Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Whirlgirl and Kitt, I really appreciate your comments, they mean a lot.
Part of this chapter is a scene that I wrote just as a bit of fun for Loopstagirl a while ago. It wasn't intended to be published but it seemed to fit in really well with the ideas I had for this story, so here it is. If you think it's familiar, it's inspired by Loopsta's 'War of the Stars' - I gave her a hard time about Virg being left out when she first wrote it, so the original version was just to make her feel guilty for being so mean. (Maybe it was because I was writing 'Perfect Cousin' at the time, so I might have been just a little over-sensitive when it came to Virgil and presents...) Anyway, it's a great story and highly recommended.
Chapter Three
All the way home, Jeff kept wondering what to say to Lucy. He knew his wife well - the slightest hint of someone deliberately being responsible for John's injuries would enrage her. Under normal circumstances she was fiercely protective of her three boys, but when she was pregnant she could be unpredictable in her emotions and her responses. He wouldn't put it past her to go charging round to Trask's herself. He just didn't know what to do. If he'd only been able to speak to the man, he knew she'd have been satisfied, but the fact that Trask had seemingly got away with it wouldn't go down well at all. Maybe it would be better not to tell her. But surely she had the right to know, to be on her guard just in case Trask decided to make more trouble...
He fretted all through the journey, especially when he hit heavy traffic. A football game had just finished and he managed to reach that area of town just as a stream of cars left the parking lot. Now there was no hope for John's ice cream - Scott and Virgil wouldn't care, but John was fussy with his food and he wouldn't be happy - especially not when the ice cream was supposed to be a special treat to make up for his miserable morning.
Then the storm hit and driving conditions became even worse. It took him over an hour to get home and he was still stressing over Trask when he got there. He cheered up a little when he was greeted by an enthusiastic Scott and Virgil, both of whom grabbed the bags, dragging one (Virgil) and carrying the other (Scott) into the kitchen, but he really wanted to see his middle boy. He found John curled up on the living room couch surrounded by toys and books. The boy was fast asleep, so, after gazing fondly at him for a few moments and hoping he'd stay that way until the ice cream had spent an hour or so in the freezer, Jeff made his way into the kitchen.
Only to find Lucy slamming cupboard doors as she pulled out dishes and spoons.
"What kept you?"
Okay, Jeff thought. She was angry. Best not to mention Trask just yet, then. He sent his two sons away to check on their brother before making some excuse about the traffic, relieved when Lucy didn't press the matter.
"How's John?" he asked. "I saw he was asleep."
Lucy paused as she was about to pull off the lid of the ice cream tub. "Okay, I think. He's been awfully quiet since we came back. He says his hands hurt, but the doctor said he can't have anything more for the pain until later this evening. I just hope he sleeps for a few more hours."
She sniffed for a moment before shaking her head and opening the ice cream. Jeff, used to his wife's mood swings when she was pregnant, recognised the signs and was by her side even before she burst into tears. Knowing it was the shock over John - and somewhat surprised that she'd managed to hold it all together this long - he put an arm around her and led her to a chair.
"Come on," he soothed. "He's okay."
"I know, but it shouldn't have happened, Jeff. He's only five; he's going to have scars for the rest of his life."
"The doctor said they'd barely be noticeable," Jeff reminded her.
"I'll notice them. He's supposed to be safe in his own back yard. And what if it had been Virgil who'd fallen on that glass? He'd have been even more badly hurt."
"Virgil's fine," Jeff told her. "And so's John. Tomorrow he'll be back to annoying his brothers like he usually does."
"Well, he won't be running around outside until I know for sure there's no more glass. Will you go and clear it up, Jeff? And make sure there's none anywhere else."
Jeff glanced out of the window. The thunder and lightning seemed to have passed, but the rain was still hammering down. "I'll do it in the morning."
Lucy looked at him. "In the morning? What if the boys decide to get up early to go and play outside?"
"They won't get the door open," Jeff pointed out. "Come on, it's pouring down. And look how dark it is out there. I'd need a flashlight to see anything."
"Scott can open the door now," Lucy told him. "You'd know that if you spent more time at home."
Jeff stared at her, unable to help feeling hurt. Lucy had been the one who'd encouraged him to build up the business, even when he'd worried about the impact it would have on their family life.
She must have seen his expression because her own face fell. "I'm sorry, Jeff. I didn't mean it like that. You know I'm proud of you - and no one could be a better father. Blame the baby - I'm all over the place right now. I just couldn't bear it if anything else happened to the boys."
"I know." He gave her a hug.
"At least this week's trip will be the last for a while," Lucy said, snuggling up against him. "I'm looking forward to having you around full-time for a few weeks."
Jeff tensed. He'd forgotten all about his upcoming trip to New York. It was only for three days, but with the threat of Trask hanging over his family, he didn't know if he should risk it. But if he didn't, his company could lose out on a major contract, one which would secure the future of the Kansas factory for the next five years or so.
"What's wrong?" Lucy asked.
"Nothing." He kissed the top of her head then got to his feet. "You're right, I should go and clear up that glass. The boys will be fine, but I wouldn't want anything to happen to Mrs Henderson's cats."
Lucy made a half-hearted attempt to stop him, pointing out that he'd been right about the weather, but Jeff could tell that she was relieved he was going to sort things out. Anyway, he needed time to think and since Scott and Virgil chose that exact moment to come charging back in to get their ice cream, he knew he wouldn't get much peace inside for a while.
As he crouched down by the pieces of glass, carefully collecting them all up and placing them in a bag, Jeff wondered what to do. He couldn't risk Lucy getting upset and trying to take on Trask, but he couldn't leave her unprepared for trouble. In the end, he decided there was only one thing he could do, the same thing he'd always done when things got on top of him.
He called his mother.
As he'd expected, the woman was horrified at the news of John's accident. Jeff didn't mention Trask, but as he'd known she would, she insisted on coming straight round, so he knew he'd get the chance to talk to her later.
He'd been a little worried that Lucy might not want her mother-in-law fussing around, but to his relief she took the news cheerfully, commenting that John would be pleased to see his grandmother and that she herself wouldn't mind a little help with the other boys. Scott and Virgil had made the most of this rare opportunity to gorge themselves on sugar and both were charging around manically, inevitably waking John. The injured boy remained quiet, though, and Jeff had a sneaking feeling that he was putting it on just a little, since every whimper of pain got him another treat or a cuddle.
When his mother arrived he let her fuss around her grandsons for a while. Then, when Lucy went to prepare dinner - something she refused to accept any help with - and the boys were playing happily at the far end of the living room, he quietly told her all about the situation with Trask.
"I know the family," Ruth Tracy told him. "His father was just the same. He used to work for your grandfather. I remember Grant telling me how he crashed a tractor through the barn wall after he'd been drinking."
"Do you think he'll cause any more problems?" Jeff asked.
Ruth looked troubled. "I certainly hope not. This business with the glass... he didn't necessarily intend to hurt the boys."
"I shouldn't have gone round there," Jeff sighed. "If he saw me give his wife the money to leave him, he might decide he's got a real case for revenge."
"Or she might have been having you on," his mother said. "Remember, you thought Mr Trask was in the house all along. If we're lucky he'll have taken his share of that money down to the bar and be drinking your health right about now."
"I hope so. But I'm worried, Mom. I don't want to leave Lucy alone this week. I wasn't happy about it anyway, not when the baby's so close, but now I feel even worse about it. I think I should cancel my meeting."
"Will it be bad for the company if you do?"
Jeff looked away and shrugged.
"Jefferson?"
Jeff knew that tone and he smiled weakly. "If I don't get that contract I'll have to lay off half the staff here. At least until something else comes up."
"Well, then," Ruth said firmly, "If people are relying on you, you can't let them down. Go to New York, Jeff. I'll stay here with Lucy."
"You'd do that?" Jeff suddenly felt a whole lot better. His mother might be small but she was tough. If Trask turned up she'd be hard to intimidate and Lucy would have someone to take care of her.
"Of course I would. As if spending more time with my family would be a hardship. But you'll have to convince Lucy. I know she already thinks I'm fussing too much about the baby, but I can't help it, Jeff. I'm just not sure she'll want me around twenty-four hours a day."
"Leave that to me," Jeff said. "Thanks, Mom. What would I do without you?"
He had to wait for the right moment to raise the subject. It helped that Lucy was worn-out by the time the evening came around. The boys, full of chocolate, ice-cream and any other number of sugary concoctions, had run her ragged. Jeff knew that without his mother's help none of them would ever have got to bed, but finally, when all three were fast asleep and the three exhausted adults were enjoying a much-needed coffee, he tentatively made the suggestion and, after much discussion, Lucy finally agreed that Ruth could keep her company whilst her husband was away.
For the next couple of days Jeff couldn't help but be on edge, but his fears were unfounded. He found himself wondering if Trask knew he was heading out to New York and was just biding his time, but, as his mother pointed out, the man's resentment was surely aimed at Jeff himself, not Lucy or the boys. Jeff agreed, though he couldn't quite shake the memory of the man's encounter with Virgil. He almost pulled out of the trip at the last minute, but a timely call from his mother - she knew him far too well, he thought - sent him on his way.
Lucy might have thought that her mother-in-law was a nuisance with her constant phone calls, but she was going to find out that an anxious husband could be a hundred times worse, Jeff decided. He called as often as he could, four or five times a day sometimes, too relieved when Lucy reported that all was well to take offence at her increasingly exasperated tone. The three days were a triumph in terms of business, but Jeff didn't particularly enjoy them and he couldn't wait to get back home. When he finally returned to Kansas it was with gifts for his boys and his mother but, much to his dismay, without the Tiffany necklace he'd bought for his wife. He'd left it in his office drawer. To make matters worse, it wasn't just a 'honey, I missed you' present, it was also her Valentine's gift.
There was no time to buy anything else - Jeff didn't arrive home until late Friday evening and Valentine's Day was on the Saturday. Thankful that he'd at least remembered the card and ordered a delivery of flowers, he decided that, as exhausted as he was after his journey, he'd have to forego the relaxing day he'd been hoping for in favour of a trip into town with Lucy. He'd tell her he wanted her to choose her own piece of jewellery, hoping she wouldn't realise that this hadn't been the original plan. His mother was already booked to babysit that night so that he could take Lucy out for dinner, and Jeff hoped that she wouldn't mind taking the boys for the morning as well.
But she had promised a sick friend she'd visit and, after all her help over the past few days, Lucy refused to ask her to change her plans. And so, Jeff, wearing the new coat which was Lucy's gift to him, found himself strapping his three boys into the back of the car and looking forward - although, if he was honest, that might not have been quite the right phrase - to visiting not only all the town's jewellers, but its toy store, too.
It was just as dreadful as he'd expected. Lucy was in one of her indecisive moods and couldn't make up her mind between two pairs of earrings. Then, when she'd finally decided on the one she liked best and he was just about to pay, she suddenly announced that actually she'd prefer the bracelet she'd seen in the first store they'd been to. Scott and John had quickly grown restless and there turned out to be a limit as to how long Virgil could be distracted by colours and sparkles. By the time Lucy had her present the boys were desperate to let off steam. Jeff really wanted a coffee, but instead they headed for the toy store.
An hour later he was ready to forego the coffee in favour of a stiff drink. First of all they'd lost Virgil - Jeff had taken Scott to look at the model airplanes whilst Lucy had gone with John to look at the books. Each of them had assumed that the other had taken the youngest, but when they met up again some fifteen minutes later it was to realise with horror that the three-year-old had been missing all that time. Frantically retracing his steps, Jeff had discovered the boy still standing just inside the entrance staring with wide-eyed fascination at the conjuror who was entertaining the shoppers. He'd clearly been there all the time, oblivious to the fact that the rest of his family had left him behind, and he jumped a mile when his father swept him up into his arms, then put up an angry protest when he was carried back to his mother, kicking and screaming all the way.
It took a long time to pacify Virgil - and for Jeff and Lucy to recover from their fright - then they had to deal with an argument between the two oldest boys over their choice of DVDs. By the time an exasperated Jeff had given up and bought both, Lucy was complaining that her back was aching and her feet hurting, so it was with the utmost relief that Jeff guided his family back to the car, keeping a tight hold of Virgil's hand all the way. It was only lunchtime, but he was exhausted.
As soon as they got home, Scott and John advanced on their father - or, more precisely, the bag in his hands. Sighing in anticipation of the inevitable argument over which they should watch first, Jeff took out the DVDs and handed one to each of his boys. With yells of delight they made a run for the living room. Jeff turned to hang up his coat but was suddenly distracted by something pulling at his leg. Looking down he saw Virgil, eyes wide with expectation, holding his hands out for his present.
"Ah..." Jeff's eyes darted around in the hope that Lucy would appear, but she'd gone straight to the kitchen to make the coffee they were both so desperate for. "Virgil, I haven't got anything for you. You're a bit young for those films."
"Daddy... " Virgil was giggling, clearly believing his father was just playing with him. Jeff winced. He knelt down and held out his arms to his son. "Hug?" he asked hopefully, praying that a little tickling and wrestling would distract his son from the fact that out of the whole family, he was the only one not to have had some kind of treat that day.
But Virgil was a Tracy, and even at three, he was too sharp to be tricked so easily. Ignoring his father's outstretched arms, he tugged the empty bag out of Jeff's hands before opening it and turning it upside down. His little face fell and he gazed up at his father with a look of utter devastation. Jeff felt terrible, especially when the first tear trickled down his son's cheek.
"Oh, Virgil, don't cry." Jeff went to pick his son up, then almost dropped him as Virgil struggled to get away, whacking him on the nose with surprising force for a three-year-old.
"Daddy forgot Virgie?" The tears were falling properly now and Jeff didn't know what to say. He didn't like to lie to his boys, but he was hardly going to admit that yes, he had forgotten his son. Twice, come to think of it, what with losing him in the store, too.
"What's going on? Virgil, sweetheart, what's wrong?"
Jeff had never been so glad to see Lucy.
"We didn't get him anything," he hissed as his wife tried to comfort the sobbing child.
Lucy looked at him in horror. "Why didn't you get him something?"
"Me? Why didn't you?"
"I'm pregnant, Jeff, you know I've got the memory span of a goldfish. I thought you were going to get him those crayons."
"I was going to go back for them. I guess with all the fuss with John and Scott I forgot."
"Well, you're going to have to do something. You can't treat Virgil any different from his older brothers; he'll think you don't love him as much as them. He's going to struggle enough when the new baby comes as it is."
Virgil was still crying. Lucy put a finger under his chin to force him to look up at her.
"Come on, Virgie, don't cry. Daddy didn't forget about you."
"Did!"
"No he didn't. He just got Scotty and Johnny DVDs to watch while he takes you to the play centre."
Jeff groaned as Virgil's crying immediately stopped.
"Aw, Luce, you know how much I hate that place. It's bad enough first thing in the morning; it's my idea of hell on Earth on a Saturday afternoon. It'll be full of screaming kids and I've already got a headache."
"Jeff," Lucy said sternly, nodding towards Virgil who was still sniffling as he looked at his father hesitantly, clearly not certain whether he could trust him again.
Jeff gave in. He really did feel terrible about leaving Virgil out, but he'd more than pay for it now.
"Come on, then, kid," he said, holding out his hand. Virgil ran to him, everything forgiven, and threw his arms around his legs. Jeff looked down at him and couldn't help smiling, deciding that an hour or so of torture was worth it if it made his son happy.
Lucy gave him a hug. "Have fun, honey. I'll have a drink waiting for you when you get back."
"You'll be wishing you could have one yourself when the others find out I've taken Virgil and not them," Jeff told her as he let Virgil pull him out of the door, unable to stop himself from laughing at the look which came over his wife's face.
Sure enough, the play centre was as bad as Jeff had anticipated. Virgil had kicked his shoes off and charged straight into the ball pit with a squeal of excitement so, once he'd made certain the boy was okay, Jeff took himself over to the canteen, queuing for ten minutes for a cup of bad coffee, then having to stand at the side of the tables because the place was so busy. He couldn't help checking his watch every few minutes, wondering why time seemed to slow down whenever he was in a place like this. It wasn't that he didn't get a kick out of seeing Virgil dashing about the place with a massive grin on his face, but the noise level, as he'd predicted, was excruciating, the yells and screams of excited children virtually drowning out the music - a medley of classic children's favourites which repeated themselves ad nauseum. Not that any of the kids seemed to mind. With the exception of one little girl who'd fallen over and was sobbing in her mother's arms, everyone else seemed to be having the time of their lives.
Looking around for Virgil again, he saw him chasing a small boy who he recognised as one of his classmates. Then, as a table near him became free, he dashed across and flung himself into a seat, grateful for a little relief from the misery.
He'd set his phone to vibrate, otherwise he'd have had no idea someone was trying to call him. Frowning when he saw it was the foreman of his factory, he wondered what the problem was. He'd instructed his office to pass all but the most serious problems onto one of his managers that weekend. This had better be important, he thought, vacating his seat with the knowledge that, with so many people hovering around just waiting for an empty table, he wasn't going to get it back, then heading back to the lobby so that he could have some chance of hearing what the man on the other end of the line was saying.
He'd known it wasn't going to be good news, and he was right. There had been a fire at the factory - possibly started deliberately - and his presence was needed right away.
Trask! Jeff had no doubt that this was his ex-security guard's doing. Whether he'd intentionally waited a while to get his revenge, wanting Jeff to be lulled into a false sense of security, or whether he'd only now had the opportunity, Jeff didn't know. Either way, he'd finally made his move.
Announcing that he was on his way, Jeff ended the call then headed back into the play centre. Virgil still had another twenty minutes of his session to run and he was just grateful that the boy couldn't yet tell the time. Calling him over and laughing about how quickly time went when you were having fun, he ignored his son's pleas to stay longer, instead steering him over to a vending machine and letting him choose whatever he wanted, just to stop him sulking and get him out of the place. He was just grateful there wasn't a repeat of the morning's tantrum.
Once in the car, Jeff set off for home. But when he came to a turning he hesitated. By the time he'd taken Virgil home and headed back to his factory, almost an hour would have passed. But if he went straight there he could make it in twenty minutes. As much as he wanted to keep his son away from anything dangerous, he was desperate to know what had happened. In some ways the business was like another child, albeit one that would still need careful nurturing well after his boys had grown up and moved away. Virgil would be fine, he thought. All small boys loved fire engines and he could easily find someone to keep an eye on him if he was allowed into the factory to inspect the damage.
It was probably just as well he had his son with him, he thought, because otherwise he might just be tempted to pay a visit to Trask, and he knew that if he set eyes on the man any time soon, there was going to be real trouble.