Page 7 of Ethan

He didn’t bother with keeping his suit on. As soon as he was home, he’d pull on his lounging pajamas and sit and read his newspaper. Filling out the crossword puzzle gave him little pleasure anymore because he frankly didn’t understand some of the newer slang that they used. Getting to the business section of the paper, he nearly fell off his seat when he read the headlines written there.

Farley Mansion Has New Owners and A New Name.Reading the article over the current prices of bacon, he read that none other than his ex-employee had married a man by the name of Ethan Tucker and was making waves in the business world with their money. It read like a report on her, all language that he could well understand but not believe.

When his phone rang, he answered it after finishing the sentence that he’d been on. Billionaires, the paper called them. Worth more money than anyone in the world. There was also a mention of Ronan and Brook Foster and how they were all related. When he heard the click clicking of something on the other end of the phone, he nearly hung up. Then his wife spoke.

“Don’t you dare say a word, Carlos. Not a single word. I need for you to come bail me out. The stupid little twit has had me arrested. What is this world coming to when people of wealth don’t stick together when you need for them to.”

He nearly reminded her that he’d told her so and that they really weren’t people of wealth any longer if he didn’t get the client, Henderson, to allow him to keep the money that he was asked for and the final payment when the advertising for himwas finished.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes, Shelly. I have to walk there, so I’ll be a bit.” She told him not to ask the Tuckers for a car. They’d press changes against him. “I won’t, my dear. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

When she didn’t say anything more, he hung up. It would be best if he could take his attorney, but he couldn’t afford to have him at his beck and call anymore, either. Getting up, dismayed to think that he was going to have to put on his suit again, it took him longer to get to the jail than he had told his wife. More like an hour had passed since speaking to her. And she made no bones about how upset she was at him for the delay, too.

She didn’t make a scene in the station house. Shelly had always been conscious about what people would think about her. However, once they were out in the cold, she cursed him in several languages that she’d only learned the curse words to so that no one would understand her when she was upset.

He doubted very much that worked. All a person had to do was to look at her pinched face to know that she was upset. Carlos had heard someone refer to Shelly as to having a resting bitch face. He hadn’t been quite sure what that meant until he got a good look at his wife when she was upset. Or not when he thought about it. She looked like she’d swallowed a lemon whole all the time.

She told him that she wanted a shower before they were to get their dinner. While he didn’t say anything to her, he was upset that his dinner had to be delayed again. They ate at seven on the dot every night and it was already half past that gone. Ordering dinner from his phone, he decided that his idea of having a nice pizza would be out of the question. She’d not allow him to have his turn in ordering food for the things that had been done to her.

“That woman actually had me arrested.” He had brought thenewspaper, not knowing how long it would take for Shelly to be released, so now handed it over to her as he blew warm breath over his hands. “What is this? Carlos, you know that I don’t care for reading the business section. Why don’t you just tell me what it says, and I’ll be happy if that’s what you want me to be.”

After telling her what he’d seen in the paper, she snatched it from him and held it up to one of the street lights that was just starting to flicker on like it knew better than to deny his wife the light that she required.

“This can’t be true. Can it?” He didn’t answer, knowing that she would not appreciate it or need it. “I met this woman. She was…Carlos, she was in a pair of faded jeans and was barefooted when she opened the door. And I swear to you, the man that was there, well, he had to be a prop for her. There is no way that a good-looking man like that one would sully himself with a barefooted woman. My goodness, even her sweatshirt looked like it had seen better days, and it was an Ivy League college, too. There isn’t any way that anyone would believe that she had any kind of education from a place like that. No, I won’t believe it.”

Carlos not only didn’t get the pizza that he had wanted but he got no supper at all. She’d been so angry with the woman who had denied her what she wanted that she told him they were going to bed without their supper. He didn’t know who that would show, but that’s what she kept saying, that would show them.

Almost as soon as the lights were off in his bedroom, his phone rang. He almost, again, didn’t answer it but was wondering who would be calling him as late as eight in the evening. It was Ethan Tucker, he told him, and even without him telling him, Carlos knew that the man was about as or more pissed off than his wife was.

Chapter 3

Ethan was digging by himself this morning. Shawn had a few appointments that she couldn’t miss, she told him and she was going to go and see the four children from the building fire last weekend. The children were going to come home with them when they were released, as their mom was in jail at the moment.

Since he could talk to and see Finny, he was going to get a jump on the things that were out on their land. It was better, he told himself, than begging to have the children come home with him when they weren’t ready yet. They all had some smoke in their lungs, and the little girls, Juliet and Julianne, twin eight-year-old little girls, had been burnt badly when their mother had poured gasoline over their little bodies so that they’d die like their father did. Without the magical help from Brook, he didn’t want to think about how they might have suffered if she hadn’t. He looked up when Finny caught his attention.

“Ethan, let me ask you a question. What did you really think of the news in the paper? The one announcing you to be married to my Shawnie?” He asked him what he meant. “You know. The two of you barely got together, and now the paper is announcing that you’re wed. That ain’t right, you know.”

“It’s all legal, Finny. I promise you. But Brook did it. She thinks that it will deter people from coming around trying to get her to hand over the money or treasures that she worked so hard for that are a part of this land that belongs to her. I don’t know much about that but if it works on just one person—that Henderson family, then I’m all for it.” He laughed a little while digging in the soft dirt. “I have less sense with money than most people do. Not only that, but I would never presume to tell her not to do anything with the money that she didn’t want to. Ithink, for being as rich as she is right now, I’d be stupid to think that I could do any more than she has simply because I’m a man. Besides, I think that she’d snatch me bald if I were to try that. Her son is bad enough.”

“I’d not say this to her on account of her being his mom and all, but I’d not turn my back on that man if I was you two. He’s kind of set in his ways. Even I, who was around longer than he’s been knows better than to talk to a woman, much less his momma like he does. I told her before I’d bust him in the butt if he’d been my boy.” Ethan thought the same thing but didn’t know what sort of limitations he would have regarding her son. The man was set in his ways, but the worst part was that he should know better, what with living with his mother like he does. “I guess it would make it hard for you to be his step-daddy with the two of you only a few years apart. But you’re what you are to him, and it’s not right that he treats either of you like he does.”

Last night had been a huge fight between the three of them. Shamus learned very quickly that if he ever drew back to hit his mom again, that he’d lose a bit of himself. Last night, it had been all he could do not to rip the man’s throat out. Ethan thought that it was going to come to that sooner or later, too, if the way the man left the house was any indication.

“She changed the locks on the house, and the main gate now has a person out there all the time. I should tell you that he’s armed with silver, too. I doubt that would have any effect on you, but I wouldn’t want to take any chances if I were you. And she’s having that fence put in that she’s been threatening to as well. For the number of crews that she hired, I see it going up quickly.” When he hit something hard, Finny told him it was just a rock. Nodding and pulling the rock out and putting it aside, they were trying their best to make sure that the ground was just as undisturbed looking as they could. There was no telling whatwould happen if word got out that they were actually finding treasures.

“The things that we pulled out of the hiding places in the garage? Did you have anything to do with them being there? I’m just curious because you seemed as surprised as we were what was in them.” He said that it had been a long time for him. “I guess that’s about right. I don’t know that I’d remember things very well either.”

They’d not gotten around to opening all the treasure boxes. Most of them were just that, boxes that he’d pick up here or there. There wasn’t much in the way of cardboard where he could just pick it up when he started hiding things. But the tin cans had been easy enough to stuff full of something. He couldn’t wait to find the three they were going to hunt for today. Finny told them that they were some of the best he’d found. He never said what would be in them, but he was about as excited as a ghost could be, he supposed.

“Hello, big guy.” He smiled when Shawn contacted him. “I’m at the hospital again. I was in earlier, but they were all having tests done. I did get to hold Tisha for a little while, but then she had to get her testing done…not like that matters as to why I contacted you. I need you to come in so that we can bring them all home. The hospital is giving us a car seat, but I’d rather use one that is rated at the top of the line. Also, supplies. I’ve been making an online order that will be delivered sometime this evening.” He stopped digging just as he hit something solid again before telling Finny about the kids. Ethan asked her what time he should be there. “Get a shower and then come in. Also, I need for you to bring me the file that I had out this morning for the hospital I filled it out yesterday and forgot to bring it in.”

The house was about as ready for the children as they could make it. They both knew that it might only be temporary to keep them, but if they could get through this all right, there wasn’t anyreason why they wouldn’t be prepared the next time they got to call. He pulled the large cylinder out of the dirt and put it by the post that was close to where he was working. Hanging up, he told Finny what was going on.

“I wish I could go. But that’s a fer piece for me to be traveling. I might be able to make it work, but I’d be plum worn out and wouldn’t be able to see them little ones. You get them, and I’ll make sure that they’ll be all right living here too.” Ethan put today’s three treasures in the back of his truck and got in. “You’re going to need a bigger car, son. This will only hold the four of them kids and no driver. What are you going to be doing? Taking two trips everywhere?”

That got Finny laughing, so he waited to tell him that earlier this week, they’d ordered two SUVs that would hold six to seven people. They’d gotten two of them with four-wheel drive so that they’d be all right in the winter months. As soon as he was out of the shower, he debated for all of ten seconds on what to wear. Giving himself jeans and a soft tee-shirt had him thinking that he looked all right for a dad picking up his kids.

Last night, he’d been a little woozy when he’d told himself that he was going to be a dad. It hit him hard, right in the heart, that he could make a difference in someone’s life. He hoped so, anyway. He wanted that, he thought, more than he wanted anything in his life to make happen. To help a child, not even his own sounded like something that he and Shawn both could do for any child that came to them.