A Hero's Reward (18 page)

“I haven't had more than daytime
visitation rights with them for the past year so I don't know what's
been going on with them. We'll need to work through things with them
to find out. If you'd rather not participate in that, I totally
understand and can work on it with them myself.”

“No, I'm willing. I'm also sure
there are some things that they won't talk about with their dad, that
they might talk about with a woman who also isn't a direct relative.
I'll just make sure I'm available for them in case they need me.”

Greg and Margaret got to bed on time
but chose to just snuggle tonight. They were hoping that the door
wasn't going to burst open from one of the children having a problem
and coming to them but decided not to tempt fate with the opportunity
for another 'oops' moment.

When morning arrived, the children had
not had any problems that they felt the need to present to the
adults. Margaret had woken up a bit earlier than six as normal and as
Greg started down the steps he could hear her in the kitchen. When he
got down there, Jack was with her but the girls weren't.

“Would you go get the girls up?
Tell them breakfast is ready in five minutes if they want it hot and
fresh.”

“I can do that.” said Greg.

He sipped his first cup of coffee for
the day as he went back upstairs. He knocked on the girls doors and
Christine called out that she'd be out right way. There was no answer
at Ellen's door and eventually he opened it and peered in. She was
sprawled across the bed, the covers tangled up around her limbs. He
went in and shook her awake. She woke with a shriek and yelled at
him:

“Daddy, get out of here. I'm too
big for you to just walk in on.”

“Then you better start waking up
when you're supposed to. You were the one saying you should have a
later bedtime, when would you have woken up if we had given in on
that?”

“You're mean daddy, get out of my
room!”

“Okay but if you aren't up,
dressed and downstairs in ten minutes, I'll come back in and get you
dressed like I used to do.”

“You wouldn't dare!”

“Just try me young lady. It
appears that your mother has neglected a lot more than feeding you
correctly. You can count on me taking care of teaching you the things
that she should have.”

“Oooohh!” Ellen harrumphed.

Greg left the room, fairly sure that
Ellen would be down on her own shortly. Christine actually beat him
back to the kitchen. She was sitting and talking with Jack when he
got there. Margaret was just taking breakfast off of the stove and
served the four of them that were already there.

Ellen showed up just under the ten
minute deadline Greg had given her. She sat down at the table and
just stared at everyone.

“If you want breakfast, it's on
the stove Ellen. You have to serve yourself because you weren't on
time.” said Greg.

Margaret winked at Greg as Ellen fumed
for another minute or two then stomped over to the stove to get her
food.

In a little while Greg took the girls
in to school. He stopped at the main office of each school after
dropping each girl off. Since he was listed as a guardian for the
girls, the changes went very smoothly. Their new bus assignment would
take effect on Monday since this was Friday. The girls would also be
allowed to use their new bus assignment to get home today.

When he got home he realized that he
hadn't thought his plan through. He was going to have to leave for
work each day before the girls were getting on the bus. Since they
would both take the same bus as Jack, he talked to Margaret.

“Margaret, would you mind seeing
the girls off on the bus with Jack on school days? I have to leave
for work before the bus comes by.”

“I'd be happy to. It's good to
have something else I can do for you. Are you sure Ellen is on the
same bus though? I thought her school day started earlier than that
of the younger ones.”

“Yes, I checked. The schools are
right nearby each other. They drop the older students off first then
go to the other school and drop off the younger ones. So all three
will be on the same bus.”

“I'll be more than happy to do
that. I'll meet them all the bus stop when they get home also. I'm
sure Ellen is going to love that.” Margaret said with a wry
grin.

“Well, this is the last full day
off I'll have with no kids home before going back to work. Do you
have anything you'd like to do?” Greg asked.

“Believe it or not, I'd like to
just spend most of the day talking with you. I suppose we might also
find time for something else before the kids get home as well.”
she said, grinning at him.

“I called the library and I'll
start work back up next week also. They have me on a ten to two
schedule for Monday, Wednesday, Friday. At least that's what I'll
work for the time being. It's a few less hours than I was getting but
I'm just happy that they held my position for me.” she
continued.

“That's great. I think you
enjoyed working there. You might even enjoy it more now since you
seem more comfortable with just about everything.”

“I am, it's amazing how much my
outlook on things has changed. I know I had to do it myself but thank
you for being there and helping me when I needed it.”

“You're most welcome. I have to
make one phone call and then I'm yours for the day.”

Greg called the lawyer that had handled
his divorce. After Greg had spelled out the entire situation for him,
the lawyer told him:

“It sounds like you have a solid
case. I can take it on for you. Normally I only do custody cases in
conjunction with divorces but I know you got a raw deal before and
I'd like to see it set right. When can you stop by and let me get
some more information? I'll also want to get a copy of that letter.”

“Well, I'm technically on bed
rest right now but I'm back to work on Monday. So any afternoon next
week from Tuesday on would be good for me.”

“Stop in Tuesday after you're off
of work. We'll get the paperwork in motion as quickly as possible.
Sometimes custody cases can take a long time to get to court but with
the custodian dropping the children off at the other parent's house
and leaving, I'm thinking we might be able to get this one in very
quickly. The court frowns on children that are abandoned by their
custodian and prefers to get matters like this taken care of as soon
as possible.”

“What time range are you talking
about with as soon as possible?”

“I've heard of these types of
things getting to court in as quickly as two weeks if there is an
opening in the docket. It would involve short notice for you to be
there though.”

“That's fine, I can handle short
notice if I have to.”

“I wouldn't count on it being
that quick but it is possible. I'll make some inquiries today,
nothing official but I'll get the word out. Especially if she can't
be found to put forth her side of the case, it'll be a cinch.”

“That sounds great. Thank you and
I'll see you on Tuesday.”

Greg turned to Margaret:

“The lawyer tells me that if
Emily can't be found to defend herself, then custody will probably be
easy for me to get this time.”

“That's wonderful Greg. I was
amazed to see a new part of you come alive when the girls showed up.
That part of you had been stirring for Jack but the parent in you
sprang to life in the presence of your daughters. I didn't realize
there was that much of you I was missing. It's hard to believe that
we've only known each other well for such a short time. It feels much
longer.”

“I know what you mean, in both
cases. You perked up even more as soon as you saw Jack. And it feels
like I've known you for years, at least by my comfort level with you.
Even if it has only been just shy of two weeks since we got to know
each other well.”

They spent the rest of the day talking,
watching a movie, and spending some time in the bedroom. Well pleased
with each other, the two of them walked out to meet the children when
the bus was due home from school.

As they had surmised, Ellen was furious
that they were there waiting for the bus. When she stopped her tirade
about it Greg asked her softly:

“Do you think you could be
responsible for Christine and Jack? I'm sorry but I don't trust you
to do that yet so we have to be here to meet them. Making sure you
actually head straight home will just be a bonus.”

Ellen fumed all the way back to the
house.

The children were set to doing their
homework before dinner with the promise that they could watch
television after dinner if they had all finished their homework first
and could agree on something to watch.

This set the pattern for the coming
weeks. Ellen continued to have some attitude problems but both Greg
and Margaret, at separate times, decided that it was mostly a
defensive facade that she had built since she slipped up with each of
them now and again. When they discussed it they thought that it might
have been something she did to deal with her mom growing stranger and
more distant. It was amazing to them that Christine was still fine.
She appeared to have withdrawn a bit in response to her mother's
actions but she came right back out of her shell for Margaret.

Several weeks after Greg had returned to work he approached his
boss, asking him for another day off.

“Again Greg? It seems like we just got caught up from you
being off for two weeks.”

“Yeah boss, I told you about the thing with Emily ditching
my girls back with me, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Well, my lawyer got a custody hearing into the docket for
me. They tried to contact her and couldn't find her. All I need to do
is show up and I'm pretty much guaranteed legal custody of Ellen and
Christine. But I do have to show up and they have the hearing
scheduled for this Thursday. The hearing is in the morning and if
it's as quick as I hope it will be then I could probably be in after
lunch if you need me.”

“No Greg, take the whole day. You should have just told me
that's what it was about when you asked. You got it, I'll get Bernie
to fill in for you again on Thursday.”

“It looks like Bernie did a good job while I was gone. You
were talking about adding an extra crew, right? How about we give
Bernie the head slot for that?”

“I was planning on it. I just need to overstaff the other
crews first so I can switch people over and make sure Bernie starts
with a fully trained crew.”

“If you need me to do so, I can take Bernie with me on the
next couple of jobs and walk him through step by step. I think he's
got it down already but I don't know that he's all that confident
about it yet.”

“We'll do that after your court date. You worry about
getting your girls where they belong first. Then we'll see about
training him up.”

“Thanks boss, you're the best.”

“Hey, you're one of my best employees. If you have a hitch
here or there with your schedule, you make up for it by working
harder when you get back to work. It's no problem.”

When Greg returned home he told Margaret that he'd gotten the day
off and would be in court on Thursday. The girls would be going as
well since they could relate what they knew about their mom's recent
habits to the judge. Margaret wasn't working that day and considered
asking if he wanted her to go but she was sure he would and she
wasn't sure that it would reflect well on him if she was there with
him.

On Thursday morning Greg and the girls headed for the courthouse.
The hearing was the second one of the day and lasted for less than
half an hour. The lawyer stated the case; that Emily had abandoned
the children with a letter to Greg. He had the letter submitted as
evidence. He pointed out that the support payments Greg made would
have covered their rent with some to spare so that Emily was
neglecting the safety of the children by not providing a residence.
The girls told the judge exactly how their mom had changed in both
attitude and physical appearance over the last several months. The
judge noted that repeated attempts had been made to notify Emily of
the court date and that there was no response. He took a five minute
recess before he made his ruling.

Greg was awarded full custody of his daughters. After thanking the
judge and his lawyer profusely, he took the girls out for lunch to
celebrate and then headed home. When he got there, he asked Margaret
to watch the girls while he ran an errand. She agreed and had the
girls sit down and tell her all about the morning while Greg headed
back out.

Greg left the house and went to a local jewelers. He had been
thinking about this all morning, through the entire court session,
all the way through lunch, and on the drive home. He'd been
considering this step for a week or more and had even gone so far as
to take a measurement of Margaret's ring finger with a small piece of
string while she slept. He was looking through the engagement rings
at the store since he now knew that he was going to ask Margaret to
marry him. The only question in his mind was when to pop the
question. He'd have to build up his courage to do so. The thought of
asking her utterly terrified him, primarily because he didn't know
what he'd do if she said no.

The thought of being married again, in general, had terrified him
for years. The thought of being married again, specifically to
Margaret, filled him with the same feeling he had when looking at a
newly finished house that he knew his crew had gotten exactly right.
The only difference was that the thought of being married to Margaret
struck him on a much more serious level.

It took a while but he finally found something that he thought
she'd love. It was only a half carat diamond but the band was white
gold and it had a textured surface with a pebbled feel. Somehow he
thought she'd like this one better than the others, even those with
larger stones. He bought the ring and slid it into its case which he
put into his coat pocket. Then he headed home again.