The Dom's Patience is Rewarded [Unchained Love 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (15 page)

“Have you got a copy of her will?” asked Diane.

“It’s in the folder, too. I figured you’d need it.”

“Okay, just give me a minute to look through these papers, please.”

Leticia sat and watched as Diane pulled the papers out of the folder, reading each one then laying it upside down on her desk as she moved on to the next, occasionally going back to a previous one to reread something.

Leticia had spent half a day reading all the papers in her father’s lockbox then talked about them to Oliver and William. William had pointed out that since she was a child when her mother died, it was reasonable of Sam to manage her money.

“He should have established a separate bank account in your name though, to keep everything nice and tidy. He also should have told you about it,” William had said.

“Not only that, he should have given her access to the money to spend on things she wanted and she should have had control of it once she turned twenty-one,” Oliver had added.

“Yeah, I don’t think he ever acknowledged that I’ve grown up,” Leticia had said.

Leticia fidgeted with her charm bracelet. She couldn’t tell what Diane was thinking. She had strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes and didn’t wear a collar. Although that didn’t mean she wasn’t in a relationship, Leticia didn’t think she was.
I really must get to know the human women here better. Now that I’m living here they are my neighbors and I’d like them to be my friends as well.

“Yes, this is all quite clear. Your mother’s money is yours alone, although it would have been fair for your father to take a small annual fee to cover his expenses in managing it for you. She invested it wisely. It’s made a small but steady profit every year despite the financial downturn. You aren’t rich, but you aren’t starving, either. If you like, I could help you tweak your portfolio to get slightly higher returns with no more risk.”

“Thanks, Diane, I’d like that. Also I’ll need to withdraw some of it for my share of our house extensions. I’ll want to buy curtains and some furniture and so on.”

“You should be able to do that unless you were planning to buy top-of-the-range fabrics.”

“With two men in the house I was thinking plain but sturdy, actually, just in a color we all like.”

“Very sensible of you. Now what about your father’s money? It looks like he’s made some poor financial decisions over the years and lost quite a lot of his own money. Would you like to apply to take control of his funds while he’s in jail and move them into a portfolio where he’ll do better?”

“I don’t know. Since he never even mentioned money to me likely he won’t want me touching his finances. But then, if he’s losing money now, what will he live on when he gets out of jail?”

“I’d be inclined to try to get him on a steadier income basis and hope he is pleased later on, but it’s totally up to you to choose. Since he’s in jail, as next of kin we can get a court order for you to take charge of his finances.”

Should I reorganize Dad’s finances for him? What would Oliver say? Or William?

He’s not going to be welcomed back into the pack or into Carnal Connections. He’ll need his money to support himself.

It’s your decision, sweetie, but I agree with Oliver.

Leticia jumped. They’d both answered her, and she hadn’t even realized she was asking the question to them. This mental telepathy thing was really cool, but it was going to take some getting used to. “Thank you, Diane. Yes, please sort out my money first then do his.”

“No worries. I’ll keep some of your money in a cash account so you can do your shopping and I’ll text you when I need you to sign any paperwork.” Diane gathered the papers into two piles. “Let me just scan these ones so I have a copy, then you can have the originals back.”

“Thank you so much for helping me and advising me, Diane. I know you’re busy and the work you do here is important. It’s so wonderful being part of this community. It’s just like a big family, and I’m so happy to be part of it.”

“It’s been good having the panthers here, too. Since we already had a couple of wolves I wondered how you’d all get on. That old story about fighting like cats and dogs, you know. But it’s worked out really well so far,” said Diane.

“As long as David behaves. I’d love him to settle down and be happy here. I always wanted a sister, but a brother will be fine.”

“We’ll need to wait and see about that,” said Diane, handing back the folder of papers to Leticia.

* * * *

William stood and stared at his house.
My house!
He’d only ever lived in an apartment before, and to see the tiny apartment he was sharing with Oliver and Leticia grow into a house was the most astounding experience ever. And it wasn’t costing the earth. Oh sure, they’d be paying it off for years. He was a nurse, not a billionaire. But even so, a modular home was way cheaper than building from the ground up. And it was theirs.

He belonged. He was accepted and loved and a part of not just a family but a community. He was the happiest man alive, no question about that.

The plumber, the electrician, and the tiler were working on the kitchen and bathroom at the moment, then JB and his team of volunteers would do most of the rest of the work, keeping the costs down further. A wall was to be removed so their old bedroom became part of the kitchen as a meals area and with space for a full-size refrigerator and freezer.

Buying a refrigerator big enough to hold meat and salads so they could invite friends over for a barbecue on their deck was something he was really looking forward to. Of course, first they’d have to build the deck, but hey, how hard could it be to nail a bunch of timbers onto struts? Someone was sure to have a nail gun he could borrow.

Meanwhile, during the renovations, all their furniture was in the living area and it was nearly impossible to find anything. Once again his car was the main repository for his work things and his trunk was full of boxes of his things just to get them out of Leticia’s way. But this was only for a little while. Soon they’d have a house.

He saw Omar and Larry coming toward him but ignored them, assuming they’d be wanting to talk to Oliver.

“Hey, William, are Leticia and Oliver inside?” asked Larry.

“Oliver is. He’s looking at the renovations. Leticia was just finishing up in the garden. She’ll be here soon.”

“I’ll tell Oliver to hurry up. This may take a while,” said Omar, entering the apartment.

Uh-oh. What now?

William followed Omar and Larry inside. Larry was staring at the piles of boxes against the walls and the big bed pushed against the bookshelf. “I guess that makes it easy to choose something to read in bed,” he said.

William grinned. “Since the only place to sit right now is on the bed it is kinda useful.”

“Not true. You could sit on the floor,” objected Oliver.

“Yeah? Where?” joked Omar, pulling a mountain of stuff off William’s armchair and dropping it on the floor before sitting in the chair.

Larry leaned against the doorjamb. “I’m not coming any farther in. It’d be just my luck to stand on something and break it.”

Leticia and JB arrived just then. William smiled at her—she was so beautiful even with dirt smeared across her cheeks like now and mud on the seat of her jeans. “You don’t want to sit down in here in those jeans,” he warned her.

“Yeah, I don’t want to touch anything until I’ve washed my hands, either. Can I use the bathroom, or should I wash here?” she asked.

“Here would be best,” JB replied. The muscular man moved smoothly into the house and leaned against the bookshelf. He was human yet moved with as much grace as any of the panthers, William decided.

Oliver entered the room, wiped down the kitchen counter, and then jumped up to sit on it.

Once again William grinned. All these Doms marking their territory. It was really quite entertaining. One pile of boxes held some of his books, so he knew the boxes were solid and sat on the top box.

Leticia appeared in clean jeans, her hair neatly brushed. She stepped carefully into the room and sat on the floor in front of the kitchen counter.

Larry and Omar looked at each other, and Larry said, “The community is not very happy about having David here. He’s made no apology for causing all the trouble and leading a pack of rogues. He doesn’t even seem to completely understand that what he did was both legally and morally wrong.”

Now Omar spoke. “However, it appears he was treated very badly by his pack, being expelled for something out of his control and having never been taught things every panther should know. Consequently we have a problem.”

That’s a massive understatement and doesn’t even touch on Sam
.

“JB, over to you,” said Larry.

“Obviously I can’t teach him how to be good panther, but this community has plenty of work available for any strong, willing workers. One of the things he’s said is that he has neither the education, nor the skills, nor the training to get a job out in the world. I’m prepared to teach him basic building skills. Working on your house is a good place to start as he’ll see much more variety of tasks than he would by doing general maintenance. He’ll be closely supervised all the time. Basically I’d be treating him as an apprentice, at least until I can see if he’s any good at the job.”

“Oliver?” asked Omar.

“My primary concern would be Leticia’s safety. I wouldn’t ever want her left alone with him.”

“He wouldn’t be left alone period. He’d always be with me or someone I trust implicitly,” said JB.

“William?” asked Larry.

William was a bit surprised. He hadn’t expected to be asked his opinion. He’d thought he was simply being included to give him the information. However, he knew what he thought. “As long as Leticia is completely safe, I like the idea of teaching him and giving him a purpose in life. It seems to me he’s been badly treated and deserves at least one chance to go straight.”

Everyone looked at Leticia. “I want to get to know him. He’s my brother,” she said simply.

“Keeping him here is not going to be popular with the community. If he attempts to touch one of the women I’m not sure I can guarantee his safety. And if he runs away I won’t be chasing after him,” warned Larry.

“I understand. I’m grateful you’re prepared to give him even this one chance,” said Leticia.

“Very well then. Tomorrow JB’ll bring him here and get him started. Omar and I will make sure he understands what is expected of him,” said Larry.

Larry, Omar, and JB left and William looked at his partners, his mates. “I hope this works out, but Leticia, promise me you won’t trust him. He doesn’t seem to understand the rules, and it’s possible he will never play by the rules.”

“Don’t worry, William. I’ll be careful. I’ll mostly be at the garden when he’s here anyway.”

William stared at her and thought,
You can always call us if you need us.

I know. Isn’t that awesome!

* * * *

Most days when she wasn’t working in the garden, Leticia silently watched her brother at work, staying out of sight and trying to judge whether he was genuinely trying to learn and participate. Even though David was always accompanied by one or more of the men, often JB, Josh, or Pete, she could tell his skills were developing. He hit nails hard and straight instead of bending them or missing them. He assembled the precut pieces quickly and easily, seeming to have a good feel for what fit where. And on two separate occasions he suggested changes to JB that the builder thought were good ideas.

Finally, after a week, Leticia decided it was time to talk to him. A team of men had been digging a trench to connect the wastewater pipes to the community’s gray water-filtration unit. Jill had brought them over box lunches from the communal kitchen, and Leticia took out a bucket of warm, soapy water for them to clean up in before eating. Then she sat down beside David and said, “Tell me one of your happiest childhood memories.”

“What?”

“Your hearing is fine. Answer me.”

“But why would you want to know?”

“Because you’re my brother and I want to get to know you.”

“Why don’t you tell me one of your memories?”

“All right. But when I finish I expect you to reciprocate. The summer I turned six was very, very hot. It seemed to me that all my school friends had gone to the lake for summer vacation and I desperately wanted to go, too, but Mama said no vacation. Anyway, one Friday was even hotter than ever, so Dad, Mama, and I drove up to the lake just for the weekend. It was the first time I’d ever been swimming and I loved it. My parents couldn’t understand why I wanted to swim as many cats hate water, but I had the best time ever that weekend and even my parents were happy as they said the weather was much more pleasant on the lakeshore than at home.”

Leticia turned to look at David and he was staring at her, surprised. “My story is sort of similar. I wanted to go horseback riding and my folks said cats don’t ride horses. But one of my friends had a cowboy-themed birthday party and as part of it there was a man hired to bring along a couple of ponies for we kids to ride. I was so excited and happy and loved riding the ponies even though they were fat old things that just walked around the park. For a few years after that I spent all my allowance on horse-riding lessons.”