Part 3

She picked up the kids from Steve and Marys. As usual they had been well behaved and were sorry to have to leave. Only the promise of fun at the park got them moving. They piled into the van and she strapped in Abby on one side and then walked around to the other to do the same for Lindsey. Doing so made her realize that soon they would need another vehicle. This would be another fight with Grant. He would want the top of the line vehicle made for looks. She was more interested in the functionality of it. Tyler and Sophie sat in back with Brandon between them. She smiled back at them. They chattered about this slide and the ducks. She really was lucky to have such great kids.

"The park was fun Mommy!" Sohpie said as they packed up to leave hours later. They had walked to a corner market for sandwiches and fruit for lunch and had an impromptu picnic.
"I'm glad you had fun Sweety" Olivia said as she strapped in Lindsey.
"Me too Mommy!" Chimed in Tyler and then the younger twins too said "tanks Mommy." in their sweet toddler voices.
Brandon just caught her eye and she saw the twinkle. He didn't talk much. Not that he couldn't. He was normal in every way. He just chose not to. Somehow to her it made perfect sense. To Grant it was the unthinkable. He was weird. He didn't fit in to the "in crowd." He was forever disappointing Grant. While the other boys at parties ran off to play ball or tennis, Tyler included, Brandon would sit quietly and listen to adult chatter. Once they couldn't find him and searched the vast grounds of the estate they were on for the business party, only to find him in the study with the Father of the client playing a game of chess. The older man had raved how smart Brandon was, but Grant wouldn't listen. He had spanked Brandon and grounded him for weeks. She too had been frightened, but she knew it was not because he was scared when he couldn't find his son that Grant punished him. It was because he was not being a man. So sad. Sometimes she wondered if staying with Grant was actually the right thing to do. He didn't seem to want to be a father in any way but on paper and for the attention it got him from work when he brought his perfect family with him to events. His showpieces. Maybe she and Grant needed to sit down and really talk. With 5 kids and 1 maybe 2 more on the way, life was complicated. How could she live alone and support them all? She had not gone to college. She had babies and was a show piece. At best she could get a waitress job or a telemarketer.But could she support 6 or 7 kids on that? The answer was no and she knew it. Part of her knew that was why she stayed with Grant. Out of fear. Out of love for her kids and wanting them to have the best. Then that small voice in the back of her mind chimed in. Grant was no Father to them. He bearly even acknowledged them unless it was in his own best interest. Was this really nest for the kids? Her head hurt to to think about these things. Never mind what her parents would think or do to her. She knew 100% they would never support her. Disown her was more like it. If she ever left Grant, it would be all down to her alone. That thought terrified her and that thought was the very reason she pretended things were alright and she stayed with Grant.

He watched her from the trees loading her army into the gold mini van. He had to smile at them. He felt so odd following her around. First last night and then this morning he followed her to her husbands office and then home and to the park. He felt like a stalker. Heck, he WAS a stalker for all intents and purposes. At one point in the day the little blond boy had seemed to sense his presence. He sat away from the others doodling in the sand. He didn't play with the other kids. The older two found friends and the younger 2 kept Liv running almost from the moment she opened the van door. Adam was sitting back in the woods with a clear view of them. He only meant to watch for a little while, but ended up there for the entire day unable to leave. The blond boy stopped and looked right at him through the trees. He sat still and didn't move a muscle. They stayed that way for what seemed long minutes but was probably not quite that long. Then just like that, the little boy had gone back to his sand doodling. He watched until she loaded the kids up and drove off and then he slipped from his hiding place and walked towards his parents house.

At home, Olivia put the little girls down for a quick nap. Some days they didn't need one anymore, but today they seemed to want one as much as she needed them to take one. Brandon was in the corner nook sitting in his favorite chair. It was surrounded by books. He read anything he got his hands on and not just ordinary kids books like box car children or Harry Potter. He read those too. No, her son read Moby Dick. It was his favorite book. Grant had once laughed at him and told him he wasn't actually reading it. Brandon read aloud the passage he was on and that shut Grant up. The older twins settled in to a cartoon in the family room.

She sat down on the end of her bed to pull off her sneakers. She threw them towards the closet and laid back on the bed savoring the quiet. Maybe she would sneak in a quick bath she thought to herself.

"Mom!" Sophie called from the living room. "Someone is at the door!"

Sure enough, seconds later the bell pealed announcing the arrival of said person.
She jogged down the stairs and opened the door. A rather sour looking man dressed in a fancy grey suit stood in front. In back 2 larger men dressed in black with sun glasses stood in back, arms folded in front of them. The dark glasses hid their eyes from view, but she imagined they were not at all welcoming or smiling. She didn't know them. They were not someone her husband worked with. She knew all of them from parties and functions. These were strangers. They made her neck prickle when she saw them.

The man in the grey suit spoke. "Is your husband home?" He asked. His voice was harsh and sharp rather like his features. He almost seemed rat like. He narrowed his eyes when he spoke and he made her feel very uncomfortable.

"No, I'm sorry Mr?" She asked.

"Frank Loyd" he said. He didn't offer his hand to shake and she didn't think she would have done so even if he had. He gave her a bad feeling.

"When do you expect him?" He asked sharply.

Funny, she didn't know. She never knew when to expect her husband. She could tell him the truth. He might wander in around 4 am drunk as a skunk. He might not come home at all.

"I'm sorry" she said instead. "My husband is a very busy man. He is often not home until late. Can I tell him you called on him here?"

Frank Loyd looked angry then. It chilled her blood at the look he gave her. "Would you mind if I waited her for him then?" He asked her more like an order then a question.

Her mind raced. No way was she letting this man into her home. She glanced at the men standing behind him still in the same position not moving a muscle. She had to think fast.

"Mommy, Lindsey puked!" Yelled Abby from upstairs.

Normally a mother doesn't want to hear those words. This time she welcomed them, almost with glee.

"I'm so sorry, Mr Loyd." she said keeping her eyes on the men behind him."My daughter is sick. We were just on our way out." she lied crossing her fingers. Sophie who had walked up behind her gave her a funny look.
"We were?" Sophie asked surprised. She gave her daughter a hard look.

"Yes dear. Remember. We are taking your sister to the Dr. She is feeling sick."

She begged her daughter silently to just let it go.

Sophie shrugged her shoulders. "She does this all the time MOM!"

Olivia wanted to scream. Yes, Lindsey had always had a super sensitive stomach. She did often throw up. Had since she was a small baby. So much so that Grant refused to be in the same room with her when she was a baby.

"Please excuse my daughter" Olivia said with a tight laugh. "She is busy watching her cartoon and doesn't want to go." She prayed they would take the answer and go. Frank Loyds eyes narrowed to mear slits.
"Very well. I will be back."

She shut the door and watched them go out to a limo waiting at the curb. She gave a sigh of relief as they got in. The relief turned to horror when she realized they were not leaving. The limo just sat there and didn't move. She waited for 10 minutes watching them. In fear, she realized they were not going to be leaving until they knew she was. Something was drasically wrong. It just felt wrong. She didn't know why, but she knew she had to get away from this man as fast as she could. She was going to have to take the kids and go. She quickly rounded them up and got them all into the van protesting. They were all tired from the time in the park and confused.
"Mom!" it just got to the good part on SpongeBob!" Tyler protested.

"Yeah, it was where they were going to rescue the squirrel." Sophie added.

To add to that, the girls were crabby from having woken too soon from a nap and Lindsey still had an upset tummy. Abby was crying and cranky as she buckled her in.
"Don't wanna go Mommy!" Abby said slapping her hand away as she tried to buckle her in.
She had grabbed them both and rushed them out. Poor Lindsey still had puke on her from her episode upstairs. Olivia had managed to grab a pair of clean clothes before she hustled them out, but didn't want to stop and change them now. Something was driving her to get away. Some instinct told her to get out of there. Brandon who was usually very quiet and reserved was nervous and bouncing in his seat and shaking his feet. He seemed to sense something too. She knew it.



Adam frowned at the limo in front of Olivia's house. The hair on the back of his neck prickled. He had not followed them directly home. He had told himself enough was enough. He had gone to his parents house which oddly enough was just around the corner from the Spencer's. Though he had grown up poor, his father had been smart enough to jump onto the growing computer industry and had opened a computer store and then two and now a third was going to be opening soon. His wrong side of the track days were long over. He too had made quite a name for himself while in the Navy. He had pushed himself and made it into one of the most elite groups known to the world. Navy Seal. He was proud of himself as were his parents. He had seen and done some things he never dreamed he would. All the while his mind was never far from the dark eyed beauty he left behind. He gave his body to a few other woman, but they were nothing to him. His heart was and always would belong to Olivia. Even if she didn't want it, she owned it. His Mom begged him yearly to come home. To see the new house and the stores. Then his Dad had a heart attack a few weeks ago. He knew he couldn't put off his trip back home anymore. He swore he wouldn't see her. He didn't care. She had moved on in life. She had 5 kids with another man for crying out loud. But that night, he had come to see her and his love for her came crashing back. He was a stupid man. A glutton for punishment.

So here he came again to sit in silence and watch what he could never have. He frowned at the limo. Something didn't sit right with him. After his years in service, that feeling you got before something bad was about to happen was like second nature. Something was very wrong here. The garage door opened and Olivia's van came out quickly and she backed out and drove away a little more quickly then he thought necessary. The limo stayed for a second and then started and drove off making a u turn away from the direction Olivia went. If he were a smart man he would have just left it alone. It was probably her husband or a client of his. His gut nagged at him though and he ran around the block through yards and watched the limo as it went off back towards the business district. He then turned his mind back to Olivia. He had seen her face as she drove off and she looked worried. Scared almost. The two littlest girls had appeared to be crying and the older ones in the back looked peeved. He had not been able to see the blond boy. He seemed to be the one that drew his attention the most. Not because he was exuberant and loud, more because he wasn't. Where might they have gone? He jogged in the direction they had left. Letting his senses lead him.