He was only twenty-four years old. He sighed. He knew exactly when it was he became Mr. Jacobs. It was the day his parents were killed in a car wreck and he inherited his younger brothers. The day he became the responsible party.

  Chapter Two

  At a few minutes to eight, Dylan caught a glimpse of Marissa walking up the driveway through the front room bay window. He should have known she’d end up walking. He wanted to kick himself. Why hadn’t he offered to pick her up? At least it wasn’t that far of a walk, but the spring air was damp and chilly.

  He shot a quick glance around the living room. His brothers had done a pretty good job tidying up the room. Stepping into the kitchen, he barked out a couple orders to Braden and Nate, telling them to hurry with the dishes and clean the junk off the countertops.

  Nate’s head snapped in his direction. “Why do we have to do this when you paid to have Marissa come over and do it?”

>   Dylan sighed. “We’ve been through this for the past two hours. She’s coming here to spring clean. She’s not your private maid service. She’s here to polish the furniture, and scrub floors. You guys need to learn to pick up after yourselves. And what happened to Aric? Where’s he, he’s supposed to be helping.”

  Braden laughed. “Yeah, right, Aric, helping? He never does anything. He’s probably upstairs hiding out in his room playing video games while we're slaving away down here.”

  Dylan looked up as if he could see into heaven. Just one day without any arguing or fighting, that’s all I’m asking. Just one.

  He turned his attention to Luke, who sat at the table coloring.

  “Hey, buddy, you’re going to have to finish your masterpiece in your bedroom. Marissa will be here any minute and I don’t want you in her way.”

  Without a word, Luke gathered up his crayons and stuffed them into the box. Unlike his brothers, he didn’t say much. So little, in fact, it was starting to worry Dylan. Quiet wasn’t normal for a Jacobs boy.

  A faint knock sounded on the front door.

  Dylan pulled it open. “Hi, Marissa, come on in.”

  With the exception of Aric, the rest of his brothers had gathered in the living room. Braden and Nate each bid her ‘Good morning’, but Luke just stared at her with his big brown eyes, one hand gripped his box of crayons and the other held the picture he’d been coloring. The kid was so shy and timid.

  Marissa’s soft gaze zoned in on Luke and she stepped toward him. “Can I see your picture?”

  He set the box on the floor and used both hands to hold his picture up for her to see. She smiled warmly at him. “That’s a beautiful horse, and just look how well you colored him, stayed in the lines and everything.”

  His baby brother beamed at her compliment, but still said not a word. When she bent over to take a closer look, he snatched his box of crayons from the floor, spun on his heel and took off.

  Her concerned gaze met Dylan’s. “What…”

  “He’s very bashful.”

  Marissa nodded and swung her gaze around the room. “Well, it looks pretty clean in here, what exactly do you want me to do?”

  “Yeah, it’s clean because the general there has been on us for the past two hours to clean before you got here.” Braden’s sharp look bore into him.

  Heat rose in his cheeks. Why he was embarrassed by his teenage brother’s comment, he didn’t know. Dylan ignored him and focused his attention on Marissa. “The furniture hasn’t been polished in a while, the bathrooms could use a good cleaning, and all the floors could use a good vacuuming and scrubbing.” Recognizing the fact the house was pretty big, and he’d just asked her to clean two and one-half bathrooms used by five males, six on occasion when Cole was home from college, he added, “Just get as far as you can with the time I bought and we’ll be good.”

  She smiled. “For what you paid, I’ll make sure to get it all done.”

  “Great. I have to make a run to the county co-op, and then town. I shouldn’t be gone but a couple of hours. You probably won’t see Aric, it's likely he'll stay in his room to play video games, Luke will be hiding out in his room as well,” he nodded toward Braden and Nate, “and these two can show you where the cleaning supplies are and help you if you need anything.”

  The boys opened their mouths but shut them upon receiving his silencing glare. He’d heard enough whining already for one morning.

  Dylan climbed into his truck and cranked the engine. The quiet ten-minute drive to the feed mill was just what he needed this morning. He loved his brothers, but they had nearly driven him nuts this week with their bickering among each other, not to mention all the running he had to do to get them where they needed to be. Why was it that all their events were scheduled on the same days and at the same time? Aric and Nate with baseball practice and games, and Braden and Luke with band practice, piano lessons, and Boy Scouts.

  He pulled into the co-op parking lot and cut the engine. How was it that a ten-minute drive went so fast, and oddly, he really didn’t remember driving there? Knowing he needed to get it together, he stood by his truck for a minute and sucked in a few slow, cleansing breaths of the damp spring air.

  After picking up his order, he shot the breeze with Carl, the assistant manager, and Betty, the checkout clerk.

  “That brother of yours is quite the ballplayer, and he’s only a sophomore. I wouldn’t be surprised if he broke some of your school records by the time he’s done. Your brother, Cole, came close, but he didn’t apply himself like you did, and Aric does,” Carl stated matter-of-factly.

  Carl was right, Aric was an excellent ballplayer. Sports were the only thing Aric took as seriously as video games.

  The man liked to talk with him about high school sports because his kids were athletic as well. Like Dylan and his brothers, their ages spanned from the mid-twenties down to kindergarten, but Carl had a couple girls mixed in.

  Betty leaned over the counter, touched his arm, and flashed him the sympathetic look he often received from people since his parents died.

  “So dear, how you doing? You doing okay? How about I send Gayle over with a couple of pies for you boys?”

  Betty’s pies were delicious. In fact, her cherry pie had won the blue ribbon at the county fair every year since he could remember. The only problem with getting some of the woman’s pies was that her daughter delivered them. And unlike her mother, she was annoying by nature and tended to hang around for longer than she needed to. But in any case, Betty’s blatant effort to hook him and her daughter up was a small price to pay for getting those pies in his hands.

  Dylan smiled and nodded. “Ma’am, I’d be a fool to turn down your wonderful, scrumptious pies. They’re the best in the county, probably the state. Have you ever entered them in the state fair?”

  Her cheeks turned pink. “Oh, you’re a charmer. I’ll whip up a couple after work and send Gayle over with them.”

  After leaving the co-op, he headed to town, needing to stop at the grocery store. Even if he stopped at the store every day he’d probably still run out of milk, cereal, and bread at home. It was amazing how much those boys ate and drank, especially Aric and Braden.

  Within two hours, he was home. He pulled a couple grocery bags from the cab of his truck, and when he turned to step away from his vehicle he nearly bumped into Marissa.

  “Need some help?” Her voice was so soft he hardly heard her. Her straight blonde hair was now pulled into a ponytail and her shirtsleeves were rolled up past her elbows, displaying her skinny pale arms. How many bags could those spindly arms possibly carry?

  He handed her the two bags he was holding, and then reached into the truck to grab a couple more. Before he’d even spun back around he heard her direct someone to help him. Braden nearly flew through the doorway connecting the kitchen to the garage. Hmm. He would have had to ask them more than once for help, yet they jumped at her meek direction. After handing his brother a couple bags, he grabbed the rest from the backseat and headed into the kitchen, just in time to catch his teenage brother eyeing the neighbor girl’s backside as she bent over to pick up the dustpan. That explains it. He has a little crush and is trying to impress her.

  Dylan couldn’t really blame the kid, she was a cute girl in a wholesome kind of way, but he doubted a senior in high school would give the time of day to an eighth grader. Selfishly deciding not to clue his brother in on the reality, he’d use this to his advantage and get some work out of him while Marissa was still there.

  After he and Braden stowed the groceries, he sent him to strip the beds while he emptied the clothes from the washer into the dryer. His brother returned with a hefty load of sheets in his arms, stuffed one-half of them into the washer, and threw the other half in a clothes basket.

  “When the dryer goes off, fold those clothes, then transfer the sheets from the washer to the dryer, and start the next load of sheets,” Dylan specifically instructed, knowing if he didn’t it would
all be waiting for him when he returned from the barn. And knowing the boy would want to impress Marissa, the tasks would get completed.

  “Okay.”

  Marissa was polishing the kitchen cupboards when he walked back through the kitchen, he paused at the stairs and yelled for Aric.

  No response.

  “Don’t make me have to come up there and get you. You know Will had to leave for a while, so we have to help Thomas and Juan with resectioning the calf pens. And check on Luke on your way down.”

  “He was just down here practicing on the piano,” Marissa said.

  Dylan turned to face her. “Luke was playing the piano?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, practiced for about an hour.”

  How very odd for Luke, not the piano part because he loved playing the piano and always practiced without argument, but to come downstairs with an outsider in the house was quite unusual for the shy boy.

  Aric bounded into the kitchen. “Oh, hey, Marissa.”

  “Hi, Aric.”

  Just as Dylan had suspected, the whole time he was gone Aric remained in his room, and was first seeing Marissa now. Well, at least now he’d be torn from his video games for a while.

  “I’ll change and be out there in a minute,” Dylan informed his brother.

  He shot off to the master bedroom, peeled out of his clothes and slid into his barn clothes, then headed out after Aric.

  They returned to the house a couple of hours later to find Braden, Nate, Luke, and Marissa sitting at the kitchen table feasting on sandwiches and chips.

  Marissa’s big blue gaze landed on him. “Would you like a sandwich? I can make one for you.”

  “I’ll take one,” Aric interjected.

  “She’s not here to make your sandwiches. You’re perfectly capable of making your own,” Dylan snapped.