I'm 51

She had started to trust him and he was doing a lot better at the position she'd given him, but he still harbored resentment and wanted to move back to California. Heather was not really receptive to the idea. "Why would we do that? I've had to uproot this family once and start over. I don't care to ever do it again."

She sighed. "You need to think about this. You're making more right now than your best year in California, and unless you've devolved into a screaming idiot, surely you understand both your parents are hoping you'll take over the business in a few years. I've got a job I really love, we don't have a house payment, we don't have car payments, basically all we have are living expenses, and we're living pretty well. The most important thing, though, is the children. They absolutely love it here; they adore your mother and think both grandfathers could change the world if they wanted to. Think about how they would feel if we up and left."

"They've only got one Grandfather! The other guy is just a loser Mom's shacked up with."

Heather slapped him. Hard. "Don't you ever say that in front of me again, not in this lifetime. In case you haven't noticed, we're living cost free in the 'loser's' house, I'm driving a car that he got for me, and if I picked up the phone and said 'I need' whatever it was would be here in no time. Lynette told me the other day she was going to build houses when she grew up, just like her grandpa. I think Jeremiah is going to be the next business magnate; he loves to go to the office with Grandpa Benny. We've got a very bright future here, honey."

He brooded on that for a few days and then used his job to tap into the company funds and 'borrowed' two hundred grand to invest in the scheme he'd wanted to, all along. The plan was to jump in, make a killing, jump back out and replace the money, and let the profits ride until he had enough to return to California in style. It failed when there were no profits and the scheme fizzled out, leaving a lot of investors holding the bag. The accountants caught it three weeks later.

Angie fainted when she found out, and her assistant called me and Ben. They called the EMT's and they took her to the hospital for observation. We met at the ER, the doctor told us she was being treated for severe shock and they wanted to keep her overnight. Ben and I walked the floor for four hours and he only went home when his new girlfriend came and got him. She was still a younger model, but only by about eight years. She wouldn't let him by with much, kept him on the straight and narrow, and the grandkids loved her. He wouldn't admit it yet, but he was so in love with her he couldn't see straight. He told me one day as we were manning the grill, while Angie and Vicky watched the kids in our new pool, that he was tired of condo living and was looking for a house. Vicky was actively helping him, just for a woman's opinion, he explained. What he was really saying was he that he'd buy the one she picked out.

I had the stray thought he would actually be married before I was, and it made me feel bad. I never left the hospital, sleeping in a chair by her bed. She woke up about three and I spent another two hours holding her while she cried before the day shift came in and gave her another sedative.

She got discharged that afternoon and Heather was there to take her home. When they wheeled her out, Heather noted how frail she looked and burst into tears. I ended up driving while they sat in the back hugged up to each other.

We got her settled in at the house and Heather told me what was happening in her world. "He's gone, Dad. I came home and the bedroom was wrecked. He'd packed as many clothes as he could and disappeared. I don't know if he's coming back."

She'd started calling Angie Mom after six months. Her parents had retired to Portugal and if she was lucky, she got to see them every four years, so we became Mom and Dad, the ones she could go to with a problem. She grinned when she called me Dad for the first time. "I call Angie Mom, and you're the best father figure I ever had, so unless you object, it's Dad."

I had no objections.

Chapter 12

Heather checked the bank accounts and he had emptied them. There had been a pretty nice figure in the savings. She told me once that sooner or later I would probably kick them out and they needed a fallback plan. Angie clued me in that what they were really doing was saving up enough for a down payment for a house that I would be building for them on an acre of her land.

Heather was beyond angry and she spent most of a week with us. The kids loved it, but eventually they wanted to go home.

After two weeks, Angie had gotten angry enough to activate the GPS on his car: a car that belonged to her company. According to what the app showed, he was in a little town in Texas. Ben and I flew down to get him.

We found him in a little hole in the wall bar, holding court with the barflies about what a great businessman he was. As long as he was buyin' they were agreein'.

Ben tapped him on the shoulder. "Son, it's time to come home."

He twirled around on the bar stool; eyes wide. Then he saw me. "Come to gloat, asshole? You took my family away from me, you bastard! I Just about puked every time Heather says 'Reggie did this' or 'You have to see what Reggie got the kids.'"

Then he turned to his dad. "And you! You just stood by and let him take it all! What kind of man are you?"

Benny gave him a long look. "Know what Reggie took away from me? Not a damn thing! Everything I had, I threw away long before I ever heard his name. It took me a while to get my head out of my ass, but I have. I'm actually closer to your mother now than I was when we were married. She's a friend now, and for a long time I didn't have any friends.

"But you know what? This isn't about Reggie, or your mother, or even me. It's about you and what you've done. Now man up, get your ass off that stool, and come home to face the music!"

I didn't see it coming or I would have reacted. He jumped off the barstool and plowed his dad, right in the face. He went down, out like a light. He stood there grinning, weaving slightly. "Want some of this, old man?"

I grinned. "Why yes, as a matter of fact I do."

I'd like to say it was an epic struggle and we fought up and down the bar until we stumbled outside to continue, but it wasn't to be. Jr. knew diddly about fighting. I did. My father was an amateur champion when he boxed Golden Gloves as a teenager, and was on the elite boxing team while he was in the Navy. The military taught him a whole new perspective about fighting, and he passed it on to me. I didn't box, but I wrestled in college, and he made it a point to train me, just in case. It stood me in good stead during my early construction days. Sometimes you just can't reason with a guy. Sometimes you just had to make a point.

With Junior, I felt like I needed to make a point. He swung a clumsy right cross, and I grabbed his arm as it went by, yanking and throwing my hip out. It sent him sailing across the floor. He had grit, so he got up and charged again. Again, I evaded him, using his momentum to slam his face into the bar. I could have done this all day, but a deputy tapped me on the shoulder.

"You can stop now. We'll take it from here."

The bartender had called when he knocked his father out. Another deputy pulled Jr. up across the bar to get the cuffs on while the EMT's checked on Benny. He'd taken a pretty good lick and was sent to the local hospital for concussion evaluation. We didn't have to press charges. The bartender and the cops were happy to do it for us. Disturbing the peace, damage to personal property (technically that was on me; when I threw him across the room he landed on a chair and it collapsed under him), two counts of assault, and one count of assault on a law enforcement official, when he kicked the deputy cuffing him. She put her baton between his legs and tapped. He instantly became much more cooperative. His bond was set at $25,000 and neither Benny or I were inclined to post it.

He spent three weeks in jail before he had his first hearing. On the advice of the public defender, he pled guilty to lesser charges, was found guilty, sentenced to a year, and let out for time served and probation. He also had to pay damages to the bartender for the chair and a five thousand dollar fine.

Angie flew down and paid it, on the condition that the state allowed him to serve his probation at home. This basically trapped him, which didn't help his attitude. Three weeks after he got home, Heather asked him to leave.

"You're not the man I married anymore. Why aren't you happy? You had it all and you were too stupid to appreciate it."

They were at home and the kids were with us. He drew back to hit her and she laughed in his face. "Go ahead, but as soon as you stop swinging, you'd better start running. Dad will come after you if he has to track you to the ends of the earth, and I'd would love to be there when he finds you."

He was gone in three hours, but was back two days later because Angie called and told him if his ass wasn't back by the time he was supposed to check in with his parole officer, then he was on his own.

Benny had found a house by then and he let him live in his condo until the sale went through. Heather wasn't kidding around, and when she hit him with divorce papers and filed for temporary child support, he flipped out. Angie had made it clear he could no longer work at the company, and he was unemployed. If he didn't get a job soon, he'd violate his probation terms.

I thought about the whole situation as Heather cried on my shoulder and Angie petted her from the other side. Angie had been depressed for almost two months, Heather's nerves were raw, and even the children were starting to feel the strain. It made them lock down on all of us even more.

After we had Heather in bed, I told Angie I needed to go out.

"Out? Now? It's kind of late."

"This won't take long. You better not have all the covers wrapped around you when I get back." Angie was a notorious blanket hog. Many times, I'd awakened uncovered and she'd be wrapped up like a cocoon. I tried several times and took to keeping a spare blanket by the bed. She would always apologize the next morning, but it was hard for her to keep a smile off her face.

"Shall I get the heating pad? I won't be gone long, and I'll snuggle you until you're purring like a kitten when I get back."

She just kissed me and rolled over, asleep before I had the car in drive.

I drove straight over to Benny's condo and beat on the door. Junior opened it a crack, saw me, and tried to slam it. I kicked it open so hard it sent him sprawling. I shut the door and took a chair while he tried to get up.

"If you wanna swing, swing. There's no one here to save you and I'll stomp your ass into mush and enjoy the hell out of it."

"I'll call the cops!"

"Try. I'll be on you before you can hit 9. We're going to have a little discussion about your future. Let's do a little recapping first. You went broke in California and moved back home. Your mother was over the moon, already planning her retirement in a few years and gave you a pretty responsible position. We gave you a place to live, vehicles to drive, and watched the kids as often as you would let us. You should have thought you'd died and gone to heaven. Heather said it was the happiest time of her marriage.

"You literally fell into the flames and discovered you were fireproof. Was that enough for you? Fuck no, it wasn't, so you stole from your parents and got into some harebrained scheme to prove you were smarter than the rest of us, when in fact you were the dumbest son of a bitch on the East Coast. You threw away a successful company worth more than you could ever accumulate in your lifetime. It looks like you've given up on a woman worth three of anyone else you can find and two really great kids. That sum it up?

"So then, having said that, what is it you want, Jr.? What's it gonna take to make you happy? The misery of everyone around you? If that's your goal, you're doing pretty well. This is a one-time offer, refuse and I'll walk away. Just so you know, a woman like Heather won't be single for very long, even with two kids. Some good man will realize what a prize she is and make it his lifelong ambition to get her to love him.

"Maybe you want to go to jail. That would be a real eye opener for you. I'll clue you in, boy, you're a pussy, and there is nothing lifers like more than fresh pussy."

I was on a roll, letting go of things I'd held in because of my love for his family, but now it was time for the gloves to come off. I was up pacing by then while he sat on the sofa and cringed. Finally, I stopped in front of him. "Well, what are you gonna do? You gonna man up, or prove you really are a bitch?"

Well, damn, he started crying. I thought it was entertaining and sat while he cried it out. "I got no job, and no one in this area would touch me with a ten-foot pole. I can't leave the state or I violate probation, if I don't get a job soon, I violate, if I even get a traffic ticket I violate. I'll never get my family back, my parents despise me, and you must be enjoying the hell out of it."

I slapped him. Really hard. "Done with the pity party? I'm going to do something for you even though it grits my teeth. Rest assured I'm not really doing it for you, I'm doing it for the family I love."

I threw one of my business cards down. "You be at that address Monday at eight. If you're not, I wash my hands of you. Don't wear a suit. It may be a long time before you need one, if ever. Wear tough jeans, good boots and a work shirt. You just went into the construction business. You'll work your ass off and you won't complain, whine or cry. You'll man up and do what you're told. I'll know if you don't."

I walked to the door. "By the way, 25% of your pay will be deducted weekly and sent to Heather. You still have children to support and if you have any hope of winning your family back, that's a good place to start."

I wondered as I drove home if anything I said connected. We'd see Monday. I grinned when I saw Angie wrapped like a mummy. I told her once she must have been a lizard in a past life, because I'd never met anyone so coldblooded. She just grinned.

"Lizards like to lie on warn rocks, I understand that, I like to lie cuddled up to a man who'll keep me warm."

Chapter 13

No one was more surprised than I was to see him in the office Monday. I assigned him to a crew working locally and told the supervisor and leads not to coddle him, but to take it easy on him. "Give him a chance. He has a lot riding on this job."

I found out later he went home and cried the first day because his body ached so badly. He could barely function the next day, but he showed up. A month later, his body had adjusted and he had real muscles for the first time in his life. They tried him on every job and he seemed to have a real aptitude for hanging and finishing sheetrock. I'd see him from my office sometimes as he got out of a work truck, looking like a ghost from being covered with sheetrock dust.

Heather had moved to payroll so she saw his name, and his first check. Then the support hit her account. She charged into my office. "This your doing, Dad?"

"Somebody had to give him a job, and I didn't want you to have to take the kids to the county jail to visit. I paid him a visit and asked politely."

"I bet. More likely you beat the hell out of him and made him show up."

"I did no such thing!"

"If you didn't, it was because he was more afraid of you than I thought. Think he'll last?"

"Time will tell, baby girl. Now go get the kids out of daycare so I can get my goodbye kisses."

"Only if the big girl gets to kiss him first."

They would pass each other in the hallways from time to time, and they barely spoke. Then one day he begged her to let him have lunch with his children on the picnic tables outside the day care. She almost didn't, giving him a pretty strict lecture about how to behave. She decided to eat with them, just to be sure.

They were doing good until Lynnie crawled into his lap and showed him the little hard hat I'd gotten her. "Look, Daddy, I got a hard hat, too. We're both going to be builders, just like Grandpa."

Fat tears coursed down his cheeks as he hugged her, then Jeremiah, turning and thanking Heather in a choked voice for being so kind to him. A few tears trickled down her cheeks, as well.

He made it a point if he was working locally to stop by for lunch as often as possible. He always asked Heather to eat with them if she had time. She made time.

He left his father's townhouse and got a little studio apartment close to the office. I let him drive one of the company trucks for transportation, and he was very careful to drive it only when necessary. It was a four-door model, so he could take the kids when Heather would let him.

Six months went by and Heather came into my office and shut the door. "Daddy, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, hon. What's on your mind?"

"Benny."

I knew she meant her Benny, so I nodded. "We've been talking a lot lately. He comes by the house at least twice a week to have dinner with us. He's changing, I can see it happening. I need to ask a favor. He really wants to talk to his parents; can I bring him Sunday?"

His parents had written him off. Angie didn't know I had given him a job, and I made sure not to bring it up in conversation. I'd warned Heather, and she just said in passing that he'd gotten a new job and was paying support for the kids.

"Let me talk to your mother first. I will not ambush her. I'll see which way the winds blow and get back to you."

Chapter 14

Angie and Ben weren't keen on the idea, but they agreed to try for Heather and the kids. He came by, looking scared to death. The kids were all over him, showing him the new pool complete with waterslide and talking a mile a minute. We left them alone and after the meal he asked his parents if he could talk to them. I gathered the kids and Heather and we went out for ice cream, back in forty-five minutes.

He had left. Angie had tears in her eyes and Ben looked a little troubled. "He apologized and I think he meant it. He swore he would pay us back, but we told him if that's really how he felt to pay it forward to the babies. We made it clear we could never let him work for us again, or at least until enough years had gone by to make us think him reliable. He said he didn't expect that much forgiveness and he'd never let us down again. I hope he's sincere."

Angie surprised me by being a bit more forceful. "I listened to him, then told him words were easy. He wants our forgiveness, our respect? Then he needs to start earning it, both with us and to his family. Benny has a lot of failures to overcome, and I hope he mans up and does it."

Later, while we were cuddled in bed, she surprised me with a few more tidbits. "He had nothing to say about you but good things. You've really made an impression on him and you may be his role model right now. Then to my surprise, he gave ME advice."

"He told me I needed to get your ring on my finger and quit stalling. If I was that afraid of permanent commitment maybe I should let you go so you could find somebody else."

"I'm starting to like that boy."

She poked me. "Shut up! This is serious!"

"Yes, it is, and while we're on the subject, do you ever intend to marry me?"

She froze up and I sighed, turning my back to her. A few seconds later she snuggled up to me. "Honey, I've been so scared. You couldn't prove it now, but back when Ben was Junior's age, he was a lot like him. I put up with things that I shouldn't have for years. I still sometimes have nightmares about what kind of person I was back then. I swore it would never happen again, that I would never again allow a man that much power over me."