BOMAW Vol. 10-12 (139 page)

"Bull! Up until last night, you questioned whether she was yours or not! Admit it! All these years, you thought her someone else's! In which case, why would you care if she lived past tomorrow or not!"

"I said watch your mouth!" He warned her. Then turning to the craftsmen who was trying to work with them arguing over him, "You - out of here now - until I call you back! Repeat one word of anything you've heard in here, you'll never work again."

The man got quickly to his feet and left the room, glad that he'd been dismissed for the moment, the more they argued, the more nervous he became. Once the cost was clear, Oscar turned back to his wife. "Now you listen to me, here this loud and clear. It's you I can't stand the sight of, not our daughter! If I were going to pull anything like that, believe me, it would be you on my list to get rid of, not her! Besides, whose to say that it wasn't you who perhaps tried to get her bumped off? Huh?"

"You're insane-..."

"No, you are the one here insane! So much so, you feel threatened by your own flesh and blood daughter. I mean come on, look at you! You ask me, anyone willing to pay for the things you've had done on their body, needs their head examined. I'll tell you what else, you take me to court for a divorce, and by the time I get through with you, I'll walk away with half of everything here - if not, all."

"We shall see about that, won't we?" She dared.

"Oh, and so we shall!"

*

At the Condo...

Shawn cut the engine to the Hummer, sitting in it a few moments as it sat parked next to the limo Deidre had provided for them to use while they were there. Shaking his head, he knew he'd put off coming home and facing his wife and family long enough. He stepped out, clicking the alarm and locks, walking by the limo up to the tall gate and into the large front yard and up the walk leading down the side of the house to the front door, just in time to see heading his way on a slow stroll, Ivory Saitama - his daughter's bodyguard.

Shawn stopped dead in his tracks, staring at him.

Ivory smiled, "Afternoon sir, thought I'd take a stroll around before I get back to a game on my psp." He explained with a smile and a wink as if Shawn should understand that.

"What are you doing here?"

"Uhm, I'm your daughter's bodyguard, remember?"

"Yes, I remember - so what are you doing here?"

"Somebody told me, this is where she lives, and uh, so, here I am."

"My daughter? Angela Rae McPherson? She lives here?"

Ivory was well aware that he didn't know about the change of plans, so he couldn't help himself, playing with his mind a bit. "Yessiree she does, last I heard anyway. Unless things have changed since my last lap around the place." He stated, fighting to keep a straight face.

Shawn stared at him a moment and then charged right by him and into the house, looking for her as he went. The first thing he noticed upon entering, was her laughter. He walked slowly towards the family room, and there everyone was, all but his wife that is. But all the kids were at the table, playing a game of Monopoly, Mundo must have been cheating, because everyone was jumping on his case, at the same time that Ben and Angela were laughing about it while Crystal was telling him off. Darren was jumping up and down besides Ben's chair to be picked up. Isaac was in the refrigerator on the other side of the kitchen breakfast bar partition about to drop the pitcher of lemonade because the other's were too busy nosily arguing to hear that he wanted something to drink. The house was pretty much in the same state that it had been when he left the day before and hadn't come home because he'd just lost his daughter - who was supposed to be back with her mother, except, she wasn't - she was there - across the room from him.

Everyone looked up at him at the same time, saying as one, "Mundo is cheating!"

Angela took over to explain, "Dad, he sucks as a banker! He's swindling people out of their hard earned money and charging extra for the railroads and property! Repossessing peoples homes." She fussed, telling on her older brother.

"Hey lil'girl, that's life! Life is like that! I'm tryin' to prepare you for the real world! Give up that house now, -or-get yo'ass out on the street!" Mundo snapped his fingers, talking passed the fat cigar in his mouth and sun visor on his head, trying to act like daddy money bucks, counting the Monopoly money in his hand, "There yo'daddy, ask'em for a loan! He ain't got no money, you be moving back in with him!"

Crystal and Ben died laughing as Angela shot up from her chair, marched up to her father, wrapping her arms around his waist, "Daddy, loan me some money, so I don't get tossed out on my ass!"

"HEY!" Shawn blasted her, the one word snatching him out of his shocked trance. Her three siblings behind her died laughing however. He looked across the room at them, sighed and then looked down at his daughter, who was still holding on to him, looking up at him. "Where have you been daddy? We were all worried about you?"

Still in character, Mundo stood big and bad, posing with the cigar still in his mouth, trying to sound like James Cagney, cigar cocked to the side of his mouth, "Yeah, where you been, see? We been waitin' on ya'! 'Nother hour and a half, you'd be a missin' poi'son - get me?"

Crystal looked up at him shaking her head, "We get it that you done lost your mind! Sit down silly child - no more inhaling, smoking them cigars!"

Shawn couldn't believe what was going on, he looked at them asking, "What is going on? What is she doing here?" And then, he looked down, asking Angela, "What are you doing here?"

"I live here daddy, with you and Sylvia. Don't you want me here with you?"

"Of course I do! But I just left your mother's-..."

"You mean, yesterday?" She interrupted, to remind him, when it actually was that he left her.

"Well yes, yesterday - I've been going crazy all night, trying to figure out, how not to leave you there! What are you doing here? Now?"

"Sylvia came and got me. Her, Mundo and Ben, they came early this morning. Sylvia said, she wasn't going to leave me there, that we had to figure something else out, because I belong here, with you; with Mundo, Crystal, with our family."

He looked up from her across the room, and with her arms still around him, he moved closer to the table, his eyes going from Mundo the Ben. At the table, he finally sat down in the chair she abandoned. He was quiet a moment, unable to look at his daughter, because he was fighting back tears, he cleared his throat once, twice and then looked at Mundo again, he started out, asking, "Do you guys realize why I-..."

"Hey, we know. We know the whole deal." Mundo cut him off answering the question he was about to ask. "What we all would like to know is, why you think, you can be here to run to our rescue, but we wouldn't be here to run to yours, or better yet, our little sisters? Can you tell us, why that is? We thought, we was a family now, you know, all for one, one for all? Why didn't you come home last night man, tell your family, what was going on?"

Shawn sat unable to answer him. He stared up at him, and then looked into Crystal's accusing eyes. "You'd die for us Papah-Shawn, but you don't think, we'd die for you? For our little sister? What, did you think you'd have to protect her, all by yourself? And us too?"

"Man, you want us to learn lessons about life, love, and family, looks like to me, you need to learn some yourself." Mundo stated, sitting down, for once, he was proud of himself, proud that he, came up with the idea and means to keep them all as they should be, together. For once, he felt good, that he stepped up to the plate when it was his turn to hit the ball, and he knocked out a home run. "Ben man, break it down to'im man, so he knows and understand what kind of family this is."

Ben smiled, winking at Mundo, and turned to Shawn, doing just that, "Your wife, who hasn't had much sleep last night, for pacing the floor, worried about you, on the phone to everyone, got just enough sleep to get up, wake me and Mundo, and head over to your ex-wife's place. I'm not gonna get into everything that she said, but know this - she wasn't leaving there, without your daughter. Then Mundo, came up with this idea..." he then went on to explain Mundo's plan to not only protect Angela, but everyone in the house. Finishing it up, he said, "So everything that Deidre was going to do, to protect her here - she's willing to do, to protect her there. We all, us sitting here now, have all ready decided that right now, since the plan is already in full swing, you have to accept that plan. Which is, Deidre pouring in the security outlay of that home, and then you - after the security part is finished, get to pick up where she leaves off, that is, completing the home around it - doing so, may only cost you - a bit more, because of course, the home will now be bigger - and Deidre said, she is willing to even pay that out so you don't have to dig any deeper. We have all decided-..."

"Me included!" Angela spoke up saying, her arms crossed over her flat chest, looking into her father's eyes.

"Yep, her included - that you're not going to give Deidre, or Sylvia a hard time about this, because you don't get to do it by yourself. We've all figured you out, that you think you have to do everything, carry everything all your own. Not this time. This time, the load is just a bit too big, even for your shoulders. This ruling, this decision, has been a family decision, and anything you might say or feel, has been over-ruled. End of discussion." Ben finished.

"End of discussion." Mundo repeated.

"End - of - discussion." Crystal emphasized.

Angela looked at him, "I don't need to say it do I daddy?"

Shawn sat fully, and completely chastised by his children. And it never felt so good.

"Well?" They all asked at the same time.

"End of discussion." Shawn softly agreed. "So-o-o is your mother in on this sit-down you all have just given me?"

"Nope." Ben answered for everyone.

"Soon as we got home, she dragged herself up to bed. She doesn't know about this discussion or conclusion." Crystal supplied.

"I see." He was looking at the floor and then he looked up at each of them. "I'm sorry I put you all through that, I just-..."

"Dad, we know you." Mundo cut him off speaking up. "You've taken us on as your family, but in your mind, you don't think we've taken you on, Angela on. We had a good long talk about it, us four. Me, Ben, Crystal and Angela. It's not true. You, dad; Angela - dad; are just as much apart of us, as you've made us, a part of you. If that wasn't so, you wouldn't have been in so much torture and torment last night. And - you would have come home, and called your family together - and told us what the problem was, so we - as a family could fix it, could figure it out. So, don't apologize to us, just - don't let it happen again."

Shawn felt his face set on fire, because facing it, he couldn't deny it.

Angela stood from his lap, leaned over and kissed his cheek and then ordered him, "Upstairs with you now, we're done with you."

Shawn made a face of disbelief.

"Yeah, you came in, in the middle of our game! And you lil'missy, owe me - the banker some money, or you 'bout to get tossed out! Skid'row don'cha know!"

Shawn stood as his daughter took her seat back. He slowly backed away, a funny feeling in his chest. He couldn't believe that he'd been thoroughly chastised. Neither of them were paying him anymore attention, they'd had their say with him and he was duly dismissed. The lesson that he was suddenly learning was a pretty tough one to swallow, but swallow it he must, because now, looking at things from their point of view, he realized how wrong he had been without meaning to be. Turning away from them, he realized he still had to face his wife.

He took a deep breath and headed for the stairs.

He knew she would be giving him a good chewing out, and after coming home to this truth, he supposed he certainly deserved it. Funny thing was, going up the stairs, he felt eighty percent lighter on his feet. Lighter because for once in his life, he actually felt, that he wasn't alone and had to work out everything all on his own. He couldn't get over the fact, that the most important people in his life, weren't all sitting on him, waiting for him to get up and carry the whole load and burden alone. He couldn't believe the anguish he'd put himself through for the last hours - needlessly! He wasn't sure of how he should feel being humbled by his own kids, but they had, they'd humbled him and taught him a lesson that he should have been teaching them.

He was at his bedroom door, slowly, softly he turned the knob and first peaked in. Sylvia was laying on her side, under the covers up to her waist. He stared at her a moment and then eased into the room, closing the door softly behind him. He was tempted to climb on the bed, but if she was asleep, he didn't want to wake her. Instead, he opted to step carefully around the end of the bed, talking his shoes off as he went. From the end of the bed, at the corner of the side where she lay, he peaked over some to see her face, her eyes were closed. He then stepped further along the bed, and finally he knelt there beside her, staring into her face. He was trying to determine if she was sleeping or not, when she sniffed and a tear rolled from the inner corner of her eye and over the high bridge of her nose, heading for the other eye. With her eyes closed, another sniff, she reached up and wiped the tear away.

He exhaled and his inner diaphragm and stomach seemed to collapse in on him.

She was awake.

"I'm home." He whispered.

She sniffed, "I know." She whispered back, her eyes still closed.

Shawn swallowed the lump of sorrow in his throat, "You mad at me?" He asked in the soft whisper.

"No."

"Not even a little bit?"

"No, not even a little bit." She returned, still in the soft whisper.

"Why won't you open your eyes, look at me."

"I'm just tired Shawn. Trying to wait for you to come home. Now you're here, I can go to sleep." More tears seeped from her closed lids.

He reached over and caught a tear, "If you're not mad at me, why are you crying?" He moved closer to the bed, to ask, leaning on it, his face not far from hers.