BOMAW 1-3 (94 page)

"I need to tell you something... and it needs to stay between us, not get back to Shawn... can we walk... I don't want him overhearing."

All three stood and headed around back of the house, walking slowly when Sylvia nervously confided in them. "I ummm... Gert, I don't mean to cause any problems... I don't want to cause any problems... but... I have to tell
someone
... Jake has been... bothering me."

Gert and Shanna stopped, looked at each other and then at Sylvia. They were far enough away from the house to speak freely.

"I knew it... I had a feeling." Shanna said shaking her head.

"What do you mean... has he been coming on to you?" Gert asked.

"Yes... he has."

"That's it... he is going to hear from me and good! I've had enough of this shit now! What has he been doing?" Gert asked, clearly not happy.

"Well... that first day we met at your home, after Shawn and I left, I was tired and needed to lie down, Shawn went into town to get us something to eat. Jake showed up at our hotel, saying things he shouldn't be saying to me. Then the next day... (She stopped to exhale nervously) ... remember that night, when we were all playing twilight hide and seek?"

"Yeah." Mother and daughter answered.

"Well... I was hiding in your big vehicle barn, he came in pretending to be Shawn, and kissed me, pinned me against the wall and held me there. I was furious! I'm telling you now Gert... I hit him, a few times and ... I just ran out."

"That's why you came and sat on the porch with us that night?! I knew something was wrong with you, but I thought it was because you were pregnant and just wasn't feeling well." Gert replied. "Wait till he hears from me... has he done anything else?"

"Yes... he came here the other day when Shawn went tool shopping with his dad. I was in bed napping, next thing I know... I wake up... there he is, in - our bedroom sitting on that chair that's there, staring at me as I slept. I told him off and made him leave... but... I just felt I needed to tell someone. I want to tell Shawn-..."

"No! You've done the right thing... we'll take care of his ass! Leave it with me. I swear to God.. the only thing that will free you from your children and their problems... is death! And I'm not ready for that yet... so I'm just gonna have to kick their asses! Let's go Shanna."

Shanna was chuckling and walked back towards the Jeep with her mother, she winked at Sylvia. "It'll be alright, you did the right thing by telling us instead of Shawn. Oh I can't wait, its just a few days away now... you nervous?"

"Yes... very nervous!"

"Well don't be... everything is going to be alright, and we'll just be one big happy family... you'll see." Shanna assured her as they both climbed back in the Jeep, waving as she backed out of the drive. Sylvia stood waving at them, glad that she'd at least told them, now Jake was one less thing to worry about.

"She's still sleeping." Shawn informed Sylvia at the sink. He'd just come up from the basement, leaving Mundo with Angela as they played pool. He had to quiet her down, she was laughing so loud they could hear her in the kitchen, on the way back up, he peaked in on Crystal... she hadn't stirred.

"I know... I can't believe she's slept this long, she's been out for at least 4 hours, can you run the boys a bath so I can get them in after I finish the dishes? I was going to ask them to stay overnight, but its a foregone conclusion now."

Shawn agreed and went into the bathroom off the hall and ran a bath for Darren and Isaac, and then went further by stripping them down and putting them in. Sylvia told him where she kept clothes for them when they stayed over... it was a habit of hers to pick them things up and bring them home and put them away, for times like then, they came in handy. She finished cleaning up the kitchen and put the food away, thinking one day she would actually load her dishwasher and use it. Yet, when it was time to clean up, she automatically did them by hand, she realized then that she could save herself a lot of time by just loading the thing and then wiping up. With that done, she went in to check up on Shawn and the boys. When she entered the bathroom, Isaac's mouth was going a hundred miles a minute and Darren was grinning and nodding his head at everything that was said as if he agreed. And Shawn was having a ball, seeing him there brought home to her that he was a family man. He actually enjoyed doing things with kids and having children around him, no matter how old they were.

"Well look at you, don't you look the part." Sylvia commented grinning at him, as he picked Darren out of the bath, sat him on a towel on his lap and dried him down, starting at his blonde hair. "This is what its all about. If I'd met you in the beginning Sylvia... we'd have children leaping out of windows, you'd be pregnant now." They both realized what he said and the fact that she was and started laughing, "Point and case!" Shawn laughed at himself.

"That would have been wonderful, had it been the case."

"Yes... and Mundo and Crystal would have been mine." He stated looking up at her as he put baby lotion on Darren.

"Yes... but then, they would have been totally different people, looks and all."

"True... but you know what... I still wish they were mine... just as they are." He said honestly, laying Darren back and putting on his diaper, he wasn't potty trained yet.

"Oh Shawn... how do I help my daughter... she's such a mess, through no fault of her own. I just don't know what to do." She admitted softly, going to lift Isaac out of the tub. "Ah ah ah ah... don't you lift him out of there. I'm handling it, relax... we're okay."

"Yeah grandma... we mens - Shawn's gonna dry me next afta' Darren... right Shawn?"

"Yep... I sure am." Shawn chuckled loving it. Sylvia smiled and left saying, "I'll get their bed ready, I have a playpen for Darren, and Isaac will sleep on the blow up mattress."

"YEAH! I like sleeping on that grandma! Can I watch tv too?"

"We'll see." She answered, walking out to set them up on her living room floor.

The boys were down, Sylvia put on Walt Disney's Monster's Inc. their favorite, turned down low and let them watch it until they fell asleep. Angela was next in the shower and Mundo took one in the basement, and then asked to use Shawn's computer to surf and check his emails, with permission granted he felt at home in the office room, having already stretched out the sofa bed to sleep on.

Angela was out of the shower and in the kitchen with her dad and Sylvia, "Is Crystal gonna sleep in you guys bed?" She asked.

"No, we thought she could sleep with you, will that be okay?" Sylvia asked.

"Oh yeah! That'll be fine."

All three went to the room where she slept on, "I hate to wake her, she obviously needs the sleep."

"Don't... go turn the bed down, I'll bring her in." Shawn directed. Sylvia looked surprised, and then touched by the gesture. "Okay." She and Angela went and turned down the bed, two minutes later Shawn entered carrying Crystal, she was still out cold.

"You think she's okay Shawn?" Sylvia asked worried.

"Yeah... she's exhausted, we'll just let her sleep." He responded, walking around the bed to the far side to lay her down. To see him caring for her daughter that way brought tears to Sylvia's eyes. "I'll go out now, get her clothes off of her so she can rest comfortably." He directed leaving the room. Sylvia nodded and with Angela helping, removed her daughters clothes. She stirred only once, mumbling in her sleep, but never woke. They put a sleeping shirt on her and she turned to her side, grabbed a pillow and slept on. Sylvia kissed her forehead and then did the same to Angela. "Thank you sweety for letting her share your bed."

"She's my sister... of course she can share my bed, I slept with her last night at her house, so now she gets to sleep with me here." Angela said happily.

"Oooh, I love you so much... do you know that? I don't think I could love you more even if I had given birth to you myself." Sylvia squeezed Angela to her tightly, declaring what she knew was true.

"I love you too Sylvia, and Mundo... and Crystal, and Darren and Isaac... oooh I wish so bad they could come and live with us, wouldn't that be fantastic! Then we could be a big happy family just like uncle Derrick's!"

"Aaah, we are a big happy family... even though they don't live here."

"But its not the same..."

"Nooo, it's not I know... but they'll always be around for you."

"I know... I just want everything to hurry up. I want you and dad to hurry up and get married, that way I know everything will be alright. I never ever want to leave you Sylvia ... not ever!" She hugged Sylvia close and received it in return.

"Well that makes two of us. Now come along, you have to give your dad a kiss and hug goodnight." Sylvia prompted.

Angela said goodnight to her father, giving him his kiss and hug, then went and kissed Isaac and Darren goodnight, they hugged her in turn and went right back to watching Monster's Inc. she ran downstairs and told Mundo goodnight, giving him a hug, he shagged her hair and winked at her saying his goodnight. Smiling all the way, she made her way back upstairs and back into her room, climbed in bed, checked on Crystal and pulled the covers up over her shoulders, then impulsively she kissed her forehead and whispered, "Goodnight Crystal, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite." Smiling she turned over and laid down going off to sleep with a smile on her face. All was wonderful, and plus... school tomorrow.

Sylvia went into her room doing her usual before bed routine, she figured Shawn must be in basement with Mundo, their voices drifted up through the floor now and then, laughter mixed in with it. She smiled. It was amazing. Angela loved her and her kids took to Shawn right away, as he had taken to them. Funny how in both, each of them provided what the kids felt lacking. Where Angela missed the closeness of a mother and desired to have a family, she found with Sylvia and her kids. Where hers had suffered from the lack of participation from their father and now, his absence, Shawn filled that gap... and then some. However in the case of her daughter, she knew that what needs there were to be met, far exceeded what Shawn could possibly offer... but she was confident that his presence and support would help.

Done in the bathroom, she went back into the living room and checked on her grandsons, they'd finally fallen off to sleep. Picking up the remote, she clicked the DVD player off, and then the tv. Covering Darren with his blanket, he always kicked it off. Isaac was wrapped up and content, sleeping soundly. He'd had a ball today riding on the motorcycle. She had to smile... as long as that was an option for him, he was pretty much content, didn't matter what else was going on... just let him ride the motorcycle.

She turned to check on the girls again, both were sound asleep. Funny how she was now unable to just go to bed, because Shawn wasn't upstairs going to bed with her. She was becoming too use to that man. She walked into her small office room and turned on her computer for the first time in weeks. Checking her email, she was staggered by the amount of spam, "I hate you people who do this! Man!" She waded through five hundred and seventy-eight emails, hundreds and hundreds of it junk. Then to her surprise, there were several from Shawn in there. She couldn't believe it. There were seven of them.

She quickly went through all the other mail, some from friends that she flagged to reply to later, and went to his first one. It was dated to the night they confirmed that she was pregnant.