Chapter 17 #2
“But then you inherited the house?” Ms. Kacey asked.
Ichabod said, “No, my children did. It’s in trust for them. I’m just the dad.”
“Oh, I see.” Ms. Kacey nodded. “I can see Vic doing something like that. There wasn’t anyone else to leave it to, and those children were the light of his life.”
“They were.” Ichabod beamed. “I knew he adored them, but he was always a little hard to read. Kind of gruff.”
“He was a character.” Ms. Kacey smiled. The other lady kept staring at them as if she truly disapproved, but maybe that was good cop/bad cop. Maybe she wasn’t such a sour old puss, but he hated that she was making Chrissy nervous.
“And then some.” Ichabod grinned at Ms. Kacey. “But he was good to the kids, and he welcomed me into the family with mostly open arms, so I can’t complain.”
“So, are you home with the children when they’re home because you work from here?” If Mrs. Halloway’s stare bored into Ichabod any harder, he would end up with a hole right through him.
“Yes, ma’am. And if I can’t be here because I’m delivering a project, or I have to run into town to go to the store, Ellis stays with them. He’s on-site all the time.”
“And you don’t have any other full-time cowboys on the ranch?”
Ichabod looked to him to answer that question because they had their roles, house and ranch. That was that.
“Not right now. We don’t have any day laborers either,” Ellis said. “I only have a small remuda of about eight horses and a tiny herd of cattle. It seemed more important to get the house up to speed for the kids and get their routines established first.”
“That sounds very sensible,” Ms. Kacey agreed. “Now, do you mind if we do a quick walkthrough with you, Mr. Ichabod, through the house? Chrissy could stay here and watch her Blue’s Clues.”
“How about I give you the tour, Ms. Kacey, and Mrs. Halloway can stay here and watch over Chrissy, because I can see that she’s concerned?”
Ouch. Ichabod was getting strident, and Ellis was going to have to give him a blowjob once all this was over to calm him down. Not that he would ever say that out loud, or not right now.
“Blue,” Chrissy said. “I’s time for Blue.”
“Right on, baby girl.” Ellis took Chrissy back from Ichabod. Bless her heart. She probably felt like a football being passed back and forth, but that was okay. They just had to get through this shit.
Little smarty that she was, she was also glaring at Ms. Halloway. Clearly she didn’t like being interrupted in the bath, and she knew that they were not happy with the lady too. But she sat and watched her TV show while Ichabod showed Ms. Lacey through the house.
However, when they came back with Ms. Kacey checking things off on her tablet, she was smiling, so that was a good sign.
“Well, I think that about does it. We would love to meet with the other children when they are at home at some point. Perhaps we could come back in a couple of days?”
“Sure, they get out of school after business hours. I would think, though.” Ichabod’s body language was starting to get painfully stiff.
“My kids are kids. We’re not billionaires.
We don’t have a lot of celebrity, nor do we want it.
But whoever decided that they wanted to mess with us, you can tell them that, if they have a problem with me, they can come and talk to me, one-on-one.
I’m a reasonable person. This is absolutely inappropriate and a waste of your time and the taxpayers’ money.
I appreciate that you came and checked up on us to make sure the kids were safe, but they are. ”
It was obviously time for them to go home.
Ms. Kacey agreed, he thought. She nodded. “Come on, Lindsey. I think we have all we need.”
Ms. Halloway seemed as if she might argue, but then she shrugged and stood. “I would like to talk to the other children, but we can always arrange to do that at school if you’re willing.”
“As long as I’m there to sit in, that’s fine. I will not let them be grilled without me.”
Ms. Kacey gave them another gentle smile. “I’ll call to arrange it, and I’ll do the interviews with you and the children. No worries. Possibly with the report I’m going to put in, we won’t need to do that. Lindsey? That’s enough. Let’s go.”
Ichabod didn’t relax until the women had left, and even then his whole body stayed stiff. He checked on Chrissy, who was sitting in front of the TV singing along with her animated friends and kicking her feet because Ellis had put her down to watch her show. “Kitchen?”
“You bet.” He followed Ichabod with his stiff back into the kitchen.
Ichabod turned on Ellis as soon as they got out of Chrissy’s earshot. “What the fuck? What the ever-loving fuck, Ellis? Who is calling CPS on me?”
Ellis was pretty damn furious himself, but it wasn’t his way to show it. “I think it was Rick.”
“Why would he do that? Why would he hurt the kids? I can understand coming after me because he’s pissed off at Vic, but why the kids? That is so shitty.”
“It is shitty, and he and I are going to have a long talk, Ichabod. A really long one.” That talk might involve blackening that bastard’s eye. Jesus, involving the kids in this petty bullshit? That was way beyond the fucking pale.
Ichabod clenched his hands into fists. “No, I want to talk to him this time, too. You set up a meet, and I will kick his ever-loving ass.”
That had Ellis grinning because Ichabod was fierce and he loved that. “I adore it when you get all het up, baby. You’re just so…”
Ichabod gave him a ghost of a smile. “Don’t you dare call me cute.”
“Nope, not gonna call you cute. I would never do that. You’re fierce. I was just thinking that. How studly you were.”
“That’s right. Studly. Me. I’ll smother him with clay or something.” Then Ichabod sighed and chuckled. “I’m so damn mad. Not at you. You didn’t do anything.”
“I know that, baby. I do. I can’t even imagine what he was thinking.” It made his heart hurt, in fact, because Rick was supposed to be family.
“Me either. I mean, what? He thought he was going to get custody of the kids? He’s not a relative.
You’re as much a relative as he is. If anybody, like if I lost custody of the children, they would go to my folks.
” Ichabod rolled his eyes. “Which, you know, my parents would adore, because they are happily child-free at this point.”
“I think he’s just trying to cause trouble.” Damn Rick and his bullshit.
“I think I’m fixing to cause trouble. In fact, there’s a very good chance that I call my sister, and my sister and I cause trouble together.” Ichabod’s eyes snapped. “Vic loved these kids. He would be rolling over in his grave right now if he wasn’t cremated and sprinkled all over Aspen.”
“Well, you let me deal with Rick. You handle CPS.” He was going to kick Rick’s butt up between his shoulder blades. And God help the man if he had to call in his dad, who he would so invoke.
“I can do that. I’ll be damned if they derail Zane now that he’s going so well.”
“No, that would be a crappy deal.” That was another reason he was going to kick Rick’s ass.
That poor kid had been through the ringer, and he was starting to claw his way out of it, so it was time to take matters into his own hands and take the bull by the horns.
This was his family now, damn it, or at least he felt like it was, and he was going to help take care of them.
“All right. I’m going to get cleaned up as soon as she’s down for her nap. I’ll make us both coffee and a snack after, fair?”
“Sounds like a plan, baby. Then we can sit down and have a policy meeting. We can decide what you want me to let Rick know for you.” They needed to be together on this. So he got Chrissy ready to go down for her nap, giving her kisses and a song.
She was out in seconds, and Ichabod went to shower, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
Poor guy was furious, and Ellis got it. He absolutely did, and they weren’t his kids biologically. He wanted to kill Rick with his bare hands.
In fact, he was seriously pondering popping the bastard right in the nose.
Which was less likely to land him in jail than a murder, so there was that. But he’d have to be careful where he left bruises so no one got another call at CPS.
“Hey, there. Let me make you coffee. You want savory or sweet?”
“Uh… In coffee or snack?” He wasn’t sure what the question was, and his lover was all kinds of mostly naked.
“Coffee. We can either have pastry or chips or whatever.”
“Oh, we should do pastry. Since it’s just you and me and we can be decadent.” He reeled Ichabod in, needing to touch, to remind his lover that they were a them.
“Right.” Ichabod stared into him, eyes shimmering. “That was awful.”
“It was, baby. And we won’t be worried about it anymore, because it’s not happening anymore.”
“God, I hope not. I’m…these are amazing kids and I love them.”
“You’re a great dad. And I want to help with anything I can. I adore them.” Hell, he was in love with Ichabod. The thought hit him like an anvil.
“Thank you. I…I count on you.” Ichabod rested against him, letting him hold his weight.
“I love you, baby. I want to be here for you and the kids.” Maybe folks wouldn’t see them as having a great passion, but love didn’t have to be loud to be intense or real.
“You are.” Ichabod met Ellis’s eyes, the blue like a winter sky. “Move your things in? Throw in with me?”
“Shit, yes. I ain’t too proud to say no to that.” In fact, he was all-in with everything he had.
“Good.” Ichabod shot him a wry grin. “I know this isn’t fireworks, but what I feel for you is real. It’s not—” He swallowed hard. “You know, Chris has been gone a long time, and I loved him. This isn’t the same feeling.”
Ellis thought about being hurt, and then Ichabod continued.