Wealth Pt. 02

"Uh huh?" Henry smiled looking up from the Astin Martin a potential customer was sitting in.

"Better call Shirley and give her the news; I don't think Caitlin's in any shape right now," Barry smiled, pointing to the sobbing Caitlin seated in his car.

"I'm on it," Henry laughed. "Congratulations."

"Hey, you got one of these; how you like it?" the potential client popped out of the car and looked at Barry's.

"Love it, love it almost as much as my father in law does," Barry smiled.

"You let him drive it?' the man asked, eyes wide in disbelief. "Bull shit I'm letting anyone drive mine!"

"Don't have to," Barry smiled. "Just tell them where you got it and let them know they can get one too."

"I love you Daddy," Caitlin sobbed into the phone as Barry got back in and backed out of the parking lot.

"My Daddy says congratulations," Caitlin sniffled , wiping her face with the back of her hand.

"Here," Barry said, handing her a handkerchief. "Yeah, told me the same thing at lunch."

At the Delacroix home, Toni hustled a sweaty Anita into her bathroom and swung open the glass door of the walk in shower.

"Toni, come on, I got to pee," Anita complained.

"Hold it, like just a few more minutes, all right?" Toni said, stripping out of her sweaty clothes.

She kissed Anita, almost frantically, unsnapping Anita's jeans shorts.

"I want, like I want you to pee on me," Toni said, blushing hotly.

"You what?" Anita asked, sliding her jeans and panties down her tanned legs.

"You know, like, put your pussy on mine and like pee all over like my pussy and stuff," Toni asked.

"You're serious, right?" Anita asked and noticed that Toni was rubbing her wet slit quite hard.

Toni lay on the floor of the large enclosure and Anita lay on top of her, her hairless crotch pressed against Toni's light blonde thatch.

It took a moment for Anita to relax her bladder and Toni gasped with glee as the hot urine began to splash against her drooling pussy lips.

Here," Toni wiggled until the hot stream was striking her clitoris.

Toni wrapped her legs around Anita's legs, holding her in place and the two kissed until Toni stiffened in orgasm.

"Here, let me clean you up," Toni ordered and pushed Anita back into a sitting position.

she then lay on the floor and lapped at Anita's pussy, then sucked on Anita's fat little clitoris until Anita shuddered in her own orgasm.

"Don't expect me to clean yours," Anita warned as she weakly got to shaky legs and turned on her showerhead.

"Aw! Why not?" Toni laughed as she adjusted her own shower.

"Mees Toni, Mees Anita, you deener ready," they heard Miss Alvarez call out.

"Be right there!" both girls called out.

Chapter 20

Vee Aucoin, the meteorologist for Performance 12 News did predict rain so the graduation was being held in the auditorium of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Louisa and Marco sat, very uncomfortable in their ill-fitting clothes, and looked around at the other parents and families and friends. Luther had made good on his promise; he did not attend. Both Marco and Louisa smiled proudly when Brother Dominick called Anita to the podium.

"Man, wish I'd have gone to this school," Marco said, looking around and nodding to a young lady he assumed was looking at him. "I mean, shit! Look at all them fine ass bitches, huh?"

"Hi, I'm Anita Michelle Lopez and I'm a charity case," Anita said in a clear, strong voice. "Someone else paid for my tuition, someone else bought my school uniforms, someone else paid for my books, and my lunches and my bus fare."

She looked around at the people that faced her.

"I knew this school was different before I even set foot on the pavement right outside those doors," Anita went on. "My first morning, as I got on the bus that would take me to my new school, the bus driver said 'Good Morning,' not 'Hurry up.'"

She paused to let the titters die down, then continued.

five minutes later, Anita was wrapping her speech up.

"So, I'm a charity case," she concluded. "Someone else paid for my tuition and simply saying 'thank you' to that person, or persons is not enough. To my unknown benefactors; you may have paid for my tuition, but what you bought me was hope and I can never repay you for that. Thank you."

"Yay Anita!" both Miss Alvarez and Louisa screamed out over the thunderous applause.

Brother Dominick looked on in confusion as Antoinette Delacroix stepped up to Anita and both girls approached him.

"Brother Dominick, this check is from A And A Soaps," Anita said, handing him a check for twenty thousand dollars.

"We like, we want to buy someone else hope," Toni said, smiling happily.

Brother Dominick looked at the check, then looked at the smiling girls.

"Is this, is this real?" he asked and the girls giggled excitedly.

There was more applause as the two girls scampered to sit back down with their classmates.

"Parents, families, friends, I'm stunned, I really, I mean, I really cannot believe this," Brother Dominick said, again looking at the check. "This is the first time I've ever been given a check like this from two students that are graduating."

"Thank you, girls, thank you Toni and Anita. And, yes, yes, I will use it to buy someone else hope."

"And now, our school valedictorian. Boyd Eastman. Mr. Eastman managed to maintain a four point oh grade point average, despite being our quarterback, the point guard for our basketball team, and the third baseman for our baseball team, as well as being involved in our Drama Club. "

Boyd smiled self-consciously as he approached the podium, speech in hand.

"Uh, hey, uh, Brother Dominick, thanks for making me go after Anita Lopez, huh? How am I supposed to top that?" he asked and there were some good natured titters from the crowd.

Boyd may have been in the Drama Club, but public speaking was not his forte, even with his oversized ego. Everyone was fidgeting as he drew to the close of his three minute speech.

"And that's why, tomorrow morning, I'm leaving for boot camp; I've joined the United States Marine Corps; Hoo rah!" he concluded.

"Oh my God!" Toni said and felt a sting of tears.

True, she had not loved Boyd; she had not even liked him, but he was still a part of her small world.

"Our salutorian , Susan Couvillion, also maintained a four point oh for the five years she attended St. Thomas Aquinas as well as being quite active in cheerleading and only missed being our valedictorian by one point," Brother Dominick said.

Susan staggered up to the podium, bumped her chin on the microphone and backed away, startled when it gave a squeal.

"Wow, these things are fucking loud, huh?" Susan said, staring transfixed at the microphone.

"Did she just..." more than one person asked the person sitting next to them.

"Hey y'all," Susan said cheerfully. "My sister Kay? Got out of prison like two days ago, hey Kay! And she and me, we smoked up a bunch of dope then we fucked some brothers and scored some killer fucking heroin I am like so unbelievably fucked up and..."

"Miss Couvillion! That is enough!" Brother Dominick snarled, pushing her away from the podium.

"Oh, okay, thank y'all," Susan said and staggered back to the uncomfortable folding chair and sat, humming happily to herself.

After the diplomas had been handed out, Marco and Louisa stood, unsure of where to go or what to do. Both watched as a still stoned, still uncomprehending Susan Couvillion was dragged by her enraged step-father toward his Mercedes-Benz.

Louisa perked up when an incredibly handsome man with curly blonde hair approached her, wide smile on his face.

"Miss Lopez? Hi, Barry Delacroix," the man said, reaching out his hand.

"Oh, uh, hi, uh, this is Marco, Anita's brother," Louisa said, even more acutely aware of her shabby clothing and sweat and body odor.

"Marco, how are you?" Barry smiled and gave Marco's hand a firm shake.

"Miss Lopez, we're all going to Side By Side for dinner, please say you'll come with us," Barry continued.

"Oh, uh, we um," Louisa stammered, very self-conscious around this man that exuded such confidence, such power.

"Come on, Mama; you can ride in my car," Anita said, smiling hopefully.

"I uh, know what? Yeah, I'd like that a lot," Louisa admitted.

Miss Alvarez had seen Barry walk up to the short, extremely obese woman, walked over to where Anita, Toni, and several of their friends were chattering, laughing, screaming.

"That you Madre?" Miss Alvarez asked quietly, pointing.

"Yes ma'am," Anita admitted.

"Go, you go say you glad she come see you graduate," Miss Alvarez ordered.

Miss Alvarez then fixed Toni with a stare and Toni walked to where her mother and Ed stood, clearly uncomfortable in their clothing and in their surroundings.

"Mother, Ed, we're like going to Side By Side for dinner; like y'all come? Please?" Toni asked.

"Side by..." Darlene said, confused.

"It's like the newest steak house in Bender," Toni said, then clapped her hand over her mouth. "Oh! But it's like meat and stuff!"

"Know what?" Ed said magnanimously. "Come on Darlene, let's poison our bodies this one night, huh?"

"Can I get a beer?" Darlene asked him.

"Oh, hell, make it two; one for you and one for me," he smiled.

At Side By Side, BJ, Michael, and Heather St. Martin stood and waited for their very first customers.

"Can't believe Ann Snot Yet is already old enough to graduate high school," Michael said for the hundredth time.

"Can't believe you are either," BJ shot back and smiled at Heather's giggle.

When Caitlin had texted Barry to open his own steak house, it had started his wheels turning.

BJ was a manager of a casino in St. Ann, Louisiana. Michael had been a bus boy, then waiter at La Scalia Italian restaurant, working his way through college.

Patrick had also been enthusiastic about opening a steak house, but really enjoyed his job at St. Elizabeth Trauma Center far too much to consider joining his brothers in the restaurant.

"And here we go," Michael said as Barry's Astin Martin pulled up.

Anita stood with her fidgeting mother and brother, unsure of the seating arrangement, until a smiling Barry pointed to the seat two seats over from his right. On his left hand side, Caitlin already sat, smiling happily.

"My daughter, Toni, will be sitting here," Barry said to Louisa, making her feel important, feel a part of the occasion. "Then Anita and then Anita's family; is Luther joining us?"

"Uh no, he uh, he's kind of..." Louisa stammered.

"Oh, what a shame; I know he would have enjoyed the ceremony; wasn't that a wonderful speech Anita gave tonight?" Barry said and welcomed other guests.

"Uh, yeah, how much that check you gave that old guy?" Marco asked, ignoring Louisa's murderous glare.

"Good evening," Heather called out cheerfully. "And congratulations to the class of two thousand thirteen!"

She smiled as the patrons applauded and nodded to her uncle Henry St. Martin and Aunt Shirley.

"And we'd like to welcome you to Side By Side; you're our first customers! We will be serving rib eye tonight, with baked potato, please let your server know how you want your steak prepared and what you would like on your potato. An interesting fact about Side By Side; the cooking is done in a charcoal pit and the cooking area itself reaches twelve hundred degrees. This extreme heat helps sear the outside and seals in the delicious flavor of the USDA prime cuts served here at Side By Side. Before we begin serving, does anyone have any food allergies?" Heather asked. "There are yeast rolls and those dishes on the tables have our own cinnamon brown butter so let's see, that's glutens and dairy and our green beans have slivered almonds. Anyone?"

"Hey, what's Michael and BJ doing here?" Caitlin asked as Toni's brothers began bringing out baskets of rolls.

"Well, since this is our restaurant, they work here," Barry said casually.

Caitlin looked around then looked at Barry.

"We own this?" she asked.

"We? What's this 'we' stuff?" BJ asked, putting down a basket of rolls.

"Shut up, BJ," Caitlin ordered and looked at Barry.

"What is this?" Marco asked, looking with suspicion at the salad Heather served.

"Endive salad," Anita said, putting a hand on his to stop him. "Mr. Barry hasn't said the blessing yet."

"Friends, family, guests," Barry smiled, rapping on his glass to get their attention. "Thank you so much for joining us on this special occasion."

He said a simple blessing to which both Toni and Anita chimed in with "And God bless the cook!"

"Marco, Mr. Barry owns this; maybe you could get on here?" Anita offered.

"Maybe as manager," Marco sneered. "Bull shit I'm low enough serve anybody."

"Oh, I consider it an honor to serve," Heather said easily as she poured him a glass of iced water.

"Marco, you don't start off as manager," Anita rolled her eyes at his arrogance. "You start off as bus boy and work your way up."

"Shit!" Marco sneered, after checking that the gorgeous red head with the large breasts was out of ear shot; his last faux pas having embarrassed him tremendously.

"But you'd have to shave that crap off your face," Anita said, grimacing at Marco's attempt at growing a mustache.

"Hey, the ladies love this," Marco preened.

"Name one," Anita challenged.

Louisa watched as Anita ate, watched her daughter's elegance, her poise. She acted as if she ate such fare every day, used fine china and elegant silverware at every meal.

Louisa looked at the simple yet obviously expensive dress her daughter wore, noticed the elegant hairstyle, and noticed how the girl's black hair shone and caught the light, looking almost dark blue. She saw the diamond earrings her daughter wore, the simple gold chain and the gold crucifix around her neck.

Louisa knew the girl, knew she had given birth to her, but felt as if she was sitting across from a total stranger.

Louisa felt embarrassed; she'd scrounged together twenty five dollars and had bought a seven dollar card for her daughter but now understood how small, how insignificant that twenty five dollars was. Just this meal alone was a seventy dollar meal.

"So why'd you name this place Side By Side?" Caitlin asked Barry.

Darlene glared with bitterness at the young girl; true, she had been the one to divorce Barry, but he had no right to be happy. And to be happy with such an incredibly young girl; it was unthinkable, ludicrous.

"Because, the very best things in life are not alone," Barry explained. "They're side by side. Like a steak and a baked potato. A good rainstorm and a rainbow. You and me."

"Aw!" Caitlin sighed.

"For dessert, " Heather said as she refilled Anita's water glass. "You have your choice of raspberry cheesecake, an icebox Mocha pie, or a banana pudding."

"I can't have all three?" Marco asked her.

"Sir, they're pretty big," Heather said.

"You haven't seen me eat," Marco bragged.

"The icebox pie for me, " Anita said quietly. "May I have coffee with that, please?"

"Of course ma'am," Heather said, smiling.

"While we're waiting for our dessert, I'd just like to say a few words about how proud I am of my daughter, or should I say 'daughters?'" Barry said, getting to his feet.

He praised Toni's accomplishments, then included Anita in his monologue.

"Toni brings this young lady into our home; such a polite young lady, Ms. Lopez, you did such a wonderful job of raising such a courteous, graceful and considerate young lady. Looking at you, I can see where she gets her beauty and her grace from; you really are to be commended for raising such a terrific young lady," Barry went on.

Louisa wanted to crawl under the table; she had not raised the girl Barry Delacroix was speaking of. She didn't even know the girl any longer.

After he finished, Toni, then Anita hugged him.

Ed, Darlene's boyfriend, then had to make an utter and complete ass of himself by giving an impromptu speech congratulating Toni and Anita which included some references to Toni's juicy rear end and Anita's incredible breasts, and of course concluded with a lecture on global warming

"Well, I uh, I'm not much on giving public speeches," Ed Weinstein said. "I just really want to say how proud I am of Caitlin. God, I truly am one of the luckiest men I know. God gave me such a beautiful, wonderful daughter and then a few years later, God gave me another wonderful and beautiful daughter when Briah came into my life. Theresa? Thank you for Caitlin and Briah; I'm grateful."

"And you're not much for public speaking?" Barry laughed. "Ed, that was just so damned beautiful!"

"No long speech out of me," Michael said as he began pouring coffee. "Just want to say I'm proud of my two sisters, Toni and BJ."

"Hey, butt hole!" BJ protested, laughing.

"Oops," Michael smiled over the laughter of the gathering. "I've always been proud of Toni, proud to be her big brother."

"Like whatever," Toni smiled.

"Anita, I am very proud of you too," Michael said. "That speech you gave was just inspiring, really inspiring from start to finish. God bless the bus drivers, huh? And what can I say about Caitlin? Just a terrific and wonderful young woman."

"And the same for me," BJ agreed. Toni, love you, proud of you. Caitlin, love you, proud of you, Anita, love you, proud of you, and thank you for coming into our lives. And Caitlin? I'm still not going to call you 'Mom,' you hear?"

Patrick felt Barry's foot nudge him under the table so he stood up.

"Ditto for me," he said and sat back down.

He smiled as his father's foot nudged him a little harder.

"Ms. Lopez, would you like to say anything?" Barry asked gently.

"Uh I uh, well, of course I'm real proud of my daughter," Louisa stammered then stopped, blushing hotly.

"Aren't we all?" BJ said, placing a comforting hand on the woman's plump shoulder. "That speech was just so beautiful I almost cried."

"Yeah, how much was that check, huh?" Marco asked again.

Theresa said a simple 'proud of you' and the guests then focused on their dessert and coffee.

"We use the phone; we got to call Rapid," Louisa asked Heather as the dessert plates were being gathered.

"Mom, I'll drive you home," Anita said quietly.

"Oh, uh, well I mean," Louisa said.

"But what happened to your cell phone?" Anita went on, reaching for her purse.

"Oh, someone had to burn up all the minutes talking to some dumb bitch in Baton Rouge," Louisa glared at Marco. "Course, minute she finds out he ain't got no ride, no job, and no nothing she's all like 'See yah!'"

"Sir, would you like a to go box for your dessert?" Heather said graciously, noticing that not only was Marco unable to finish his cheesecake, he had not even started on the pie or pudding.

"Aw, yeah, that'd be great!" Marco agreed.

"Thank you," Anita said to the woman.

"Thank you, Mr. Delacroix," Louisa said to the man and he smiled widely.

"No, Ms. Lopez, thank you," he said. "Thank you so much for coming tonight. It meant a lot to me to finally get to meet you and get to share a meal with you."

"What? What you doing that for?" Marco said as Anita discretely put a twenty dollar bill under her coffee cup's saucer.

"Gratuity," she explained. "The food was excellent and the service was excellent as well."

"No ma'am, that is not necessary," Heather smiled. "I do appreciate the thought, but Mr. Barry has already been far too generous tonight."

"I hold it for you," Marco said.

"Fine," Anita said and slid the money over to him.

"Mr. Barry, I get a job here?" Briah asked as they trooped out of the restaurant. "I'm graduating next Saturday."

"Well, you can't be a waitress," Barry mused. "We serve alcohol and you have to be twenty one to be able to serve drinks. But you could be a hostess; what you think?"

"He going be here?" Briah asked, pointing at Michael.