105 - Park

*It wasn’t until I saw how they treated Mitchell that I started to see my family for how they really were. – Keisha*

They were now on borrowed time.

Celt looked at Darkness who saw the same thing. Tink was leaning into Camille’s legs, trying to move her to safety. He could sense what they knew. An episode was coming. They had about thirty minutes before Camille dropped.

“I’m going to move this along,” Celt said as he pulled out the binder from his briefcase.

“Yeah,” Darkness agreed. "We need to get her out of here.”

“Agreed,” Critter said as Celt walked towards the table.

He gritted his teeth and slipped into lawyer mode as he approached the group. The voice of one woman greeted him and he racked his brain for the information on her. In his mind, he could see the information sheet for each of them. Mentally flipping through the pages, he came to her face.

Destiny. Keisha’s cousin on her mother’s side.

“You? You’re barely old enough to take care of yourself, you should just sign the kids over to their grandparents and go on about your life,” Destiny said. “How did you even find a lawyer to do that?”

Celt stepped up next to Camille and handed over a two-inch black binder, “Harvard.”

“Who are you?” Dominique sneered.

“Sean Patrick O’Malley, Esquire. I am the attorney for Mrs. Johnson and the children. All the legal documents that you need are in the binder. If you would like to discuss the legalities we can make an appointment for that. But today is for you to see your grandchildren.”

Dominique huffed as she opened the binder. William looked past his wife and looked at Camille, “Can we see the kids?”

“Yes,” Camille turned and motioned for the kids to come join them.

Celt turned to stand facing Camille so that he could keep an eye on the table, the kids and Camille. He watched as Nicki stood between her brothers and clasped their hands together. He was in the middle of nine kids, he recognized when siblings were creating a protective barrier, a shield wall if you will.

They moved together and stood just off to the side of the table. Celt noticed that they stood in such a way that Mitch was behind Camille. It was as if he recognized her as a momma bear that would put herself between her cubs and any type of danger.

And he doubted that any of them even knew about her mother’s Oma. He grinned as he thought about the old woman dressing him down when he was younger. Up until she had a heart attack and ended up in the hospital only days before her death, she lived her life full tilt.

Celt always admired the woman. She survived the Nazi occupation. Moved to America with nothing but her brother, their grandmother’s apron and a baby in her belly. Never married, but also never lacked for male attention. Her son was the only child she ever had, but not the only one that was raised in her house.

The entire time that he was musing over Oma Uittenbroek and her life, William and his wife’s nieces were speaking with the kids about mundane topics. The kids were careful with the answers that they gave and how they reacted.

Dominique flipped through the pages and skimmed the papers. He knew the sections by heart. The first section was the medical power of attorneys for Jasper, Keisha and the kids. After that was the living wills and do not resuscitate orders. The next was guardianship papers listing Camille as the primary guardian for each of the kids.

Then came the wills and deeds to the properties. It also contained the contracts for the leases of the cars, including the one that Vin was driving. The one that he *had been driving. With Jasper and Keisha both being dead, Camille would need to make arrangements for the three cars to be picked up.

As she moved further through the binder, he was watching as she pursed her full lips into a thin line. He had only one more section to go before his suspicions could be confirmed. She skimmed through the section that laid out their college funds and the fraternity and sorority for the kids to become legacies.

Financials. Life insurance policies. Bank accounts. CD’s, Roths, 401K’s and other stocks. This had been what Keisha had feared almost as much as what would happen to her youngest son.

When she flipped over to the last section, he watched as she skimmed and then flipped back to the first page of the last section. On the third time through, he watched the shift in the older woman. Her back straightened and shoulders stiffened.

“Is this accurate?” Dominique demanded.

“What are you asking about?” Camille asked.

“I assure you,” Celt stated, “my work is thorough, accurate and impeccable. There will be no errors found on any of those documents.”

“So that hussy has control over their money?” Dominique yelled.

“*Tot ziens*.” Vin growled.

“Dammed straight *tot ziens*,” Camille said. “Vin, take your brother and sister, back to the Jeeps.”

Vin turned away from the table and pulled his siblings with him as he headed for the parking lot. Darkness moved towards Camille as the other Saints engulfed the kids in a circle of protection.

“You –“

As Dominique stood up at the table, Camille moved around Tink to stand in front of the other woman. Celt saw the small shuffle with her feet as she moved. They were down to mere minutes before her body fully shut down. Reaching over, he grabbed the binder as Tink moved to stand in front of his mistress and tried to push her back.

“As I told you before,” Celt said calmly, “if you would like, we can set up a–“

“That fucking bitch is not getting their money!” Dominique yelled.

“*Rustig en vredig*,” Celt said one of the few Dutch words that he knew. And hoped that he said it well enough for her to understand that he wanted her to be quiet and calm. But he could not think of the word for calm, so he said peaceful.

Camille nodded as Darkness placed his hands on her hips and gently pulled her back to lean against his chest. The strong dark hands on her hips appeared to be supporting her emotionally. But Celt knew that the other man was prepared to support her physically also.

“Dominique,” Camille quietly and calmly stated with a strong and steady voice. “I do not want to fight you. But what is in that binder is what your daughter and her husband wanted for their children. To ensure that those kids are safe, I will gladly go to the gates of hell and face the devil himself.”

“We can set a date to discuss this in detail,” she said as her body slumped slightly into Darkness. “But I will not allow those kids, *your grandchildren*, to suffer needlessly. They’ve already been through hell; they do not need you adding to their stress or grief.”

Darkness kept an arm around her waist and guided her to the Jeeps. He called for Tink to go ahead of them and the dog bolted for the parking lot. Celt handed a business card to Dominique. “Call me, my cell phone number is listed there also.”

She crossed her arms and refused to take the card. William stood up and took the card from Celt. The two men exchanged a quick nod. Celt then turned and headed towards the gladiator.

Stopping at the Wrangler with Critter behind the wheel, he looked at Camille in the passenger seat. “You good, Worm?”

“Get me home,” she said softly as she fought to keep her eyes open and body upright.

“Straight to the cabin,” Celt ordered, and Critter nodded.

Moving to the Gladiator, Celt slid in and ordered Chowder to get to the house. No stops.

“Celt,” Nicki asked from the back seat. “Was grandma really only worried about the money?”

“Sweetheart,” Chowder answered before Celt could, “don’t you worry any at all about what that woman said. Grief makes people say and do stupid things. She’s lashing out and you guys are easy targets.”

Celt was grateful for the older man and let him take the lead. He was able to get her to talk about what they should cook for dinner. With the four Jeeps speeding down the road, they went just slightly over the speed limit and arrived about five minutes ahead of when the GPS originally said.

They pulled into the driveway just behind Darkness and watched him rush to his wife. He pulled Camille out of the car as the other people also got out. Darkness went up the stairs with a very limp Camille in his arms, her head flopping and arms and legs dangling.

“What’s wrong with Camille?” Nicki asked.