Thomas (3 page)

Chapter 2

The house was in a shambles, and
Thomas couldn’t stand it. He liked neat and orderly, and this place
was anything but. Moving out onto the deck to get away from the
mess inside, he met with a bigger one there. Why were they planting
so many flowers around the deck when the gardens looked like
someone had run them over with a mower? He sat on the small swing
and watched them scurry around like they had no idea what they were
doing.

“
You hate this, don’t
you?” He looked over at Hannah, Misha’s mate, and smiled at her. “I
can see you going over there and making them straighten out the
rows of flowers. I’m actually surprised you haven’t
yet.”

“
I was about to, but I’m
pretty sure that the foreman over there would have my head on a
pike. He warned me earlier that I was to keep away from him.”
Thomas stood up when she sat down next to him. There was not enough
room for him to sit with her and not touch her. “Misha said they
are to arrive in two days. I guess you’ll be entertaining them for
a while too.”

“
I suppose. Do you have
any idea where they’re coming from? Misha said that he never
thought to ask, only that they’d need a place to stay.” Thomas
shook his head, knowing that from what Misha had said, it was
another part of the world. And that they were not human. “Did you
meet them? Either of them?”

“
No. Phillip is the only
one that met them both, and Misha only met the man. Nic, he said
his name was. But no one has the name of the woman. I guess she
impressed Phillip with her skills as a fighter.” Thomas leaned
against the railing around the deck and looked at Hannah rather
than the mess in the yard. “Mom’s house is ready. I can move in
anytime I want.”

“
I wish you would stay
here. You know that there is enough room for you all.” He nodded
but didn’t say anything. “I guess Carter and Phillip are moving out
too. They said they needed their space.”

“
Space for their women.”
She laughed when he smiled at her. “I guess it’s time for us to be
on our own. I’m really glad to be getting the old house, and it’s
nice that I could stay here while I had it worked on. The kitchen
was nice but really outdated. And I had to have some of the rooms
redone as well. The office looks very nice, thanks to
you.”

“
All I did was give you
the stuff in the building we had downtown. And Daniel and his wife,
Wanda, are moving into the house at the other end of the street.
I’m very glad you talked me into meeting them. I like Uncle
Daniel.” Thomas liked Daniel too, and his family, and he’d been
really excited when Daniel was offered a job working for security
for Misha and the firm. “I guess his parents aren’t really happy
with him or me.”

Mr. and Mrs. Howard Little were
Hannah’s real grandparents. Her mom, Kelli Little, had been kicked
out of the house when they’d found out she was pregnant and only
seventeen. Later she’d been murdered and her child, Hannah, had
been taken from her by a woman who had abused and nearly killed
Hannah until Misha had stepped in. Life was considerably better for
her now, and she was blooming now that she could see that people
could love her. She still had her days when she was afraid, but
they were becoming a thing of the past too.

“
When are they coming, do
you know?” Hannah shrugged and looked away, and his heart hurt for
her. “You don’t have to have them here if you don’t want them to
be. I’m sure that we can take care that the visit never happens.
Any or all of us could take care that they never bother you
again.”

When she looked at him, he wiggled his
brows at her, and she laughed. It was what he’d hoped for, and when
she leaned back and sighed, he wanted to pull her into his arms and
comfort her. She spoke before he could suggest that she go into
town with his mom and have lunch.

“
I want to meet them, but
I don’t. There is something so…I guess frightening about knowing
that I have a set of grandparents out there that can be just as
cruel to me as Bella had been.” She looked at him. “Not in the same
way, but just as cruel. Does that make sense?”

“
It does.” He tried to
think of something to say that would lighten the mood. “These
beings that are coming here, what do you know of them? Other than
the fact that they helped us bring out those people. Do you suppose
they’ll all be here at once?”

“
I hope not. And nothing
really. Misha said that they’re strong and that we should go out of
our way to make them feel welcome. I don’t know what they are, but
I have a feeling that it’s something huge. I heard Phillip has a
connection with them both and has been talking to them. The
woman—her name hasn’t been said yet—has been recuperating for the
past several days and I guess she won’t be coming with them. Do you
know what happened to her?” He told her he didn’t. “I guess
whatever they are, we’re going to be ready for him. Misha said that
he was going to have the landscaping done this fall anyway, so this
is as good a time as any to get it going. I think it was fine
before. But then I’m always afraid of spending money. But he
assures me he has a great deal of it.”

“
He does. We all do.” He
looked behind him when a large engine roared to life. The trees
they were pulling off the flatbed truck looked nearly full grown.
He wondered how much more this poor yard could take. But then he
could see that the men who were planting the gardens near the house
were nearly finished. There was a reason to their method. He could
see that now. Standing up, he watched the trees, all five of them,
being put in the ground as Hannah napped. She’d been doing that a
lot lately, and he wondered if she knew why.

He turned away from her, smiling. She
was going to have a fit if she didn’t know now that she was going
to have a baby. And Misha was going to have some major explaining
to do too. Thomas almost wished he was living here just for that.
Instead he moved off the deck and to his car. The appliances for
his kitchen should be set by now and he was excited to be there to
see them. He also wanted to get started on a few other renovations
that he’d thought about, one of them being the dining
room.

Thomas pulled into his drive twenty
minutes later and sat there looking at his home. It was the one
he’d grown up in, sure, but now it was all his. He’d been doing
some repairs on it, not much but enough to show that it was under
new care, and he loved it. The new shutters and windows practically
danced with light and color, and he loved the new wrap-around porch
too. Getting out, he moved to the back of the house to enter
through the kitchen and nearly bumped into his cook. His mother had
hired him one while he’d been gone on the last mission with his
brothers. The man was a wonder too.

“
I’ve taken the liberty of
putting you in a baked potato to go with your steak tonight. I do
hope that is fine.” Thomas nodded and sat at the table. The two of
them had been making headway into becoming employee to employer.
Today they’d actually made some ground rules. And of course, now
Mike knew who and what he was working for.

“
Mike, what do you suppose
we could do to the dining room? It looks good, I guess, but
extremely outdated like this room had been.” Mike had helped him a
great deal in the kitchen, and Thomas now welcomed his input on the
rest of the house. His office was completely ready for him in half
the time it would have been had Thomas done it himself. The man
simply knew everyone, it seemed, and each of them had a talent for
doing something he needed.

“
You’ll need a bigger room
first of all. With the family growing now, you’ll need a larger
space for the table and chairs. Of course, some built in china
cabinets will be nice too. Less walking back and forth to set up
the room.” Thomas and Mike Vickers moved into the next room. It was
sort of smallish and he wondered how they could get more space. “I
know a man who can come in and enlarge this room to about double
without messing up the structure of the room. And it would fit
nicely with the deck as well. Having some big doors that will spill
out onto it will make the room look bigger too.”

“
I like it. Have him come
out and look it over. Then give me an idea what he can do. And
while he’s here, see what he can do about the living room. I know
that it’s the biggest room in the house, but it needs something
too. I was thinking about the fireplace. It needs revamped.” Mike
nodded and moved back into the kitchen when a timer went off.
Thomas sat down at the table just thinking about all the meals
they’d had in here as a family. Someday he’d like to have his own,
just not yet. When he heard a noise at the back door, then Mike
arguing, he got up to see what was going on. Mike was a laid back
sort of guy, but he didn’t sound that way right now.

“
What do you
want?”

His father was standing there like he
was going to barge right in and knock the shit out of Mike. But
when Thomas asked him again what he wanted, he took a step
back.

“
I was wanting to see your
mother. She and I have to talk.” Thomas nodded but didn’t invite
his dad in. “You pissy with me too? I had a life to live and being
saddled with a bunch of kids wasn’t anything I wanted at the time.
Now I see you all have done well for yourselves and I thought you’d
welcome me in.” His dad moved to come through the closed screen
door, but Thomas stepped in front of him.

“
No.” His dad looked
confused so he explained himself, and not nicely. “No, I’m not
going to invite you in. No, I’m not going to have you sponging off
us now that you’ve decided that you’d take us back, and hell no,
you’re not coming near my mother. I told you before that you aren’t
welcome here.”

“
That isn’t any way to
talk to your father, boy. Didn’t I raise you to have respect for
your elders?”

Thomas laughed and his father looked
like he was going to not just come in but try to knock the shit out
of him as well.

“
You do whatever is going
on in your mind and it will be the last thing you ever do. And I
mean breathing too. As for you raising us? You had nothing to do
with us being the men we are. Mom did that all on her own. And if
you want me to give you a lesson in having respect for someone, you
go near my mother and I will tear you apart. Do I make myself
clear?”

“
You ain’t no son of
mine.” Thomas couldn’t have agreed more and told him so. “You see
that I don’t tell everyone I see what you did to your own father.
Then we’ll see how much respect they have for you. A man should
help his father out, not turn him out like a dog. You see that this
here don’t come back and bite you in the ass.”

“
I’m not afraid of
anything you do or say. Everyone in this town knows what sort of
person you are and the fact that you left Mom on her own. Not ever
sending money home to help her. I’m thinking that you might be
surprised at just how much lack of respect you get from anyone you
talk to. As for any money? You should have thought of what might
have befallen you before you left us for all your fun.” Thomas
closed the door in his father’s face and then turned to Mike. The
man was staring at him like he was slightly afraid and a great deal
impressed.

“
I can hold dinner, sir,
if you’d like to go on a run.” Thomas nodded and moved through the
house toward the back to where his office was that spilled out into
the lawn beyond. He was nearly naked when he threw open the door
and shifted in mid-leap off the deck. The run was hard and fast,
and he didn’t care if he ever returned to being a human.

~~~

Linyah wanted to go now. She was sick
to death of waiting on someone to get their asses in gear to say
this was when they were going. She was pretty sure that her parents
knew when they were going, but no one was sharing with her. Linyah
glared at her bed and the mess that was there.

Kendra had given her permission to go,
but not without rules that she was required to follow. Linyah had
gone to her dad, and he said he’d talk to Kendra. Whatever he’d
said worked. To a point. Now she could go, but she wasn’t allowed
to get pissy, and—this one did piss her off—she had to wear a dress
at least once while they were there if invited to
dinner.

“
You should have made it
first before throwing all your clothing on it. I swear, Linyah, you
are the messiest person I know.” She turned to smile at her mom.
“How will you know what you’re taking and not taking with all your
things spread out everywhere?”

“
I’m taking a toothbrush,
my uniforms, and a pair of underwear. I thought I could rinse them
out nightly and not have to worry about them.” Her mother looked
horrified. “I’m kidding, Mom. And Sheda is packing for me. This is
just stuff she said I wasn’t going to take with me. Did you really
give her a list to follow?”

“
I did. I knew that you’d
pack those horrid uniforms just to displease me, and I wanted them
to see you as I do. A lovely woman who can dress up when the time
is right. I heard your sister also had some input for that girl of
yours, but like you would have done, she tossed it out. You’ll have
to keep Sheda close to you for a while. I don’t think your sister
will harm her, but she might shift her to another estate.” Her mom
lifted up a long curl from her shoulder and Linyah backed away.
“You will not be pulling this up into a knot atop your head either.
I want them to see you for a woman, not a male. You’ll never find
your male if you continue to dress as one of them. Sex and men are
very nicely put together.”