Pick Up The Pieces (prequel to Heroes To The Core)
I Pick You
Fox – Age: None of your damn business
Fox Malssum ran his hands through his mostly white hair and hoped no more came out with the gesture. He’d stopped the bad habit years before, but grief was bringing it back.
Along with a whole host of other problems.
He was a bitter old man, and he didn’t have a clue if he was up to the task in front of him. He’d do his damnedest for them. All of them. But what if he failed them, too?
Fox wished he could get some wisdom from his parents or grandparents, but they were long gone. Now his son was with them. Daughter-in-law too.
He squeezed his eyes shut to keep in the emotions. He no longer had the luxury of letting them out. Mato and Halona were counting on him to fill their shoes.
He might not say the words out loud very often, but he loved these kids. All five of them. Who in their right mind had five kids these days?
Mato had always wanted a big family. Wanted to raise a whole brood. And Halona had been born to be a mother. Fox would have to remember how they’d coped, how they’d helped the kids, because it was now his job to do that.
Fox took a last deep breath, and picked up the tray of water and cookies. The kids were going to need more than that—so much more—but cookies always helped.
In his living room, the five kids sat together on the couch, unable to lose contact with each other for even a moment.
Burke, the oldest at fifteen, held Jolie, the youngest at seven, on his lap. At the other end of the couch, thirteen-year-old Lawson had his arm around nine-year-old Amber.
Middle child, Knox, sat in the center, one hand touching his siblings on his left, the other touching those on his right.
The kids had spent many days in Fox’s house over the years, with and without their parents, but he’d never seen them all sit on the couch together. Their grief filled the room, and pulsed through his own blood.
Fox was pleased that he’d never lost touch with Mato. Not like he’d done with his brother. When Fox’s own wife, Quippa, had died in childbirth, he’d raised Mato on his own. And he’d been alone since. Now he would raise Mato’s children in place of his son.
He was old. Worn down with his own grief. And cranky to boot. But the Abenaki people took care of each other. He would follow in the traditions and hope like hell he was up to the task. He had to be.
These children were the best of Mato and Halona. They deserved the best from Fox. And he’d make sure they damn well got it.
Pick Your Spot
Knox – Age 11
Fear clawed up Knox’s throat as the blackness deepened to swallow him whole. He reared up in bed, opened his eyes, and saw pale light seeping in through the bedroom window.
Grateful he hadn’t yelled out this time, Knox peeked over the bed rail. Below him, Lawson spread over the bottom bunk, one foot on the floor along with his pillow. Burke slept on the other single bed, face turned to the wall.
Knox didn’t want to wake them up, but it was always worse being alone right after he woke from another nightmare. Neither brother would complain if he woke them up, but he didn’t.
Seeing them sleeping peacefully was enough. He wasn’t alone. Not like in the dreams. Always alone. Sometimes while he watched his parents turn their backs on him and walk away. Then Fox. His sisters. Finally, his brothers. Leaving him alone.
He slipped down the ladder at the end of the bunk, avoided the squeaky floorboard, and looked down the stairs. A light shone from the kitchen showing Fox was up. He walked down the stairs carefully, not wanting to wake the others.
In the kitchen, he found Fox sitting at the kitchen table with a coffee mug in front of him.
His grandfather’s eyebrows shot up when he saw him. “Another one?”
Knox nodded and took the chair opposite Fox.
The old man sighed and reached out to pat his hand. “You want some juice?”
“Can I have some coffee?”
“If you want to be that height for the rest of your life, sure.”
Knox grinned. His grandfather made everything better. “Juice is good. I can get it.”
Fox smiled back. “Nah. Gotta keep these old bones moving. I’ll get it. Pancakes?”
“I’ll get the bowl and the whisk.”
Fox got out the griddle and handed Knox the ingredients. After the first nightmare, Fox had started showing him how to cook. Sometimes they’d talk about the dreams, sometimes they didn’t. Knox didn’t always remember them, just the feeling of being alone.
The nightmares made him feel like a stupid little kid. Cooking with Fox helped him feel better, feel like he could do something to help.
His first pancakes had kinda sucked. Now, they were better than even Fox’s.
Burke was the next into the kitchen. He looked taller than he had the day before. Knox was pretty sure his brother could eat the entire stack by himself. Not that he ever would. He made sure everyone filled up first.
Burke came over and rested his hand on Knox’s shoulder as he studied him with serious eyes. “You know you can wake me up, right? It’s no biggie.”
Knox nodded. “I know.”
Burke squeezed his shoulder, and then set the table. “I’ll get the others up.”
By the time his family sat around the table, Knox had mostly shoved away the dream and the feelings it gave him.
He wasn’t alone. He’d always have his family. He’d make sure of it.
Pick Your Battles
Jolie – Age 7
Jolie held her bean plant in one hand and the one Mean Billy had thrown in the garbage in the other. They’d been growing their plants for ages and the beans were reaching up past the cups.
It was alive. How could Mean Billy throw it out?
Amber dropped back to walk beside her. “Want me to carry one?”
Jolie shook her head. “No, thanks.”
“What are you going to do with them?”
Jolie grinned. “I’m going to make sure they grow. Miss Jameson told us how to plant them in soil and then take care of them.”
“That’ll be fun.”
Jolie agreed. Miss Jameson had told her she was good with the plants. She never forgot to water them and check on them.
When they got home to Fox’s house, Jolie used a stool to put the plants on the window sill above the kitchen sink. Beans loved the sunshine.
Fox came in with a laundry basket. He put it down and came to look at her beans. “What have you got there, Jolie girl?”
“Bean plants. Miss Jameson said they’ll keep growing if I take care of them.”
Fox brushed his finger over the stem. “They look pretty happy there.”
She nodded. “But to grow bigger, Miss Jameson says they need soil. Do we have soil? Can we plant them? Do you think they’ll grow big enough for us to eat the beans?”
Fox frowned at her but his eyes smiled. “That’s a lot of questions.”
She knew Fox liked questions. Even when he did the pretend-frown. “I’ll find the answers, but I don’t have any money to buy soil. Or pots. Do you know if we have any?”
Fox ruffled her hair. “You find out more about the size of pots you need and we’ll figure it out. If we don’t have pots, what else could you use?”
Jolie looked back at her plants. “Could I just add soil to the cups they’re in? They’re happy there.”
“Maybe so.”
Which meant Fox wanted her to find out more. She liked finding out more. Maybe she’d find out how to make a real garden. A garden with more beans. And carrots. She really liked carrots.
Jolie hugged Fox and went off to see who was using the family computer. Maybe they could help her find out how to make a garden and how to keep her beans happy.
Pick Yourself Up
Amber – Age 9
Amber stood on the stool in front of the washing machine and pressed the button to start the load of towels. They went through a lot of towels. Fox shouldn’t have to wash them all. What if there were too many? What if he couldn’t keep up and didn’t want them anymore because of it?
Five kids was a lot. She didn’t want Fox to send them away. TJ at school said Fox was too old to have five kids. That if he worked too hard, he’d drop dead. And then she and her brothers and sister would be split up into foster homes.
TJ was in a foster home and he didn’t like it.
She’d make sure Fox didn’t get sick because of them. They all helped. Mom and Dad had always told them that families helped each other. That they could do anything if they worked together.
Burke was mowing lawns and raking leaves for other people to make money. He said when he was sixteen, he’d be able to get a real job after school.
They were all learning to cook. Knox was the pancake master. Lawson made great tacos. Burke made pizzas. Jolie’s sandwiches were always good.
Amber liked trying new recipes. Recipes had rules and if you didn’t mess them up, the stuff tasted good. She liked making cookies and soup best. And breakfast-for-dinner casserole. Her omelettes didn’t look like scrambled eggs anymore. She’d keep practising.
Fox was helping Jolie plant a garden in the back, so Amber grabbed the broom from the closet. Fox always told her he’d get to it after they went to bed, but that’s when most the grownups relaxed. TJ said if Fox worked too hard, he’d have a heart attack for sure.
She couldn’t let that happen.
When she put the broom away, Amber went back to the living room and picked up Lawson’s homework and put it in his bag. She made neat stacks of all the books, lining them up by color.
Next, she plumped up the pillows she’d learned to make. If she turned the seams to the bottom, they didn’t look like a kid had made them. Sewing was fun and she wanted to try making clothes one day. Once her seams were straighter.
Maybe she’d practice some more later, but for now, she wanted to make cookies. Snickerdoodles this time. They were Fox’s favorite.
Pick Up Speed
Lawson – Age 13
Lawson checked the papers he’d printed out in the library at school. The owner’s manual for their exact lawnmower wasn’t online, but he’d found one for a similar machine that was a few years newer.
He’d already cleaned the underside and sharpened the blades. Now he had to put it back together.
At least he’d learned from his mistakes. All of the parts sat on the tarp in the order he’d removed them. It should be easy to put it back together. From what he could tell, the problem had been a small wire that had been broken. Now that he’d fixed it together with electrical tape, the mower should work again.
He’d fixed the toaster last week. This was just a little bigger. And more fun. Maybe when he was old enough, he could get a part-time job helping at the mechanic’s shop near the school.
Working on cars and trucks would be awesome. He’d watched a bunch of videos online and he knew how to check the oil and replace spark plugs.
He wondered if Jerry who ran the place would let him watch in exchange for cleaning up. Taking engines apart and putting them back together could get messy. The best kind of messy in his opinion. Helping clean it up in exchange for a chance to watch seemed fair to him.
Once the mower was back together, with all the parts where they should be, Lawson double-checked his work and put in a small amount of gas. No use wasting it if he’d screwed up somewhere. Then he pulled the cord.
He whooped when the machine started up without any hesitation. Like new.
It didn’t take long to mow the tiny yard, especially now that Jolie’s little garden was taking up the back corner. Bits of green were popping up in rows. Jolie checked the garden a million times a day, and he was glad it was growing for her.
Next year, she wanted to add flowers that attracted butterflies and hummingbirds. And song birds. The girl loved her birds.
His sister had even traded their neighbor for some flowers that animals didn’t like. She’d planted the mums all around her patch to keep the squirrels and rabbits away from her plants.
And then she left out peanuts and other treats so the animals didn’t feel left out.
Lawson finished the lawn and put the mower back in the shed. He stopped in the driveway and looked over Fox’s old Buick. He didn’t want the car to break down, but it would be a lot of fun to learn how to fix it up if it did.
What he really wanted was an old car from the scrap yard. A truck would be even better. He wanted a shell of a machine so he could find out what made it tick. Find out how to fix it. From the engine to rotten side panels to broken radios. He wanted to know it all.
And then he’d fix up Fox’s car so it never broke down on him again.
Pick Of The Crop
Burke – Age 15
Burke didn’t think he’d ever been scared before. Not really.
Sure, he’d broken a few bones on the hockey rink. A concussion on the football field. But that was just stuff that happened to his body.
Losing his parents in a car crash scared the shit out of him. The thought of losing Fox the same way was just as bad. Or one of his brothers or sisters.
He shuddered at the thought. He wasn’t old enough yet to be granted emancipated minor status if anything happened to Fox. The government wouldn’t let him keep the other kids if anything happened.
Which meant it was his job to make sure nothing happened.
Fox was happy to have them in his home. He was happy to share everything he had and everything he knew with them. He was a great grandfather.
But grandparents died. And if that happened, Burke would be the one who needed to find a way to make things work. To keep them together.
He’d been picking up as many odd-jobs as he could and sticking the money away in the bank. Fox said he had enough money to feed and house them all. He told Burke not to worry about the finances.
How was he supposed to not worry about that?
If there was ever a need for money, Burke was going to be ready. Math had always been easy for him, but he was studying his ass off now. Taking all the business courses he could, too.
He was going to need scholarships if he was going to college. And going to college was the best way to make better money. Sure, it cost a lot to get through the courses, but it paid off in the long run. He’d studied the numbers enough to be sure of that.
Fox wouldn’t let him see the bills and bank accounts yet, but Burke figured he’d wear him down eventually. He wanted to help. If he saw the numbers, he’d have an idea what they faced, what they needed.
Once he was sixteen, the law would let him take on official part-time jobs that would pay more than what he got now. And he could get his license. Help with the driving. It was only a couple of months away, but waiting was hard.
His bank account had to be ready if anything happened. All of the others needed to get to college, too. They’d need food and clothes. All the things Fox provided.
And they’d need to be happy. Mom and Dad would want that more than anything.
Burke’s eyes misted but he swallowed hard and shoved that down. They were happy. Or as happy as they could be under the circumstances.
Lawson loved fixing things. Knox wasn’t having nightmares anymore. Amber moved about the house making things prettier and more comfortable for everyone. Jolie loved playing in her garden and with any animals she could find.
They were good.
He closed his eyes and pictured his parents. I’ll keep them safe. I’ll make sure they’re happy.
Burke opened his eyes and checked the clock. Time to head out for his first tutoring job. Hopefully the first of many.
A little more in the bank account. A little more safety for them all.
Pick Up Team
Jay – Age: Older Than Dirt
Jay Malssum sat on the back porch of his farmhouse and stared into the orchard. Who the hell would have figured he’d up and buy himself an orchard when his life was mostly behind him?
But he wanted the slice he had left to be worth something.
He’d screwed up enough in his past and it was time to fix a few things.
Making the apple farm a thriving business was first on the list. He wanted to build something he could be proud of. Something he could pass along.
To the girl who was so excited about compost. And to the five kids he’d never met. Well, not kids anymore.
Not meeting them was his own damn, stubborn fault.
And his brother’s stubborn fault, too.
Too many years had gone by. Too many decades. He didn’t know how to fix things. Hell, he didn’t even know how to start.
But the farm would teach him. Once he had it working, he’d contact Fox. Invite him over.
They could spend time right here on this porch. Talk about old times. Talk about what they’d missed over those decades.
Who the hell knew time would move so fast?
Who knew it would only get harder to fix things when that time passed?
At least he’d changed his will. Made sure to include them. Not Fox, that would only piss him off. But the five kids he wanted to get to know.
He’d have to call the lawyer and add the girl in. She loved the land like he did. She deserved part of it, too.
Tomorrow.
He’d get to it all, tomorrow.
Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this bonus scene to the No Fail Heroes To The Core Small-Town Romance series!
The first book in the series is Pick Your Spot spotlighting Knox and Thea.
