They were only staring at the plate. Picking up one of the treats, he bit down on it, crumbs going everywhere. When Dad asked him how it tasted, Jamie laughed, then handed him the other half of his cookie.
“You didn’t ask me how I’d done that but only asked me how it tasted. I thought for sure that one or both of you would have freaked out.” They both looked at his mom. “Mom? Are you all right? I didn’t know how else to tell you other than to just show you.”
“I was just thinking of all the ways this would help you. I mean, we have a lot of money. Someone could kidnap you, and I’d not have to worry about you being starved. Can you only make cookies?” He drew a sandwich. When he picked up her magic marker that she forever had, she put her fingers over his hand just as he was getting ready to draw. “If you draw a gun on your arm to use or a knife, I will beat you. I know I’ve threatened you many times before with that and never followed through, but I will if you ever draw a weapon.”
“I might need to save you.” She stared at him for several seconds, then nodded. “This one is a little hard to digest. I used my lazy brain to discover this.”
“Lazy brain?” Jamie told Dad what a lazy brain was. He laughed. “All right. I guess that makes sense. You think of ways of getting something done with less work or energy, and that is your lazy thought process. I think we all use that on occasion.”
After doing the same thing he’d done for Molly, he watched them digest what he’d been able to do. Mom didn’t touch either the cookies or the drink, but Dad was munching on a cookie as he examined the bottle. Finally, after he seemed satisfied with it, he opened it and drank down more than half of it. Laughing as it refilled and a lid was put on it, he showed him how the first lid disappeared so as not to litter.
“You should have known we’d not be upset with you about this.” He nodded at his dad when he said that. Mom had gone to take a phone call about something she was working on. “You were, weren’t you? Afraid that we’d kick you to the curb or something equally dumb. We love you, Jamie. Nothing you could do like this would ever make us upset. I am glad, however, that you were able to go to Molly with it. It’s nice to have someone around your own age that you can have a secret with. I did with my brothers too.”
“Molly said you’d think it was special. I wasn’t so sure. Mom hates it when I write on my skin. She said it’s an ugly thing to have to cover up if you can’t wash it off in the tub. Molly said the same thing Mom did, but she was more violent about it. She’s weird.” Dad just laughed, but he had a look that reminded him of Grandpa Saul. “Did Mom tell you about the email she got from her dad? I thought he was dead. I think she did too.”
“She did. He needs cash. Did she tell you what he needed it for?” Jamie said she’d not. “He’s wanting to come and see her, but he’s been unemployed for some time. According to him, he just wants to see her and you now that he knows about you. I’m supposing you’ve never met him.”
“No. Mom’s mom killed herself when she was a little girl. Did she tell you?” Dad started to nod, then answered him. “She hates it when people nod. I guess she told you that.”
“Yes. Several times.” Dad laughed. “I’m having someone look into his sudden appearance. I’m thinking he read something in the newspaper about her marrying me, and that’s how he found out where we were living. I want you to be careful with this new ability of yours. While we’re on the subject, have you tried to draw money?”
“No. Do you think it might be something that he makes me do if Mom doesn’t give him any money?” Dwayne said it was always smart to be ahead of someone that wanted money from you. “I guess you’re right on that. I don’t think she will give him any money. I don’t think they were like you are with your parents.”
“I don’t think there are very many families like mine, do you?” Jamie said he was probably right. Then he picked up the pen again and drew what he hoped looked like paper money. “Just make it a one dollar bill for starters. We don’t want to have to explain to anyone how come you’re suddenly carrying around hundred dollar bills.”
It worked. Not only did he have a dollar bill that he had made, but he was able to make coins too. Dad pointed out that if there was ever a payphone around, he’d have the money to make a call. Jamie had no idea what he was talking about but let it go. Something old people knew about, he supposed.
Feeling better after telling his parents, Jamie went to his room. He’d not been sleeping well. At first, it was nightmares about someone else being able to use his skin for things he didn’t approve of. But after a quick test with Molly, they discovered not only did other people writing on him not work, but nothing anyone else wrote on him even showed up. He slept better that one night. Then the things he drew on his skin came to get him. Jamie hadn’t ever thought of drawing tanks or even guys on his body until that night. Those things attacked him too. It got to the point he was afraid to close his eyes for fear of what would come after him.
Lying down on his bed, he closed his eyes. All was right with the world, he thought. He wasn’t in trouble. His parents knew about the things he could do, and now he was safe. Jamie didn’t even let the thought of his mom’s dad interfere with his thoughts right now. Whoever it was and whatever he wanted, he was barking up the wrong tree with his family.
~*~
“What do you want, Dad? You’ve been out of my life for the last twenty years. Making it so that I had to grow up in the system, you never once came back to get me. Now all of a sudden, you not only want me to give you some money, but to welcome you back into my life?” George didn’t get the opportunity to speak before she was on the warpath again. “I have a wonderful life in the event you were wondering. A son and a husband that I love dearly. Also, a family. A real one that supports one another.”
“I’m a grandda again?” She said she was a mom, not that he was a grandda. “I don’t think it works that way, honey. When you become a mom, that means I’m a grandda. But I’m getting off the subject. I don’t need a lot of money, Brit. Just enough to make my way out to you. I just heard about Bree, and I wanted to go to her gravesite. To…. I missed so much. I’ve been pushing people away since your mom took her life.”
“She was murdered, did you hear that? She and her two children and Howard.” He said he’d read about it in the newspaper. “His father murdered them all because he could, Dad. Just put them into a storage container and filled it with enough poison gas that it killed them all. How could anyone do that?”
“There are a lot of monsters in the world, Brit. A lot of them look like everyday people too. But they show you sometimes. They just snap, and there the monster is.” He thought about his own wife then. Margaret had been the worst kind of monster. Thinking of his daughters had had him looking for them. It had broken him when he’d read that Bree had been killed. “If you could see your way to getting me out there, I promise I won’t bother you one bit while I’m there. If that’s what you want. As much as I’d like to see your son, I won’t do that to either of you if you’re set on it. Please? Brit, I have nothing left but my memories, and they’re so old. Could you see your way to letting me see this one thing?”
She was quiet for a while. He thought he might be smarter to just hang up and hitchhike his way out to Ohio. It would be cold going, he supposed. Ohio was one of the states that had all the seasons. Being in New Mexico all this time, he’d forgotten all about seasons. When she asked him where he was staying, he told her he didn’t have an address.
“Where are you living, Dad? Not on the streets, are you?” He said he’d been living that way for so long he didn’t know if he could live with four walls anymore. “I’ll get you a ticket and have it at the airport. Do you have identification to be able to prove who you are?”
“I’m short on funds, honey. I don’t have a car either. Figured there was no point in keeping it up if I couldn’t drive.”
She asked him to hold on.
“All right. There will be a private jet on the runway at the airport. All you need to do is have someone take a picture of you and send it to me. Do you know anyone with a cell phone, Dad?” He said he did, and he’d do that. Then she gave him the phone number where to send it. “That’s my personal cell number. When you arrive, I want you to call me and let me know that you’ve made it. I’ll come there and pick you up.”
“Will you be bringing your husband and son?” She told him she’d bring Jamie, but maybe not Dwayne. He was working. “Of course he is. I should have guessed that. I’ll send it as soon as I get to see my buddy. He’s got a nice phone that he uses. I’ll do it here within an hour. I can’t thank you enough for this, Brit. I’ve got a lot of explaining to do, and I hope you’ll let me say it.”
“We’ll see, Dad. It’s been a long time. And up until you called me the other day, I thought you’d died a long time ago. This is something we’re going to have to take one day at a time. All right?” He didn’t tell her that every day he’d thought he would die—he’d keep that part to himself. “I’ll see you when you get here.”
It was more than he could have hoped for. He was going to get to see his daughter after all this time. And he had himself another grandson. The other two, like Brit’s, he’d not known about. George had been keeping himself a low profile for a very long time. It was only a month ago when he was told he’d be able to go back home. That it was finally over about his wife and her drama.
George hadn’t always wanted to find his children. Just being able to be away from their mother had been more than enough for him. Millicent had been a horror. And a whore. But it was her drinking and drugs that had been such a surprise to him.
Then one night, the two of them had had the fight of all fights. Never had he ever hit her, but she’d beaten him with anything she could put her hands on. Not that he was a pussy or anything like that. George had been a large man back then and a fighter too. He’d been so afraid to even hug her too tightly for fear of hurting her. So he’d allowed her to take her frustrations and anger out on him. George had never wanted her to hurt the girls.
Then one night, she had. His taking Brit to the hospital had pissed her off. But she’d hurt her so badly, and her only being a little thing, that she’d ended up spending four days and nights there. George had never left her side, Bree lying right in the bed next to her sister so he could keep an eye on them both. That had been the end of him covering for her.
Taking the girls to fights with him had been all right at first. He had a good manager that kept an eye on them while he was in the ring. After the fights, he’d take them back to his hotel room, giving them whatever they wanted for being such good girls. But then Millicent accused him of abusing them, sexually as well as physically. Before he could get arrested, if that had been the plan, Millicent had hung herself.
George found his buddy Cutter and asked him to send a picture of himself to his little girl. That made the older man laugh, thinking, he was sure, that George was lying. But he snapped his picture, then sent it on to the phone number Brit had given him. The ball, as they said, was in her court now.
Going back to his cubby hole, he looked around at the things he’d collected over the years to see what he was going to need to take with him. He’d kept very little from his time with his family, just a single picture of the girls when they’d been four and three. Kissing their little faces as he did every night, George thought about his fleeing New York as he made his way to the airport to be picked up.
The police had contacted him at the hotel to tell him that Millicent had killed herself. He’d been shocked by the news. George’s first thought was that Chappy, his manager, had killed her when he heard she’d tried to kill Brit. But they’d told him she hung herself. Another thing that didn’t ring true with his wife. Not only was she vain, but she wasn’t one to do anything that required her to work very much. Hanging herself seemed like a great deal of work to him. But like other things he’d found out about his wife, he kept them to himself.
Then they’d taken his daughters from him. It wasn’t much longer before they told him that he was a suspect in Millicent’s murder. Unable to find his children, not sure what their thinking was, he’d left the state and traveled as far as the money he’d had on him would take him. He’d been living off the grid since then.
While waiting on someone to come around and pick him up, George found a nice secluded place to take himself a nap. There had been a nice-sized piece of cardboard there, too, so he curled up in it and closed his eyes.
Waking up with the bright sun blinding him for several seconds, he was startled when someone called his name. He wasn’t sure who it was, so he said nothing as the man’s voice got closer and closer to where he was. Suddenly the piece of cardboard he’d found at the airport was knocked upon, and he laid as still as he could until the man spoke again.
“My name is Dwayne Bishop. My wife, your daughter, sent me here to find you. While you are difficult to find, I’m assuming on purpose, Mr. Handle, I want you to know I’m not human, and I found you by your scent. I’m glad you waited here at the airport, or I might well have had some trouble finding out where you were before here.” George came out of his newest home and stood up. “Hello there, Mr. Handle. As I said, my name is Dwayne. I’m here to take you to my home.”
Not sure the man would understand how much his words meant to him, George hugged the man tightly. Just as he realized how stupid he was being, the man hugged him back, as tightly as he needed, too. Stepping back, he told him he was sorry.
“No need to be sorry. You’re grateful that someone came for you, and I understand that. Do you have anything in there that you’d like to take back with you? I have some luggage for you if you have a lot.” George told him all he had was a picture. “If you’d like to get it, you and I will have some breakfast and talk. Nothing bad, I assure you. But since we’re related by way of Brit, I’d like to get to know you. Oh, I brought someone for you to meet. Jamie, this is your Grandda George. George, this is our son, Jamison Bishop.”
For as much as he wanted to hug the young man, he didn’t want to frighten him. “My middle name is Jamison. George Jamison Handle. I’m so very glad to meet you, Jamie. You look a great deal like your mother, I’m betting.”
“Mom told me I look like you. She has a few pictures of you when you were a child. I didn’t know about you. I’m sorry about that.” George told him what Dwayne had told him, not to be sorry about meeting a stranger. “I’m starving. I bet you are too.”
George was put into a large black limo. There were things in it for him to snack on, but he was just too nervous to partake of anything. He wasn’t going to be sick in the beautiful car. Jamie and Dwayne told him what they were going to do while here. George asked about Brit.
“She got in a huge shipment just before we were scheduled to leave, or she would have come with us. Brit rents furniture and things like that to movie sets. Just recently, she purchased a lot of old cars that we’re having sent to a place where she is storing things.” George was impressed and told them that. “You should see her inventory. It’s all organized by decade. She has an impressive inventory.”
“You love her.” When the younger man’s face lit up, he could see that he did indeed love Brit. “How long have you been married? A while, I’m guessing.”
“A few days, actually.” He looked at Jamie, then back at him. “
Jamie is my adopted son. I couldn’t love him anymore if he was of my blood. But he and Brit came as a package deal, and I’m as happy as I’ve ever been. And so much in love that I can’t believe I’ve been so lucky to have found her and Jamie.”
After breakfast, they headed to the store. He wasn’t one to steal things. He didn’t need all that much. But having underwear as well as shoes and socks made him crave a nice hot shower too. As soon as he was about to ask for one, he was in a hotel room with Jamie. Dwayne had some business to attend to.
“He works for GGMa Holly as her secondhand man. Dad is here to look at a failing business that needs to borrow some money to expand. I’m not sure how it all works, but they help when they can, and Dad has no problem telling them that it won’t work and walking away. GGMa Holly said that’s what makes him a good business partner.” He said he didn’t understand it either. “Dad will come by to pick us up when he’s finished. If he runs through lunch, he said you and I could go to the hotel restaurant and charge our meal to the bill. I’d count on that if I were you. These things always take forever.”
“You don’t like that?” Jamie told him he loved going with his dad, as he got to hang out around a pool and have strange food. “I guess there is that. I’m going to take a shower. You need anything. Just pound on the door.”
As soon as he was under the hot spray, George let the tears flow. It was working out much better than he’d thought it would. He had a good son-in-law, a grandson, and he was going to see his daughter soon. His heart was so full that it ran right out of his eyes in the form of the happiest tears he’d ever shed.
Before You Go…
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Dwayne: Bishop’s Snowy Leap – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 12