Charity's Storm (Charity Series Book 4) (9 page)

             
I laughed out loud. “I’m not sure if this is cool, or whackadoo!”

All three boys glanced up
at me and giggled. “Whackadoo? Mom, that’s a weird word,” they said to me.

             
“A weird word?” I said. “A weird word?!” I slowly stood, and with my hands curled like claws, I stalked toward them. “But that is exactly what all of you are—whackadoo!” And then I pounced. “Whackadoo! Whackadoo! Whackadoo!” They squealed and laughed as I tackled and tickled them. We were all arms and legs, rolling around on the floor when Levi burst into the room.

             
“Not without me!” he said as he tackled us, grabbing all four of us in his arms and the tickling and wrestling resumed. Screams and giggles engulfed the room as my precious family rolled along the floor, arms and legs flying in the air.

             
Minutes later, we all fell back on the floor in exhaustion, the little ones still giggling in amusement. Then Darrow said, “Let’s do that again!”

             
And before I could catch my breath, Levi scooped all four of us up again.

Chapter Fourteen

The last half of winter had been cold, wet, and soggy, so when the weatherman said the next two weeks were gonna be dry and warm, we all planned to take advantage of it. I, for one, had plans to take the boys to Windrake Mountain Park as many times as I
could. What with all their pent-up energy for being cooped up for so long, we were all about to kill each other. Actually, it was more like
they
were about to kill each other, which meant
I
was about to kill
all
of them.

             
Early Saturday morning, I packed us all a healthy lunch, thanks to Chef Barney, and we headed to the park: me and the boys, along with Ashley and her beautiful, sassy spirited daughter, Glorianna or Glory as we called her. Destiny was bringing her daughter, Journey and meeting up with us later for lunch. It was nice when we could all schedule a playdate together. And while the kids played, we girls got to catch up. Which you think would be easy to do since we basically lived together, but with the demands of husbands and kids, it wasn’t as easy as I once thought it would be. But I loved my life and I wouldn’t change a thing.

             
It was a beautiful and sunny morning just like the weatherman had predicted. I was thrilled he got the forecast right for a change.

             
Ash and I were talking about her new running shoes, which she made clear were
not
for running, when I noticed that I no longer heard loud, obnoxious noises coming from our children.

             
“Ash, do you see our children?” I asked, trying to keep the alarm from my voice.

             
She waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, don’t worry, Charity. Hector’s watching them.”

             
“Umm, okay, then where is he?” I asked, still looking around in unease.

             
About that time, all five of the children came flying from around the outer edge of the woods surrounding the play area of the park. They were laughing as they tried to out run each other.

             
“There they are!” Ash called, a slight relief in her voice.

             
“Boys, where have you all been?” I asked sternly. “You know I told you to stay in our range of sight. And where is Hector?”

Darrow pointed to the woods. “He’s checking out a dead wolf he discovered in the woods.”

              “A what?!” I squealed, placing my hand over my heart as if that would slow down the wild beating.

“It was cool, Mamma,” Dixon said. “Hector let us look at it. He was sad, but we thought it was cool.”

              “Yeah,” agreed Deacon, “We’ve never seen a dead wolf before. Well, except on Animal Planet, but it’s not the same.” He pouted.

             
“Well, I guess I’ll have to have a talk with Hector about showing dead animals to my impressionable children, now won’t I?” I didn’t let on to them how nervous I was about a wild wolf being found so close to the park…and the children.

             
“Oh, Momma,” they complained.

             
Hector finally came into view, but as he approached his face was glum, and I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

             
“What is it, Hector?” I asked once he was close.

             
“I’m not sure, Mrs. Charity. I found a dead wolf, but I couldn’t find any injuries. I’m thinking he was poisoned.”

             
“Poisoned?! Do you think it was because of the wolf being so close to the park?”

             
“I’m not sure. It’s not good that it came this close, but I’m just not sure if it was poisoned or not. I’ll let Levi know what happened, and he can look into it.” Then he glanced up at me and smiled, which was always a bit creepy to be honest. “It will be fine, Mrs. Charity. You and the kids are safe.”

             
I smiled back, reaching up and rubbing him on his forearm. “I know, Hector. I know.”

             
The next day at the park, there was a park ranger stationed at the play-area. He was positioned along the wood’s edge. This gave me some comfort, and I was able to relax knowing all was being monitored.

“Look, Momma!” the boys said as we approached the car that afternoon. “That park officer gave us some badges. Now we can be officers too.”

“Oh cool,” I said, pretending to be impressed. “When did you talk to him?”

             
“Earlier. He asked us if we had heard any howling.”

             
I snapped to attention. “And what did you tell him?” I was suddenly feeling nauseous as I quickly ushered them into the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

“Oh, we said
‘all the time’. The officer laughed at us. He thought that was funny. I think he thought we were joking.”

             
I laughed nervously. “Well, remember that talk we had about telling people or even hinting that you are werewolves. It’s very important that the humans never know about us. It’s the most important secret ever! The werewolves have kept their existence a secret from humans since the very beginning, and we would all be in danger if they found out about us. I want to make sure you all understand this.”

             
I looked into the rear-view mirror to see all three heads nodding.

             
“I mean it, no more hinting. This officer cannot know or even suspect that werewolves exist. Do you understand?” This time I was stern.

             
“Yes, Momma,” they said in unison.

             
“Good boys.” I smiled. “Now, how ‘bout we make a stop at Happy’s for some ice cream?”

             
“Yay!!”

Chapter Fifteen

So it turned out that the body of that wolf had been poisoned after all, but it had been dead for a few days before Hector found it. What this meant no one knew. The park service was denying any blame for the death. Yes, they didn’t want any wolves near the park, but they denied any knowledge of the existence of the wolf. So what did it mean? Levi was working on it.

              The dead wolf was all everyone was talking about at dinner that night, but at least they were talking. Everyone had obeyed me and were now leaving their iThingys behind while we ate together. To my enjoyment, the dining hall was obnoxiously noisy once again.

             
I had to give the boys a lecture during their meal after catching them throwing pieces of their food at each other. Actually, it was Grandmammy who pointed out their behavior to me, no surprise there. She watched them intently during most of our meals together. Part of me was annoyed by this, but the other half knew she only meant to help, even if it was overstepping her bounds at times.

             
“Boys, we’ve talked about this. How many times do I have to tell you? The Bible tells us to live at peace with one another. As long as it’s in your power, you have to live in peace. That means no throwing food at each other. Do you understand?”

             
“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison, but I wasn’t convinced—at all. It looked like they were just waiting for me to turn my head so they could throw more food.

Will they ever remember all the things I try to teach them? It seems like I spend most of my time repeating myself.
I suddenly felt old and tired.

             
I let out a deep sigh as I stood to leave the table. At that moment, Mr. Bones approached me. He simply laid his hand on my shoulder and whispered, “
Train up a child in the way he should go:
and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” And then he walked away.

             
I thought about that for a minute, and then I smiled to myself and nodded. “Well, alright then.”

             
Later that night, after the boys were tucked into bed, Levi and I snuggled and caught each other up on all the current events like we did most nights. I told him about what Mr. Bones had said. He seemed genuinely touched by the scripture. Mr. Bones never spoke normal words to people, only speaking or answering in scripture, but I had grown to love and respect the man very much. He had never steered us wrong, and it seemed he always had the right thing to say—every time. I actually looked forward to the times that he had words of wisdom for us, and this latest one would prove to be the best one so far. If the scripture was right—and it always was—then my kids would turn out all right after all.
Whew!!

             
On most nights, after our catching up, Levi and I just laid in each other’s arms, our palms pressed against the other’s and said nothing at all as our heart connection symbols touched and tingled—mine on my left and his on his right—reminding us of what had drawn us together over six years ago. Our commitment to love and life was stronger than it had ever been. In those six years our symbols had grown two inches and formed a fragile leaf to add to the growing blue vine-like shape. We wouldn’t know what final design it would form for years to come, but we continued to relish in every new addition. It was our heart connection that kept us strong and our feelings so intense, and we were constantly surprised by the new things it allowed us to experience—things that even surprised the pack’s historian. Like one night while we were sleeping, Levi’s hand brushed against mine and our symbols touched, ushering me into the nightmare he was in the process of having. And one day I got very sick after eating at a restaurant with Ashley and Destiny, and Levi somehow knew I was sick and showed up at the restaurant to take me home. What new surprises lurked around the corner for us we didn’t know, but one thing was for sure, this was a brand new thing for the wolf pack—and all of them continued to be amazed. As for me, well I knew we were a special couple unlike any before us. I just didn’t know to what extent.

             
The next morning, we had learned that Grandmammy had grown ill during the night and was recovering in the medical center, with Doc and Hector keeping watch. She made a fuss about the attention, she was eighty-nine after all, but this didn’t stop us from making the fuss anyway. Chef Barney made her favorite vegetable soup, Mr. Bones read to her from the Bible, and I washed her hair while the boys drew her pictures of rainbows and of Fang snatching, and eating, her dentures.
They just loved that story
. Afterwards, they pinned them to her refrigerator and argued over whose was the best.

             
The next few days we stayed at home and looked after Grandmammy, but she began to improve slightly, so on the third day,
after I had picked up the boys from their class, I called Hope, Wesley’s wife. We had made arrangements to meet in the park to allow the boys a playdate. Although her son, A.J. was only three and a half, he was the cutest thing, and my boys loved to play with him. I tried to get Ashley and little Glory to meet us too, but Ash said she had plans to meet up with her mom for some shoe shopping. And one thing you could count on about Ashley was she never cancelled shoe shopping…ever.

             
Hector was supposed to come with us, but I had encouraged him to stay home with Grandmammy this time. He had eventually agreed, though reluctantly.

The children gobbled up their snacks quickly and made a mad dash for the swings with Fang tight on their heels. Hope and I cleaned the picnic table and discarded the trash all the while talking about her current pregnancy. She had finally shaken her morning sic
kness and was looking remarkably good. Her flaming red hair was long and flowing, and her green eyes were vibrant and lit up every time she talked about Wesley and A.J. Her love for them was incontestable, and I was beyond happy for them. Wesley had changed severely after falling in love with Hope. He had finally met his match, and if the rumors were true, he was still meeting his match on a daily basis, because she kept him in check at every turn. I wish I felt sorry for him, but he needed it—and he deserved it.