Firestone by Claudia Hall Christian Read Free Book Online Page A

spend time with this child
for . . .,” Dionne’s eyes sparked,
“ . . .years. His mother’s on Real Housewives or
First Wives of Hip-Hop or some stupid reality show. There was no
way she was going to let us . . . Bumpy writes him a
letter every week to tell him that we love him. Jer’s other son,
too.”
    “ She’s not going to have
much to say very soon,” Yvonne said. “I called Tannie’s friend
Heather. She’s coming over with her social worker and the
police.”
    Dionne looked at Yvonne, and she nodded.
Dionne grinned.
    “ Let’s get him dried off,”
Dionne said. “There’s going to be a mess of people here soon. We
need to check him to see if he’s physically all right.”
    Bumpy took the towel from Dionne and dried
the boy. The police arrived just after Bumpy got started. They let
Bumpy examine the boy. Bumpy helped the child get dressed in the
tattered clothing from his plastic grocery bag before the police
talked to him. Heather and Risa arrived with food. Yvonne took the
boy to the kitchen to eat so the police and social worker could
talk with Dionne and Bumpy.
    The IRS chose that exact time to come to
take the apartment and keys. They were nice enough, but the entire
affair was more family drama than the IRS inspector wanted to deal
with. They had just reached the street when Jeraine ran down the
sidewalk from where he’d parked his car. Seeing Jeraine, the boy
took off running.
    “ Daddy! Daddy!
Daddy!”
    Yvonne trailed close behind. She had almost
caught the boy when Jeraine picked him up and twirled him around.
Yvonne heard the boy talking a mile a minute and saw the tears on
Jeraine’s face. Smiling, she turned around to delay the police,
social workers, and even Dionne and Bumpy. Her little friend had
come all this way to see his father. He deserved a minute.
    When she turned back, she saw that Jeraine
was ready to fight for his son. She gave him a nod and moved aside
so the police could do their work.
    ~~~~~~~~
    Saturday evening — 6:32 p.m.
     
    Katy skipped up the walkway to the Castle’s
side door with Paddie right behind her.
    “ Hey, wait for us!” Colin
called from the car, where Julie was getting Conner from the car
seat.
    Paddie and Katy pretended not to hear
him.
    “ Paddie! Katy!” Colin
caught up with them at the door. He held the door closed until
Julie and Conner were there. “We’d like to go in together so you
don’t . . .”
    Colin opened the door. Paddie took off
inside the Castle. Katy ran after him.
    “  . . . get
lost,” Colin finished his statement. He scowled.
    “ They only get lost to us
grown-ups,” MJ said. He hugged Colin.
    “ We promised Jill we’d
care for Katy,” Julie said. “She took care of
Paddie . . .”
    Their attention turned to Katy and Paddie
laughing and spinning in circles.
    “ Don’t worry about that
kind of thing,” MJ said.
    “ It’s hard not to,” Julie
said.
    “ I know,” MJ laughed. “I’m
just telling you what they tell me.”
    Julie smiled. They went into the Castle
living room and joined the hustle and bustle of pre-dinner.
    “ Katy!” Jill said as she
came into the living room from the kitchen.
    Katy ran to her mother and threw her arms
around her. They held each other for a few moments before Paddie
joined their hug.
    “ My two favorite people.”
Jill knelt down and kissed each of their cheeks. “Do you know why
you’re here tonight?”
    “ I live here.” Katy
nodded.
    “ I live here too.” Paddie
nodded. “Sometimes.”
    “ That’s true,” Jill said.
“Tonight, we’re welcoming Ivy and Keenan to live with us. You
remember Ivy, don’t you?”
    Jill gestured to the kitchen where Ivy and
Nash were helping Delphie finish dinner preparations.
    “ Uh-huh,” Katy
said.
    “ And you
remember . . .” Jill gestured to where Keenan was
talking to Sam. His skin was now milk-chocolate brown, his eyes
were amber-brown like Fin’s, and his hair was in small
brother-dreads. He wore a