Page 15 of Believe
“Just in time,” he smiled. “Hey, Mom!”
“Gideon? What is going on here?” she asked staring as the appliance truck pulled away. “Oh, honey. What did you do, Gideon? I can’t afford new appliances.”
“Ma’am, my name is Gabriel Robicheaux. This is Angel, Miller, and Trak. The other day we found your son at the flea market trying to sell his baseball cards.”
“Wh-what?” she gasped.
“The vendor wasn’t exactly being fair so we stepped in and bought the cards from him. It turned out to be a lot more than he thought.” She stared at Gideon, then back at the four men who were smirking.
“No. No, that can’t be right.” She raced inside the house and they followed. Standing in the middle of the kitchen, she ran her hands over each appliance.
“Do you like them, Mom?” asked Gideon excitedly.
“Do I like them? Gideon, this is the finest gift anyone has ever given me. But these brands, there’s just no way the baseball cards paid for this.”
“I assure you they did,” said Trak. “Mr. Garfield insisted on giving us a good deal considering your son’s exemplary behavior. He’s a wonderful young man.”
“Believe me, I know,” she smiled. “Gideon. I don’t even know what to say.”
“It makes me happy, Mom. You’re smiling and you haven’t smiled in a long time. Plus, I still have a bunch of money left from my baseball cards! We get to have a really good Christmas.”
His mother laughed, picking him and turning around in the kitchen. The men soaked up the scene, grinning at the mother-son duo in the room.
“Worth everything,” said Angel.
“Every damn second,” nodded Miller.
“I know that the four of you had something to do with this. I can’t thank you enough,” she said. “I make a decent living at the law firm but it’s enough to pay my rent and our other bills and that’s about it.”
“Have you tried to get something at a different firm?” asked Miller.
“I started to rewrite my resume but honestly, I just haven’t had the time to get back to it.”
“Well, you might be in luck. My wife is the lead attorney for our business. She’s hoping to retire and so is one of the other attorneys. We need more help. Give me the resume you have available.”
“Seriously?” she said staring wildly at him.
“Seriously.” He smiled at her as she rifled through the papers on a small, make-shift desk. When she returned, she handed him a resume that included some amazing work history.
“Kari, my wife, will call you later this week,” he grinned. “Gideon. Good luck young man. You’re the real deal. You keep that heart big and open, you keep doing all the right things and you’re going to do amazing things in this world.”
“Thanks, mister,” he smiled.
“Bye, Gideon,” said Trak hugging the boy. He shook the mother’s hand and walked toward the door while Angel hugged Gideon goodbye.
When Gabriel stepped forward, he held the boys’ face in his hands, smiling down at him he kissed his forehead.
“You’re going to make a great veterinarian, Gideon.”
The four men left the house and his mother just twirled in her kitchen. She grabbed a cookbook, rifling through the pages to find something amazing to cook.
“How did they know I wanted to be a veterinarian?” asked Gideon, staring at the men as they drove away.
“Hmm? Oh, maybe you mentioned it. Thank you again, Gideon. Go get washed up and we’ll make something wonderful.”
“Okay, Mom. But I promise, I never mentioned it.”
CHAPTER TEN