A Trade For Good (11 page)

Although outwardly he tried to seem
content with his 'singlehood', he knew he wanted a family someday.
A family of his own to love, care for, and have lots of fun
with.

He had created a disguise that told
the world that a family was the last thing he wanted. So far, he
had never met anyone he cared to share his secret with and in the
meanwhile it kept the women he met from jumping at the chance of
taking care of that little problem of beating their biological
clock and getting a well-established business owner who was not
exactly a bad catch to meet their needs and procreate.

No, the fewer who know about his
secret desire to have a family and the fact that he didn't think he
could ever be satisfied without having children, the better. But if
he never did find a partner for life, someone to have and to hold,
as the saying went, then he'd spoil the hell out of his nieces and
nephews and let their parents put up with them later.

Jeff found his way to the Sinclair's
house and parked in their driveway. He looked back in the mirror
again and saw that both Sera and Emma were asleep. He opened his
door and went to the back to open Sera's door, being careful not
wake little Emma up. She really was a cute kid when she wasn't
scrunching her face up in a huge wail.

Then he turned his attention to Sera
who hadn't even stirred when the car stopped or even now that the
door was open and a light breeze was starting to come
in.

Sera looked peaceful and soft. Her
features were always soft, but now they were also relaxed
and...Damn she looked really good.

"Sera," Sera heard a male voice she
didn't recognize and felt a soft caress on her cheek.

"Hmm?" She smiled wondering where she
was and thinking how nice it was to sleep..."Where...," she sat up
quickly as soon as she opened her eyes and realized Jeff was
smiling at her.

"Come on sleepy head, you couldn't
have reached any significant REM cycle in just ten
minutes."

"Some people speed read, I have to
speed sleep. I am self-taught, and my schooling started with
P.D...." Sera smiled as she closed her eyes again and stretched.
"Umm, that felt good."

Jeff's eyes were intent on her as she
stretched her arms and neck back and her body's movements were not
lost on her boss.

"I wish you could stay here all night,
but I think it would get kind of cramped with your three other kids
if they decided to join us."

Sera opened her eyes and wondered if
there had been more to Jeff's comment than just the words that were
said. 'Join us...' Was it sleep talking, or did that just sound
really, really good?

Not wanting to ruin the moment, but
knowing if she didn't stop this wonderfully peaceful feeling at any
given moment Emma would end it with a bang, Sera unstrapped Emma
and climbed carefully out of the car with Jeff’s help.

They reached the door and Deb opened
it before they even knocked. "I saw your car and Marion just called
to say you were on your way and that Emma was asleep. I threatened
the kids to keep their mouths shut and not say a peep. If Emma gets
going again..." she let her voice trail and shuddered.

Sera laughed at Deb and said, "I know
exactly what you mean." and then, looking around and not seeing any
little bodies running around the house. "What did you do with
them?"

"Don't worry, I didn't kill them. Yet.
They're in the den watching a movie. At least the little ones are.
Pete and Tiff are sitting next to each other and not saying a word,
but I think they're texting each other."

"Are they ready to leave?"

"I guess they could be. How long do we
have before Emma wakes up again?"

"Sera looked at her watch; I think we
still have a couple of hours."

"Jeff," Deb was only slightly taller
than Sera, and paused as she looked up at Jeff, "I didn't realize
how tall you were. Anyway, do you have time for a cup of coffee or
a glass of wine?"

"Sure, I have a great secretary at the
office; she can fill in for me if I sleep in
tomorrow..."

Sera looked up at him and rolled her
eyes. Jeff might have heard something, but if Sera said anything,
it was more like an 'ugh' than anything else.

"I think I'll stick to coffee though.
Tonight at dinner I think I met my quota."

"But you only had a couple of
glasses," Sera countered.

"That's right, I’ve met my quota. On
weekends I can do better, but on week nights, I'm just a
wimp."

Sera remembered how Peter used to
drink too much and make an ass of himself. She would have to drive
him home sometimes and put up with him pawing at other women...he
probably did that when he was sober too; he just had that tad bit
of decency left where he would at least wait until she turned her
back.

"Yes, coffee for me too. Is it
made?"

"No, I'll just go to the kitchen and
start it. I think I'll just stick to decaf tonight..." Deb said
with a smile as she rubbed her belly softly.

"That's right! I should have known
when you said you didn't want to drink tonight that something was
up! That was a dead giveaway."

"Sera, Sera, you make me sound like
the lush that I am. Shame on you girl," she said laughing. "Hey
Jeff, Chad's in the other room, over that way... he's playing a
game on the computer. Go and bother him while Sera helps me with
the coffee."

Jeff did as he was told and
as he walked by the dining room and past the den, before he got to
the office where Chad was in fact playing some kind of shooter
game, he thought he saw kids everywhere. Doing a mental count, he
realized he probably did see kids all over the place, with Sera’s
four, and now that Chad and Deb were expecting their fifth
child...they could start their own school.
Wow,
he thought and shook his head as
he popped in to sit with Chad. He couldn’t blame the guy for taking
a break from the insanity and shooting stuff up to
relax.

Chad stopped what he was doing when he
saw him. "Hey Jeff, didn't hear you come in. Everything all
right?"

"Yeah, your kid eat any more Barbie
limbs?"

"It was a shoe, and no, not since
dinner today. Hey, by the way, thanks for driving Sera to my mom's
and now here, I would have come to get her you know."

"I think everybody is too worried
about me and that I might not have the time to do this...Although
you married folk like to dream about what we single guys get to do
in our free time, I hate to disappoint you, but tonight was the
best night I've had in a long time."

"That is just sad. You disappoint
me."

"Now you on the other
hand...
five kids?"

"Yeah, I don't know how that
happened..."

"I have a general idea."

"Guys," they could hear Deb's voice
calling them from the other room. "If you want coffee you'll have
to come and get it. It's self-service tonight!"

"Is there anything other
than self-service
any
night?"
and with that, Chad slapped
Jeff on the back and followed him into the living room where his
wife and sister in law were looking very smug.

Chapter 12

Sera was a little self-conscious by
the time the men came to the living room for their coffee. Deb had
drilled her mercilessly about Jeff. What was he like? What did
Marion say? What did she think of him? Did he hint anything to her?
Deb only stopped when Sera told her to back off.

Sera was confused enough already and
didn't need her sister in law to egg her on when she had no idea
what she was even thinking. First of all, she hadn’t even thought
of another man for over fifteen years, and what Deb didn't seem to
understand was that the timing was awful.

Sera was still married, was
financially in a big mess, although things were much better now
that at least she was bringing home some money. She had four kids –
and one of them was Emma who had to be counted at least twice - so
bringing a man into her life was just stupid. Besides, it was even
harder to bring someone into your life when you had kids. Having
kids meant you had to choose for yourself, and for them.

Of course, Deb also pointed out that
Peter wasn't exactly the best fit for her kids and they were his.
Okay, she had a point, but that had just been pure bad luck. Peter
made awesome kids and a terrible dad all at the same
time.

Sera wished Deb hadn’t met Jeff. For
two weeks he was a nice boss to Sera, now she thought of him as
husband material!

"So where's this coffee you made us,
woman?"

Deb rolled her eyes at her
husband, "In the kitchen my
little
man. Do you think you can handle getting it
yourself?"

"I am the master of the
house and I have much practice fending for myself -
unfortunately.
Come on
Jeff. What did I tell you about the service in this
place?"

"Mommy, mommy! When did you get back?"
A little boy ran up to Sera and jumped up on her lap.

"Hi little monkey. I just got in and
went to see you, but you were right in the middle of your movie.
How was it? What did you see?"

"We saw Mulan;
again.
Melle always wants
to see that one because the girl dresses up like a boy and beats
all the boys up..."

"Yeah, I kind of like that movie
myself." Sera said looking over to the men who had just come in and
caught the tail end of Charlie’s remark.

"Personally, I like Aladdin. Didn't he
have a harem or something?" Jeff said looking at Sera.

"No, I think you're confused. For
Aladdin there was only one woman, Jasmine. She was the princess,
and his only job was to do as she said." Sera retorted.

"What's a share-em?"

Chad choked on his coffee, and Deb
elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hi Charlie." Jeff had jumped in to
help out, but mainly to save his butt. He knew from experience with
nieces and nephews that mother’s didn’t appreciate it when you used
foul language or brought up things you couldn’t really explain. He
thought he had done a good job distracting the boy, but then looked
over and still saw dirty looks coming from both Sera and
Deb.

"How do you know my name?" The little
boy asked suddenly noticing the stranger in his aunt and uncle's
house.

"Your mom has a picture of you on her
desk at work. My name is Jeff, and I work with your mom. She told
me about you and Pete, Melle, and I just met Emma
today."

“Emma s’loud” the little boy said
pretending to shake in fear.

“Yeah,” Jeff laughed, “my ears are
still hurting.”

Charlie giggled, "Are you my mom’s
poz?"

"Yup, but I'm a nice boss." Jeff told
him with a wink.

"Do you have kits? You look like you
have kits."

Jeff puffed out his chest at that.
“Why do I look like I have kids?”

”Cause you’re old. Old person’s hab
kits.”

Sera almost choked on her coffee over
that, and Chad just laughed.

Jeff cleared his throat, “Well you’ve
got a good point, I should have kids at my old age, but I'm not
married. Maybe someday I'll get married and have a hundred and
seven kids."

"My mom is meh-weed. She used to say
she wanted twelve kits, but you need your hubband for that, and we
don't know where her hubband is, do we mommy?"

Sera looked only slightly
uncomfortable because after all, she was among family, and with
someone she was starting to think of as a friend. "Well, we think
he's on a trip somewhere. Maybe he can't call us, that's
all."

"Yeah, and I'm nine feet tall." A boy
of about twelve or thirteen years of age, and somewhere near five
feet tall had walked in and sat down next to Sera after giving her
a quick peck on the cheek. He had his iPod plugged in to his ears,
and didn't even look around or see that there was someone he didn't
know in the room. Then again, maybe he just didn't care.

"Pete, don't talk that way to your
brother." Sera reprimanded.

"He doesn't even know what nine feet
tall means," the boy retorted.

"All the more reason not to tease
him."

"I do too know what nine feets tall
is!" Charlie yelled back.

"Okay then, what is it short
stuff?"

"Peter, cut it out. Charlie, it’s
about this much taller than uncle Chad,” she showed with her
hands.

“Pete, I haven't introduced you to my
boss, Mr. Mason. Jeff, this is my son Peter."

"Hi Jeff,” Peter gave Jeff
a measured look and made sure not to say
Mr.
Mason, “I'm Daniel."

The adults all looked at each other,
wondering about this new bit of information.

Deb was the one who asked first,
"Daniel? Since when? You sure look a lot like my nephew
Pete."