Chapter 10

There was a seat for Mallory on the plane, but it was used for the bag of clothes they had bought for her. Mallory spent the whole flight on either Ken's lap or on Marta's. The little blonde had adopted annie Matta with whole hearted love.

The night before Mallory had slept on daddy's chest and when he had to leave the room for any reason she whimpered like a little puppy. Ken was almost as bad, whenever Mallory was not in his lap he was looking at her, making sure she was alright.

The limo that met them at the airport had two child carseats in it. No one wanted to wait for them to get to the lodge, they all met them at the disembarkation point. Mallory was hugged and praised for being such a little beauty. She soaked it up as her proper due.

Ken also came for his share of attention. Selena, Marcia, and Consuela all hugged and kissed him with ever increasing levels of intimacy. By the time Connie stepped back Ken was hard as a rock and blushing furiously.

"Remember that Friday night," Connie whispered as she stepped back.

On the ride home the conversation concentrated on what changes to make to accommodate Mallory. The biggest one was going to be moving Ken into one of the bigger cabins. Mallory was big enough that she didn't need a crib, but a child's bed with a barrier would be needed.

The subject of the conversation in the meantime had made friends with Stefan. The two were sitting in the car seats touching hands and jabbering away.

Ken was in a quandary. The talk in the air with Marta had left his mind with all the to-do associated with Mallory. Now he was forced to confront the issue. Every time he looked at Connie she would lick her lips and smile. This interaction did not go unnoticed by the older ladies in the car; Marcia had all she could do to keep from laughing out loud at the cornered animal look in Ken's eyes.

Her laughter disappeared when the limo pulled into the drive at the lodge and there was a strange car parked in front of the house. When the limo stopped the doors on the Caddy CTS opened and the Neilson brothers got out.

Walter wasted no time and as soon as Marcia exited the limo he was right there lifting her hand to kiss. Wilbur did the same thing to Marta. Both women were a bit flustered at the attention.

Ken and Selena pulled the kids out of the restraints of the child seats. Ken grabbed the bag from the trunk of the limo, "I'm going to put Mal's stuff in the cabin ladies, we'll be back after I change her clothes." Ken turned and headed toward cabin 6.

"Hold up Ken, not that one." Marcia yelled, then she pointed to the first of the larger cabins, #7. "We moved your stuff over there while you were gone. I think you'll find a few more surprises as well to welcome Mallory to her new home."

Ken smiled and threw the strap of the bag over his shoulder. He then took his daughter's hand and slowly led her over to their new home.

The larger cabins had a better floor plan for a family. In the small cabins it was like a motel room. The bathroom was in the far corner with only a shower stall, sink, and toilet. Next to the bathroom was an efficiency kitchen with an under counter fridge, a sink, and a two burner stove top. The rest of the room was a bed with a small table, two chairs, a recliner, and there was a TV hanging from the wall.

The larger cabins had a full bath with shower in the tub, and a separate bedroom. The rest of the cabin was kitchen and living room combination. It had a full sized refrigerator and a stove with an oven. In cabin 7 Ken saw that the couch normally along the front wall had been replaced with a pink covered brass day-bed.

Mallory loved her bed and bounced up and down on it several times while daddy was removing his arm from the sling and getting a clean outfit out of the bag. Ken's arm was still painful to use, but a two year old girl was not going to be cleaned and changed with one arm.

When they got back to the house everyone was seated out by the pool and Selena was serving chips and salsa. There was a carpeted and fenced play area for Stefan with several toys in it. Mallory joined Stefan in it and the two sat and jabbered at each other as they played.

"Thank you ladies for the work you did. The bed is great and should last her for years."

Wilbur stood up then from his seat beside Marta, "I'm glad to see you back safe and sound and with your lovely little girl. There have been a few developments since you have been gone. The DA for the Seaside court wanted to charge you with assault with a deadly weapon for throwing that IV stand at Jerry Fenault. He said that you used excessive force and had no reason to attack the man. You knew that the police were on the way and you should have waited for them to handle it."

Marcia jumped up at this, "That fucking idiot. If Ken had waited for the police it would have been a hostage situation and we know how well the fucking moron police handle those. There would probably have been two or three people killed then. Ken saved us all and there is no way we are going to let him be punished for it."

Walter stood up and took Marcia in his arms, "Take it easy babe, we already shut him down. You saw the headlines in the San Jose Mercury News, right?" When she nodded he continued, "Well the DA hadn't, and when we showed it to him he about shit a brick. I told him that he would be crucified for trying to punish a hero. All he had seen was the glory of prosecuting someone he saw as a brutal barbarian. As soon as he saw how Ken was treated by the press he changed his tune. There will be nothing filed against Ken by the Seaside DA."

"What was in the paper?" asked Marta.

Connie ran into the house and brought out three copies of the San Jose Sunday paper.

"TWICE A HERO Young man from Carmel saves people twice in one night. Hurt while saving his girlfriend from a rapist, Ken Jacobs then saved the crowd in the waiting room of the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula from gun wielding thieves with his damaged left arm held at his side."

The story went on to describe the action at the hospital in some detail. When Ken read about the scalpel in his arm he knew that Barb had been talking to someone. As far as he could tell everything was factual, but he would much rather that it had not appeared in the paper.

Wilbur spoke up then, "I understand that the story has been picked up by the national media and pretty soon everyone in the country will know your name Ken."

"Wonderful. At least I am the only one highlighted. They call Connie my girlfriend; but luckily for her she is not named. I can't see anything good coming from this."

"Don't be so sure son," Walter said. "The judge in Boise will be apprised of this and that is bound to make your case for full custody of Mallory better." Walter then sat back down next to Marcia and took her hand in his.

"The TV station in San Jose has been in touch with us and would like an interview with every one of you. I told them that a family emergency had taken some of you out of town, but they will call back soon and you need to know what you want us to tell them."

"I am not comfortable with the idea of doing a TV interview. I didn't do anything special, just what had to be done. Any one else placed in that position would have done the same thing." Ken said.

"I beg to differ son," Wilbur said. "There is no one else I know that would have done what you did. As your lawyer Walter was allowed to sit in with the interviews done at the hospital. The nurse you helped was especially convincing. She said that with both assailants you had reacted and taken care of the situation before she had even realized her danger. That girl has some hero worship going for you right now. Don't denigrate yourself Ken, you are a hero. I think we can set up something where you don't have to be seen, but I think you should do the interview. If you don't they are going to speculate and blow everything out of proportion and make it much worse. Right now the only pics they have of you are a very bad driver's license photo and a blurry shot of you being led into the police station for your interrogation. I think an interview is your only chance to get it all to die down."

"If you say so Wilbur, but I don't like it."

The discussion was made to retire for a while. Stefan was crying. Mallory had a toy he wanted and was beating on him with it. Normal two year old play as neither child was used to sharing yet. Selena excused herself and said that dinner would be ready shortly and the Neilson brothers were invited to dine with the family.

For the past couple of months Connie had been feeding Stefan in her cabin, not wanting to interact with Ken and the sisters. Now suddenly there were two highchairs at the dining room table and everyone was treated to toddler antics with food. Selena had given them a gourmet assortment of finger foods and the game was on.

The conversation at dinner was spirited. Ken and Marta were asked of their impressions of Boise and the brothers courted the sisters subtly throughout the meal. Ken was kept off balance by being seated next to Connie, and her hand sliding on his thigh felt like lava on ice.