Caleb 91 - Danny

"He's at yours," he said.

"You're more than welcome to come for dinner if you want," I suggested. He almost blushed.

"I can't," he said. "I have...a date."

I raised my eyebrows.

"A date?" I said. "Awesome. Have you been seeing her long...it IS a she, isn't it?" I asked with a grin knowing full well it was.

He snorted at me. "Of course it is," he said with a frown then caught himself. "Not that I think... that is..."

I laughed. "I'm just pulling your chain," I told him. "So, who's the lucky gal?"

"It's just someone I met on..." he stopped, embarrassed to admit that he'd used a dating app, even though it had been suggested by his counsellor.

"Hey," I said. "It's how busy people meet these days. If you think about it, its gotta be better than hanging out in a sleazy bar trying to hold a conversation while trying not to look like a perv ogling the women. This way you know a little about her, and she knows a little about you. You're already ahead of the game."

He shrugged. "I guess so," he said. "That is, if she told the truth on her profile, and the picture really is of her."

"Did you tell the truth?" I asked.

"Of course not," he grinned. "And I used your picture."

I laughed. "God help you then," I said.

"You seem to have done alright out of it," he said.

I smiled at him. "You're not wrong there," I said. "But I just bewitched them with my powers. If they had any say in the matter, none of them would give me the time of day."

His eyes widened. "You didn't?" he asked.

I laughed. "No," I said. "I didn't. There are laws against that. And since two of the girl's grandmother is an FBI agent and has powers of her own, there's no way I'd get away with it."

"I guess," he said.

"Anyway," I told him, "good luck for tonight."

"Thanks," he said. "I'm kind of nervous. I nearly cancelled about three times already. What if she's..."

"Just go out and have fun," I said. "If she's not for you, then be honest with her, and yourself. As the saying goes..."

"There's plenty more fish?" he suggested.

"No," I said. "Don't pick an ugly one or you'll have ugly kids!!!"

He laughed. "Is that really a saying?"

"It is now," I said. "And thankfully none of my girls have heard it."

"Get out of here," he said.

I grinned at him as I left the office, waving at Arnie as he taxied onto the apron with his pupil in the Cirrus.

My phone rang as I was on my way home. It was Sarah.

"Caleb," she said. "I was wondering if it would be okay for John to come over for dinner tonight?"

"It's a bit short notice," I said. "Do you think he'll be available?"

"Actually, it was his idea," she said. "He called me to ask if we were free. He was going to invite us out to dinner."

"Us?" I asked.

"All his kids," she said. "I thought it might be better for him to come to us. That way he can meet everyone. I'm not sure if he's met any of your girls, and I guess he should meet Arnie."

"Sure," I said. "Ness won't be there, obviously, but he'll have to get over missing out on meeting her. Make sure he's not allergic to anything, and see if he's got a plus one to bring too?"

"He said he's not seeing anyone just now," she said.

"Okay then," I said. "Run it past the girls just in case, and if they have no problems then invite him. I'll be home in about ten minutes in any case."

Sarah was actually talking to John on the phone when I walked into the kitchen.

"Seven?" she said looking at me, eyebrow raised, and I nodded.

"Okay," she said. "I'll text you the address and we'll see you then. Okay. Bye."

I went into the kitchen and was starting preparations for dinner when the rest of the household arrived home. Arnie came into the kitchen.

"John is coming over?" he asked. I nodded.

"You have a problem with that?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Just a bit nervous meeting Sarah's dad, you know?" he said.

"First of all," I said. "Brian is Sarah's Dad. John just happened to be her sperm donor. The only man whose opinion matters is Brian's."

"And yours," he said looking at me.

"Even if that were true," I said, "you already know what my opinion is."

He nodded at that.

Sarah poked her head in. "There you are," she said. "I wondered where you'd gone."

"I was just talking to Caleb," he said.

"Hey," she said, "if you want to sneak off and have some alone time with my brother..." she grinned.

Arnie decided to lean into it.

"Okay then," he said taking my hand. "Shall we?" He started to try to pull me out of the kitchen.

"As much as I'd love to," I told him, "I need to make dinner."

Sarah laughed, putting her arms around him.

"Tired of me already?" she teased looking up into his face.

"Never," he said leaning forward slightly to kiss her.

They both went to leave the kitchen.

"I guess I'm just a plaything," I said melodramatically.

They both laughed at me.

"Back to work," Sarah said. "Make something nice."

The mushroom I'd been about to chop bounced off the back of her head as she went through the door.

"OW!" she exclaimed. "That's domestic battery."

Arnie chuckled, picking up the mushroom and tossing it back to me.

"I hope she didn't damage the mushroom." he said, and got a slap on his arm for it.

"OW!" he exclaimed. "Domestic battery!!"

They moved back out of the kitchen, bickering among themselves. I smiled, loving the byplay.

A few minutes later, Melanie came into the kitchen.

"You okay with John coming over?" I asked.

She shrugged.

"It doesn't bother me," she said. "But to be honest he really doesn't mean anything to me. He's just a guy who says he's my dad, but I just don't feel anything for him. Not like I do for you."

I smiled at her.

"I don't have any memory of any guys," she said. "And only a hazy impression of my mom, or rather the woman who I guess took me. Then there were a lot of people, foster families. Some were nice and others not so much. It was weird. There're some families that only take kids for short periods, a few days or a couple of weeks, until other arrangements can be made, you know. Those were the nicest people. It seemed doubly cruel to put a kid in with really nice people for just long enough for them to start to get to know them and then take them away again."

She looked at me.

"I'd really like to find my mom," she said tears in her eyes.

"I know," I said. "I've asked Maggie about it. She said that as soon as she tracks her down, she'll let us know. All we know from John is that she moved east and got married. We don't know who to. I promise you, though, if she's still out there, we'll find her."

Melanie smiled, her eyes shining.

"Thank you," she said. Then a thought seemed to occur to her.

"What if she doesn't want to know me?" she asked.

"Remember this," I said, stopping what I was doing and moving to her. "She didn't give you up. You were STOLEN from her. I imagine you met loads of kids whose parents had abandoned them, or who couldn't cope with them, and had them taken away from them? That wasn't the case with you. You had a mom who, from what I understand, wanted you and loved you. You were taken from her, not by Children's Services but by a criminal. I've no doubt that, if and when she finds out that we found you, she'll be desperate to see you."

"You think so?" she asked.

"I do," I said.

Melanie put her arms around me and rested her head against me.

"No matter what happens though," I told her gently, "you have a family here who loves you. You have Mary, Amanda, Jules, Ness, Sarah and Arnie, and me. Then there's Pops and Cheryl. You'll never be alone again, and you'll never be wanting for love."

"I know," she said smiling up at me. "Thank you."

Then she released me and shook herself a little. "I need to let you get on, otherwise we'll have nothing to give John when he gets here."

They all left me to cook, but I could hear them chatting in the living room as they waited both for the food to be ready and for John to arrive. I'd just finished everything up, and was making sure everything stayed hot and ready for dinner, when I heard the doorbell.

"I'll go," I said coming out of the kitchen.

When I opened the front door, John was standing well back with a semi-serious look of nerves on his face.

"The last time I was in this position," he said, "it didn't end well for me."

"Yeah," I said. "If you're looking for an apology, then you've come to the wrong house. But if you're here for dinner, you'd better come in."

I turned and walked back into the house, leaving the front door open. I heard him follow, closing the door behind him.

"You may as well come straight through," I said. "Dinner's about ready."

I led him into the kitchen, where the rest of the family had pre-empted me and seated themselves at the table. They'd left the seat at the foot of the table free for John.

"Can I get you a drink?" asked Jules who was the only one on her feet. "We have beer, soda, or coffee."

"A beer would be fine, thank you," he said, moving to the end of the table at her invitation.

He seated himself and looked up as she brought a beer over to him, putting a glass down beside the bottle. I didn't normally bother with a glass but it seemed that Jules was being polite.

"Thank you..." he said not knowing her name.

"Jules," she said.

He nodded. "Good to meet you," he said.

"John," I said, interrupting my plating to introduce him.

"I don't know who you do and don't know, obvious exceptions aside. The two stunning young ladies seated on either side of my seat are Mary and Amanda Everson, two of my fiancées and Dianna's granddaughters. Jules, my fiancée, just introduced herself, and Melanie you obviously know. Sarah you also know and the amazing young man to her left is Arnie, her fiancé.

"Ness, who is also my fiancée, and Jules sister, would normally sit opposite Sarah, but she's sadly at work. Finally, the beautiful young couple on either side of you are Josh and Louise. They are studying at PSU with me and are our best friends. They are Norms but are fully aware of powers, as is Arnie, who is also a Norm.

"Fiancé?" John looked at Sarah. "I was surprised when your mom mentioned that. I thought she was confused. Everything she said seemed so unbelievable."

"It was quite sudden," she said. "But we've been engaged just over a month." She showed John her engagement ring. "We're planning on a long engagement, because we both have things we want to do before we get married."

"And what do you do?" he asked Arnie. I saw Arnie's nervousness and I hit him with a belt of confidence. I also whispered into his mind.

"Tell him to mind his own fucking business if you want." I told him.

"I'm a flying instructor just now," Arnie said to him confidently. "My Dad owns the school. When I'm old enough I'm aiming to be a commercial pilot."

John nodded but made no comment. He turned to Sarah.

"Your mom tells me you're at PSU now," he said.

"I am," she said.

"What are you studying?" he asked.

"Psychology," she told him. "I want to be a counsellor."

"That will play to your strengths," he said, "given your powers."

I'd gone back to plating up the food and began taking the plates to the table. I served all the girls first, ladies first after all, then I served John, as the guest, then Josh and Arnie, and finally seated myself with my own plate.

"Thank you," John said looking down at his plate. I'd not gone too overboard, making a thick beef stew, which I'd served over mashed potatoes. It was a winter favourite of mine. I'd had to cheat, tenderizing the meat in the pressure cooker before adding it to the stew otherwise there wouldn't have been enough time for it to not be chewy.

He looked up and down the table, and then his eyes settled on me.

"I guess we need to get the formalities out of the way" he said. "I had no knowledge, or even inclination, of what Carrie was planning to do with Sarah. She called me, as I said, and I offered to give financial aid to Sarah to get her into school, anywhere she wanted.

"I fully expected for it not to be needed, because I was certain that Sarah wasn't going to want to move. That was even before I found out she was engaged. Carrie just said that...well, you know what she said."

We all stared at him. His aura told me that he was telling the truth, and I knew that the twins read the same thing. Sarah, who couldn't see Aura's looked at me. I nodded.

"Thank you," she said finally. "I would have been very...disappointed if you'd been involved. I know why Mom did what she did, and also why Dad went along with it."

I saw John wince slightly when she called Brian 'Dad'.

"I had no idea why you might have been willing to go along with her scheme. But now I know you didn't know. We can move past it."

He seemed relieved and started to eat.

His eyebrows rose. "This is really good," he said looking around the table.

"Ness normally does the cooking these days," Melanie said, "but she's working. She's a chef. When she's not home we have to put up with Caleb's cooking."

She grinned at me to show she was kidding.

"Well, if this is 'putting up' then Ness must be an amazing chef," he said, taking another bite.

"She is," I said. "All my girls are amazing."

John nodded. "I have no doubt."

"Are you all studying at PSU?" he asked addressing his question to the table.

That got nods from everyone other than Arnie.

"You guys must be nearly finished," he directed his question to me and the Twins.

"We graduate early next year," Mary said, "as does Caleb, Jules, Josh, and Louise. Sarah and Melanie have just started as you know, so they'll be there a while longer yet."

John looked at Melanie. "What are you studying?" he asked.

"Pre-med," she said. "I want to be a doctor."

"Wow," he said. "I..." he hesitated for a moment, obviously used to not talking about powers. "I never found out what powers you had."

"I have the full set," she said, with a hint of pride. That made me smile. "I'm going to train to be a Healer too, like Caleb."

John looked at me. "You're going to train her?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I have a proper trainer lined up for her when she's ready," I said.

John nodded.

Although it did ease slightly, conversation over dinner was stilted and pretty awkward throughout. I tried my best not to growl at him every time he opened his mouth. No matter what, I still held a huge amount of anger and resentment toward him for what he'd done to my family. It really didn't matter that if he hadn't done what he did, I probably wouldn't exist.

After dinner was over, we moved into the living room. I offered drinks all round, and he accepted a coffee.

"I'm driving," he said.

He finished his coffee quite quickly and, as soon as he thought he could leave without seeming impolite, he stood.

"I really should be going," he said. "Thank you so much for the meal, and for inviting me."

Melanie and I stood. Sarah chose to remain seated.

We walked him to the door.

"You all have my number," he said, "if there's ever anything you need."

"We do," I told him, certain in my own mind that I would call anyone and everyone else before I'd ever call him.

"Thanks again," he said slipping though the door.

I closed it behind him.

There was a collective sigh of relief.

"Sorry," said Sarah. "That was awful."

"I confess," I said. "I've had more entertaining evenings. But at least we know now he wasn't involved."

"It was better he came here," said Amanda, "than you guys went out with him. If you'd gone to a restaurant of his choice, he'd have paid and he'd have been the one in control. Here he wasn't the big man, he was just a guy, on his own. You all had the support of family and very good friends around you."

"That's true," said Sarah. "It was nice to see him feeling awkward for a change."

"I wonder why he did it." Melanie asked.

"What?" I asked.

"Why did he put himself through that?" She asked. "What does it get him?"

I thought about that. I couldn't think of any reason he would do anything like that, unless he wanted something from us and, I couldn't for the life of me, think of what that might be.

"Do you think," suggested Mary, "that he might just have finally woken up to the fact he has some wonderful children, and want to try and build a relationship with them?"

I looked at Sarah and then at Melanie. Strangely that thought had never even occurred to me.

+++++

The next morning, Sarah, Melanie, and I, went for a run. For once in the dry and we did an easy ten miles. Both Melanie and Sarah were breathing hard, but then so was I, but none of us were struggling. I felt we could have gone longer.

Arnie had lessons to fly pretty much all weekend and so it was a surprise on Saturday evening when he came over. He'd told us that he was staying at home.

"Dad's cooking dinner for his date," he said with a grin.

"Wow," I said. "Last night's date went well then?"

"It seems so," he said. "Apparently, they went out for drinks, and just seemed to hit it off. They had dinner out, although I think they were disappointed at the restaurant. She chose it but it wasn't very good. So, Dad's cooking."

"Can he cook?" I asked.

"Not like you and Ness," said Arnie. "But he makes a mean spaghetti and meatballs."

"Have you met her yet?" Sarah asked. He shook his head.

"He told me to make myself scarce tonight," Arnie said. "Not in so many words... but..."

"Good for him," I said. "He deserves someone nice."

"As long as she is nice," said Sarah. "I want to take a look at her. I don't want some tramp hooking him because they think he's got money or something."

I laughed.

"Protective of your new father-in-law?" I asked.

She nodded. "Damn right," she said. "He deserves someone nice, but there are so many gold diggers out there and, given he owns a flight school..."

"We're not rich," Arnie said.

"That's not the impression people have," she said. "You own a business and a couple of planes. That looks rich from the outside." Then she pouted. "Anyway what do you mean you're not rich... you told me that you were."

Arnie shrugged and grinned. "I lied." he said.

"That's it," Sarah announced. "The wedding's off. I can't marry a pauper."

"I thought you were rich," he told her. "I'd never have given up on Caleb if you hadn't said you were loaded. I KNOW he's rich."

"I'm not rich," I protested laughing. "You must have me mixed up with someone else."

"Damn," he said. "Oh well. At least she's not ugly."

That earned him a slap, which I felt was well deserved.

I grinned at Arnie. He seemed much more settled and secure with Sarah, and their byplay gave me a warm feeling. Their relationship felt a lot more mature than the few months that it had been in reality.

Sunday night, Arnie asked if he could bring Danny over for dinner. We, of course, said yes and they arrived just after six.

"Don't mention the date," Arnie sent to us all as they entered, so we didn't. Instead, we talked about all kinds of other things. Including our visit to the Ranch in a couple of weeks.

"You know what?" said Danny suddenly. "There weren't going to be that many people wanting to fly over that period. I'm going to close the school for the holiday, and we can go up with Caleb and the girls."

"If that's alright with you guys," he added.

Jules and Ness both smiled. "That would be great," they said. "I'll let Daddy know so everything is ready for us all.

Once again, Danny stayed in the spare room, with Arnie and Sarah sleeping in with us.

After we went to bed, we found out what had happened.

It seemed that Sarah's concerns had been warranted. Danny's date had been most disappointed when Danny had picked her up and taken her to his house. She'd expected something far more grand, since the picture he'd posted on his dating app had been him standing in front of the Baron.