Julian Read online

  “Yes, all right.” He cocked a brow at her. “I’m sorry. Woohoo! Yes, I’ll marry you and let you give your name to my little girl! How was that?” “Much better.” He got up and went to his jacket, and when he returned he had a small box that had a pretty, gold ribbon on the top. “I saw this and thought of you. And I’m having a bracelet made for Ruby too.” The diamond ring was gorgeous. There were small rubies all around the diamond that sat in a Tiffany setting on a wide band. She noticed, too, that it seemed to be broken, and asked him about it. “No, not broken, but it is open at the back so that when you shift, if you ever do, then you’ll not lose a finger while doing it. You see, this will stretch and once you’re fitted with it, a small bit of gold, very little, is inserted in the slice so that no one but us will know its purpose.” He slipped it on her finger. “Just as I thought. A tiny finger. I love you, Tess O’Rourke. Would you please consent to be my wife?” “Yes. When? I know you said a few hours, but I have a feeling that you have a license already filled out and ready for me to sign.” Jules got up to get the license, and about that time, Brayden and Dane walked in with a minster. They were ready to be married as soon as her granddad showed up with little Ruby. “This is perfect. I didn’t want large anyway.” “My mom has a different opinion. So if you really don’t want a large wedding later, then you’re the one who’s going to tell her. I’m not.” The minister started speaking, and a young man interrupted them with more paperwork. It was handed to Dane. “Just in time. All you need to do, Tess, is sign where the tabs are, and little Ruby Denise O’Rourke will be called Ruby Denise Stanton.” She signed where she’d been told, and then Jules did the same. He stared at the paperwork for several minutes before giving it back to Dane. “It’ll be filed within the next hour and you’ll be a family. Congratulations.” “We have to sort of marry first.” They all laughed, and in ten minutes, Jules had a wife and daughter. He was as happy as he’d ever been in his life. ~~~ Christian looked over the paperwork twice before setting it aside. He wasn’t sure this was really what his brother wanted. Not like this. Looking at Julian, he wasn’t even sure now that his brother even wanted to work at all. Not as a cop again, anyway. “What is it you want?” Julian asked him what he meant. “Besides working for the city, which I don’t believe you want to do. What do you want? It’s not the pay. This is less than you were making on unemployment when you could have gotten it. It can’t be the hours either. They’re long, and you only have one day on the weekend off. So tell me, little brother, what do you want from this job?” “To get out of the house while Tess isn’t there.” Therein lay the issue. “I’m bored, if you want to know the truth of it. I started watching television, those daytime things that drive you nuts when you miss one. I need something to do.” “What about the PI stuff? I thought you enjoyed that.” He told him he thought it was depressing. “And Ruby, what do you want done with her while you work?”

  His entire face lit up when Christian mentioned her name. He loved the little girl as much as he did the mom. Which was understandable. The child had taken to Julian as if she had known what a special person he was going to be in her life. “I want to stay with her all day, but I can’t do that either. I know that. It’s mind starving to be with her. Understand?” He did. “So I need something to get me out of the house and with people of the same age. Maybe not the same age, but at least someone I can talk to. And this will do it.” “This will get you killed. And if not killed, you’d be in danger every single day you strap on that gun.” Jules lifted his shirt up and Christian saw the gun there, then he put his boot up and there was another one there. “If you show me one more, I’m going to call Mom and tell her you’re getting ready for the zombie invasion.” “What can I do, Christian? I’m seriously bored out of my mind. I’ve been a working person almost my entire life. And now, all I do is get in the way of the cook. And if not that, the rest of the staff.” He wiped his face with his hand. “What do you think I should do?” “Okay, this is a long shot, but I know you have a master’s in law. You also have a master’s in history. Have you thought of being a teacher?” His face told him that there wasn’t any way in hell he wanted to teach. “All right. Tell me what kind of things you enjoy doing. We’ll start from there. And just so you know, if you don’t come up with something by my next appointment, I’m kicking your ass out. I do like what I do, and I’m very good at it.” Just as he was opening his mouth, a sharp knock came to the door, and in walked the mayor. Just what he needed right now. The loud-mouthed sap of an idiot coming in to bother him again. The guy had been here every day since rumor had it that he, Christian Stanton, had been asked to be the mayor. As soon as he sat down, Julian pointed at him and nodded. “I didn’t know you were having a meeting. Are the two of you plotting to take my place? I’m telling you right now, and I’ve said this before, Christian, you just don’t understand the differences between being mayor and being an attorney.” He told him he wasn’t running against him. “I’m glad to hear that, I am. I love my job. And I’m sure you love yours. But I keep hearing rumors about you plotting.” “Plotting? You’ve said that twice now.” Christian leaned back in his seat to watch his brother. Julian was good at this, getting to the root of all problems. “What is it you think he’d have to do to plot anything? Print up a few signs? Go to the ladies’ meetings and scarf up a nice lunch? I’ve seen you at them, Mayor Windbag—you’re not all that articulate. I think they only invite you when they know they don’t want to have any leftovers. Is it true that you bring your own containers and take whatever is left home with you?” “A man has to eat. And I’ve told you this before, Jules, my name is Windbreeze, not Windbag. Why do you have so much trouble with that?” He looked at Christian then. “I just don’t want to come up to election day and see that you’ve put out your signs.” “I would think he’d need a few more days than that, don’t you? I mean, just think about it. Printing alone would be a nightmare. While Christian takes a good photo, he would need an ad campaign and someone to help him with that. Oh wait, he has one. We have a brother that’s an artist.” Jules laughed. “You know, I should run against you. I was just telling my brother that I have nothing to do all day. I mean, according to your schedule of events, I’m sure I’d have time to play with my new daughter and be around my brain surgeon of a wife.” “You? Run against me? A disgraced cop? Get real.” Jules stood up before he did. And when Mayor Windbreeze did, the room became deathly quiet. “You will not run against me. I have things just the way I like them. You might think that you can do the job, but we both know that you would fuck it up worse than I have.” “You think so, do you?” Jules turned to Christian. “I’m doing it. Fix up whatever you need for me to run, and I’ll go and talk to Levi.” Jules, now that he hadn’t gotten upset at being called that, started out the door, but returned. Pushing Windbag into his chair again, he leaned over him so that his face was just an inch from his. Then he let his cat take him. It was the scariest thing Christian had ever seen his brother do. When he shifted back, he was dressed, something that he’d not thought would happen to him. He figured Dane was spreading her blood around for them all for him to be able to do that. “Fuck with me and I’ll take you down right now. Understand me? I was not a disgraced cop. You yourself pinned several medals of honor on my chest when I went above and beyond the call of duty. You call me that again, and I will rip out your tongue and hang you with it.” When he snapped his teeth at him, Christian stood very still until he was gone again. The smell of piss permeated the room. “He just threatened me. Did you see that?” Christian said nothing. “He said he was going to kill me. Made himself into a large cougar and threatened me with him.” “Actually, he didn’t.” The mayor stood up, then sat again when Christian looked at his pants. “He said he’d rip your tongue out and hang you with it. His cat can’t do that. And even with that, I don’t think it was a threat at all, but a promise. You’d do well to remember that. And when I send you the cleaning bill, you had better not return it. You do, and I’
ll have the cameras that were on you when you entered hit the airway, and you’ll be the laughing stock of the town. More so then you are now.” After Windbag left, Christian pulled out the charter on being mayor. Just the first paragraph of rules was being broken in that the mayor had to attend seven meetings a month that the mayor was supposed to have set up. Not to mention, there was a rider in there that he was to head several committees that would make at least one improvement, or be in the works of an improvement, per year. He’d been in office for four years, and not one thing was finished that Christian’s family hadn’t taken over recently. Christian called his dad. “Jules is running for mayor.” The quickest and most efficient way to get the word out was to tell his dad. He’d never break a secret, but he would tell everyone around something that was soon to be public knowledge. Christian took the phone from his ear when his dad yelled. When he put it back to listen, he could hear his dad telling whoever he was with the news. “I need you to help him get the word out.”

  “You bet your bottom dollar I will. Tell me his plan.” He said that he’d only just decided, then he told him about what had happened in his office. “I think this will be just what he needs. He’s been sluggish around the house. Well, not sluggish, but something was wrong with him. I’ll go over and see Levi now. I’m betting that he can get him started on something. Thanks for calling me, Christian. By the way, did you know that he’s going by Jules now?” “I did. He told me the other night that Tess calls him that, and it doesn’t bother him anymore.” They had all, except Wyatt and Levi, had names that could have been shortened, but they’d not done it. Brayden wouldn’t do it, not after the experience he had with someone calling him Brady all the time. “Anyway, you meet up with him at Levi’s office and we’ll go from there.” Christian started making notes, not just on what Windbag wasn’t doing, but what needed to be done. By the time lunch was coming around, he had a list of about twentythree things that should have been taken care of, as well as a longer list of things that needed to be taken care of very soon. Then there was the list, which most of the things were on and that he’d marked immediately, that were already being taken care of by his family in different ways. The grand opening of the veterans/handicapped workout house being the big one. Christian called his mom. “When does your next women’s thing meet?” Mom said tomorrow. “I don’t think that’s enough time. I need for you to work with me on something.” “Does this have to do with Jules running for mayor?” Laughing, he told her that it did. “Then there is plenty of time. Tell me what you need.” “I was thinking that we need a clothing drive. There is supposed to be one done twice a year by the mayor. If we can get Jules to head one up, say next weekend, he can announce to the public that he’s going to be running against Windbag.” She laughed at the nickname. “I wish I had come up with it, but Jules calls him that. And apparently for a long time too.” “I love it. And I love the clothing drive as well. Oh my yes. Cleaning out the closets before spring is in full bloom. Yes, I’ll make some calls. Also, last month we were thinking of one of those handy-bags—toothpaste and brushes, with a little bit of things like deodorant for the young teenagers. Some of them need to have it, but I don’t think they realize it yet. That’s what we were going to do.” “Why can’t we combine the things? Get the kids to help us out.” Mom was as excited sounding as he was getting. “Jules can be there with his new wife and daughter. Make an afternoon of it. Then when the kids are finished up, we feed them pizza.” “Oh, I love that very much. All right, I need to get calling.” His mom came back on the line by saying his name. “Windbag, has he heard about this?” “Yes, he has, and as you can imagine, he’s not all that happy about it either.” They were both laughing hard when they disconnected the call. He wasn’t worried about Mom not coming through for them. What concerned him was how overboard the drives were going to be. When his mom spoke, people listened.