Chapter 8

Taylor watched as two men struggled with a walker across the lawn from them. She didn't know if it belonged to either man as the thing had balloons and a very festive bag on the front to carry things in. Wondering aloud if they'd stolen it—or had borrowed it from the little girl that lived in the assistant living place too.

"Those old fools. Look at them out there acting like bullies. Mr. Reglan will fight someone over the last pea on his plate and then say you stole it from him. Mr. Martin isn't all that much better. They squabble like small children when I know for a fact that both of them are in their late seventies." Turning to look at her grandmother, really her great-grandmother, she smiled. "They should have been beaten more as children and—yes, I said it. Had their bottoms beaten more as children, and then they'd know how to properly act around their elders."

"Mom beat my bottom a great deal. I still have no manners around my elders." Grandma huffed at her. "I was just thinking about breaking you out of here so we can have some fun. You remember fun, don't you? Or is watching rude old men without underwear on more your cup of tea."

"Oh, dear lord. They neither one have underwear on." Grandma turned away just as one of the people who worked there rescued not just the walker but the men as well before they exposed themselves too much more. "What would possess a person to walk around in that kind of gown. We all have clothing that we brought with us—is that your mother coming up the walkway? Taylor, I have no patience for her today. If she asks me more than one time if I'm all right, I'm going to brain her with my cane. I think I will anyway." Laughing, Taylor greeted her mom and her new fling.

Her mom told her that she was experiencing life again. That meant that she was dating everyone that she came in contact with who wasn't married. Divorced was all right, but she'd not be responsible for breaking up a marriage she'd told her when she was old enough to understand that her mom was lonely.

Taylor supposed that her mom's lesbian phase was going on right now. Not that it bothered her; her mother was a grown woman, and she loved her to pieces. Taylor just wished her mom would settle down and not be so odd all the time.

"Hello, Mom. Jeri. How are you guys feeling?" Grandma tsked at her while her mom went on and on about what the two of them had been up to today. "I didn't realize that the winery was open this time of year? Or did they just open? It's hard to keep up sometimes."

Her mom, Gilda Jane, had been widowed at a very young age. Her dad, Henry Paul Murphy, had had a massive heart attack at the age of forty-three. Leaving mom and her, at only six weeks old, to fend for themselves.

It really wasn't all that bad. They didn't ever have to beat down the debt collectors or anything like that. It was just that. They were alone in a hostile world that her mom had never understood. No, she told herself, her mom had never wanted to understand. If her grandma hadn't taken them in when she did, Taylor didn't know what would have happened to them. Her mom was as flighty as she'd ever met.

"How are you feeling, Harriette? Are they feeding you well?" Grandma, not hard of hearing, winched with each word that mom would shout at her. "I hope you're getting enough rest."

"Mom. You do this every time. She can hear you just fine. More than likely better than you hear. Sit down and tell us what you're doing here. This isn't your usual visit day." Mom settled in next to her, leaving her friend and companion sitting on the ground. Mom asked her how long she'd been here. "Since ten. Grandma and I are going to break out today and go get some supper."

"Aren't you afraid she'll get away?" She told her mom to behave herself. "I am. I don't know what she's like when we're not here. They probably keep her drugged up or something to keep her this calm."

"I'm right here, so stop talking about me as if I'm not. And I can hear you just fine, Gilda Jane." Grandma rolled her eyes before speaking again. "Didn't you know that they hook us up to all kinds of tubes when no one is around? Yes, sir. And they have probes everywhere on us. Every orifice has one, too. And we're not to complain or they take one of our toes off. See that man over there with his foot all wrapped up. It's because he questioned them one night. Messy thing—"

"Now, who should be behaving. Grandma, you can't tell Mom that. She believes you." And it looked as if she had, too. "They don't put tubes in your orifices either. Behave, or I'll make you have liver and onions for dinner."

"It just so happens, and you well know it that I love liver and onions. Especially the onions part. With mashed potatoes and dark gravy. Now I'm hungry." Standing up, reaching for her ever-present cane, she asked if her mom was coming with them. "I don't mind the company, Gilda Jane, but you will be eating where I want. Not that you have terrible tastes in things, but I want comfort food, not something that costs the world, and I have to stop someplace on the way home to get something more substantial in my belly."

"I was going to suggest the new place called Fling down the street from here." Grandma was already shaking her head, no. "All right. We can go with you. But please, when you order, don't ask for a coloring book for me. I never get enough colors to finish the pictures."

This time, it was Taylor who rolled her eyes. Her mother, she didn't believe, had ever grown up. She knew that it had to have been especially hard on her, losing her husband when they'd only just started out in life, but she didn't know if her mom had always been this way. She didn't know her father other than the stories that they'd tell her. He'd been gone before she'd been able to form any kind of lasting connection with him.

Taylor drove her and Grandma to the restaurant. Mom was taking her own car in the event that she didn't care for anything on the menu. She didn't care one way or the other, but she had a feeling that her grandma had called her this morning for a reason. And they'd not gotten to that as yet.

"I'm sorry, but I can't eat here. They deep fry things, and that's not good for your body. Harriette, you should consider not—" Grandma put up her hand to stop Mom from browbeating her about the food. "I'm just trying to tell you that it's not all that healthy for you."

"Gilda Jane, I'm nearly ninety-nine years old and I don't give a good fig if they deep fry fingers and call them Frenchie fries. I want comfort food, not some kind of fad diet that I didn't eat as a child. Now, I'm going to go have me a meal that I can be too full from but enjoyed it enough to suffer from the pangs of it. You can stay or not. I'm having a good meal."

Her mom left them there with a huff. She actually stomped her foot on the way out, too. Shaking her head, Jeri followed. She wondered if they'd be together much longer.

"I wonder if the two of them are suited." Taylor told her grandma that she was thinking the very same thing. "I don't know what gets into her sometimes. I wonder now what my grandson saw in her. But I can forgive her almost anything because I have you at my side. Let's have the buffet, darling. I really do want something that will stick to my ribs."

Grandma really didn't eat that much, certainly not enough that it cost them to get the buffet. But she was happy, and that's all she cared about. When she ate the last of her slice of chocolate silk pie, she looked at her. Bracing herself, she leaned back to listen to what she had to say.

"I'm old." That, for some reason, made her laugh. "I don't believe that's the least bit funny young lady. Why would you laugh at me?"

"Grandma, you've been old since I was a child. But it never seemed to stop you before. What's really going on? Did a doctor tell you something that will make me have to hunt him down and murder him?" Grandma pulled out her hankie and wiped at her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Grandma. Tell me what he said to you if that's what is going on."

For a few minutes, they didn't say anything. Their teas were refilled, and Grandma asked for some hot tea as well. Taylor didn't drink tea in any form, but she did have a refill on her water. After what seemed like to her a very long time, she turned to look at her.

"You remember that young man that you told me about when you were in high school? Did you know that he went on to get his law degree?" Taylor asked her if she meant Hudson Tucker. "Yes, that's him. He married a lovely woman, and she's an attorney too. I've contacted him for some changes in my will. Actually, it's a big undertaking, and I'm not looking forward to it. I've not done a revision to it since my grandson passed. I need to update a few things."

"All right. Is there a reason for this to be done now?" She told her what she'd told her mother, that she was ninety-nine. "Grandma, I don't know if you believe this or not, but you have a lot to live for. Also, you don't act like anyone near your age but as if you were fifty years younger."

"You don't need to butter me up, child. I'm leaving everything to you." She told her grandma no. "What do you mean, no? I can do what I want, and you'll do what I tell you to. I'm leaving it to you so that you can make sure that my wishes are finished. There are a great many places that I'd like to make sure they get what they deserve."

"That sounds like you're telling me one thing but it's not exactly what you're meaning. What do you mean, get what they deserve?" Grandma told her that she was much too smart for her own good. "You've said that to me before. I still don't understand it any more than when I was a child."

"You always were so stable. I do believe that the only reason that your mother is still around is because you switched places with her and became the mother to her. Even at the age of eight, you were able to keep a roof over your heads as well as food in the pantry." Taylor asked her to get to the point. Please. "All right. I'm a very wealthy woman. I have invested well and I've done very well by saving my money for a rainy day. I want you to make sure that a couple of businesses that I have invested in, deadbeat places are going to get what they deserve by suing them. I can't. I just don't want the stress. But you're smart and mean when it comes to standing up for justice."

"I can do that for you. It would be my pleasure. But I don't understand that it's something that you think needs to be—Grandma, I can't lose you. If you know something, please tell me." She told her again her age. "And as I have pointed out to you several times, you aren't that old in your mind and body. Tell me."

"I'm not going to lie to you, so you'd better be girthing up your loins, child. I have cancer. I know that I've had a long life and a good one, too. But I don't have it in me to fight this disease. I'm refusing chemo. I don't want to linger around sucking the life out of you while you make me try and hang onto life a little longer. I want to go just the way that I lived my life. With my hair on my head and my body not so shot up full of chemicals, that will more than likely have my roses that you're going to plant on my grave glow in the dark."

It hurt Taylor to her very core that she was going to lose her grandma. She'd been her rock since she could remember. Losing her and not being able to talk to her every day, she thought that she might well curl up in a ball and die along with her. Then she put her hand over hers, and she looked at the frail hand that used to stroke her as a child when she needed comfort.

"All right. I can…I don't want to lose you, but I understand. I don't have to like it either, but I really do understand." Grandma stood up, and she did as well. Trying to follow her to the cash register, Grandma paid and was out the door before she could gather her own things up. When she got out of the restaurant, she had to think where she'd parked her car and found her grandma there waiting for her. "Have I done something wrong?"

"Not at all. Please, let's just go to that park we used to go to when you were younger." Nodding, she got into the car after unlocking it. Grandma situated herself and buckled in. They were on their way to Glidden Park in just a short few minutes.

They didn't get out of the car, it was too crowded with children running around at the park. Also, she thought it was just a little too chilly for them to be just sitting around talking. Turning to her grandma after turning the car off, she asked her to explain.

"I knew that you'd accept what I was saying. I also know that it hurt you to do that. I love you, Taylor. I couldn't have loved you more for that. But it's been difficult for me too…you understand, don't you? Why I don't want to have those nasty treatments." She told her that she did, but it didn't hurt her any less. "Good. I'd like to think that you're going to miss me, even if it's just a little bit."

They both laughed, they both knowing that it was going to shatter her to lose her after all this time. As they sat there, admiring the beautiful fall afternoon, Grandma started telling her about her life with her late husband. Grandpa Charles. Another family member that she didn't remember.

"My Charlie was full of adventure. He was such a good man and a sap as well." She signed heavily. "There were times in our life that I despaired of us having a roof over our heads. But he always knew what to do when the time was right. Buying and selling things, even things that he'd pick up at garage sales and things like that. I so wish he could have known you. You're so much like him that it's scary at times."

"Thank you." She nodded, and Taylor waited for her to say more. When she didn't, Taylor decided to talk to her about Hudson. "Why him? I mean, you have to know a great many other attorneys that would jump at the chance to help you out with your will?"

"That's precisely it. He wouldn't jump at the chance. He'd watch the others fumble through what I wanted and wait until they messed things up so much that he'd have to step in and take over. He and his wife have a lovely family now and I do believe you've heard of the foundation that he is a part of. Tucker Charities."

"Yes. They're helping me get some land to put the distribution center for the companies that I own put in his town. That charity is a big deal, did you know that? Of course, you did." Smiling, she reached for Grandma's hand and held it. "I could finance it myself, but I want the people in the town to have jobs. One of the…I don't remember her name right now but she got in contact with my office begging for an interview. She said that she had a lot of people out of work who would do just about anything to have a steady paycheck. I have a meeting with her tomorrow."

"Good girl. You take them on." Grandma yawned. "I'm so full that I need a good long nap. I'm not saying the forever kind. I still have a little more juice in my old body. But I'm meeting with Hudson this evening to get things squared away with my will. Thank you, Taylor. I knew that I could depend on you."

After dropping off her grandma, Taylor made her way home. She didn't have a house but a condo that she had hated since the moment that she moved in, more than likely the reason that she didn't have any furniture in the place, not even a table with chairs. And it had been eleven years since she'd purchased hers and the rest of the condos in the subdivision where she lived.

Lying down herself, she decided that she needed a nap as well. All those carbs were catching up to her. As soon as she put her head on her pillow, she was out, not even bothering to turn off any of the lights in her room.

~*~

Jack had made sure that after having dinner together, Mrs. Murphy and his brother Hudson weren't disturbed. He'd only just opened up the private area where parties could be held in the restaurant, and he was glad that Hudson had asked to use it. It made him feel like he was liking Jack's.

When Ivy came into the restaurant, he smiled, taking his nephews in his arms for a hug. Archie said he was too old for hugs, so his sister, Lisa, shoved him out of her way and hugged him too. She asked him why he always hugged her last.

"Because, my dear, you give the best hugs." She hugged him again. "I take it you're here for dinner? I have a lot of things on the menu that I hope are kid friendly. You wouldn't want to try a few of them out for me, would you?"

"I would love to, but…oh, the heck with it. Homework can wait until later. Yes, we'd love to have dinner. But don't go out of your way for us to have food. The kids will eat just about anything." He told her that he had brussel sprouts and steak tar-tar for them. "I'll have you know that they all eat brussel sprouts."

"No, we don't. We have to eat them. We don't like them." He kissed Lisa on the head before seating them. He had been going to have lunch, too, since it was after the lunch crowd and had the waitstaff bring him a burger and fries. It wasn't on the menu yet; he'd been playing around with different buns, but he thought that he'd had it right.

"I'm batting a thousand with the kids' menu, I think." The kids had wandered off to sit in another booth. He knew that they'd not run around and be heathens, as Grannie used to call kids, but sit quietly and color. "I got the coloring pages printed up just yesterday. Shawn did a wonderful job on it. Instead of just being something that older kids would like, she made it something that everyone loved. So tell me, what's wrong? You didn't just come in here to have lunch. I know you better than that, sister dear."

"I'm pregnant again. I'm thrilled, don't get me wrong, but I'm also enjoying getting out in the world too." He didn't understand and told her that. "I'll have to stop working. We'd only just figured out that I was going to be the one working. I enjoyed it so much that Hudson would stay at home and only take things that interested him. Now this."

"I don't see why that has to change. I mean, I don't have children, nor have I ever had a baby, but I don't understand why you think you'd enjoy your job any less than you do after the baby is born." She cried a little before he could figure things out. "Oh honey, don't cry. Hudson will murder me if he thinks that I caused those tears."

"What about after the baby is born?" He shrugged, still clueless about what she was upset about. "I mean, Hudson won't be able to nurse the baby. It'll all be on me to be there for that."

"I see. I want to tell you something. This might have just come about, but I hear they have this thing called formula. Someone feeds it to the baby when you're not at home." She smacked his hand. "Also, I doubt very much that anyone would care as much as Hudson will that you don't want to be stuck at home nursing a baby all the time. I don't know how long that takes. Again, I can't have children, but it's surely not an all-day event, right?"

"A few hours a day." He nodded, then asked her if she could, and he assured her that he didn't know. Couldn't she just put it in a bottle for the baby or have Hudson bring it in to her. "When did you become so brilliant with matters of a child, Jack? Surely, you've not been hiding a child away from us."

"Nope. I've always been brilliant. I just don't let it out there as much as the others do." She smacked him again but with laughter. "I don't know what I said that had you smiling but I'll do whatever you need to make it so that you do it all the time. I'm sure that my brother will be thrilled too to have to feed the baby on his own. I've never seen a man so devoted to being a stay-at-home dad. Yesterday, he told me he was taking the kids to swim class. He looked to me like he'd invented the project."

"He and the kids are planning a garden for next year. They were out there a couple of days ago digging in the dirt so that they could plant peas. Peas, of all things. While home, back in Ohio, we barely had time to grocery shop, much less put a garden in. But here, with all the things that we've gotten, not only can we grow our own things, but there isn't as much pressure to help make ends meet that way. I don't know what we would have done if Grannie hadn't had us over for dinner a few times a week. I think that was all that kept us from going under." He told her that was why he had lived in the big house. It afforded him the ability to eat and have gas money. "And now, look how far we've come thanks to Denver. All he did was get out and talk to a few people and we're all living well and happy. And Jack, I'm very happy."

"So am I. Very much so. And you're so right. All this is due to Denver. And him being Leap Leader has made a difference in your lives as well. Hudson just didn't like it, did he?" She said that he stressed about it all the time. "I can see him doing that. Stressing when there was no reason for it. However, I also know that he is more relaxed than I've ever seen him since he's given it up, too."

"Denver is doing a good job. And the fact that he had Ronan and Brook in his corner helped a great deal. I don't think that he'll have any trouble once they start pulling away more. Or not. Pulling away, I mean. They seem to be as much a part of our family as anyone else that was born to the Tuckers. Do you miss them?"

Caught off guard by the question, Jack asked her if she meant their parents. Nodding, he had to think about it. It was something that he'd never given a great deal of thought about before.

"I don't think that I can give you an answer to that without sounding like a jackass. But you can't really miss something that you've never had before. They were never really a part of our lives. By the time I realized that they weren't coming back, I think that I'd only spent a few years with them with any sort of awareness. I do remember times, but nothing that I could tell you a date on, like her and Dad being selfish about dinner. They'd horde up the meat, usually steak, while we'd have a bread sandwich. You know what that is, don't you? A slice of bread between two more slices. We had those a great deal until I started making our meals. I believe that's where I got my knack for cooking, being desperate for a real meal. After they left? I don't know that it was a lot better but at least there was food on the table all the time."

"Hudson would tell me such horrible things about his parents and what they did to you guys. Just dropping you all off at your grandmother's was just something that he realized was the best parenting thing they ever did for you." Jack agreed. "I so love your family, Jack. Hudson tells me all the time that they're my family as well, but I can't help but be thankful for the lot of you living where you had. I don't think that they would have been as nice as your grandparents were about me being his mate."

"Because of you being human, you mean." She nodded. "I hate to say this, but he might be right. They were so superior to anyone around them even though they didn't have a pot to piss in, so the saying goes.

A woman came into the restaurant just as they were getting ready to close up for the day. He only did lunches through the week until he could get used to having people around, and so far, everyone was loving it. But the woman only stopped to speak to Beatrice, one of the staff, and led her to the room where Hudson was working with Mrs. Murphy. Once the door closed behind them, Ivy said that she was ready to go. That having this time with him had given her a better outlook on life.

After she left, he went into the kitchen to make sure that things were turned off and cleaned up. He had a good crew, he realized once again and he was going to have to do something for them and all their hard work. Leaving a kettle on the stove on simmer, he made sure that there were cups and other things that they might need before they were finished up. He looked up just as a woman, the one from earlier, came into the room.

"Grandma sent me in here to get some tea and cookies. She called them scones, but I don't think that is really what she…she has a great deal of money, did you know that?" She looked stressed, so he didn't move toward her, afraid that she'd maybe freak out more. "A great deal of it…can I take the tea into them? Your brother, you look like him. He said that you could go after this, and he'd make sure things were put back when he was finished. She's leaving it all to me so that I'll take care of…it's a great deal of money."

"You said that. Twice now. Are you all right?" She nodded, then shook her head. "Yeah, I'm getting that feeling from you as well. Why don't you have a seat and I'll take this into them. Give yourself a little time before you go back in there."

She sat down. Like she'd been just waiting for someone to tell her that's what she needed to do. When he asked her again, she looked up at him with glazed eyes before nodding and then shaking her head again.

"Yeah, all right then. You stay here, and I'll be back. If it's all right with you, I won't mention that you're having a stress attack. Unless you want me to." She told him not to mention it. "Okay. Well, I'll be back. Did you want some tea? Something to eat? I have leftover salad fixings that I can make up for you."

"No. I think I'm all right now." He nodded, still not sure. "I am. I promise you. I was just shocked, well, that's an understatement. Grandma said she was…you know what? I'm fine. I'll take in the tea stuff and help with serving it. Just the initial shock of learning that she had billions of dollars startled me, I suppose you could say."

He didn't say anything but kept an eye on her as she loaded up one of the new smaller trays that he'd gotten the other day. When she was gone, Jack let out a breath that he'd been holding and sat down himself. Christ, she had made him stressed, and he didn't even know who she was.

After locking up, he headed home. He'd not even been close to the woman, but she was all he could think about. Deciding to take a shower, he stripped down and thought about what he was going to wear while around the house. When the exact set of clothing, an old t-shirt and jersey shorts, appeared on him, he leaped back. Hitting his head on the doorframe and knocking himself out. His last thoughts were that he'd met his mate and hadn't even realized that.