Kenny Ch. 08-09

"And can you say the same about yourself Ken? Can you say that you would be happy watching as she makes mistakes, finding men that won't treat her as well as you would? Are you going to be able to watch other men kiss her the way you want to? Can you watch as another man plays with Stefan? Are you willing to save her from another bad mistake when you wouldn't have to if she were dating you?

"I have been watching her Ken, and Connie has finally realized that you are the man she wants and needs. All you have to do now is to realize it yourself.

"Marcia and I did not have a chance to respond to what you said to us Friday night. We were shocked, but once we had time to think about it, we understood. We were treating you badly. You had every right to be upset, but you didn't react with anger as most men would, you were gentle and explained your feelings to us. Most men would have left in a huff, but you didn't. You were very considerate of us and of our feelings; you Ken, are the kind of man that I would want for Connie. If you look at yourself honestly, you would see that as well."

The clunk of the wheels locking into place for landing interrupted the conversation. Ken was silent during landing and the hassle of *deplaning.

There was a man holding a picture waiting for them at the main concourse.

"Hello folks, are you Mrs. Horne and Mr. Jacobs?"

"Yes we are. I assume that you are the man Walter Neilson hired."

"Yes ma'am, Wilbur sent me the picture and told me to watch for a big guy with his arm in a sling. I am George Munson at your service. Do you have any checked baggage?"

"No, we don't expect to stay here any longer than necessary so we didn't bring more than we could carry on board. Where is the little girl now?"

"She is with a foster family right now. I checked them out and she is in good hands, I rejected the first choice of social services; too many older kids in the house. You haven't been granted full custody yet Mr. Jacobs, but I told the judge about the run-around that your ex-wife has been giving you and he agreed that you could take over care of the child until a hearing can be held. After that stunt your ex pulled I don't expect there to be much trouble. The only person in the house who could be judged responsible is the grandmother, and she could only be granted custody if you didn't want it and Belinda moved out. You will have to come back here and bring Mallory for the hearing, but it won't be for at least 3 months. Belinda doesn't get out until then, this was her 3rd time D&D this year."

They were walking out into the parking lot while Munson was talking. "Here is my car, we can go pick up the girl as soon as you sign in at the police station. You are booked on the next flight back to San Francisco tomorrow, and I have two rooms for you at the Ramada Inn. I hope that is okay."

"That will be fine George. Ken and I thank you for all you have done for us. I know that I am going to like having a little girl living with us. She and Stefan should get along well together."

They drove to the police station where Ken and Marta both had to prove who they were. The officer asked about the sling, but Ken put him off, saying something about trees at the lodge. The supervisor then looked at the paperwork. "I see here that you have been making all of your child support payments, and when your income increased you bumped the payments as well. Very good young man, most guys in your situation would try to skip by with as little as possible. Your increase in payments is probably what contributed to your ex-wife's situation as well. The last couple of months she has been getting blitzed a lot more often, I guess she thought the extra money was for her use. I know this judge, and he will declare her incompetent for negligently endangering the safety of the child. Here is the address where your daughter is; I'll call and tell them to expect you. Good luck young man."

Ken couldn't sit still the entire trip to the house. It was located in an older suburb of Boise and had seen better days, but the split-level house had been well maintained. An older man with graying hair surrounding a bald spot opened the door. Beyond him could be seen a woman with the same graying hair and a little blond girl sitting on a sofa. The woman was reading to the girl.

"Good evening sir, I am Ken Jacobs and I am here to pick up my daughter."

As soon as Ken started speaking the girl lifted her head up and looked at the people in the doorway. She immediately jumped to the floor and ran across the room yelling "DAAADDY, DAAADDY." She ran right to Ken and grabbed him around his legs. She was spouting loads of gibberish, but about every third word was Daddy.

"Well I guess that answers that question; doesn't it mother? I'd say that there is no doubt as to this man's identity. We're going to miss this little dear, it has been a while since we took care of one so small, but she is a darling. Take good care of her please."

Ken had reached down and with his one arm he brought Mallory up to his level and hugged her tightly. "Oh my sweetie, I missed you so much. I don't ever want to let you go again." He turned and addressed the man, "You can count on that sir, and I want to thank you and your wife for watching my little one for me."

Back at the ranch; the three ladies left behind were sitting at the kitchen table with coffee.

"Consuela," Selena looked at her daughter, "Marcia has told me that you tricked Ken into taking you and another woman out this Friday. Would you like to tell me about it?"

"Oh mama, I am so confused. It was bad enough when I got out of the car and saw Ken standing there over that man, he was amazing. But at the hospital, oh my god, what a show." She turned to Marcia, "Were you able to see what he did?"

"No, I was being groped by a young hoodlum at the time. By the time the punk let me go it was all over. When I looked up Ken was standing over the guy with the gun in his hand. He looked like Doc Savage or Sgt. Rock with his shirt ripped off showing all those muscles on his tanned body. If your panties didn't get wet with that sight then, you are dead. He could have had any woman in the place had he but asked."

"Wet isn't the word, swamp is more like it. Like you I was grabbed by one of the goons, and he said that Donny was going to take me to Mexico with him. I was terrified and watching the man with the gun. Suddenly this long silver rod comes hurtling out of the hallway and Ken is running right behind it. The rod hits the gunman and he drops the gun and just folds in on himself. Ken is there immediately and picks up the gun. He had fire in his eyes when he looked at those men, and then he looked at me. The way his gaze changed from pure anger to affection and caring love is what made me wet. I thought that I was going to slowly dissolve into a puddle of goo. Then Barb came over and acted like he was going to go out with her, and I saw red. I was just about to get loud and angry, when I looked over at Marcia and remembered what happened the last time I had jumped at Ken. My anger cooled and I decided to take it easy and see what was going on before I got into trouble again."

"Very good daughter, I am proud of you. So what of my original question and what do you have in mind for the future?"

"Well, when I told him and Marcia about how the situation with Donny had come about, he was upset that I had been going out to the clubs alone. He said that he would go with me if I still wanted to go. I know that he meant as a guardian, but I chose to misinterpret him. I want him to hold me and dance with me. I want him to be mine and to show everyone what a marvelous man I have. I want him to show me just what the sisters have taught him about lovemaking. I want to have his children."

"Of course you do daughter, he has saved you from death and horror more than once now; the question is, will you still feel that way later?"

"I really think I will. He has been so kind to me and everyone here for so long I know that it is not an act like I thought at first. I realized that night when he looked at me that I had come to love him, and I wanted him to look at me a lot."

"Well what about this other woman? How does she fit into this?"

"Ken was still acting as if I were some fairy queen on a throne or something. I thought that when he saw that two women would be willing to fight for his attention, he might realize that he was worth having. I know that I am taking a chance that he will like her more than he does me, but I have two sister's on my side who know him better than anyone does. You will help me won't you Marcia?"

"Of course I will dear. Marta and I don't want to lose either of you. Now that I know you mean it I would be glad to help. The first thing I am going to be able to do I'm sure is to teach him to dance. He once confessed to me that he had never been to a dance. He was already getting rejected enough at school; he didn't need to add to that. You will have to sacrifice some time as well, he will need to practice what Marta and I teach him."

"Thank you Marcia; and about the other teaching you and your sister have been doing..."

"Hush dear; that is all over. Ken was talking to us about that when you got here Friday night. He was feeling uncomfortable about it and wanted to stop. The poor dear was correct of course, we were treating him like a gigolo. We didn't mean to, but we were. It is just as well too, I think Marta and I are going to be busy with the Neilson twins for a while. Don't worry though dear, Ken learned his lessons well, and you will be very happy if we can convince him to show you."