69)

We said our good byes while the girls kept switching from one impatient pose to another, sighing, and crossing their arms. Finally I ended the call and asked. “What?”

Sara walked up to me and laid her hands on my shoulders. “Grandpa, you can’t tell Aran to do things without telling him when he can stop. He had finished the room and was halfway down the hall dusting things.”

Ami moved up to stand behind her sister. “The front half of things, he couldn’t reach the back half of most of the stuff you had out there. So they did need dusting, but he would have kept doing it until he got tired enough to sit down somewhere and then fall asleep. We can’t even play hide and seek with him at the compound because we didn’t know how to tell him when he could stop hiding if we don’t find him.”

I glanced over at the boy. He shrugged. “Jimmy lied to get me to come out.”

“Well then doing some dusting might be a good idea, we don’t want to give them anything to complain about. Even if the place is clean enough for living in.” I nodded to myself. “Right now it’s clean enough to be fine for at least a few months. Maybe even to spring.”

The girls looked at each other, glanced at the Aran and looked back at each other. Ami sighed. “Okay Aran, let’s finished dusting everywhere. I’ll get the tops, you get the legs.”

Sara turned to me. “I saw where the vacuum was, so I’ll hit the carpet and sweep everywhere else.”

I smiled at her, “Thanks you two, ah three. If you can strip all the beds and get the sheets down the chute, I’ll run them through the machines by tomorrow morning.”

The three of them set off. I don’t know if they're always this good, or if they just understood how important this was to their families. But it was nice to have someone else taking on some of the work all on their own.

Speaking of help. I called my brother.

It took a few rings for him to answer on his land line. “Hello?”

“Hi Drew. I got some news, and I need a few favors. I’m also on the clock, so I don’t have time to go over things more then once.”

My brother sounded a bit concerned. “Well first, what do you need?”

I thought for a second, he waited fairly patiently, only clearing his throat after a good long minutes. “Ah, sorry. Starting thinking about everything else I need to do after we’re done talking. I need grandma’s serving platters, the roaster, and I’m going to have to call you back with a list of things to pick up on the road. You can use the debit card I got you for that, and I’ll put some more money on it before I call with the list.”

I began digging in the junk drawer for a pad of paper and a pen. “In fact let me write that down so I don’t forget.”

He laughed. Our mother had loved her lists. “Sounds like you’re having a party.”

I grinned. “Yep, and I need your help to not only get everything together, but also to cook it, and be here to help represent our family.”

That got me a long pause. “Ah, Okay. I think I’m going to need you to get to the “news” part here.”

“I’ll need a second to put it words.” Words he could believe anyways. How to put this without the supernatural stuff.

“My girlfriend from collage, the one that disappeared.” I got an affirmative grunt. “Well the reason she vanished on me was because she got pregnant and her family put pressure on her to never tell me about it. I only found out when she sent my son’s three children to come stay with me because her family and his wife’s family are fighting over who gets to decide what to do with one of the kids.”

“Ami is… gifted, and both sides have their own opinions about how she’s going to be raised from here on out. I, mostly, volunteered to host a meeting between the two sides. So I’m asking you and Charles to be here to not only help me put all this together, but to show that our family has an interest here as well.”

Drew jumped in as soon as I stopped talking, sounding like he was trying to hold back from going on a rant. “And you didn’t think that it a mite suspicious that you suddenly got a son right after you got all that money? That the first time you hear from this… woman, after thirty some years is after you got something worth taking?”

I sighed and reached out however it was that I could, to check the positions of the kids. Little ears you know. “Believe me I got almost nothing but suspitions. But I’m not changing my will or paying off anyone debts here Drew. All I’ve agreed to do so far is watch some kids for a few days, and host a dinner party. Nothing major in terms of money is going to happen without a DNA test. Even then my money is going into collage funds for all the grandchildren who haven’t already gone, and then payouts to you, James, Samantha and the kids.”

“If he is my son and they are my grand kids, the best they will get is the same cut.”

My brother sounded a little hurt. “You know I don’t care about your money John. The help with my medical care and the meat is nice, and my boys are both out of school and are doing fine. I just don’t want you to get taken advantage of… or to get hurt by that woman again.”

I leaned back against the kitchen counter and looked down at the floor. “I didn’t mean to imply anything Drew. But I’m entirely certain these kids are ours. The eldest girl, she’s got mom’s eyes. I know that ain’t exactly proof. But it’s at least enough for me to treat them as family until I know otherwise.”

Drew sighed. “Well I guess it’s worth meeting them either way. So what all do you need to me to pick up?”

I started making a list, adding a few things as my brother suggested them and adding a capital “D” in a circle for the things he was picking up. Then I remembered a promise I had made that morning and added a few more things to the list for him to get.

My brother gave an evil laugh. “Well I guess you are treating him as family. See you in a few, well more like several hours.” Then he hung up on me.

I moved to the list of names, a short one, of the additional people I need to call that morning.

“Good morning Adora. I need some help from a local, and I guess there were a few other things I should have told you about earlier. Sorry.”