“I was just thinking how much our family is going to expand come the holidays.It’s been a long time since we’ve done much more than get together for Thanksgiving.I mean, I don’t even think we had a turkey last year, but steaks out on the grill.”Sharon said that sounds divine.“It was.The boys did all the cooking, and I was left to my own devices.They all know how to cook, and I’m proud of them.But someday I’d like to have a table full of people down the sides, with it groaning with food.Do youthink you can make that happen for me?”
“I can and will do that for you.I don’t know how many more wives will be joining us before the holidays, but they’ll each and every one be welcome here.Is Christmas a big holiday for you guys?I mean, do you put up a tree?”She said that she had one put up in her place, but they usually met at one of the boys’ homes.“No tree, I take it.”
“I know that it’s the same day every year, but it sort of sneaks up on you.One day it seems like it’s Thanksgiving, and the next time you wake up, Christmas and the New Year are here, and there wasn’t any time to put up any kind of decorations.It’s sad now that I think about it.”She told her that it sounded lonely to her.“Yes, it is a bit of that.Usually, Kendrick works for the hospital so that doctors with families can have it off.Yanick used to work for the restaurant that we’d all turn up at so we could see him, but I don’t know what his plans are now.I’m so glad he’s quit that job.It was wearing on him.The boss thought that he could take advantage of my boy, and he showed him what was going on.”
“Yes, I heard.I would have laughed had I been there.I can see Yanick quitting but being so calm about it.Just taking off his apron and leaving.That’s so like him.”Ethel said he’d only ever quit one other job that she knew of, and it had been just as bad.“I’m sorry to hear that.It sounds like he needs to open his own place so that he can be his own boss.Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Of course you can.Be prepared for the truth.I can’t lie to you either, so I won’t.But you’ll get the answer you might not want.”She said she wasn’t worried and asked her about the boys’ names.“Oh, that’s a funny story.I didn’t want to name any of them after their father or his side of the family.So I picked a few numbers in a child’s naming book and used the names that corresponded to those numbers.Conri is the only name that I picked out.In Gaelic, it means wolf king.I so loved the way that it rolled off my tongue that I knew I had to name him that.”
“It suits him.With him being alpha and all.He’s been pack leader for a while now, hasn’t he?I mean, longer than I’ve been alive.”She nodded and smiled.“I don’t think I want to know how long he’s been alpha.He’s really good at the job, and I can’t think of anyone who is better suited to the job.”
“His father was the alpha.But he and Conri’s first wife stole from the pack and had an affair.He’d been claimed by me, but she’d never been.So when pack justice was given to the pack, they were both killed.We don’t speak either of their names anymore.They’re not worth our memories.”She said she’d remember that.“Something else you should remember is that pack justice is fast and deadly.When someone is brought before the pack, they usually have all the information they need in order to make their deaths swift.Unless Conri orders it to be painful for them, they’re usually dead by the time the first drop of blood is drawn.”
Sharon shivered and looked away.She didn’t want to think about how someone might die by pack.While she’d not seen anyone die that way, she thought that she could go her whole life without seeing it, too.She went to find Kendrick, as he was home now from work.Smiling up at him, he kissed her on the mouth.
“I was just talking to your mother.We’re going to go all out for the holidays this year and from now on.We’ll have the biggest tree because we have the room for one.”He asked her why she wanted just one tree.“You’re right.We’ll have one in every room in the house, including the bathroom.I’m excited for Thanksgiving, too.I’ve been assigned to fill a table with food and have everyone sitting down on either side of the table.I think I can do that with your help.”
“I’m all yours.I have both Christmas and Thanksgiving off this year.I didn’t ask for it, but someone put my name in for it off.I think it’s because I usually work for someone, but this year I’m going to take it off to be with you and my family.”She kissed him on the chin, and he laughed.“I do love you, my dear.Very much so.”
“And I love you so very much, too.We should take out billboards so that everyone knows how much we do love one another.”They were still joking about their love for each other when they entered the dining room.It was the largest room in the house, she thought.All she needed to do was find a table to hold them all.She had four months.She could do it by then, she thought.
~*~
“I’m not sure that I understand.There is no way that I owe that much in back rent.”Raven looked over the paperwork she’d been handed and then at hers that she’d been keeping records on.“I know you said it’s only a hundred dollars more, but I’m on a tight budget, and I can’t afford to pay out anything extra right now.”
“Let me go over the numbers again.I can’t believe that I’m allowing you to do this.I should have my head examined.”Raven just smiled at the man and knew deep down in his heart there was a little bit of goodness.“You owed twenty-five dollars from January, but you were able to get it the next month.”
As he went over his numbers, she did the same with hers.Getting caught up today was going to take a huge burden off her shoulders.Winning the lottery last week had helped her with a lot of things, but no one knew that yet.She was taking one step at a time so that no one was any wiser about her winning such a huge jackpot.He found the hundred dollars on his end, and she was relieved.The man had been good to her, letting her slide on rent sometimes for as much as a week.But she had the money now and was going to be caught up for the rest of her life.
Paying her landlord, he seemed satisfied with the way things were going.All she had left to pay was her electric bill and the gas bill that had been shut off in June.She’d been taking cold showers since that day, and now, as of today, she was going to be able to take hot showers year-round.A lot of things were going to be changing for her.
She’d not gone out and spent any of her newfound money on anything but catching up with her bills.There wasn’t any way that she was going to buy herself a new television as the old one still worked.She didn’t drive, so there would be no fancy car in the lot either.She was going to pay her bills on time from now on and work her job so that she could live a comfortable life without anyone being any wiser that she’d won forty million dollars.
Every time she thought of the amount, she would have to sit down and put her head between her knees.It wasn’t just that she’d won some money; she’d won enough money to make a real difference in her life.However, she wasn’t going to do that.It would get her in trouble with her family and friends when they wanted a bit of what she’d gotten.
So far, just she and the banker knew about it.Of course, the lottery people knew, but they were kind of pissy about the fact that she didn’t want her name to be associated with the check they’d given her.She didn’t care.So long as no one knew her name or address, she thought that she’d live a good deal longer.Making her way home to her apartment, she stopped and picked up another lottery ticket as it was Thursday.She bought one every Thursday like clockwork.
She’d never played the same numbers either.She just bought a random ticket and went home with it.Sometimes she’d buy a scratch-off ticket, too, but not too often.It was money that she didn’t have until last week.
When she got home, she hung up the ticket on her fridge and did her laundry.The laundry mat wasn’t all that busy today, so she was able to use both the washers and dryers at the same time.Folding her sheets, she thought again about how much money she had and what some people would do for it.For a fact, she knew that her family, her brothers, especially, would kill her for it if they knew.
They both worked when they had to, but it wasn’t steady, nor did it pay all that well.Usually, they could get a job delivering pizzas—there were plenty of those around, but as soon as they decided that they needed the food more than the customer, they’d be out of a job.They never took her money or anything, but they would crash at her place when they needed to lay low or hadn’t paid their own rent.She’d told them once that she couldn’t help them if she was out of a place to live, too.So they’d leave her alone with her money and go about their business on their own.But winning the lottery was bigger than even she could imagine.
Tommy would have demanded that she give it over to him, but he would have given her some of it to tide her over.He might knock her around, too, for not telling him right away, but he’d not hurt her too much.It was Sherman that she was most afraid of.
He’d kill his own mother if he thought that she was holding out on him.In fact, she was surethat he had killed her.But since she could never prove it or even bring it up, she kept her mouth shut and lived for another day or two.When he was around, she’d let him have whatever he wanted in her home.Usually, it was her bed, but she was all right with sleeping on the couch.Tommy would take the chair from her because he was bigger than her.To be so afraid of her family made her ill sometimes.
The knock at her door had her being cautious about answering.Her brothers would knock, but it was more of a pounding than anything else.Opening the door just enough so she could see who it was, she was surprised to find Tommy there holding onto Sherman.He was bleeding from something wrong with his chest, and she moved so that Tommy could lay him on the couch.
“What’s happened?Do you want me to call an ambulance?”They both said no, and she had to worry if Sherman was going to die right here in her place.“What’s happened to him?”
They worked on getting his shirt off, and she stood by.Just what she needed, a dead man in her place after getting her rent squared away.Once she was able to see the bullet hole in Sherman’s chest, she hissed at the amount of blood he was losing.She asked again what had happened.
“You don’t need to know.”She started to point out that they were in her place, but didn’t.Sherman had that look in his eyes like he was on the verge of murder.She’d seen it before.“Get me some towels so that I can wipe myself off.”
“I only have three.I know you don’t want to hear this, but my landlord isn’t going to be happy if you’ve brought guns to my place.I told you before that this is a good place for me, and I don’t bother anyone.”He told her again to get the towels.“You can have one.”
She got the towel for Sherman and decided that she was going to have to replace them soon.They were threadbare and not in good shape.She wondered if she could get them into her place without anyone noticing.Then she looked at her brothers.She couldn’t believe she was worried about towels when her brother might be dying on her sofa.Something else occurred to her, and that she was a millionaire and didn’t need to put up with shitty towels or brothers bleeding all over her only good piece of furniture.She stomped her foot, and that had them both looking at her.
