Piper (Queen's Birds of Prey #4) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,36

of bullied you into it.” She said she was warming up to the idea. “Good. I think it’ll be fun for you and I to have something we can call our own like this. We’ll run it well, I believe. I’m just hoping we don’t have too much trouble with the squatters. I’d hate to have to call in the police to have them moved on. I wonder just how long they’ve been living there.”

“Less than five years, Duncan told me.” He said that wasn’t terribly long. “No. But it might be for them. I just can’t believe anyone would subject their children to such conditions—no running water, no heat. I know for a fact that the weather up here can change in a heartbeat. That’s the first thing we’re going to tackle. Either getting them off the property or fixing it, so they have adequate housing.”

He didn’t point out to her that she’d not answered the question as to whether or not she wanted to do this. However, he had a feeling that someone was currently packing up their things for the move. Grant wondered if he could get himself a truck, just because it would be nice to haul things back and forth from the store. Also, a tractor. Thinking that he needed to slow it down a bit, had him laughing. They didn’t even know when they were moving in, much less if they’d be welcomed by the people.

The water was warm, he’d discovered earlier. Diving off the side of the boat and into the water was as much fun as he’d had in a while. When Piper dove in with him, they went to the bottom of the waterway together. He was ready to not just discover things here, but with her. Grant was as excited as he’d ever been in starting a new chapter of his life.

Chapter 5

Benson was afraid to feel this good. There had to be a catch. Lying in the big bed he’d been in for the last couple of days, he also couldn’t believe how well he’d been sleeping. All through the night without having to get up once to take a pain pill hadn’t happened to him in five years. Rolling to his side, thinking about getting up, he saw a young boy sitting in the chair next to the bed. It looked like he was reading War and Peace.

“Is it any good?” The child put the book down on his lap and told him it was really good but was also colorful. “In what way colorful?”

“The author describes each thing very well. Like if you could just close your eyes while reading it, you’d be able to see it. I like books like that. This book is good, but I enjoy science fiction better. I’m Abe, your biological son.” Benson sat up but didn’t say anything. “I talked to my mom and dad about you yesterday. They said that I could come up here and talk to you. If you didn’t mind.”

“No. I don’t mind. How much do you know about me?” Abe told him only what they could find out. “I suppose that’s not really a lot, is it?”

“Mom told me that you had AIDS. That you were dying. I’m glad they were able to heal you and bring you here. I’ve been wanting to talk to you anyway.” Benson nodded. “I’ve been thinking about what to call you. I know you’re my biological dad. I understand too that you and my biological mom had sex one time and that she murdered you with her poisoned body. If it’s all right with you, because we don’t know each other at all, I’d like to call you Uncle Benson. If that bothers you, we can think of something else.”

“I don’t have an issue with you calling me your uncle. I think that’s about the easiest way for the two of us to go forward. I don’t know how long I’ll be around, however. I’m not quite sure why they bothered with me at all.” Abe explained what he knew. “I’m immortal? I don’t suppose you know what that means. I understand the word, but not what terms there are with it.”

“You’ll not die or be sick anymore. Also, you won’t age. I will up until I’m about twenty-five, then after that, I’ll not look any different. The living forever stuff is complicated, and I don’t understand a lot about it. I guess I could look it up, but