WARNING AND NOTICES:
This is a work of fiction. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Do not read if you are underage according to the laws in the country, state/province, county, city/town/village or township where you live.
Copyright © 2008 Debra Diane; Permission is granted to Literotica to post one copy. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized copying will constitute an infringement of copyright.
Author's Note: I just wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed, sent me wonderful comments, and voted for my story. It really is what keeps me motivated to write more. Thank you!
Chapter 4
This time, when Liam woke up, he was alone in the bed. Glancing over at the clock, he saw that it was already ten o'clock in the morning. He could hear the TV downstairs and figured that's where he'd find the kids.
Once down stairs, he found the kids, as expected, glued to the TV.
"Good morning, you guys sleep okay?" He asked.
"Yep." They replied in unison, not even taking their eyes off the TV.
Liam, noticing that Chris held his cell phone, asked, "Chris, why do you have my cell phone, did someone call?"
"Yeah, Grandma called and wants you to call her." He said.
"Oh, okay, thanks." Liam said, silently glad that he didn't miss Jack's call again. Grabbing his cell phone from Chris and heading to the kitchen, he decided he would get his coffee made, fix breakfast for the kids and then give his mom a call.
When he got to the kitchen, he found milk, cereal and bowls already out on the table.
'Apparently, the kids decided they couldn't wait for breakfast, oh well, at least that's taken care of.' He thought.
After he had his cup of coffee, he sat down at the kitchen table and called his mom.
"Hey mom, Chris said you called?"
"Yeah, I wanted to touch base with you. I think I've got all the arrangements in place for the funeral. It's set for Wednesday at ten thirty in the morning. Adam's law firm has been a huge help. I put you and Jack down as pallbearers and I was hoping you wouldn't mind also giving the eulogy. Adam's secretary has already contacted the newspapers and announcement of the funeral should be in today's paper. Also, your dad met with Adam's lawyer about their will. They would like us to come by the office today at one o'clock to go over everything. I'm sure there will be paperwork that will have to be signed." She said.
"Okay, mom, that sounds fine. Jack comes back tonight, so I'll talk to him about being a pallbearer and I'll meet you at the law firm at eleven. I'll have to see if I can find someone to watch the kids." He responded.
"Speaking of the kids, how are they doing?" She asked.
And Liam spent the next ten minutes filling her in on everything. He told her about Cassie waking up at night, Chris being so quiet and him asking about his parents.
"Well, those seem like pretty normal reactions, considering. Hopefully attending the funeral will help Chris put things in perspective." She said.
"Yeah, I also plan on swinging by Chris's school this afternoon and talking with the principal. I'm not sure if he should go right back to school or if we should keep him out for a while. I'm sure they've dealt with this kind of stuff before and can offer some suggestions. I'm also hoping we can get Chris in to meet with the school counselor."
"That's probably an excellent idea. I'm sure it would be a good idea for Chris to have someone to talk to, someone who has experience helping children deal with their grief. Listen, I'll let you go, so you can get everything in order. I'll see you at the lawyer's office and we can talk more." She said, and then ended with "I Love you, honey."
"Love you too, mom." Liam said, just before disconnecting the call.
After refilling his coffee cup, he picked up the phone again and called Stacey.
"Hi, Stacey, it's Liam."
"Hey Liam, wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon. Everything okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, everything is fine, but I need a babysitter and I don't know where to go to find one. I was hoping you could help. I'll probably need someone from about noon until early this evening."
"Sure, I can help with that. Let me make some phone calls and I'll have someone over there shortly." She offered.
"Thanks Stacey, I really appreciate it."
"Hey, it's no problem." She said, before hanging up the phone.
Once that call was out of the way, Liam picked up the phone again and called information for the number to Chris's school.
When he got the school secretary on the line, he explained who he was and why he was calling. He then scheduled an appointment to meet with the principal, the school counselor and with Chris's teacher.
With all of the phone calls out of the way, Liam herded the kids upstairs to get ready.
Just as Liam was sitting the kids down with grilled cheese sandwiches and carrots for lunch, his doorbell rang.
Opening the door, he was surprised to see Rick standing on the other side.
"Rick, what are you doing here?" He asked.
"That bossy woman down at the fire station told me I had to come down and keep an eye on a couple of hoodlums." He said, with a big grin on his face.
Before Liam could even respond, both the kids were hollering Rick's name excitedly, while running full force at him.
"Ciao piccolo grande giovanotto!" He said, as he deftly picked up Chris and threw him up on his shoulders, then picked up Cassie in his arms. "La mia bellissima piccola Cassie." He continued and then planted a kiss on Cassie's cheek.
Liam had no clue what Rick just said, but he did know it sounded damn sexy in that strong Italian baritone voice of his.
"Wait, you're here to stay with the kids? I didn't mean for you to have to come down here to baby-sit. Don't you have to work?" He asked.
"Yep, I'm here to baby-sit and nope, I don't have to work. I work a 48/96 schedule, meaning, forty-eight hours on and ninety-six hours off. I just finished my forty-eight hours on and now I'm off for the next four days." He said in response to Liam's questions.
"Rick, you don't want to baby-sit someone else's kids on your day off. I can go ahead and reschedule my meeting and then work to find someone else." Liam said, feeling guilty about having inconvenienced Rick.
"Hey, you don't want me to stay with the kids?" Rick asked, his smile fading from his face.
Okay, now Liam felt really guilty.
"No, no, it's not that, it's just I figured you'd have other things to do besides spending the day with the kids."
"Nope, got nothing better to do." He said, walking into the house and tossing the kids on the couch. "In fact, you better head out if you're going to make it to the lawyer's on time. Don't you have to be there at one o'clock?" He added.
"Shit... or, um, I mean, darn." He said, quickly trying to recover from his faux pas. "Darn, I really do have to get out of here. Are you sure you're okay with watching the kids?" He asked again.
"Sure, I'm sure. Now, just get out of here. We'll be fine."
"Okay, I'm just going to say goodbye to the kids real quick. Hopefully, I should be back by five o'clock." Liam said.
Heading to the living room, Liam gave both the kids a big bear hug and a kiss and told them he'd be back later this afternoon and to be good for Rick.
With that taken care of, he slipped out the door.
The visit with the lawyer seemed long and tedious. In the end, it basically boiled down to the fact that Rebecca and Frank had been named as primary guardians, with Liam being secondary guardian. Rebecca and Frank had to decline guardianship, so that guardianship would then fall to Liam.
The entire estate, with the exception of trust funds that had been set up for the kids, including all of their property, savings, life insurance policies, retirement savings, and a few other miscellaneous holdings, which were all directed to go to the guardian of the kids. Since Adam and Julie had appointed the law firm as the executor of their will, the law firm would handle all of the details.
The lawyer gave Liam an envelope that contained all of the information he would need to read over and sign and then scheduled another appointment with him on Thursday, so they could finalize the guardianship. Transfer of all of the estate holdings would take a little longer, since the will still had to go through probate.
When Liam finished with the law firm, he said goodbye to his parents, and then headed over to the school, just barely making it in time for the appointment.
The counselor did most of the talking. He recommended that Liam get the kids back in school as quickly as possible. That they needed to get back into their routines, that they needed to know that even though their mom and dad were gone, that their lives wouldn't change drastically in other areas. He also said that he would like to meet with Chris twice a week to start. That they would meet at lunch time and have lunch together.
Liam provided the principal with all of the documentation showing that he had temporary custody of Chris until the guardianship paperwork was completed. He also completed all of the required school forms, such as contact information, alternate emergency pick-up contacts, and also a list of people who are authorized to pick Chris up.
Chris's teacher gave him a paper bag full of hand made cards to give to Chris. It seems the entire school had made sympathy cards for Chris. She also said that they all missed Chris very much and would be glad when he returned.
When Liam left the school, it was almost 5 o'clock. He swung by a Chinese food restaurant on his way home and picked up dinner for everyone.
Once home, he found Cassie and Rick on the couch asleep. It was a really sweet sight. Rick was sprawled on his back, snoring lightly, and Cassie was draped across his chest. Chris was laying on the floor, playing some sort of game system.
