Just Joe 13
We had to go to his Grans house for dinner the next Wednesday, she said we will be eating early so Caleb wouldn't miss his bedtime We picked him up from crèche and I drove us to Brighton. A very nice lady met us at the door she was Gran's housekeeper. When we were seated in her family room I noticed the enormity of her land, the gardens in the back were magnificent.
"Thank you, Mavis I will see you tomorrow dear."
"Goodnight Mrs. Stanton nice to meet you boys and you too cutie." She brushed Caleb's cheek with her hand.
"She's a godsend Mark, she lives two doors down and helps me out occasionally with the cooking. I apologize in advance but can you serve the meal yourselves, my hands aren't what they used to be, and I'm afraid I might drop something." She smiled at me.
"Of course Gran, just let us know when you are ready to eat."
She picked up a shoe box from the coffee table and handed it to Joe.
"This is your father's personal things, Mark, there's not a lot, his jewellery and family papers are in a safety deposit box at the bank, one day soon you can pick me up and I'll give it to you."
I had noticed Caleb's baby photo and some of Joe's photos sitting on her baby grand piano when we walked in I must get her some more updated ones.
Joe opened the box and took out a photo, that one was of his dad when he was about twenty-four, and yes he was the spitting image of my Joe. There were others of his mum his grandparents and a huge envelope folded neatly with copies of share and investment documents.
"You will have full control to administer your father's estate Mark, my lawyers have been notified and suggested that you will probably want to handle it yourself. You're somewhat of a celebrity in their circles now." She slipped a biscuit to Cales who was eyeing off the baby grand piano.
"Okay, they don't mind?"
"Not at all baby, they know about you and your uncanny knack to invest wisely, so no problems from them, and it is your money."
"Heath these are blue-chip stocks, my god he even had BHP ones and there are gold shares too, bloody hell it's going to take me ages to get through this lot."
"Well from what I hear your quite capable Mark, now let's eat."
Joe put the stuff aside and helped me in the enormous kitchen. The table had been set and cushions were placed on a chair for Caleb. He didn't see a TV so he moaned a little until Gran started playing with him.
We found the casserole and veggies in the oven with some garlic bread then placed it all on the table. There were also some chips and chicken wings for Caleb, then we all tucked in.
"What's in the safety deposit box Gran?"
"Your grandmother's family jewellery, some more papers, and of course the estate titles, a copy of your fathers and her wills and a few knick-knacks." She smiled.
"Estate titles?"
"Yes Mark I think six or seven titles are in there, you will know more when you go see the lawyers." She smiled slyly at me.
At this moment I think Joe had fainted because he went very quiet. I had to shake him to see if he was still with us.
"I didn't want all this Heath, all I ever wanted to be was just a Joe, this is too much." His head dropped so I pulled him into me.
"Do you think you might not be able to handle it, Joe?"
"Yes I can do it, and its more cash for your business but I don't want it. Everything was fine up until I got this, now its a new kind of madness."
"Everything wasn't fine Joe, you were scared of your own shadow, and whatever you decide I am with you all the way, if you want to just handle your accounts you can do that from home. That will free you up to spend more time with Caleb."
"No Heath I like working with you all, and Caleb has his mates to play with every day."
"So do you, Joe." I lifted my eyebrows and smiled.
The following Saturday the movers were in to shift us to our new house. Joe had spent the morning going over his father's business and he shifted a lot of big private accounts over to our company. He then announced somewhere between feeding Caleb and telling the guys where to place the furniture that he was going to sell the business. He didn't want to put anyone out of work so he suggested we take the staff who want to come over to my office, and insist the new owners take the rest. It was a very successful agency and he had also found some grey areas where the accounts were locked, ones that only his dad had the passwords to, so that had set Harry and Jimmy off on a password hunt.
We went through everything in his desk then Jimmy got down on his back and looked under it, and sure enough there was an envelope taped under one drawer. It had all the passwords his dad had used for the past ten years written on it. Harry sat at the computer and started opening the locked accounts, they were all in Joe's dad's name and if I didn't know better by the size of them I think there's been doing a bit of underhanded business. When Harry finished going over the first one he looked at me and said.
"I will never find where your father embezzled this money, because his accounting is impeccable Mark. You are going to have to accept these accounts on face value and keep them."
I saw Joe grin like he somehow expected his dad was shonky and he was pleased he got the last word.
"I'm sorry we rushed into buying this house now Heat, we could have brought a bigger one." He sometimes uses Caleb's name for me, I kind of like that.
"I like this house Joe, maybe we can revisit property in a couple of years. Are the houses you inherited any good?"
"I have a list of addresses we can go look on the weekend, I might ask Gran to come for a drive with us. I suspect she doesn't get out too often Heath, and I would like to include her where I can."
"Good thinking Joe, we can have a light lunch somewhere on the way."
We had a great day looking at the properties, some were big in blue ribbon areas and there was a block of old Deco flats. He had gone to the lawyer's office and they explained everything to him then handed passwords over so he could start handling his estate. They also wanted to make an appointment for me to talk to them. This isn't about how wealthy Joe had become over the past two months, I knew he would never change from being just a Joe. All this will make him feel like he won over his fathers bullying and he was now in control of his own destiny.
I did benefit from Joe's estate because he moved everything over to my business, my balances were skyrocketing. I will talk to dad about taking on a third partner. We always ran the investment side of things separate and I wanted Joe to call in more staff and head up that department. He and Shane handled it beautifully, but I would much rather he concentrated on Brent's and his accounts personally, then if he gets another guy in Shane and that guy can do the rest. In reality, I didn't want him to burn out chasing his ass. Our staff numbered fifteen by this time, a few tax accountants had come over from Joe's dad's business, it was easier for them as they lived in this area.
At morning tea time and lunch, the laughter that came from the tearoom was warming as the ladies gossiped their way through cakes and sandwiches of which they shared with the boys. Mum was in her element she was head girl and what she said was law, and not surprisingly she was bloody good at it too.
At home, we were still settling in and we did a lot of outdoor living at first because we now have a proper back yard for Cales to play in. The dog wasn't mentioned but it wasn't forgotten either.
Some days Joe would take a few hours off to take his gran shopping or to have lunch with her, and each time he found out more about the man he had called dad for years. He also drained her memory of his real dad, grandma, and grandpa. He was soaking up all the good things she was telling him. Caleb's room was the first room we did up, he wanted cow's horses and sheep on his walls so we hired a company to come and hand paint a farm on one wall it looked awesome. He wanted a big bed and somewhere to put his toys. I think we did a good job and many days we would find him sitting on his bed talking to his farm friends, his mum's photo proudly sat on his bedside table. There was also a photo of the three of us on the other side table, it had been taken at one of our picnics.
We really didn't have to do anything big to the house but I did have a security system installed. Because Joe was quite wealthy now, Caleb was the one to protect, even more so, you never know who's watching you and you never know if your loved one will be snatched and held for ransom. I know I overreacted but it did make me feel a lot easier.
Mum still did the pickups and we had to put a stop to the office girls giving him too many biscuits. They understood and many times he was seen sitting on different desks telling the girls how his day went. His constant chatter was a welcomed break from our everyday tasks.
The police accepted both Joe and my statements and the newspapers started to settle down a bit because there will not be a big inquest or trial. We had gently faded into the background and were so glad to be there. Gran was a great old girl she even came into work some days to sit and talk to mum or Joe and play with Caleb, she was bored sitting in that big old house by herself. I talked to Joe and he did ask her to move in with us but she said she was happy where she was. I don't think she wanted to be in our way which she wouldn't have been, although I don't know how she would cope with my groaning during the night.
Dad was happy the business had quadrupled overnight and he was urging me to take a bigger wage, but I argued that Joe and Shane were responsible for the surge in business, so I told Joe to give himself and Shane a big raise and I stressed it should be a big one. As a matter of fact, I got him to do Jimmy Mum and Harry while he was at it, the Tax side of things was doing very well too. Little did I know Joe had also doubled mine in the process. I never look at my bank account, as long as I have enough for the everyday needs I really don't need to worry about it. I suppose buying the house has taken a large chunk out of my investments.
Joe was happy I was happy, and our lovemaking soared to another plane where only Joe and I were in the moment. We took our time with each other and learned a lot about edging, Joe was really getting into that stuff. The longer his orgasm held off the greater it was when he finally released it. I have to thank him for bringing me to that place, I have never known such feelings in my life.
"Where are we going, Joe?"
"You'll see Heath it's just down this road."
We had Caleb in the back he was listening to his kid songs and generally singing his head off. Joe pulled into a large car park and when I looked at the building the sign said 'Lost dogs home'. I inwardly smiled because this was the new Joe. I didn't say anything except I smiled a lot, he smiled back. We were here to rescue a puppy for Caleb and the young lady at reception was very pleased to see us.
"Hi Mr. Stanton, and this must be Caleb if you would like to follow me I have some little ones playing out the back you can look at." I carried Cales as we followed the girl out to a backyard compound where six tiny Silky Terriers were playing. Caleb screamed when he saw them and immediately wanted down so he could play with them.
"Be careful Cales," Joe said as I placed him on the lawn.
He went straight for the closest one who had come over to see what was going on.
"They have had all their needles and are in good health Mr. Stanton, it looks like this little one has chosen his master already." The girl giggled, I knew what she meant the others were too busy playing to notice us. Cales sat on the ground and the puppy proceeded to give him another bath while he giggled away. I looked again at Joe he was smiling at his son's joyous face.
"We will take that one, we need a bed some food and whatever else pups need."
"Toys." She laughed.
We didn't have to leash the puppy because he was well and truly latched onto Caleb and followed us back inside while the shop assistant gathered all the stuff we needed. We did have to collar him and tie him in the back seat for the ride home. Caleb's giggles were infectious as we waved goodbye then turned out of the car park, and I couldn't stop laughing at his beautiful 'kid gets a new puppy sounds'. We had pulled up at the traffic lights and I looked over at a grinning Joe then I said.
"We forgot the cat?" He burst out laughing.
Placed on hold, but this story will be back.
Thank you all for reading it.