Page 18 of Cullen
On her way home, she thought about Cullen.She wanted to reach out to him to see what was going on, but was afraid that she’d interrupt him while he was working.While she didn’t know what he was doing, Emmie knew that it was dangerous and that with her talking to him, he might get hurt.She didn’t want anything to happen to him while he was away.
She didn’t know why there wasn’t someone else around that could do what he was doing.He’d told her that he was retired, and to her, that meant that he wouldn’t be working anymore.Whatever it could be that he was doing had to be something specialized, particular to him, and that he was the only one who could do it.While she believed that it could be something like that, she didn’t want to believe that it was dangerous for him.Because as surely as she was thinking about it, she knew that it was more than just a little bit dangerous.
After getting home and deciding that it was just too quiet there, she went to pick up the kids.They were earning their keep today, what Betty had told them they’d be doing, by picking up sticks out of the yard that had been blown down by the last storm.They actually seemed excited about it, and she was happy that they were going to be spending the day outside.It was a beautiful day today.
They were right where she expected them to be, and the pile of sticks was huge.They must have gotten right to work after being dropped off, and their hard work showed.Even Beth seemed to be working hard, and she watched as she tossed her handful of sticks up on the pile that they’d made.Laughing a little, she was happy that the kids were learning something from the elder Dixons.Sometimes you had to work for something that you wanted.
“Come on in and have a glass of lemonade with us.We were just about ready to take a break.They’ve been working since after breakfast.”With a small wink at her, Betty invited her in with the kids.“You’ve done me a huge favor by picking up the sticks, and I’m going to reward you both.Do you want money or do you want a treat?”
“What’s a treat?”Betty explained it to Beth and told her that it would be a gift of something that they didn’t expect.“I think I’d rather have a treat then.I’m too little to have money.Besides, Daddy said it’s worthless anyway unless you get a lot.I don’t suppose you’re paying us a lot.”
“Do you think you did a good enough job to earn a lot of money?Be honest now.I don’t want to give you too little when you think it’s worth a great deal more.”Beth talked it over with Marshall, and they came up with a good amount.Five dollars seemed like enough money for them.“I was thinkingyou did a better job than that.I’m going to pay you ten dollars each and then take you to the store so that you can spend it on something you want.”
“I want to save it.”Marshall sipped his drink and smiled.“I think a treat would be nice, but I’m having such a good time earning my living that I’m going to work hard all the time.If you need anything done from me, Ms.Betty, you let me know.I’m going to work for what I want and save it all up.”
“That’s wonderful, Marshall.”Betty looked at Beth.“You want your treat, and that’s wonderful too.However you wish to have your payment made to you, is all right with me.”
“I want to save mine up too.That way, I can have a lot of money saved up to buy me something big someday.Like a house that has no rules.I want that.”Betty gave them each a crisp ten-dollar bill.They didn’t understand that it was worth ten dollars when it was only one bill, but she thought that she had explained it well enough.“Will you put it up and give it back to me when I ask for it?I got money one time from someone in the park, and Mom took it and didn’t give it back.I trust you.”
“Thank you for trusting me, and I’ll give it back to you whenever you wish.If you’d like, we can open a savings account for the two of you, and every time you get some money, you can put it in the bank.”Beth looked at Marshall before she answered.“Or I can just keep the cash on me for you.It’s entirely up to you two.”
“I’d like a bank account.That way I can have it someplace that will be safe.”She didn’t know if Marshall thought that she’d spend his money or not, but didn’t read too much into it.He’d never had money before, and he shouldn’t have trusted his parents with any, should he have had some.“Does it cost money to have it in the bank?”
“No.In fact, they pay you a little bit of cash to keep your money in the bank.Not a whole lot, but enough to warrant having it in there, I think.”Marshall said again that he wanted a bank account, and of course, Beth said she wanted one too.“All right.First thing in the morning, we’ll head to the bank to open you both an account.I think because you’re so young that you’ll have to have my name on the account too, but that’s all right.I won’t touch your money at all.”
After visiting with Betty and Sherman, they went home.She didn’t know what time Cullen would be back, but she was going to be ready for him.She didn’t like sleeping alone in their bed and thought that she should buy herself a large pillow so she could snuggle up to it when he wasn’t there.Though she didn’t know how that would work, it was better than sleeping alone.She missed him a great deal.
Throughout the day, she would be tempted to contact him, but didn’t.He would reach out to her if he were able to speak to her.She did end up taking the kids to the bank in the afternoon, and it was much easier than she had thought it would be to open two accounts for them.They even got a card so that they could take out their money when they wanted; however, they both turned those over to her, too.They didn’t want to lose them.
“Now, when you get money for things, like birthdays and such, you can put it into your account and watch your money grow.”Marshall was excited to be able to get money for his birthday instead of gifts.She wondered how long that would last if he saw his sister get gifts for hers.She didn’t care how they wanted to do that; she was going to put money in their accounts monthly so that they could save it for something big, as Beth said.“How about if you keep your rooms cleaned up and do things around the house, I pay you for that too.An allowance for doing things around the house that would make my job easier?”
“I’ll keep my room nice anyway.I like having nice things around all the time.”Marshall said that he’d even help his sister clean her room because she was so little.They, of course, argued about that for a little bit too.“I’ll help her when she asks for it.How about that?”
“I think that’s an excellent idea.The two of you are going to have lots of money before you know it.”Neither of them trusted well, and she would blame her sister and brother-in-law for that.Mary Beth and Bash had been the worst parents and not very good role models to the kids, and it might take them a while before they got them to trust them.
She didn’t bring up that they’d been adopted by them.She wanted to tell Cullen first.She had made notes on things that she wanted him to know about, and the fact that the government was going to pay them to take care of the kids was something that she wanted to talk to him about.They didn’t need the money, so she wanted to put it into their accounts.It was their money after all.
~*~
Cullen was home by six in the morning.The kids were happy to see him, and he was happy about that.He’d spoken to Emmie late into the night and knew that he was a dad now.As soon as he got to sit down with the two of them, he explained that they were Dixon’s if they wanted to be.
“You mean we don’t have to call Mom and Dad, Mom and Dad?”He said that would be up to him.Marshall seemed to think that might be confusing.“You don’t have to call us Mom and Dad.We’re your uncle and aunt.You can call us by our first names if you want.Or Uncle Cullen and Aunt Emmie like you’ve been doing.”
“You don’t want us to call you Dad?”He told Beth that it would be up to her, but he was going to treat them like they were his kids.“I don’t know what I want to do.I like you very much, and you’ve not locked us in our room, but I don’t know what to call you.”
“Firstly, I’d never lock you into your rooms.I might tell you to go to your room sometime, but you will never be locked in.Or beaten if that was something that happened to you a great deal.”Marshall nodded, and then so did Beth.“I won’t do that.We’ll talk things out, and you might get a punishment, but we’ll work that out when we come to it.I don’t see the two of you being bad kids.Will you be?”
“No!We’ll be the best kids in the entire world.You don’t ever have to take away our food, though I don’t think you’d do that, but Beth and I will be the best kids ever if you be good to us.”He said that he would be there for them forever.“I know that too.You’re the best in the world, and I love all your family.They’re good to us too and don’t treat us like we’re welfare babies.”
“They’d never do that.”Emmie joined them just as the kids were getting ready to get on the bus.They were having a much better time of it since moving to his house, and no one made fun of them anymore.At least that’s what he’d been told.After they left for the day, he decided to go to bed and try to catch up on some of the sleep that he’d missed.He was glad that Emmie laid down with him until he fell asleep.
Waking up with a scream just on his lips, he looked around the darkened room and realized that it was more to do with the shades drawn rather than it being dark out.Getting up to use the bathroom, he wasn’t thrilled to find himself alone in the bed.But Emmie had told him that she’d found herself a job and was looking forward to working it.
He got back in bed just as his alarm went off to tell him it was time for him to call the president.He was going to be firm with him about working and didn’t care who he hurt to get it taken care of.He’d had enough of going out of the country to do jobs that gave him nightmares.As soon as he answered the phone, he told him that he wasn’t going to be doing this anymore.The laughter caught him off guard.
“It’s nice to hear from you, too.”Cullen felt embarrassed but told him he wasn’t going to be working for the government anymore.“I understand.I really do.I’m not even going to try to talk you out of your decision.You’ve been doing such a great job, and I’ve been taking advantage of you.”
“Not really.I think I could have told you no before now.It’s just that I have a mate now, and as of yesterday, we’re raising her niece and nephew, too.I can’t be a dad to them and a husband to Emmie if I’m forever on soil that doesn’t belong in my front yard.I need this time to get to know all three of them, and I just can’t do it anymore.”He asked him if he’d want to know about jobs so that he could turn them down or not.“I don’t want to get sucked back in.And you know as well as I do that I will do that.”
