Sometimes Dreams are All You Have Ch. 01

"Seria, we are the only family either of us has. Pay your bill we will work it out later."

"Jake, I will cook for you clean your house, wash your clothes and be quiet as a little mouse. I will help you with homework. I will do about anything you want for being so good to me."

"Seria, we will go home and then go out and eat. I will expect you to do your share at our home. I will show you love and you will do the same for me. But if we ever knock boots it will be because we both want to and not for any debt of gratitude.

"Jake, I didn't know they made men like you. I thought the mold had been broken and your kind done away with. I have never been this happy in my whole life and who says knocking boots anymore?"

We got home and Seria was awed about everything in the house. She had her own room and bath. Everything was perfect in her room, she said. We had a washer and Dryer and a freezer and a fridge with an ice maker. We had a TV and cable. She would go and look at something and then come back and hug me for having it.

We got her things put up and I took her out to eat. We then bought groceries. She told me she cooked Mexican was that alright? I told her it was. We got home and she showered and put on a tank top and short shorts. She had a long neck and long dark hair, a beautiful face. She was about 5-7 and 120 with long legs and a butt that was a showstopper. I couldn't keep from looking at her. She just smiled at me watching her.

I finally had to go to my room and do some homework. She came in after she had changed into a sexy nightgown. She pulled me to her and kissed me and hugged me. "Night Jakie, my love, I love my new home and I thank you so much. Then she turned and walked out of my room with her butt causing a big commotion under her nightgown. She was watching me watch her butt and laughing at me again.

We got up the next morning and I made our lunches and breakfast as she picked up the house and made the beds and put clothes in the washer. We seemed to work together perfectly. She wanted to drive my truck so I let her. She was a good driver and obeyed all the traffic laws. She parked us where I usually parked and we went to our classes. We would see each other during breaks between classes. Sometimes we would walk together holding hands if we were going the same direction, other times she gave me a kiss on the cheek or a passing hug. We didn't do any PDA that was on the no no list.

Winter came and the old house had a fireplace and we would build a fire and sit around it. I kept a close check on Arthur. Seria would take supper over to him a lot. I was surprised how close she and Arthur had become. He never asked me about my relationship with Seria. I guess she had told him all about it. He didn't question how we lived or what we did. We took him out to eat and he sometimes took us out. Seria treated me like her boyfriend and Arthur accepted it.

Finally one day he brought up our conversation about my case or incident and wanted to know when we were going to talk about it.

So the next weekend Seria and I went over to his house and he had his whole table laid out for my deposition. He had a recorder and a video machine. He had me tell all about the night it happened and what I did and what the Cops said.

Then he started on my time at the Sheriff's office and being detained in the psychological ward and what they did and then my foster homes experience, then the orphanage and then the boys Ranch. The he questioned me about my family and how I was treated and about being not assigned an Advocate. How I wasn't informed about or consulted about the disposition of my family's estate. Then I told about getting my Uncle Jake to sign for me to get in the Marines at 17. I told about my time in the Marines and my experiences and the places I had gone to. Then getting out and using my savings and my GI bill to get into College which I was presently attending.

Seria cried through my whole deposition. She would come and hug me and then cry louder when some other heartbreaking thing happened to me. Sometimes Arthur would make her go in the other room until she could quieten down.

We spent all day with Arthur. We went back home as it was getting dark and Serif fixed us a meal. I was worn out emotionally and I told her I was going to bed. I took off my clothes and got in bed and I think I was asleep in two minutes. About 2 in the morning I realized Seria was in bed with me. She was hugged up and cuddling me and crying. I rose up and put my arms around her. She burst out crying again and told me, "My baby, I wish I could have been there for you when you were a little boy going through all that. You had nobody and all alone but you got me now baby and I will always be with you. I will never leave you no matter what. I will be your mommy and daddy and whatever you need for the rest of your life."

She hugged to me and I went back to sleep and dreamed of sleeping in a great bed so comfortable and clean smooth sheets and they smelled just so. My mom and dad both were tucking me in and telling me everything was going to be OK. I slept like when I was a little boy before my world caved in. I felt at peace.

That weekend I decided I wanted to go back home. Seria came with me and we drove down to Arlington. I thought I remembered where it was but we kept going by this gigantic Shopping Center. I finally stopped at an older looking Service Station. I went in and the older guy behind the register enlightened me. About 10 years previous the whole subdivision that I had lived in had been razed to make way for the giant Shopping Center across the road. All the streets I had know and rode my bike on were no longer there. The street I lived on was Howard Ave. and it no longer existed. How do you go back home when it was gone. I teared up thinking about it. Seria just hugged me and took my hand and held it as we went back to my pickup.

I drove back home. On the way I was thinking that all my past was gone. The home I had remembered, the neighborhood I remembered no longer existed. I thought about my family and I couldn't remember going to their funeral. Did no body let me go to their funeral? Where were they buried?

When I got home I called Arthur and presented him with these questions and again he couldn't believe I had been done that way.

Seria and I got into a routine and we both were happy. We weren't lovers just good friends and considered ourselves a family. We took mini vacations together. We just got a motel with two beds and what ever happened was nobody's business. But nothing happened we both liked being a part of something we never had, a family.

Arthur had a son in Law that was a Lawyer also and a very good one. He was going to take my case and Arthur would consult. We found out that Dad's sister my Aunt Jane and her husband, who was also a Lawyer had settled my family's estate. At the first meeting before a Judge Uncle Jack Haywood, the Lawyer told the Judge that he had all the paper work on the estate. He was told that they would be another meeting in three months and he would have to present all documentation at that time.

I was in attendance and when Aunt Jane and Uncle Jack found out who I was they went ballistic. I ignored them but they wanted a meeting with me. The Judge ended the meeting and James Johnson, who was my lawyer agreed to a meet with Arthur consulting. The meeting was in two weeks.

Arthur had done the financials on the Haywood's. They were financially well off and Arthur figured they owed me 3.8 million as it's worth in today's dollars for what they had taken from my parents estate. At the meeting it was asserted that I had signed a document letting Uncle Jack represent me.

Arthur shredded their case, telling them he could prove I didn't sign that document. That Uncle Jack was guilty of Fraud. Arthur outlined all he was going to do and by the time he got through Aunt Jane and Uncle Jack was pale. He presented what he knew about their financials and what they owed me. Then they started to try to shame me for taking their children's college funds and they would have to sell their home. Then Arthur told them how he was going to put them on the stand and when he got through I would have everything they owned. They left in a huff but apparently hired another lawyer to represent them. He called Arthur and offered a 1 million dollar settlement and Arthur laughed at him. When they found out that it would take 3.8 million to settle they decided to go to Court.

When we got to Court and James and Arthur got them on the stand and crossed them and brought out all that had happened to me and what they hadn't done for me and what they had done to me the Judge was outraged. When it was said and done the Judge set a judgement at a cool 4 million and Uncle Jack was charged with Fraud. All their assets were frozen and were to be confiscated in three months if the judgement was not satisfied. They and their children were outraged and screaming insults at me and threats. The Judge put them all under a Restraining Order right then.

They were smart enough to shut up. But I took the threats seriously. Arthur advised me to take a vacation. So Seria and I discussed it for a week. We had our passports current and she wanted to take me to Mexico where her Mexican grandmother lived and for us to stay with her. The grandmother didn't get along with Seria's mother but loved Seria who had never told her about her problems with her mother. Seria had a Junker car that we left at the house. We moved all our valuables to Arthur's house. We got some timers to turn on and off our lights so people would think we were home. We took off to Mexico. We got to Seria's grandmothers and I fell in love with her. She was so good to Seria and me. We loved her to death and invited her to come live with us when we got past all our problems.

We were down there for about a month when Arthur called me and told me that someone had blown up my house. Then he told me that he had put cameras all around the house and they had captured everything. The police had the pictures and arrested the bombers/arsonists. They had rolled over on Uncle Jack and he was in Jail under attempted Murder and terrorist acts plus fraud. He was not allowed to post bail. Aunt Jane had hastily come up with my 4 million dollar settlement which Arthur had put in the Bank for me. Aunt Jane wanted to talk to me hoping that I might help since it was me that they had tried to kill. I marveled at her gall. Arthur told me she had to sell everything they had and cash in most their stocks and bonds. She even had to sell her children's expensive cars. They were bankrupt and the kids had to drop out of College. They didn't even have the money for a good Attorney for Uncle Jack.

I was a little sorry for them but I remembered crying as a little boy because I had no one or no place to be. They had no pity on me so they just reaped what they had sown.

Seria and I went back to Gainesville. She had graduated the past June. She didn't attend her graduation ceremony as it happened when the trial was going on and she wanted to be with me. She said it didn't matter to her. No one really cared but me and I couldn't be there so she would be with me.

We rented a furnished apartment for temporary housing. I had three more years of college and Seria was on a quest to find a job. We didn't know exactly what our future held for us. But we both were really excited about it. We were in a better place than we had ever been in our adult life.