MC: LaPonte (30 page)

I start pulling things
from the floor. I put outside toys together and take the wrapped
packages into the living room. They follow with packages. After an
hour of dropping stuff for Patches to organize I plop on the couch.
"I put the outside stuff and the things for their mom in the mud
room closet." They nod still sorting the last of
everything.

"We need a bigger house
just for toys." They laugh. Seems like we need a bigger everything
lately. Patches stands up looking around. "The only thing left to
do is eat cookies and drink milk Patches."

He smiles looking over at
them then he looks at Danny. "Go for it." He does. When he's done
he kisses my cheek and hugs Danny thanking us for the best
Christmas. He's headed to the Club but will be here at seven
tomorrow.

I shut the lights in the
living room and watch the twinkling tree. Danny joins me after
locking up and getting Devan to his crib. "It's almost twelve you
ready baby?" I give him a nod and smile.

We leave the tree on, grab
the monitors and fall into bed. Holy Crap what a day.

Christmas

Danny brings me Devan then
does the burp bond thing and brings him back to his crib. I fall
right back to sleep until I here kids screeching on the monitors.
Someone went to peak and saw Santa came. I climb out of bed
laughing. Danny yells down the hall everyone needs teeth and hair
brushed before they can go downstairs. I laugh at the chaos he's
caused. Darren begs to use our bathroom. Danny tells him he'll have
to share and brushes with him. I feed Devan while I wait my
turn.

I check everyone as I get
into the hall. Ally’s hair is everywhere. I bring her in her room
sitting her at the vanity showing her the mirror and her brush. We
brush her hair together. I put two purple barrettes to match her
pj’s and she hugs me. She is so freakin cute and loveable. The boys
are standing at the door watching. I tell her she’s ready to see
what Santa brought. I follow her out laughing at her unidentifiable
yelling. Danny waits for me at the top of the stairs with Devan. I
kiss him before we go down to the circus below. The kids are so
happy yelling and laughing. Patches has coffee cups waiting at our
spots I thank him and compliment the camera around his neck. He
smiles. It was his secret Santa gift. I’m glad he likes
it.

Danny tells everyone we’ll
open in order two at a time. The boys decide Alex and Ally should
start. They are so sweet. An hour later the presents are opened,
the kids are happy and we’ve been hugged a million times. Patches
thanks us for his clothes, watch and new ski’s. He can’t wait for
Rich to get home so they can go. Danny likes his new patches and
the iPad I had Geek set up for him. I love my new coat, tennis
bracelet and earrings. He even got me new nipple jewels in gold. He
hid them from Patches though. I laughed.

Ally starts crying, this
causes Alex to cry. I sit on the floor and hold her Danny holds
Alex. “What’s wrong pretty girl?” I ask. She talks but I can’t
understand. I sign for her to sign so I understand. ‘We have to
leave toys when mom better.’ I smile and tell her Patches will
drive their toys to their house so they can have them at home. ‘We
can’t have toys we are retarded.’ She signs. Danny sucks in a
breath. I’m really getting to hate that word. ‘Your mom is away
from your dad. You can have toys now.’ She doesn’t stop crying. I
ask Alex what I can do to help her. He signs ‘grandma is angel and
she is happy you share love.’ I hold my breath and look at Danny. I
mouth ‘how?’ he shrugs I can see he’s as shocked as I
am.

“Ally are you sad that you
saw your grandmother?” She nods her head against my chest. Darren
sits by us and holds their hands. He signs to Alex ‘my mom is angel
too.’ I look at Danny he just watches them. Alex signs back ‘wish
mom angel grandma here.’ Danny looks at me with his eyebrow drawn
down.

“What the fuck?” Patches
says low. Darren looks at him and shakes his head no. He signs to
Alex ‘mom is ok at my mom’s old house going to be ok.’ Alex cries
while signing ‘never ok mom don’t like us we retarded’

Darren looks at Danny.
‘Dad how to use strong to fix.’ He has tears falling. Fuck! Danny
hugs him around Alex.

“Some help here Patches.”
Danny says his voice thick with emotion. “We love them while we can
Darren.” Patches signs for him then lifts Darren onto his lap. I’m
a blubbering mess just holding onto Ally. Arron and Victor sit by
us. This is how Ben and Jessie find us.

“What happened?” Ben
asks.

“They need more strong
Dad.” Jessie says, he sits and holds onto Alex’s hand. He looks at
Danny. “You can do it Uncle Danny. You have more strong to give.”
He is so matter of fact I get myself together deciding we have
more. He nods at me and I can’t help but laugh.

Ally lifts her head and
looks at Jessie. She signs ‘you my friend’ to him. He signs back
‘always’. Fuckin kids.

Ben smiles ruffling
Jessie’s head. He looks at Danny. “We need to talk.” Oh shit,
that’s never a good phrase to hear. Patches gets the kids to show
their favorite Christmas present. Ally and Alex get up and start
talking to the boys. Arron holds Ally’s hand and looks at her
presents with her. Jessie holds onto Alex. Patches nods at us
they’ll be ok. Ben throws a chin lift to him. Danny follows him
into the kitchen. He turns to me and puts his hand out. I didn’t
think Ben meant me too but I go to him.

We get more coffee and sit
at the table waiting for Ben to talk. “Doc called, their mother is
doing better. He told her once she was out of the woods we can
return the custody back to her.”

Oh shit. I don’t want to
tell him what the kids said. Danny looks at me grabbing my hand
under the table. Ben isn’t looking at us. “And?” I ask.

He looks at me with tears
in his eyes. “She doesn’t want them back. She didn't want to talk
to them today. I had no idea when I asked you. I thought it would
be just a couple of days. I can try finding someone to take them
but it might be…”

“Ben, we’ll keep them.”
Danny tells him while looking at me. “We’re going to need to hire
some help but we’ll keep them. This is the first time they’ve had a
Christmas. They just finished telling us their mom doesn’t like
them because they’re retarded. We’ll keep them and teach them how
to love and what a family is.” I smile at him through more
tears.

“Fuck. Thank you. I had no
idea you would do this. I’ve been trying to figure out who the fuck
would take them. Thank you. I’ll help you find someone but I think
you might want to ask Patches. He seems to like being around you
and loves the kids.” He tells us. Danny laughs.

Patches comes in looking
tentative. Danny tells him to have a seat it’s a senior family
meeting. Ben smiles. “The twins mom doesn’t want them back.” He
gives Patches a minute to take it in. “We’re going to keep
them.”

“Thank Fuck. I don’t know
how I was going to let them go back to a mom that tells them
they’re retarded.” Patches says surprising Ben.

“We have to hire help to
take care of all these kids.” Danny goes on.

“No! You can’t just hire
someone. What if they treat them bad again? They already lived
through hell Danny.” Patches is pissed. I’ve never seen him
pissed.

“Do you want the job
Patches?” Ben asks him.

“Fuck yeah. I’m not
letting my little brothers go with some flaky nanny. You've seen
the news.” He tells Ben. I crack up.

“I love you Patches.
You’re one in a million and I’m glad you’re our one in a million.”
I lean over and kiss his cheek. “We should get the kids in here
before there’s another melt down.”

“Before you do, do you
mind if Jessie stays here for a little while?” Ben asks looking
embarrassed.

“Not even a little.” I
tell him. “I need to talk to the kids then get some breakfast
going. Devan is going to want to eat again soon. Thank you Ben, you
give the best Christmas presents.” I get up, kiss his cheek and
pull Patches out with me. He doesn’t look at me. Fuck. Leaving
Jessie on Christmas morning isn't a good sign.

In the living room Patches
gathers all the kids into a circle on the floor. I sit on one side
by Ally and Patches sits across from me. “This is a family
meeting.” He tells them. Darren signs ‘no dad.’ Patches signs and
says, “He’s talking to Uncle Ben but this is too important to
wait.” He looks at me.

“Alex and Ally would you
like to live here with us and be a sister and a brother to Rich and
Patches, Darren, Victor, Aaron and Devan?” Ally looks at me. I
smile at her then look at Alex. “You would be part of our family
just like the boys.” Alex signs ‘you mom’ Patches signs ‘yes and
Mr. Danny is dad’ Ally signs ‘you want me retarded’.

With tears I say and sign,
“I want you because you’re a beautiful little girl that needs love
and we have lots of love to give. We want Alex because he needs
love too. We can’t leave him out can we?” She shakes her head no.
‘you want us you be mom,’ she signs like this is too much to
comprehend. “Yes Ally we want you to join our family. I want you to
be my daughter. Do you want stay here?” She launches herself at me,
the boys cheer and Patches cracks up as they all pile on me again.
“Holy crap. A simple yes was all I was looking for.” I say
laughing. Patches helps get me out from under the kids. “Thanks
Patches.” Ally won’t let me go. I tell the boys I’ll get them some
breakfast and they all decide to help so they can be with Ally.
Patches tells her this is what brothers do, they look out for their
sister.

She signs, ‘me sister
always?’ Jessie answers her signing, “You are Ally LaPonte now, and
you have seven brothers. Your brothers always look out for you
because you’re our girl; brothers always take care of their girls.
Your job is to always stand with your brothers. No matter what, you
stand with your brothers. When they need help you give it, when you
need help we will give it. Me and Little Ben are your family too.
We will take care of you and stand up for you just like your
brothers. That’s what families do.” He takes her hand and walks her
to the cabinet to get napkins for the table. Holy shit. He says it
so matter of fact, that's just the way it is.

Me and Patches finally
look away from them and look at each other. “Fuckin kids.” We say
together and crack up when the boys put their hands out. I tell
Patches to get them quarters from the stash on top of the fridge.
We make breakfast together.

Danny

Ben wants us to keep
Jessie on Christmas morning. What the fuck is going on? Patches and
Kate just went to talk to the kids. I stand up and refill my
coffee. "I find looking at the water calms me. You want a refill?"
He gets up and brings his cup over. I refill it and walk to the
back patio. We sit looking at the water. I wait for him to talk,
just when I figure he’s not going to he starts.

"Tracy went to the club
last night. She never came home. It's Christmas morning I had to
let Jessie open his presents without his mother being there." He
keeps his eyes on the water.

"Sounds like a stupid
question but did you call her?" I ask not really knowing what to
say.

"She's not at the club.
The whole fuckin town is on camera. I watched her get in a truck
with tinted windows a couple of weeks ago. She walked out the back
of Nancy's shop and climbed in. No one knows where the cameras are.
They just assume they're on roads and the fronts of buildings. The
same truck picked her up last night. She's not answering her
phone." He sounds empty.

"What can I do to help you
right now Ben?" I ask.

"I have no fuckin clue at
this point." He says deflated.

"We can go beat the fuck
out of someone or find her and drag her back for a reasonable
explanation then beat the fuck out of someone. I'm up for either
one." I throw out.

He laughs. "The best kinds
of friends don't say I'm here for you, they grab their bats and say
let’s do this shit. I read that somewhere. I know the truck belongs
to a fireman that works on the other side of town. We have a
recognition program that tagged it. I don't know what the fuck to
do about it. I tried talking to her but she denied it. You can't
argue alone."

Fuck, "That's the truth; I
wouldn't expect this from Tracy. I have noticed her distancing
herself lately but walking out on Christmas is pretty fuckin
low."

"Yeah. I'd like to beat
the fuck out of the guy but she walked out on Christmas. How does
that make him wrong? Does he even know she's fuckin married? I have
no clue what to think or what to do."

"What are you going to do
while you leave Jessie here?" I don't want him to do something
equally stupid.

"I was going to his house,
hopefully to talk some sense into her." He says.

"You're not going alone
Ben. You're boy isn't going to lose his father on Christmas after
losing his fuckin mother Christmas Eve. If you go there you'll beat
the fuck out of the guy. I know I would, I did. When you go I'll go
with you, even if it's just to drive."

"I keep telling myself
I'll just talk to her but you're right. I want to beat the fuck out
of him."