“Hi, we are going to order Chinese food to celebrate the opening of the new home. Lucy, could you ask if Ashley and her children would like to join us?”
“Hang on.” The phone was muffled as Lucy asked. Tina heard the squeals of Madison and Savannah and knew Ashley would likely say yes.
Lucy came back on the phone with a smile in her voice. “Yeah, that’s an affirmative. When?”
Tina looked to Trish and Rain. “Dinner in about an hour?” They nodded. She returned her attention back to the phone.
“Dinner will be in an hour but you may come over any time,” Tina told Lucy.
“See you soon!” Lucy replied and hung up.
Karen came back down the stairs looking a little embarrassed. “Daniel and Miriam are on their way over,” she said to the group then she looked at her sister. “We forgot we have our double date tonight!”
Penny’s face froze as she remembered. “I- I’m not in the mood to go out.”
“Invite your boyfriends here! There’s going to be plenty of food and fun things to do.” Trish said with a grin. Tina gave her a look but agreed it was a good idea.
“I’ll call Jayden, you call Frank!” Karen chirped and dashed away to the kitchen to make the private call. Penny went upstairs to get her cell to call her boyfriend.
“You might have your hands full with these two,” Trish smiled at Rain.
“I’m telling you now, I’m no house mother. They are of age and seem to be fairly well adjusted young women. Frankly I’m amazed at how well they behave considering what happened to them!” she exclaimed.
“Ben made them feel loved, safe and gave their new lives structure,” Tina said proudly.
“Ben wasn’t the only one doing that Tina,” Trish said looking her in the eye.
Tina blushed and looked away. Rain smiled at her modesty.
There was a knock on the door and Trish bounced up to her feet to answer it. She came back with Miriam and Daniel who were looking around with wide eyes and smiles. Daniel had the duffle bag with him.
Karen walked back from the kitchen and squealed happily when she saw Daniel and Miriam. She rushed over and hugged them both. Miriam grinned happily but Daniel was blushing badly when she released his face from her bosom. Karen was oblivious of her effect on him and pointed to the duffle.
“You brought the console and the driving game?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah. It’s in there.”
Penny arrived and gave them hugs as well. Daniel was having some difficulty focusing when she stood back and smiled at his flustered state.
“He brought the game!” Karen told her sister.
“What are we waiting for?” Penny gasped and ran for the stairs to the basement pulling Daniel along with her, Karen close behind. Miriam grinned at Trish and the others then rushed after her brother.
The front door opened and Lucy came in with Ashley and her daughters. Beth followed with her kids John and Jane. Lucy smiled at Tina. “I called Beth and she was available but Daphne is going out to dinner with Lisa and Lori. Lily is out with friends and Hannah isn’t home.”
“We’d better call in the order now!” Trish said with a smile.
Tina did the honors, having developed a friendship with the owner of the restaurant from their frequent conversations. The man was thrilled by the size of the order and began calling out the dishes to prepare to his staff. She finished listing the items she wanted and the man said he’d need at least ninety minutes to bring them the order. She thanked him and hung up.
The kids had all gone downstairs and could be heard laughing and shrieking with amusement.
Rain described her new workplace and what she was doing. Ashley and Beth were sitting on the floor with Joshua and Christopher playing when Lucy went to answer the doorbell. When she opened the door two police officers were standing on the doorstep.
“Good evening officers,” Lucy
“Are you the homeowner?”
Lucy paused at the abrupt tone of the officer and decided to answer in like. “No.”
The two men glanced at each other as Lucy stood looking back at them. The one doing the talking sighed. “May we speak with the homeowner?”
“No.”
It was the officer’s turn to pause. He leaned forward to peer at Lucy. “No?”
“No. He’s not here.”
“When will he return?”
“In a couple of days.”
Trish showed up at Lucy’s elbow as she’d heard the last bit of Lucy’s conversation. She picked up the tension in the woman’s body. “Hello boys, what’s up?”
“You’re not the homeowner,” the talkative officer said while his partner stared openly at Trish’s cleavage.
“Do I look like a man?” Trish said wrapping her arms around her stomach under her tits in the cold doorway and thrusted her chest forward, catching the eyes of both officers.
“No! No. We need to speak with the homeowner. We’ve received a complaint of underage drinking and sexual interference at this address.”
“Who the fuck made that disgusting and ridiculous complaint?” Trish barked angrily.
Ashley showed up with Joshua on her hip with Beth standing beside her holding Christopher. “What’s going on?” Ashley asked. The officers looked at each other at the addition of more women in the doorway as Rain and Tina brought up the rear.
“Someone filed a complaint of underage drinking and sexual interference at this address…” Trish called over her shoulder making the other women call out in outrage. She turned back to the officers with a puzzled look. “Wait a minute… no one was living in this house until today. We just moved the girls in a couple of hours ago. It makes no sense. Did someone…” Trish stopped talking as she stared into the darkness of the park just across the road. She ducked back inside and slipped on her boots and black leather jacket. She stepped out on the step and looked at the police officer’s night stick.
“May I borrow that?” she asked.
“What? No!” the cop growled and Trish frowned at him.
“How about the flashlight? No? Just shine it across the road into the park for a second,” she requested.
Looking at her in frustration he took the large flashlight from his belt and shone it across the road as Trish watched carefully.
“OK, got him, thanks!”
“Where are you going?” the officer yelled.
“I’m going to catch the one making you guys look stupid.” Trish said as she set off down the driveway running. The quiet cop glanced at his partner then took off after Trish as the ladies watched the redhead break into a full out sprint and veer left. The park was really dark as the widely spaced street lights left the area before the house in shadow.
They heard yelling, some grunts, then a loud squeal sound from a deeper voice.
“They will return shortly. Invite the officer inside. It’s cold out there,” Tina called out from the back of the group as she turned on her crutches and made her way back to the living room. Rain and the others followed. Lucy gestured for the officer to come in but pointed to the boot tray where all of their shoes and boots sat.
The officer frowned and shook his head. Lucy opened a drawer in the table by the door and hunted for a bit. She turned to yell over her shoulder. “Where are the booties?”
A moment later Rain returned to the vestibule with a handful of the elasticized booties. Lucy took two and handed them to the officer. “The home was just renovated. The workers left us these.”
The man pulled them on over his big black boots and followed Rain into the living room. He looked around in appreciation. He could hear the kids laughing and raised his eyebrow as he looked back at the ladies. Tina gestured for him to go see for himself. He went downstairs and the laughter died off. He returned after a moment with a frustrated look on his face. Penny and Karen followed him up and stood at the top of the stairs watching.
“There is no alcohol in this house and as you can see the children are well supervised by responsible adults. The complaint was false and very likely harassment of some kind,” Tina said.
“Harassment? It was a fucking peeping tom paparazzi!” Trish said as she walked into the living room tugging off her jacket. She looked at the officer. “Your buddy is putting him in the backseat of your cruiser.” She looked down and snorted. “Nice booties,” she grinned.
With another scowl the officer left the house to join his partner.
“What happened?” Tina asked.
“It made no sense that the complaint was made so soon after we moved them into the house. It had to be someone watching the house. With all the attention on Ben and his upcoming trial I wondered what pictures of the cops standing at the front door might look like in court. Considering the nature of the complaint it was going to be messy. I was right. It was a paparazzi.”
“Did you beat him up?” Rain asked wide eyed.