Page 10 of Gibb

“She was a surrogate for them.” Thad looked at Belle when he told them that part. Nodding with her, he continued. “I don’t know their names, but Rusty, her last name is Crawford, was going to be paid for having this little boy. Then the people got a divorce, and the missus told her to get rid of him. She wouldn’t do that on account of her being his momma. Anyway, she’s been hiding out so that he’d be safe. Her daddy knows that she’s been hiding out, but he’s sick too and needs her to come home. Ms. Rusty is terrified that the people will hurt them. But she’s more worried about the baby.”

“That’s not a great deal of information, is it, son?” Dad laughed when he looked at Mr. David. “I’d say that we should get this little one and his momma home and then figure out where to find her father. I’m assuming, though, I don’t know why, but it’s important to this family to make sure that they’re all three healthy and happy.”

“I don’t know that part either.” Belle looked at Maria before she spoke again. “Dad, Ms. Rusty can’t go to the hospital. They have some man looking at the records for hospitals to find her. I know this man is magical, but nothing much else. We’ve been keeping an eye on Ms. Rusty for a few weeks now. Just making sure that she’s warm and stuff. I sure am glad to know that she’s going to be staying with us now. She’ll be just fine.”

Uncle Frazier showed up a few minutes after the little boy was wrapped up and taken home. Once Ms. Rusty disappeared, too, Dad and Mr. David cleaned up the room so that it wouldn’t be considered a crime scene if anyone came up here looking around. After that was finished up, they went back to the mountain top.

Thad loved this family. More than he ever thought that he would when they were getting hints about their dad and his brothers. They weren’t just good people, but they were good to everyone and everything. Even the land and animals that lived around them. The Cross family, too, cared that they were taken care of as well. Sitting in the chair, taking his turn to watch over Ms. Rusty, he did wonder a little if she was going to be his aunt, too. He’d have to talk to Maria about it. She usually had that sort of information before he or Belle did.

Chapter 5

Gibb had been asked to come into the forestry office today. He’d given his notice some time ago and had worked it out. But today, first thing after entering the greenhouse, he’d been asked to come to the office. He didn’t know what it was, but he did have assurances from Belle that things were just fine.

He’d come to depend on his little family for a lot of things. Not once had he asked them for information. It felt like he was pushing boundaries that he didn’t think he should if he’d done that. But they would come to him a couple of times a week and tell him this or that. Like general information that they thought that he should know. Like after breakfast today.

“Dad, when you get a call from someone by the name of Agent Blackstone, don’t freak out.” He said that he was the retired regional manager for this area of the forest department. “Yeah, that’s who I think he is. He isn’t going to hurt you or anything. There are just a few questions that he has. I don’t know what about, but it’ll be all right.”

The other day, it had been Maria who had told her mom that she needed to go to the shop today. That there was someone there that needed her help. Turned out to be just fine, just as she said it would, and they had a new vendor for tea. A mountain man had asked if he could put his flower teas in the store to sell. Gibb had been happy about that. It meant that they could take what little hadn’t sold of Granny’s tea home with them and treasure it.

It was Belle, too, who said she knew what was needed to continue making the tea that everyone liked, which herb or flower, as well as how much was put in. Gibb couldn’t have been happier if she’d told him that she knew the secret to the meaning of life. He’d not asked her if she did actually know the meaning. Frankly, he was slightly afraid that they might well know the answer.

“Agent Cross? My name is Agent Blackstone.” He shook the man’s hand and felt a little bit of something that didn’t seem right. He wasn’t nervous, but he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with the feeling. “I’ve come here on a special mission from my boss. He wants me to talk to you about heading up a Search and Rescue team for the mountains. Not just your mountain but all the national parks. I know that we have quite a few people who go missing yearly, from all of them annually that usually turn up. However, he wants this to be something that he can call on for everywhere someone might have taken a wrong turn and ended up someplace they might not know how to get back from. He wanted to see if, with you and your families’ help, we could lower that number.”

“I’m not sure what I can do to head that sort of group up. I do know that all the parks have their own teams. And that the federal officers who work there have been trained on how to do a search for people missing. As you said, they usually turn up on their own.” He nodded and told him that although it would be a mountain team, they’d be used for all kinds of terrain and weather. “All right. I can help you out with that. As you know, my brothers and I have retired from the park service. We can guide you in the right direction in finding people that will do this for you, but—”

“Dad, he’s looking for someone specific.”He asked Belle who and asked Agent Blackstone if he’d like to get some lunch so that he could buy himself time to talk to Belle.“He’s thinking that Ms. Rusty is hiding in the park. He wants you and the others to come out of retirement to find her for him. It’s his daughter that hired Ms. Rusty to have her baby for her. He doesn’t know the facts of what they want with the baby, but he is willing to do this for her. He’s dying. Hoping to see his grandson before he dies.”

“Honey, what should I do here? I’m not going to give him anything in the event it gets back to his daughter. While I know there are two sides to every story, Rusty strikes me as the injured party here in that she was willing to have a baby by herself in an abandoned building. Someone has to be powerfully scared to do that.”Belle said that he was right. Not to trust him. He was a liar already.“He might not be a liar all the time, but someone that believes his child. “No. He’s a liar. He lied to a lot of people just to get your name. I’m sorry, Dad. I hadn’t any idea when I told you you’d be all right.”

“I’m having lunch with him now.”They were seated right away because of who he’d been around here. As soon as he was seated with the man, he asked if he needed his brothers.“I mean, I don’t think he’ll hurt me in public, but I just don’t know about people anymore.”

“I don’t know them at all. Mom and the Aunts are in town. I’m sending them to you. They’ll take care of him.”That scared him more than the thought of him getting hurt. The women were very protective of them, even though they were all large black bears. Belle laughed.“They’ll be all right. They won’t hurt him too much.”

Before he could ask her what she meant by that, the women showed up in force. The four of them were the most beautiful women he’d ever seen, but they were also the scariest group he’d ever encountered too.

“Hello there.” He kissed his wife and hugged the other women. Before he could introduce the women to Blackstone, it was Maddy who sat down at the table first, with the others following. Smiling at him, she turned to Blackstone. “You’re an idiot if you think that your daughter is a sweet little thing that you want to believe that she is. You’ve enough clues throughout her life that you know just what sort of person she is. Also, her soon to be ex-husband is a nice guy that is being given a bad rep because you’ve got your head so far up your ass about little Paige that you can’t see what he is really like.”

“What are you talking about? I’m here to talk to this man, and I don’t remember inviting you. Besides, I don’t know what you think you’re telling me about my little girl, but she’s a good girl. That husband of hers knocked her around, and she’s finally seeing the light and leaving him.” It was Amelia who shook her head and then touched her fingers to Blackstone’s. He sat there quietly for long enough for the women to order with him and order for Blackstone as well. When he finally came out of what appeared to be a trance, he sat there for so long that Gibb was worried for the man.

“Where did you…what did you do to me?” Amelia told him that she only reminded him what he already knew. “I remember that day. Paige said that Howard started it.”

“Did it look like he started anything with her? Not to mention, you know too that Paige can have as many children as she wants. She just didn’t want to have to give up her fun in order to carry it to term. She’s also planning to kill the little boy if he’s given to her. Because she’s not a good person.” Blackstone sat there for several more minutes. He was a thinker, Gibb surmised and was glad that he wasn’t just spouting off things to piss everyone off. “Also, Danny, you might want to remember that incident that happened two weeks ago. You know as well as I do that your cook just didn’t fall. Paige hurt her as she has many times over the years. And her fun is dangerous, too. She’s been hurting the children of your town for decades.”

“I didn’t know.” It was Maddy who slapped the man. She’d been the closest, or one of the others might have. “All right. You’ve made your point. But I’m a dying old man, and I won’t get to see him.”

“What is more important to you, Danny? The safety of your grandson or you seeing him? And you’re not dying anymore. You were, but I fixed it so that you can live just a few months more. I have the ability to give you a lifetime with Joey, but I will take what I’ve given you and more if you even think of answering that call from your daughter.” Just then, a cell phone started twittering. “You can answer it. But do not mention anything that I’ve told you. And yes, his name is Joey.”

While Blackstone spoke to who Gibb assumed was his daughter, he talked to the women. Not about the man or his grandchild but about the upcoming dinner they were all having together. It was going to be a life celebration for his grandparents. Yesterday, Mark had remembered that tomorrow was Granny and Grandda’s anniversary. They wanted to celebrate it as a family. When Danny put his cell phone on the table, he looked at all of them.

“I don’t know what to do.” Jamie told him that he did know what to do. He just needed to get his balls out of his pocket and do it. “You four are very outspoken, aren’t you? I mean, I’ve been verbally abused, physically too and threatened. Did I miss anything?”

“Yes, two very important things that you should forever remember. You’ve got a grandson, and if you play this right, you might get to see him if I don’t put you in an early grave.” Gibb couldn’t help it. He didn’t know if it was the expression on Danny’s face or just the general conversation that he was having with his sisters, but he burst out laughing. “That is my husband telling you that you have to find the humor in things, or you really will end up dead. Danny, when was the last time you had a good time with your daughter? Or, for that matter, have you ever reached out to your son-in-law and spoken to him about the actions of what your daughter is telling you? From what I’ve gathered, he’s a good man and had honestly loved Paige. That is until she started showing him her true colors. He’d be a good man to have in your corner.”

“I did like him.” No one said anything as their meals were brought to him. Danny was nearly finished with his meal of a burger and fries when he turned to Amelia. “What do you mean, I’m not dying anymore? The doctor just told me today that I only have weeks to live.”

“You have months now. No more than that if you don’t do something about Paige.” He reminded her that she was still his daughter. “Yes. She is. There is no disputing that. However, she’s seriously not a good person. In fact, she’s a murderer. And I believe that you’re well aware of it.”

They finished their meals. Danny didn’t contribute much, hardly anything at all, actually. But once they were cleared of their plates and talking about the dinner, he seemed to wake up. Looking at him, he told him the real reason that he’d wanted him to set up the rescue team, as well as the fact that his daughter had wanted her son.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com