Wealth Pt. 04

"Boy, it's not even daylight yet; why you waking me up, huh?" she playfully fussed at the infant.

While his bottle of formula warmed, Anita changed his diaper.

The day Anita brought Jacob home from the hospital, Toni had been waiting outside of the condominium. She cooed and fussed over the infant while Anita got everything put away. Then Toni surprised Anita by fixing dinner while Anita tried to entice Jacob to take a bottle.

"I've like been thinking..." Toni said as they sat down to eat.

"Did it hurt?" Anita teased.

"Like shut up!" Toni screeched. "That's something Daddy would like say!"

"Great minds think alike," Anita giggled.

"But I been thinking, it's like going to be so hard, being a single mom," Toni said, smirking at Anita's giggle.

"Why I hired Pho Dim," Anita agreed.

"So, like what if I was here? I could like help and..." Toni said.

"What you mean?" Anita asked, suspicious.

"What if I like, what if we you know, like..." Toni said.

"Oh no," Anita snapped, slapping her fork down onto the table.

She narrowed her eyes, glaring at Toni.

"Oh no ma'am," she said forcefully.

"But..." Toni said.

"I am not having my baby become attached to you, thinking you Mommy number two, only for you to throw one of your little fits," Anita said.

"But I wouldn't..." Toni protested.

"One day Mommy's here and then all of a sudden she's not; you have any idea what that would do to my baby?" Anita yelled.

"You have any idea what that would like do to me?" Toni yelled back.

She burst into sobs and clung to Anita.

"Every fucking morning I like could swear I feel you holding me, right before I wake up completely and it's not you," Toni sobbed. "And I'm like watching television and there's something on and I turn to tell you something and like, once again, you're not there."

"Please, Toni, please don't do this to me," Anita sobbed.

"I am like so God damned tired of not having you in my life, Anita," Toni cried. "I even started taking my fucking medication again and you know how much I like hate my medication. Fuck! I even quit smoking dope!"

Toni was still there an hour later when Jacob cried. She watched as Anita changed the baby's diaper, then fed him a little bit of a bottle of formula.

"I know Jacob is after Daddy, but where does Antonio come from?" Toni asked. "Was that your daddy's name?"

"Antonio comes from the woman I gave my heart to," Anita admitted.

Anita's condominium had barely been large enough for two adult women, one small poodle and an overly aggressive cat. It certainly was not adequate for two adult women, an infant, and four ill-behaved cats.

Toni's bungalow was likewise insufficient for two adult women, one infant and four ill-behaved and unmanageable cats.

So Anita decided that One Zero Two Cross Circle, a beautiful four bedroom three bathroom Lopez Properties home would be their new address. Stacy Falgout was a little annoyed; some people had expressed interest in the gleaming white house. She was also relieved.

With Anita living right next door, Stacy would have an almost daily reminder that she was a failure as a mom. Besides that, the exact same floor plan had been used on three other streets in the same neighborhood. They weren't made of solid white brick like 102 Cross Circle, but they were elegant in their own right.

In their home, Anita covered Jacob with his soft fleece blanket, then crawled back into bed with Toni.

"What time does Caitlin want us there?" Anita whispered, kissing Toni's shoulder.

"Nine, like what time is it now?" Toni mumbled.

"Six uh, six fifteen," Anita said, glancing at the clock.

"Nuh uh, leave that alone," Toni complained as Anita's left hand traveled down from her hard nipples to her blonde muff.

Anita gave Toni's shoulder another kiss and rested her hand on Toni's hard breast bump.

Inside of 112 Michelle Drive, Henry smiled as Maggie woke him up with a kiss, despite the fact that he surely had horrible morning breath. Her bare breasts rubbed against his bare chest and her panty covered crotch rubbed deliciously against his leg.

"I can't go," Maggie whispered urgently.

"Prune juice; it's not just for breakfast anymore," he quipped, putting in his brand new hearing aid.

"No, no, I mean, I can't go to that thing," Maggie whined.

"What? Why not?" Henry asked, kissing her forehead.

"Honey, what if they all hate me?" Maggie wailed.

"And why would they hate you?" he asked, reaching under her panties to cup her luscious butt.

"Because Shirley's, I mean, it hasn't even been a year and..." Maggie hissed. "And Caitlin and her were best friends and..."

"And Caitlin's one of the sweetest girls you will ever meet and she'll just love you," Henry tried to assure her.

At the Delacroix house, Caitlin fed Shirley Janice her bottle of formula and ice cereal. Shirley gave her a large belch and smiled happily as her mother sang to her and kissed her and rubbed her.

And then she was sleeping again.

"So what time's the breakfast start?" Barry asked as Caitlin crawled back into bed.

"About nine," Caitlin said, rubbing her nude body against him.

"Mrs. Delacroix, what are you doing?" Barry asked in mock shock as Caitlin pushed his boxers down.

"Starting my day off right," she smiled and kissed him. "Problem?"

At 8:30 am, Kelli barged into the Delacroix home with a loud "I'm here!"

"Hi," Heather smiled, sticking her head into the kitchen and seeing Caitlin hard at work. "Know you said 'nine' but Kelli just knew you'd need our help."

"And she's right; got a late start this morning," Caitlin smiled.

"Overslept?" Heather asked.

"No, just didn't want to get out of bed," Caitlin giggled and Heather giggled as well. "But need someone start shelling those pecans."

"Ooh, I can use the shotgun?" Kelli asked, already digging the electric nutcracker out of one of the cabinets.

"Now how'd you know where that was?" Heather demanded.

Barry strolled into the kitchen, knotting his tie.

"Oh but I do love them red heads," he said and greeted his daughter in law and his granddaughter with hugs and kisses.

"Uh ahem?" Caitlin demanded.

"What? You not tired of kissing me yet?" Barry asked.

"Never," Caitlin assured him.

"Knock knock," Toni sang out as she pushed the stroller into the living room.

"Oh, and there's my godson," Barry cheered, coming into the living room.

"Ooh, that's Jake?" Kelli cried out. "Jake's here?"

"And that's the end of the pecans," Heather said as Kelli ran out of the kitchen.

Under Toni and Anita's watchful, almost paranoid eyes, Kelli sat down on the couch and Barry placed the infant into Kelli's arms.

"Oh, hi! Hi! I'm Kelli!" the eleven year old girl crooned to the baby.

"Aunt Anita he looks just like you; he's got your eyes," the girl said.

Jacob had a hank of dark hair, light caramel colored skin, dark eyes and a wide open toothless grin. If you did not know that the boy was one fourth African American (Jared Tyler's mother was white) and did not know that Anita had adopted the baby, you would swear Anita Michelle Lopez was Jacob Antonio Lopez's birth mother.

"You sure he doesn't look like me?" Barry teased.

"Nope; he's too good looking," Kelli said.

"And you used to be my favorite granddaughter," Barry playfully tugged Kellie's hair.

"Hey!" Harmony called out, Patrick entering right behind her.

"And there's my favorite blonde," Barry smiled.

"Hey!" Toni protested.

"Oops, second favorite blonde," Barry amended.

"Oh, that's Jake? Jake's here?" Harmony said, brushing past Anita, Toni, and Barry to squeeze onto the couch with Kelli. "Hi! Hi! It's me! I'm your Aunt Mony, your favorite aunt."

"And why are you his favorite aunt?" Barry asked.

"Because I'm the sweetest," Harmony smugly said.

It took several moments of hugs and kisses but finally Patrick and Barry left the house.

Outside, Henry pulled up to the curb in front of the Delacroix house.

"I don't want to be your girlfriend anymore," Maggie declared.

"Oh, well, then might I suggest you try to make friends with at least one of the women in there; you're going to need a ride home," Henry chuckled.

"This look all right, oh God, why'd I wear these jeans? I hate these jeans, look at how big my ass looks in them, oh Henry, please don't make me do this," Maggie whined all the way to the front door of the house.

"Now who in the world," Caitlin asked as she walked through the living room to the front door. "Everyone else just walks on in."

"Hi!" she smiled as she saw a blonde woman trying to hide behind Henry. "Oh my God, you must be Maggie! How are you? So glad you're here."

She pulled the woman into the house, closing the door in Henry's face.

"Come on in the kitchen," Caitlin said. "I did have help with the pecans, but then the baby showed up and everyone just left me."

Maggie saw that Ms. Lopez was there, so she did feel just slightly more at ease. In the kitchen, Heather greeted her warmly and Maggie found herself cracking and cleaning pecans and getting to know Caitlin Delacroix.

If Caitlin had any resentment against Maggie for trying to replace her friend, she hid it very well.

"Hey!" Brooke Weinstein called out as she ushered Star and Luna in, then pulled Aries' stroller into the living room. "And I just saw Briah pull up; hide all the babies!"

"I heard that, Step-mother," Briah yelled. "Ever notice, in all them fairy tales, the step-mother all evil?"

"Okay, we're all here," Caitlin whooped. "The first annual Delacroix cider press has officially begun!"

Kelli, Star, and Luna had their own table, but Kelli declared it was the 'cool table' anyway.

"Yeah!" Luna agreed.

"Okay, we're using the Bordelon cider press," Caitlin explained as they sat to eat apple pecan pancakes. "Arville Bordelon gave it to his wife, Chloe Savoie as a wedding gift; it was supposed to be a joke. See, they were crawfish farmers. Well, Chloe didn't know it was a joke and a salesman that was passing through sold her a bushel of apples. That night, Chloe made a few bottles of hard cider and nine months later, Garland Bordelon was born..."

"And Arville Bordelon went looking for that apple salesman?" Harmony asked, which brought on squeals of laughter.

"Go sit at the kids' table," Caitlin ordered. "Anyway, nineteen years later, Garland Bordelon married Agnes Fontenot and gave her the Bordelon cider press as a wedding present. Chloe had planted several apple trees along their land in Baylor Lake and Agnes gathered up some ripe apples and made a couple of bottles of hard cider. Nine months later, my friend Shirley Bordelon was born."

Caitlin dabbed at her eyes.

"And then she gave it to me!" she sobbed out.

"Aw!" Toni, who was seated to Caitlin's right, hugged Caitlin.

Anyway, if, nine months from now... Well, you've been warned," Caitlin said when she was able to speak again.

"Oh no! Let me out of here!" Brooke laughed.

"Right behind you, girlfriend!" Heather laughed.

At her condominium, Darlene Delacroix did remember to eat. Toni was forever getting on her about making sure she ate.

She toasted an English muffin, then slathered on raspberry jam. This was all chased with a cup of coffee and a tall glass of V8 vegetable juice and vodka.

"Cider press my ass," Darlene muttered to herself. "Believe that little bitch invited me to a cider press?"

Her two parakeets chattered and chirped happily in their cage and Darlene smiled at them.

"Like Mommy would leave you here all by yourselves? Who would my pretty little babies sing to if Mommy wasn't here?" she asked them.

She finished her drink, pushing the half eaten English muffin aside. She fixed another drink, adding 'V8 Juice' to the grocery list.

She couldn't remember if Toni was coming for her today or tomorrow to do the weekly grocery shopping but she planned to shower and dress as soon as she finished her drink.

Her daughter refused to buy her alcohol and Darlene wasn't foolish enough to drive to the store; a DUI was the last thing she needed. So Rapid Cabs would come, pick her up, and drive her to Early's Grocery Store. Then, if she was too drunk to go in, the cab driver would go buy the two bottles of vodka and drive her back home. Then she'd give them a blow job and a forty dollar tip. They were happy, she was happy.

At the Delacroix home, Kelli designated herself as baby watcher, even though Shirley, Aries, and Jacob were in a covered playpen. Maggie and Caitlin manned the press while Heather bottled the resulting liquid. Harmony and Briah danced to Briah's portable stereo. Star and Luna ran around while Brooke kept a watchful eye on them. Toni and Anita took the pulp created by the press for a and A Soaps.

"Oh my God, this is hard work!" Heather said as she capped off another bottle of cider.

"And we still have another nine bushels to go," Caitlin wheezed.

"All right, listen up!" Maggie barked, becoming a drill sergeant.

"NOW the first annual Delacroix cider press is officially under way," Maggie turned to Caitlin, nodding as the other women began to pitch in.

"Got that right, sister!" Caitlin laughed.

At Superior Motors, Jack Landry idly listened while Michael and Patrick discussed a back deck Patrick and Harmony wanted to put in their back yard. They'd bought Toni's house and Harmony had a million and one ideas of what she wanted to do to improve the home.

His phone chimed and he smiled as a text message from Honey greeted him.

"Pussy," Henry playfully accused

"You are retired, right?" Jack asked him as he responded.

Honey's response was that she would take the three dogs for a walk around the block, then get busy on her homework.

Honey Childress, Jack had observed, couldn't scratch her ass and pick her nose at the same time, lest she get her hands mixed up. But the three beasts adored her and even Lollypop, his aggravating poodle, behaved like a lamb for the girl.

"Because they're both the same size," Bob had observed.

And Honey knew all of his neighbors. She walked the three dogs and they'd stop and talk to whomever happened to be walking to their mailbox, or arriving home from work, or out washing their car.

"It's a beautiful Saturday day; why are you doing homework," Jack asked in his text message.

"Because you're not here," was her response.

"Loves you, huh?" Henry asked, reading over Jack's shoulder.

"Think she does," Jack agreed.

"And you love her?" Henry asked.

Jack's face was a quick mask of raw hurt and Henry put an arm around the man's shoulders.

"It's okay if you do, believe me, it's okay if you do," he counseled.

At eleven thirty, Barry smirked as his wife sent him a text message with a request for lunch from Tommy's Po-boys.

"Woman, when is it going to sink into that pretty head of yours?" he asked when Caitlin answered her phone.

"Probably never," she laughed and repeated the order.

"And why should I get any of this?" Barry smiled.

"I'll let you know nine months from tonight," Caitlin said and the women squealed.

"Okay, let me see if I got this right," Maggie said as they devoured the po-boys. "That's your granddaughter."

"Yep," Caitlin agreed as Kelli beamed.

"And those are your sisters," Maggie went on, pointing to Star and Luna and Briah.

"All three of them," Caitlin smiled. "And don't forget my baby brother Aries."

"But you're also her mother in law," Maggie said, pointing to Briah.

"And mine," Harmony called out.

"And me too," Heather agreed.

"And you're a step-mom," Maggie went on.

"Three fine young men and two wonderful women," Caitlin nodded. "Proud of all of them."

"Aw!" both Toni and Anita said.

"And your step mother is what? Twenty, twenty one years old?" Maggie asked, pointing to Brooke.

"I am twenty four years old, thank you very much! I can't help it I'm short!" Brooke laughed.

"And don't forget; she's a mom too," Anita said, pointing to Shirley Janice.

"Wow," was Maggie's comment.

Toni and Anita were the first to leave the First Annual Delacroix Cider Press. It was a total shock to Anita, but her mother Louisa absolutely adored Jacob, adored being a grandmother. Luther and Marco, not surprisingly, avoided Anita and ignored Jacob.

"Like can we drop off one of these bottles for my mother?" Toni giggled maliciously. "Wouldn't that be too funny if the legend is like real?"

"If it is, we better not drink any," Anita cautioned.

At three thirty, Henry St. Martin smiled as he drove up to the Delacroix house. Caitlin and Maggie were standing outside, admiring Caitlin's iris blooms.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked"

"I fit in just fine," Maggie smiled.

She hugged him tightly and kissed him. "I fit in just fine."

At Superior Motors, Michael looked at a text message from his wife and wrinkled up his brow in confusion.

"Uh, hey Dad, you know anything about the legend of the Bordelon Cider Press?" he asked.

"Uh huh, uh huh, okay, I'll be there just as soon as I can get a ride," Patrick told his wife and disconnected the call.

"You'll find out in about nine months from now; drop your brother off at his house, huh? My wife's waiting for me," Barry smiled as he saw BJ's Porsche leave Side By Side's parking lot at a high rate of speed.

Bob Robichaux and Jack Landry leaned against their desks and watched the Delacroix men leave Superior Motors parking lot in a hurry.

"Must be some damned good cider," Jack said and smirked at Bob's confused expression.

THE END.

*****

And, this is the end of the 'Wealth' series.

**Author's Note: I write these stories for my pleasure; I post them here for your enjoyment. I do thank you for reading my stories.

Disclaimers.

I know I need an Editor. And the minute I become professional I will get one.

Yes, it's in the wrong category, it jumps around too much, it's too long, there's too many people to keep track of, it's stupid shit and I suck.

And you have a sweet day.