Chapter 15

Elijah - Chapter 15

Noelle was as nervous as she'd ever been about anything. Seeing her stepbrothers today, then going to see her stepfather, was something that she'd never dreamed would happen. Not like this at any rate. They were going to see Howard, and she was going to tell him what she thought of him. Then he was going to prison upstate to await his trial. It was too much, and she tried to think of something else. The stupid envelope.

It had been full. Not just full, but too many things had been in the envelope for its size. The legal sized envelope had had fifty stacks of one hundred dollar bills, and deeds to several properties and houses that were all in hers and Elijah's names. There were also the directions to three safety deposit boxes in the local bank that they were going to look into after this. The money alone had made her sick to her stomach. To have so much money, five hundred thousand dollars in cash, had been a bit more than she'd ever dreamed of. Noelle was richer than she could ever have imagined she'd ever be.

When the limo pulled up in front of the jail house, she grabbed Elijah's hand and held him tighter to her. Her belly was protesting the stress, and she was afraid that the men coming to see her would tell her to fuck off, as they had plenty of times in her past.

"Just breathe. I have it on good authority that they're just as nervous as you are. And you've got me. Think how alone they're feeling about now." She had, a great deal over the last few hours. "Come on now, go tell them how glad you are to see them."

Moving forward, she was standing nearby when they both got out of the car and it moved down the street. Both of them had lost a great deal of weight over the last few weeks since she'd seen them, and their clothing was starting to look baggy. Ron hugged her, something that he'd never done in all her life. Then Daniel did. He held her for a few minutes before he stepped back.

"We were afraid that you'd not show." She nodded, too emotionally upset to speak to Daniel. "The trip here was nice…thanks for sending the car for us. To be honest, I wasn't sure how we were going to make it." Elijah shook both their hands and told them it was his pleasure. "I guess we're going to do this now. See him, I mean. I don't think he's going to be happy with any of us."

"I don't care. And to be honest with you, he can rot in hell too." Ron laughed at Noelle's words, but it was a nervous kind of sound. "After this, I'd like to take you both to lunch, then show you where you're going to be staying. The work on clearing the land, it starts Monday, so you have a few days to get things squared away."

"You've done so much for us. I mean, a lot more than we ever did for you. I can't tell you how ashamed I am for what we both did to you. I know that it's a little late, but I'm terribly sorry." She hugged Daniel again, and they made their way into the jail. Today would make a difference in all their lives. She only hoped it was in a good way.

Howard was laying on his bed. She was sure that someone would have told them that they were coming, but he lay there with no pants on and his shirt all undone. Even his feet were bare. Noelle was glad that he'd at least put his underwear on. When he turned and looked at them, she could see his anger.

"Well, if it's not the fucking cunt that put me here. And she's brought me my ungrateful bastard children. I do hope that one of you has bail money for me. I'm sick of sitting here all day with shit to do but think." Elijah told him he should have done more of that before. "Oh, and you're such a smart man that you know what I've been up to? You don't know shit. When am I getting out of here?"

"Dad, you're leaving here today." Ron looked at her with a confused look on his face.

"They didn't tell him he was leaving here? That he was going—?"

"About fucking time, if you ask me. I sure hope they got you but good for my bail, you bitch. And don't think this is going to end either. I'm going to take you for every nickel you have." Howard stood up and started pulling on his pants as he continued. "All the things that I've missed being here. But I tell you, I have me some plans. I'm going to make sure that you do right by me for all you've done to me."

"You're going to prison. Today. They're taking you up there in an hour. Ron, Daniel, and I have come to tell you that you're not going to see us again. That we're done with you." Howard looked at his sons, then at her. Noelle smiled at him. "You won't be taking anything from me again. No one is going to hire you a lawyer either. You'll be on your own."

"You let her do this to us? You let this woman tell me what she's going to do? Where the hell are your balls, boys? She got them too?" Neither of her stepbrothers said a word, but they did drop their heads. "I swear to Christ, when I get out of this shit, I'm going to start hammering into your thick empty heads what you need to do to make a woman mind you."

Ron's head shot up like he'd been yanked by his hair. "No you're not. Dad, she never did a thing to any of us. Even after what we all did to her, she and her husband are helping us find a place to stay, as well as work. Paying work." Howard snorted at Ron when he defended her. "They sent a limo for us. Made sure that we had food to eat, as well as money in our pockets."

"Give it to me." Both of them stepped back when Howard reached out for them. "You don't know what to do with money. Give it to me and I'll make sure it goes to a good cause. Namely me."

"No. I'm not going to do it. And you can't make me." Daniel looked at her. "He's been this way all our lives, hasn't he? Mean and nasty. I noticed it, but...he is just a mean, nasty man."

"You think you see a side of me that I didn't let you before? Damn it, boy, how do you think I got us fed all the time? Do you think them steaks come to you free? Well, they did, I guess, but I had to steal them for your meal. You think that was easy?" Ron backed away more, until his back was on the wall across from the cell. "Come here, Ron. Give me the cash you have on you and I'll get you something nice with it. I'm sure that we can grab us up a few nice steaks, some potatoes. You got you some nice pockets on you. We'll fill them up and keep the cash for later. For something else. Maybe I can go to the tracks with it."

"No. You're not...I'm not going to give you a thing." She knew then that Ron had believed that their father wasn't that bad. That somehow everyone, including Daniel, had misunderstood him. "You were never a good father to us. Never. You talk about those steaks, and I remember you sending us in for them, telling us how to steal them for our dinner. One time you hit me in the head when the steak I brought out wasn't right. Too veiny or something. Every penny we had, you used it for yourself. Even when Mom was alive, you took and took from her until she was dead."

"Your mom got it. She knew that we had it fine until Noelle fucked us over." Ron was shaking his head. "She did. She got me fired. Had them put those barriers up so that I'd not be able to make a living. How the hell was we supposed to survive without some help?"

"By getting a job? Or maybe being nicer to the people that wanted to help us?" Daniel looked at her as he spoke. "He would put our names on the Christmas trees all over town. But even that was a scam, a lie. He stole one of them, just snatched it off the tree and worked for two days on making it blank. Then he made copies of it, putting down all our names for presents. Then when no one was looking, he'd have us put the tags back on the tree with his phone number. Then do you know what he did? When the presents came to the house, a lot of them too, he would unwrap them, careful of the boxes, and take them back to the stores. Even sold them from the back of his car. We got nothing but a cuff in the head when we asked him what we got to keep."

"You ungrateful little fuckers. How else was I supposed to afford that television that you plopped your ass down in front of for an hour? Jesus H. Christ, has she been filling your head with all kinds of shit like that? If so, it's a good thing that you got me money to get me out of here. I'm going to teach her a few lessons she won't forget."

Noelle looked at Elijah when he growled low. His wolf was there, just waiting to get out and tear Howard apart. And he would too. So before that happened, she turned to her brothers.

"Come on. I think we've said enough and heard too much." As she started to move them out of the cell area, Howard started calling her names. Before she could get past him, however, he grabbed her arm. Without thought as to what might happen to her, she punched him in the face with her free hand and then kicked him as he went down. "You touch me again and I will tear you apart."

She was so upset that she got them out of the little room before she realized that Elijah wasn't with her. When she was ready to go and find him, he came through the door and helped them out of the building. The limo was back and waiting for them. It was then that she asked him what he'd done.

"Nothing. I swear to you. I didn't harm a hair on his head." She wanted to believe him, but he looked too satisfied. "He knows better than to mess with you now. And to never touch you again. I made him realize what could happen to him if he did."

She supposed she should have been happy with that, but she was too upset to ask any more questions. They took Ron and Daniel to the house they'd be sharing while they worked for Trent and the Calhoun family.

~*~

Scott walked around his house. He'd been all over the inside, and now he was checking out the outdoors. He needed something to do, and if he didn't get to do anything soon, he figured that he could knock down a wall or two. Maybe even bust out a window. Anything to get his mind off the fact that he was unemployed. When he came around to the front of the house again, Grandda was there by his old beat-up truck with a huge smile on his face.

"Someone said you didn't have to clock in right now. Wanna come with me? I got a hankering to wet my fishing pole a little." Scott groaned. Fishing with Grandda usually meant long drawn-out stories that were as farfetched as they could get, and a longer period of him being stuck in a boat with him while he did it. "Come on, you and I can have some fun."

"Doubtful. You know that I can't stand fishing." Grandda smiled and got in the passenger side of his truck. "So, I guess I'm driving to my own kind of hell."

Scott walked to the driver's side and got in. He loved this old truck and the man who owned it more. As he started it up, he turned to Grandda and asked him where they were going. He said that way, as if that were real directions. Scott drove down his drive and towards town.

"We're staying with Elijah for a few days. Your grandma is looking for us a house close to the rest of you boys." Scott said there were several down the street from his house, but he was pretty sure they were huge. "I don't mind having me a bigger house. What with the great grandkids coming now, we might have us some fun with them. If your dad and mom share them."

"I'm sure you can make them do about anything you want." He nodded. "Who told you that I was out of work?"

"Saw the For Sale sign when we was house hunting. Your daddy knows too. He was the one driving us around." Scott nodded. His entire family knew now. "You get tired of telling others how to have sex? Seems to me that it comes about natural to you as breathing if you have the right person."

"I showed them how to have fun and no one get hurt while they were at it." He knew that all of his family was aware of what he'd done for a living. But he didn't want to talk about it with his grandda. "I'm going to work on the plant property when they get going. Right now I'm bored, and was about to get myself into all kinds of trouble over it. I guess your timing was perfect, even if it is just fishing."

"What if I told you that I have a deal to strike up with you? We go into a business, you and me?" Scott asked him if it dealt with fishing. "No. I know how much you hate it. But if you notice, I don't even have my stuff with me. It was just an excuse to get you all dandered up."

He hadn't noticed and said so. "What sort of business? And so you know, I might have to wait a little while before I can invest. I'm not working right now. It's not that I don't have the money, but I don't want to be scraping the bottom when nothing comes along."

"Well, you know that little girl of your brother's, Noelle? She's got herself a good head on her shoulders, and I was watching her the other day working. There's some fine pieces that she has there for sale. Pretty ones that I think she could get more for if they had them a little loving. I want to fix them up. With you." Scott didn't know what he meant. "I mean we can have us a right fine fix it up shop. I know that your daddy has some equipment in that shed of his, and we can start with that. But I was thinking we can get us some stripper stuff and a few extra screws and make them pieces shine like they were meant to do."

"You mean repair antiques? I have no idea how to do that. I mean, I can fix a few things around the house if I have to, but I don't know the first thing about repairing old furniture." Grandda nodded but was smiling. "I'm willing to help, but I don't know what I'd be doing."

"You can learn, can't you? I mean, you learned how to tell people to have safe words and how to love a woman while lashing her to a big piece of wood, didn't you? You even know all about them fancy knots that they tie them up in. You learned that fairly easy. I'm just asking you to learn a few things with me." Scott nearly drove them off the road when his grandda laughed. "Yes, I know what you did. And how you had to do most of it too. You don't think I'd just blindly let my grandsons do a job without knowing a little about it, do you?"

"I didn't know. I mean, I knew you had an idea, but that's all." Scott drove more carefully as he thought of his grandda's request for help. When he told him to park in front of a large building, something else occurred to him. "You already started, didn't you?"

"Yeah. If I had to wait on you to make a decision, I might be cold in my grave by then." Scott started to tell him that wasn't going to happen when he remembered that Trent said to wait a few days or a few thousand years to tell them they were immortal too. "Come on in, we'll have a looksee around."

He had to admit after seeing the ideas that Grandda was telling him about, Scott was excited. They would have two floors, the upper levels for a show room kind of deal and the lower floor to work in. He said that having the customers see what they were doing would impress them more when they saw the goods. There was even an office on the second floor complete with a desk that looked like the one his dad had found and given to Noelle for her business. As they made their way around, looking at the large windows that weren't broken and the furnace that would need to be replaced soon, he thought of what it would be like to work with his hands again. He'd done a little glass trimming when he'd been a teenager. Some of the nicer homes in town still had some of the stained glass lamps and windows that he had helped build.

"I'll do it." His grandda whooped and yelled when Scott told him he would be his partner. And to celebrate, they decided to have dinner in town, just the two of them. Scott thought that perhaps he might even start glass working again, just to fill in the time between the pieces of furniture. And he was sure there would be plenty of time too. Who had furniture stripped anymore?