Chapter 8

Mac had read the letter from her grannie four times before she just laid it on her table and was finished with it. Her mom, sitting across from her at their dining room table, just stared out the window and didn’t say all that much. When her mom finally spoke, it wasn’t to her, she didn’t think, but speaking in general terms about what had been said about the family.

“Caroline was never one to pull back on things when she could just say whatever was on her mind at any given time.” Mom finally looked at her. “I remember our first Christmas with Cole. He was such a happy little baby. I know that he was all right then, but it took me years and years to get over the fact that I might have done something wrong. The doctors, of course, told me that it hadn’t been my fault but he was my son, and I thought that it had to be me. And to think all this time, she knew just what had happened to my little man.”

“She said that it was your fault for not allowing her to move in with you to help around the house with the children. I can’t imagine, or maybe I can imagine, what she might have done to us all had she been around us all the time.” Mom nodded and looked away again. “Mom, I’m so sorry that your own mother did this to you. I don’t know what else to say, but I’m so very sorry.”

“I’d like to say that I’m going to be all right, but I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do with the information that she left for us. I will turn it over to the police, that’s for sure, but what they can do about it now that she’s killed herself is beyond me. To think that she was my mother makes me shiver in my skin.” She didn’t turn back. Mom didn’t have to. She could see the tears as they raced down her cheeks as she stared off into the distance. “She killed my daddy too. Just…didn’t it sound as if she enjoyed that part? Running over him several times like he was nothing more than…I don’t know. She just is—oh darling, what am I going to do with all this information?”

“Like you said, turn it over to the police. Let them deal with it. As you said, there isn’t anything that they can do to her, but at least it’s given us closure on things that I’ve never thought of before.” Grannie had killed her boyfriend in high school. “I’ll have them tell George’s parents what really happened to him. All this time, they thought it was suicide, and come to find out, she’d killed him by locking him in his car while he was out and killed him that way. They’ll have some peace, at least.”

She didn’t know what was going to happen once Mr. and Mrs. Ridgeway found out that their oldest son hadn’t committed suicide like they’d all thought. She had, too, and it had bothered her for years that he’d do something like that. Her grannie had a lot to answer for when she got before the pearly gates. If she ever made it that far. Mac wanted to believe that there was a special place, a not-so-nice place for people like her.

“Let’s go and do something.” Smiling at her mom, she asked her what it was she wanted to do. “Brandy was telling me that there are some garage sales today. I’ve not been to one in years, but it might be fun. Where is Edmond and his family today?”

“They went to an auction that is selling off a farm not far from here. They’re hoping to get a good price on some of the farm equipment as well as some of the animals that are going to be there. Chickens are one thing that he wants to try and raise. I’ve never had a fresh egg, but he told me there was nothing like it.” She reached out to Brandy to see if she, too, had gone with the men.

“I’m at home, feeling sorry for myself that I’m so large with this baby. I’m not, I know that, but I feel like a turnip or something equally gross today.” Mac told her that she liked fresh turnips. “You would. You’re nuts in the event that Edmond hasn’t pointed that out to you. How about we hit up the auction, too? I know that in addition to the farm equipment, the house and household things are being sold as well. We might be able to snag a couple of more bedroom sets for your house. It’s supposed to be in the lower seventies today, so dress warmly.”

After talking to her mom, they were ready to go before Brandy arrived. She was getting big with the baby, but it looked good on her. Even as they were loading up in the car to head out, Brandy said they’d need to get some lunch while there. The food truck there was supporting the local football team for new uniforms this year. They were also toting and carrying things for people for a tip. She thought that was a wonderful idea as well.

Once they were there, Mac could feel the excitement racing over the other two women and, in turn, her as well. She was happy that her mom, who’d never been to one before, was excited to learn how to bid. The three of them, after getting their number, converged on the box lots, just odds and ends that were found throughout the house and just put into anything that was lying about. She could already see her mom going home with a lot of them simply to have her and dad go through them and guess what some of the things were.

There was plenty of furniture to be sold off. Most of it was older than she was, but she didn’t care. Whatever there was, it would be perfect for their new home. Even as she was looking over the baby furniture, there seemed to be an equally large amount of that. She was standing there when a very pregnant woman came up to stand next to the changing tables. There were four of them.

Listening in, with her new hearing abilities, she heard the mother-to-be and the woman next to her talking about the changing tables. Moving just a bit closer, she was able to hear them all right while looking over the baby clothing, a great deal of it even still in the packaging, while they talked about the upcoming grandbaby.

“Lenord said that I can’t get anything that is used. That his baby deserves the best. I don’t know how he expects me to be able to afford anything brand new when he doesn’t even have a job.” The older woman, her mom, she called her told her that he wasn’t worth the spit that made him. “No, I wish I had listened to you when you told me that. I made a terrible mistake in thinking that he really loved me. Now, it’s all I can do to hold down a job, take care of the house like he wants, and still be this far along. The doctor isn’t going to be charging me on account of my being on welfare right now. But he told me that I should leave Lenord. That he’s going to leave me anyway.”

“I hope he does. The moron. I know that I shouldn’t talk that way about him being the father of my granddaughter, but he’s an idiot. Spouting off things like he’s made of money. Why, where does he think that you’re going to do with all the stuff that he has in that room now that it’s supposed to be the nursery.” The younger woman told her. “Put the baby in the living room? Whatever…he needs to sell off that gaming shit that he has, get him a real job, and try supporting you rather than bringing you down. Is he still hitting on you, Pam? If he is, your daddy is going to kill him.”

“He is, but don’t tell Daddy. I’m going to need him as a role model when Lenord is put away. He’s been selling drugs out of my apartment, too. I’m not supposed to call it mine when he says that we’re a team, and what’s mine is his. I wonder what he’d say if I sold off the shit he has in the spare bedroom on account of it being mine, too.” They both laughed. “I guess we should head on home. There are just too many people here for me to get a good deal anyway.”

“I’ll help you.” She’d not meant to speak aloud, but she wasn’t going to see this young woman ruin her life over some deadbeat. She waited until the older woman wandered off in favor of her cell phone. Mac pulled the younger woman closer to her so that they could talk.

Reaching out to her mom and Brandy, she asked them to come to her when they had a minute. Brandy said she’d be a bit, but she was game for whatever she wanted to do. She’s heard the woman talking about the box lots and being able to flip things enough for a bed for the new baby.

She let the older woman get far enough away that she could no longer hear them. Having Pam believing her that she could help her was what she wanted to see. Whatever it took to get her out on her own, she was going to do it. If not for her brothers having done it a great deal, she wouldn’t have thought that it was possible for her to be able to do this kind of thing. Hell, she thought as she made the plans, she was going to see if she could do this kind of thing all the time if she saw a need.

Pam was going to stay with her parents until she could find a place to set her up. It wouldn’t be a good place to have her staying in town right away. But she figured with a few well-placed officers watching the apartment, it wouldn’t be any time before the idiot would be caught. That was her next call while she waited with her mom and Pam to buy the baby items. For whatever reason, too, she didn’t give either of them the address of her hideout, not really trusting the mom.

“I need something from you.” She liked Billy Capshaw. He’d been true to his word about standing up for her brothers. Calling him now, at his home, she was glad when he asked her what she needed. After telling him about Lenord and Pam, he was more than willing to help her out to get the man off the streets.

“We’ve been trying to find where he’s living for the last few weeks. He’s been selling to the kids at the high school and causing all kinds of trouble there. The fool just strides right into the high school like he’s one of the students, then goes out the same way. I don’t know what we would have done had one of the teachers hadn’t recognized him. He won’t be there so long as I can keep an eye on him.” She told him about the new baby and how he didn’t have a job. The rest she let Pam tell him. Through plenty of tears and lots of tissues being used, she was willing to hand over the keys to her place just to get him out. “Once he’s out of there, you go on ahead and sell off that equipment. I don’t know how he got it, but we’ve no use for it.”

“It’s all stolen.” That changed things up and as soon as she said that, Billy was telling her how she’d have to wait on it. “Mrs. Fraizer and her mom are going to help me get away. I don’t want anything to do with that place anymore, Captain Capshaw. You can have it all for all I care about it. Please don’t tell my mom, either. I think she’s sweeter on Lenord than she is me and wants me to stick it out for her.”

“You be a good girl there, Pam, and you listen to Ms. Mac. She’ll steer you in the right direction. Won’t you?” She was glad for the phone being on speaker so that she could answer him when he asked. Mac kept an eye out for the girl’s mother and was glad that she seemed to be interested in the box lots with Brandy watching her. “Yes, sir, that’s a good family you got yourself hooked up to. I won’t tell your momma, Pam. She’s been telling me for weeks now that you’re going to have the best of things for that new baby and that we’re all reading Lenord all wrong. You stick with Mac and her family, and you’ll be quit of the lot of them.”

By the time the auction had made its way to the furniture, she had things set up just perfectly. Even calling her brother to see what she might have been forgetting to do had saved her from putting in a change of address form for the girl. She wouldn’t have really done that, but it was nice to know that he was helping her out on this adventure. Mac thought that she’d get with them and figure out all kinds of things that would get her caught or, worse, the person she was supposed to be helping caught.

After getting the police to take Pam to her parent’s house—they’d come to the auction in a cruiser but were dressed in plain clothes—her mother came to find her daughter. Not letting on that she knew anything at all, she said that Pam had wanted to discuss things with her dad before doing something that might get her into trouble. Pam had mentioned that she wanted to talk to her dad, that they’d been talking in secret for the last several years.

“Why would you allow her to go to her dad’s house? He ain’t never been there for her before.” Mac pointed out that she’d not allowed the other woman, a grown assed woman, to go anywhere, but that’s only what she said. “Well, I’m going to put a stop to that, too, see that I don’t.”

Turning her back on the woman, she looked at the auctioneer. He had to hear the conversation. And when the police had shown up, he’d spoken to them about what was going on. So, he was on track with what was really going on. He did that so that he could assure the people there that there wasn’t anything going on that they needed to be worrying about. When Pam’s mom asked her again where her daughter was, Mac turned to her, feeling something slide over her skin, much like she’d seen Edmond’s wolf do when he was upset.

“Leave me alone. I’ve already told you that I don’t know where she went off to. Perhaps if you treat her like you do strangers, then she ran away. I’d not blame her one bit either.” The auctioneer asked her if she was all right. Instead of nodding, like she normally would have, she complained about the woman driving her insane looking for this supposed daughter that she had.

“You know I have me a daughter, Lee. She worked for you for about five years before she got smart.” Nodding once, two men who had been holding up things at the auction for the man appeared at the woman’s side. “What are you going to do, put out a good paying customer, Lee? You know you’d better think twice about that. I’ll tell everyone I know what a shyster you are. And then you’ll have nobody coming around buying your crap.”

“Oh, I think that my business will do just fine without you around, Mildred. Not that you ever spent a dime at one of the auctions you go to anyway. Last I heard, you’re not allowed to go to the Spencer Auctions anymore for stealing other people’s wears when they have them piled up. No, I think I’ll do just fine and dandy without you around. And don’t be coming back.”

“Where is that slut daughter of mine? After you tell me that, I’ll be on my way.” He said that he didn’t know, but she’d be better off being as far from her as she could go if that was the way that she treated her. “You take that back. I’m a good momma to all my kids.”

“Is that so? Where is your son and his wife? I heard that they moved all the way across the United States just to keep you away from their kids. What about Mark? Or even Jamie? Where are they?” She was escorted away, and that was when the man, Lee, said that he was glad to be rid of her. Then, after about twenty minuets, he started the auction up again. But first, he made an announcement. “Ms. Mac here is going to be helping out little Pam with her and that baby. If’n any of you know that young girl, you know that living with her momma hasn’t been a walk in the park. If you wouldn’t mind, you helping her out a little, too, I’d appreciate it. And if’n you have a dollar or two to spare, I’m sure that it would go to some diapers for her, too.”

~*~

Word traveled fast in an auction. The news about Mildred Marsh being kicked out of the action came to him through the long line at the food cart. Also, he was told about his wife and his mother-in-law helping out her daughter, Pam Marsh, too. As soon as he was ready to go and find his wife and her mom, it came around that Lenord Carter had been killed in an attempted arrest of him selling drugs to some minors. The world was suddenly a much better place to be, he thought.

Edmond had never liked Mildred Marsh. She was a bizzy buddy who was forever in someone’s business. By the time his end of the auction was over, he made his way to the other rings that were going on. When he found Mac and the rest of the family, they were making arrangements to have all the furniture they bought put into a larger truck to be delivered. Not only that, but Mac had been able to get in touch with Pam’s brother and he was going to come and get his little sister and all the things that his family had gotten for them. The man, contrary to belief, only lived about an hour away from his mom, so it was a win-win for them all.

“Here, I want you to hold onto this for me. I’m supposed to use it to buy things for the new baby when it comes but I think that Pam is going to need it for things getting set up with her brother and his sons.” He counted out over seven hundred dollars that the others at the auction had given to Mac. “Most of the money came when people bought some of the items they wanted for a lot less. They would give me the difference. And those that purchased the baby items, they donated them back to Lee so that he could do it again and again. Four times, they sold that baby bed before it was finished. All that money from the auctioneer will come to her, too.” He could hardly contain his own excitement because Mac was so excited herself.

“When will she be able to get all this?” Mac told him about her brother coming with his sons. “I heard about a year ago that his wife passed on from cancer. I bet he could use an extra hand around the house with four little ones of his own.”

Not only did they manage to get the baby furniture for Pam and her little one but Mac and Brandy had been able to get all the bedroom suites for less than he’d spent on the equipment that he and Lica had bid on. After it was all totaled up, they had just over two grand in baby items and cash, and less than that with the cost of the bedroom sets they’d been able to pick up for next to nothing. Lica was happy too that they were going to try and make a business though a quiet one in helping people out as best they could. It was a good investment all the way around.

It was later than he wanted to be getting home but he was happy for the day. His brothers had been able to pick up some much-needed items for their own home. Lica and he had enough equipment coming to the slaughterhouse that was going to give them a good start after it was all cleaned up and inspected. On the way home, it was Brandy that ordered pizzas to be delivered. And he thought perhaps he could eat an entire one on his own.

Mac was falling asleep on his shoulder after they had eaten. He didn’t blame her much. She’d had a full day with saving people and making it so that they saved money, too. When she started talking, he had an idea that she’d never been sleeping on him but plotting. He loved her so much.

“In speaking to Brandy we’re going to use the old house—I did tell you that she bought it, didn’t I?” Edmond said that she had. He didn’t mention that she’d told him several times, but he was happy that she was excited again. “We’re going to use the old house as a place to store furniture that we can donate to people that need something. She was telling my mom that there was forever someone that was in need of something. Brandy also wants us to purchase things that won’t be used up so quickly, like diapers. I thought about that, you know about mice getting into them, but she assured me that nothing would so long as they were there all the time. That’s great if you ask me. Not to have a vermin issue. At least not the kind on four legs.”

“When we first moved into the ranch house, there were rats as big as cats around. It had been sitting empty for a long time before we were able to purchase it. They moved out as we were moving in.” She laughed, and he joined her. “Also, you might not know this, but stray dogs will hang out at our places too. They’ll know that we’re related to the Alpha through Lica, so they’ll be more of a watchdog than anything that could be trained to do the job.”

“I like that idea. So that when we have a baby of our own, it’ll be safe as we can make it.” She yawned again as they were pulling into the driveway. “I don’t know about you but I’m willing to leave all the stuff we have in the truck and pull it into the garage and go to bed. I’m beyond exhausted.”

“I am as well. It’s the excitement that wears a person out. And I think that the two of us have had enough for one day.” She agreed and he pulled the truck into the garage after dropping off Mac at the door to their home. Getting out of the truck, he was startled nearly to death when someone came out of the shadows.

“It’s me, Alan Pendleton. I didn’t want to go into your house without you knowing that I’m around. I just want you to give a message to my sister, if you’d not mind.” Once he got his heart and breath under control, he told the man that he could come into the house and give it to her himself. “Nah, she’ll try and talk us out of it, and we’re set on doing things our way for a change. That money that you slipped us, it’s going to be very helpful for us getting a new start.”

“I wanted that for you all. Where are you going, Alan?” He told him it was best that he not know, that Mac would come after them. “All right. I guess I can understand that. But I want you to know that you’re to call me if you need anything. I like you guys, and I’d hate to read about you being in trouble again.”

“We won’t be in trouble no more, Edmond. I swear that on my sister’s heart. Mac and you, you’d be slipping us money all the time, and that’s not us getting on our two feet and being able to be good men. We won’t disappoint her nor you, but we have to do this on our own. And being around you, while I know it would be nice, it wouldn’t help neither of us.” Edmond said he could see that, too. “You’re a good man, Edmond. You helped us out with being on the right track about things. If you need us, all you have to do is send a message to us through Mr. Capshaw. He’s helping us out a little by finding us someone we can trust. I know that we’re doing the right thing here, too. It’s scary, I know’d that, but it’ll be better if we did this on our own.”

After giving the other man a hug, one that he had begged for, Alan slipped out of the garage and into the darkness of the night. He could still see the man, and when he joined up with his brothers, he could make them each out as well. When they hugged, it caught him in his heart that they’d been treated so poorly all their lives, and no one had taken the time to get to know them better. Turning his back on the three of them, he was halfway to the house when he remembered the box lot that he’d bid on at the auction tonight.

Handing it over to Mac, being surprised to see her up still, she took the box. He’d not realized that there had been two of them stacked on each other into the dining room. There, she covered the beautiful inlaid table with a sheet and dumped the contents onto it.

The two of them marveled at the items in the boxes. The one that had made him purchase it was a set of Russian stacking snowmen. He had no idea if they were valuable or not. But had purchased them because he knew that Mac had told him once that she loved anything with snowmen on it. He didn’t care what they were really worth. Someone told him that they could be quite expensive. It was the joy that he got when she pulled them out of the box and stacked them in the window that they were across from.

“I want a large tree. I mean, it’s not like we don’t have the room for it in here. The only thing that is in the living room right now is the couches that came yesterday, one table lamp and the firewood that you brought in for a fire last night. We have a long way to go in finding things for in there.” He told her about the things that he’d been thinking about getting. “I love that idea. Yes, a blanket chest would be wonderful to have also. I love the idea of having a huge assed television. If you’d not mind, the television should be first. I want to watch some football when the players are lifelike sizes for us.”

“The ranch house has a couple of blanket chests in the attic. We used them in the summer months to store the blankets that we used. That way, they weren’t taking up room in our rooms while we were living there. Also, I was talking to the others and they don’t care if we take the kitchen table and chairs either. They’re not going to use them and said that they’d go well in our kitchen. Unless you got one today.”

“I didn’t. The person who ended up with it paid too much for it, if you ask me. But then, I might well have, too, if I really wanted it. The problem with it was that it was too big for the area that we have in there. We don’t need a huge table to have lunch on. That’s what we were going to use it for, correct?”

They talked as they closed up the house and headed to bed. He was ready to sleep until forever in the morning but knew that he was to meet the inspector at the slaughterhouse…they were calling it Frazier’s Meat Market once it was up and running so that he could sign off on the things that were already in place there. The construction company had done a great job thus far in getting them far enough ahead that they could work inside once the weather turned too cold to work out of doors.

Almost as soon as Mac laid down beside him, she was asleep. He loved that she was so comfortable with him that she knew that she was safe. Just as he was about to join her in rest, Ayden reached out to him.

“I want to be a part of what your wife is doing. I can’t do that meat part. I went over there today and I had to leave almost as soon as I walked through the door. I can’t even think about it without being sick. I’m sorry.” He told him not to worry about it. “But I think that I could be a great help to Mac in relocating people. Do you think she would mind?”

“I think that she’s be thrilled to have you guys helping out wherever you can. More than likely, she’d be looking for your help even if you didn’t want to help her.” The two of them laughed, and he could hear his brother sigh of relief. “You talk to her tomorrow and I’m betting you get the best hug you’ve ever gotten from her.”

After his brother closed the connection, Edmond thought that he was about as exhausted as he’d ever been. Closing his eyes, smiling to himself, he wondered what Summer would bring to the table. He’d not heard a great deal about her and wondered at that. But not for very long, he couldn’t let any more thoughts into his head tonight.