Chapter 15: Kids

I had to fly to Brisbane.

It was faster and cheaper to take the hour flight to Brisbane from Airlie and then the half hour one back to Bundaberg. I’d have a three-hour layover, but I’d be at mums by about 4:30pm, give or take. It was better than a ten-hour drive down and then back.

I booked the flights and then dropped Beth home. I wouldn’t see her until Tuesday when I flew back to the island. I could catch the milk run from Bundy and be in Mackay in time to catch the flight to the island. On the way home from Beth’s, I stopped at a pay phone and rang Jacque.

When he answered, I said, “Hi, it’s Mark Sinclair, you mentioned you were interested in some Amethysts.” I explained I’d only be in town for a couple of hours if he could meet me somewhere. I also told him I’d found them when I was Greece with the wife, and I was able to procure them for him while making her happy with diamonds.

I mention a shopping mall that was only fifteen minutes from the airport and a time. I knew that Jacque would check around to find out if the jewels were stolen, but he wouldn’t find anything since they weren’t.

I also guessed that Hasid would be with him. Hasid could tell if the jewellery was hot. I don’t know how, but it was his little gift. I suspected he had a bit of Earth magic. The ring I had given him would only enhance his skill if I had been correct.

The flight was uneventful, and I was able to grab a taxi to the shopping centre. I changed in the toilets to my Mark persona and then headed to the café where Jacque had told me to meet them. I was able to order a beer and a plate of chips and gravy and joined the men at the back booth they had selected.

It was a good spot, as we wouldn’t have any people walking past us. I shook their hands and sat down. I looked at Hasid, “So have you identified any stolen property since I last saw you?”

He looked at me sharply and then at the ring he wore. He turned to Jacque and said, “See, I told you it was the ring.”

I shook my head, “Not entirely, it would only work if you already had the ability. The ring just increases your nose’s ability if you get my meaning.”

Hasid grinned at me, “That’s a good way of describing it. It is as if I can smell the item has been tainted by theft. Since I’ve had the ring, the smell is stronger, especial if the theft has been recent.”

I nodded. “There are a lot of bad people around. At least you blokes know I’m not one of them. Did I tell you last time I was here some little shit stole my briefcase? I’m lucky he didn’t steal my new shoes.”

Jacque and Hasid chuckled. Jacque said, “Well the pair that I selected for you today, are worth one fifty. Do you think you can talk me into giving them to you?”

I grinned as I handed Hasid one of the jewellery boxes and then Jacque the other one. The boys looked at what I had offered them. Jacque crowed, “Oh! She is going to salivate when I show her these.”

Hasid gently touched the necklace and nodded with satisfaction. “You are a man with exquisite taste, Mark,” he said. He looked at me shrewdly. “Why do you insist they are heirlooms? We would buy anything you make. You could use a working name if you don’t wish to use your own. It would make them more valuable, as well.”

I looked at him in surprise. I had only fixed the other pieces and brightened them up. I admit the set with the Amethysts hadn’t been complete. I had broken up several pieces out of the boxes of items I had and used them to redesign the necklace, so it matched the earrings and ring that I had found.

I had even swapped some of the poorly cut stones out, so the newer ones matched better and I had added the extra diamonds to balance with the ring’s design. I’d enjoyed working with the jewellery. “Sorry, it’s not an easy market to get into, when you’re not trained,” I told them.

“Sometimes, training is overrated. With art, it must come from the heart, the technique comes with practice,” Jacque told me. “I don’t know where you’re getting your gems from, but I analysed some of them, and the closest match I can find is somewhere in Queensland.”

“Home-grown is always best,” I replied and finished my beer.

The boys looked at each other and then Hasid said, “Sign them for us in future, and we will get better prices,” he said.

I picked up the box with the amethysts and turned them over. I waved my left hand across them and handed them back. I then did it to the set with rainbow coloured sapphires in it. “Better?” I asked.

They looked in shock at the bling. The items now had a tiny stylised, ‘TW’ engraved on them. I reached forward and tapped the ring on Jacque’s middle finger on his right hand and then my nose with my left hand. I watched as his eyes went wide. He looked at Hasid’s ring. “Different,” I said.

He nodded in understanding, and I knew he did to a point. I didn’t know precisely what his ring did, but I suspected it was like the ones I had given Ryan and my parents. It didn’t have many spells on it and only had the power gems for Psychic and Nature. He wasn’t a mage more a novice. I couldn’t detect a diadem or a medallion on his person.

We concluded our transactions, and I said I would think of a better way for us to deal together to keep the tax man happy as I shook their hands. They both agreed they would like at least some of my transactions to go that way.

I laughed and went to grab my next plane.

Dad picked me up at the airport.

He hugged me and let me get into the ute before he said, “No.”

“No, what?” I said in surprise.

“No, you take the kids from your mum, and you will break her heart,” he said.

I looked at my dad and asked, “And someone else’s?”

He grinned at me. Fuck! He looked ten years younger. I now knew it wasn’t only mum that wanted the half a dozen kids. My father had never been able to deny my mother anything. That they hadn’t been able to have more kids must have caused tension, but they had never inflicted us with this stress.

Ryan and I had both grown up knowing our parents loved and wanted us. “I have to talk to the lawyer before I can make any promises, dad,” I warned him.

He nodded, “We know, that’s why your mother invited him to dinner. He is staying in Ryan’s room in case it’s a long night. He’ll come to the funeral with us, and then you can go to town on Monday and sign anything you need to.”

“Who’s looking after the shop?”

“Robbo, Steve and Tanya can handle things for two days,” he replied.

“Who is Tanya?”

“My apprentice, I put one on this year since Robbo is finished.”

I smiled. My parents had talked about adopting at one stage, but it was complicated. Then dad had started taking on young blokes as apprentices. He and mum had a knack of picking guys that needed a bit of TLC. He took one on at least every two years. So, they had just unofficially adopted them, it was easier.

I had about ten unofficially adopted brothers and now one sister. Mum and I had both told dad to take on a girl if he could find one. The government was offering extra incentives if we did, so that didn’t hurt either. “So how is she working out?” I asked.

Dad chuckled, “I don’t know if it’s her or your mother or the combination of them both, but business is up. She is a cheeky little scamp and gets into everything.”

He grinned at me, “She is driving the boys crazy with her questions and her tits. She does any job I ask, and she learns damn fast. She is a whiz with boat motors. She’s Darcy James’s daughter.”

“Ah!” I said. Darcy was a mad keen fisherman, and it was just him and Tanya. I bet she had learnt to strip a motor down by the time she was ten with him for a dad. I hadn’t seen her in years but remembered her as a skinny little strawberry blonde.

Dad stopped by the shop on the way home just to check on things. I think he also wanted me to get a gander at Tanya. Holy crap! No wonder she was driving the boys nuts. She was close to eighteen now and at the very least, a ‘C’ cup. What that girl did to a pair of overalls was sinful.

And she bounced. She didn’t walk, she bounced, and all her bits did as well. She wasn’t playboy gorgeous, but she was bloody close. She had lovely blue eyes and a broad smile that resembled a cheeky grin more often than not. If she was still a virgin, it was only because Darcy was her daddy.

When I walked in, and she saw me, she bounced up to and gave me a hug. She whispered, “Tell Ryan, TJ misses him.” Then she bounced away. Woah! So that’s who she was. I was going to have some fun when I rang Ryan.

I revoke my previous statement. Tanya hadn’t been a virgin since not long after she turned fifteen. TJ had been Ryan’s first. I’d been working away a lot at the time, so I never saw her with him and only knew of her by the nickname he had given her. I’d lay a safe bet that Darcy didn’t know about them either, or he would have strung Ryan up by his nuts if he had found them together.

We didn’t stay at the shop long before dad took me home. I had barely gotten out of the car, and I had a little girl with her arms wrapped around my hips and a toddler with his chubby arms wrapped around my leg. I bent down and scooped them both up. As I hugged them, Sarah started to cry, and Tommy did too.

I took them inside and sat down so they could cuddle into me better and we could cry together. I’d never considered myself a wuss, but these kids were special to me. Mum turned up with a box of tissues and handed one to Sarah. She then wiped my cheeks and Tommy’s.

Mum then held the tissues to our noses. We dutifully blew into them. I made a funny noise as I did, and Tommy giggled. Mum finished us up and shook her head at me. The two kids cuddled back into me contentedly.

I was surprised more by Tommy’s reaction than Sarah’s, as I knew she would remember me, but Tommy was barely two. Yet, he was acting as if I was someone he knew well. “I like your mummy and daddy, Angel,” Sarah said.

“Would you be happy to stay with them?” I asked her.

She nodded and then she made me laugh, “I didn’t know Angels had kids,” she said.

“Why did you say that Sarah?” my mum asked as she sat down with us.

I looked at my mother and said, “Do you see a glow around me, mum?”

She looked at me funny, “You have always glowed as you put it, but I must agree it is brighter than I remember.”

“Well, you and dad glow as well. That’s why Sarah thinks we are angels,” I told her. Mum looked at her ring and then back at me, and I nodded.

“Can everyone see it?” she queried.

“No, only little kids and gifted people like us. I think Sarah is more perceptive than the average, plus I think she is gifted. She’d probably be better off with you two than anyone else since you have already raised two gifted kids.”

I had seen the relief in my mother’s eyes, and Sarah climbed down off my lap. She climbed up into mums and hugged her. “I knew Tris would fix things. I wish God hadn’t taken my mummy and daddy, but if I have to have a new mummy and daddy, I couldn’t ask for better than for my Angel to share his,” she told mum sincerely.