Chapter 1 #3
“I heard that was going great for the kids. And the pancake breakfast was by far their favorite. I don’t know if I could cook that many pancakes for a bunch of kids or not.
It must take you forever to get them all fed.
” He said it was easy once he got into a rhythm.
“Still. You’d have to be really good at being in a rhythm for you to feed two hundred kids pancakes and sausage in an hour. ”
“I’m great.” They both laughed about his joke, and he was glad that he no longer seemed mad.
“I have a lot of good help, too, and some of the parents are coming in to eat as well. We don’t charge them for coming in, and I think that it benefits them as much as the kids.
I was told that it was the first hot meal of the day that they’d get if not for me being in there cooking.
And I don’t mind doing it. I get to see my boys while I’m working. ”
Demi had adopted his wife, Mandy’s nephews, when they’d been nearly killed by their father.
As it was, he was in prison for the rest of his life, and not beating them daily when they’d been living at home.
Samuel had killed their mother in a fit of rage and had asked the cops, when they showed up, if they’d turn their backs for him to murder the two kids as well.
It didn’t bode well for him when he confessed to killing Betsey, his wife, while standing over her with a ball bat, either.
They all talked over one another for the two hours they were there.
He’d gotten a really good steak from the menu, and his brothers had done the same.
It wasn’t like they couldn’t have it anytime they wanted, but it was nice that they could all get together and have a good meal once a week with just themselves.
The women did the same thing, and he knew that they enjoyed it as much as he did.
They didn’t discuss business when they were together like this either.
It was a time for them to catch up on what they’d been doing all week and to relax.
The staff here was used to them and how they tipped, so they got great service when they were there.
The Warehouse was one of his favorite places to eat, as Martha had taken them all there when he’d graduated from college.
Martha Grable had been the best mother-like figure they’d ever had when the van they were driving broke down in front of her house.
She’d been kind to them, loving as well.
She’d also taught them to be good men and how to invest their money.
They’d nearly doubled their money with her help, and he missed her every day.
“I was thinking about the holidays this morning. I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is nearly upon us.
Remember some of the good times that we had with Martha?
Those were the best.” Locke brought up Christmas then and said how it had been the first time they’d celebrated the holiday since they’d been born.
Zander nodded as he continued. “I remember sitting at her table, where everything was right there, and wondering where we were going to stash the food when there were leftovers. Dad would have had a fit to see us all sitting around a table that he didn’t get to be the head of. ”
Dad had been an abusive bastard and a drunk.
It was nothing for him to beat them daily, even as grown men, and end up in the hospital.
He’d look for reasons to beat on them or not.
It didn’t matter if they’d done anything wrong either.
He was just a bastard looking for trouble all the time.
When he’d been put in jail for trying to kill one of them one Saturday evening, they’d loaded up in the van that Locke had purchased and left town.
Never once had they been back and were happier for it.
He died some years later, all alone in the house, and not one of them cared.
After the bill was paid, Locke usually picked up the bill.
They went to their separate cars and talked more.
It was funny to him, really, that they were so close in living next to one another and yet they would get together like they’d not seen each other in a month.
He really loved his family and was glad that they got along so well.
“Did I tell you I’ve bought some lottery tickets?” They all laughed and said that they had too. “The lottery winnings are huge this time. If we could win that again, I don’t know what we’d do with it all. We’re rich enough now as it is.”
About twelve years ago, now, Locke had bought a winning lottery ticket.
He played the same numbers every week in that it was their day of birth, and played twenty-three on the last number because two of them were born on the same date.
He’d not only won the biggest jackpot the lottery had ever had, but he shared it with all six of them to make them all billionaires.
And since meeting Martha, they’d more than doubled their winnings to this day.
None of them had to work, but they all had jobs.
No one suspected they had all that money, and they liked it that way.
No one would come to them with their hands out.
“You thinking that you need to have more winnings?” They all teased Locke for him playing the lottery and asked him if he played the same numbers. He told them that he added his wife’s birthday on the card when he played. “I guess I’m going to start playing too. It couldn’t hurt.”
After they started leaving one car at a time, he and Knox were the only ones left. He asked him if he was still sore at him for talking about Carrie. He shook his head and told him how much he loved him. He couldn’t have loved his brother more than he did at that moment, he thought.
“I’m not mad. I shouldn’t have been so snappish to you either.
I just don’t like her in that way.” He said that he understood.
“I hope so. I do like her. I might even love her a little, but not like you love your wife. Carrie really does remind me of a little sister if we had one. But there is nothing romantic going on between us. I swear to you there isn’t. ”
“I believe you. I didn’t before, but I do now.” He nodded and opened his car door. Before getting in, Knox looked at him with an odd smile. “What? Are you going to tell me that you’ve found someone else that you love? Do you know how much I would cheer you on if you do?”
“I don’t think there’s anyone out there for me.
I’m like an old man, set in my ways.” He said that he wasn’t.
“It’s Friday night, and I’m spending the evening with my married brothers.
How much more old man is that? And right now, all I can think about is going home, changing into something more comfy, and sitting in my chair to read the newspaper that came before I left tonight.
I’m old before my time, Demi, and I think I like that about me best of all. ”
On the way home, all he could think about was what his brother had told him.
Old before his time. He might well have thought that too if Mandy hadn’t come into his life before she had.
He was working too hard at his own restaurant and snapping at everyone who got within a foot of him, simply because he had nothing to keep him at home.
He was close to having a heart attack if not for his brother making him close down the place for a week so that he could rest. He’d not rested, but he had got to know Mandy and the boys a good deal better, and that had been the turning point in his life.
Pulling into his driveway, he was excited to be home.
He had a wonderful wife and two sons that he adored.
Tomorrow, they were going to watch a football game together and pig out on snacks and soda.
It was the best way that he could think of to spend a Saturday afternoon. Just hanging out with his family.
Going into the house, he was greeted with hello’s and glad you’re home.
He’d only been gone for a few hours, but it had been long enough for them to have missed him.
Being missed was almost as good as being loved, he thought.
There was so much to both of them that he knew that he’d love them until the end of time and beyond. They were his everything.