Chapter 73: Engaged

Sarah sat and stared at her ring in the car all the way back to the hotel. It was slightly too large for her but we could go get it resized easily enough. I knew where he’d bought it. I was also sure that they’d resize it without charge, not that that would be an issue if not.

“I don’t understand,” she said, eventually. “He got robbed. How did he still have the ring?”

“Do you really want to know?” I asked.

She nodded.

“He swallowed it,” I said. “I took his memories of the attack. I think they followed him from the jewellers and they must have known he’d bought something. Maybe they were watching through the window. When he wouldn’t give it to them, they attacked him. He swallowed it to keep it safe.

“I got it back for him,” I added before she could start down the route of thinking it had had to go all the way through him. That might have kind of spoiled it for her, but I doubted it.

“You knew?” she said. I smiled at her.

“I saw it when I was scanning his body for injuries,” I said. “I realised what must have happened, so I retrieved it, cleaned it, and gave it back to him.”

“What about the box,” she said. “Surely he can’t have swallowed that too.”

“That was on the floor in the parking lot. I spotted it and picked it up while we were waiting for the EMTs.”

“So, you DID know!” she said, with a slightly accusatory tone in her voice.

“I suspected,” I said. “Then when I retrieved the ring and gave it back to him, I promised I wouldn’t spoil his surprise.”

Sarah sighed happily and went back to examining her ring.

“It’s beautiful,” said Melanie.

“It’s perfect,” said Sarah, still smiling.

It was close to three thirty by the time we arrived back at the hotel. Once more I decided to forgo my morning exercise, although this was becoming a bit of a habit that I needed not to allow to take hold.

Instead, we all got up around seven thirty, giving us just enough time to get ready and head into campus to grab some breakfast in the cafeteria before we went to class. I arranged with Sarah that we would meet at lunchtime and take a quick trip to the jewellers to see about getting her ring resized. Despite her reluctance, I persuaded her to keep it in her bag rather than on her finger, as it could easily have slipped off and been lost.

I noticed on my phone that Danny had sent a text at around four thirty.

_Arnie’s out of surgery – everything went well. He’s sleeping on the ward now. Thanks again.

I started my day with my usual hypnotherapy clients. I had to go to the range for the second since it was my singing star. When he came into the room, he looked pensive.

“I know you said three months,” he said. “But my plans have changed, and we are starting a new tour sooner than we thought.”

“Oh?” I said. “When?”

“Our first gig is weekend after next.” he said, “But it’s in Portland, so that’s not the problem. We’ll be leaving town directly after the Sunday night show.”

“That’s a whole month before you said,” I told him pretending to be concerned. Obviously, I didn’t care. I’d stopped his habit with the first session. I didn’t want him to know that though.

“I know,” he said. “Will that affect the results?”

“Well, how do you feel at the moment?” I asked.

“Truthfully,” he said, “I’ve never felt better. I haven’t even thought about using again since about the third session. Once I got rid of my dealer, it was just out of sight and out of mind. Obviously, I’ll pay you the full fee. You really have helped me. If I could refer my friends to you without letting them know I’d had to use your services, you’d be inundated.”

“Obviously I can’t guarantee anything,” I hedged, “but I think you’ll be alright. It would be ideal for you to finish the course of treatment, but if you can’t then we’ll just have to do the best we can.”

He nodded. “Okay then. We have three more sessions before I have to leave.”

“We’ll plan for that then,” I said, getting ready to send him off to sleep.”

“Oh, one more thing,” he said before counting back. “I brought you some tickets for the show on Sunday. They include backstage passes.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheaf of tickets. “You said you had a big family?” he said handing me what looked to be about ten tickets.

“Not that big,” I said to him.

“Then bring some friends,” he smiled. “Can’t have empty seats after all.”

“Thank you,” I said tucking the tickets away. I continued with the session.

Lunchtime came and I met up with Sarah in the parking lot by my truck. We drove to the parking lot where we’d found Arnie and from there walked to the jewellers on the corner of Yamill and 4^th.

“Good afternoon,” said a youngish man as we walked through the door. “How can I help you?”

Sarah handed over her ring. “My boyfriend bought this here yesterday. He said we could get it resized?”

The young man looked at the ring. “Ah yes,” he said. “I remember. Let me get my gauges.”

He walked over to a counter, opened a drawer, and pulled out a set of ring sizing gauges. “May I?” he asked holding out his hand. Sarah placed her hand in his, and he placed a sizing ring on her finger. His experience allowed him to get it right first time.

“How does that feel?” he asked. Sarah nodded and he looked at the size on the ring he’d used.

Then he placed the engagement ring onto a tapered rod, which told him the current size of the ring.

“We need to go down a half size,” he said. “I can have it ready for you for tomorrow. The resize fee is included in the price of the ring.”

“That would be great,” Sarah said. “Thank you.”

A receipt was issued, Sarah took it and placed it in her purse. We left the shop and I returned Sarah to the school for her afternoon classes.

I took a ride to the old house to see how things were getting on there. Marcia had built a fence around the entire plot and there were warning signs about entering and wearing protective gear. I went to the gate and looked through. Marcia spotted me immediately and jumped off the excavator she’d been driving. She walked over.

“Another couple of days,” she said, “and this will all be finished. Any news on the plans?”

“We’re meeting with the architect on Thursday,” I said. “He’s angling to project manage the build.”

“Let him,” she said. “It will be much better if he does it than me.”

“I’ll put you in touch with him. I’d still like you to be the one working on the house. And when you put your numbers forward, make sure you pay yourself a living wage.”

“I might not get the job if I’m too expensive,” she said.

“I’ll deal with that,” I said. “Just bid a realistic amount that will pay you what you need.”

She nodded. “Right,” she said. “I need to get back to it, if you want me finished in time to start on your new place on Monday.”

“Alright then,” I said. “See you later.”

I walked across to Alan and Anne’s place and knocked on their door.

“Hey Caleb,” said Anne. “Alan’s not in just now. What can I do for you?”

“I just wanted to tell you that the demolition is going to be finished by the end of the week,” I told her. “We’re still in the planning phase so it’s probably going to be a couple of months before we start the rebuild, but I told Alan I’d pay for a deep clean on your house, to get rid of any smoke damage. If any redecoration is required, I’ll take care of that too. I’ll leave you to arrange someone to come do it, but just send me the bill.”

“Thanks,” she said. “The house does still smell of smoke, even now.”

“You get someone in at your convenience, and I’ll take care of it.”

She nodded, and I left her to it, heading toward the neighbor on the other side.

I had the same discussion with him before heading back toward the school to meet up with Sarah and the girls. We were going to head to the hospital and see how our newest family member was doing.

Arnie was sitting propped up in bed when we arrived. He looked really happy to see us, especially Sarah. I noticed him checking out her hand. He looked a little hurt she wasn’t wearing the ring.

“It’s in being resized,” I said. “I had to use a crowbar to separate her from it to get that done.”

Sarah smiled. “It wasn’t that bad,” she said as she took a seat next to her fiancé, and took his hand.

“How have you been?” she asked him.

“Not bad,” he said. “I don’t have any pain. I presume that’s because of Caleb. I’m just really bored. They won’t let me get out of bed yet. They say maybe tomorrow. And I am going to get really sick of drinking my food.”

“You mind if I check you over?” I asked.

He shook his head.

I decided to dedicate most of my healing energy to his ribs. They were all aligned. I made sure they were solid and couldn’t be jarred out of place if he were to slip and fall over when he started moving around. This Heal would make it safer for him. I reckoned I could have them fully healed in about a week. My main problem was that his body needed the raw materials for healing. He needed more calcium than he was currently getting in his diet, and I doubted that I could persuade the hospital to add what they would consider dangerous amounts to his food.

“Did they say how long you would be in hospital for?” I asked.

“They said probably a week,” he said. “Once they’re happy with my pain control, and see that things are healing well, I can go home. The problem is that I’m going to be restricted as to what I can do, and Dad is having to pick up all the lessons I had booked. He’s flying pretty much all day every day. We got that second plane so he could take extra students on and, until I’m back in the air, he’s having to work much harder.”

“I could look after you,” said Sarah.

“You’re at school,” I said. “You can’t just drop that to look after him.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s not as if I’m going to be stuck in bed when I leave here. My legs work fine. They are just being overly cautious. Once I’m out of here, I’ll be able to look after myself while Dad’s at work. It’s going to be a while before I’m back flying though.”

I stood up. “We’re going to get going,” I said. Sarah’s eyes went wide, and she was about to complain, but I continued. “I’ll come back when visiting is over to collect you, okay?”

She smiled at me and nodded. “Thanks,” she said.

“We’ll see you later,” I said to Arnie, and he waved his splinted hand as we filed out of the room.

“Hungry?” asked Mary as we walked down the corridor.

“Starving,” I said. “I used up all my power on his ribs. They’ll be good in a week or so. Tomorrow I’ll work on his jaw and wrist. I can’t go too fast, though, or he’ll need calcium supplements.”

We stopped for food on the way back to the hotel. Later that night, after I picked up Sarah from the hospital, she and I stopped for food also. She’d not eaten and I was still hungry. Go figure.

Tuesday and Wednesday followed the same pattern with us going up to the hospital straight from school, leaving Sarah with Arnie for some private visitation time, and picking her up when visiting time was over.

On Wednesday, when I arrived to collect her, Danny was there too. As I approached I heard laughter coming from the room. Apparently Sarah was busy working on her future father-in-law.

“Caleb,” said Danny as I entered the room. “They’re kicking him out tomorrow.”

“Oh?” I asked, thinking he would be in for longer. “Did they say what time?” I asked him.

“They said about lunchtime,” Arnie said. “Apparently I have to be seen by the doctors first thing, and then wait for discharge paperwork.”

“I was going to ask you a favor,” Danny said. “I’ve got back to back lessons tomorrow. Do you think you could pick him up from the hospital?”

“Sure,” I said. “You want me to bring him to the flying school or to your house?”

“The house,” said Danny. “I brought him a spare key.”

“No problem,” I said.

“Can I still come over to see him?” asked Sarah.

“Of course,” said Danny. “Any time.”

“We have an appointment at the architect tomorrow evening,” I reminded her. “So it will be after that.”

Sarah gave a little grimace of apology, but Arnie just squeezed her hand.

“Let us know what time you’ll be over,” said Danny, “and I’ll call out for pizza.”

“Cruel much?” grated Arnie, who wouldn’t be able to eat it since his jaw would be wired for the foreseeable future.

“Hey,” said Danny pragmatically, “WE still have to eat.”

“I’ll remember this when I’m choosing your nursing home,” growled Arnie.

Danny just laughed at him.

I spent some time, and energy, while talking to Danny Healing Arnie’s jaw and wrist. On our way out I stopped and spoke to the nursing staff.

“You can come about eleven,” the nurse said. “That will give enough time to get everything sorted out.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said.

Once again, Sarah and I stopped for something to eat on the way home. Her because she didn’t have any dinner yet, and me because I’d used a lot of power on Arnie’s wrist and Jaw. I needed a second dinner.

I was pleased with his progress. His ribs were solid, although it would take another week or so until they were back to full strength. His jaw and wrist similarly would be another week before they were back up to full strength. It would be another four weeks or so until the hospital would be removing the wires, but I was going to remove them early. I’d have to take some ‘liberties’ with Danny so that he would not think it strange that the wires were out so early, but I’d cross that bridge when we came to it.

I’d had a quiet word with Arnie earlier that evening and told him that I could have him back in the air in a week if he wanted. He was thinking it over. Not that he didn’t trust me, but I’d mentioned that I would have to use my powers on Danny for him to ‘forget’ that Arnie wasn’t supposed to be healed for at least another month.

I was at the hospital for ten the next morning and made my way up to Arnie’s floor. I’d bought a large box of chocolates for the staff on the ward, and presented them to the nurse on the main desk when I arrived.

“I’m here to collect Arnie Jarrett,” I said, “and to give you these for your patience in looking after him.”

She grinned at me. “Thanks,” she said. “He’s all packed up and ready. I’ll get a porter to take him down with you.”

I went into Arnie’s room, where I found him to be dressed and sitting in the chair beside the bed. His face lit up when he saw me.

“Thanks for getting me out of here,” he said.

“Anytime,” I said. “We’re waiting on a wheelchair, and then we’ll get you home.”

The porter came, bringing the wheelchair with him, and pushed Arnie down to the entrance. They waited while I went and brought my truck up. Arnie hopped into the passenger seat like a spring lamb. Apart from some residual bruising around his face, and the fact he couldn’t open his mouth, he didn’t look any the worse for his ordeal.

“The police came to see me this morning,” he told me as we drove to his house. “Not that they are going to do any good. Apparently, that’s not a great area and there’s been a lot of muggings around there. They don’t hold out much hope of finding who did it.”

“So what was the point?” I asked.

“They gave me a report number,” he said, “so if I have any insurance that I could claim on.”

“And do you?” I asked.

“My phone cost me a hundred bucks off of ebay,” he said, “I’m more annoyed because I’d just topped it up. I had about ten bucks in my wallet. It’s just a pain having to go to the DMV to get a new license. I’m betting that the bank will have sent me out new cards by now, and they’re waiting for me at home.

I pulled onto his drive and walked around to let him out of the truck.

He was out before I’d made it all the way around and had reached into the back to pull out his stuff.

“Hey,” I said. “Take it easy. Just because you can’t feel the pain doesn’t mean you can take liberties.”

“I thought you said my ribs were all healed,” he said.

“Well,” I admitted, “they are, but that’s not the point.”

He laughed. “Wow,” he said. “Sarah said I was joining a whole new family. I didn’t realize I was getting a new mom too.”

I laughed and followed him into the house. He dropped his stuff in the hall and went into the kitchen.

“Can I get you a drink?” he asked. I checked my watch. There was about an hour before I had to be at the range for my hypnotherapy appointments.

“Sure,” I said. “I’ll have a soda if you have one, or water if not.”

He pulled two soda’s out of the fridge, handing me one. Then sat down at the table to drink his. I sat opposite him.

He’d gotten himself a drinking straw and he took a long drink, sighing in pleasure.

“I needed that,” he said.

Then he looked at me, a serious expression on his face.

“Sarah and I have talked a lot this last week,” he said.

“I know,” I said. “She told us. Has it changed your mind or do you have questions?”

“No,” he said. “At least to the first. Questions, maybe. But I’m not sure I want to ask them. They seem so ... strange. I feel a bit like I’ve woken up in a different world. A world that looks very much like the world I grew up in, but where all the rules have changed.

“Have you ever read ‘Job,’ by Robert Heinlein?” he asked.

I nodded.

“That’s how I feel,” he said. “You know like he keeps getting moved to a different world, that’s almost the same but things are slightly different.”

“The rules,” I said, “are whatever you want them to be, as long as you take Sarah’s needs into consideration. She will need to share, but not as often as an Empath. I’m sure if you asked her to, she’d limit herself to sharing with other girls.

“I’m also sure that if you asked her to, she’d stop sharing our bed. Her and I do not need to have sex. If that would be difficult for you.”

“You think she’d do that?” he asked.

“I know she would,” I said. “She loves you.”

“And that’s the reason I could never ask her to,” he replied.

“May I make a suggestion?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Don’t plan for things like that to happen,” I said. “If they happen, they’ll happen organically. As each situation arises, you’ll be able to gauge how you feel about it. If at any time you start to feel uncomfortable with anything that is going on, then just say so, and it will stop.

“Nobody gets forced, coerced, or Compelled into anything they don’t want. Sarah loves you, and she’ll do her best to make you happy. We love Sarah, and we’ll do our utmost to make her happy.

He nodded. “I may need a little time,” he said. “Just to get used to things.”

“I know,” I said. “Believe me when I say I know exactly how you feel. A year ago, I was exactly where you are now. We’ll try and make the transition as easy as possible for you, but if you start to struggle, let us know, and we’ll figure things out.”

I finished my drink. “Do you need anything before I go?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I’m good,” he said. “They told me not to drive for a couple of weeks, but I’d like to get my car over here.”

“If you don’t mind me driving it, I’ll bring it over later. I’m sure Sarah will want to come over after we finish with the architect, and I can get Amanda to bring her car and give me a ride back.”

“The valet ticket was in my wallet,” he said. “Will you be able to get it out?”

“I’ll go speak to the manager,” I said. “I’m sure it will be fine. I’ll need the make model and plate number though to identify it.”

He nodded, giving me the details.

“Caleb,” he said as I was about to leave. I turned to face him again.

“Thanks,” he said. “Sarah said I had a brain injury and that you sorted it before the EMT’s got there. I might have died out there if it wasn’t for you. She also said that the healing you did on my bones takes a lot out of you, so thanks for that too.”

“You were never in danger of dying,” I said. “You looked a lot worse than you were and, given how she feels about you, she’s obviously going to be scared of the worst case scenario. I just helped things along a little.”

“Thanks all the same,” he said.

I spent the afternoon at the range, Mary having booked back to back hypnotherapy clients. Two of them were returns but there was a new client, whom, I was pleased to note, was the head chef of Coquine, one of the more exclusive restaurants in Portland. Apparently, and I didn’t know this before I met him, the only reason that it wasn’t Michelin starred was because the Michelin group hadn’t made it to the Pacific Northwest. Who knew?

I spent the hour with the chef, stealing as much of his knowledge as I could. Taking his memories also reminded me that my ‘lesson’ with Gordon Ramsey was coming up. We’d been given dates when he would be in Portland, apparently doing some filming for one of his shows, and we could contact his publicity team to arrange the date and time. The auction was for an afternoon with him and I knew that Ness was looking forward to it immensely.

To be honest I was too but, having seen the way he spoke to people on television, I was a bit nervous. If he swore at Ness like he seemed to enjoy doing, I’d have a hard time not making him regret it.

We arrived at the architect’s office at about a quarter after five. The girls and I, once again, elected to walk up the stairs rather than wait for the elevator which, apparently, was still stuck on the top floor. I wondered if it actually worked, or moved at all.

Once again, Aaron’s office door was slightly ajar. I wondered if he kept it that was because it got stuffy in such a small room. I also wondered how we’d all fit inside. I knocked.

“Come in,” he shouted.

Aaron’s eyes widened when seven people crammed into his tiny cubbyhole of an office.

“Mr. Stott?” he said looking at all the girls.

“Mr. Jenkins,” I said. “Let me introduce everyone. This is Mary, Amanda, Jules, Ness, Melanie and Sarah. We all live together, so they have as much say as I do about the rebuild.”

“Of course,” he said. “Although we’re a bit cramped in here. There is a shared conference room up on the third floor which I’m sure will be empty just now. Shall we go up there?”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said. And we all filed out into the lobby again.

“The tenants on three like to block the elevator so it stays up there,” he said as we walked up the stairs, he was carrying a large cardboard tube and a folder.

“Hardly fair,” I said. “What happens if you have a disabled client that can’t get up to you?”

“I have to call up and ask them to release it.” he said. “They are pretty good about it, as long as I don’t kick up a fuss about them blocking it for the rest of the time.”

“Bullies,” said Amanda.

“They rent the entire top floor,” he said, “including the conference room. But like I said – they make it available as a shared resource. We can book it if they are not using it. Since they all go home at five, the room won’t be in use.

“If they all went home,” asked Amanda, “why is the elevator still up there?”

“Cleaners, I suspect,” he said.

We entered a larger room, although it was still by no means huge. There was a table, or rather a collection of tables all pushed together to form a larger one. There were about ten seats around the table. There was a large display screen on one wall.

Aaron turned lights on as we entered.

“Please,” he said, “take a seat.”

We all sat around the table.

“I took the brief that you gave me last time we talked,” he began, “and drew up these plans. This is first draft, and I fully expect that there will be amendments needing to be made, but I think they are a good starting point.

“The new property will be across three floors. Firstly, the basement, which will extend to the entire footprint of the property and include an open area as to be used as a gymnasium, and a shower room with toilet.

“The first floor will be the main accommodation, with a large feature kitchen and dining room, a family room, and four bedrooms each with full en-suites. The master bedroom is larger than average, and the en-suite attached is actually larger than the main family bathroom, which will itself have a whirlpool bath and a shower.

“To the rear of the property will be a large deck area, half shaded with a retractable awning, and hot tub.

“The house will be built in the style of a bungalow, but the second floor will have stairs to access, and will provide storage, a small IT server room, and a workshop.

“Attached to the side of the house will be a three car garage, with individually operated automatic doors. The garage will be accessible from within the house via the hallway. There will also be sufficient driveway space to park three more cars.”

While he was talking, he unfolded drawings, one per floor, indicating on the plans where each of the rooms he’d described was.

“We’re going to want to incorporate a security system, with cameras, all feeding back to the server room,” said Jules.

“Caleb did mention that. He said that his fiancée would want to be heavily involved in the technology for the house. Is that you?”

“Yes,” Jules said.

“He also said you’d want to be involved in the kitchen design.”

“That will be me,” said Ness.

“Oh,” said Aaron, nonplussed. “Sorry, he said his fiancée.”

“Let’s just put this out there,” said Mary. “Hands up, Caleb’s fiancées.”

Five hands were instantly raised.

Aaron paled.

“All of you?” he asked a quiver in his voice.

“Not me,” said Sarah, “I’m his sister.”

He looked from girl to girl.

“Is that a problem?” I asked, wondering if he had some kind of strict religious reasons that would make him not want to work for us.

“No,” he said hastily. “Not at all. You just surprised me is all.”

Amanda, was looking at the plans for the basement.

“How much extra work would it be,” she asked, “to put a panic room in? Say on this wall here. We could hide the entrance in the gym, and maybe even have an escape tunnel opening into the yard.”

“You think you’ll need one?” he asked.

“Someone did just burn our house down,” I said.

He considered the plans. “Not there,” he said. “There are services that run through the ground that would be in the way. See those symbols? However, you could put it here, where the stairs are. Hiding the entrance would be easy and it would sit largely below the deck. You could have an emergency exit open up into your rear yard.”

“Good idea,” I said, smiling at Amanda. “I also want a floor mounted gun safe for long guns in the garage. Will we need to reinforce the floor?”

“We can build it in,” he said. “That’s not an unusual feature.”

“The workshop,” said Jules, “will need fume extraction.”

“Of course,” he said.

We talked for over an hour, each of us making suggestions which were discussed and either incorporated or amended until we were all satisfied with the outcome. Aaron made copious notes.

“I can make amendments to the plans as we’ve discussed,” he said finally. “Have you decided if you would like me to manage the build or just supply the plans?”

I could see he was holding his breath. He really wanted to PM the build. It would mean he’d both have a decent project to add to his portfolio and it would effectively give him enough money to live for a year, as long as he was careful.

“If we give you the build,” I said, “then the proviso is that you use my contractor. I know her and I trust her. And I’m not just talking about giving her scraps of jobs to do and employing someone else as the main contractor. She has to be the main contractor. If you can live with that, then I’m happy to hand it over to you.”

He wasn’t impressed with that idea. He’d come across some terrible contractors in the past and wanted to be the one to decide who he would employ. It was his reputation when all was said and done and, if he got a bad contractor, it could ruin him. However, he needed the work.

I could see he was going to try and bluff me, to say he wouldn’t be able to take on the project with that kind of restriction, hoping I would back down. I decided to act before he painted himself into a corner.

“Okay,” I said. “I can see that’s a problem for you. If you’ll just make the amendments to the plans as discussed and send me your account, I’ll settle it on receipt.”

“I have to admit,” he responded, “it is a bit of a concern. I don’t know your contractor and have no idea of the quality of work they are capable of. But since you say you have used them before, and were happy with what they did for you, then I’m prepared to take them on trust.

“Provided,” he added, “that if I feel they are not up to the task, you will be open to revisiting the discussion.”

“If you want to fire her,” I said, “then you’ll need to prove to me that its valid. If it is, then she’ll be fired.”