Chapter 8
In a short twelve years since he and Henrie had been married, so many things had changed. Holding his daughter in his arms after feeding her the bottle, he marveled at the fact that he was a father again. He and Henrie had four boys and this little girl. Lisa Marie Strong was going to be spoiled rotten if the way her brothers were falling all over themselves in caring for her.
Jenson was due home tonight with Jade and their brood. Jade had been nearly eight months pregnant when he decided to run for the presidency. When he’d come into a close second to winning, it made him work all the harder to win the seat the following years. Not only did Jenson win by a landslide, his second term was no different.
His brother had had the highest popularity vote of any president before him, including Brock Wisecarver, their former president and great friend of the family. Jade had had the first child born in the White House in decades, and the little man had grown up telling people that he was going to be president someday, too. Trevor believed him.
The party they were having for his parents had been planned for months, and the send-off on a cruise was going to be so good for them. At last count they had nearly twenty grandchildren with more on the way. Mom and Dad hated to leave when they had so much fun with them that they wouldn’t take a break unless they were out of town. His parents were so loving that he was sure that the kids would rather be with them than their own parents.
Lizzy had given birth to two sets of twins, all boys. She was going to be hard to get away from their little Lisa when she was away. Clay and her loved their boys very much, but they had so wanted a girl this time around. He’d bet anything that they’d have more children, at least until they decided that boys were all they’d get.
Clay still worked for NASA. He’d made so many changes to the program that he’d been voted best boss by his team four years in a row. People were clamoring to get into his department and even kids that he’d been around in their town were saying that they were going to work for Clay. There were women working for the firm now and hadn’t been before. It was quite a feather in his hat too for women voters for Jenson as well that his little brother was so good at hiring anyone that qualified rather than just making it an all-boys club like it had been before.
It amazed him that Barkley and Carrie had gone on to have several children. Their oldest two, identical twin girls had been adopted by them about fifteen years ago. They’d grown up about as secure and healthy as any children had been when he considered how they’d started out in life.
Sunny and Bethany, at only a few months old had been abused by their grandparents in the most unusual way. It turned out that Michael Cartwright had been their father too, having an affair with Mick’s wife. It was a sorted tale and one that no one talked about anymore. Sunny was doing well in her academics and Bethany wanted to be a child psychologist.
Carrie, Barkley’s wife was the sister to the children’s mother. She nor the other family had had anything to do with their sister Matty for a long time. It was horrible the way that Matty treated them all. And now she was dead along with her mother-in-law.
Barton’s family didn’t grow like the others. After having their one and only child, they devoted all their time to helping families get on the right track with children with special needs. Not just children with needs as in being handicapped, but children that were brilliant beyond anything that people had seen and helping them adjust like their own son had done. Sherm was brilliant, beyond any scope that anyone had ever seen yet he was bullied at schools where he was a teenager and all the kids in his classes in college were older and meaner. It had worked out well for all of them and the best part was, Sherm had gone on to helping others too. He’d become a doctor at a very young age and the entire family was very proud of him. Their little girl, Hanna, worshipped her brother and hung out with him wherever he was. It was a great family dynamic.
Barton worked with children as well. Getting over phobias like Sherm had had when he’d been younger. He still feared water, a large expanse of it, and sometimes had to work through his fear when playing in the pool, thanks mainly to do with Lorie, Toria’s sister, being the bitch that she’d been.
Then there was Lavender. Lavender had been staying with Jenson and his wife for a few days when it was found out that her guardian, ninety-year-old LeAnn, had passed away. They took her in to make sure that she was given a good home but she’d turned out to be a murderer and a sadist. It made him shiver every time he thought about her and her methods of killing people.
Maverick was the happiest he thought of all his brothers. He had a wonderful wife in Gracie and they also had the most children. It was funny that his older brother had had the set of twins that were a girl and a boy. He wondered too if there was ever a child in the little town that went to bed hungry with the two of them looking after them.
They ran soup kitchens right out of their home. Would supply money for college aged kids that were struggling with both working and trying to study. They would do this under the cover of just helping out when in fact it saved a great many family and children from having to drop out of college in order to pay for things such as books or just meeting the electric bill payment before having their power turned off. He loved all his brothers but he was especially close to Maverick and his wife Gracie. They were so modest that it made him love them even more.
He and Henrie had a good life as well. They were living in their home with all their kids surrounding them. From their first Christmas it had been trying to outdo the one before. Not with gifts, no, the family got enough gifts from them but with décor. Their house was the one to go and see at all holidays but they specially loved Christmas. Even Halloween was a big to do and people from miles away would come by and see what they had put up every year.
“Dad?” He turned to look at his son, asking him if everything was all right. “Yeah, sure. I have a problem at school. Well, it’s not my problem but one of the guys I have in my class. I think that he’s living alone in his apartment.”
“What makes you think that?” He told him some of the things that he’d been asking him about. “Just because he didn’t know how to use a washer doesn’t make him alone in the world. You know how because your mother and I wanted to make sure you could care for yourself if you were every left alone.”
“Yeah, but you never leave any of us alone.” He asked if he could hold his sister. After setting him up with her, he didn’t move far away just in case he got tried of her. Not that he could see that happening but he didn’t want to take any chances. “Lisa is beautiful, don’t you think, Dad?”
“I do. Now, tell me what you’re thinking about your friend.” He asked him not to get mad at him. “Never. You’ve been helping him out, I understand that but what is it that you think I’m going to be mad at you about?”
“I’ve been giving him my lunch. You have that thing set up at school so that I can buy my lunch when I want to so I’ve been using that. The teachers won’t let him set up the account on account of him being so far behind in his payments from last year. Now his little sister is going to school, which I didn’t know until yesterday and they neither one can eat there. I wonder if he’s got anything at home to feed them.” Trevor asked his son if he knew that he was alone or was he guessing. “I know it. A week ago I walked home so that I could go by his house. When I got there, there wasn’t any cars in the driveway nor was anyone mowing their lawn. It’s really big now, the grass I mean.”
“All good observations and no, I’m not mad at you for making it so that your friend can eat. I bet he also saves some of his food you give him to take to his sister.” His son nodded. “All right, what is it that you want to do? I know you don’t want to embarrass them so you tell me what you’ve worked out in getting you some answers.”
“He’s afraid that someone is going to catch him and separate his sister from him. He said that she was all he had.” He asked him how long did he think this was going on. “Weeks and weeks. I should have told you sooner but he asked me not to. And he’s my friend and I didn’t want to tattle on him. But…well Dad, he’s really sick. So is his little sister but not as bad as he is. All he does is cough and cough until the teacher sends him to the office. I don’t think she likes him all that much because sometimes he’d dirty and other times he’s sleeping. He told me that he stays awake at night trying to do his homework by candle. Their power got turned off a while ago and now he’s afeared that the water will be turned off and they won’t have anything to wash up with. That might have already happened. He’s been coming to school with dirty clothes again.”
“Put your sister in bed there and we’ll go over there. You can tell him that you were extra worried for them and I’ll take it from there. And I’m also going to have your grandda go over there to the school and find out why no one reported him for having no food at lunchtime. We set up a fund there that he and his sister can use anytime they need it. It’s not right that they aren’t getting the food they need.” He asked him again if he was mad. “Never, I told you this. I’m very proud of you for thinking of him and making sure that he had something to eat. Very proud.”
After telling Henrie where they were going, she handed him some cash that she’d gotten from the bank to take to the school and made sure that there was enough to pay up their fines and a lunch ticket. She was spitting mad but she also told him how proud she was of him. He loved his wife so much, in that moment.
It didn’t take them long to get to the house. And just as his son had said, the grass was overgrown and there was a notice for it to be taken care of by the police. The health department had left a note too saying that anyone living in the house was to vacate as there was no power and they had to get out. As soon as he knocked on the door, the little boy opened it and the look of complete fear on his face startled him enough that he pulled him out of the house and told the two boys to wait until he came out with the little girl. He walked into seeing the little girl being tied to a chair and it looked like they were going to beat her.
“Who the hell are you?” He told them and why he was there. “So what? Where is that idiot boy of ours? He’s supposed to keep up the house and just look at this mess he left. And the power is off. Should have gotten him a job to pay it off instead of talking to people that don’t got any never mind to be talking to.”
Trevor wasn’t sure what the man meant but he untied the little girl and sent her out. But not before having to knock the woman out for trying to get at her. He leaned down to the girl while she was sobbing and told her to tell the boys to go to his house with her and have Henrie call the police. She ran out of the house so quickly he hoped that she’d stop long enough to gather up the other two.
He was smiling at that thought when he faced the parents. “Where have you been for the last several weeks?” They told him that they’d been in Vegas having some fun and he didn’t have it right, they said, they’d been there for four months. “You left two small children alone and without food in the house, not to mention power in their home for four months? What the hell is wrong with you?”
When his cell phone rang he knew that it was Jenson. Having found out so quickly what he was doing more than likely had to do more with his wife than him hearing about it on the news. As soon as the front door burst open, he took the call from the president of the US, his big brother.
“Henrie called me.” That was enough for him to laugh. “Laugh it up little brother but don’t be surprised if you’ve adopted two more children by the end of the day.”
“Gladly.” He told him that he figured he’d say that. “I hope that whomever is coming into the house now is someone you sent?”
“It’s the calvary.”
Sure enough it was who he said. Not only were there FBI agents in the room with him but the welfare department, the police—it seemed like all of them as well as the secret Service men that would go with any of the family when they were out and about. There were more of them than he’d seen in one place in some time. Glad they were on his side, Trevor let them handle the couple while he made his way home to see to the kids. He shouldn’t have worried.
Not only were they in clean clothing but had had a bath, washed their hair and were eating a sandwich at the counter in the kitchen. Kissing Henrie, his most wonderful partner and wife, he asked the kids what they wanted for supper. There was no doubt in his mind that not only would they be watching over the kids from now on, but they’d also have two more Strongs in the family too. His life couldn’t have been better than it was right now. And he’d not change a single thing about it.