A Dirty Dozen Christmas [The Dirty Dozen 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Marla Monroe

  “Okay, let’s look over it one more time, and then we’ll let Mark and Neal take a look.” Alexis smiled at the other woman as they waited for the papers to spit out of the printer.

  “Do you think the others will be okay with it?”

  “They’re going to be ecstatic with what you’ve come up with, Brandy.”

  “I didn’t do anything. You did all the work.”

  “All I did was pretty things up and make them legally safe for us. You are the one who had the idea and dug up most of the information. Talking to those women and finding out what had happened will kill two birds with one stone.”

  “As long as no one gets hurt, then I’m happy.”

  Alexis looked over the printouts with a critical eye while pondering something in her head. Brandy would make a great investigative reporter. She had a nose for a story and knew how to dig up the information that others might overlook. She would suggest it to her later.

  “The only ones who are going to get hurt are Caro and her gang. Don’t worry about it anymore, Brandy. We’re doing the right thing.”

  The phone rang, but Alexis let it ring, knowing that one of her husbands would get it. A few seconds later, Neal walked in, holding the phone with a very serious expression on his face.

  “Brandy, it’s West.”

  “What’s wrong?” She took the phone and repeated her question. “What’s wrong?”

  Neal pulled Alexis aside and whispered in her ear. “Children’s services are at her house to talk to them about Matthew.”

  “What? Why? They take excellent care of him.”

  Alexis grabbed Brandy when the other woman started crying and searching for her purse. Neal helped Alexis steady the other woman. Alexis found her purse and wrapped an arm around her friend.

  “We’re going to drive you home. You can’t drive like this.”

  “They’re talking about taking Matthew away from me. What am I going to do?”

  Alexis’s heart broke for the other woman. She couldn’t imagine what Brandy was feeling right then. She grabbed her jump drive and the printout and followed Brandy and Neal out of the room. She was going to call everyone to meet once the situation was taken care of. They needed to get into gear and put a stop to Caro’s vicious plans.

  Mark drove Brandy’s car while Alexis and Neal carried the crying woman in their car. When they drove up, it was to find the entire gang already in attendance. Brandy had stopped crying and was sitting quietly in the backseat. Alexis saw West all but run down the drive to get her. He pulled open the door and took her in his arms. His nod at them said it all. He appreciated that they had brought her home safe.

  “What do you need, man?” Mark asked.

  “Prayer. Prayer that I don’t kill that bitch.” West cuddled his wife against his chest and carried her toward the house.

  They followed him and piled into the den with everyone else. Brandy immediately grabbed Matthew out of Kyle’s arms and held him against her breast. It was obvious that he didn’t know what was going on. He smiled up at his mom with the innocence of a baby. Alexis couldn’t help but smile at the picture they made with West on one side and Kyle on the other. No child could be more loved or better taken care of than little Matthew.

  “What happened?” Alexis finally asked.

  “We were waiting for Brandy to get here to go over it.” West squeezed his wife’s shoulder. “A woman from the child welfare department showed up at two this afternoon and said she was there to assess the living conditions where Matthew was living. She said someone had turned them in as unfit parents.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” Tina’s face was almost red in color.

  “Easy, baby. We know there’s nothing to the claim.”

  “What did you tell her? Why didn’t you call me right away?” Brandy asked, looking down at her child.

  “She wouldn’t let us call until she had questioned us. We told her that someone was yanking her chain and that Matthew was well cared for.” Kyle’s face seemed almost made of stone.

  “She looked around the house and checked out Matthew’s room and our bedroom. She asked about our living arrangements. We answered all of her questions honestly. She wasn’t ugly or anything. I think she was a little put out at having to check into it in the first place,” West said.

  “What did she say before she left?” Alexis hoped that there wouldn’t be any follow-up to this.

  “She said that she couldn’t see where Matthew was being abused or neglected and that how we raised him was our business as long as we weren’t harming him. She said she would be making a follow-up visit at some point in the next three weeks per protocol.” West ran his hand lightly over his son’s head.

  “Brandy, she wants you to go see her in the office tomorrow. You’re supposed to call her and make an appointment to go in. She said she needs to talk to the mother to complete her report.”

  “I can’t believe this is happening.” Brandy still had tears in her eyes, but she had them under control right then.

  “Don’t worry, baby. No one is going to take Matthew from us.” West hugged her tightly against him.

  “Brandy, I think it’s time to tell everyone about what we found out. Those women have gone too far.” Alexis held out the papers she had brought in with her.

  “Tell them. I can’t think right now.” Brandy kept rocking back and forth on the couch with Kyle and West hugging her between them.

  “What are you talking about?” Parker asked. She and her husbands were standing in the doorway.

  Alexis drew in a deep breath. “Brandy figured out that Caro and the others had something to hide since they weren’t sponsoring the women’s shelter anymore. She went and talked to some of the people there and found out some interesting things about their support.”

  “You went to the shelter by yourself?” West pulled back and looked at Brandy with a frown.

  “I went in the middle of the day. There wasn’t any reason to worry about going by myself.” Brandy’s eyes were flashing.

  Alexis liked that Brandy had the fire in her again. The sight of her friend looking helpless and scared had worried her. Now the life was back in her.

  “Anyway, what she found out was that they raised money for the shelter the first year and handed over a check without ever visiting the place even once. The next year, they showed up to tell them how they needed to be using the money they were donating. They didn’t approve of some of the programs the shelter has, such as helping women escape their abusive spouses by helping them locate a new place to live.”

  “Why would they object to helping them when they’ve been hurt like that?”

  Parker spoke up. “They probably don’t approve of the women in the first place because most of them come from broken homes to begin with.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Tina all but spit out.

  “They believe that they are the only ones worth anything. Everyone else is beneath them.” Parker waved her hand.

  “Well, that’s not all. They nearly got one poor woman killed by her estranged husband. Caro and the others decided to do a little help in the counseling area and talked one young woman into giving her husband another chance despite the fact that he had put her in the hospital the month before and she’d only been out for a week. He had nearly choked her to death and broken two ribs.” Alexis drew in a deep breath. This gave her the chills just thinking about it again.

  “The woman was barely twenty-two and scared to death. She didn’t have any family, so she didn’t have anywhere to go. The counselors were setting her up with a job and a place to live in another town. Caro didn’t like that they were spending the money to get her out of town. She took it on herself to talk this young woman into going back home instead. She even went so far as to contact the husband and facilitate them meeting to work things out.”

  “Why did they let her do that?” Briana asked.

  “They counselors didn’t know what was going on. If they had, they would hav
e put a stop to it. Instead, the poor woman let Caro drive her to the restaurant where she was going to meet her husband. Instead of sticking around to be sure everything was okay, she left the woman there and went home as if nothing was wrong.”

  “That bitch. What happened to the young woman?” Carly’s voice hitched.

  “Her husband talked her into going home with him. A neighbor heard her screaming an hour later and called the police. When they got there, the woman’s husband was standing over her with a knife threatening to cut her throat. He’d beaten her and stabbed her five times. He had rebroken her arm and ruptured her spleen by kicking her in the side. They had to rush her to surgery to save her life.” Alexis looked around the room.

  Everyone was quiet, thinking about the poor woman. Alexis was planning to find out if she was okay. If she needed help, she was going to be sure she got it. For now, though, they had to handle their own problems.

  “What else do you know, Alexis?” Parker was watching closely.

  “They were told that they wouldn’t accept any of their donations again because of their interference. They were told not to show up at the shelter again, too. And”—Alexis looked down at her paper—“Evelyn Witherspoon refuses to do any further dinners or balls for them for fund-raising.”

  Parker started laughing. Evidently that was major for some reason. Alexis couldn’t find out much on the old woman. The only thing she knew was that the woman had millions outside even what her husband had.

  “What’s so funny, Parker?” Tina cut her eyes over to Alexis.

  “Evelyn is the grand dame of it all when it comes to organizing charity fund-raisers. She doesn’t chair any of the committees or anything anymore, but she will sponsor others and host their parties for them. If she’s cut them off, then they are really going to have to struggle to raise money. They probably were going to use the orphanage as a bargaining point with Evelyn. Evelyn was adopted as a child. They were going to try and appeal to her special love of the kids.”

  Alexis nodded and smiled. Knowing this made it all the better what they had planned to do. She grinned and passed their work over to Parker.

  “What’s this?” she asked, taking the papers.

  “Read it. You’ll understand.”

  Parker looked down at the papers in her hand and started reading. Her expression moved from surprise to disbelief before settling into smug approval. She looked up with a wide grin on her face.

  “Its good, isn’t it.” Alexis smiled.

  Parker nodded and handed it over to Tina to read. The men were all looking at them with suspicion. Alexis knew they wanted to know what they were reading. It proved that they were good men when they waited for the women to all read the papers before they got them. She smiled at Parker when Cole finished reading and passed it over to Zack with a smile on his face. Alexis was glad to see that he apparently approved.

  “Parker, can you handle the logistics of it?” she asked.

  “I’m all over it. I can’t wait to put this in motion.”

  Alexis smiled at Parker’s enthusiasm. Everything was going to work out like it should. All they had to do was wait and watch what happened once Parker handled the first part. Brandy looked better once she realized that everyone was in on the project. Seeing her so heartbroken and scared had been hard. Alexis wanted to take care of this problem once and for all so that when she and her husbands decided to have children, there wouldn’t be any chance someone could cause problems for them.

  “I’ll be calling James Thornton, Sarah Beth’s husband first thing in the morning to get things started. Then I think I’ll call my dear stepmother and clue her in on a few things. If anyone can spread the word, it will be Elaine.” Parker laughed when Shane frowned at her. “Don’t worry, honey. She will never know what hit her.”

  “That woman needs to be horsewhipped,” he said.

  “Shane!” Parker laughed.

  Alexis knew there was no love lost between those three and Parker’s stepmother. The woman had tried to have Parker committed. Parker’s husbands were very protective of her and their baby.

  Everyone hugged on Brandy, giving her their support before leaving. Alexis waited until only she and Brandy were left in the room. She wanted to make sure the other woman knew that Alexis would stand by her and help keep her child safe.

  “How are you doing?”

  Brandy smiled and looked down at a sleeping Matthew. “I’m okay. I don’t know if I’ll be able to let Matthew sleep in his room tonight or not, though.”

  “I can understand that, and I don’t blame you. We’re going to take care of this, though.”

  “I know. Thanks, Alexis. I never had friends before like I do now. I can’t believe how supportive everyone is being. Thank you.”

  Alexis hugged her and Matthew together. Then she walked outside to join her men where they were talking to Kyle and West. Brandy was right. Their group was the best family she’d ever had. When Neal pulled her into his arms and Mark leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, Alexis felt well and truly loved. They said good-bye to everyone, and Alexis let Kyle settle her in the car. Looking back as they drove off, Alexis watched West take Matthew out of Brandy’s arms and carry him inside as West wrapped his arms around Brandy. They looked like a perfect family to her. It didn’t matter that there were two husbands in the family. That just meant that there was twice the love.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Parker. Are you sure you want to do this?” James’s worry was obvious in his voice.

  “I’m sure. We’ve all had enough of Caro and her escapades, James. Can you do it or not?” Parker almost held her breath.

  If he wouldn’t help her, then she would have to look for another lawyer. It would take time and they didn’t have a lot of time. They were going shopping Saturday for the children’s presents and didn’t want there to be any way the other women could cause trouble for them while they were out. Everything hinged on James helping them.

  “Okay. I’ll help.”

  Parker let out her breath in a loud whoosh. “Thank you so much! Tell Sarah Beth I said hi. I’ll call her later.”

  As soon as Parker ended that call, she called the other women to clue them in on what was going on. She hoped this wouldn’t somehow bite them on the ass. Brandy and Alexis had really seemed to have thought of everything. All they had to do now was to wait for the paper to come out the next day. Knowing her old crowd, they would gobble up the newspaper as soon as they were up and about. They lived off of gossip.

  “You look like a cross between a cat that ate the canary and a constipated cow.” Allen walked over and wrapped his arms around her.

  “Allen! That wasn’t nice.”

  He chuckled and kissed the side of her neck. “Got you smiling though. What’s up?”

  “I just called James about setting up the ad in the paper. I guess I’m a little anxious about it now.”

  Allen nodded and kissed her softly on the lips. “Relax, baby. It will be fine. You guys thought of everything. Besides, they deserve it.”

  “I can’t help worrying that it will backfire on us. All we wanted was for them to leave us alone.” Parker sighed and fiddled with the neckline of Allen’s shirt.

  “So stop feeling guilty about it. They started it and you’re ending it. Let’s go find Shane and Addison and go out for lunch.”

  Parker smiled and followed Allen back into the kitchen where Shane had Addison in her high chair playing with a baby book while he straightened up the kitchen.

  “What’s up, guys?” he asked.

  “Thought we would go out for lunch today. Parker is antsy about the newspaper ad she and the girls set up.” Allen hugged her against him.

  “Sounds like a good idea. I’ll go get Addy’s bag. Why don’t you call and see if anyone wants to meet us somewhere?” Shane ran a hand over Addison’s head and walked across the kitchen toward the den.

  Allen pulled out his phone and began calling folks while Parker disengaged
Addison form the high chair. Five minutes later, they were ready to climb into the car. Allen secured Addy in her car seat then slid in next to her in the backseat. Shane helped Parker in before closing the door after her and walking around to the driver’s side to take his place.

  “Who all is coming?” Parker asked.

  “I got Cole and Neal. They were going to spread the word to the others, so I’m not sure. We might even have everyone.”

  When they pulled up outside the restaurant ten minutes later, Cole, Zack, Tina, Kyle, West, and Brandy along with their son Matthew were already there. As Parker and Allen got Addison out of her car seat, Ranger, Drew, and Carly drove up. Parker began to feel better with everyone showing up.

  By the time they were settled in the back room of the restaurant, everyone else had arrived. They were taking up the entire back room and all of the available high chairs. The waitress was one of the regulars at the place, so she was used to dealing with them. She quickly got their drink orders and made sure they had everything else they needed.

  “What’s up, Parker?” Tina asked.

  “I guess I’m feeling a little nervous about the newspaper article now. James is drawing it up so that it can’t be used against us, and it should be in tomorrow’s paper.”

  “I can’t wait to read it!” Briana grinned. “They deserve every word and more.”

  “I agree, but I can’t help but be worried about it. They’ve threatened our children. You just don’t do that.” Parker huffed out a breath.

  “Which is why they deserve what they get,” Brandy fumed.

  “Brandy hasn’t put poor Matthew down for anything except to change him since that social worker was there.” West looked just as angry as Brandy.

  “They knew better than to try to accuse you of anything with Addison,” Cole began. “So they went after Brandy because she appears vulnerable. She works part time as a waitress sometimes or doesn’t work at all. They thought they were picking the weakest link.”