Surprise! Hello I'm back! sorry it's been awhile since my last update. A big thank you to everyone who's sent me wonderful reviews, following, favorites or just reading a long. and a big thank you to my beta reader for helping me with my story.
it been a busy couple of months with the holidays and work, my brain was like mooch and needed a took break to work out somethings for my story and now I'm back. I'm going to try to start moving things a long. Here's my latest chapter hope you like it. and I must warn you there is talk of suicide in this chapter and probably the next ones. Until next time have a safe and healthy and happy new year!
A Brother's Revenge Chapter 19
Fenton led his wife and sister over to a couple of benches just a few yards away from their picnic area. He wanted to make sure that they were where they could talk privately, yet stay in view of their sons' table and keep an eye on everyone, but especially Joe. As they moved over Fenton tried to mentally prepare himself to explain to both women what had happened with Joe at the pier. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm his nerves and absentmindedly ran his fingers through his hair. There was so much going on with the boys plus the threat against them, it was all starting to be too much for him. He needed to keep his mind clear and just focus on one thing at the moment.
"Fenton, what is going on?" Laura asked sternly. She could tell that Fenton was concerned about something by the way that he was running his hand through his hair and that last fight between he and Joe, concerned her deeply. Not to mention that she wasn't exactly happy with Fenton at the moment after the hurtful words he said to their youngest son. It was going on 7:30 pm, and the fireworks would be starting shortly. Laura sighed and thought some celebration this was turning out to be. She had just wanted everyone to have fun and enjoy the picnic and watch the fireworks together. More importantly she just wanted her family back together and happy again. She had gone for a walk with her sister-in-law in order to clear her mind and she had hoped against hope that when they got back that things would be straightened out. Looking at the scene around her she had a feeling that they had a long way to go.
Finally, Fenton turned around to face his wife and sister. He huffed out a breath and began to speak. "Why don't we all sit down, and I'll explain..."
"Fenton, enough!" Laura snapped, finally losing her patience and pulling herself away from her husband. "I don't want to sit down! I want to know what's going on! Did you, or did you not work things out with Joe? At the very least, did you apologize for what you said to him earlier?"
"I did apologize to Joe, yes." Fenton answered. Laura noticed that he kept glancing over at their sons table and his gaze kept focusing on Joe. "As for working things out with him, that's going to take some time."
"What does that mean?" Laura asked as she folded her arms to her chest. "Did something happen between you two? Did you fight again?"
"Yes, something happened and no, we didn't fight, but there's no easy way to tell you." Fenton sighed before he took a deep breath, bracing himself. He knew that this was not going to be easy and that Laura was not going to take it very well. He took his eyes off of Joe and then, turning back to his wife, he gently put his hand on her shoulder and began speaking. Both Laura's and Gertrude's face paled as he told them about what happened with Joe on the boardwalk.
Laura took a step back from him when he finished, shaking her head and turning her back to where the teens were all sitting at the tables so they wouldn't see. "What? No... Not Joe, not our baby, no... no... it can't be… he's always been so positive, so happy… even after…" Her voice trailed off as she fought back the tears that were threatening to come pouring out of her eyes. It was all she could do to keep from breaking down. She didn't want to believe the words that were coming out of her husband's mouth.
Emotion began filling Fenton's voice, as he cleared his throat and managed to say, "when I saw Joe up on the railing looking over the water. My heart nearly gave out." Fenton placed a hand on his chest and closing his eyes willing the image that was burned into his brain to go away. "It made me think of what I had witnessed with my father. The pain and sadness...the emptiness, I saw it all in his eyes." He opened his eyes and quickly wiped away a tear that had escaped.
"Thank God for Biff! He has proven so many times of how much of a loyal and true friend he is to our boys. First with Frank and supporting him and keeping an eye on him when he was sick with worry when Joe was missing. And then tonight with Joe, Biff found him first...I overheard part of their conversation, Biff stayed calm the entire time and was saying all the right things, to the point where he had Joe off of the railing." Fenton paused, shrugged and then continued, "Biff was a little guarded with me, which I fully understand. After all he as well as everyone else here heard the horrible things I said to Joe."
Fenton paused to take a breath, then with tears clouding his voice he choked out. "If Biff hadn't gotten to him first, I strongly believe that we came pretty damn close to losing Joe tonight..." He ended letting his voice trail off and he hung his head.
'Oh my God." Laura gasped slapping a hand over her mouth, she began to cry. Fenton wrapped an arm around her, doing his best to offer some measure of comfort.
"What did Joe say? What were his reasons?" Gertrude asked wiping away tears of her own. She was trying hard to be strong, but after hearing everything Fenton said, everything was hitting her close to home as well and bringing up old, painful memories of her father's battle with depression. She hated that her nephews were going through the fight themselves.
Fenton managed to continue, "I finally convinced Biff to let me talk to Joe alone, and once he moved off a bit, Joe and I sat down and had a talk... I think that it was a good talk, but I could tell that Joe is still incredibly angry with me."
"Does it have something to do with what Vanessa said about why he has some resentment towards you?" Laura asked. "Did he give you any idea about what that was about anyway?"
"I don't know. That's a mystery to me too." He answered shaking his head, "I did hear Joe tell Biff that he thinks that I hate him, and that he's not good enough to be a detective or my son." That bothered Fenton to think that Joe felt that way. "That could be part of it although it could be a number of reasons. I do know that he's angry with me for not letting him help with Hayden's murder investigation."
Fenton shook his head again and brought of another point in the conversation he had with Joe. "I do know that he is feeling a great deal of guilt. He thinks that it's his fault that Henry killed Phil and Seth, because he was the one that brought Henry into everyone's lives when he tried to befriend him and help him. He also thinks that he's the cause of Frank's health issues with his heart and depression, and I am sure what Callie said earlier helped to cement those thoughts in his mind. I believe it's just like what happened with Iola all over again, when he took all of the guilt and thought her death was his fault because he and Frank were targeted."
"No!" Laura abruptly pulled away from Fenton and hit him in his shoulder. "I've been so afraid of this. Remember our talk yesterday in your office." She continued heatedly looking at him with fire in her eyes, "about how both of the boys are fighting with depression differently. Joe is not handling things well. He already has anxiety issues with PTSD. He's not been okay ever since Phil died and the hospital fire. And of course, with Frank, Joe is afraid of losing him."
"And Frank..." Laura paused for a moment, "Oh my, Frank. Does he know about Joe?"
"No, not yet." Fenton replied softly. He was dreading having to tell Frank. "I wanted to talk to you two first, before talking to Frank."
"You know this is going to upset him, and could cause more health problems for him." Laura pointed out.
"I know, but we can't keep him in the dark."
"I can see that Frank is already stressed out. After you had left to call Chief Collig when Joe was running late getting here to the pier. I kept glancing over at Frank sitting with Callie and his friends, he kept rubbing his chest, just like he did before. And that scares me Fenton, that really scares me." Laura paused and looked over at her sons sitting with the little boy at their picnic table eating hot dogs and laughing. She turned back to her husband all teary eyed. "Frank appears to be handling the highs and lows of his depression, well or so we think. With this threat against the boys, and the loss of Phil Cohen and being accused of murder, he seems to be going with the flow. That being said, when it comes to Joe in trouble, that's when things could get dicey. Who knows how Frank will react when he finds out his brother was on the verge of taking his life tonight? It could be too much stress on his heart, and then he'll be back in the hospital again."
"I can't lose my children, Fenton. I won't." Laura said as she vowed to herself to do whatever it took to keep the darkness from taking her children. "We need to call Dr. Reese. We need her help."
"I plan on doing just that." Fenton composed himself and said calmly. "We need to do it discretely though, because for some reason Joe is a little resistant about seeing her."
"Why, I thought Joe was okay with family counseling?" Laura questioned.
"He was, that was another thing he and I talked about, but for some reason he has changed his mind. He feels it won't help because he's not a good person, and that our problems are too big to fix." Fenton said. "I explained to Joe that counseling would be the best way to help us work through our issues. He thought about it for a bit and then said that he'd think about it. Which I encouraged him to do. I told him to take as much time as he needed. I don't want to force him to do this and create more problems if we don't have to."
"That's good." Gertrude chimed in. "at least Joe is thinking about it. We will just have to keep encouraging him and not give up hope. Hopefully, Dr. Reese will be able to give us some advice about how to handle this."
Changing the subject slightly, Gertrude asked. "Now why are the McNeely's here?" It's not that she wasn't glad to see them. It was just a surprise to see them and their little boy sitting with her nephews.
"Gertrude is right Laura, there is hope." Fenton reached out with his hand and wiped her tears from her cheek with his thumb.
Fenton quickly filled them in on the lead he had gotten from Sam about the hospital case and that the possibility of a bomb may have been planted in a utility closet and Carolyn Matthews aka Nurse Matthews was a possible suspect in the case.
"Joe was sitting right next to me and could hear my half of the conversation and I told him the rest because I felt like he needed some encouragement. To get his mind on something else like a little detective work. And it worked, I could hear the enthusiasm in his voice and I saw the excitement in his eyes as he began to theorize. He got so excited when he figured out Nurse Matthews was a possible suspect that he had to tell Frank right away. He practically ran with his crutches on his way here, then Trevor was so excited to see Joe that he literally knocked him over and the boys invited him to sit with them to eat."
"Okay so what's the plan," Laura remarked sniffing back tears. "What do we do?"
"I need to go meet with Sam and Chief Collig. I need to give the Chief the threatening note that Joe and Vanessa found on her Jeep, but before I do that, I want to give Dr. Reese a call. Hopefully, she will be able to help us figure out how to best help Joe. In the meantime, we need to keep Joe's mind distracted and away from his dark thoughts. Frank and their friends would also be a big help in doing just that."
"Let me handle things here." Laura suggested. "You go and talk to Dr. Reese and I'll try to talk to Frank without Joe noticing."
"I think that's a good idea." Gertrude added, nodding her head. "We have a plan, and I think it's a good start."
"Okay." Fenton agreed and gave his wife a hug as he said. "Everything's going to be okay because we won't let anything happen. I promise you." With that he kissed the top of her head before releasing her and left to make his call to the doctor.
Laura stood in silence after her husband had left, her mind still reeling over everything Fenton had said about Joe. "He's right Laura, everything will be okay, we just have to believe that." She heard Gertrude say, "The boys are going to be okay. We'll get through this together as a family, and come out even stronger." Gertrude put an arm around her sister-in-law's shoulders and squeezed comfortingly. "Are you ready to go back to the picnic?"
Letting out a sigh, Laura looked up at the stars, which were just starting to appear in the evening sky, saying a silent prayer for her family, she then squared her shoulders, somehow finding the courage and the strength she needed at that moment. She could do this. Her boys needed her. She was going to fight hard for them and with them. She was determined that the darkness would not take them away from her. She finally nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Yes, Gertrude, I'm ready."
FJFJFJFJFJFJFJF
Meanwhile Frank was sitting at the picnic table lost in his troubled thoughts, first with him being accused of Hayden's murder, and then thinking of his late friend Phil and how much he was missing him, then lastly his latest worry, Joe. A few minutes ago, he had caught sight of his father escorting his mother and aunt a few feet away from the group to talk privately, and he knew something major was up.
Frank knew it had something to do with Joe. He had a feeling in his soul that it was bad, really bad. He was still so angry with Joe for being late to the picnic and making everyone worry. That last fight between Joe and their dad was not putting his worry at ease. He should've been the one to go after Joe, instead of Biff. He wanted to grab his brother and take him away from the group and make him tell him what was going on. He wanted to talk to Joe about the panic attack he had on his and Vanessa's way to the pier, the real reason they had stopped at the agency and the reason for being late. And he couldn't forget the threat against him and Joe. Just like the message on Callie's car, an eye for an eye, a brother for a brother, soon a Hardy boy will die. He noted the two incidences were slightly different and yet very similar. The message on Callie's windshield was spray painted on in bold black letters, while the message that Joe and Vanessa found was on a flyer on Vanessa's Jeep.
Frank's mind drifted back to the vandalism case. Bruce Linsky who was the lead suspect in that case was still missing and his dad and the police were in the process of trying to locate him. His fingerprints had been found on the black spray can that had been used to write the message. Then his mind shifted to the dark-haired kid with the red ball cap, that he had seen sitting in the lobby of Callie's apartment building. Could the two guys be the same person? Could this mystery dark haired figure from the security footage from the shooting range, be the same person framing me for Hayden's murder? And how is Linksy connected to him? Are they all connected to Jack and Ryan Hayden? How was all that possible? The most frustrating part of it all was that he couldn't be a part of the investigation. He gave a heavy sigh, he couldn't really do anything but play his part and sit at the picnic table with little Trevor, Joe and his friends eating hot dogs even though he wasn't that hungry. Frank didn't want to disappoint the little boy because he knew that Trevor looked up to both he and Joe. He was trying his best to have fun, laugh and joke around right along with them, for everyone's, including little Trevor's, sake. But truthfully with everything going on, on top of worrying about Joe, he felt like it he was being drained emotionally from somewhere deep inside of him.
Callie reached across the table and put her hand on top of Frank's hand. She could see the turmoil and exhaustion in his tired brown eyes; and she knew he wasn't up to this and was probably reaching his limit.
Frank felt a hand on top of his hand, he looked up across the table at Callie. she gave his hand a light squeeze and a smile as if telling him to hang in there. Keep it together he kept telling himself. Then the sound of laughter coming from the group sitting at the table got Frank's attention. Joe must've said something funny because Biff, Chet and Tony were laughing. Even the girls and Trevor's parents were laughing at whatever Joe had said.
He felt someone tugging on his shirt sleeve following by giggling, "Hey Frank! Frank...wanna hear a joke!" he looked to his left to see it was Trevor.
Frank quickly shook his thoughts out of his head, and he focused on his attention on the little boy to bring him back to the present. "I'm sorry Trevor, what did you ask?"
"Joe just taught Trevor a joke." Callie answered him. "It's a little corny, but then again most of Joe's jokes are."
She was really starting to worry about her fiancé and began to wonder how much longer he was going to be able to hold up. A part of her wanted to skin Joe alive because she knew he was a big part of the reason that Frank wasn't acting like himself. Oh, she was so angry with Joe. When she got the chance, she was so going to have a talk with Joe and tell him to smarten up!
"Hey! Everyone else thought it was funny." Joe replied, he couldn't help himself the words rolled off his tongue. "Besides Callie, you just don't get my sense of humor. It's up to me to make sure Frank knows how to have fun. Unlike you who can be a little uptight and prissy at times. "
"I am not." Callie said pursed her lips together and glared at Joe.
"You are too!" Joe argued. "You act like you're better than everyone else."
"I do not!"
"Yes, you do!" Joe insisted stubbornly.
"Unlike you who acts childish and needs to learn to grow up." Callie said crossly as she folded her arms to her chest.
"Guys, stop." Frank said firmly, seeing that things were starting to escalate quickly and wanting to put a stop to it before things went to far. An awkward silence fell over the group as everyone glanced at each other unsure of what to say.
Vanessa glanced between Joe and Callie watching their argument with concern infusing her entire body. There goes that unpredictable Joe that I saw earlier both at the agency and with the fight between him and his dad, she thought.
"I'm sorry, everyone." Callie quickly apologized, feeling ashamed of her actions.
"Yeah, ditto for me." Joe had an uneasy feeling in his heart. Why did he go off on Callie like that? And in front of everyone else too? God what was wrong with him? He knew why. It was his anxiety, and he could feel it rising again, it had started kicking in from the moment, that they had sat down to eat with Trevor, when Frank's demeanor had changed. Joe could tell, all the laughing and joking, having fun Frank was portraying was all for Trevor's benefit.
Joe knew that Frank was still pissed off at him for scaring him and for being late to the picnic. Especially with the death threat that was hanging over their heads. Frank had gone out on a limb for him with their parents in getting them to agree to let him go on this date with Vanessa. Joe shook his head and sighed, angry with himself. You don't dare scare Frank like that. You just don't. Hopefully when I tell Frank about the lead in the hospital fire case, he won't be so angry with me, he thought. And Frank wasn't stupid. It was only a matter of time before he started demanding some answers. Answers only Joe could give him. Joe started to feel a little nervous about what Frank's reaction would be when he found out what happened on the pier tonight.
"I've heard all Joe's jokes so why don't you let me be the judge." Frank cleared his throat as he prepared to break the awkward silence. "Go ahead Trevor let's hear your joke?"
"Okay." Trevor huffed and carefully repeated the joke. "What do you get with an alligator wearing a vest?"
Frank had to agree with Callie that the joke was corny, he'd heard that joke from Joe before, "I don't know what?" He said by playing along, for the little boy's sake, a smile twitching at his lips at Trevor's excitement.
"A vesta...vesta." The seven-year-old began stumbling over the word. He turned to Joe sitting on his right for the answer. He scrunched his nose and asked, "What is the word again?"
Joe took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "An investigator." He answered his little friend.
"An investigator!" Trevor turned back to Frank giggling. "Get it?"
"Yeah, I get it, very funny buddy." Frank laughed. He put an arm around the little boy.
Quickly changed the subject, Joe pushed back his plate and patted his stomach. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm stuffed." He said making Trevor giggle.
"You should be, you ate like five hot dogs." Vanessa teased with a smirk. She had noticed that he had quickly switched behaviors from lashing out at Callie to this humorous attitude he was displaying.
"Uh, actually babe, I ate like six." Joe answered holding up six fingers to emphasize his point.
Callie raised an eyebrow at this. "Six? You ate six hot dogs?" she shook her head tucking a blonde hair behind her ear.
"He did. I watched him." Tony said, he and Marcy were sitting at the other picnic table with Biff, Lizzy, Chet and Brenda. "He ate six hot dogs each one smothered in mustard and relish."
"Guilty." Joe nodded, "that along with some of my Mom's potato salad on the side, which was delicious as usual." He added licking his fingers.
"Here use some of these, and don't lick your fingers." Vanessa said, handing her date a few napkins. "I'm sure your mom taught you manners."
"Thanks babe." Joe said taking the napkins and began wiping his face and hands with them. "Like I said you know food is good when it's messy."
"I ate three!" Trevor chimed in giggle and holding up three fingers.
"Actually son, your mother had to cut the second one in half for you." Pete said. "otherwise, if you eat anymore hot dogs and you're going to bust a gut."
"Has everyone had enough to eat?" Laura said coming up to their table, and plastering a smile on her face.
"I should say so." Lindsey replied with a chuckle after hearing everyone's count of food intake.
"Mrs. Hardy and Aunt Gertrude thank you for preparing the good eats." Chet raised his soda can and chimed in patting his stomach.
"Why, thank you Chet, and you're welcome." Laura chuckled lightly. 'I'm glad you all are enjoying yourselves."
"And how many did you eat Chet Morton?" Brenda asked grinning at her date.
"Well, if you must know my Sweet, I tied with Joe." Chet answered putting his hand in hers, as he pushed his empty plate aside. "And two slices of Aunt Gertrude's awesome apple pie."
"Thank you, Chet. It does my heart good to hear how much you like my pies." Gertrude chuckled as she joined the group.
"I don't know, Chet, I think I out ate you both, I ate seven hot dogs." Biff said taking the last sip if his soda. "Plus, the potato salad and a couple slices of pie."
"How can you guys put away so much food not get sick?" Lizzy asked in disgust, rubbing her stomach and groaning. "One hot dog, and a spoon full of potato salad was enough for me."
"Lizzy, that's because their stomachs are bottomless pits." Frank said getting into the discussion. "They never seem to get full. Who knows where it all goes?"
"Unlike you, bro, who ate like a bird." Joe teased.
"No, I just eat my food in moderation, like I always do," Frank corrected him. "and I don't gorge myself like you do. Besides, I have other things on my mind at the moment."
Joe met Frank's tired brown eyes, he could sense his anger and noted the edge in his voice. Joe suddenly felt a surge of panic hit him. Oh no! Not a panic attack! He began wiping his sweaty hands on his khaki shorts. God please not now! Why do I keep messing up? What will Frank do when he finds out I almost let the darkness take me? Maybe on some level he knows…of course he knows, he could feel it in his soul. This is going to stress him out big time. Joe began berating himself. Callie was right Frank's going to end up back in the hospital and it will be my fault. Damn it! I'm stupid! I'm going to end up killing my brother! Then his thoughts suddenly turned dark…Maybe it would be best of if I wasn't around…Frank would be so much better off without me. Joe took a deep breath to try to calm down his nerves.
"Aren't you guys consuming a lot of calories?" Lizzy asked breaking the awkward moment everyone felt between the brothers.
"You'd be surprised at the number of calories we have to consume during football training. However, today is a special day celebrating the July 4th. Eventually, we'll have to go back on a balanced diet, which means eating more carbs and cutting back on the sweets." Biff replied, "But I won't bore you with that."
"What positions do you guys play again?" Brenda asked sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm clueless when it comes to football."
"Well, I'm one of the linebackers." Chet answered. "I'm responsible for at least one of the gaps. the open spaces or areas between the offensive linemen in addition to being asked to ultimately make the tackle."
Brenda turned to Biff and asked, "what's your position?"
"Biff is a receiver." Lizzy answered for her date. Biff nodded in agreement putting an arm around Lizzy's shoulders. He went on to explain, "Basically, my job is to catch the football that the quarterback throws."
Marcy acknowledged trying her best to understand it. "Okay, now who's the quarterback and what does he do?"
"That would be Joe." Biff said as he looked over at his best friend at the other picnic table who looked as if he was on the verge of a panic attack. "He leads and directs the team. One of the most important traits a quarterback can have is not just a strong arm, quick mind and to be fast on his feet, but to also have a determined heart." He paused as the image of Joe on the railing flashed through his mind. Damn. He cursed to himself. He had almost lost his best friend tonight. Then he finished his statement out loud, "Without his leadership the team would be nothing."
Joe suddenly felt his panic turn into anger. He knew what Biff was trying to do, in a very subtle way. He shot his best friend a glare to shut him up before he tipped Frank off.
Biff caught the glare and quickly backed off. Damn, had he said too much? He didn't want to set Joe off and have him back on the railing again. He needed to talk to Frank; he knew that Frank would be able to talk some sense into Joe.
Frank however caught the look that flashed in his brother's eyes, at first it was almost as if he was on the verge of another panic attack, but then he saw the look in Joe's eyes quickly change to anger and glare at Biff as he continued talking. Now he really wanted to know what's going on. Vanessa was picking up on it as well. Laura caught it as well, and she knew that she needed to have a talk with Frank to clue him in as soon as possible.
Tony also noticed the angry look Joe was sending to Biff. What's that about? He wondered. "You guys are going to have good team next year." He said resting his arms on the table. "I look forward to catching a few games when I come home from college."
"I played a little football in my high school days." Pete spoke up breaking into Joe's thoughts from the other table.
"Really? What position did you play?" Ignoring Joe's glare Biff asked the former cop curiously.
"I played left tackle. I loved the game so much that I had this wild dreamed of playing pro football. But then I decided to go to the police academy. It was one of the best decisions I ever made, next to marrying Lindsey of course."
"Oh honey, that's so sweet." his wife cooed then patted his cheek with her hand and then kissed it.
"I don't play many sports like I used to." Pete replied, rubbing his prosthetic leg. "I miss it, just like I miss being a cop. But I love my family more and I'm happy working at the shooting range." Pete kissed and squeezed his wife's hand and he smiled at his son.
Lindsey's smiled dropped to a frown as her face suddenly turned pale while putting a hand on her stomach. "Pete, honey, can you hand me my handbag?"
"Are you feeling sick again?" Pete asked with concern handing his wife her handbag.
"Yeah, just a little nauseous." She nodded.
'Oh, I'm sorry. Are you alright?" Gertrude apologized. "Is there anything we can get you?" She asked concerned for the young mother.
"No that's okay, Thank you kindly. I'll be fine. Besides I came prepared." The young mother pulled a little plastic bag containing saltine crackers and a little bottle of ginger ale from her handbag. "these will help ease my stomach." She pulled a cracker out of the bag and began munching on it.
Laura's eyes widen and smile and said with excitement. "Lindsey, you're not pregnant, are you?"
"I am." The young mother smiled proudly patting her belly while munching on a cracker.
"Oh congratulations!" Laura and Gertrude replied in unison. Then Laura asked, "If you don't mine me asking, how far along are you?"
"I'm about three months. Baby's due sometime in January."
"Were you guys trying for another?"
Pete huffed and exchanged looks with his wife, he turned back to answer Laura. "Let's just say it was an unexpected surprise."
"Aw a little baby." Callie cooed. She looked at Trevor and asked. "Trevor, are you excited?"
"Yep. Yep." The little boy replied smiling up at elder Hardy brother sitting beside him.
"Oh yeah he's very excited." Pete nodded with a grin. "He's hoping for a little brother, so he could be a big brother just like Frank."
At hearing that comment Frank was hoping it was dark enough so everyone didn't see his face blush a bright shade of pink. "Well, being a big brother isn't an easy job. Little brothers can be a lot of fun, and they can also at times can drive you nuts. A little sister on the other hand may not be so bad, although I wouldn't know."
"Hey little brothers aren't so bad." Joe said defending himself.
"Actually, little sisters are good at driving you crazy," Chet spoke up thinking of his late sister Iola. "Then again as the older brother you want to just want to look out for your younger sibling, love them and protect them."
"I guess Trevor has you two to show him the ropes at being a big brother." Laura said.
"Do you know if you're having a boy or girl?" Callie asked Lindsey.
"Not yet. We're hoping to find out soon." Lindsey replied with a smile. "I still have some of Trevor's baby clothes and things, so we are prepared for a boy. A girl on the other hand is a different story. But it really doesn't matter what we're having as long as the baby is happy and healthy. However, there's a lot of planning that we still need to do and decisions to make."
"Like what?"
"For one I'd like to quit my job and stay home once the baby is here, and be home when Trevor is home from school." Lindsey shook her head and frowned, "but financially it may not be possible, I mean with Pete's medical bills and me being pregnant and Trevor getting ready to start first grade. There's a lot of expenses. I don't like the idea of putting my kids in daycare or having to hire a babysitter."
"Don't you have any family nearby who could help you out?" Gertrude asked.
"My parents and my older sister all live in Orlando Florida. That's where I'm from. As a result, they're not able to visit as often as we would like. And Pete's parents are both dead. So really, it's just us. I'm hoping Chief Collig will allow Pete to keep his job at the shooting range after losing the whole gun fiasco. If that gun hadn't gone missing..."
"Lindsey, honey, I think that's enough." Pete put his hand on his wife's shoulder to stop her from saying more.
"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to upset anyone..." Lindsey slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Why?" Joe interrupted, his anger rising, "It's Pete's fault! If he had done his damn job properly in the first place the gun wouldn't have gone missing! To later showing up at a crime scene!" He snapped he couldn't help himself. He gripped the side of the table so hard his knuckles were turning white. He was trying hard not to panic, but he lost it. "And Frank wouldn't be accused of murdering Hayden."
"Joe! That's enough." Laura said firmly.
Frank quickly put his hands over Trevor's little ears to protect him from the choice of words his brother was spewing out. Before addressing his brother. He managed to keep his voice calm and steady and addressed his brother. "Joe. You need to shut up and calm down. Now is not the time to do this." He nodded towards Trevor and gave him a forced smile as Trevor looked up at him curiously. "We're here to have fun remember?"
Following his brother's gaze at Trevor and hearing the serious tone in his voice, Joe did as Frank had instructed. He took a breath to cool his temper for Trevor's sake. He didn't want to do something stupid in front of him. "I'm sorry, Pete, Lindsey, everyone for going off like that." He quickly apologized.
Vanessa was concerned as everyone else sat in shock at Joe's outburst, she knew in her heart that something was not right with him. Laura's heart felt like it was pounding out of her chest, Joe's sudden outburst had scared her and she exchanged concerned looks with Gertrude. She was thinking it too, Joe was not mentally well. He was acting like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode on someone or take his own life. She prayed that Fenton had gotten in touch with Dr. Reese. It was time for Laura to talk to Frank.