Page 29 of Believe
“It’s possible because you’ve all worked hard to make it possible,” he smiled. “I’ll be heading to the island to spend the evening with my wife. I’ll check in with you tomorrow. Oh. Razor? Skull? Would you boys mind heading out to the Berthelot Farm? He’s having trouble with some of his equipment. It’s old and might need to be replaced but I told him I’d have you boys check out the engines and see what’s going on.”
“Of course, Matthew,” smiled Razor. Matthew was gone in a fade of smoke and stardust as the others just shook their heads.
“It was a good day,” said Gaspar. “We got a helluva lot done at the warehouse and I heard what you boys were doing. It feels good. Like good deep in our soul.”
“I feel the same,” nodded Ghost. “Helping others has always been our thing but this feels different somehow.”
“I feel the same,” said Max. “We’ve all been running in a million different directions these last few years and now it seems as though we’re all headed to the same place. It’s nice.”
“Hi,” smiled Erin as she and the other wives walked up. They hugged their husbands, kisses and smiles all the way around. “How was your day?”
“We were just talking about that,” said Nine. “It was a good day for us as well.”
“Well, I don’t think I’ve ever been so exhausted and yet so happy,” smiled Sara as she took a seat on Wilson’s knee. “I’ve been baking since five a.m. this morning with the help of my elves and the things we got done are just magical.”
“Please tell me there were no fruitcakes,” frowned Alec.
“My fruitcakes are delicious!” laughed Sara. “But no. No fruitcakes. We did cookies, pies, cakes, candy, so much candy! I think we must have made a thousand pralines.”
“You smell like sugar,” inhaled Wilson.
“I should,” she laughed.
“Some of us have been making quilts, coats, dresses, and pants,” said Gwen. “I don’t normally do things that aren’t intricate but this has been a welcome break for me. And I have to say, some of y’all are great seamstresses.”
“You’re being nice,” smiled Marie. “I’m terrible but you made it easy.”
“How many quilts did we end up with?” asked Lauren.
“Over a thousand! Can you believe it? I took all the scraps I had, Mama Irene gave us scraps the church ladies delivered and then we went through some of the old clothing we had here that wasn’t repairable. T-shirts, dress shirts, jeans, anything. The quilts are definitely colorful but they’ll be warm with all the filling we used. It will be a wonderfully warm holiday for these folks.”
“I’m proud of all of you, all of us,” said Gaspar. “This isn’t our normal gig but man we’re all having a blast.” Chaos was in his arms, sound asleep.
“We’re not sleeping with that dog again tonight, Gaspar. He has a crate and a bed. Lucy told you that he needs to be crate trained.”
“But babe,” he started.
“Don’t babe me. He’s going to be huge! We can’t have him in the bed every night.”
The others started to laugh and Gaspar frowned at his brothers.
“What are y’all laughing at?”
“It’s just funny seeing the man that bitched about having all the animals cuddling his puppy in his bed at night,” smirked Antoine.
“He’s right, brother,” grinned Luc. “But it’s also cool to see. I’m sure it gives Mama some peace knowing the animals will be taken care of.”
“Shut up,” he growled. Alexandra kissed his cheek, and he turned, kissing her again.
“I love you and I love that you’ve recognized your gift. Being able to speak with the animals is special. It’s part of the identity here at Belle Fleur and I for one, love it.”
“Thanks, babe,” he smiled.
“We owe your folks so much,” said Nine staring at his old friend. “Think about it. Had we not left our compound in Virginia and Ghost and his team left their compound in the mountains in Virginia, we all might have been killed. Your folks welcomed us all with open arms. No questions asked.”
“If you remember,” smiled Miller, “Pops had already been building cottages for years. He knew. They always knew we’d all come back here with an entire community in tow.”
“They loved it,” smiled Marie. “They loved it all. Even when I was going through my marriage from hell, Mama would tell me about all of you being here, visiting, and how it made their day. They missed all of the chaos with us being here. I think I would too. As much as I love a little privacy with Dex, I love being around all of you.”