Barking Out Orders

"Thomas, please don't kick the table. Thomas, please don't stick your fingers in the syrup. Thomas, please don't touch other people's plates." Lacey sighed in frustration.

Thomas was acting up more than usual. She figured it was the problem they all were having. The problem was the big lug in the new bedroom of the house. He hadn't showed his face since his moving in. However, everyone one could feel Danny's presence even with him hid away in the small bedroom upstairs. They all knew he was there. Untouchable.

Lacey had missed touching him for so long. Now he was there not wanting to be touched or even talked to. Lacey supposed it was too much to ask for everything to fall in place like a real family. She had made her own bed. Now she had to lie in it.

"Thomas! Stop!" Lacey screamed as she threw down her fork as she watched Thomas pour out some syrup into the floor.

Thomas shirked away. Lacey felt guilty. As always, she felt guilty. Since the day she made the decision not to tell Danny that she was pregnant. Every thing was supposed to be better when Danny finally found out. A miracle was supposed to happen. Thomas was supposed to talk. To show his intelligence to his dad. All was supposed to be perfect.

Lacey stood up. She wrapped her arm around Thomas. "I'm sorry."

Danny walked into the kitchen from outside. They all looked at him surprised. He wasn't hold up in the bedroom after all. He practically ignored them all. Except to begin his reign. He didn't mean it that way. But he had trained himself for almost five years to try to hold back caring about anything and anyone. Danny had lived the type of life for almost five years. You see a problem. You fix it. No questions asked.

"I fixed the leak in the sink in the downstairs bathroom." Danny stated as he leaned against the counter. He wiped his hands on an old dish rag.

"That sink wasn't even being used." Samuel said in monotone.

"Good thing I fixed it so it could be used then." Danny glanced at his son. Beautiful. "I repaired the old truck. I also picked some apples from that old apple tree. Tomatoes are doing good too. You have a nice little family garden, Samuel. Why don't you and Phoebe go sell them or something at that little farmer's thing they are having in town this weekend?" Danny wanted to spend some time alone with Lacey. He wanted to talk about how it was best for him to approach Thomas.

"We could do that." Phoebe grinned feeling rather anxious having Danny around again. "Thanks, Danny."

"Don't thank me, Phoebe." Danny glared. "This is my home now for a few months. I'm just trying to fit in. For my son."

Lacey glanced up. She held Thomas closer. He was trembling.

"Can he talk?" Danny glanced waiting an answer. "Jo's girl is about the same age. She can talk."

"He has problems..." Lacey whispered. "...with talking."

"Is there.." Danny swallowed. "...anything we can do?"

"His doctor says maybe. There are programs I've checked into." Lacey didn't know why she was speaking so low. For some odd reason, Danny was just intimidating to them all. Guilt was the major culprit. Anger was partly to blame.

"I guess there was no choice in school or anything? Green Grove probably doesn't have a lot of options." Danny wasn't questioning it. He was just stating facts about the small town. "Thomas, go get the syrup off the floor you just poured out. Don't waste food."

"Danny…he…" Lacey stopped her words. She was going to explain he never cleans up after himself.

However, Thomas stood up. He walked to the counter and got a rag. The boy wiped the syrup up slowly.

Danny rubbed his neck. "I'm going to shower. Samuel, I didn't find any nails to fix the roof to the old shed . I figured you could do that. Perhaps, Phoebe could spend some time with Thomas."

"I guess." Phoebe whispered.

"The fence on the right side of the house is broken too. Samuel, sometime today, buy me some posts. I'll put them in." Danny threw down a wad of money on the table. He then watched as Thomas cleaned the syrup. Lacey did as well.

"He's only three and a half." Lacey softly rustled Thomas's hair.

"I can do the math, Lacey." Danny stated sarcastically.

"He shouldn't have to clean up." Lacey placed her hands on her hips as she stared at Danny irrately.

"He made the mess. He can clean it up." Danny nodded to Thomas. "Obviously, since he did already."

"Well. Yeah. But…" Lacey gritted her teeth. "He's afraid of you. He doesn't need you to start pretending like you're his boss."

Danny didn't argue. He wasn't trying to pretend he was boss to anyone. He only saw what needed to be done. Therefore, he ignored the beautiful little lady with defiant eyes in front of him. He had to. He was having an overwhelming feeling of love. But he was hurting at the same time. It was strange to feel so out of control emotionally. Therefore, Danny decided to take control of what he could. That was taking care of things needed repaired at Lacey's house. Danny could tell they had done a good job without him. But little things still needed tweaked. It made him feel useful in Lacey's and Thomas's life. Perhaps, if they needed him just a little, Lacey and Thomas would want him to stay around.

Danny was a great man to the business world. He knew he could make money without much effort. With his new family, he felt useless. So the orders were to show he could make a difference to them. Didn't they need him? Obviously not.

"I found some old Mason jars behind the shelf in the old building out there. Phoebe, clean those up. Lacey, you can make some apple butter to sell at Grimley's market. Does that still exist?" Danny sighed out. "I remember Judy teaching you how to do that, Lacey."

"Yes." Lacey again spoke softly. "I've not made apple butter for years."

"It always sold good, Sweetheart. Your mother's apple butter was the best." Samuel grinned. "Just like Tess's pies. Old man Grimley would love to have apple butter. He still buys Tess's pies, Danny."

Samuel felt like he needed to please Danny for some reason. He never felt like that before. However, he wanted this man to see they managed. Not as good as Danny probably could have provided. But they had managed a decent life.

Danny took it completely wrong. To him, the Porters never needed him. Especially, Lacey. She was a strong independent woman. She raised her child with no help from him. Danny never realized they were all a support group, which was Samuel, Phoebe, and Lacey, for each other. All he knew was that life went on without him. A pretty good life as far as he could tell. He wanted to be a part of that ife. But he also wanted his coming into Lacey's and Thomas's life to fill a void. Danny saw no void. He had no idea the biggest void he needed to fill was that in Lacey's heart and Thomas's life.

Lacey never really looked at Danny as he went on and on. She couldn't. It made her body warm in all the right places. He was so handsome. So perfect physically. However, Danny was more take charge than Lacey was used to. Especially, with Thomas. She was the one to always take care of Thomas. That was Lacey's only way of feeling useful. That was her control.

"Just let me know what you all need." Danny headed upstairs. "Like I said. I'm going to take a shower."

"Since you're barking out orders." Lacey crossed her arms angrily as she stared up at Danny. The audacity of this man coming in her house and just taking over. "What is my duty today?"

Danny turned. He stared at Lacey. She was mad and he decided to make her more angry. He had no idea why he was taunting her. But there was something so sexy about the way an angry Lacey looked.

"I was hoping you'd help me shower."