A Hero's Reward

by Morrel, Amy

  “She said it's the quickest, really filling thing she could think of. Oh, and she asked me to finish clearing the table so we could set it for the two of you.”

  Jack grabbed the last of the dishes from the table and disappeared back into the kitchen.

  “Sit down girls, we can talk later. Let's get you something to eat first.” Greg said.

  Ellen and Christine sat down at the table and Greg went to help in the kitchen. He brought out napkins, plates, and silverware which Margaret had already stacked on the counter. Then he poured them each a tall glass of milk and brought those out. After he gave those to them, he sat down at the table between the two girls. Christine had immediately reached for her milk and was drinking it quickly. He glanced at Ellen and saw that she wanted to do the same but was trying to show some restraint.

  “Go ahead Ellen, we've got more in the kitchen if you finish this one.”

  Ellen grabbed her glass and started drinking her milk also.

  Christine had set hers down after it was half empty.

  “I haven't had milk in almost a month, thank you dad.”

  “Don't they give you milk in school?”

  “Yeah but mom was packing us lunches instead of giving us lunch money recently. Normally we'd have to eat lunch then drink from the water fountain.”

  “I'm so sorry kids, I didn't know. I should have, I had already decided to ask you how things were going at home the next time I saw you but I didn't think there was anything this wrong.”

  “It's okay dad, I would've called you but mom kept her phone locked with a password.” said Ellen.

  “Well, we'll see what we can do about having you stay here until she can prove she's cleaned up her act some.”

  Margaret came bustling out with a large bowl filled with pasta that she set on the table. She made a return trip and came out with a smaller bowl filled with sauce. She proceeded to serve both girls heaping portions and then she went back into the kitchen.

  As the girls dug into their food, Greg followed Margaret into the kitchen.

  “You don't need to keep absenting yourself Margaret.”

  “But, they're your daughters.”

  “Yes and Jack is your son but I don't keep removing myself when the two of you are together. You already go out of your way to include me and I'll try to get the girls to do the same with you. They'll need to get to know you first though.”

  Margaret sighed. “I know that, I'm just nervous. What if they don't like me?”

  “Well, then you'll deal with what every parent gets at some point in their child's development. Children that want nothing to do with you.”

  “But, if they don't like me then what about us?”

  “If you think I'll stop loving you just because my children are being a pain in the ass, then you don't know me very well yet. I think that they'll like you though, they may need a little bit of time to come to that conclusion but they'll get there eventually.”

  Margaret appeared a little bit relieved and allowed herself to be led back out of the kitchen. It appeared that her fears were unfounded. The girls were tearing into the spaghetti like they were starving and the looks of gratitude they shot towards Margaret were very telling to Greg.

  If he ever spoke to Emily again, he was going to tear her a new one. She'd also be getting no more checks from him since she hadn't actually been taking care of his children after all. He'd call the lawyer who had handled his divorce first thing in the morning and explain the situation to him. He'd keep hold of Emily's letter for evidence also. This time Emily wouldn't have a politician with connections in the court system when Greg tried to get custody, and he was pretty sure that the end result would be different this time around.

  After the girls had finished eating, Greg noticed Ellen starting to look a little uncomfortable.

  “Yes Ellen? What's bothering you?”

  “Dad, We've got five people here, will Christine and I have to share a room?”

  “No honey, you won't. We've got two rooms open. One of them is made up already, the other one will only take a couple of minutes to get set up.”

  “Is Margaret staying in Jack's room with him? I would've thought they'd each have their own.”

  “No honey, she isn't.”

  “Then where is...” Ellen paused for a moment, “Oh, it's like that?”

  “Like what Ellen?”

  “Is Margaret sleeping with you?”

  “Yes honey she is.”

  “Good. It's about time dad.”

  “What is it with this current generation of kids? Jack gives Margaret and I advice on our relationship and you pass judgment on it just like that.” Greg said in an amused tone.

  “He did, did he? Maybe I won't hate having a six year old boy around. I thought boys hated anything to do with relationships and girls.”

  “He may, I don't know. But Margaret is his mom and I think he's kind of got a bit of hero worship going on for me right now.”

  Jack chose that moment to call the girls over to the computer. When Greg saw what he was doing, he thought that maybe Jack had been eavesdropping. Margaret and Greg wandered over and watched the video Jack was showing to Ellen and Christine on the computer.

  He had paused the video midstream to allow it to load all the way before he finished playing it. Currently the picture showed Margaret's old house. Flames had eaten half of it and even in the paused picture it was evident that they were intent on getting to the other half. The non-burning end of the house had a man in front of it carrying a ladder. The open window in the wall above him showed a small hand waving through it. Only the back of the man was visible but Greg groaned inwardly. He knew this video, he'd seen it in the hospital.

  Jack turned to the girls and said:

  “If you haven't seen this video, you're gonna love it. This is your dad in action!”

  He hit play and the video started playing again. Greg watched as the him in the video ran up to the side of the house and slammed the ladder down. He swarmed up it, pausing for a moment when he realized he was barefoot, but continuing upward anyhow. After a very brief pause he climbed in through the open window.

  Meanwhile the flames were leaping closer to the end of the house the ladder was leaning against. They had been a little more than twenty feet away during the pause but they had already halved that distance before the video showed Jack being lifted to the windowsill and swarming down the ladder.

  “That's me,” exclaimed Jack, “your dad lifted me straight to the sill and told me to get out. Then he went back in for my mom.”

  The flames were about five feet away and closing rapidly when movement showed inside the window again. Margaret's upper body flopped out across the windowsill and Greg came clambering over her. He turned around on the top rung of the ladder when the flames were only two feet away. He grabbed Margaret and started to drag her out just as the flames on the wall licked out towards the frame of the window. It looked as though the flames were stretching out to reach for the ladder. Then all hell broke loose.

  A bright flash of light overloaded the camera for a moment, showing only a black screen. When the picture cleared, flames were still visible but now they were retreating in through the window and being replaced by billowing black smoke. The flames that had been charging down the side of the house surrounded the window. The ladder was standing straight up and Greg had Margaret held by a single arm. He simultaneously shoved the ladder away from them and drew her into an embrace, repositioning himself in mid-air to put his body between her and the ground. Then they fell.

  As Greg struck the ground, he pistoned his arms upwards, slowing Margaret's descent to the speed of a crawl before she landed atop him. She rolled off of him and then the picture started to bobble as the person with the camera ran towards the fire. The video closed first with a few frames of Margaret coughing and then with several frames of Greg stirring slightly and opening his eyes.

  “That's your dad girls. He's something else. Neither mom
nor I would be alive without him.”

  “I read the story in the paper but I hadn't seen the video.” said Ellen, “If I had, I think I would've clipped a copy of the story for myself too.”

  Christine had automatically reached out for comfort when she saw what her dad was doing in the video. When Greg turned to look at her, she was clutching Margaret's leg and Margaret had an arm around Christine's shoulders. Both Margaret and Christine had the glimmer of unshed tears in their eyes. Greg caught Margaret's eyes and pointedly looked at Christine. Margaret just smiled back and gently pulled Christine against her.

  The rest of the evening went quickly. Margaret got the other room ready for someone to sleep in while Greg got the girls and Jack ready for bed. Ellen complained that her bedtime was much later than eight o'clock but was pointedly told that her bedtime would now be eight o'clock on school nights.

  Margaret told Greg later on that Ellen had tried to wheedle her into allowing Ellen to stay up late. Margaret had taken Ellen to the computer and did a quick search showing Ellen that doctors recommended ten to eleven hours of sleep per night for an eleven year old. When Margaret pointed out that eleven hours of sleep would involve a bedtime of seven o'clock since Ellen would be getting up at six in the morning along with everyone else, she stopped trying to wheedle a later bedtime out of her.

  The girls wouldn't have to catch the bus to school the next day. Although they had been living in the area served by the same school, the school district was very picky about bus riders. Greg would have to let the school know that the girls would need to take a different bus before they'd be allowed to do so. He figured he'd get that taken care of tomorrow when he dropped them off.

  Finally the children were put to bed and Margaret and Greg had a little bit of time to themselves.

  “I think you aren't going to have any problems with Christine liking you.” said Greg.

  “Ellen's going to be a handful though, if tonight was any indication.” she replied.

  “I haven't had more than daytime visitation rights with them for the past year so I don't know what's been going on with them. We'll need to work through things with them to find out. If you'd rather not participate in that, I totally understand and can work on it with them myself.”

  “No, I'm willing. I'm also sure there are some things that they won't talk about with their dad, that they might talk about with a woman who also isn't a direct relative. I'll just make sure I'm available for them in case they need me.”

  Greg and Margaret got to bed on time but chose to just snuggle tonight. They were hoping that the door wasn't going to burst open from one of the children having a problem and coming to them but decided not to tempt fate with the opportunity for another 'oops' moment.

  When morning arrived, the children had not had any problems that they felt the need to present to the adults. Margaret had woken up a bit earlier than six as normal and as Greg started down the steps he could hear her in the kitchen. When he got down there, Jack was with her but the girls weren't.

  “Would you go get the girls up? Tell them breakfast is ready in five minutes if they want it hot and fresh.”

  “I can do that.” said Greg.

  He sipped his first cup of coffee for the day as he went back upstairs. He knocked on the girls doors and Christine called out that she'd be out right way. There was no answer at Ellen's door and eventually he opened it and peered in. She was sprawled across the bed, the covers tangled up around her limbs. He went in and shook her awake. She woke with a shriek and yelled at him:

  “Daddy, get out of here. I'm too big for you to just walk in on.”

  “Then you better start waking up when you're supposed to. You were the one saying you should have a later bedtime, when would you have woken up if we had given in on that?”

  “You're mean daddy, get out of my room!”

  “Okay but if you aren't up, dressed and downstairs in ten minutes, I'll come back in and get you dressed like I used to do.”

  “You wouldn't dare!”

  “Just try me young lady. It appears that your mother has neglected a lot more than feeding you correctly. You can count on me taking care of teaching you the things that she should have.”

  “Oooohh!” Ellen harrumphed.

  Greg left the room, fairly sure that Ellen would be down on her own shortly. Christine actually beat him back to the kitchen. She was sitting and talking with Jack when he got there. Margaret was just taking breakfast off of the stove and served the four of them that were already there.

  Ellen showed up just under the ten minute deadline Greg had given her. She sat down at the table and just stared at everyone.

  “If you want breakfast, it's on the stove Ellen. You have to serve yourself because you weren't on time.” said Greg.

  Margaret winked at Greg as Ellen fumed for another minute or two then stomped over to the stove to get her food.

  In a little while Greg took the girls in to school. He stopped at the main office of each school after dropping each girl off. Since he was listed as a guardian for the girls, the changes went very smoothly. Their new bus assignment would take effect on Monday since this was Friday. The girls would also be allowed to use their new bus assignment to get home today.

  When he got home he realized that he hadn't thought his plan through. He was going to have to leave for work each day before the girls were getting on the bus. Since they would both take the same bus as Jack, he talked to Margaret.

  “Margaret, would you mind seeing the girls off on the bus with Jack on school days? I have to leave for work before the bus comes by.”

  “I'd be happy to. It's good to have something else I can do for you. Are you sure Ellen is on the same bus though? I thought her school day started earlier than that of the younger ones.”

  “Yes, I checked. The schools are right nearby each other. They drop the older students off first then go to the other school and drop off the younger ones. So all three will be on the same bus.”

  “I'll be more than happy to do that. I'll meet them all the bus stop when they get home also. I'm sure Ellen is going to love that.” Margaret said with a wry grin.

  “Well, this is the last full day off I'll have with no kids home before going back to work. Do you have anything you'd like to do?” Greg asked.

  “Believe it or not, I'd like to just spend most of the day talking with you. I suppose we might also find time for something else before the kids get home as well.” she said, grinning at him.

  “I called the library and I'll start work back up next week also. They have me on a ten to two schedule for Monday, Wednesday, Friday. At least that's what I'll work for the time being. It's a few less hours than I was getting but I'm just happy that they held my position for me.” she continued.

  “That's great. I think you enjoyed working there. You might even enjoy it more now since you seem more comfortable with just about everything.”

  “I am, it's amazing how much my outlook on things has changed. I know I had to do it myself but thank you for being there and helping me when I needed it.”

  “You're most welcome. I have to make one phone call and then I'm yours for the day.”

  Greg called the lawyer that had handled his divorce. After Greg had spelled out the entire situation for him, the lawyer told him:

  “It sounds like you have a solid case. I can take it on for you. Normally I only do custody cases in conjunction with divorces but I know you got a raw deal before and I'd like to see it set right. When can you stop by and let me get some more information? I'll also want to get a copy of that letter.”

  “Well, I'm technically on bed rest right now but I'm back to work on Monday. So any afternoon next week from Tuesday on would be good for me.”

  “Stop in Tuesday after you're off of work. We'll get the paperwork in motion as quickly as possible. Sometimes custody cases can take a long time to get to court but with the custodian dropping the children off at the other parent's house and leaving, I'm
thinking we might be able to get this one in very quickly. The court frowns on children that are abandoned by their custodian and prefers to get matters like this taken care of as soon as possible.”

  “What time range are you talking about with as soon as possible?”

  “I've heard of these types of things getting to court in as quickly as two weeks if there is an opening in the docket. It would involve short notice for you to be there though.”

  “That's fine, I can handle short notice if I have to.”

  “I wouldn't count on it being that quick but it is possible. I'll make some inquiries today, nothing official but I'll get the word out. Especially if she can't be found to put forth her side of the case, it'll be a cinch.”

  “That sounds great. Thank you and I'll see you on Tuesday.”

  Greg turned to Margaret:

  “The lawyer tells me that if Emily can't be found to defend herself, then custody will probably be easy for me to get this time.”

  “That's wonderful Greg. I was amazed to see a new part of you come alive when the girls showed up. That part of you had been stirring for Jack but the parent in you sprang to life in the presence of your daughters. I didn't realize there was that much of you I was missing. It's hard to believe that we've only known each other well for such a short time. It feels much longer.”

  “I know what you mean, in both cases. You perked up even more as soon as you saw Jack. And it feels like I've known you for years, at least by my comfort level with you. Even if it has only been just shy of two weeks since we got to know each other well.”

  They spent the rest of the day talking, watching a movie, and spending some time in the bedroom. Well pleased with each other, the two of them walked out to meet the children when the bus was due home from school.

  As they had surmised, Ellen was furious that they were there waiting for the bus. When she stopped her tirade about it Greg asked her softly:

  “Do you think you could be responsible for Christine and Jack? I'm sorry but I don't trust you to do that yet so we have to be here to meet them. Making sure you actually head straight home will just be a bonus.”