Page 6 of Brad

After making arrangements to pick up the checks when they were both in town, she closed her cell phone to think about how Toby was going to be taken care of. She thought that her sister and brother-in-law had done well in keeping their promise to their son that he’d never want for anything.

Crying, she was sitting on the swing on the porch of Hamish’s home when Brad joined her. He asked her if he could have a seat with her and was surprised when he sat close to her and took her hand into his larger one.

“I’m getting used to this bear and mate thing. I was talking to Toby about the shoes he wanted, by the way, he wears a size sixteen, when I felt overwhelmed with emotions. He told me that it was you and that you were crying. Toby can feel it, too. Did you know that?” She told Brad that she’d not thought about how much he was feeling her emotions. “I’m sure that you didn’t. Why would you? Anyway, is there anything that I can do for you to slay your dragons? I’ve seen them, you know? Dragons, I mean. I even fought in wars that had me using a sword as well as a gun later. I’ve seen a lot of things, but I think that the most impressive thing, besides you, of course, is seeing the great beasts up close and personal. There are a few of them in the other realm where Grace and Allison live.”

“Really? Dragons? I guess there are a lot of things that are real that I had no idea of. Griffons. Are they real? I think they’re the most magnificent creatures. What with them a part of several animals. And were said to be very powerful too.” Brad told her that he’d take her to the castle sometime, and she could see them for herself. “Toby, too. He’ll love seeing them. When we were on a long delivery, we would talk about the mythical creatures that we’d have as pets. It was a pretty outlandish list, but it certainly made the drive a lot more tolerable.” She looked around. “Where is Toby? You didn’t leave him at the store, did you? Can you tell me where he is so that—” He put his hand over her mouth.

“You’re upsetting yourself again. Just breathe for me.” She did what he asked while still asking after her boy. “He’s with Rosie and Ruby at the clinic. They’re showing him around and also introducing him to the rest of the staff there. “Toby is just fine. In fact, he is excited about having a pair of boots as well as some summery shoes. I didn’t realize how tight things had gotten for the two of you lately.”

“Having to get a battery for the rig set us back a bit. I’ve had to buy them before, but I’d just put the money down on our vacation. We were going to Disney, the two of us. Well, three of us now, I guess. You’ll have to pay for your own ticket, but you can bunk with us in the hotel room. Believe it or not, Toby has been looking forward to the two weeks that we’re going to be gone as a way for him to see if he can get a job there during his summer breaks from college.” Brad said that he would gladly do that in order to go with them. He told her too that he could pay for the hotel as well. “I have it covered.”

“Listen, I might have said this to you before, but I’m a very wealthy man. So what I have is now yours. There isn’t any way that we’d be able to spend it all even if we lived a million years. I promise you, we can all go to Disney and afford anything that you or Toby have your hearts set on.” She didn’t answer him, thinking about the money that she had to pick up yet. She told him about it. He whistled. “That’s a good deal of money. I’m betting that you have plans to turn it all over to Toby when he goes to college. And for some reason, I have a feeling that he’d be good with it, too. No overspending unless he needed something really badly. Much like you in that respect.”

“I had to cut extras out at the very beginning of the two of us together. First, it was the expense of diapers. He didn’t have but a few sleepers to use when he was an infant. No one would see him and that was fine by me. Most of the summer months, he would just wear his diaper to keep cool. Then as he got older, I had to make him aware of the unique way he was growing up and that having the latest fashion just wasn’t practical at all for him. But I did buy him things that he needed.” Brad told her that Toby said that he had everything that he needed, with the exception of a cell phone. “Yes, I guess so. But he has mine all the time so long as he answered it politely in the event that it was a load we had to carry. But I’ll get him one now. He has the money to get himself anything he wants now.”

“It’s doubtful to me that he’d want anything much more than essentials. You raised him to be a great kid, Becka and it shows well on him.” She thanked him and then turned to him again. She needed to clear the air about some things. Becka asked if now was a good time. “Of course it is. And so you’re aware, I can’t lie to you, not about anything. And I’ll never cheat on you either. You are and will be my only love for as long as we wish to live.”

“Thank you for that. But what I was going to tell you is that before Toby became a part of my life, I only dated a little bit. I found that I wanted to secede more than I wanted much of anything else. However, since I did have Toby all the time, I didn’t date at all. First, there wasn’t any way that I was going to leave him as a baby alone while I was out, but even when he was older, I didn’t date because, well, for the same reason. This Danny guy, whoever he is, he’s out there looking to finish up what he didn’t when he massacred the sloth when he did.” Brad asked her if she was trying to tell him that she was a lousy lay. Then he laughed. “Laugh it up, big boy, and you’ll never find out.”

That made him stop laughing but he did pull her to him for a kiss. No pressure, he told her, just that he needed some connection with her before he went crazy. She had noticed that on the other mated adults, they needed to touch one another, or they’d get antsy. She did, however, change the subject then.

“I don’t know what your plans are concerning Toby and I but there are a few things that I can tell you now. I’m thinking very hard about not being a trucker for much longer. As soon as a month if I can get out of some standing deliveries that I do.” He asked her if it was the one for his place. “Yes, that would be one of them. I have four deliveries that I do in this area and I hate to give them up. But the thought of trying to hook and unhook up doesn’t appeal to me as much as it had before. What with Toby going to college soon.”

“Excellent idea. That way, I can have you all to myself to get to know you.” She glared at him for being much too accepting of her stepping away from her life as a driver. “That didn’t come out right. What I meant to say was that I’d not have to figure out a way to get my driving a truck with you. Your partner, I guess. And the thought of settling down, which I’ve not done much of the last several hundred years, it does have a certain appeal that it didn’t before now that I’ve found you.”

“You’re saying that you want to stay still from now on? Robin told me that you’d been notified by Hamish to work for him. Does that mean that we’ll be living close to them? So, you know, I have no preference as to where I lay my hat. As Toby told me when I spoke to him, it will be wonderful to have a nice solid floor under our feet and a shower that he doesn’t have to carry his gear to everything he wants to get cleaned up.” Brad laughed, saying he did notice that Toby had left his shaving kit in the bathroom at the hotel even though it was going to be for only one night. “Yes, and towels that we don’t have to be hung in the bed of the truck to keep them smelling good. I hadn’t realized, or perhaps I’m jaded, that my towels have taken on the odor of diesel since they’d been out so much.”

“I did notice that. But I hadn’t any idea that it was the towels. Not that it mattered. You were doing the best that you could under the circumstances, and I couldn’t be prouder of the two of you.” She thanked him and stood up. “I have a load that I have to get in the morning. Then, a round trip to and from a couple of more places. There is a chain that uses me around now that has to get their holiday items early enough for Christmas.”

“I’ll go with you. I can, can’t I? I mean, there will be enough room for the three of us, won’t there?” Becka told Brad that Toby had to be dropped off at a local school near the pack to take his tests. “What sort of tests? For driving?”

“School. He can put off the end of semester tests until he gets a few of them finished. Then he goes to a school or college to get his final grades in so that he can move on to the next grade. I don’t know what that might mean for him since he’s finished with high school as soon as he’s finished with his testing. And since he’s taking college classes, if he can take more, he has a great head start on his college education thanks to him having a lot of downtime in the truck. However, I think he has his heart set on going to college full-time. To make some friends.” He told her how he’d met some of his favorite people while in college. “I think that he will make lasting friendships better if he can settle down. That’s another reason for me to want to stop driving. So that he can date and have some friends. We’re both sorely lacking in that department.”

“I don’t have that many friends that I can depend on either. Well, I didn’t before meeting up with Hamish and the others. They’ve been my rock for a long time.” Brad stood up when he mentioned dinner. “I’m starving. I just heard from Toby to gauge how you’d feel about him having a meal with Robin and her family tonight. There are babies there that he wants to get to know.”

“I don’t care if that’s what he wants to do. I feel safer for him there than I would for him to be alone in the truck. Where he does spend a great deal of time in anyway.” Brad told her that Toby was going to spend the night and she could pick him up when she got back. She reached out to Toby then as well.

“You have those tests in the morning. Is someone there going to be able to take you to them?” Toby told her how he’d already made arrangements at the pack school to use one of their classrooms for his testing. “Good. Well, other than you getting yourself something to wear tomorrow morning and tonight, I’ll see you when I get back.”

“I got me some clothing while I was out with Brad. I needed some jeans anyway, and they were on clearance with their summer shirts, so I got me a bunch of them for a couple of bucks each. Brad paid for them even though I told him I had money, but he insisted. He kept piling things onto the cart for me. I thought it was for him, but—” Becka cut him off so that he could take a breath and not have a stroke trying to tell her everything in one breath.

“Toby, it’s all right.” He let out a long breath that she could almost feel. “I heard from the insurance company. I’m going to be picking up your money as soon as I get back to the city. If you need anything while I’m gone, just contact me through my cell phone. Brad has one so you can call us with his number.”

“Maybe when you get back, we can see about getting me a phone, too. I can’t call you from college if I have your phone with me. I hate to ask that of you but there will be enough money that I can get a few needed things before I go away, right?” She told him that he’d be able to not have to work and get him a car and cell phone before leaving. “You’re not going to just put the money aside for me, Mom, are you? I mean, you’ve been caring for me my whole life. At least take enough money out of it to get you some things that you need too. Your shoes have more holes on the bottom of them than lace holes.”

She looked down at her shoes. They were the same ones that she’d gotten once when they were out and about right after her sister had died. She supposed if she even were to have paid seventy bucks, a general price of shoes now, she would have gotten a good deal on them. Still, he was right. She did need something that didn’t leak snow into her feet while hooking and unhooking the trailer.

After telling him the stops she was going to be doing, she left him to his time visiting. It would be the first of many she knew, her going it alone if she decided to stick with driving. It saddened her to death to think about being alone in the big rig when Toby moved to college.

~*~

While he was glad to see some closure to the trouble that he’d had at one of his favorite places to eat taken care of, Brad didn’t appreciate the way that the attorney for the man who had come into his place with the intent to kill his mate handled everything. He’d not known who she was at that time, but he knew it now and wasn’t thrilled with the way that she, he had no idea what her name was, had been painting the guy out to be a model citizen.

“Your honor, all Mr. Campsall wanted was for the young lady in question to tell him where her husband was. He had a deal with the man, and it wasn’t coming to fruition, and he wanted answers.” She showed the picture, not quite getting the dead man in the picture but showing his feet and the blood on the table. “Ms. Dillard not only pulled out a gun when it was simply unnecessary but also shot Mr. Campsall’s partner without any provocation.”

“What about the gun that I can see right there in the picture in Mr. Campsalls hand? Did he just decide to pretend to be holding it on the young lady?” The woman said that Mr. Campsall had to defend himself. “I see. Well, actually, I don’t see it at all. Not your version of it, anyway. Ms. Dawson, have you looked at the surveillance footage that was given to the police? It clearly shows that Ms. Dillard was having lunch with her son and those two idiots, Mr. Campsall and his cousin, what was his name?” She told him. “Yes, Jethro Archer, they approached the young lady in question to pester her. I think that I might have pulled out a gun and shot both of them for interrupting my meal. I’ve never been to the place in question, but I would love to go there. Isn’t that the best-looking fried chicken you’ve ever seen?”

“It’s like my Grannies, Mr. Judge. Best crunch on it that I’ve ever had.” The courtroom laughed when Toby spoke up. “Sorry, sir, but that’s the truth. And now that my mom is seeing Mr. Kirk for real, I can eat there when I want. Best place, my mom says, to fill a growing boy.”