Chapter 2

New Beginnings

Ft. Stockton...

The next morning Jim and Sara had their tea with only Ann Gallardo for company. By the time Don and the girls had everyone settled it had been well past midnight. When the alarm went off, indicating that someone was approaching the house, Jim reached across to the flat panel display embedded in the wall of the breakfast nook. The computer identified the vehicle as being Jack Rimes' Yukon and that it was occupied by two people. Jim was still in awe of the system that Don had installed in the mostly underground house. When Jack's Yukon passed the next set of sensors, the computer informed Jim that it was ninety nine percent sure that the driver was Jack Rimes and ninety six percent sure that the passenger was Zara Rodrigues, Jack's fiancé.

Don and the girls were running late this morning. It was six fifteen and they still hadn't showed up for breakfast. When they did show up ten minutes later they were hurried and haggard.

Jim instructed the computer to open garage door two when Jack got near enough and, to his surprise, it refused. The display stated that there was, what the computer identified as, a non human threat at that door. This got Ann's attention and the three of them walked to the garage and opened the sixth door to let Jack and Zara drive in.

Once Jack and Zara were out of the Yukon the five of them walked down to the second door to find a three foot rattlesnake stretched out trying to warm itself, "Ok, now I'm really impressed by Don's security system."

"Why is that?" Jack asked.

"Because any other system that I know of would have opened that door and that little beauty could have crawled right into the house where it could have bitten someone. This system locked that door down."

"You know Don designed a lot of this stuff on his own," Jack replied.

"Yeah, all so the girls of his dreams would be safe. What do you think of all this? I assume you saw Ann," Jack still couldn't believe that he had seen the girl's picture long before meeting her.

Jack shook his head, "Six months ago if you would have told me that someone could dream all this and build it for six girls, five of whom he had never met, I would have said you were crazy. I've never been a religious person but there's not a doubt in my mind that Scott and Angie's goddess saved my life. And according to no less than eight witnesses, Don walked out of that fireball when that propane tank exploded and it didn't singe a hair on him or Ann. He's burned, but he got most of those inside the RV. If that's not enough, those same eight witnesses saw, according to two of them, an angel who had wrapped her white gown around the two of them." Jack noticed that Jim, Sara, and even Ann G. were wearing some jewellery that they weren't yesterday.

"Tell them about the creek," Zara urged.

Jack sighed, "When Scott and I were in that creek, he passed out because he was in a lot of pain. His arm started slipping off of me. I felt someone else holding me. It was that same woman. I heard her calling to Scott and then in the hospital room I saw her again. She was standing behind Zara, touching her shoulder while she cried." Jack shivered to think back to how close he really came to dying, "Is there a God in heaven?" Jack shook his head, "I don't know. Is there a Goddess that looks after Scott, Angie, Don and his family? I don't have a single doubt that there is. I know a lot of people who would be very upset to hear that, but I can't forget what I've seen. All I know about deities is what has touched me and this Goddess of theirs has..."

Don came out of the garage carrying a short piece of half inch copper pipe with a hook brazed on to the end between his two bandaged hands. "Jack could you hook that little fellow and take him out in the pasture where he belongs?"

"Sure Don, just anywhere out there?" Jack pointed to the pasture west of the driveway. Don nodded as Jack took the hook from him. Jack hooked the snake in the middle and picked it up. The snake was still cold enough that he was not very active. He carried the snake out in the surrounding pasture twenty five or thirty yards and let it crawl into an abandoned armadillo burrow and walked back to where everyone was standing.

"You're not going to have him kill that snake?" Ann Gallardo asked.

"He serves his purpose. There's no reason to kill him," Don replied.

"That snake yesterday killed that man. You're not afraid of that one doing the same thing?" She asked.

Don hadn't heard of anyone being killed by a snake and his face showed his confusion. "Yesterday the man who had been sent down here to kill Jim and Sara was bitten by a Mojave," Jack explained.

Don flinched hearing the name of the snake, "Where was that?"

"The hill across from the turn off to the ranch here," Jack said.

"Ah, that must have been the reflection that we saw when we were headed to fix the fence." Thinking of the fence made Don realise that someone would have to go and finish that today but with his hands and Amber's appointment it wasn't going to be him, "Let's go back inside, the girls should have breakfast ready. We've got to get a move on if we're going to get to Odessa before eleven." Don's pager went off and he looked down to see the code for his dad's truck, "Dad's coming." They stopped and watched as Jack pulled up with a pickup full of girls.

The pickup pulled up in the drive and stopped. Sue, Beth, Jack and the two little girls, Jill and Shelley got out and started tugging on Jack's pants. "Carry us Papa," Shelley demanded. Jack picked the two imps up and they all walked back into the house as the garage door shut behind them.

Over breakfast Jack Rimes filled Jim and Sara in on what had transpired in the last twenty four hours. Between the envelope and the journal, the Texas Rangers were able to find Jeff Nagel. Also in the envelope was evidence that Newman, the FBI agent, had been paid off by Nagel. The FBI raided Newman's house, arresting him and seizing everything he had. Jim and Sara were no longer in danger but he did have one more piece of news for Sara. The Canadian authorities had managed to recover her father and his companion's remains. For the first time since the crash she knew for sure what her father's fate had been. Sara's eyes clouded with tears but she didn't cry, she had given her father what tears she could. She would bury him now next to her mother and thought how sad that it took his death to finally get him to stay by her side. Sara looked up at Jim, "I love you. Would you please take me to our rooms?"

Jim stood and helped Sara to push away from the table. When she stood up he picked her up. She laid her head against his chest ... Sara had her man. Nothing else mattered.

Jack Phillips walked up to the oversized kitchen table carrying his brand new granddaughters and pulled out a chair and sat down moving his two charges to his knees, "Shelley take that piece of paper out of my pocket and give it to Amber. Don, I called Tito, he and his boys will taking care of the fence repairs."

"Thanks Dad. I was worried about how that was going to get done with my hands like this."

"You take care of those hands and don't worry about the ranch work. The doctor said you needed to be careful with those until they are fully healed."

Shelley took the note and climbed down and ran over to Amber, "Here Amber, this is for you."

Amber hugged the little girl and opened the note and breathed a sigh of relief, "Road trip's postponed until tomorrow. Shelley go show this to Don." With the orthodontist put off until tomorrow, the tension level in the kitchen dropped noticeably.

Sue gathered the girls and told them about her talk with Bill Smith. Sue wanted to stay in Ft. Stockton, something no one was surprised to hear. Ann told her aunt that she would be joining Don's family for another titbit that surprised no one. Nancy announced that she was in love with Don's unusual house and getting her back to Las Vegas would require force. Jane was nodding her head in approval of Nancy's statement. Shelley and Jill asked it they could live with their new Papa and Mama which again surprised no one.

That left Susie. She looked at each of her sisters and her aunt. For the first time since their mother had been killed, the smiles on their faces were free and not forced. She guessed she could live with out softball. It was just a game after all. Susie sighed,

"Everyone else is happy here, I'll be alright. What do we have to do to move here?"

Ann whispered into Don's ear. He laughed, "Missy do you think Coach could use a good centre fielder that bats .675 and is a good backup pitcher?"

" .675! Fast pitch?" Missy's eye's were wide with excitement.

"Yeah, why?" Susie asked.

"Oh Susie they are going to love you," Missy said.

"You have softball here?" Susie's face was starting to light up.

Missy smiled, "Softball, Track, Cross Country, Golf, Tennis, Basketball, and Volleyball, you can play all of them or none it's your choice."

"Oh my," Susie looked at her aunt and back at her sisters, "Where will I stay?"

Don walked over to Susie, "Your sister is going to be my wife, one of my wives. That makes you my sister in law. You are welcome to stay here as long as you want. The room you slept in last night can be yours and you may decorate it however you like. If you don't like the furniture that's in there, just tell us and we'll buy you whatever you want."

"We're going to Odessa tomorrow, we can get anything you need then." Amber turned to Nancy and Jane, "The same goes for you two too. Is there something that you'd like for your room?"

Nancy's face brightened then it evaporated and she slumped, "No, it would cost too much. All I really need is my computer from back at our old home."

Ann was busy whispering something else into Don's ear. Amber started to say something but stopped when Don held up a finger. When Ann finished, Don smiled and let loose a short laugh. He walked over to the thirteen year old and bent down where he could look her in the eye, "Ann tells me that you always wanted to make your room look like it was right out of Star Trek and she thinks that the automatic doors that slide in and out of the walls and the computers reminds you of Star Trek stuff. Is that right?" Don watched as Nancy used her finger to push up her glasses after nodding her head up and down in answer to his question caused them to slide down her nose. He had already heard the other siblings tease her about being a nerd, "Well I'm a big Star Trek fan and if you'll look right over there," Don pointed to Kim and Rose who had their hands held up in the Vulcan salute, "You already know they're Trekies so if you want to make your room look like something out of Star Trek or Star Wars that will be just fine. There's just one more thing, don't worry about the money. Okay?"

Nancy didn't know what else to do so she just hugged Don and then kissed him on the cheek, "Be careful there young lady that's our man that you're kissing." Amber winked at her when she looked up. Nancy's face was blazing red!

Since the Downs girls needed some clothes, Beth thought a shopping trip was in order. As they were getting ready to go the alarm went off for a vehicle approaching. When it came to the identifying sensors the computer identified the vehicle as a delivery type but not UPS or FedEx. When it arrived at the house, it was a DHL truck. Amber opened the door and let the driver in. He turned toward the table where we were all sitting and asked, "Maryanne Downs?"

"Yes, its Ann now," she turned and smiled at Don, "Ann Phillips, why?"

"This is for you. Can you sign here?" the driver handed her a package and held an electronic clip board out for her to sign.

"Is one of you Ann Gallardo?" the driver asked.

Don reached for the intercom, "Ann G. you have a package you need to sign for." In a few minutes Ann G. as they had begun to call her to save confusion walked into the kitchen. Ann G. went through the same steps Ann P just had and was given an envelope.

Ann P. opened her package as Jim saw the driver out. When Ann P. had it open she smiled and pulled out a painting. It was the seven of them, "My mother had a police sketch artist do each of your faces from my dreams. A friend of mine painted this for me and I had it hung over my bed. I always slept better knowing that you were watching over me. My mother thought I was crazy. Really, everyone thought I was crazy." Don and the girls watched as the tears began to fall from Ann's face.

They heard an excited squeal and looked to see Ann G. holding her new badge and ID in one hand and a letter in another. "Well I won't be far! They want me to live in Ft. Stockton and gave me two weeks off to get settled. I need to take my DPS unit to Midland where they'll have a new vehicle for me. Guess I'll need to go shopping before that. Do they have a western wear store in town?" Ann G. flinched when she though about spending a bunch of money on clothes but she knew she would have to dress the part.

Don smiled, "There's a good one on the main drive, that's where I bought the girls stuff. We're going there today so we can get Ann and her sisters some clothes. Do you want to come with us? Oh! And another thing, Dad's got a rental house in town that's sitting empty. Quiz him about it. I'll bet he'd love to have you living there. We'll go by there and you can look at it. I don't know for sure, it may need some work done but we can go by and check on that."

Los Angles, California

"Sad isn't it," Tammy said then took another sip of the soft drink she was using to chase down the pizza Matt Bronson had brought over.

"What's that?" Matt asked.

"Twenty years on my own and all I have to show for it fits in two suitcases and three banker's boxes..." Tammy always got depressed when she thought about what all she had lost when the fire had taken her beautiful house and with it all traces of her life and the husband she lost when the bank where he worked was robbed. The house had been his parents and they had given it to them as a wedding present. Five years later Josh was dead. She probably should have sold the house but as long as she lived there, in a way, he did too. The fire was like losing him all over again but everyone had just thought she was a shallow person, grieving over a house. They couldn't know that she was grieving for a husband who had been dead for thirteen years.

Tammy felt Matt put his arms around her and hold her tight. That's when she realised that she had been telling Matt everything. He had been one of those that thought she was going way over board crying over the house. Now he wished he had known what the real reason had been.

Tammy had gone to the bathroom to try and salvage her face. While she was gone Matt put the pizza box in the trash and took it out to the dumpster. When he came back inside Tammy smiled at him, "Thanks for listening to me. I guess I needed to get that off my chest."

"I think it's been hurting you a long time," Matt replied.