Page 20 of York

Thinking about his job, he knew that he only had a few more days before they expected him to come back. With the way things were going, he was surely going to have to go back to work before he got any money the way things were going. He figured it would take Rosie a few days to get her shit together and get him some money after knocking her around a bit. He was willing to wait simply because she was a girl and being a man he’d hurt her some. Phillip pounded his fist into his hand and liked the way that it sounded. Yes, sir. He was going to teach her a lesson she’d not soon forget. And her husband too. Old Dork Ass was going to be forking over money every day unless he wanted to be hurting too.

The next morning they were lined up in front of the cells to go to the courthouse. He was fifth in line and didn’t mind so much. He’d like to have been first, but he knew that the judge would be in a better mood as he finished for the day. It always made him happiest when he was at the end of his shift rather than the beginning.

When it got to be his turn, he smiled at the judge and asked her if she was old enough to be presiding over a courtroom. She didn’t much care for his joke and told him to shut up until spoken to. His court-appointed lawyer read off the charges that were against him, and then he was asked what he had to say about this.

“It’s my sister that I used her information for. That don’t count.” The judge asked him why not. “What she has is mine and vice versa.” He liked that word and was going to try and use it again and again if he could.

“No, what’s yours is yours and what’s hers is hers. That’s the way it works unless you’re married, and I don’t know if even then it should be that way. There is no sharing of information. Do you have anything else to add to today’s hearing?” He asked about the house. “If you mean the house that you tried to buy, then no, that’s not yours. I believe that you were told this when you were arrested.”

“They might have gotten it wrong. They sure got it wrong when they said that I resisted arrest. I was just running away because they were chasing me. That’s no reason whatsoever for them to say that about me. What would you have done had they been chasing you?” She said if she didn’t have a reason for them to be chasing her in the first place, she would have stopped and asked what they wanted. “Well, I think they got that wrong. I was only running to get away from them chasing me.”

“Regardless, I’m going to sentence you to three hundred and twenty days in jail for the fraud and an additional year for resisting arrest.” He started to ask how long the three hundred and twenty days were, but didn’t get a chance. She was going onto the next case as he was being dragged out of the courtroom.

~*~

Rose was so relieved that her brother was going to be in jail for the next two years that she danced around the room. She’d been working on her list of people’s needs since yesterday while worrying about when Phillip was going to be getting out. Now that she knew that he wasn’t for a while, she worked harder on her list and was worried that the men would think that she had too many names on the thing and that she might have to go back to working on cars. For the last several days she’d been thinking the same thing.

That she knew how to work on cars but being with a rich man like York was wasn’t anything that she could do. Friday night they had to go to an awards dinner for the family, and she wasn’t looking forward to it. It was formal wear, and she had to wear heels. Nope, she thought, she wasn’t ready for that kind of thing.

“You’ll do fine.” She turned and looked at Saff when he walked into her little area. “You’ll be the belle of the ball, my dear, and no one will be able to get near enough to you to speak to you with York around. Did he tell you that dinner was going to be served?”

“He told me. He said that he usually orders a steak that is rare and can get away with that.” He nodded. “I’m nervous for the two of us. I’ve never been to something so formal before, and he goes all the time.”

“He’s not been to one in decades. Don’t let him fool you. I think he’s just as nervous.” She asked him why. “Because you’ll be by his side and people will want to know all about you. He doesn’t share well.”

“No, I’ve noticed that about him. But he can hold his own in a conversation. If I have to talk about today’s world, I would be at a loss.” She laughed. “However, if they want to talk about spark plugs and their usage in a car, then I’d be able to hold up well. Or about an engine repair.”

“I’m sure you can hold your own as well. There are all kinds of topics that you can talk about. And I’m not kidding when I tell you they’d be just as happy if you told them about the rose gardens as anything. Rich people love to talk about their gardens, and you and York have a beautiful garden.”

“Thank you. It’s been fun for me. Did you see where the new roses are going to go? We plan on putting in some different colors in the spring. That’ll give them enough time to reestablish themselves before it gets cold.” He laughed. “What’s so funny?”

“You. I told you that you could hold up your end of the conversation. And you did well. I swear, talk about your gardens and people will be eating out of your hands.” She didn’t know about all that but was glad that he had confidence in her. She needed that about now. “There are other topics that you can talk about too. The pay it forward program too. That’s going to help a great many people.”

“I was just thinking about that. I have a lot of names on my list of people that need help. I have a list of some that could use a boost right now, or they’ll lose everything.” He asked to see the list. “It’s quite long. I think that there are more names of people that need help than there are that don’t. Then there are the schools and senior citizen centers that need someone to mow their lawn. A lot of little things come to mind that would help people out.”

“I love this list.” He sat down to go over it with her. “I like how you’ve color-coded the things that are in need of help right now.”

“I think the whole town could use a boost. There are little things that can be done without much in the way of money too, like the apartment complex near where the school is. No one is mowing the lawn out there either, and it’s beginning to look a little dangerous. Then there are people not mowing their lawns because they just can’t afford the gasoline to do it.” She pointed to the three names that needed help with their lawns. “I’m not sure if they’re just lazy or what, but their yards look terrible. I don’t know how to find that out without causing trouble.”

“I don’t either, but I have an idea that we can get that information without causing anyone to get upset with us. We can read their minds.” She said that she’d not thought of that. “It’s a good way for us to figure out if they’re just lazy or what’s going on. I’ll look into this part right away. What do you have here for the football field?”

“They’re having a fundraiser next month to try and raise enough money for some new uniforms for the kids. They only need enough for the high school team, then they can hand down their uniforms so that they can be reused. They’re selling ads in the newsletter that goes out at each game so that they can get more people involved. I was going to see if the Shop where I worked could take out half a page. That would only be about two hundred dollars of money well spent. There are bigger and smaller ads too that can be bought as well.” Saff told her that he could buy an ad as well. And he’d get Bax to do it too. The other brothers could come up with an ad that would represent them. “I love that idea. I never thought of asking you guys for help in that.”

They talked for over three hours on things that could be done to help the town. The fundraisers, too, like selling candy bars, had gone over very well over the years when he and his family would buy them all up and then return them to sell. She told him she’d be hard-pressed not to keep all the chocolate for herself, and that made him laugh as well. Rose asked him about his practice.

“I’ve been an attorney for decades. I love it. Bax has only been one for the last century or so, but I think he loves it as well. We do a lot of cases in Columbus for bigger firms. It’s been very good for us too. I love that we can get things going together as well. Bax and I work very well together.”

“I think you all work well together.” Saff said that sometimes it’s difficult to work with Radford. “I would think he’s the easiest one to work with. Being a doctor is something that none of you are right now.”

“He smells of blood all the time.” She almost didn’t get it, but when he simply nodded at her, she realized what a pain that would be if they were hungry. “Not only blood, but there are times when he smells of death too. We can smell that over anything else he might well have been doing that day.”

“I’m so sorry about that. I never thought that any of you had any trouble with the smell of blood, but you’re right. I have a lot to learn, don’t I?” Saff said that she was doing very well for someone as young as she was. And not being around vampires before. “Thank you. You guys are always so nice to me; it’s hard to believe that you and I have only been related for about a month. I love you all so much.”

“And we love you too, my dear.” Again they went back to working on the list, and she had other ideas that would work to help. Saff said that he could help her with some of the projects around town if she wanted, and she was all right with that. Just as they were finishing up for the afternoon, York came home. He’d been working again.

“I need a shower.” She never asked about his work, and she thought that he was all right with that. She knew what he did when he went out and what was going to be the outcome, but as far as details, he kept them to himself. “Saff, go home. I need my wife, and I don’t want you around her anymore today.”

She giggled, and Saff laughed. They were so open about sex that she found that it didn’t bother her anymore when York said things like he did. She followed him up to the bedroom as Saff was leaving. He told York to look over the list that she’d made, and he was growled at. She loved these men but especially York. He was her world.