A Hero's Reward (17 page)

“Well, Ellen and Christine. I didn't expect you two but come
on in.”

Greg took a suitcase from each of then and allowed them to each
carry one themselves. He walked into the house, only to find Jack and
Margaret staring from the entry to the kitchen.

“Margaret, Jack: these are my daughters. Ellen is the
oldest, she's eleven now I think. Christine is the youngest, she's
nine. Girls, meet Margaret and Jack, Jack is six.”

“Who are they dad?” asked Ellen.

“Well, your dad had a little excitement a couple of weeks
back. He rescued some people from a burning house and these are the
people I rescued. You can't see it now because it's dark but the
house across the street is totally gone. They needed a place to stay
so I offered my spare bedrooms.”

“Oh yeah, we saw that in the paper. Christine even clipped
out the picture and the article that went with it.”

“Well, they'll be staying here for a while. It looks like
your mom intends you to stay here for a while also.”

“Yes, she told me to give you this.” Ellen said,
holding out an envelope.

Greg:

I tried doing what was best for the girls by trying to get back
with you but that didn't work. We don't have a place to stay anymore
since I couldn't make the rent. The girls will have to stay with you,
I'll find someplace for myself.

Emily...

“What happened with your mom? She
said in this letter that she didn't have money for the rent. The
money I give her for child support for the two of you should've
covered that even if there wasn't much left over.”

“Mommy's been getting really
weird lately dad.” answered Christine, “She's gotten
really thin and has sores on her arms. We haven't been eating as much
as normal lately and she's out of the house all the time, even in the
middle of the night.”

Margaret heard the statement and
immediately headed for the kitchen, taking Jack with her. In just
moments Greg heard pots being moved to the stove and he guessed that
Margaret was going to make sure that the girls were well fed.

“
I think mom's started
using drugs or something dad.” said Ellen, wide-eyed.
“Sometimes she's just
collapsed
in a chair. Her eyes are wide open but even if you shake her you
can't get her attention.”

Greg was horrified. He had meant to
check up on the girls but with everything else that had occurred
recently it had slipped his mind. As long as the girls were still
alright he'd be able to forgive himself but he wondered what else
might have slipped his mind recently while he was on medication.

“Are you two okay though? Aside
from not getting as much to eat recently? It sounds like Margaret is
working on taking care of that right now.”

“We're fine dad, just a little
freaked out. You know, it isn't every day you get ditched on your
dad's doorstep without a word. She just told us to pack as much of
our stuff as we wanted to keep and could fit in two suitcases. Then
she handed me the letter as I was getting out of the car and told me
to give it to you.”

“Well, I'm sorry that it happened
the way it did. Your mom didn't say anything to me about having you
two here though and we talked less than two weeks back. You caught me
by surprise.”

Jack walked back out and introduced
himself to the girls again. He surprised them by offering to shake
hands with them, which they accepted. Then he started telling them
about the spaghetti Margaret was making for them.

“She said it's the quickest,
really filling thing she could think of. Oh, and she asked me to
finish clearing the table so we could set it for the two of you.”

Jack grabbed the last of the dishes
from the table and disappeared back into the kitchen.

“Sit down girls, we can talk
later. Let's get you something to eat first.” Greg said.

Ellen and Christine sat down at the
table and Greg went to help in the kitchen. He brought out napkins,
plates, and silverware which Margaret had already stacked on the
counter. Then he poured them each a tall glass of milk and brought
those out. After he gave those to them, he sat down at the table
between the two girls. Christine had immediately reached for her milk
and was drinking it quickly. He glanced at Ellen and saw that she
wanted to do the same but was trying to show some restraint.

“Go ahead Ellen, we've got more
in the kitchen if you finish this one.”

Ellen grabbed her glass and started
drinking her milk also.

Christine had set hers down after it
was half empty.

“I haven't had milk in almost a
month, thank you dad.”

“Don't they give you milk in
school?”

“Yeah but mom was packing us
lunches instead of giving us lunch money recently. Normally we'd have
to eat lunch then drink from the water fountain.”

“I'm so sorry kids, I didn't
know. I should have, I had already decided to ask you how things were
going at home the next time I saw you but I didn't think there was
anything this wrong.”

“It's okay dad, I would've called
you but mom kept her phone locked with a password.” said Ellen.

“Well, we'll see what we can do
about having you stay here until she can prove she's cleaned up her
act some.”

Margaret came bustling out with a large
bowl filled with pasta that she set on the table. She made a return
trip and came out with a smaller bowl filled with sauce. She
proceeded to serve both girls heaping portions and then she went back
into the kitchen.

As the girls dug into their food, Greg
followed Margaret into the kitchen.

“You don't need to keep absenting
yourself Margaret.”

“
But, they're
your
daughters.”

“
Yes and Jack is
your
son but I don't keep removing myself when the two of you are
together. You already go out of your way to include me and I'll try
to get the girls to do the same with you. They'll need to get to know
you first though.”

Margaret sighed. “I know that,
I'm just nervous. What if they don't like me?”

“Well, then you'll deal with what
every parent gets at some point in their child's development.
Children that want nothing to do with you.”

“But, if they don't like me then
what about us?”

“If you think I'll stop loving
you just because my children are being a pain in the ass, then you
don't know me very well yet. I think that they'll like you though,
they may need a little bit of time to come to that conclusion but
they'll get there eventually.”

Margaret appeared a little bit relieved
and allowed herself to be led back out of the kitchen. It appeared
that her fears were unfounded. The girls were tearing into the
spaghetti like they were starving and the looks of gratitude they
shot towards Margaret were very telling to Greg.

If he ever spoke to Emily again, he was
going to tear her a new one. She'd also be getting no more checks
from him since she hadn't actually been taking care of his children
after all. He'd call the lawyer who had handled his divorce first
thing in the morning and explain the situation to him. He'd keep hold
of Emily's letter for evidence also. This time Emily wouldn't have a
politician with connections in the court system when Greg tried to
get custody, and he was pretty sure that the end result would be
different this time around.

After the girls had finished eating,
Greg noticed Ellen starting to look a little uncomfortable.

“Yes Ellen? What's bothering
you?”

“Dad, We've got five people here,
will Christine and I have to share a room?”

“No honey, you won't. We've got
two rooms open. One of them is made up already, the other one will
only take a couple of minutes to get set up.”

“Is Margaret staying in Jack's
room with him? I would've thought they'd each have their own.”

“No honey, she isn't.”

“Then where is...” Ellen
paused for a moment, “Oh, it's like that?”

“Like what Ellen?”

“Is Margaret sleeping with you?”

“Yes honey she is.”

“Good. It's about time dad.”

“What is it with this current
generation of kids? Jack gives Margaret and I advice on our
relationship and you pass judgment on it just like that.” Greg
said in an amused tone.

“He did, did he? Maybe I won't
hate having a six year old boy around. I thought boys hated anything
to do with relationships and girls.”

“He may, I don't know. But
Margaret is his mom and I think he's kind of got a bit of hero
worship going on for me right now.”

Jack chose that moment to call the
girls over to the computer. When Greg saw what he was doing, he
thought that maybe Jack had been eavesdropping. Margaret and Greg
wandered over and watched the video Jack was showing to Ellen and
Christine on the computer.

He had paused the video midstream to
allow it to load all the way before he finished playing it. Currently
the picture showed Margaret's old house. Flames had eaten half of it
and even in the paused picture it was evident that they were intent
on getting to the other half. The non-burning end of the house had a
man in front of it carrying a ladder. The open window in the wall
above him showed a small hand waving through it. Only the back of the
man was visible but Greg groaned inwardly. He knew this video, he'd
seen it in the hospital.

Jack turned to the girls and said:

“If you haven't seen this video,
you're gonna love it. This is your dad in action!”

He hit play and the video started
playing again. Greg watched as the him in the video ran up to the
side of the house and slammed the ladder down. He swarmed up it,
pausing for a moment when he realized he was barefoot, but continuing
upward anyhow. After a very brief pause he climbed in through the
open window.

Meanwhile the flames were leaping
closer to the end of the house the ladder was leaning against. They
had been a little more than twenty feet away during the pause but
they had already halved that distance before the video showed Jack
being lifted to the windowsill and swarming down the ladder.

“That's me,” exclaimed
Jack, “your dad lifted me straight to the sill and told me to
get out. Then he went back in for my mom.”

The flames were about five feet away
and closing rapidly when movement showed inside the window again.
Margaret's upper body flopped out across the windowsill and Greg came
clambering over her. He turned around on the top rung of the ladder
when the flames were only two feet away. He grabbed Margaret and
started to drag her out just as the flames on the wall licked out
towards the frame of the window. It looked as though the flames were
stretching out to reach for the ladder. Then all hell broke loose.

A bright flash of light overloaded the
camera for a moment, showing only a black screen. When the picture
cleared, flames were still visible but now they were retreating in
through the window and being replaced by billowing black smoke. The
flames that had been charging down the side of the house surrounded
the window. The ladder was standing straight up and Greg had Margaret
held by a single arm. He simultaneously shoved the ladder away from
them and drew her into an embrace, repositioning himself in mid-air
to put his body between her and the ground. Then they fell.

As Greg struck the ground, he pistoned
his arms upwards, slowing Margaret's descent to the speed of a crawl
before she landed atop him. She rolled off of him and then the
picture started to bobble as the person with the camera ran towards
the fire. The video closed first with a few frames of Margaret
coughing and then with several frames of Greg stirring slightly and
opening his eyes.

“That's your dad girls. He's
something else. Neither mom nor I would be alive without him.”

“I read the story in the paper
but I hadn't seen the video.” said Ellen, “If I had, I
think I would've clipped a copy of the story for myself too.”

Christine had automatically reached out
for comfort when she saw what her dad was doing in the video. When
Greg turned to look at her, she was clutching Margaret's leg and
Margaret had an arm around Christine's shoulders. Both Margaret and
Christine had the glimmer of unshed tears in their eyes. Greg caught
Margaret's eyes and pointedly looked at Christine. Margaret just
smiled back and gently pulled Christine against her.

The rest of the evening went quickly.
Margaret got the other room ready for someone to sleep in while Greg
got the girls and Jack ready for bed. Ellen complained that her
bedtime was much later than eight o'clock but was pointedly told that
her bedtime would now be eight o'clock on school nights.

Margaret told Greg later on that Ellen
had tried to wheedle her into allowing Ellen to stay up late.
Margaret had taken Ellen to the computer and did a quick search
showing Ellen that doctors recommended ten to eleven hours of sleep
per night for an eleven year old. When Margaret pointed out that
eleven hours of sleep would involve a bedtime of seven o'clock since
Ellen would be getting up at six in the morning along with everyone
else, she stopped trying to wheedle a later bedtime out of her.

The girls wouldn't have to catch the
bus to school the next day. Although they had been living in the area
served by the same school, the school district was very picky about
bus riders. Greg would have to let the school know that the girls
would need to take a different bus before they'd be allowed to do so.
He figured he'd get that taken care of tomorrow when he dropped them
off.

Finally the children were put to bed
and Margaret and Greg had a little bit of time to themselves.

“I think you aren't going to have
any problems with Christine liking you.” said Greg.

“Ellen's going to be a handful
though, if tonight was any indication.” she replied.