“But I’m finished with you.” She gathered her things, glad now that she’d not brought them the cookies. “Don’t have them contact me again. I won’t come here again. And you’re not to bother my family either. If you do, then—”
“But we’re your family.” She told him not anymore. “Clare, I don’t know what’s come over you, but I won’t have it. You come right back here and sit down. We’re going to tell you our needs and you’re going to get them for us. Your mother needs her treatments. Her face...well, just look at it. They’re not giving her what she needs.”
“You aren’t giving me what I need either.” Dad told her that she had all the money she needed. “That’s all you can think about, isn’t it? Money. And what it can do for you. Believe it or not, there are other things that can be had, and it has nothing to do with how much is in your bank account.”
“We have no money in our account, Clare. That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you all along. Now, as I was saying, you need to put some money in our account. Things cost money here. And it’s entirely too much, if you ask me. I have a plan to supply treats and stuff to people in jail so that they don’t have to pay those prices. Of course, I’ll need some startup money. After that, I’ll be making a profit in no time.” She asked him if he was going to pay her back for the startup money. “Don’t be ridiculous, Clare. Why would I do that? Anyway, after we’re making a profit, I’ll need to expand. A bigger truck, a new one, not one that has any miles on it. Also, it’ll need to have air. I don’t want to melt with the candies and such. When can you make this happen? Sooner rather than later, I’m thinking.”
“When you get out of prison, if you still want this, then it’s yours.” Dad was all smiles then, and she just shook her head. “You do know that you’re never going to get out of here at any age when you’re going to want to do this, correct? Not to mention, you can’t get a loan with having a record. And then there is the added fact that you won’t have an address, nor a bank account. It’s just not in the cards.”
“Honey, I hate to keep beating a dead horse here, but you have money. Therefore, we have it too. Why can’t you get that through your thick head? As I was saying too, we’re going to need for you to make this all go away. As you pointed out.... Wait, I won’t need a loan, so it’ll not matter about that part. And you’ll put money in our account for us, right?” She said no. “You’re saying that now, but once I have this all down on paper, you’ll want to help us. It’ll be the greatest moneymaker that I’ve ever had.”
“You mean like robbing Mr. Boone of his diamonds? Or how about you killing off yourself in a fake death to have the insurance come to you? I wasn’t able to let that one go on, so I canceled it, along with Mr. Boone’s.” Mom told her she was being unfair. “Unfair? You took out a policy on Conrad so that when you had the Sherman Oaks blow up, you’d get millions of dollars.”
“That would have worked, too, had you just kept out of it. Why did you take him out of that place? It was the best place for all of us. Clare, you are forever putting your nose in where it doesn’t belong.” Dad shook his head. “Well, that’s water under the bridge now. I forgive you for costing us a lot of money. This is why you’re going to do this for us. Because you’ve messed with our well-laid plans from before.”
She stood up this time and turned to look at them when they shouted at her to return. “Don’t call me again. Don’t have anyone else do it either. I’m finished with the two of you. You can both rot in hell, where I suspect that you’ll end up, for all I care about you. As parents, you have sucked donkey balls. As humans? Well, I’m better off with people who aren’t humans than I am with either of you as any part of my life.” She went out the door but went back to see them once more. “Fuck you both.”
The ride home was done with her crying so hard that she had to pull over twice to get herself under control. She did speak to Owen twice, and he told her that he’d come to get her, but she said that she needed a few minutes. Pulling off the road again, she wrapped her hands around the place where she thought their child was.
“I love you. And every day for the rest of our lives, I’m going to make sure that you know that. I’m going to be there every time you ask me to be. Even times when you don’t think you’ll need me. I’m going to be your mom, not your mother, and no matter what happens to you, I will love you with all my being and never ever expect you to do things like my parents did.” She grinned a little. “By the way, as of today, they don’t exist anymore. You have no grandparents on my side of the family. Someday I might tell you about them, but don’t count on it. They’re horrible people.”
Clare spoke to Sara Jane all the way home, telling her about her dad about her uncles. “You’ll love Conrad. He’ll be the best friend you’ll ever have. And your biggest champion.” More things about her new family came to her as she told her all about Sara and Kelley. The things they were going to do.
When she got home she felt amazing. Like she had done more than just cut the fat out of her life, as Kelley called it, but had become a new person because of being able to say the things she had to them. Clare was happy, happier than she’d ever thought possible.
~*~
Xander was still writing when he heard Addie come in. The hotel they were in was lovely, but it wasn’t nearly as much fun when she wasn’t there. When she joined him at the desk that had been set up for him, he held her in his arms and asked how things had gone.
“Very well.” He didn’t want a lot of information on her work. In fact, after her telling him what he’d need to know about some of the shit she did, he decided that he didn’t want to know any of it. Like why she was considered the best. It was enough for him to know that what she was doing was a great service, and he was happy with that.
“You and I have dinner plans tonight.” Addie yawned. “After that, we’re supposed to spend the night at the White House for a memorial for Mrs. Baker.”
Candis Baker had died five days ago when she contracted the flu and never recovered. What had really happened, Xander didn’t know, nor did he want to, but he supposed that it had nothing to do with any kind of virus, and more to do with one of the weapons on Addie’s body.
“Ben told me that we didn’t have to go. He said that it’s going to be hard enough trying to keep a straight face when someone tells him how sorry they are for his loss. I never dreamed she was that deep into selling off government information.” No one had, it seemed. “And the fact that she’d gotten her husband elected says a great deal for her power over people. What do you suppose the country would say if they found out?”
“For Ben? I’d say they were thrilled to death about him being there. There is a lot to be said for the health care being so good here. That people on welfare have to get a job to receive their help. And the fact that the economy is booming again, all good in his favor. If he runs again, I’m sure that they’ll elect him.” She yawned again, and he picked her up to carry her to their room. “You take a nap, and I’ll wake you in enough time for us to have dinner. All right?”
“Sure. Oh, before I forget, I’m pregnant.”
Saying sure to her, he left her to rest. When it finally hit him what she’d said, he turned around and went back to her. But she was asleep, snoring softly while her body was limp with exhaustion.
He sat at his desk for the next twenty or so minutes, thinking about having a child. Penny was going to be so happy that she’d have a fit about having a sister or brother. He wondered if Addie could tell what it was, but decided if she didn’t, he’d not tell her. But knowing her, she more than likely wouldn’t take the entire nine months, wouldn’t gain an ounce, and she’d be carrying the baby in one hand while fighting with the other. Laughing, he went back to his work.
The studio had asked him who he had wanted to play certain parts in the movie. He didn’t have any idea, but they had nicely sent him a list of possible candidates. Some of these were big names.
He worked until about midnight,
going in to Addie once and seeing that she was still sleeping. Stripping down, he moved to curl around her, and was glad when she wrapped her body around his. As soon as she sighed heavily and snored softly, he closed his own eyes. It was going to be a long day tomorrow. They were going house hunting for this area.
They had already booked their trip overseas. It was going to be a honeymoon for them, and after a few days of soaking up the sun, his family was going to join them. It was going to be the best cover he could think of, and they’d have a blast while they were at it. He’d been doing shopping too, at every place they went since leaving home ten days ago.
Penny was coming tomorrow. She was going to fly over with Mom and Dad, then they were going to look for ornaments. Dad had enlisted the help of Penny to find them for her own tree, but if the number of boxes coming in were any indication, he was pretty sure they had enough for several trees, but he didn’t care. It was the first Christmas for a great many things this year.
“You’re thinking hard again.” He kissed her, and she smiled. “Okay, if that’s what you were thinking about, then you can think hard like that all the time.”
“Are you really going to have our baby?” She nodded at him. “When are you due? I’m assuming that it’ll be in about nine months, or is that wrong too?”
“Nine hours.” She turned to her back, her belly growing, and he nearly had a heart attack. “You are so gullible, Xander. However did you make it through life believing every word people say to you?”
He tickled her mercilessly, then laughed with her. Life with this woman would never be like the rest of the family—she was going to keep him on his toes forever. Kissing her again, he held her to him with his hand over her still flat belly.
“I don’t know if I’ll be a good mom or not. I never had one.” He looked down at her and told her he was sorry. “Yeah, no biggie. I never expected to have a child, much less a person in my life.”
“I’m glad you have me in your life and that we’re going to have a baby.” He kissed her belly now and laid his head on her. “I talked to Owen. He said that Clare went to see her parents today. I guess she cried all the way home, but feels better.”
“She’s not going to be one to mess with, I don’t think. Clare is stronger than any of the rest of them.” He asked her why. “She’s had to be. Those parents are not ones that could be easily circumvented when necessary. I’m betting that at any given time, she had to fight them tooth and nail to keep Conrad safe. Did I tell you that she found out that they had done that hurt to her, not Conrad, when they had him put away?”
“Owen told me. He’s going to the auction house again next month after the holidays. He told me that he’s going to sell off most of the tea cups, that they’ve decided that they only want a few of them. And you know what he’s doing with the gems he’s found.” She nodded, and he heard her belly growl. “Why don’t we go out and find some place open and have a feast?”
“Chinese.” Xander agreed. “With a lot of appetizers. And soup. Hot and sour, with those little crunchy things in them. Oh, and something spicy. I want—”
“Why don’t I just order the menu?” At her nod, he shook his head. “Or we could learn to pace ourselves.” His phone was ringing, and he went to get it. Addie said she’d take care of the food.
When he went back to the living area, she was on the phone. Opening his computer, he pulled up the houses that had been sent to him by the White House. He was still getting his mind wrapped around the fact that his wife was a hitman for the CIA and worked directly with the president.
When she got off, she came to where he was and glanced over his shoulder. “Ben just called and said that he was looking at that house.” He opened the house folder on his computer to look at the rooms. “Wow, don’t you think that’s kind of big? I mean, what the hell will we do with nine bedrooms?”
“I think we’ll have family around a lot.” She said she’d not thought of that. “Yeah, I’m sure that he did. Anyway, I love the office area. There are two of them. See?” She said that she’d take the basement over, for all the equipment that she’d need. “I was hoping for a kind of gym down there. I mean, as a writer, I don’t want to be getting fat.”
They were both laughing when he looked the house over again with her on his lap. The house was nice but would need a little tweaking. Not just new appliances, but they had to have a good security system, as well as a phone and Internet that would be off the grid. Again, having a wife like his, it was going got be different than other wives.
“I think we should take it. To be honest with you, I’m sick of being in this hotel all the time with round the clock guards. I want real life things going on, like a backyard barbeque.” She asked him if they did that at home. “Yes—it doesn’t matter the weather either. We enjoy the out of doors.”
“I do as well, but I don’t get to it much. I mean, I’m hoping I will now, but I don’t work as much as I used to either.” He nodded at her and put in an offer for the house. In seconds it came back as sold. “I guess we missed it.”
“Yeah, we’ll keep looking.” When someone knocked at the door, he went to get it as she pouted about the house. “My first pick and I missed it. You think we should just buy them all?”
“No, I do not.” Xander opened the door to see four men standing there with bags. “Honey, how much food did you order? It looks like— Please tell me you did not order the menu. We can’t eat all this.”
“Yes, I did, I told you I was, and we got a discount.” She took two of the bags of still hot food while he tipped the men. “Oh, and invite our security team in—there will be enough for them too.”
They ate with gusto, and he was pleased that they had few leftovers. He was cleaning up as Addie showed their guys out, and someone came to the door again—a special courier for the president. Addie was laughing when she shut the door behind her.
“We have the house. Ben bought it for us while we were trying to decide if we wanted fried or white rice.” Xander said that was never a question. “You know what I mean. But we have the house. Now guess what we get to do? We get to furnish it. Yay.”
Hopefully they’d get to do that too, before Ben did. Clean up was easy, and they were settled in front of the computer again a few minutes after that. Bellies full, they yawned a great deal but found some pieces that they wanted to look at tomorrow. Things were looking up for them, and they could not wait until they had their home ready to live in.
Chapter 12
“What do you think?” Xander looked at the spread of food and smiled. Addie laughed as she continued. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too. They’re going to think we’re nuts and have to order pizzas as soon as they get home.”
“I doubt they’ll wait that long if they think this is crap. But, in our defense, this was Dad’s idea.” She nodded and left him in the dining room to get more plates. They had more than enough, but he let her fuss. It was sort of funny.
The day before they were all to meet at his parents’ house for the first of seven dinners for the holidays, Dad had brought out a hat. It was filled with countries that he wanted to try. It took them a long explanation, finally from Mom, to figure out that he wanted to try foods. They all thought it was his way of figuring out where Mom might like to go on a long cruise. It was brilliant, and Caleb bitched for an hour that he’d not thought of it. Xander and Addie’s was Japanese.
They had had to go to the Internet several times after that night. Grayson complained a great deal, but Xander thought he was having a blast. And Mom and Dad had told them if they didn’t make it, that was fine, it had been sort of sprung on them. When he told Grayson that, he looked like he might be upset.
“I’m a chef of the highest order. I do not fail my families. We shall have the best damned Japanese dinner of all time, or I shall quit my job.” Addie told him to do the best that he could. “I always do, madam. And have a glass of juice, please. The baby needs all it can get.”
They
’d not told anyone about the baby yet, so they were still standing there when he returned with not just one, but two glasses of juice, one for each of them. Then he closed his mouth. Cheeky bastard.
Today they were having everything they could think of. And since no one had any idea, that he knew of, what the things were, he’d made little stick labels. This was to tell them what it was as well as what would be in it. He wasn’t taking any chances with his first meal here.
When his family arrived, they had gifts. He’d forgotten about that—a token, Mom called it, for the house holding the meal. But Addie had remembered and passed out her little gifts to everyone, and smiled a great deal as they looked confused with them. Each of them had a baby item, from diaper pens to powder.
“We’re having a baby.” No one moved except to look at him. Addie laughed as she went on to explain. “You couldn’t tell either, could you? Good. It’s nice to know that we can pull one over on you once in a while. I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this, but you’re the nosiest bunch that I’ve ever seen.”
After laughing and hugging everyone, they proceeded to the dining room. From his vantage point at the table, he could see that it was a strange lot. He also noticed that all his little signs were gone. When asked about it, Grayson said it was intimidating and he had taken them off. Oh well, they were in for some explaining. Grayson cleared his throat to quiet the room.
“We have gone a little overboard in our selection tonight. But we thought, with so many of you, that it might also not be enough. For those of you who wish to be chickens and not try some of the food, I have laid the house phone there, so that you might order in. Pizza is the only thing delivered this far from town.” His cook had just shamed his family into trying new things. And Xander loved it.
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