Protecting Olivia [Fate Harbor 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  “I never asked you, what made you and Betty decide to become foster parents?”

  “Well, we tried to have children of our own, but it never worked out. So for about five or six years after that we just focused on one another and built a pretty great life, travelling, working and having a lot of fun.” Butch stopped talking, and Olivia saw him smile. She could see he was thinking back to that time. “It wasn’t that something was missing in our life exactly, it was just that we had so much, we felt like we wanted to share it. Our first foster child was Josie. We got her when she was four years old. She could barely talk, she was so far behind in her development.”

  Again, Olivia watched as Butch drifted back in his memories, sorting them out so that he could explain things.

  “The social worker on her case was great. She explained that Josie had no physical or mental problems. She just had been neglected so badly by her drug-addicted mother that Josie was developmentally delayed. Well, you know your mother. I was doing very well as a manager with the telephone company, so we agreed she would quit her job. She worked with Josie every day and got her straightened out within a year. Got her ready for kindergarten by the time she was five. Then Debra, the social worker, came to us and said there was a little boy who really needed us…” Butch laughed and rubbed his bald head.

  Olivia chuckled with him. “How often did the social worker come to you?”

  “She came to us about once a year. I’ve got to tell you, we almost fell apart when they came and told us that Josie’s mother had gone to rehab and petitioned the courts to regain custody of Josie. She was eight at the time. It was almost like having one of your children die. It was worse for Betty than me. It took her almost a year to get over it. Thank God for the other children in the house. She had to keep it together for their sake.”

  “Were you able to keep in touch with Josie?” Olivia asked.

  “Her mother took her out of state, and we never heard from her again until she contacted us a little over two years ago. That was a great day, let me tell you.” Olivia saw the tears in Butch’s eyes, and she felt herself getting emotional as well. She couldn’t imagine loving and raising a child then having them taken from her.

  “What about Brianna? I know how much it hurt her and me. How was it for you and Betty?” Olivia asked, referring to another girl who was yanked in and out of the Hutchins’ household.

  “Debra explained the situation to us from the beginning; that Brianna was going to be in and out of our care. We knew what we were getting into, and that made it easier for us.”

  “Why didn’t you tell the rest of us?” Olivia asked.

  “Because Brianna didn’t know. She never knew from day to day if she was staying with us permanently, or if her parents would petition the courts to regain custody. Her father was schizophrenic, and it was a matter of whether he was on his medication or off it. Her mother always chose to support Brianna’s dad’s psychosis. When he was on his medication everything was fine at home. When he was off, they thought Brianna was possessed by the devil and that’s when CPS would take her away and bring her to us. Then he’d go back on his meds and petition to have her reinstated into their custody. We felt so bad for that child.”

  “Brianna was my best friend, it used to break my heart when she’d leave. Then she would be such a mess when she came back, it would break my heart all over again.”

  “You were a good friend to her, Olivia, never doubt that. You still are.” Butch gave her a hug.

  “I wish she’d stay in touch, she stays away for such long periods of time,” Olivia lamented.

  “Old patterns are hard to break, sweetie. But she knows she can always come back, and you’ll be there for her. That’s what matters, baby.”

  “I hope so. I’m so glad you and Betty decided to foster kids. And that even after heartbreaking experiences like those you had with Josie and Brianna, you continued to do it.”

  “So am I, sugar, because we ended up with our children like you, Olivia. We’ve been so blessed.” Butch reached over and kissed her forehead, and Olivia beamed up at him. “Now, we’re late, and I’m going to catch hell from my supervisor.”

  “I thought you were a volunteer,” Olivia said.

  “Ruby loves to give me hell whether I’m early, late, or on time. It’s one of the things that make this fun for her. You’re really going to love her. Let’s go in. And remember, you have to eat everything that your men packed for you,” Butch said with a twinkle in his eye.

  They entered the Snoqualt Food Pantry, arm in arm.

  * * * *

  That night, Ian and Joshua made their way over to Butch and Betty’s house to meet Olivia for dinner. Betty had made enough food for an army, which was a good thing because by the time the meal was done, nothing was left.

  “You’re a great cook,” Ian enthused, looking at his empty plate forlornly.

  Betty laughed. “Would it make you feel better if I told you that I have pie for dessert?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am, it would,” Ian said with feeling. Olivia looked at his large frame, not surprised that he needed as many calories as he did. She had also found his workout area in the detached garage. Two days ago she had watched his hour-and-a-half exercise routine, which he did shirtless and in shorts. By the time he was done, she was salivating. He had wanted to shower before she touched him, but she had other ideas. Shockingly, she won the argument.

  Betty brought out both banana cream and apple pies. “Josie brought these over yesterday from Sweet Dream Desserts,” she said, referring to her foster daughter’s bakery in Fate Harbor. Ian eyed the pies hungrily.

  “Betty, I think you better be the one who dishes them out. If we leave the cutting to Ian, we won’t get any for ourselves,” Joshua cautioned.

  “Butch, why don’t you do the cutting? I’ll be right back.” Betty went back into the kitchen and came out with an individual chocolate mousse that she put in front of Olivia. “Here, honey, why don’t you start with that? Josie predicted you’d need your chocolate fix.” Olivia grinned broadly and didn’t even wait for the others to get their desserts, immediately digging into her treat instead.

  “I love Josie!” she announced, not caring that her mouth was full. She looked up and saw four sets of eyes looking at her approvingly. She finished swallowing. “Is it really that important to everyone that I’m eating?” she asked in exasperation.

  “Olivia Ann, we’ve been worried about you. Let us enjoy seeing you eat, okay?” Joshua cajoled.

  “Fine. But, Ian, you better leave me a piece of that banana cream pie,” Olivia warned, and they all laughed.

  When the three of them returned home that night to Ian’s house, both men noticed that Olivia had been moving her arm rather awkwardly while at the Hutchins’ house. They had put off mentioning it until they got home.

  “Livvy, did you overdo it today at the food pantry?” Ian asked, his voice filled with concern.

  “Hmmm?” Olivia asked, as she toed off her shoes and climbed up onto the couch with a yawn.

  “Your arm, even now you’re holding it against your chest,” Ian pointed out.

  Olivia looked down in surprise and saw that she did have her injured arm cradled up against her chest, and that it was throbbing. Then she looked up and was even more surprising to notice Ian was looking at her with a worried expression. “Ian, can you come here?” She patted the cushion next to her, using the hand of her uninjured arm. She saw his perplexed expression, but he sat down.

  She nestled her head on his broad shoulder, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see Joshua looking on with a twinkle in his eye. That man understood what was going on. The sneaky psych major, nothing got by him.

  “Thank you, Ian.” She slid her good hand down the front placket of his shirt, slowly unbuttoning as she went along, so that she could get to all those lightly furred muscles.

  “Thanks for what, Livvy?” he asked in a slightly hoarse voice, proving that her attentions we
re getting to him.

  “Thanks for not getting angry. Thank you for just asking if I had overdone it and wanting to know if I hurt. Thank you for asking in a way that wasn’t going to start an argument. That really makes it easier for me to open up to you. So, thank you.” She had all the buttons to his shirt undone, and she glided her forefinger over the copper disk of his nipple, enjoying his sharply indrawn breath.

  “So, as my reward, are you going to answer my question?” Besides the hoarseness of his rising passion, she also caught a note of his usual frustration. Ian hated it when she avoided his questions.

  “Yes, I guess I did overdo it. In my defense, I didn’t know it at the time. We had a lot of families come in, and we packed so many lunches for kids who only get the breakfasts at school that I just didn’t think about my arm.”

  “Didn’t Butch notice?” Joshua asked.

  “He was working in a different area,” Olivia answered. “He came and made sure I took a break almost every hour, but he didn’t see what I was doing when he wasn’t with me.”

  “Do you need a pain pill?” Joshua asked as he walked to the kitchen to get her a glass of water, already knowing her answer.

  “Yes, please.” She kept her head nestled against Ian, and he put his arm around her, careful of her injured arm.

  “I really like Butch and Betty,” Ian said. “Not just because Betty is such a good cook, either.” Olivia laughed, and Joshua handed her the pill. When she put it in her mouth, he handed her the glass of water.

  “Drink it all.” After she was done, he took the empty glass from her. He put the glass down on the coffee table and then sat down on her other side, just where she wanted him.

  “I was an only child,” Joshua said. “I met Ian when I was fifteen, and then it was like I finally had a brother.”

  “I was the youngest, my sister was eight years older than me, and my brother was seven years older, so by the time I was eleven they’d both already left for college. I can’t imagine growing up with so many other kids like you did, Olivia. What was it like?” Ian asked.

  “It was crazy good. Sam was a year older than me, and Chance was two years older. We had other kids come and go, which was really tough, because some of them I really loved, you know?”

  “I can’t imagine,” Joshua said, stroking her hair.

  “Brianna was my best friend, even though she was younger than me. God, she was so pretty, and she would let me dress her and play with her long red hair. She would come and go at her parent’s whims.” Olivia yawned, feeling the effects of the pill.

  “What do you mean, ‘come and go’?’” Ian asked.

  “Oh, her mom and dad would want her back, and then wouldn’t want her anymore, and then they would want her again. Sometimes they hated her, and sometimes they loved her. It was weird. I loved her all of the time.” Olivia yawned again. “I loved Finn, too. He didn’t stay as long as Sam and Chance. Can we go to bed now? I’m tired.” Ian chuckled as he stood up, swinging her into his arms.

  “As my lady commands,” he said, striding down the hall. Joshua and Ian helped her out of her clothes, and then Joshua cleaned and re-bandaged her arm. He also put it into the soft sling that the doctor recommended she sleep in at night, if she was experiencing pain.

  “Don’t need it,” she said, pushing him away.

  “Livvy, you’re wearing it tonight, don’t fight us on this,” Ian warned. Olivia turned tired eyes to his green-flecked brown eyes, realizing it was a fight she wouldn’t win, so she gave in.

  “Are you guys coming to bed, too?”

  “I am, Kitten,” Joshua assured her.

  “I still have some work to do tonight,” Ian explained.

  “When do you have to go back to the job?” Olivia asked, referring to their work at the fire house.

  “I have to go back the day after tomorrow,” Ian answered. “I used up a lot of my personal time when I was with my dad in Phoenix and when I went to Boston. I plan to use the last of it for one more little jaunt. Joshua has plenty of personal days left.”

  “I’m playing it by ear, Olivia Ann. Why, do you want to get rid of us for a while?” Joshua asked.

  “No, I’m just trying to figure out what I’m going to be doing. Since I can’t log into the systems, I can’t do my job, and I’m not in Boston.” The men looked at one another, as they registered the lost tone in her voice.

  “Olivia Ann, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Anyway, tomorrow you get to show us how you’ll put the fear of God into Paul and Kathy Stevens. That should be entertaining, shouldn’t it?” Joshua asked.

  Olivia gave a bright smile. “I forgot! You’re right, that will be fun,” she enthused. “Okay, yeah, you’re right, I’ll just take it one day at a time. I can do that.” She leaned back on the pillows as Ian came over and placed a sweet kiss on her lips that made her feel loved.

  “Good night, Livvy,” he said. “I’ll be in soon,” he promised.

  “Good.” She snuggled down into the covers, and smiled as Joshua got in beside her and pulled her gently into his arms. She loved his smell, and she rubbed her nose into his breastbone, breathing deeply. She sighed in contentment. She placed a kiss on his heart, as he turned out the light on the nightstand and cuddled her closer.

  “Sweet dreams, Kitten,” he said as he placed a soft kiss on the top of her head, holding her close.

  Chapter 13

  “Paul and Kathy, I really appreciate you for taking the time to meet with me today via videoconference.” Olivia smiled brightly into the computer camera. She could have done the conversation from Ian’s house via Skype, but Chance had a professionally appointed room with more elaborate audio-visual equipment in his home, especially for Board meetings and other AHC business. The fifty-five-inch, high-resolution, flat-screen monitor was projecting enlarged images of Paul’s and Kathy’s faces like laser-painted targets at the far end of the room. Olivia was able to study their body language much more clearly from this vantage point than if they had just done a Skype session from Ian’s house.

  “Olivia, we were so worried about you after the shooting,” Paul said sincerely.

  “Did you get the flowers we sent?” Kathy asked.

  Olivia smiled. “Kathy, I got the flowers at my house in Boston, plus the two arrangements you sent to Chance’s house. I appreciate it, but you didn’t have to.”

  “I just couldn’t believe you had been shot. That’s just crazy. Why would someone do that?”

  “Yes, what do the police say?” Paul asked.

  “They believe that it may be connected to the break-in that occurred at AHC on the night I was attacked almost three months ago. They’re trying to connect the dots. I understand why you are both interested, but that’s not why I wanted to talk to you. I’m considering a change in Board Membership that I need to discuss with you.”

  “Oh, how could a change in Board Membership possibly affect us?” Kathy asked in a bored tone.

  “Have you read the Charity Charter?” Olivia asked.

  “Sure, when we joined,” Paul said.

  “What did it say?” Olivia asked like a teacher addressing her students.

  “I think it said something about upholding the values of the charity?” Paul stated with a question in his voice.

  “Exactly right,” Olivia praised. “You even signed that you would uphold the values of the charity in every decision and vote. The first value of the charity is to put the needs of the homeless first. The third value of the charity is that if the charity can afford a project, and that project presents no harm to the overall stability of the charity, the needs of the homeless should always be prioritized. That value includes prioritizing projects over AHC’s year-end financial statements and your concerns about how those statements are perceived. Do you remember initialing beside these values?” Olivia held up their statements with their signatures.

  Both Kathy and Paul sat on their sofa, looking into the camera uncomfortably.

  “Olivia,
we both know that my father is the biggest contributor to this charity, and he will pull his donations if we aren’t on the Board of Directors. Do you really want to play hardball?” Kathy asked. Paul opened his mouth to speak also, but Kathy put a hand on his arm, stopping him.

  “Kathy, I wrote these values. This isn’t hardball, this is the core of the charity. My question to you is, do you want to have to explain to your father that you got kicked off the Board because you voted against helping the homeless in Atlanta? Because I will kick you off. Right now, the publicity generated after I was shot has doubled donations this month without me making a single phone call. Imagine what I could bring in if I actually made some calls. I’d more than make up for your father pulling his money. So yes, I’m fine with playing hardball. The Board Meeting is next week. Are you going to vote for Atlanta, or are you off the Board?” There was steel in Olivia’s voice.

  Kathy and Paul gave each other a long look. Finally Kathy answered. “I didn’t realize how important this project was to you. You should have explained it to us. Of course we’ll vote for it.” She gave a bright smile.

  “Thank you. As always, I appreciate your support,” Olivia gave them a cool smile. “And again, the flowers were lovely. I have one more request. You’re not to tell anyone that you have changed the way you intend to vote before next week’s meeting. It’s imperative that it comes as a surprise. Can I count on you to do this?”

  Both Paul and Kathy assured her of their silence in the matter.

  Satisfied, Olivia disconnected the teleconference feed. Joshua, Ian, and Chance, who had been sitting out of range of the camera, all clapped.

  “Thank you, I appreciate your support,” she said with a cool smile and then laughed. They all started to laugh, as well.

  “I’d forgotten about those Core Values that you had all of the Board Members sign,” Chance said. “It’s really out of the norm. I’ve never been asked to sign anything like that on any other Board that I sit on.”