Paint was hard to select too, but having the comforter helped. They chose two colors of blue for the bedroom and a soft yellow for the office. Niko insisted they hire a small moving truck to get the rest of the storage to the house the next day, with the help of his dad and brothers.
Niko suggested taking the mattress and box spring and moving it to the family room to make room for the new bedroom set. They would sleep in front of the gas fireplace for the night.
They came home and went to work on painting the bedroom together. Niko took the high and low areas and Tia the middle. When they finished, it was evening and they decided to order out Chinese. Windows were open to air out the bedroom, and it became chilly in there.
Tia dropped down on the mattress. “Heaven help me if I need to get up during the night. You might need to push me from behind.”
Niko laughed. “It’s like camping indoors.”
“Should we bring over the extra chairs and drape blankets over us to make a fort?”
“Nah, I can imagine it.” He drew her close to him. “I had a fun day with you, Tia.”
“Me too. I’m exhausted.”
“It’s going to look more and more like home as we get the furniture in here and decorate.”
“I know nothing about decorating.”
“Take your time. No rush. Make it yours.”
“I love you, Niko. Thanks for giving me space to explore this new world with you.”
“I’m glad I get to share it with you too.”
“So…ever do it camping?”
“Since I’ve only ever ‘done it’ with you, dear—no.”
“There’s a first time for everything, isn’t there? Pillow fight!” She smacked him in the head, nearly toppling him over when he reached for her.
Niko chuckled and joined in as he discovered there apparently was more than one ‘it.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Character is a habit long continued.
Greek proverb
Everything from the storage unit had been moved in. All the deliveries made. Tia was able to do laundry at home, and then she and Niko went to two local department stores to select baby stuff, since Stephanie was determined to throw her a shower in the near future.
Niko helped her paint the baby’s room a teal color, which they accented with cream and brown. It was soft, inviting, and gender-neutral.
Tia had a new desk in her sunroom, and her first real office was finally set up. A real space for her to work and plan for Specific Gravity’s future and write her novels. She had finished posting and updating on the Twitter and Facebook pages for the band when the doorbell rang. She heard Niko’s guitar stop. He yelled out, “I’ll get it.”
Tia rose to go see who’d be visiting unannounced. Probably one of the guys or her in-laws. Either way, they’d be welcome. She enjoyed having spontaneous guests, as she had never had much opportunity to live alone or even with just Niko. And soon they would add a baby? Life had definitely not slowed down when they came off the road.
She walked to the front door and froze.
“Hi, sweetheart.” The tall, thin man had manicured nails, polished shoes—suit coat and dress shirt were probably custom made. His eyes were cold.
Tia shook her head. “I didn’t ask you to come.”
“You didn’t tell me not to either. Aren’t you happy to see your father?”
Niko stepped between them. “Why don’t we sit down and talk?” He guided her to the family room and settled her in the antique chair that was his personal favorite. He sat down on the sofa, and her father did as well.
Tia’s fingers grew cold. She shivered. Ice ran through her veins under her father’s scrutiny. He was searching for a loophole. An angle to work. She didn’t trust him. Lord, how am I to forgive a man I can’t even trust? Show me. Guide me. Give me discernment.
“So, Nikolas Acton. I’ve listened to your latest recording and saw some videos of your shows. You are quite the performer. I can see why my Tia hooked up with you.”
“Thank you, but Tia and I didn’t ‘hook up.’ We were friends for a long time and before we fell in love and married.”
“Well, of course. You would want that to be the story people tell. Anything else might undermine your integrity in the Christian music industry, right?”
Tia watched Niko bristle. “You’re not really in a position to preach about integrity. There is no story. It’s truth. I’d never dishonor Tia or our Lord in that way.”
Ben Bartel shrugged. “So you say.” He turned his focus to Tia. “You look much like your mother, may God rest her soul.” His hand went through the motions of the sign of the cross. “I came to collect something that was mine, remember?”
“I have nothing of yours. Not even your DNA,” Tia retorted.
“Sure you do. How could you forget? You owe me this, at least.”
Tia shook her head. “Prison left you time for fantasies, but the fact is when you abandoned Mother and the rest of us, we had nothing. We lost the house, the car, and mom got ill. Life was hard. Trust me, if we had money, we would have used it to help us survive. You had taken everything.”
He rubbed the wooden arm of the chair he sat in. “These were my mother’s, weren’t they?”
“She left them to me when she died.”
“Did she now? Why not me?”
“Maybe because you weren’t free to manage property and clean up seventy years of life in a house?”
“What about your brothers and sisters?”
“They didn’t want anything to do with her or mom once they left home. I’ve had no contact with them since we cleared out mom’s apartment.”
“Hmm. Well. I’m starting a new life, and since my experience was managing in the music business, I was wondering if you would take your old man in and give me a reboot into the field.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t need a partner or assistant, and after your fraud, I doubt you’ll be welcome in the industry.”
“Fraud schmaud. I’ve paid my dues and served my time. I have the savvy and need a job. Can you put me up until I get on my feet?”
“I’m sorry.” Niko stood. “We are going through a major life transition with the baby coming—we are not open for houseguests. I suggest it’s time for you to leave.”
Tia closed her eyes and took a deep breath to slow her racing heart. Her father glared at her. “You’re going to deny me assistance?”
Tia rose. “Thank you for stopping by, but I think you need to go.”
He stood and ran his hand slowly across the back of the chair. “Fond memories of this furniture. Not sure why mother favored you with such stuff. She must have been senile at the end.”
Tia shrugged. “It really didn’t matter, since the will was written years before. However, I don’t think she ever recovered from her son being in prison.”
“Yeah, well. My only mistake was getting caught, wasn’t it?” He laughed, but Tia and Niko didn’t join in. “I’ll depart. But I’ll return. You owe me, Tia.”
“I owe you nothing, Mr. Bartel. Forgiveness for your abuse I can give because ultimately God is the dispenser of justice and sees it all. But it doesn’t mean I can trust you.”
Niko held the door open, and Ben Bartel stormed through. Niko closed and locked it.
Tia fell into Niko’s arms. He held her, lightly rubbing her back as her body shook.
When she could breathe normally again, she went to sit down in the family room. Niko joined her.
“So that was your dad?”
“Yeah.”
“‘Smooth Criminal’ comes to mind.”
Tia nodded. “Too smooth. Almost threatening.”
Niko nodded. “Do you think he’ll cause trouble?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Why does he believe you have something of his?”
“I don’t know.”
They sat in silence. Niko stared at the chair. “I wonder.”
“What?”
“You thought he hid the money, right?”
“Yeah. We couldn’t figure out where.”
“You were thinking foreign bank accounts or something along those lines?”
Tia nodded.
“What if…” He came to her chair, had her stand up, and led her to the loveseat. “Sit.”
Tia watched him walk over to his favorite chair and tip it over. He pulled out his keys and used them to pull loose the tacks that hid the inner support and stuffing of the chair. He reached up past the wood. When his hand came back out, it held a wrapped stack of cash. The top one was a $100 bill.
“Tia?” Niko handed it to her. “There’s more. Before we go digging, who do we call?”
“Roberto first and I suspect the police and the FBI since this was a federal crime.” Tia took the money and leafed through it, shaking her head. “He was right. All along, I had the money and I didn’t even know it. No wonder he was interested in the furniture.”
“We need to keep this quiet, though. We don’t want him knowing we found it.”
“Agreed.” Tia pulled out her phone, called Robbie to come, and called the police non-emergency number, specifically asking for an undercover detective.
Soon the family room and kitchen were overflowing with law enforcement as they went through all the furniture and chairs to discover where other things might have been hidden. Tia was grateful they hadn’t started putting stuff into any of the drawers. Hidden bottoms and backs revealed more money.
Niko put his arm around her. “I’m glad you didn’t sell anything. Can you imagine the windfall someone would have had if they had decided to recover a chair?”
“Looks like we’ll have a little upholstery work to be done here now too. That old chair isn’t nearly as comfortable without all the stuffing in it.”
“We’ll handle it.” Niko kissed her hair.
Tia served coffee in new mugs she had picked up a week ago and used their new coffee machine. She shook her head. A month ago and none of this was a reality to her. And now she was serving coffee and cookies to police and FBI agents.
Two men came over to her. One Special Agent and the other a local detective. The agent was the first to talk.
“Mrs. Acton, is this all the furniture?”
Tia nodded. “It’s all I was given. There wasn’t much left in my grandmother’s home.”
The policeman had his notebook out. “Do you know the whereabouts of Ben Bartel?”
“No. He was here this morning, made veiled threats, and asked for his money. I had no clue it was in the furniture.”
The agent looked at the detective. “I bet he’ll be back for it, and when he is, we need to catch him.” The detective nodded. The money was removed and the furniture put to rights. The police had their plan, and Robbie gave her a hug as he left with all the information to keep Niko and Tia safe from any unjust accusations that could come their way if her father tried to play a dirty game.
Niko locked the door and turned to help Tia clean up the kitchen. “Takeout tonight?”
“Pizza sounds great.”
“You ready for all this?”
“Who could be? This isn’t what they train you for in high school.”
“The money belongs to Jazzy Records, right?”
“I believe so. Now my real father will get all he lost back.” Tia hugged herself.
“He doesn’t know that he lost you, though, does he?”
“Does it matter?”
Niko nodded. “I think it does.”
“But what if he doesn’t want to know me? He has a wife and kids now.”
“He wasn’t married when he and your mom…?”
Tia shook her head. “No. But she had broken up with him before she knew she was expecting. My dad swooped in and charmed her, and they married quickly. Still. I was born six months after the wedding. A little too soon to be respectable, but none of them were Christians.”
“True. Jazzy had only started a line of Christian albums, but the President didn’t personally oversee it.”
“Right. He doesn’t have much to do with the smaller money makers.”
“He might find it difficult to avoid knowing you now.”
“Why?”
“You’re the one responsible for putting your father away, but you also searched and found the missing money. For them to get that kind of wealth back will be a huge thing. They can’t overlook the woman who made it possible.”
“Well, it really was you who discovered it. I never thought to search inside a chair.”
“I wonder if his mother knew.”
“My guess is if she did, she willed it to me because she believed I would do the right thing. She was as rigid and religious as they come. He might have threatened her, though. I wouldn’t put it past him. He was a dirty dish.”
Niko laughed. “I could think of many other things to call him, but dirty dish? You are too funny, Tia.”
“Oh!” Tia’s stomach started to move, so she placed Niko’s hands on it. “Nikolette doesn’t have as much room to move anymore, but that doesn’t seem to stop him.”
“Or her. Have you given any more thoughts to names?”
“Lots of ideas, but nothing sticks.” Tia frowned as a little foot kicked hard.
“Me neither. Does it hurt when she does that?” He hugged her close.
“Sometimes, especially when a foot hits my ribs.”
“Are you excited about the shower in a few days?”
“Not sure what to expect between Stephanie and your sisters and mom. Still, it should be fun.”
“Do you want me to join you?”
“You and the guys need to rehearse. I’m glad you’ve agreed to do the Fan Awards, at least. Especially since the doctor said first time babies tend to come late.”
“Good for our band schedule but not so comfortable for you.”
“The longer Nicolette stays in the healthier for her. I’ll survive.”
“Wanna take a nap?” Niko tugged at her hand, pulling her to the bedroom. “It’s about the only piece of furniture that hasn’t been torn apart around here.”
Tia grinned at her husband. “I’m thinking you aren’t too eager to have it all fixed either.”
“Not with our new bed being available.”
Tia allowed herself to be taken to the bedroom and eventually did get her nap.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace,
making the best of circumstances.
Aristotle
Niko dropped Tia off at his parents’ house for the baby shower with a promise to return in a few hours to help haul gifts home. He drove to Johnny’s for practice.
Johnny opened the door and gave a pretend flexed bicep with his left arm, now cast-less.
“Hey, coz, can you play?”
“Came off yesterday, and I’ve been trying. Not much time to build up my muscles before Nashville.”
“Let’s get to this. The rest of the guys here?”
“Yeah.” They headed downstairs. “How’s Tia?”
“Big as a house, but don’t tell her I said that. She’s beautiful, and the baby is active, and she’s at the shower right now.”
“A chick party. Wonder what they do at those?” Wayne asked.
“Play with diapers and drink fruit punch from baby bottles?” Sam suggested.
“Wow, and you chose us over that? I’m impressed, Niko.” Johnny dodged Niko’s gently aimed fist. “Hey, be careful with the goods here. I just got out of a cast and don’t need another one.”
The guys prayed together, started rehearsing for the fan awards, and followed that up with practicing songs for their new album. They’d just finished when the phone rang. Niko answered it. “Tia?”
The men grew quiet.
“You okay?”
Sniffling was heard. “Contemporary Christian Music Magazine online aired a report this afternoon. Breaking news is that…that. Oh.�
��
Niko heard another voice. “Niko, your snake of a father-in-law leaked a story to the magazine that Fan and Country Music Awards nominee Nikolos Acton had a several year affair with his manager, Tia Bartel, and only married her when she became pregnant as a result of their liaison.”
Niko swallowed hard. “I need to call Robbie. That’s slander.”
Stephanie continued, “They speculate whether the band will be withdrawn from the nominations due to your hypocrisy.”
“How’s Tia?”
“A basket case. We got through eating and opening gifts. I think you need to come and get her, and I’ll call Robbie for you and fill him in.”
“Thanks, Steph. You’re a great friend.” Niko hung up and turned to the guys. “Keep a loose grip on those travel plans. Contemporary Christian Music Magazine ran a story stating Tia and I were carrying on for years and I only married her because she was pregnant.”
“The awards could pull us,” Johnny stated.
Niko nodded. “It’s slander, but they don’t run another issue till after the awards.” He packed up his guitar. “I gotta go get Tia. She’s pretty upset.”
“So am I. Why you? Any one of us…” Sam set his bass down on its stand. “Petty minds have nothing better to do but paint us with the same brush as secular artists.”
“Unfortunately, we’re all human, and the failures of singers and pastors have haunted the church in this media age. Please pray for Tia?”
“Got it. Go take care of her, and tell her God knows the truth as do we,” Wayne reassured.
Niko ran up the stairs and out to the car. He hurried to his parents’ home.
He rushed inside, and Tia melted into his arms.
“I’m so sorry. So sorry,” she sobbed.
“Hey, this isn’t your fault. You’ve done nothing wrong. Neither of us have. All those years you have been pure and made sure the rest of us stayed that way too.” He wiped a tear away with his thumb. “Come on. Let’s get you home, and I’ll collect your treasures tomorrow.”
“Okay. Thank you, Stephanie. Mom…”
“Go rest. Those who know the truth are more important than those that believe the lies. And God knows.” Mom Acton shoved them out the door. “Take care of her, Niko, or you’ll answer to me.”
Feta and Freeways Page 24
