Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Having a few minutes of her own while Toby went with Brad to get some much-needed clothing that he needed, Becka called the insurance company that her attorney had finally tracked down for her. It had been a long time coming, but she’d be glad to have this last detail finished dealing with hers and Toby’s family.

“I was going to try to reach you today. As it turns out, there is a birth certificate in Toby’s name. I’d swear that it was only just put in the books but for the date on it.” Becka thanked Launder under her breath. “Anyway, I have it now, along with the death certificates of his family. Also, a copy of the adoption paperwork has been located as well. Everything that I need is certified, and we’re ready to cut the check for the three policies.”

“Three? I thought that there was only one, his parents.” He told her that since they were all gone, Roman’s entire family had been killed that day, too. “Yes, his wife. Oh, I never thought of his mom. It never occurred to me…What are the names on the check going to be? Toby is still a minor, but whatever the amounts are for, he gets it all. I don’t want him to have to work going to college. If there is enough for that, I’m going to be thrilled.”

“There should be plenty enough for him to get himself a new car as well. The insurance policies have a clause in it that doubles what someone would get in the event of murder. All three of them were murdered. Then there are the homes. Ms. Jermon, Roman’s mother, had a house on the land there too. It, too, suffered damage to the point that it had to be torn down, so there is that coming to the young man as well as the house that his parents lived in. It’s a goodly sum of money, Ms. Dillard. Close to a million dollars.”

“I’m sorry. What did you say?” He laughed and told her that he’d written out the checks today and she could come by and pick them up at any time. “We’re not in town yet, but—did you say that there was close to a million dollars?”

“She had a large house, Ms. Jermon did. And there were a lot of valuables in there, too, that she carried extra insurance on. I’m to understand from the man who checked on things for you that everything, including the car, was destroyed. I’m glad to be able to finally put that to rest for you and your young man.” Becka said that she was as well. “I bet you are. Also, I’m to make you aware of other things too. The money for the stocks that your family had will be paid monthly after you receive the back pay on the—Ms. Dillard, are you all right?”

“Yes. I am. We’ve been struggling for a while now, and to know that it’s not all been in vain takes a good deal of weight off my shoulders. Toby will be able to do all the things that my sister and Roman wanted him to have. Thank you so much.” He told her that she was very welcome and listed some of the other amounts that the checks would cover. Becka only paid about half of attention to it all.

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.”

Everyone that was in the room turned and looked at him when he stood up. Brad cleared his throat before speaking. “Your honor, Ms. Dawson seems to have forgotten that we have both men on surveillance in the back of my factory, reliving themselves in my vats. Not just one of them but all six of them. Making it so that the contents had to be dumped out and the vats cleaned by serializing everything so that we’d not lose any more time than we needed to. If not for Ms. Dillard coming in early, at our request, I would have lost an entire day of work and product going out. That would have put a great many people out of work for several days. And we all know that things are tight all over the world right now. As it was, they had done several million dollars’ worth of damage to the cheese factory, not to mention all the overtime pay to have it cleaned up again.” Ms. Dawson said that was just a prank on their part. “Prank? Don’t you think that they’re a little old to be doing pranks, young lady? Not to mention costly ones at that? Sir, I have an itemized accounting of what the damage was in addition to the overtime to clean up the damage that had been too. It comes to well over fifty grand not even including the hazard cleaning of the restaurant, when Ms. Dillard had to defend herself when you presumed that she was the wife of a single man. Even for stupid bad guys, you seem to have your head up your ass.” The judge looked at the woman keeping track of the proceedings and asked her to mark that as a fine for him for cursing in his courtroom.

The judge then looked over at Mr. Campsall and asked him about the prank. When he shrugged, for the fourth time since being brought in, the judge admonished him again but not giving a full answer, citing the fact that his stenographer couldn’t write that in her comments.

“Like she said, we was just having a bit of fun. Isn’t anyone going to be going to jail about killing my cousin, your honor? He’s dead on account of her pulling out a gun when we already had things under control and just killed him dead.” He was asked if he’d been warned to not point their gun at her that she was armed—it was heard clearly on the surveillance recording that she had warned them several times. Also that she told them, again, several times that she wasn’t Mrs. Kirk and had no idea who they were looking for. “Yeah, well, I didn’t believe her. Ain’t no reason for her to shoot someone just because there was a little bit of misunderstanding. Yeah, that’s it. It was all a misunderstanding on her part. That’s not right.”

“Mr. Campsall, I do believe that I’ve heard enough. I’m going to send you to jail until you either figure out that the truth will get you finished up sooner rather than later, but mostly, you need to get your facts lined up. Playing pranks, as you called them, are not something that a man your age should be doing, not when it costs someone else a great deal of money.” He did some writing before he looked at Campsall again. “You will pay half of the damage done to Mr. Kirk’s place of business, then you will do community service until such time that I feel you have paid your debt. Additionally you will reimburse Mr. Kirk for all the cleaning of both the factory as well as the restaurant. The other half of the damages will be paid out of Mr. Archer’s estate, if he has one. You will also pay Ms. Dillard a sum of no less than ten thousand dollars for her role in trying to set you straight. Which I will admit that I don’t think that’s even remotely possible knowing you the way that I have in the last hour or so. Also, I’ve only known you for a short amount of time. I doubt that you would have learned anything, no matter how it was explained to you that you don’t piss in another man’s milk. Any questions? Good. Get this man out of my sight.”

There wasn’t going to be a jury trial for the two men. Even though Mr. Archer was deceased, he would still be held accountable for his role in what had happened. It seemed that everyone was thrilled about the outcome, but for Mr. Campsall and his attorney. She asked him for a moment of his time as he was being hugged by Becka.

“We need to strike a deal, Mr. Kirk. You know as well as I do that if this goes to trial, it’s never going to stick. They’ll see my client as the victim because he was just playing around. Why don’t you name a sum and I’ll talk it over with Mr. Campsall. That way, you’re not out any time or more money. Because if this goes to trial, you’re going to end up paying out the butt for this sham of a trial.” He named a sum and smiled. “Let’s be reasonable, sir. You have to know that this isn’t going to work out for you in the end. The next judge might not be so stubborn about listening to the facts that were right there for him to see.”

“And what facts are those, Ms. Dawson? You know what, I don’t care what you say. I believe that I will take my chances with a trial. You never know. I might just get more money out of the estate than I expected. Wouldn’t that be great?” She told him that he was simply a greedy man. “Perhaps. But if you believe that anyone is going to think that what he did to my factory was a prank, I’m afraid that you’re in for a rude awakening. I also think that I’m going to make a call to the law board to find out if you’re as good as you think you might be.” Turning his back on the other woman, he shook hands with Toby. He felt himself being jerked around by someone grabbing his shoulder. It was all he could do not to reach out to Dawson and tear her throat out. “Unhand me before I tear out your throat, Ms. Dawson. I’m not a man to be fucked with. What do you want?”

“I want you to do what I want. David…Mr. Campsall doesn’t deserve to be treated this way. He’s a good man and a great father.” He asked her if she was his daughter. “Step-daughter. But that makes no difference. He is a good man.”

“Good for the two of you, but what was said in this courtroom is what I agree with. Either unhand me, or I will press charges against you as well. You’ll find out the hard way that I’m not a man to be messed with.” Brad watched the struggle she seemed to be having as it moved across her face. “Whatever you’re thinking, you should understand something, I’m not human. You are. How long do you think you’ll last against me knowing that.”

“I loath you.” Brad said that he could live with that. “I’m going to get you, Mr. Kirk. If it’s all I do for the rest of my life, I’m going to make you pay for my dad being in prison.”

He didn’t break eye contact with the woman as he asked the man standing behind her if he’d caught the threat. Even when she was pulled away from him and read her rights, he still stared her down. Brad really wasn’t one to fuck with, and she’d soon find that out the hard way if she touched him again.

Once she was in cuffs, he had the jailer pause just for a moment. Smiling at her, he let just enough of himself go so that she could see that even though he wasn’t a bear shifter, he was as deadly as one. Perhaps even more so.

“Not only am I going to press charges, I’m going to look into having you disbarred. As I have said to you several times now, you’ve messed with the wrong person.” She told him that she’d see. That she’d be getting out of this, too. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see, now won’t we. Have a good day, ma’am. I know I will, just knowing that you’re off the streets along with your dad.”

He was in the sunshine outside the courthouse when he realized that he didn’t know how he’d gotten there. Looking to his right, he could see Toby talking quietly while Hamish held onto his arm. He had to peel his fingers away one at a time in order to free himself. Smiling at him, he asked Hamish how long he’d been there.

“Not long. I was worried that one of us was going to pull out a gun. By the way, did you know that Dawson was armed? No carry permit either. Like I have. But she’ll be taken to jail over that as well.” Brad wrapped his arm over Toby’s shoulder before leading Hamish and Toby to the limo that was waiting. “We’re going someplace?”

“Dinner. At Toby’s favorite place.” He heard the boy whoop it up while he was sliding across the seat in the back of the long, sleek car. “My treat. Then we have to go and find us a home that the three of us can live in for the rest of our days. By the way, Toby, in case I forget to tell you again, there is a car at Hamish’s home that is for you. I want you to be able to come back and forth from school to see your mom and me as much as you want. All right?”

“Yeah, that’s wonderful. Now, all I have to do is learn to drive. And get a permit.” He laughed with the younger man. “It’s been sort of hectic lately keeping you from being killed, so there’s been no time. If you think you can stay out of trouble for a week or two, I might be able to learn a few things that will get me some friends.”

“I’ll give it my best shot.” He decided to hire someone to help Toby out in learning to drive as well as take the written test. It was the least he could do for the boy since he really had been invading his time with work stuff. His mom would be back in the morning if things went well. Otherwise, she’d be back tomorrow afternoon. He was enjoying the time with Toby, and he thought that they were getting along just fine. Even Hamish commented on that. After getting on the road, Hamish showed them the two houses that he’d purchased when he moved here. Toby didn’t like either of them and didn’t think that his mom would either. She wanted a fenced-in backyard, and he wanted a pool. Time to move on, he thought, and make his beautiful mate glad to give up the open road.

After having some food, the two of them and Toby eating enough for ten men, they headed to the list of houses that Hamish’s realtor gave them. It was going to be a long afternoon if all the houses were nothing like he was looking for.