Part 5
“Good Morning,” Dr. Roberts greeted as he stepped into the room.
Chris covered his discomfiture at the doctor’s entrance by grunting a reply that could have been jus about anything, but the doctor good naturedly shrugged and moved toward the boys.
True to form, JD piped up with a chipper greeting, while his two brothers remained silent for the most part.
“How are you feeling this morning, boys?” Roberts asked next, not really expect much in the way of answers. “The nurses told me you guys slept good last night.”
JD returned, “Grweat.”
Vin settled for a quiet, “Fine.”
Ezra feeling a little more verbose this morning, replied, “I am feeling much improved this morning, sir.” However he was immediately contradicted by a coughing spasm. Chris automatically reached out to the child, but Vin and JD got there before he did and held Ezra as he rode out the fit. When it was over he noticed that while they loosened their hold, they didn’t totally release him. Even now they were presenting a united front. Chris mentally groaned; it was going be difficult to convince them that Ezra was going to have to stay in the hospital when Vin and JD went home. Although, he mused, they seemed highly intelligent; as long as their hearts didn’t totally overrule their heads, they would understand.
“Glad to hear your feeling better, but is sounds like you’ve still got a ways to go before you’re all healed up, Ezra. How ‘bout I have a closer look at how your doing?” With that Dr. Roberts proceeded to check each of the boys over to make sure nothing had developed over night. When he was finished he waved at Chris to come over and sat down on the chair beside the bed.
Looking at the doctor, Chris received a nod of encouragement. Sighing, he started to explain to the boys that he had set up with the Family Services people for the boys to stay with him until they could find a home for all of them.
Finishing his explanation he leaned back in the chair and waited for their reactions. Ezra looked openly skeptical, while Vin seemed to be taking him at his word. JD was flat out excited about the possibility of living with him and Buck.
“Might I enquire as to the location of you domicile, Mr. Larabee?” Ezra asked.
It still gave Chris a turn, hearing the verbose language that came from such a small body, but Ezra understood the meaning of the words he used. Mentally shrugging, he answered, “I have a small ranch outside the city.”
“A rweal rwanch? With horwses and everwything?” JD cried cheerfully, beaming at him.
It was impossible not to smile back at the energetic five-year-old. Grinning, Chris said, “Yep, with horses and all.”
“Can we rwide your horwses?” JD pleaded.
Chuckling, Chris replied, “We’ll see. I don’t think it would be a problem.”
Roberts watched the interaction of the ATF agent with his three new charges, and liked what he saw. Larabee liked children, that was plain to see. And they seemed to instinctively like and trust him. These three boys had ever reason to be suspicious, yet they were readily agreeing to live with a man that they had only met the day before.
Smiling, he broke into the conversation, “So you boys don’t mind the idea.”
Vin answered him this time, “Long as we stay together.”
Mentally crossing his fingers, the doctor broke the bad news, “All of you will be living with Mr. Larabee eventually, but Ezra will have to stay here for a couple of days. You and JD can go today.”
Chris understood the fear that blossomed in Vin’s eyes, but surprised at the tears that welled up in JD’s eyes.
As soon as the doctor mentioned Ezra staying at the hospital, Ezra practically crawled into Vin’s lap and clung to him. Vin immediately wrapped his arms around the trembling bundle in his lap, hissing, “Ezra stays with us, you ain’t takin’ him away. He’s our brother, and brothers don’t go alone!” Both Chris and Dr. Roberts stood and tried to calm the frightened boys. Ezra was well on his way to hyperventilating, and JD was plastered to Vin side, tears streaming down his face.
“Vin,” Chris finally said when the boys had calmed somewhat, “Ezra’s sick, and he needs to stay in the hospital so they can take care of him. I would know what to do if we took him home and he started to get sicker.”
“What’s wrong,” Vin asked. “He just has a cough, like he did last year.” Chris noted the rising panic levels in the twelve-year-old, even as his mind filed away the fact that Vin and Ezra had been together for more than a year.
Trying to step the terror in his patients eyes, Dr. Roberts replied, “He has a bad case of bronchitis complicated by malnutrition and dehydration. That means…”
Cutting him off, Vin said softly, “I know what that means. Damn it, Ez, I tol’ you you needed to eat more.”
“I couldn’t let JD go hungry, Vin,” Ezra mumbled from his place with his face pressed against Vin’s chest.
“Did givin’ me histh food make Ezrwa sthick?” the voice that came from JD was absolutely forlorn, and the stress and fear was making his slight lisp decidedly worse.
“No, not really, JD. It might have made it just a little bit worse, but he was sick anyway,” Roberts reassured him quickly. Glancing back at the older two boys, he caught Vin’s eye and received a small nod of thanks. Smiling, he tried again to explain to the boys what was happening; Vin and JD were to leave today, and Ezra in a couple of days, but they would all end up at Larabee’s ranch.
“Why cain’t we stay here with Ez until he can come too?” Vin demanded.
“Because the hospital needs the beds for other kids that are sick or hurt,” Roberts explained evenly.
“But what if she comes back and tries to hurt him again?” JD whimpered.
Chris jerked in surprise, he hadn’t expected this. “Who are you talking about, JD?” If someone was after the boy it might explain things, like the possible phony name he had given them. When JD didn’t say anything more, Chris continued, “JD, I need to know who you’re talking about. I can’t protect him against her if I don’t know who she is.” Chris prayed that the boys trusted him enough to tell him. If they were in danger, he wanted to know so that he could be ready.
Silently Chris and Dr. Roberts watched as Vin looked down at Ezra. When he nodded once, Vin heaved a shuddering breath and replied, “It’s Maude.”
“Maude?” Dr. Roberts asked.
The muffled, “My mother,” that returned was so sad and despairing that Chris wanted to strangle the woman even though he had never met her. Turning to the doctor, he saw is own anger mirrored there. That a mother could intentionally harm her own child was so alien a concept they simply could not fathom it.
Chris cleared his throat before asking, just to make sure they were understanding the situation properly, “Ezra, is she the one that hurt you?”
Ezra nodded then continued quietly, “When Daddy died they sent me out here to live with her. She didn’t want me, but they gave me to her anyway. She likes perfect things, that why she left Daddy when she found out he was sick. I couldn’t be perfect for her, so she left me here. I heard her say one time that maybe when I was grown up some she would have a use for me.” Tears form in his eyes as he whispered, “She’s going to come back for me, but I don’t want to go. Please, don’t make me go back.” He finally started crying softly, clutching at Vin.
“Don’t worry, Ezra, We’re not going to make you go back.” Chris assured him as stood and rubbed his back until he quieted and relaxed.
Roberts watched Ezra respond to the touch of the tall blond. He could see for himself that Chris Larabee was a dangerous man, but not to the children. He firmly believed that Chris would make an excellent guardian and father. “Ezra, Mr. Larabee is going to be your guardian, he can say who come is in here and who doesn’t.”
“That’s right,” Chris agreed firmly, “and from now unless I say they can come in, only the nurses and doctors and my team can come see you, alright? You met them last night. They’re a strange bunch, but they’re good men.”
Ezra nodded and gave a quiet, “Okay.”
Thinking of one more thing that might make them feel better, he added, “And I’ll make sure that JD and Vin get in to see you every day.” That earned him smiles from all three of the boys.
>>>~~~><~~~<<<>>>~~~><~~~<<<
Chris was still stewing over the revelations in Ezra’s
hospital room when he drew up in front of the
“Vin, JD? We have to go in here and talk to someone.” At the suspicious looks he received, Chris hurried on. “The social worker just wants to talk to you and see how you doing and if she can help in anyway. That’s all,” he reassured them, “Then we can go shopping and out to the ranch, alright?” When the boys reluctantly nodded, Chris breathed a sigh of relief; the last thing they needed was for one of the boys to have a temper tantrum before they even got in the building. Getting out of the truck, Chris circled the vehicle and helped JD down from the high seat while Vin got out of the back. Keeping hold of JD hand, Chris led them into the building.
Walking beside Chris, Vin‘s mind was spinning. What if they wouldn’t let them leave? He had promised Ezra that he wouldn’t let Family Services take JD and he planned on keeping that promise. Vin had seen the fear in Ezra’s eyes and even though he didn’t know what had happened to Ezra, but he figured it must have been even worse than the foster homes he had been in.
Chris said they were just going to talk to someone, and he wanted to believe that. The tall blonde man seemed trust worthy, but adults were tricky sometimes, and didn’t always tell the truth, even to each other. These people here could have lied to Chris to get him to bring them here, or something.
Vin carefully noted the presence of exit doors and corridors, and Chris directed them to the office of the social worker they had been assigned. He wasn’t going to get stuck here if they had tricked Chris. He’d get JD out, then they’d get Ezra from the hospital. They were brothers and brothers stick together, Vin vowed silently. Squaring his shoulders, Vin followed Chris into the appropriate office with all the solemnity of a man facing the hangman.
>>>~~~><~~~<<<>>>~~~><~~~<<<
Two hours later, Chris lead the boys out of the building he had mentally dubbed a “Bureaucratic House of Horrors.” Two hours of paperwork and answering the same questions he had answered over the phone the night before. But at least it was over they could head over to Wal-Mart for shopping.
Tucking JD into the front seat, Chris glanced into the back of the cab to see Vin had already buckled himself in and was looking out the window. He had noticed the boy marking the exits in his mind, noting escape routes. He had no doubt that if something had gone wrong and the boys had been taken from him, Vin would have had them out of the building and back on their own in no time at all.
When they arrived at the store, Chris received another surprise. The woman that had helped him earlier had spoken with her supervisor, who had spoken with his supervisor, and so on, until the store employees themselves decided to take up donations for the boys. In the four hours he had been gone they had collected over four hundred dollars. At first Chris tried to refuse, but store manager insisted, saying that if he wanted he could put the money aside for the boys’ future education. Eventually Chris agreed. It took them almost an hour to gather enough clothing for the boys for a week or more, plus gather supplies for when they started school next week.
As Chris drove to the ranch, he was amazed at the turn the day had taken. This morning he had gotten up with the vague notion that he would pick up JD and Vin and they would see what would happen from there. Less than two hours later, Nettie had blown into the house and virtually knocked him up side the head with the fact that certain things needed to be thought out before hand; everything from school lunches to house rules to what he and Buck left around the house. He shuddered to think what would have happened if she hadn’t come over this morning.
Then had been the revelations in the hospital room. Chris was still angry about that, but he kept that under tight control. And then the store… It had amazed him that some many people had been willing to pitch in to give the boys a good start. Chris smiled again when he thought of the expression on the face of the older lady that had started it all when JD had given her a surprise hug.
Sighing, Chris pulled up in front of the house and stopped. As he helped JD down this tie, he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at the look of delight on his face and the excited babbling coming form his mouth. Breaking when JD stopped to take another breath, he suggested they get inside, but he would bring them back out and show them around once they had everything unpacked. He carefully chose a few of the smaller bags for JD to carry, things that wouldn’t be harmed if he lost his grip, and sent him up on the porch. Vin smile wryly at him when came forward to help carry the rest of it.
Chris smiled back and led the way inside. This was going to be interesting.
>>>~~~><~~~<<<>>>~~~><~~~<<<
