The ‘den’ Triplets
by: E Walk
(© 2009-2011 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 19
The No Shows

After the Mr. Stocker and Mr. Hooper had hurriedly departed, Todd handed me a grocery list, “It’s your turn to buy the groceries.  Don’t forget to get disposable diapers for the boys, and they need formula.  Oh, by the way, I made an appointment on Monday with Doctor Grove, who is an excellent pediatrician.”

Mother added, “She’s the best.  I’m surprised that you were able to get an appointment.  She‘s always busy.”

Todd chuckled, “It helps to know her receptionist.  I figured the parents and Mother Major could go with me, so I can have help handling the boys, since you legal beagles will be in court.”

Dad Major frowned, “I’d be very surprised if Mr. Stocker and Mr. Hooper make an appearance in court.  In fact, I’d be surprised if either of them are in town Monday morning.”

Dad Major decided to go grocery shopping with me.  On the way to the store, the radio was on to a talk show.  Neither one of us were listening and I was going to turn the radio off.  I had just reached for the button when we heard,

“We interrupt our regular programming for this important news from Governor Vik.”

“This is Governor Vik. I am coming to you today to tell you that information has surfaced that necessitates me withdrawing the name of George Hooper to be a justice on the State Supreme Court.  No further details will be forthcoming, until the State Attorney General has a chance to look into the charges.”

The newscaster returned, “We have received a report that the Reverend Stocker of Christ the King Church has disappeared as has a large sum of the church’s funds.  All the elders of the church who we contacted said was that the Associate Pastor will be conducting the service in the morning.”

Dad Majors started to laugh, “I’ll say one thing for you and your guys, Mike.  You don’t take any captives.  I am amazed that Jeff and David were able to come up with the information on such short notice.  What are you going to do about Jacob?”

“What do you mean what am I going to do about Jacob?”

“Are you going to keep him on at the office?  I don’t see how you can pay him enough to support his family.  Where are he and Antonia and the girls going to live?”

“Dad, to be honest, I haven’t thought about what’s going to happen to Jacob.  I have been more concerned about the hearing on Monday.  Since that is evidently not going to be an issue, now, I guess I will need to sit down with Jacob and talk about the future.”

Dad and I made a dent in the inventory of the grocery store.  When we got the groceries home, the boys were eating again.  I put the groceries away as Dad Majors brought them in from the car. 

We had just finished lunch when Jacob arrived, “I came to get my clothes and things.  The Howards own a small house that they are going to let us live in.  We have to pay the utility bills and taxes.  Mr. Naylor, am I still going to have a job so Nia can finish college?  Mom DeLuca will take care of the girls while Nia is in college.”

I was caught flat footed, so to speak, “Jacob, you certainly have a job at the law office.  You won’t be making that much money, since I have three of you on the employment rolls.”

Jacob smiled, “As long as I’m making at least the minimum wage, we’ll be able to survive.  Nia has a job, she can work from home, so we’ll make it if we’re frugal.  Besides, I received word this morning that two of the porn films that I made are scheduled to be released next week, so that should bring in a few bucks.”

On Sunday when we went to church, Dr. Miller met us at the door, “Mike, you sure do have some interesting friends.”

I laughed, “Pastor Miller, I just seem to be collecting all these people.”

“Keep on collecting them.  It’s nice to see some new faces in the pews on Sunday.  It gives us a feeling that we are accomplishing something.”

Before the service started, we were joined by Jacob and Nia and her parents.  Of course, Todd’s parents, the Majors and my mother had joined us, so we filled the row.  I was surprised when some of the teenagers who had been involved with the ring and had been to the counseling sessions came in and sat down behind us.

As we were leaving the church with the triplets, some of the teenagers came to thank me for helping them get out of the bind that they had gotten themselves in.  One young man summarized what they must have been feeling, “Mr. Naylor, I want to personally thank you for not embarrassing my parents because of the predicament that I had gotten myself into.  I sat down and explained to my parents what had happened and all my Dad said was, ’I hope you learned a lesson.  It would have been far better if you had waited to have sex in a private space than where you could have been observed.  Next time, use your bedroom and put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door.’”

I laughed, “I’m not laughing at you but for you.  Are you going to be using the Do Not Disturb sign, often?”

The young man raised his eyebrows, “I think I’ll put a sign on the door that says, ‘Abstaining From Sex Until I Meet the Right Person.’”

“That sounds like a fine idea to me.”

Sunday went by without anything exciting happening, other than the Stodolas seemed to be spending a lot of time at our house.  Todd and I were in essence getting a day off with the Majors and Todd’s parents there.  My Mom even made herself scarce.

On Monday morning I went to the office as if it was a normal day, and checked in.  The time I was told to be in court was eleven o’clock, so I had plenty of time to get organized.  I had seen three clients when Dad Major arrived and reminded me that we needed to be in court.

When we arrived in the courtroom, it was empty, but I thought nothing of it.  At five minutes until eleven the bailiff appeared from behind the judge’s platform, “We’ve just been notified that the hearing scheduled for eleven o’clock has been cancelled.  Judge Meyers just received word that Mr. Hooper and Mr. Stocker have left town and that there are warrants out for their arrests.”

Dad Naylor and I had a leisurely lunch and I went back to the office. The first client of the afternoon was a Mr. Justice.  I didn’t know much about him, but he seemed to be fairly well to do.  As soon as he sat down he whispered, “Mike, did you know that your receptionist is involved in making pornographic films?”

I nodded my head in the affirmative, “Mr. Justice, Jacob was very straight forward and told me that he had been involved in making pornographic movies when his father kicked him out.  He decided that wasn’t the kind of life he wanted to live, so he came home.  He’s not only come home, but he’s now married and the father of two daughters.  How did you find out that he was involved in making pornographic films?”

“I snuck out early this lunch time so I could go see the new flick that opened today at the Apollo Theatre.   The star was handsome and extremely well built and I sat there drooling while I was watching.  It was like he appeared before me when I walked into the office.  Are you sure he’s married?”

“Yep, I was at his wedding on Friday night.  You didn’t come to talk to me about porn stars and Jacob.  What can I do for you?”

We took care of Mr. Justice’s business and as he was leaving, he asked, “You mean it doesn’t bother you that you have a gay or bisexual person working for you?”

I chuckled, “Mr. Justice, even though I am the father of three boys, I’m as gay as, or gayer than Jacob is.  I’m living with a man and both my Mother and my deceased wife’s parents know.”

“What are your three sons going to think when they get older and realize that they have two men for parents instead of a man and a wife?”

I had to think, “They’ll probably think nothing of it, since they will have grown up with Todd and I living together.”

“Mike, I’ll be sending some clients your way.  You don’t know how difficult it is to find a lawyer who isn’t prejudiced against gay people. We have our legal problems, just like everyone else if not sometimes more.”

I was sitting at my desk when Jacob entered the office, “Mr. Naylor, your in-laws are on the phone.”

“Which ones?”

Jacob looked at me as if I was loony, “How many sets of in-laws do you have?”

“I have two sets of in-laws:  Jill’s parents, the Majors, and Todd’s parents, the Stodolas.”

Jacob laughed, “In this case it's Mr. Major.”

I picked up the phone, “Hi Dad, what’s up?”

Dad Major chuckled, “I just called to tell you we’re leaving.  We’ll see you in a couple of weeks.  The boys certainly are developing and changing rapidly.  I wish we lived closer and could watch them develop.”

There was a quiet period and I went to door, “Jacob, I would like to talk to you, if you have a minute.”

Jacob came and closed the door, “Did I do something wrong, Mr. Naylor?”
 

“You’ve done nothing wrong.  I just wanted to know if you were aware that one of your movies had opened at the Apollo Theatre, today?”

“I wasn’t aware of it until Mr. Justice stopped at my desk after he had talked to you and told me he had seen my film at the Apollo this morning.  He commented, ’It’s too bad you aren’t really gay.  You could make some big money in this town now that the prostitution ring has been busted.’”

There was a knock on the door.  Jacob opened the door.  David was standing there, “Tell Mr. Naylor that his four o’clock appointment is here.”

I looked at my schedule and the name Mrs. Schuler was listed.  I didn’t recognize the name, so I had no idea what the appointment was about.  I motioned to Jacob, “Please show Mrs. Schuler in.”

After the formalities, Mrs. Schuler got right to the point, “Mr. Naylor, now that you've driven that horrible Mr. Stocker away, what are you going to do about getting back the church’s money he absconded with?”

“Mrs. Schuler, I had nothing to do with his leaving your church.  My dealings had to do with keeping him from finding out which of a set of twins was Jacob’s daughter.”

Mrs. Schuler leaned on my desk, “Mr. Naylor, that makes no sense.  How could one of a set of twins belong to one man and the other to another man?”

“Trust me, Mrs. Schuler, that’s what happened.  There are only two people in the world who know who was the father of which girl.”

“Mr. Naylor, I may be old, but I’m not senile.  I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Trust me, Mrs. Schuler.  That is what happened in this case.  There were two young men who caused the birth of a pair of twins at different times.  There is DNA proof that such is the case.”

Mrs. Schuler asked, “How can the young woman marry both of the young men?”

I shook my head, “One of the young men committed suicide, because he couldn’t handle being controlled by the prostitution ring.  The other young man has married the young woman and assumed full responsibility for both of the infants.  It didn’t hurt that the other father was the best friend of the new husband.  In actuality, they were birth brothers which they did not know until recently.  The gentleman who committed suicide never knew.  They were adopted by different parents when they were infants.”

Mrs. Schuler stood, “That’s about as clear as mud.  Would you be willing to come to our ruling elders meeting and explain what happened?”

“Mrs. Schuler, I would be glad to come talk to your ruling elders, but what good would it do?  Your immediate problem is that Mr. Stocker has absconded with church funds, and it has nothing to do with the parenthood of the twins.  The fewer people who are aware of the situation will make it easier for the young people to move on with their lives.”

“What happened at your church is the fault of the ruling elders, because you obviously gave Mr. Stocker access to the church’s fund which is contrary to what most churches do.”

“How do most churches handle the finances if the pastor doesn’t control them?”

Mrs. Schuler, “Why don’t you talk to Pastor Miller at the Presbyterian church?  I know for a fact that he, as do all the employees and committee chairs, must write a voucher to get paid for expenses, which has to be signed by the clerk before they are paid.  That won’t help you getting the money that Mr. Stocker took off with, but it could preclude similar situations from happening in the future.  If I can be of any further assistance, I will be glad to help.  Mr. Stocker is not one of my most favorite people.”

When I arrived at the house, it was only Todd there, and he was feeding or trying to feed the boys cereal with differing results.  Aiden would take a spoonful and play with it in his mouth, before swallowing it.  Jaden kept spitting it out Kaden couldn’t wait for the next bite to be pushed his way.”

Todd handed me the dishes of cereal and I tried my skills at getting them to eat. I added some applesauce and Aiden inhaled the mixed cereal and apple sauce.  Jaden somehow separated the cereal and the apple sauce and spit the cereal out.  Kaden didn’t care what you fed him. He immediately wanted more.  They were definitely going to be three different personalities.  I finished feeding them and changed their diapers, thinking that they would sleep while we ate our dinner.  Kaden was mouthing the entire time we ate, like he wanted to eat.

At nine o’clock, we got the boys ready for bed.  They were no longer satisfied with formula alone.  They realized that they liked to eat solid food stuff. Todd grinned; “The boys are getting ready to sleep through the night.”

I looked at Todd, “Mr. Stodola, I bet you that you will be up three times tonight when the boys are eating at different times?”

Todd laughed.  “The boys are going to be on schedule and we might as well start it tonight.  We’ll feed them when they’re all ready to eat, otherwise Kaden will be eating all the time.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  That scoundrel of a preacher, Stocker, is definitely one of the bad guys.  He was out to get whatever he could, from the church or anywhere else he could.  I don't understand how a congregation of Christian people could let someone like him feed them all that hate and bull crap, without at least questioning his credentials.

I sure hope they catch him and put him somewhere nice and secure, for a very long time. 

The Triplets are going to be quite a handful, if things keep going they way they have been. 

I can hardly wait to see the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 01/28/11