Chapter 145

Diana parked in front of the art supply store. Hope, sitting in the second seat with Ann, started to open her door, but Ann put out a restraining hand. "Let Security do their thing first."

"Are we really in that much danger?"

Diana spoke up from the driver's seat. "We didn't go into details when we told you about the attack, and no, we don't expect it to happen again, but we didn't expect that attack, either. And, yeah, it's an irritant having to have Security everywhere we go, but they're nice people and they think Jeff is handed down by God. We're part of his family, so they protect us just like they do him. You'll get used to the routines, and ... there are plusses."

"Plusses?"

Diana chuckled. "We don't have to worry about having someone snatching one of our purses when we go shopping, and with the extra vehicles, we have plenty of room for packages."

At a nod from one of the security people, Diana said, "That meant everything is fine. We can go in now."

Selina grabbed Diana's hand as soon as they were out of the Escalade. As they turned to walk the few feet to the front door of the store, "I have never perused an art supply store. Thank you for allowing me to accompany you."

Diana smiled down at the little genius. "Certainly."

Inside, Hope turned down an aisle with Arlene, Ann and Jennie trailing after. Selina stayed with Diana as the owner approached them. "Good morning. How may I assist you?"

Diana smiled at the slender woman of about forty years. "Perhaps I should set your mind at ease. The men you see are our security people. We had a bit of trouble awhile back, so they go everywhere we go now."

The owner smiled back. "I know who you are, Mrs. Matthews, but I appreciate your concern. Now, how may I help you?"

Diana, amazed that the woman had known who she was, hesitated for a second, but followed up with, "Hope there," the Queen said nodding to the girl at the other end of the aisle, "is a budding artist. She has a truly awesome talent for sketching, and we need supplies for that, but ... while we're here, we want to give her the opportunity to expand into other things. I know that she has used some very inexpensive chalks, and has done some sketching, but we want to give her the opportunity to try other media, should she wish."

"I would be glad to assist in her choices," the woman started.

"Hmmm, let's leave the girls to their own devices for now. Jennie, Arlene and Ann are obviously already helping, and I'm sure Selina will have some ideas, too," Diana finished as she nodded toward Selina, who had walked over to the end of the store and stood looking at the display there. When Diana saw the look on the art store owner's face, the Queen continued, "She looks like a little girl. But do not treat her like a child. Her IQ is probably more than yours and mine combined, and that isn't an exaggeration."

"Oh, my goodness," the owner said.

"Exactly," Diana chuckled.

As Hope left the pen section, Ann and Jennie hurried to the front of the store, and came back with two shopping carts.

"What are those for?" Hope asked. "We certainly won't require that much space for the little I need."

"So what do you need?" Arlene asked.

"Uh, just some pencils and sketch pads."

"Like these?" Arlene asked as she held up a beautiful wooden, two tier case with a hundred and twenty colored pencils.

A look of embarrassment crossed Hope's face when she saw what Arlene had. "I don't need all of those..." Then she saw the one hundred twenty-nine dollar and ninety-nine cent price tag. "Oh, my gosh; that is way too expensive."

Arlene opened the beautiful wooden case that displayed the pencils very provocatively. Each pencil was a slightly different shade than the one beside it — a hundred and twenty of them. Hope reached out to touch the pencils for a second. "They're beautiful..."

Arlene closed the case and put it in the shopping cart.

"We can't..."

"Done deal," Arlene said, smiling. "What else?"

Ann picked up a box of erasers. "You're bound to need these as you sketch from Art's memory."

"I only need a couple," Hope said.

Two big boxes of the most expensive erasers went into the cart.

Selina brought over a Sable Water Color brush.

"Oh, I only got a chance to try water colors once when I was at a friend's house." Again, she looked at the price tag, and put her hand to her mouth, hissing in a breath. "Oh, my goodness, that can't be," she said looking at the two hundred and sixty dollar price tag on the one brush. "Surely, it's part of a set. Even so, I can't possibly..."

"The price is correct," Selina replied. "There are multiple rows of brushes in many sizes and configurations. The prices range from ten dollars to this one at two hundred and sixty dollars."

Diana had walked over. Leaning down, she whispered in Selina's ear. The six-year-old grinned, replied, "Certainly My Queen," and hurried to the front of the store where she acquired a shopping cart. Returning to the brush rack, she proceeded to carefully select one of every type and size there, plus a beautiful case to hold them all.

Hope turned to Arlene, Ann and Jennie who were busily selecting the most expensive of anything Hope appeared to notice. "I don't need all that. I mean I really appreciate the thought, but all I need are a few pencils and some sketch paper."

"So you really don't want to try water colors or paint?" Arlene asked.

"Oh, I would love to, and maybe sometime we can go to Wal-Mart and get a few things for me to try water colors. This store is much too expensive."

Arlene reached to take both of Hope's hands. "Remember when Dad welcomed you to the family and said you were home now?"

"Uh, yes. Sure I do..."

"Hope, he meant every word he said — literally. He welcomed you home. You're one of us now — family — in every sense of the word. You have the right to anything that our family has — well, other than my husband," she corrected with a grin.

"But..."

"Oh come on. You're Jennie's sister. We've known each other all our lives, and you like my Dad, don't you?"

"You know I do. He has been nice to me for as long as I can remember, but this is too much. I don't even know if I can paint or not. I used some cheap water colors once — one time."

"And did you like it?" Arlene asked.

"Oh, I loved it, but this store is way too expensive."

"It's not," Arlene insisted. "They have quality merchandise — not junk. Look, Dad gave us instructions to set you up with everything an artist could possibly want. He was very emphatic about that. Not that he needed to remind us, but maybe I need to say this. God has been good to us. Daddy will earn more in the next hour than you could possibly spend in here during that period of time, even if we stripped the store bare. Remember the two paramedics that came to help you?"

"Vaguely," Hope responded. "I think I was pretty much out of it."

"Well, they were fired from the fire department because they broke some rules in saving Art. If those men had not broken the rules, Art would have died. Our foundation set them up with a free trip through college with all expenses paid, and a very generous stipend as well. They saved an Alpha. They want to be doctors, and now they'll have a chance to do just that. You're going to help the FBI identify some of the people Art saw while he was working undercover."

"I didn't know about those paramedics, but I still feel guilty about what you've already put in that cart."

Jennie had stood listening but hadn't said anything. Now, she grabbed her sister and hugged her. "I felt the same way when Melissa and I came out here. But I'm one of Jeff's wives now. What Arlene has told you is the truth. We have anything we want. Oh, we don't waste money. Hey, we frequently make a stew out of our leftovers, but we can buy anything we need. Please, do as Arlene says and put anything you're at all interested in into the cart. If you don't do that, Diana will probably do something drastic like buying a case of everything in the store."

It turned out to be almost that, anyway. Everything that Hope seemed to notice went into a shopping cart.

Diana went over and spoke quietly with Selina for a moment. The little genius grinned and pushed her cart over to the book rack. A little later, Diana saw Selina struggling to turn her overfilled cart, and hurried in that direction to help, but Carter, already having noticed, beat her there with an empty cart. "Allow me, Ma'am," the big man said to the child as he took the laden cart and gave Selina the empty one.

"I really appreciate your assistance, Sir," Selina returned with a curtsy.

In addition to the expensive brushes, Selina was choosing one of every art book on the shelves. Now with an empty cart, she continued with her book selections. Carter, grinning from ear to ear, pushed the cart to the register where a shocked clerk began scanning items.

When Selina finished with the books, Carter took that cart to the register, while Selina sought out Diana. "My Queen, "Perhaps you should remind Hope, she will require an easel and palette."

"Would you select them for her?" Diana asked with a smile. "I'm sure you will select quality, of course."

Selina, reading Diana loud and clear, responded, "I would be delighted." Motioning to Carter who was on the way back with another empty cart, the little genius marched over to the easel displays. "That one there," she told the big man."

Carter, enjoying himself, loaded the easel and waited for further instructions.

An hour and a half later, Diana backed the SUV out of the parking place. "Shall we stop by The Kitchen and get a bite to eat?"

"Yeah, Mom," Arlene said.

A stunned Hope didn't even hear either of them as she sat clutching the bag containing the set of fine pencils that she was already beginning to cherish. A lone tear slid down her cheek. "Thank you, Diana. Thank all of you. I'll thank Jeff when we get back to ... uh, home. But I don't deserve this..."

"Welcome home, Hope."

The lone tear was joined by others. Jennie, sitting beside Hope, pulled her younger sister into her arms. "You're safe now. No one will ever hurt you again. If anyone should try, my husband will kill them."

That made the tears worse, so Diana pulled over to wait. Finally, tears dried up and makeup put back in order, they pulled back onto the main highway. Shortly, they turned into the lot of The Kitchen.

When they got out of their vehicles, after Security had cleared the area, Diana turned to Hope. "They have the best corned beef hash I've ever put in my mouth. You might want to try it." Then turning to the nearest security trooper, "I'm buying, and we're in no hurry. So make sure all of you get to eat."

When the Matthews had gone inside the little restaurant, the trooper turned to his buddy. "Told you this was the best damn job in the world."

"Got that right. But I wouldn't want to be in the same state with Colonel Matthews if we let something happen to his women."

"Got that right," his buddy said, throwing the same words back.

Jeff, Dave and Evie were just finishing up with their morning meeting, much later than usual, the first the three had managed in several days with all that had been happening. Art stopped at the doorway for a moment when he noticed that Evie had a pad in her hand and was writing what he assumed were notes.

Dave saw the young Alpha and waved him in. "Come on, Art. We're through."

" ... Not that it would have mattered," Jeff quickly inserted. "There's nothing we do that is a secret from our brother Alphas."

Evie motioned to the serving cart near them. "Coffee, soft drinks and home-baked cinnamon rolls. Help yourself."

Embarrassed at his constant hunger, even though Jeff had warned him he would have a ferocious appetite, Art grinned self-consciously as he took a plate from the cart and put a cinnamon roll on it, wanting to add a second roll but embarrassed to do so. Instead, he poured a cup of coffee. Evie got up, smiled at him, and added another roll to his plate.

"Alphas eat a lot, and just after being enhanced you probably feel as if you can't get full, no matter what you do. My husband was certainly that way, and he still eats more than two normal men ever could. Eat up. Oh, and I'm sure you've been told, but to reiterate, there are always snacks in the third refrigerator in the kitchen. Some require heating in a microwave; others are ready to eat. Plus there are always cakes and cookies on the counter."

When the agent had thanked Evie and sat, Jeff commented, "As I've said before, your body is growing right now, among other things that are happening to it, much of which I freely admit I don't understand. The Ship and Little One corrected many things in your body, but there are other systems that will take much longer for the process to complete. Alphas need more energy to support those systems and changes.

"I have only a vague idea where this all leads. My changes, as well as those of Diana and Arlene, came about more slowly because the Ship and the healer had to learn our physiology and also the Healer didn't have the energy she needed. Even with her improved power source, some of the enhancements require time to complete. Our bodies supply the energy for the continuing process. Now, her own systems have been expanded and augmented far beyond what she was capable of when I took her home to Georgia to heal Diana's ankle.

"The Ship not only healed Arlene, but apparently did an ... uh, upgrade to Little One, although that is a very crude way to describe what the Ship did. Little One was in the process of enhancing her own ability to tap the energy of the dimensions when everything tried to go to hell around here, and she had to abort her efforts. But it seems that the Ship took care of her update while she was in the healing chamber with Arlene. Thus, the enhancement process is much faster now.