“I don’t think it’s been all that good, do you?” She told him what she’d found when they did the X-rays when he’d been brought in. “So he’s been beaten on a regular basis. Poor fella. My heart just breaks for him.”
They both looked at Caleb when he moaned. Milo could see that his face was registering all sorts of pain. But when he smiled at him, Milo was sure he could take on the world and come out the winner.
“How are you, buddy? My wife is here. Do you remember her?” Caleb turned his head slowly and started to close his eyes. “Caleb, we need you to wake up a little more. All right? Just so we can talk to you a little while.”
“I hurt.” Jamie took his other hand and told Caleb she was sorry. “My arm hurts really bad, Doctor. Do you think I could have something for it? Not a lot. Maybe a baby aspirin or something? I hurt a lot.”
“I know you do, Caleb, but I need to talk to you. Then you can have something for the pain. I think I can give you a little more than some baby stuff too.” He looked at Jamie, but he didn’t cry again as he had before. “I need to talk to you about what we had to do to fix up your arm. Can you remember how you hurt it?”
Dangerous ground, but when Winnie just appeared in the room where Caleb couldn’t see her, Milo felt better. They’d been warned several times that his room was being recorded, as all the new rooms were, and not to put words in his mouth. Such as asking if his parents had been lying when they said he’d fallen from a tree.
“Momma did it with Dad. They said if I was hurt really bad, they’d not have to get up early in the morning to take me to school. I don’t understand that. I got no school in the summer. Can I have a drink, please? My mouth is powerful dry. It can just be some spit in a glass if that’s what you got.”
Milo looked at Jamie when he asked for spit to drink. She asked him if he drank other people’s spit a great deal. His nod, then his verbal reply, made Milo’s skin crawl. Christ, the things this kid was having to endure was enough to make him want to throw up.
“I can get you some ice chips to chew on. Would that help?” Caleb looked at Jamie with one eye as if he didn’t believe his luck. Nodding again, Milo put out his other hand, and a glass of ice chips appeared in his hand, which he handed to Jamie. None of them wanted him to go without ever again.
As she was putting the chips in his mouth, Milo noticed that Jamie’s hands were shaking. Taking the spoon and glass from her, he watched as she sat back down and cried a little. His heart broke for her as well. To think that as a surgeon, she had to go through this with a child.
“Caleb, can you tell me why you asked for spit?” He told her, and Milo knew that for as long as he lived, he’d never forget the look of pure anger on Jamie’s face right then. “Instead of giving you a glass of water or even an ice cube, your parents would spit in a cup for you to drink? I’m sorry you had to do that.”
“It’s all right. It’s better than when they pee in a glass for me. It’s not good tasting, and it’s hot too. Can I have some ice, please?”
Milo filled the spoon and started for his mouth. Winnie grabbed his hand to still it. Milo could see how many chips were on the spoon and had he put them in his mouth at the rate of speed in which he was aiming at an unseen face, he would have hurt the boy. Winnie took both items away from him and put the chips in his mouth herself.
Neither he nor Jamie were fit to ask the little boy anything. He was tiny too. His twelve year old body was that of a much younger child, underdeveloped and underfed. Milo wondered how he’d survived the treatment he’d been having done to him.
“Caleb, your dad told us that you fell from the tree. Is that what happened?” Milo watched as Winnie, this time, put questions to Caleb. Her hands were steady and her voice calm, neither of which he would have been able to do under the circumstances. Caleb looked at him before saying anything.
Jamie spoke then. “I have to be sure there are no other broken bones in your body, Caleb. Falling from a tree and hurting your arm the way you did, I would think you would have been at a very high point in the tree.” Jamie glanced at him. “You have a lot of other places that are broken in your ribs and your arms and legs, but they’re old breaks that it seems to me, as a doctor, no one cared for.”
“Go ahead, Caleb. Tell my wife. She is a good doctor and only wants the best for you. So do I. You told me you trusted me. Is that still true?” He nodded, still looking as terrified as he had when he’d turned to him. “I swear to you, Caleb, nothing will ever hurt you again so long as I’m alive. And I’m going to live forever.”
“You promise?” Milo was almost ready to tell him to forget it. His voice, low and full of fear, scared him a great deal. “They said I’d be put in the well again. I don’t like it down there. There are bones and stuff. Then when they pulled me out, I’d be taken to a home for bad kids. It might be better than I have now, but I’m not a bad boy.”
“No, you’re not.” Milo looked up at Winnie when she said his name. When she mouthed what to ask him next, Milo cleared his throat to continue. Jamie left them there. He could almost taste her anger and pain. “You said the well had bones in it. I’m not sure what you mean. Doesn’t it have water in it? I mean, that’s what I’d think.”
When Caleb leaned closer, he did too. “It’s my grandma and my sister. They didn’t do what they were told. The baby bones are not as scary as my grandma’s—she really loved me. That’s why they took her away from me.” He had to ask, and it was on the tip of his tongue to do so, but Caleb continued before he could. “They told her she was being too nice to me and that it was my fault she had to go in the well. My sister, she fell in when she was looking at Grandma. But I think my mom pushed her in.” Milo asked about the baby bones. “Mom did that. She said it wasn’t breathing when she had it, so she thought it’d be cheaper to just put her in there with my grandma rather than have to pay for a funeral. I didn’t say anything. I know I should have, but I was afraid of being in there too. You understand, don’t you, Mr. Milo?”
“Yes. I’m glad you didn’t join your sisters and grandma in the well.” He told him that the baby was a little boy. “So you had a sister and a little brother too?”
“Yes, sir. I wish sometimes I was brave enough that I could go in the well too. But I couldn’t do it. Mom said they’d be better off without me sucking them dry, but I didn’t go by the well enough so I could fall too.” Milo looked at Winnie when she shivered. Milo was glad Caleb couldn’t see her right now. She was in full body armor, and her wings were spread out behind her. “I remember that the doctor told me I’d lost my arm. Mom is sure going to be mad when I can’t do the laundry and stuff.”
“You can do anything you did before. You’ll just have to figure out how to modify your ways of doing something. You don’t have to ever think of yourself as anything but a good kid who got a bum deal out of life. But you’re going to persevere. All right?” Caleb nodded but didn’t look convinced. “Caleb, would you like to come and stay with us until things get settled?”
“Yes. I’d do all the work you want me to without complaining, too. I promise.” Milo was so choked up he could do nothing more than nod. “If you ever have a baby, Mr. Milo, I’ll go away and not bother any of you again if you don’t want me anymore. I swear it. I know kids can be draining. That’s what my momma told me.”
“We are going to have a baby, Caleb. However, when she’s born, if you’re still living with us, you’ll be her big brother. There will be no laundry that you have to do, although I think everyone should know how to separate clothes and wash and dry them. You never know when you might need that skill. Cooking too. That could—” Winnie cleared her throat. She looked better, too, just plain Winnie. He looked back at Caleb. “I’m going on about stuff. You have no idea how excited we are to take you home with us. And if Officer Winnie here can make things work out, we might be able to keep you for the rest of your life.”
�
�You’ll be nice to me. I know it.” Milo told him he could count on it. “Thank you, Mr. Milo. I hope you mean that my momma and dad will be in jail, where I think they belong. They killed my grandma and my little sister.”
Milo held Caleb while he sobbed. Each time he did that little hiccup thing, it tore at his heart more. Jamie joined them then, and when she asked if they were all right, Milo realized he was crying too. Jamie handed him a tissue and sat back down. She was in her serious mode now.
“Caleb, I’m so sorry about this, but I have to talk to you about your arm. We tried to save it, but the bone was beyond fixing. Do you understand what I’m telling you? I did speak to you one other time when I was in here, but I don’t know that you were able to focus on what I was saying. You were still drugged up.” He looked at her but didn’t let go of Milo’s hand. “I’m so sorry, honey. Whatever happened to you, it was just too much damage for us to be able to save.”
“I remember it. Sort of. Mr. Milo said I could do whatever I wanted, only that I’d have to be able to change the way with how I do it.” He looked at the bloodied bandage. “It’s going to make me not be able to do some things, but he said I could figure it out. Mr. Milo wants me to go and stay with you guys too and said that you’re going to have a baby.”
“Yes, we are. You’re all right with what is wrong with your arm, honey?” He first nodded, then shook his head. “I understand that. But you’re very calm, and I want to make sure that if you have any questions, you can ask me about it. I’m here for you, Caleb, and hopefully will be forever, as Milo told you.”
He did have questions, a great many of them, but not a one about his arm or the lack of it. Caleb asked about the baby. If they had a pool. Then he asked if the two of them were living in a house. It took him a moment to figure out that he meant a house rather than a box. Luckily, Jamie understood and told him they had a house and that he’d have his own room with his own bathroom, something he’d not had at home—a working bathroom.
“Mr. Milo, I’m really tired. Do you think I could get some water to drink? Doctor Manning said I could have more than an aspirin. I’d like that now.” Jamie had been pulled away for another surgery. They were hoping, it seemed, and nothing was even officially open yet. “My stubby hurts. I’m gonna call it that so kids won’t be able to call me names.”
It took them less than two minutes to bring him a shot of something for pain. Milo could tell it was hitting him hard when Caleb smiled and closed his eyes. Milo went into the hall to find where Winnie had gone. Wherever it was, he was sure it wasn’t boding well for someone. Milo hoped it was Caleb’s biological parents. It would be good that Winnie got to them before he did. They’d be dead if he did.
~*~
George was walking to the pantry warehouse when he saw the police race by him. While he had no idea what was going on, he hoped it had a lot to do with the Merchants that were connected with Caleb. He was nearly to the place he was headed when his mom joined him as she came out of the store on Main.
“I’ve been thinking a great deal about you, son.” He said whatever it was, he’d not done it. “I’m sure you didn’t. Of all my sons, you would confess faster if you had done anything the others would try to hide from me. No, I wanted to talk to you about your home. I’m hearing you don’t particularly care for it. Tell me what it is that you don’t like. If we can resell it, then we will. But with this family and the way we collect humans, someone will live in it. The family will repay you, George. That’s only fair since we picked so badly for both you and Milo.”
“I don’t know how you found out, Mom, but it’s all right that I live there.” She told him she wanted him to be happy to live there. “I am. I see no point in dwelling on the things I don’t like because maybe, whoever my mate is, she’ll not like it either, and we can move to her place. Which will be older and more lovely than the pile of bricks I’m currently dwelling in.”
“You said that perfectly, I think. Dwelling, not living. I want to make this right for you.” He told her he had it. “I know you have it, George, but what I’m worried about is that it’ll make or break your mate if she comes around, and doesn’t stick around because of your pile of bricks, as you called it. You’re still as blunt as ever, aren’t you?”
“I love you too, Mom. About the house? I don’t like it at all. There are very few redeeming things about it that I can point out and say I do enjoy.” She laughed, and he joined her. “Too blunt? I have been told that I’m sometimes too blunt to the point of rudeness.”
“You are, but that’s all right. I love that quality about you. All right. What is it you’d like in a house? Older style? The reason I asked is because you mentioned that you didn’t care for bricks and you liked older homes. I think I might have just the place for you. Come on, I’ll take you there.”
“Mom, I’m sort of busy.” She told him it wouldn’t take but a moment, and he found himself in an entrance hall that he immediately fell in love with. “Oh, Mom, this is it. I don’t even have to go any further—unless the rest of the house is a shit hole. Please tell me it’s as grand looking as this.”
The two of them popped in and out of the rooms. As far as he was concerned, it was the perfect home for him. Even the furniture was perfect. He asked her about that.
“The person who lived here for most of her life has passed away. I know that knowing she died in her bed won’t bother you. Right?” He said it didn’t. “The house is going on the auction block later this afternoon. The furniture as well. I have a good feel for how much people are willing to pay for it. However, I don’t think it’s nearly enough. The furniture will be something you have to decide on. I would, if I were you, just flat outbid what you’re willing to pay for it all and tell them you’re willing to take it as is. I’d go at least a hundred and fifty thousand. Minimum.”
“How much are people willing to pay?” She told him. “You’re right, Mom. Sixty thousand is much too low for this place. Lock stock and barrel, how much should it all go for at the auction today?” Mom said she knew that most people, unlike them, were not into antiques. “So things will go fairly cheap, you’re thinking.”
“I do. I mean, there are a few pieces that will go higher. That’s why if you purchase it with a full price, you’ll be in it in no time.” He asked her how much would be the cutoff. “I’d say if you were to have to go to even half a million, you’d be doing very well. It will need some updates, but the faeries here would do that for you at no cost to anyone. They actually enjoy working for us.”
“Because you guys are dragons.” He looked at his watch. “How long do I have? I’m assuming not long, as there are people in the house now taking the furniture out.”
“You have two hours. Go talk to the realtor on site right now. I’ll go with you.” When Mom said she’d go, that didn’t mean she was going to take over at any point. She would just be there, standing on the sidelines, waiting for someone to ask her what she thought. “You have my full support.”
That he knew.
Finding the realtor took him longer than it should have, he thought. When he did find him, George could see the dollar signs going off in his head. George, always telling it like it was, smiled.
“I can let you take the highest bid you get today, which won’t be nearly what I’m going to pay for all of it. Or I’ll walk away right now. It doesn’t matter if I get this or not. I can find houses for a dime a dozen.” The realtor, Jimmy Banks, told him he’d have to talk to the family. Then he asked what he was willing to pay. “You tell them what I want to do, and we’ll work from there. Whatever they want isn’t going to cut it. I want a fair deal.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll go and get them now.” When he left them, George looked at his mom. She was laughing hard behind her hand, and he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. The family of the woman that had owned the house looked as eager to sell as he wanted to buy. But neither of them we
re as cagy as he was. “I’ve told them what you’d like to do, and they’re willing to listen to your proposal.”
“How much to end this auction and you walk away?” The man, older than the two women, asked him what his price would be. “My price is dependent on what you want. I’m a buyer, not the seller. I want it as is, all the furniture too. Right now. Or, as I said to him, I’ll walk away, and you’ll take what you get from the buyers.”
“Can we talk about it?”
He nodded, and they walked away. One of the women turned back and looked at him. “You’ll take everything as it sits right now? No coming back if the roof is messed up, which it is. Also, the kitchen needs to be updated. My mom, she passed away in this house as well. I have to tell you that anyway, but I thought you might want to know that.” The woman just looked at him as if she was waiting for him to say no deal. “Also, you should also know that there isn’t any cable in the house, nor Internet. Mom didn’t want it in her home.”
“I know what is wrong with it. I’ve looked the house over since we arrived. Also, I want to point out that includes the two lots on either side of the home. As I said, as it sits right now.” She nodded, and the three of them walked away. George looked at his mom. “Are they just that honest, or did you have something to do with them telling me the things wrong with it?”
“No, I didn’t. But this is the report that Winnie gave me just now that tells everything the inspector has found wrong with the house. She was right in the stuff she told you. But as I said, it’s an easy fix for you. Also, I don’t know if you noticed this or not, but you’re across the street from Jamie and Milo. That’s a perk I’d not realized until right now.”
Within five minutes of people beginning to show up around the house, he noticed that the movers taking stuff out of the house had stopped. There were people to bid on things coming around too. George wanted to tell them they were there for nothing, but he didn’t want to jinx the deal. The trio came back to stand in front of him and Mom.
Milo: Xavier’s Hatchlings ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance Page 13
