Now I'm Here

"Thank you for taking in Sammy."

"She wouldn't let anyone touch her. They were about to call in Child Protective Services because you weren't waking up and they were bringing you here, but when I was in the hallway, she heard me talking and ran out to me. I told them I was your brother-in-law and since she wouldn't let anyone but me touch her, they let me take her."

"I'm sorry you had to get involved."

He shushed me. "Don't worry about me. I'm glad to be here for you. I'm just mad the cops didn't let me get a shot in on that bastard boyfriend of yours. I offered them a thousand bucks to leave me alone with him for one minute. They declined."

"What happened?" I still didn't know what Dave did to me. All I knew was I hurt all over.

"Well, all I could gather was he broke into the apartment and attacked you. You've got two broken arms, a broken rib, and some bruising. He must have been kicking you while you were on the ground and he probably knocked you out first, because you don't have any defensive wounds. Can I get you anything?"

I chuckled and I felt the broken rib which made me wince.

"Maybe my phone? I need to let Mom know I'm okay."

"You're far from okay, Jenny, but don't worry about that. I've been in constant contact with my dad and your mom. They're engaged, by the way"

"I know. That's why I was on the phone with her."

"Good. I'm really happy for them. Anyway. They know everything I know, and they are coming back as soon as they can figure out how to leave the cruise and fly back."

I started sobbing again and it hurt. "Adam must hate me. I ruined his engagement cruise."

"Jenny, stop worrying about that stuff. I promise you; my dad does not hate you. This was not your fault."

"What happened to Dave?"

"Jail, for now. I don't know what he was charged with, but at a minimum it should be breaking and entering and aggravated battery because you were unconscious, and he kept kicking you. He's looking at real jailtime."

"Good."

By that time Josh had sat in the chair next to my bed and Sammy fell asleep with her head tucked into his chest.

"She didn't sleep very well last night. She had some nightmares and with being in a strange bed, she was out of sorts, you know?"

"I'm just glad she was safe. Thank you, again. You have no idea what it means to me that you took her with you."

"Don't worry about it. You have much bigger problems in the short term."

"What's that?" I asked wondering what could be worse.

"You have two broken arms."

I was so sidetracked I hadn't even thought about that. I began to cry again. There was no way I could work. I couldn't cook dinner, bathe, do anything that Sammy needed. I was fucked.

"You're going to be fine. Your mom's trying to come back as soon as possible, and I'm here until then."

"I can't make you..."

"You're not making me do anything. I'm glad to help. Heck, I'm your future brother-in-law. We're family now."

"Who is going to help me with my, um, personal things?"

"Oh. Well, I suppose we'll just play that by ear, huh?" He laughed although I could tell he was uncomfortable with the idea.

"Maybe one of my friends will help until Mom gets home? I wish I knew when I was getting out of here and when my mom is coming home."

"I'm sure you'll be in here at least one more day. I can manage Sammy, so that's no problem."

I looked at him and sighed. I knew I was going to be screwed.

*****

I woke the next day, got poked and prodded, gave them a breakfast order and fell back asleep. I was woken later by Josh bursting into the room singing a Sinatra song while holding Sammy in the air as she pretended to be an airplane. It hurt to laugh at them, but it was worth the pain.

"Good morning, sunshine," he called out.

"Put me down, Misser Josh," my daughter shrieked. He did and she ran to the side of my bed. How I wished I could reach down and hug her. She stroked my cast and asked, "Does that hurt, Mommy? Misser Josh says I have to be careful."

"That doesn't hurt, sweetie, but he's right. You do have to be careful."

She ignored me as she felt the texture of the cast.

"I have good news and bad news," Josh said as he sat beside me.

I looked over, "Bad news first."

"I couldn't get in your apartment. The police locked it up. I can't get your phone or clothes."

"That's okay, Mom has a spare key. What's the good news?"

"Your mom will be home tomorrow."

"Thank God!" I sighed. "I'll be in here one more day so that works out great."

He smirked and said, "For you, maybe. I was looking forward to the sponge baths."

Oh, my God!

Was he flirting with me? There was no way he was flirting. He must have just been joking. I decided to ignore it and turned my attention to my daughter.

"Hey, littles, did you have breakfast?"

She nodded and giddily answered, "Misser Josh took me for chocolate chip pancakes. They looked like Mickey Mouse too."

Josh laughed and said, "I had no idea she could get so messy."

It was then I noticed she was wearing new clothes. "Where did you get the clothes, Josh?"

"We went shopping. I couldn't exactly have her sleeping naked could I?"

Sammy giggled.

"I got all the essentials I could think of, some more that Sammy told me I needed, like animal crackers and goldfish, and more essentials that your mom told me to get. I think I'm covered for a while." He laughed.

I frowned. "I'm sorry you had to do that; I'll pay you back."

He shook his head no. "Stop it. It's no problem. Although if she keeps eating, she may not fit in the bed anymore." His laugh was a baritone blast of joy. It was soothing and turned me on at the same time.

*****

The next morning, Sammy burst into my room as the doctor was giving me care instructions. Josh followed behind her wearing a suit and damn! He looked good.

The doctor finished and left. I looked at Josh as he set Sammy up with a coloring book and crayons. "You're dressed well." Then I realized he must have been missing work. I had no idea what he did for a living. "I'm sorry, you must be missing a lot of work." I felt awful.

He smiled, "I needed a break anyway. I couldn't take today off though. I have to be in court this morning."

"Oh? Are you a lawyer?"

"Yeah, but one of the good ones," he laughed at his own joke.

"Are there good ones?" I played along.

"I like to think so. I work for a charity. We help homeowners that are facing foreclosure, renters that are facing eviction, stuff like that. We help them for free."

"Really? Wow. Who pays for all that?" I was impressed.

"We had an original benefactor that funded us at the beginning. He's the Chairman of the Board and drives our fundraising efforts nowadays. He made his wealth in the banking industry and felt he needed to give back to the community. In fact, while he was still CEO of one of the big banks, the board pushed him out for freezing foreclosures after the mortgage meltdown of 2008. He felt he couldn't foreclose on people who were taken advantage of by unscrupulous business practices."

"If he knew they were so bad, why did he let it happen?" I asked.

"His bank didn't do the riskier loans that got many of those homeowners into trouble. Where he made his mistake was agreeing for his bank to merge with a failing bank. They took on a lot of good loans and they had a lot of bank branches in areas his bank wasn't, but there were a lot of toxic situations that eventually came home to roost."

"You seem impressed by him."

Josh laughed, "I love him. So does your mom."

"Adam?"

He nodded. "Dad doesn't brag about it, and I don't tell anyone it's him, but since we're about to be family, I figure I can bring you into the circle of trust."

"I won't tell anyone. But if your dad's cat starts flushing the toilet, I'm running away."

We laughed and I realized when I was with him, I didn't think of Dave or my problems.

A few minutes later, my mom burst into the room with Adam a step behind her. The look of concern on his face told me that he cared for me as well as loving my mother.

"Are you all right? God! That was stupid. Obviously, you're not."

"I'm as good as can be mom. Josh has been amazing."

She hugged him and cried. "I don't know what I did to deserve you two amazing men, but I thank God every day, I found you."

Adam rolled his eyes as he touched my shoulder. "Can I do anything. Do you need me to call anyone? Get you anything?"

I shook my head. "No. I was already told by work that I would be let go." Everyone gasped. "I'll have to be rehired and that's only if they have an opening when I'm healed."

Josh got angry. "I'll have them in court by Monday. I'll get an injunction and make them hire you back so fast their heads will spin. They've made the biggest mistake of their lives, messing with you," He hustled out of the room before anyone could say anything.

I looked at Adam and he laughed. "Once he sets his mind on something, it's hard to slow him down."

"He doesn't know where I work," I said. Adam and Mom laughed. Then I saw Josh walk back into the room.

"Where do you work?" He asked quietly.

We all burst into laughter.

"Josh, it's not worth your time. I work in a warehouse shipping department. I can't do anything with two broken arms, and I didn't do it on the job."

"Maybe, it's not exactly an unlawful termination, but I can scare them into keeping you employed and on a leave of absence, until you're healthy?"

"Please, don't. I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I don't want you to get involved. You hardly know me."

He groaned and threw his head back. "We're family now. You have a free attorney any time you need me."

Adam smiled, took my mom's hand, and added, "And we will make sure you have anything else you need."

Mom nodded her head vigorously. She had more tears running down her cheeks. She really did hit the jackpot meeting Adam.

*****

I fought tooth and nail and lost the battle for where I would live while healing. My mother insisted I move in with her and Adam in his large house. I refused because I didn't want his life impacted by my poor choices anymore. It was bad enough I had to live with my mistakes. He shouldn't have to put up with them too.

Adam didn't take me home after we left the hospital. He had a car seat for Sammy already and drove straight to Taco Bell without asking. I shook my head as I realized my mother must have told him more about me than I knew. She knew I always liked to have Taco Bell when I was in an emotional mood. I didn't know why bean burritos were so soothing to my bad mental states, but they always cheered me up. I had no idea how I was going to eat with both arms in casts, stuck at 90 degrees, bent at the elbow.

After a lunch filled with my tears and Sammy's giggling at my inability to eat, we pulled up to his house and I was shocked at the size of his property. The house was huge, but the land around his house seemed to go on for miles.

"Wow!" I whispered.

"Your mom tried to dump me after the first time I brought her here. She said I had no business dating a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks," said Adam sadly. "Thank God! I convinced her to continue to see me."

"You didn't tell me that, Mom?"

"It wasn't any of your concern, Jenny. I thank God every day that Adam is blind enough to love me."

Everyone was silent as we walked into the house. House was too small of a word. I wasn't sure mansion was a big enough word.

"Jenny," Adam said as we walked into a large room with decorations that looked more expensive than anything I ever owned added up, "My, our, home is your home. You are welcome to enjoy any room at any time. Don't feel uncomfortable and don't bother to ask for permission to do anything. You have free run of the house and that includes the hot tub."

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "Thank you, Adam. I'm sorry to be..."

"Enough of that talk!" he sighed. Then he pulled me in for a hug. "When your mother and I marry next month, you're going to be family. I consider you as such now and I won't have my family feeling as if they are a burden on me. You need help for a while, and we will make your lay up as comfortable as we can. Will you please allow me to take care of you and please don't worry about me being somehow inconvenienced?"

"I'm sorry," I cried. "I'm not..." I couldn't speak. Mom grabbed me and helped me to the couch where Sammy climbed on my lap.

"Don't cry, Momma. Look! Misser Josh says I can play with that."

She climbed down and walked over to the piano in the corner. We winced as she struck the keys noisily.

Adam laughed, "Josh has been staying here with her. He thought she would be more comfortable here than in his bachelor's apartment. Listen, why don't we get you settled into your room. Sammy's room is next door and Josh's old room is across the hall. He uses it when he stays here."

"Okay, thank you."

He continued, "When Josh gets here after court, we have to have a difficult conversation about the future and, well, I guess it's more uncomfortable than it is difficult. As you can see, I've got money. That's going to have an impact on your mom and your lives going forward. We need to talk about that stuff, and I don't like to keep secrets, okay?"

"Why is Josh coming here?" I asked Mom as Adam left the room.

She laughed, "Because you're here, of course." She walked out of the room leaving me stunned.

*****

I couldn't do anything with my arms, so I was useless for anything Sammy needed except hugs and those hurt if she was too rough due to my ribs. Mom had to do everything and surprisingly Adam enjoyed playing and coloring with her as well. I could hear her giggling across the house as he chased her around, while I sat in the prison of my room watching television.

I woke from a boredom nap to the sound of Josh's comforting voice. "Sorry to wake you. Dad wants to talk to us in his office. How are you doing, other than the obvious?"

"The drugs are working. I guess that's why I was so sleepy." I tried to rise from the plush chair but couldn't use my arms to push, so I was stuck.

"Let me help you," he smiled.

I didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't him leaning forward and wrapping his arms around me. His muscles tightened as his warm breath crossed my ear. I hoped he didn't notice the goosebumps he gave me.

"There we go," he said as he lifted me to a standing position. For a brief moment, he held me and looked into my eyes. God! It was as if he could see into my soul.

He smiled and touched my cheek as he pulled away. "You're light as a feather."

I laughed and said, "You said you're a good lawyer. I guess lying 101 is a class you all take in Law School."

"Careful, Jenny. Next time you can get out of the chair by yourself." He laughed and put his arm around my waist to lead me out. I loved when he touched me.

We walked into the lavish office and Josh announced, "I've got the patient, Dad."

"Good. Have a seat, kids. This won't take long." Adam pointed to a pair of leather chairs that were straight out of an old movie. Brown leather with arms and high backs. The room smelled of cigar smoke and a well-used fireplace. I loved it all.

Mom sat on a couch to our left and Adam sat behind his desk. He began, "Jenny, this is mostly for your benefit as I've already talked to your mom and Josh is always up to speed on the family wealth." He looked at me for my reaction, but I had none other than wondering what it had to do with me.

"Jenny, without going into numbers, I want to tell you what you're being pulled into as a member of our family. I know you're an adult and have your own life to live, but there are certain things that my children, which includes you as my stepdaughter, will be involved with. For example, I funded and am the chairman of the board for the charity where Josh is employed. As one of my children, you'll be expected to attend the fund-raisers we have throughout the year. There's one every quarter, culminating with a large ball at Christmastime."

I looked at Mom who was all smiles as she nodded. "Okay, I can handle that," I said.

"Good, but there are some negatives as well. I try to stay out of the public eye as much as possible, but due to my former status as CEO of some worldwide companies, I have a somewhat public persona. That requires my family to live their lives cleanly, do you understand?"

"I don't do drugs, Adam," I spat.

"Oh! God, no. I didn't mean to sound as if I were accusing you of that. Please forgive me."

I nodded.

"What I'm trying to say is that any questionable or illegal activity by my family would be looked at negatively towards the charity. It's not fair, but that's the way it is. It also means that any investments you make have to be legitimate and legal as well."

I laughed.

He looked at my mother then back to me, "What's so funny?"

"Adam, I live in a run-down apartment. I drive a car that is I don't even know how old. I work in a warehouse. You don't have to worry about my investments being illegal, I don't have any."

He gave me a warm smile and said, "Jenny, as part of our family, you're going to be in a better position than you have ever dreamed. Your mom has signed a prenuptial agreement that will limit what she will get from my pre-marriage assets, but any future money I make will be split with her freely. Jenny, I love your mother with all of my soul, and I know she loves me the same. I'm giving her an open line of credit to spend on whatever she needs, except for one caveat I gave her."

"What was that?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

He walked around and knelt before me. "Honey, I've told your mother to buy you and Sammy a house nearby. Your mother will officially be retired after the wedding, and we would like to be as near to you and Sammy as possible."

I gasped. I couldn't believe it. The tears fell before I realized I was crying.

"Jenny, if you'd be willing to accept, We will pay for you to go back to college as well. I know having Sammy made you drop out of school and with your mom still working, she couldn't help and watch her. Now she can. We can, and we will be happy to help."

I tried to put my face in my hands, but I couldn't because of the casts. Josh was wiping the tears from my eyes and the snot from my nose as I sobbed. "Why? I don't deserve..."

"Whoa! You deserve it and more," Mom said.

"If I could move my arms around you, I'd hug you," I said to Adam.

He smiled and cupped my cheek, "Welcome to the family."

******

After that meeting, my life became a whirlwind. My mother was excited about buying me a house, so we spent hours online every day looking at homes for sale. She asked me to be her Maid of Honor, and even though it was going to be a small ceremony, more hours each day were spent on wedding planning. I was less than useless in taking care of myself, so Mom had to wash me in the shower and that was embarrassing. Finally, Josh seemed to move into the house and was always around. The worst thing about that was the constant state of arousal in which I lived.

I swear, that man never wore a full shirt in the house. He was either shirtless or in a tank top and he was ripped like an Olympic athlete. I was desperate to relieve my sexual tension and tried in vain to come up with a way I could rub my kitty. With my arms casted at 90 degrees, they didn't reach far enough to put out the fire. It was no use; I was destined to remain horny.

Sammy wanted to use the pool one sunny morning, so Josh volunteered to swim with her. Mom and Adam were shopping, so he was the only option to help.

I sat on a lounge chair in a tank top and shorts, while Josh wore a clingy pair of swim trunks that left nothing to my imagination. He was very well endowed, and I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I groaned from the discomfort of the tingling between my legs as I was stuck watching him play and splash with Sammy. Suddenly, I realized I forgot to ask Josh to put sunscreen on Sammy.