Johnson, Johnson & Lambert

"Yellow?" the man said into the phone. "Greg who? That a church? St. Charles? Sounds Cat-lick."

Greg snickered and the man smiled.

"No, no, this is Doug," the man said. "Doug Dixon; just got hired on at St. Elizabeth's Public... Greg who? Beats me; they just gave me this phone. You needing service?"

Doug handed the phone back to Greg.

"Don't tell me, don't want to know, I'm drinking St. Elizabeth Light," the man said and Greg waved the bartender over.

"God damn mother fucker," Dianne St. Charles screamed as she disconnected the call.

She resisted the urge to fling the cell phone; the bitch at PC Nation had told her the warranty didn't cover neglect or abuse. So, instead, she flung some pillows from the couch, striking the wall.

Mustaine and Lambert ignored Dianne's shrill scream of frustration. The two cats were used to her rants and raves by now.

Chapter 12

Vickers, Vickers & Dumas helped Stephanie set up various savings and investment accounts. While the women in the office went over the forms and options with Stephanie, Kristina was constantly being held, cooed to, rocked and cuddled by the women in the office.

"Thank you so much; now give me back my baby now that she's so totally spoiled," Stephanie said, smiling happily.

"Oh, like she wasn't spoiled when you brought her in here," Leeanne Dumas, an attractive red head smiled.

From the small office, Stephanie drove to Richards, Pellichet, and Jones & Associates law firm. She'd been a client of the firm for nearly four months and had never gone to the office.

"You're Stephanie Williams," Ethel announced when Stephanie and Kristina came in to the lobby.

"Uh, it's Hebert," Stephanie corrected.

"And this is Kristina!" Ethel happily said to the baby.

"Yes?" Trevor's metallic voice crackled.

"Stephanie and Kristina are here to see you, sir," Ethel announced.

"Hi, I'm Donald Pellichet," Donald smiled, extending his hand to Stephanie. "And this little heartbreaker's Kristina, right?"

"Yes sir; I'm..." Stephanie smiled, offering the baby to Donald.

"Oh, I know who you are," Donald laughed accepting the baby. "Believe me, we all know who you are

"Hi there," Trevor said. "I should have warned you; this place is almost as bad as Mom when it comes to babies."

"I don't have a clue what he's talking about," Donald said as he made a show of trying to hide Kristina inside his suit jacket.

"Hi; when do you go to lunch?" Stephanie asked, giving Trevor a chaste kiss on his cheek. "God, that tie really looks so good on you, I swear."

"Ever eaten at Bombay? It's right across the street," Trevor offered.

"I was thinking we'd eat at home," Stephanie whispered in his ear.

"But I have a meeting at one o'clock; and I'm hungry," Trevor whispered back, kissing her ear.

"Mr. Williams has a meeting at one o'clock," Donald stated firmly. "You really should be so proud of your man; he's got a meeting with the staff of Parasols magazine for us to be their legal representation.

"Win Valerie over, you got it; she's the brains behind the magazine," Stephanie offered.

"And how would you know that?" Trevor asked and Stephanie blushed beet red.

"I was the cover girl for May's issue last year," she admitted.

While Stephanie and Trevor were enjoying the exotic tastes of Indian cuisine, Cindy St. George was signing for a lunch order from Chuck, one of the restaurants her boyfriend owned.

"Thank you, ma'am," the young man simpered as he left the office of Johnson, Johnson & Lambert.

"Thank you; have a great day," Cindy cheerfully called out while rifling through the box, looking for her Texas Chuck burger.

She also snagged a bag of the French fries, then carried the box to Conference Room A and knocked lightly on the door.

"Lunch has arrived," she cheerfully called out, even though no one in the room looked very cheerful.

Cindy took their drink orders, fighting against the smirk when Brandon ordered a diet cola. She went to the soda machine in the break room, used the key to open the machine, and grabbed the seven sodas.

"That girl is golden," Cindy heard one of the clients declare as she closed the door.

She didn't hear Parker's response, but she did hear his snort of derision.

"Hello?" David cheerfully answered his phone when she called.

"That Texas is the best," Cindy happily told him.

"Ew, you ate grilled onions? The way you keep breathing all over me?" he mock-screeched into the phone and she laughed out loud.

"Cindy? Could we get some paper towels in here?" Brandon's voice cut through over the intercom.

"God damn; I'm at lunch, you lazy dick," she thought to herself.

"Yes sir, anything else?" Cindy asked.

"Um, some four oh nine, I guess," Brandon said.

"Yes sir," Cindy said and got to her feet.

"Closet's ten feet away from you, lazy sack of shit; get off your fat ass and get it yourself," Cindy muttered under her breath as she unlocked the supplies closet.

"I'm so sorry," one of the female clients said in a severely shaky voice.

"Oh no, ma'am, accidents happen," Cindy cheerfully said as she blotted up the spilled soda. "Would you like another, you were drinking root beer, right?"

"Uh, yes ma'am, if it's not too much trouble," the woman agreed, voice still very shaky.

"Yes ma'am," Cindy said and finished cleaning up the table.

She was able to finish her burger and fries before Parker paged her to come assist them again. This time, it was to clear away their lunch wrappers and cans.

Frances DeSalvo had joined a law firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and had even contacted Cindy, offering to get her a job with the same firm. Cindy thanked Frances, but DeGarde was her home and she didn't want that nearly three hour commute, an hour and half each way every day.

Even if that commute would be in David's Astin-Martin Db5.

David had been true to his word. The day Cindy had one month being cigarette free, he let her drive the car.

At first she'd been almost terrified but he'd been in the passenger seat, telling her what to do.

The second passenger Cindy had driven had been Brian Fourcade. The eleven year old boy had nearly peed on himself when Cindy pulled up alongside him and asked him if he wanted a ride.

A week later, David told her to 'borrow' the car; he had seen an Lamborghini at Superior Motors that he wanted.

"I can drive it to work?" Cindy asked him.

"Well, yeah; that's what borrow it means," David had smiled as he pointed out the highly polished black car he was buying.

Now, at her desk in the lobby, she looked out the side door, the door she used to go through to smoke her cigarettes and saw the sleek white car. It gleamed in the sunlight and Cindy smiled then pulled her phone out of her purse.

She sent David a Kissy face Smiley Face text message.

Her smile widened as he responded with a Kissy Face of his own.

In his office, David put his cell phone back into his pocket and read through the latest email from Sally Torres, his ex-wife.

"How old my girlfriend is does not concern you," he typed. "I didn't ask how old your boy toy was when you left me."

Sally Theriot Torres had been David Torres's third wife. Wife number one had decided, after three years of marriage to a US Marine Lance Corporal that she was gay. She got onto the back of her lover's motorcycle and roared out of David's life.

Wife number two, the mother of his two daughters and one son had loved David with all of her heart and he had loved Penelope Hebert Torres completely as well. Penny's death had been a sudden, tragic occurrence; a wasp crawled into the soda can she was drinking. When Penny took a sip, the wasp stung her on her tongue twice, then stung her throat several times. Penny had suffocated before anyone could do anything to help her.

David had mourned her passing, had been almost too distraught to go on. Several times, lying in the bed they'd shared, he'd thought about suicide, thought of joining her in Heaven.

Thankfully, his two baby girls and his baby boy needed him to be there. The business that David and Penny had started needed him to be there.

David had started off as a manager of the Acadiana Motel on Highway 19. A few years after buying the motel from the owners, who were going through a bitter divorce, he also bought Mickey's, a 'Gentlemen's' Club' right next door to the motel.

(Penny had teased him mercilessly about that.)

As various business became available, David either bought them and revived them, or bought them and sold their assets.

David met Sally at one of Leah's parties. Leah, his oldest daughter, was dating Billy Theriot, Sally's

Brother. David and Sally dated much longer than Leah and Brian did; Leah found rodeo bull rider much more to her liking and gave Brian the 'we'll always be friends but...' speech.

David had bought Casa Ole, set Sally's brother up as manager, and married Sally.

Sally had complained bitterly about signing a pre-nuptial agreement and had even threatened to call off the wedding. David had shrugged and told Sally he would miss her, but until she signed the pre-nup, he would not sign the marriage certificate.

A few years later, she smirked when he came home and found her in bed with much younger man. According to the pre-nuptial agreement, Sally walked away with one hundred thousand dollars. She was actually shocked when Philip, her lover, walked away with her one hundred thousand dollars and disappeared. Philip had promised Sally love and happiness and had also promised, unlike her husband, who was so busy with his work, he would be totally and completely devoted to her.

Now, even though David had managed to get most of her one hundred thousand back for her, Sally was desperately trying to win David back.

Leah, Tonya, and Paul, David's three children, had been accepting, but lukewarm to Sally. None of them had been sorry to see her go.

They were gracious to Cindy, but behind her back, David could see the amused looks his children were giving him.

Tonya, his 'problem child,' smiled widely when David returned their amused look.

Tonya had been their difficult child, into skipping school, doing drugs, sleeping around, and shop-lifting.

Then suddenly, Tonya said, she saw a vision of her mother.

"She was bathed in white and she was crying," Tonya related. "And she told me I was killing her all over Again and the pain I was causing her was a thousand times worse than the wasp stings that killed her."

Leah was now the 'rebellious' one, being married to a bull rider. Tonya was married to a Baptist minister and living in Paulton, Louisiana. Paul, the 'baby' of the family had followed in his father's footsteps into the Marines, then went to college, attending the University of Louisiana at DeGarde, and was now a Hydraulics Engineer, working for Pilot Petroleum in Lowridge, Texas.

Another 'ding' alerted David to yet another email from Sally. This one, like the previous, was extremely insulting toward Cindy. In between snide, cruel comments about Cindy were pleas for another chance to prove her love for him.

"No." was his single word response.

Then he had Brandon, his IT employee come in and show him how to block Sally's emails.

While Brandon ran some updates on David's computer, David was relaxing on his leather couch. He realized, with some surprise, he wasn't fidgeting, waiting for Brandon to finish. He wasn't huffing and puffing, thinking of all the work he should be doing, instead of having to wait on Brandon

To finish. David was relaxing. Sitting back on a very comfortable leather couch, relaxing.

"Been a long time since I've been able to just kick back and relax," David said out loud.

"Yes sir; does a man good to just sit back with a cold one and put his feet up," Brandon agreed as he clicked 'Next' on the computer screen. "Why I go fishing on Sundays. Notice, I said 'fishing' not 'catching.'"

"What you got to do after you finish that?" David asked.

"Nothing; still waiting on the router to get in so I can finish up Virgil's server," Brandon said.

"You finish that, go home, go fishing," David said and got to his feet. "See you tomorrow."

At five o'clock, Trevor wished Ethel a good evening and left the office. He stopped off at Annie's Floral Designs, then Early's Grocery store. Then he drove home.

"In the kitchen," Stephanie called out when he entered his home.

"Hi, oh my," Trevor said, then froze at the sight of Stephanie in nothing but an apron, stirring the lamb stew.

"Hi, how did it go with Valerie Elswell?" she smiled.

Her smile widened as she looked at his expression. She twirled around, lifting the hem of the apron and flashing her hairless pussy at him.

"You like my apron?" she asked.

"Here, these flowers are for you," he said, handing her the vase of roses.

"Oh Baby!" she cried out. "No one's ever given me flowers before!"

"Really?" he asked as she smothered his face with kisses.

"Really! Oh they're beautiful!" she started crying. "Oh, what am I supposed to do? Do I put them in water? I mean, that's what they always say on TV, right?"

"They're already in water, Honey," Trevor said.

"Oh! I have to tell Tara!" Stephanie declared.

"And, here, here's some wine; I think red goes with lamb, I'm pretty sure it does..." Trevor said.

"Oh Tara, you won't believe it!" Stephanie sniffled into her cell phone. "No, no, he got me flowers! They look like roses; those are roses, right?"

She snapped a photo with her cell phone.

"They are? Those are roses?" Stephanie asked. "Oh, I didn't even ask, Honey, what's the occasion?"

"I got Parasols account and..." Trevor said.

"He got a really big account; that magazine, Parasols," Stephanie excitedly told her friend.

After snapping and sending another picture of the roses for Tara, Stephanie got off the phone, turned the stew down to simmer and thanked Trevor by giving him a phenomenal blow job.

Just as he was pumping his load down Stephanie's throat, Kristina let out a cry, letting Mommy and Daddy know she was awake and in need of a clean diaper.

While Trevor fed Kristina her strained peas and chicken and rice meal, Cindy St. George was pulling to a stop in front of her mother's house and frowning.

David's car was in his customary parking space but it was only nineteen minutes after five; she would have been home eight minutes earlier, but had to stop and fill up the car with gas. David very rarely got out of the office before six, most of the time he didn't leave the office until seven o'clock, unless they had plans.

And they didn't have plans. They had plans for Saturday; there was a street fair in Hardington Acres on Saturday and they were planning to go to that. But Saturday was still a few days away.

"Hey, there she is," David smiled as Cindy entered the house.

"Hey, what's up; what are you doing here?" Cindy asked.

"Hey, just wanted to see my favorite girl," David said cheerfully and gave her a kiss.

She changed out of her work clothes into jeans and blouse and left with him to go to Cowboy's BBQ, one of his restaurants.

"So, if you could do anything you wanted, anything at all, what would it be?" David asked as they gnawed on some baby back ribs.

"What do you mean?" Cindy asked, dredging a rib through the sweet barbeque sauce.

"I mean, I know you hate working for that place; what would you rather be doing instead?" David asked and sipped his beer.

Cindy stopped and looked at him for a long moment.

"David, I don't, I don't have any ambitions," she finally admitted.

"What?" he asked, still smiling.

"David, my daddy..." Cindy gulped back the tears that threatened to spill out, then swallowed some sweet iced tea.

"David, I've known since I got tits, I'm just a stupid whore. All I'm good for is fucking and sucking," Cindy admitted.

David lost the smile as Cindy wiped at her eyes.

"So, why have any fucking ambitions when you're too God damned stupid have any?" she asked.

"Cindy, who told you all of that?" David asked, shocked.

"My dad," Cindy said. "And he's my dad; he should know, right?"

She wiped her eyes again, then resumed eating. David stared at her for a long moment, then slowly resumed eating, though it certainly didn't taste as sweet as before.

"And for dessert; we got peach cobbler, banana pudding, or pecan pie; what'll y'all have?" their waitress asked.

"Any of that come with ice cream?" Cindy asked as she put the last bone onto the discard pile.

"Cobbler and pie," the waitress agreed.

"Cobbler," Cindy decided.

'Nothing for me," David mumbled.

After they finished eating, David helped her into his car, then suddenly drove her to his office.

"Ooh, I get to see where you work?" she asked, her good humor having returned with the dessert.

"Uh huh," David agreed and unlocked the door.

"Oh, Mr. Torres!" Cindy smiled as she saw his office. "And you have a couch? Now why do you have a nice leather couch in your office?"

"Come here," David said, not biting on the hook she was playfully dangling in front of him.

Cindy lost the smile as David sat down at his desk and started his computer.

"What's wrong? I do something..." she asked softly.

"Come here," David ordered and pulled her onto his lap.

"Here," he said and clicked on an icon on his computer screen.

"What? What are we looking at?" Cindy asked as David quickly scrolled down the page.

"This," David said. "These are all of the companies I own. And this is how much money they're all worth."

"Okay," Cindy said and looked at him, not at the computer screen.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" he asked her, voice a little harsh.

"No," she said, slowly shaking her head.

"You must," he snapped, turning off his computer. "You must think I'm really stupid.

"But I don't," Cindy protested.

"No, Cindy," he said, easing her off his lap and standing up.

He marched to the door of his office. Cindy stood, unsure of what to do, what to think.

"Either that, or you must think I'm just a foolish old man, some pathetic old fart," he yelled.

"No, David, I..." Cindy said, coming around the desk toward him.

"God damn, what a joke I must be huh? Just some gullible old nan, running around with a beautiful young kid," David yelled.

"David, please, please stop," Cindy sobbed, reaching for him.

"What Cindy?" David asked, clutching her hands in his large paws. "Huh? What is it? Why would a beautiful young woman like you..."

"You're the beautiful one," Cindy sobbed, trying to break out of his strong grasp, trying to put her arms around him. "When I'm with you, I feel so lucky, so..."

"And that's how I feel when I'm with you, Sweetheart," he admitted.

"Then what?" Cindy asked, sobbing harder.

"Then you tell me I'm fooling myself, that I'm just running around with a whore," David said, kissing her.

"But David, that's what I am, ," Cindy cried.

"No, damn it, no, you're not," David yelled. "Maybe that's what you were, maybe that's what you used to be, but that's not what you are now, Cindy. Damn it!"

"Then what am I?" she screamed. "What am I? What would a gorgeous, sophisticated man like you want with me, huh?"

"I'd want to love you, that's what I'd want," David confessed. "All right? I'd want to love you until the day I die."

"You what?" Cindy asked, stunned.

"I want to love you," David repeated. "I want to love you, and take care of you, marry you, have kids; you can have kids, huh? Do you even like kids?"

"Yeah, I love kids; why I baby sat every brat on my block," Cindy agreed. "I was 'Best Baby Sitter in DeGarde' three years in a row when I was a kid."

David sat on his couch and pulled her onto his lap.

"Now, let me ask you again, if you could be anything, anything at all, what would it be?" he asked.

"A mom," she said without hesitation. "I've always wanted to be a mom; I just didn't think I'd ever get anyone that wanted kids with me."