Family Counsel (The Samuel Collins Series Book 2) (26 page)

Hours later, I finally pulled into the Park, but not even the
tranquility of my neighborhood could lift my spirits. Too much had happened in
too short a period. I was dead on my feet and covered with another man’s blood.
All I wanted to do was hug my wife and kids and never let go. Needless to say,
I was not prepared for the reception that awaited me when I got home.  There
were cars in my driveway, people in my house, and enough food to feed a small
army:  casseroles, cakes, salads, a ham, cookies, and fudge.
What the hell
? 
My courthouse caper had only happened hours before. It looked like people had
been cooking for three days. When I walked in the kitchen where the group was
gathered, the room erupted with cheers.  I looked from one face to another
trying to figure out what was going on, while the Twilight Zone theme played in
my head.  And then my wife was at my side.

“Hi, Baby,” she said, wrapping her arms around my neck, then
she whispered in my ear. “I’m sorry.  They just all kind of showed up.” She let
go of me and studied my face. “Are you okay?”

She was so beautiful. “Now I am,” I said.

I looked around at the faces in the room:  Mrs. Howard was
there; Kitty and Jake Travis and their kids were there; Penny and Russ were
there; my beautiful wife and kids. And somehow in that moment I welcomed the
intrusion. The cloud of gloom that had settled on me at the courthouse steps
began to lift, and I could feel a stupid smile creeping across my face.

I kissed Maddie on the lips, gave her a quick hug, and told
everyone, “Give me 10 minutes to clean up!”  I plopped a kiss on each of my
kids and beat it out of the kitchen.

Mrs. Howard, with her tidy little bun on her head, was the
first to accost me upon my return. 

“I sure am glad you weren’t hurt today,” she said, patting my
arm.  “When I saw you on the news, covered in blood like that, you know what I
thought?”

“No, what’d you think?”

“I thought I was going to lose my favorite person in the whole world,”
she said. To my horror, I could feel my eyes start to water.  “I love you like
a son, Samuel.”

“I know you do,” I said. I put my arm around her shoulder and
pulled her into a hug, mostly so she couldn’t see my face. I blinked like mad,
before releasing her from my grip. “I love you too,” I said.

She looked at my face and pretended not to notice that my eyes
were wet. “I know you do,” she said, and she hooked her arm around mine.  “I
remember the first time we met, the morning after you moved to the Park,” she
said, and a look of nostalgia settled on her face. “I won you over with my
muffins.”

“You did!” I laughed. “I remember opening the door and thinking
‘
Are you kidding me? Who is this busy body on my front porch at 8:00 a.m.?
’”

Mrs. Howard laughed. “You thought I was a busy body?”

“Yeah, and I was right. You
are
a busy body. You’re just
a busy body whom I happen to have grown very fond of.”

“Busy body, huh?”

“My favorite.”

She kissed me on the cheek and started off towards the food,
then stepped back and lowered her voice. “Don’t eat too much of that fudge I
brought. It’ll give you gas.”

I laughed out loud. “Okay, I’ll remember that.”

Russ filled in the space vacated by Mrs. Howard.  “Sir,” Russ
said, and we shook hands. “I’m glad things turned out okay downtown today.”

“Yeah, me too,” I said, and then I remembered something. “Oh
hey, I’m glad you’re here.  I’ve got something for you.”  I went to my
briefcase and took out two large envelopes and handed one to Russ.  He examined
both sides of the envelope, although there was nothing he could discern from it
because the outside was blank.

“What’s this, sir?” he asked.

“Open it.”

He extracted a pocket knife and in one swift motion, he slit
open the end and pulled out the contents and examined the documents, one page
at a time. A slow smile spread across his face and he finally looked up at me.
It was so uncharacteristic of  his typical military demeanor that I had to
laugh; I’d finally gotten a glimpse of a civilian Russ.

“Hawaii?  You’re sending me to Hawaii?” He actually laughed out
loud.

“Two weeks, all expenses paid, for you and your wife,” I
confirmed.

“I . . . I . . . I don’t know what to say!” he stammered.
“Thank you, sir!  But . . . but, what about the office?”

I waved off his concern.  “Maddie’s agreed to fill in while
you’re gone.  It’s all arranged.”  Penny wandered over with a curious look on
her face. It was obvious something was going down between me and my secretary,
and Mother Hen didn’t like to be left out.  I handed her the second envelope.

“This is for you,” I said, and she looked at it quizzically. 
Russ produced his pocket knife again and Penny deposited the envelope in his
outstretched hand. He slit open the end and handed it back to her, then we both
watched as she read over the documents.

“It’s for you and a friend,” I said.

Her owl eyes got huge behind her spectacles and she opened her
mouth but apparently she was speechless because nothing came out.  She looked
like a baby bird; I was just waiting for her to chirp.

When she got her tongue back, she gushed, “Oh, Samuel, this is
wonderful!  I’ve always wanted to go to Europe!  And I’m going to take Janeene.” 
She clapped her hands once, as if that sealed the deal, and she pulled me into
a hug whether I wanted it or not. “Thank you, Samuel.”

“You’re welcome.  You and Russ can coordinate who goes when.”

Maddie appeared by Penny’s side, holding our squirming
daughter.  Morgan reached out for Penny’s glasses, but I intercepted her hand
before she got to them. 

“Come here, Kiddo,” I said, relieving Maddie of her ward. 
Morgan reached her slobbery hands for me and wrapped them around my neck. 
There was a time when it would have totally grossed me out, but I’d come a long
way in fatherhood. I felt only a mild aversion.

I left Russ and Penny to discuss and coordinate their
respective absences from the office, and Kitty and Jake were next to express
their comments on my day’s activities.

Jake extended his terminator hand and I shook it. “Dude, I saw
you on the news. That was gnarly, man.  The whole thing with your kid’s toy. 
How freaky is that?”

“Pretty freaky,” I agreed.

Jake was holding Cosmo, and Morgan smiled and reached out for the
kid like he was her long lost friend.  I could picture them growing up
together, learning to walk, run and play, and later wreaking havoc in the Park together. 
It made me smile.

“Is that your best friend?” Kitty asked Cosmo, and he laughed
in response.

“Hey, you won’t believe what happened the other day,” Jake
said. “I found a baby owl in the middle of the street in front of Mrs. Howard’s
house.”

“Dead?” I asked.

“No, alive!” he exclaimed. “I found the nest way up in that
huge oak tree in Mrs. Howard’s yard, so I put the baby in a crook in the tree
as high as I could reach, then I hid and waited.  And sure enough, mean old
mama came and got him!”

“Seriously?  Did you get a good look at her?” I asked.

“Yeah, I got the whole thing on video!  And then I had Kitty
video the scars on the back of my head and I uploaded it to YouTube.  Dude, it went
viral!  Last time I checked, there were over 120,000 views.”

“So you made peace with the attack owl?” I laughed.

“Dude. I made peace.”

I heard the front door open and close and Felicia appeared in the
doorway.  Her hair was blond again and the resemblance to Maddie was striking.

“Hi, there,” she said, coming straight over and hugging me.
“How’s it going?”

“It’s okay,” I said.

“Is this your sister-in-law,” Kitty asked me, obviously noting
the resemblance to Maddie.

“Cousin,” I clarified, and I made introductions.

My cell phone rang and I excused myself. When I got off, I
found Maddie and the two of  us pulled Felicia aside.  Maddie’s typically pretty
good at keeping surprises, but her face was giving us away.

“What’s going on?” Felicia asked, looking suspiciously from me
to Maddie.

“Close your eyes!” Maddie said, her blue eyes sparkling.  We
walked Felicia through the front door and out to the porch.  “Okay, open your
eyes!” Maddie exclaimed.

There was a shiny red Porsche being unloaded from a tow truck
in front of my house.  It took a couple of seconds for the bewilderment to
cement itself on Felicia’s face, and when I was satisfied that she was
completely and thoroughly confused, I said, “It’s yours.”

She looked at me like I was from another planet.  “What the . .
.?” she started to say, then she burst out laughing.  “No way!” she exclaimed. 
“That’s not
the
Porsche?”

“That’s
the
Porsche,” I confirmed, and she screamed like
she’d just won a million bucks.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” she kept yelling, hugging me first,
then Maddie, then back to me.

I peeled her off of me. “Okay, that’s enough. The neighbors are
going to think something’s going on between us if you keep that up,” I said,
but I couldn’t shake the smile from my face.

Oliver, Max and Emily came out front, and we left them with
Felicia to check out her new wheels. I planted myself inside on the couch and
was immediately swarmed by cats. The Siamese climbed up the back of the couch
and draped himself around my neck and shoulders, while Black Cat and Sherlock
were vying for position on my lap.  Sherlock, realizing he’d been
outmaneuvered, accepted defeat and established himself on the couch beside me.

The cats had just gotten settled in their places when Oliver
ran in breathless. “Destiny’s here!” he called out. 

Earl came in and plopped down on the couch next to me, creating
a see-saw effect with the couch cushion, and catapulting Sherlock in a giant
arc, up and off the couch, and onto Earl’s lap.  Earl shrieked and Sherlock
issued a high-pitched “yeowwwww!” A blur of legs and tails and fur created a
whirlwind on the couch, as three cats scrambled in different directions to get
away.  

When we finally quit laughing, Earl said, “Hey, Mr. Collins.”

“Hey, Mr. Jefferson,” I replied, fanning away cat hair.

Earl smiled, showing all his teeth. “Samuel,” he corrected. “I
saw ya on TV.  That was a real brave thing you did there, coverin’ Mendoza so no one could shoot him again.”

“Brave or stupid,” I said, then I changed the subject. “So, how’s
it going, Earl? I heard good things are happening to you.”

“Thasright!” he said beaming. “My ex-wife done give up custody
of Destiny and left town, so my little girl’s with me now. I’m a full time
daddy!”

“That’s great!  I’m so happy for you,” I said, then I changed
the subject again.  “Okay . . . so, I haven’t had a chance to thank you for
coming after me to Serenity. I know we talked in the hospital, but I don’t
remember a thing we said.”

Earl interrupted before I could continue. “You don’t have to .
. .”

I held up my hand.  “No.  Let me say it. I owe you my life and
I want you to know that I’ll never forget what you did for me.”

“After all you done for me? You ain’t thinkin’ straight,
Samuel. Must have been them blows to the head you took.”  He held up his hand
and started ticking off fingers. “I got my baby girl. I got me my settlement
money. I got me a new job.  I got a new start on life!  All because of you.  So
we’s gonna call it even Steven, you and me.”

He held out his massive hand and I shook it.  When he was
satisfied on that score, it was his turn to change the subject.

“I looked at a house in this neighborhood yesterday, and I
really liked it.”

“Seriously?  You’re thinking of moving here?  You and Destiny?”

“Yeah.  You like it here?”

“Hell yes!  It’s a great place to live!” Then I expounded on
the virtues of my little neighborhood:  “We’ve got our own fire and police; we’ve
got an absurdly low crime rate; we’ve got the deer and lots of other wildlife; it’s
the best location in town; and we’ve got awesome neighbors – half these people
here are my neighbors!”

I called Maddie over and told her the news. “Earl’s thinking of
moving to the Park!  He found a house he likes.”

“No way!” she exclaimed. “Which house?”

“I think it’s a couple streets over,” he said and he described
the house to us.

“Oh my Gawd! I think that’s the house right behind us!” Maddie
exclaimed.  “Let’s go see!” She grabbed Earl by the hand and started dragging
him through the living room towards the French doors that went out to the
courtyard. “Come on, Samuel!”

I followed dutifully. 

Felicia and the kids had come back inside and Felicia asked, “Where
are y’all going?”

“We’re checking out the house behind us,” I said.  “We think
it’s a house that Earl might buy.”

“Oh.  I want to see it,” Felicia said, and she tagged along
behind me.

Jake and Kitty were out on the patio, and I introduced them to Earl.
“Jake and Kitty live across the street,” I told Earl. “Earl’s thinking of
moving to the Park and we think the house he’s interested in is right behind
our house,” I explained to Jake and Kitty.

“Dude.  That’s cool. You’d love it here,” Jake told Earl.

Jake and Kitty joined the procession, and the six of us picked
up the trail to the fence, across the courtyard, past the pool, through the
domesticated part of the yard, and moved toward the back of the property to no man’s
land. 

Realizing something was going down and not to miss out on the
action, Oliver, Max, and Emily came running, and Destiny came skipping, followed
by a distant Mrs. Howard, inching her way through the yard.  I went back for Mrs.
Howard while the others went ahead, and when the two of us arrived at the
fence, everyone was lined up along the privacy fence, looking into my neighbor’s
back yard.