Page 8 of August

Chapter 3

Jack was so disappointed that she’d gotten her period tonight. Crying in the bathroom, she was devastated that there wouldn’t be a child this time. For as much as they’d been making love, she thought for sure that, at some point, they had created a child. When August came to bed with her later, he held her while she cried about being a failure for him.

“Never a failure, love. Never that. We’ll just have to keep trying, that’s all. And practice, as you know, makes things perfect. Although, I think we’re pretty close to perfection now.” He held her from behind and soothed her abdomen with his large hands by rubbing them up and down. “I wanted to tell you something that your father said to me. I didn’t tell your mother because she looked so sad. But he told me that she had caught menopause—like it was something that one catches. That’s why he was handling things with the sale. Your mother would have gone through the roof had she known that.”

“No kidding. Oh my, that’s too funny.” She turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. “How did I get so lucky as to have you in my life? I mean, I feel like you’ve always been there for me. It just took us some time to get it going. And I have to admit to you that I never dreamed of finding anyone to love me. I love you so much, August.”

“I love you too, my dearest. Do you suppose that your mother hoped for a love like ours?” She told him how Mom had gotten pregnant with Richard, and during that time, they had to marry. “I feel so sorry for her. To be stuck in a loveless marriage with not even a tenth of the feelings that I have for you. I wish there was something that we could do for her.”

“We will. When we have grandchildren. I don’t think that she can stand the other five she has. They’re so—while we were eating, Davy slapped her in the face when she told him she wasn’t going to give him any dessert when he’d not even eaten his dinner. I don’t know why she took it. I would have slapped him back. But Mom got him in the end. She told him that if he ever touched her again, that she’d cut him up into little pieces and make his brother eat him. None of them spoke to her much after that.”

“I’ll have to remember that one.” August laughed hard. “I’d believe her too if she were to say something like that to me. Seriously, she can be really scary when it suits her.”

They talked about their families until the clock downstairs all chimed that it was two o’clock in the morning. Holding onto him, she was lured to sleep by his calming heartbeat. When she woke up with the alarm going off, not only was she alone in bed, but she felt better than she normally did when she was having a period.

Taking a long hot shower, she was ready to go to the bank with August. If it was to play out right, she had to be there as well and him so that her father wouldn’t think that anything was remiss. The man was going to get into so much trouble that she almost felt sorry for him. Almost. She didn’t realize how much she disliked her dad until today. She wanted nothing more to do with him after today.

Dad was wearing an ill-fitting suit. It looked like he’d put on about thirty pounds since she’d seen him last. It was a small wonder that he had. Stress eating was something that she knew her dad did a great deal.

David’s suit still had the tags on it. Like he was planning to return it after today. Or: she thought that this was more right. He was going to pay for it with the money they stood to make today. Richard was wearing jeans and a nice shirt but then he rarely wore a suit unless he had to. He told her once that it made people feel like he was a working man instead of some stuck-up bastard who ordered people around. Since his jeans were brand new and had no wear on them at all, she didn’t think that anyone thought that about him at all. They were asked to have a seat, and Dad acted like the man in charge andsat at the head of the table. When he smiled at her, telling her that he wasn’t going to be nice to her at all. She countered by telling him she didn’t remember a time when he was ever nice to her.

“Now then. Mr. Erickson, are you ready to follow through on the buying of the Blackman Soil Company? And if so, do you have any questions.” He said that he only had one question, and he asked if Mr. Blackman owned the property and company that the sale was about.

“He told you he did, didn’t he? You’re not thinking of backing out now, are you? I mean, we have buyers all over the state what is biting at the bit to buy us out.” Richard looked at her and glared. “You really didn’t need to be here, Jacklynn. It’s this man who we’re talking to.”

“Yes, I know that you idiot. He’s my husband.” That made his face take on a look of pure confusion. “I know you knew I was married. And I know too that you’re the one that told Dad that I was having an affair with the help at the grand opening. How childish of you.”

“It got you fired, didn’t it?” Richard laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world for her to be fired from a company that she now owned with August. “Whatever. This will be done, and you’re going to have to do what I tell you from now on. I’m going to be one wealthy man.”

“Can we please get on with this? Mr. Erickson asked you a question, Mr. Blackman. Will you please answer it? Do you own the land and the property that belongs to Blackman Soil?” Dad said that he did and glared at her like he was telling her to shut her mouth. “Then we’ll proceed.”

Papers were shuffled around, and signatures were required. Dad nor her brothers read the paperwork they were signing. It was good, really, that they didn’t. It stated that they were fraudulent in trying to sell something that didn’t belong to any of the three of them. When the check came out in the form of a bank check from August, he was asked if he wanted to have a receipt.

“Yes, if you don’t mind. I’d like a copy of everything that was signed today. There is no reason why I don’t cover my own ass in all this.” He winked at her, and she smiled at him. “Even though you’re family, it doesn’t mean that I trust you very much.”

“You wound me. I would never do anything underhanded to my new son-in-law. No, everything is on the up and up. My wife, as I told you, had caught some kind of menopausal bug, and that’s why she’s not here to work on this with me.” Dad laughed, and even to her ears, it sounded forced. “I don’t want her to be stressed too much. She seems to have the same kind of stuff that my mother had, too. Dangerous thing that sickness. Though she was a bit kinder when things were going on around her.”

As soon as the check was handed over to her dad, the room filled with the police. They were putting cuffs on her family when her mom walked it. Christ, she looked beautiful in her dark green dress and heels. She simply sat down in the seat that her dad had been yanked from.

“What is the meaning of this? I told you that I was helping you out today. There is no point in barging in on something that has nothing to do with you, Dedria.” She said that he was selling her company. “Did you really think that—everything is finished now. I have nothing to worry about. The sale is finished, thankfully and the money has exchanged hands.”

“If you would have taken five minutes to read the contracts that you all three signed off on, you’d see that it was a confession of the crimes you’ve done since working at my former business.” David said that she believed the sale too as she had called it her former business. “It is my former business. I sold the entire company to my son-in-law, August Erickson, here for five dollars. That way, he’s going to keep it in the family, and I’m going to be able to go on cruises like he said that I should. But I had to see your faces when you were arrested. You’re all going to be taken to jail now on several counts of fraud. I just love it.”

Once her father and brothers were taken away, they were screaming obscenities at everyone in the bank, talking about how Mom was a crook and that they needed to get their lawns done by someone else. Stupid people. Jack couldn’t understand why they didn’t just give it up. It was all done. After the banker left them to their own meeting, Mom looked at August.

“I nearly had a heart attack when you asked him if he owned the business. He lied, as I figured he would, but I’m not sure why you asked that.” He told her. “I see. You wanted to see if he’d continue the lie with his own daughter sitting right there. I guess he doesn’t care who he lies to so long as itbenefits him. If not for Jacklynn, I wished I’d never met the man. He’s been a pain since I first went out with him. But as I’ve been saying a lot of late, it’s all water under the bridge. If you don’t mind me asking, what are your plans for Blackman?”

“To hire a good management team. Advertise more than you did before. My family didn’t want to get in on this deal, so it solely belongs to Jacklynn and I. It’ll be something that we can hand down to our own children someday and you can tell them how to make it work. As for the name, it’ll be Erickson and Family. I like that better anyway, no more dirtying the name with the former owners. Also, you can tell or not tell them how their grandfather ended up in prison for his part in trying to sell it. I don’t understand at all how he figured that he’d be able to make it work. Too many people knew he didn’t own it. Don’t you think?”

“Who knows what goes on in the mind of men and women like him. Now I have to deal with the women. Linda isn’t leaving the house, she said. I don’t know how she figures that’s going to work when she’ll have to leave eventually to take the kids to school. Speaking of which, they’ll be shipped off to military school if I have anything to say about it.” Mom laughed again. “Mary is trying to get on my good side by sucking up. It’s not going to work with me because I’ve known the way her mind works for years now. No, they’ll both be out of a house in no time. Did you want to buy those houses too? I suddenly want nothing to do with businesses, plots of land, or houses anymore. I want to be a rich woman that doesn’t have a care in the world.”

Alex had to step away to answer her phone. While August and her mom went over the things that were with the houses, she smiled when the call was from Alex. She was a scary woman but nice, too. Asking how things went, she told her how her father and brothers had gotten arrested and that her mom was selling the homes of her brothers as they spoke.

“I’m glad to hear the cheerfulness in your voice again. As it stands right now, I might have someone in mind to rent the houses out if you want to talk business. We can meet up later. What I really called for was to see if you and August feel like company this evening. We’ll bring the food, but it’s about time we got to sit down with you and get to know you.” She told her that she’d like that. “Good. We’ll meet up at about six. That’s enough time for us to get things situated with the food. Also, I’ve been eyeing the work that you’ve done on other homes. We all need to have lawn work done, and I think that we can keep you in business for a long time. Think that we can get a family discount?”

“Yes, I think we can work something out.” She laughed again. “Thank you, Alex. You and Locke have accepted me into the family more than my own family did. I love all of you to pieces as well.” Alex told her that she made it easy to like her, she was good for August. “No more than he is for me.”

Dinner wasn’t really so much a dinner as it was a free-for-all in who could eat the most food. There was a variety, too, from fried chicken to pizzas, as well as pasta salads and lasagna. There were very few leftovers, either. As they ate what they wanted, she was amazed that they weren’t as big as a house the way they put away the food.