Meet the Evans Clan (MATURE)end: ch. 45 7/29/16

[Roswelllostcause]

Philip should know better than to even think of lying to his daughter in law! Liz will not be happy with him!



Helen

[begonia9508]

Hey Ginger, great part!

Of course Liz won't believe him! But I understand Philip who wants to protect his son's family. But Liz isn't stupid and wait for something else to happen because it will certainly happen, no?

Thanks Ginger waiting for more! EVE

[keepsmiling7]

I can't wait to see Bradley in deep trouble.
All's well as long as JP has the huge skillet and his kicking boots.
Thanks Ginger,
Carolyn

[mary mary]

Roswelllostcause: I'm not so sure Philip thinks he's lying to Liz at this point. If nothing comes of this inquiry then there will be no need to rock the boat so to speak...
Eve: You're right...yes.
Carolyn: LOL, JP will take care of his mom, bless his little heart.

Chapter: 12

It was after 5:00 p.m. and Liz was in the kitchen starting dinner, she was still a nervous wreck over the entire incident and, truth be known, she also felt better with the new skillet on the stove. Max would be home soon, everyone was safe and sound and having great fun, so she relaxed a little. The boys were outside, or so she thought, when she heard the slamming of the back door. She looked up from her work at the counter only to see JP head up the back staircase and she figured he was on an important mission and didn’t give it a second thought. Soon JP came back down the stairs carrying his little back pack filled to over flowing and headed to the front door.

“JP, where are you going?”

“I’M RUNNING AWAY!!!” The child yelled…He was livid.

Liz put the paring knife on the counter, wiped her hands on the dish towel that was lying next to her and walked to the front hallway slowly…

“Well, where do you think you’ll be headed?” She asked calmly, trying very hard not to smile because JP was really angry about something.

“I don’t know yet?” He scowled as he looked down at his shoes.

“Well, do you think you have enough money to get someplace?” Liz asked her youngest who seemed to stop and think about that for a minute.

“I packed my piggy bank but I don’t know how much I have. Do I need a lot?”

“Well, I don’t know, depends on where you’re going. Let’s sit down on the steps a minute and check it out.”

“Okay.” JP was agreeable to that idea…

So mother and son sat on the second step from the landing and opened the little back pack that JP used for preschool. Mom with her feet on the landing and child with his feet resting on the first step they proceeded to look for the piggy bank in the back pack. Liz noticed that he was wearing his ‘kicking’ boots and inside the back pack he had his favorite story book, his favorite hot wheels and lo and behold, clean underwear. It was getting really tough for Liz to keep a straight face. He even had one of Max’s tee-shirts and he hadn’t needed one of those in months. She really had to stifle a laugh when that showed up, and then he pulled out his piggy bank.

“Well, shall we count it up and see what you have?” she managed to say with a straight face.

“Yup!” He replied just as serious as anyone could be.

“Let’s see…oh boy, you have a five dollar bill in here. Where did you get that?”

“Grandpa gave it to me when I helped take out the trash at his house.”

“Wow, five dollars, there must have been a lot of trash.”

“Yeah, but I just carried some of it.”

“Oh. Well let’s see…there’s some quarters in here and, oh, look…here’s a ninja badge. Do you think that you can trade that for something?”

“No, I’m hiding it from Parker…he said he could use it at school.”

“Hmmm, what do you think he could use it for?”

“I don’t know but he can’t have it. And he can keep his old baseball mitt and bat too. He said I’m too little to play catch with him and Gerard and I’m going to go somewhere where I’m not too little to play baseball…do you want to come with me?” He looked up at his mom with hope in his eyes.

“Oh, I don’t know JP…mommies don’t usually run away from home. They have too much to do. Why don’t you stay here with me for awhile and maybe when daddy gets home he can play baseball with you. Daddy doesn’t think you’re too little to play and after dinner maybe I can play too, unless you don’t want to play with a girl. What do you think?”

“Well, I don’t know…I really think I should run away. It would probably be better… that way I can find more kids my age to play with.” He looked up at his mother with the hope still in his eyes that was there a minute ago.

“Hmmm, well, if you stay home with me and wait until next year you can find lots of kids your age at school and you won’t have to spend your money, annnnd… you will be old enough to play T-ball too. What are you going to buy yourself for dinner?”

“Maybe a snickers bar, what do you think?” And he frowned at his mom in thought…

“Oh, snickers bars are good but don’t you think it would be better to have a snickers bar for dessert and eat something else for dinner?” Liz raised her eyebrows just a little in question…

“What are you fixing for dinner here?” JP asked thoughtfully,

“Buskettie.”

Liz wasn’t really planning on spaghetti but the occasion was calling for it…it was his favorite and she needed to play every card she had, she wanted it to be JP’s idea to stay home.

“Well, maybe I can wait and play ball with dad…do we have any snickers bars?”

Now he was playing his mom, but she knew that, and it was okay…

“Well, if we don’t we will go buy some and you can save your money, what do you say?” Liz smiled knowingly,

“Okay, but don’t tell Parker where my badge is…I don’t want him to get it.” JP whispered, he was very serious about his ninja badge …

“It’s a secret JP so I won’t tell…now why don’t you go put all of your things away and I’ll go finish up the buskettie? Does that sound like a plan?”

This game was coming to a close and both mother and son knew it...

“Yup.” And JP started putting his little belongings back into his backpack along with his clean underwear and trudged back up the stairs to put them away.

Unbeknownst to Liz, Max had come in through the backdoor and saw her and JP sitting on the steps so he decided to eavesdrop…He couldn’t love her more if there was even a way to do it. How she managed to be so good with these kids with her upbringing never ceased to amaze him. He walked over, took a seat next to her, put his arm around her waist and drew her in close to him. He planted a kiss on her temple and proceeded to tell her how his mother dealt with his running away…

“She told me ‘I came into this world with nothing and I could leave with nothing’ and then she stripped me naked and sent me out the front door.”

“She did not!?!” Liz was indignant as all get out and didn’t believe him for one minute…

“Oh yes she did.” Max looked down at her very seriously, stifling the laugh he was trying so desperately to contain.

“What did you do?” Liz raised her eyes to meet her husbands in question…

“I hid in the corner of the porch and when dad came home he asked me what in the hell I thought I was doing and I told him mom threw me out. Liz, I wish you could have seen the look on his face…I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. Honest to God, he looked like he wanted to bust wide open with laughter but instead he opened the front door and yelled at mom. He told her he found a naked homeless kid on the front porch and asked her if she had room for him and mom told him if the kid knew how to behave himself to bring him on in.” and Max looked away in deep thought, as he remembered the incident as if it were yesterday…

“Max Evans, you are making that up.” Liz still didn’t believe him for a minute…

And then Max turned back toward his wife…

“No Liz, I swear to God, it’s the whole truth. I never tried to run away again…I could only imagine all my friends seeing me on the streets naked and I never tried it again.”

“I still think you made that up…come help me in the kitchen, tonight’s menu changed and I might need something from the market besides snickers.”

Max got up and gave Liz a hand to pull her up and as she stood he wrapped her in his arms and grinned…

“I love you and the story is true.”

And he gave her a proper kiss before heading to the kitchen. Liz still wasn’t sure about Max’s story but he seemed like he was telling the truth. ‘Nah, Diane would never do that…would she?’ She thought to herself.

*

Soon JP showed up in the kitchen and saw his mom and dad both working at the island and he asked his dad if he wanted to play catch with him…

“Of course I want to play catch with you buddy…do you have your mitt and a ball?” Max gave his little son a great big smile and waited for his response.

“Yup, do you need yours?” JP asked his dad and Max looked at his son and grinned. He really didn’t need his mitt but he definitely would make this a grown up game of catch and so he leaned over and kissed Liz on the nose and told her she was on her own.

She looked up into those beautiful honey eyes and grinned…

“Have fun…I’ll call you when dinner is ready, yummy Max.” And they both grinned at
each other and Max gave Liz’s fanny a little smack as he walked past to go get his mitt.



Max’s heart just swelled and he chuckled at the idea of playing catch with JP…he put his whole heart and soul into it and it was a blast just to watch him.

(A/N: Picture of the little baseball star is taken from the “Make A Wish” campaign. I love it! It says it all.)

*~*~*

About that time Bree and Dee Dee came into the kitchen and took a look around.

“I thought we were having chicken tonight?” Briana asked her mother…

“We are, chicken cacciatore and salad with garlic bread.” Liz smiled.

“What happened to mashed potatoes and gravy?” Deana wanted to know.

“There’s been a change of plans. Are you finished with your project?”

She smiled at her daughters and realized they were growing into quite the young ladies. She wasn’t too sure she was ready for that.

“Yes mom, all finished and we need you to look at it and tell us what else it needs.”

Liz smiled again…they were never totally sure of themselves and so needed approval with everything. She and Max needed to help them to become more self confident, but then, a little approval never hurt anyone. She wiped her hands on the towel lying on the counter and headed to the dining room table. The girls had assembled pictures on a poster board of the civil war and used the computer to print out, in large bold letters, descriptions of the various scenes in the photographs. They had taken colored felt tip markers and made frames for each depiction and aligned everything to form a battle field. It was truly amazing for eight year olds and Liz was bursting with pride.

“Girls, it’s just beautiful. I wouldn’t change a thing. When do you need to take it to school?”

The girls were thrilled that their mom liked their work and they told her that it didn’t need to be at school until Monday. That was when all the rooms were getting ready for the open house.

“Do you think that Grandma and Grandpa Evans and Parker can come?”

“I’m sure they can come and they are going to be so pleased when they see the work you have done. It truly is beautiful.” And Liz hugged both of her girls and kissed them on the cheek.

“Now, let’s get this buskettie cooking so we can get to the market and buy some snickers for dessert tonight.”

“Snickers? How come?”

“It’s a bribe so’s JP won’t run away from home.”

“Oh…did he know where he was going to go?” Bree asked, it seems that nothing JP could do would surprise any of them.

“No, but he wanted to take me with him. He thinks he needs kids his own age to play with so he was going to go find some.” Liz answered nonchalantly.

“Oh…well… we’re glad all he needed was a snickers.”

“Oh no, he could have bought his own snickers…he’s staying for the spaghetti.” Liz informed.

“OH!!! That’s why we aren’t having mashed potatoes and gravy…can we have them tomorrow?” Big brown eyes looked questioningly!

“Of course; now put your poster somewhere safe and I’ll set the table.”

“Okay.” And off they went.

Liz thought to herself…one more crisis averted at the Evans household and with that thought she was off to the kitchen once again. She smiled as she went, tossing her dish towel in the air and catching it as it floated toward her.

And someone sitting outside the estate sat in his automobile and smiled to himself.

*~*~*

[Roswelllostcause]

JP really is something else! The girls are so sweet and understanding of their little brother!



Helen

[keepsmiling7]

Cliff hanger, who's sitting outside?

JP is just precious........wonder where he would have run off to........maybe to the grandparents? We already know that's an easy $5.00 for taking out trash. We have only one grandson that lives close to us, and he does lots of work around the house, and is paid very well.
Thanks for the smiles you brought me today,
Carolyn

[mary mary]

Helen: I think the girls have a breaking point, but they have learned to think things through as much as a child that age is capable of. I hope they are anyway.
Carolyn: I agree, JP is precious and I don't think it's because he's the baby, I think it's an inbred thing in this case. He loveable and he's loving...he's also a little con artist in his own way. But I think all of the adults that he deals with are well aware of his little tricks. I know what you mean about grandparents...I truly believe we are all alike. I even over-pay my neighbor's granddaughter when she does work for me. It just seems like the right thing to do...
Eve: I haven't heard from you this week, I hope you're off having fun and not under the weather.


Chapter: 13

It was now Friday morning and Max was taking JP with him to the children’s facility for his usual pre-school session so Liz planned on doing some grocery shopping for the week-end and to also run a few other errands while she had some time to herself. As she dropped the twins off at school she had a funny feeling come over her… it felt as though someone was watching her.

She turned around in her seat and checked the school grounds and then her rear view mirror but she couldn’t see anyone she knew nor pinpoint any strange vehicles so she shook it off and proceeded to head on out to the market. She kept checking her side and rear view mirrors but the eerie feeling would not leave. She figured she was still getting over Don’s visit earlier in the week and shrugged it off.

*

As she pulled into the super market parking lot she noticed Officer Bradley getting out of his vehicle and heading into the store.

‘That’s strange’ she thought to herself, ‘I’ve never noticed him in this neighborhood before, I wonder what he’s doing over here?’ Philip assured her that things were on the up and up at the PD so she ignored it and went on in to do her shopping.

As she reached for her grocery cart Officer Bradley was coming toward her with a box of donuts in his hand and walked right up to her…

“Good morning Mrs. Evans. Fancy meeting you here…I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop and get some donuts for the office on my way in. Isn’t it a little early for you to be out and about? How’s JP doing? Not frightened or bothered is he?”

“Yes, fancy meeting you here Officer Bradley. I didn’t know that you were from around this neighborhood?” Liz ignored the rest of his pleasantries…she was starting to feel a little suspicious of this person. After her past experiences it was not hard to be suspicious…she didn’t believe in coincidences anymore.

“Oh, I’m not actually. We have another case we are working on in this area and I’m just heading on in to the office to report in. Are you doing okay?”

“I’m doing just fine Officer Bradley; now if you’ll excuse me I really have a lot to do before it’s time to pick up JP at pre-school. Have a nice day.” And Liz took off down the produce aisle before the man had a chance to detain her any longer. She didn’t know if she should tell Max or Philip about this incident or not. It seemed innocent enough but after this weeks events she just wasn’t comfortable about anything that seemed ‘coincidence’.

After Liz finished her grocery shopping she headed to the dry cleaner and picked up Max’s good suit and her dress slacks before running to the bakery for a few treats for the kids. They still got their pies from Connecticut but there were many other treats that children preferred besides their dad’s favorite pies; then she headed on home. She still had that uncomfortable feeling but she put it in the back of her mind and continued on. Too much was going on.

By the time she got home Max was home with JP so they all had lunch together and then they decided to take the entire group to the movies after they picked up the twins at school. Max had been fighting an eerie feeling all morning and took the afternoon off to be with his family, he didn’t tell Liz why he came home early though…she was skittish enough about the week’s events and she certainly didn’t need him feeding fuel to the fire.

It was decided that the new Disney movie was just the thing they all needed so Liz made some sandwiches and threw some snacks in a chest and put it in the back of the SUV and they took off for school together. It was a great idea, so they thought.

After they picked up the kids they headed to the park for a small picnic consisting of sandwiches, fruit, cookies and some flavored water before heading to the theater. They had about an hour to kill before the movie started so there was a little time for them to run off their pent up energy and to get settled down before leaving the park. All of the kids were excited and ready for some fun, the weeks activities had been weighing on them as well.

When they arrived at the theater guess who they ran into? That’s right… Officer Bradley and his son were there waiting in line to go in to see the same movie. Liz got a really creepy sensation up the back of her neck and she started to shiver. Max put his arm around her shoulders and gave a little squeeze to let her know he was there. She didn’t say anything to him, she just nodded, but she definitely was going to get to the bottom of this. How did he know where they would be? Liz didn’t think this was just some random ‘guess who I ran into’ act and then she began to wonder how he was aware of her every move? She was definitely going to get to the bottom of this.

After the movie they headed on home and while Max took care of Jack the kids headed to their rooms to put their things away for the week-end and Liz started to nose around the kitchen for something strange. She had no idea what she was looking for but she was certain there was something and she would recognize it when she saw it.

She looked behind all of the kitchen appliances, the decorative shelves between the dinette and the kitchen. She grabbed the step stool she kept for getting into the higher cupboards and climbed up and took a look at the shelves that were over the one large cabinet and then she spotted something on top of the refrigerator that didn’t look familiar. She moved the stool over to the refrigerator and stood on the top step… and she knew she had found it; the object that she was looking at did not belong there.

About that time Max came into the kitchen and asked her if he could help her find something and she looked down at him with a strange look on her face and said…

“No, I think I can reach it.” And she pointed to the object lying on the refrigerator and motioned with her index finger over her lips to be quiet about it.


“Oh, okay.” And Max nodded and helped Liz down and took a step up to the first step of the ladder. Liz stood back and crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself. She was on the verge of tears as she watched Max. He looked puzzled for a second and then motioned for Liz to follow him outside after folding the ladder and putting it back between the refrigerator and cabinet in its usual place, Liz followed right on his heels.

When they got outside Max took hold of Liz and spoke very softly in order to calm her down…he knew she was about to come unglued and he wanted her to feel safe…

“Honey, I think that’s some sort of surveillance device, we should call the police but I think maybe we need to call dad first. What made you look for this? How do you want to handle this sweetie, help me out here, something’s just not right?”

Max was very concerned and knew that the only people in the house were the cops, EMT’s and Adams and he doubted that Adams had access to this equipment and what would the EMT’s want to do this for?

“God Max, I think your dad is the better choice. I think that Officer Bradley put it there. He was at the market this morning and then again at the movies and I’ve had this really creepy feeling all day. Like someone has been watching me. Your dad knows policemen that he trusts, what do you think? I think if we call the P.D. then we just might alert the person who did this, don’t you agree?”

Max hugged Liz tighter and then said…

“We’ll call dad first, now you go back inside and pretend like everything is okay and I’ll take care of the phone call. Are you okay?” Liz nodded and with that Max reached down and kissed her on the forehead before letting her go.

Liz went back into the house and found Deana and JP in the kitchen arguing over what they should have for dinner and Liz just rolled her eyes and had to step in, surveillance equipment forgotten for the moment…

“What’s the problem in here? Do you two need a mediator?” She sounded a whole lot more stern than she usually did and two little pairs of eyes looked up at their mother and neither looked like they wanted to push her too far, they both knew better…

Deana spoke first, rather determinedly after getting over her mother’s attack on her and JP’s argument.

“We’re having mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner, right?” She demanded from her mother…

“Yes, we are. Why?” Liz was trying very hard to control hysteria.

“Because JP said we’re having spaghetti again and I told him we had ‘busketti’ last night so he wouldn’t run away…right?”

‘Oh God’, thought Liz….

“We had spaghetti last night and we are having mashed potatoes and gravy tonight because I promised we would and besides, we don’t eat busketti two nights in a row. We have to have something different tonight. You know that JP. You can’t always have your own way… there are other people living here as well as you and they get their turn. Now the subject is closed,” She really wanted to scream right now and these two weren’t helping.

JP looked at his sister who was ready to stick her tongue out at him when Liz caught her eye and Deana thought better of it and headed to the stairway before she really got into trouble. JP looked at his mother and said,

“Is there any busketti left from last night?” Liz just cringed…

“Yes JP but you are not going to eat it for dinner tonight. You can have it for lunch tomorrow and not one minute before.” Liz knew she spoiled all of them but sometime they had to play by the rules and JP knew what those rules were as well as the rest of them.

Then JP popped up with…

“How about breakfast? Can I have it for breakfast?” He asked with this sheepish look on his face.

Liz grinned down at her son; he had a way of making bad things go away even if it was only for a little while,

“No. Now if you don’t want to help me fix dinner I suggest you go find something to do besides trying to get your own way again. Are we clear?”

“Yes mom…and I’ll help if you want me to.” JP added with a grin.

“No, you can go help daddy. I think he’s cleaning Jack’s dishes and playing with him a little bit.” And then Liz thought about what Max really was doing and she had to back pedal quickly….

“JP, before you go out to help daddy can you get me the new frying pan out of the pantry, I don’t think I want to use this great big one tonight.”

“Oh, okay mom…the little red one?”

“Yes JP, the little red one.”

And outside, down the street, the man sat in his car and smiled. Never the wiser.

*~*~*

[Roswelllostcause]

Oh I am so creeped out by that officer Bradley! Hope that everything works out for the Evans family!



Helen

[keepsmiling7]

Sure hope Phillip can stop this Officer Bradley before something else happens to this sweet family.
The kids arguing over the supper menu sounds all too familiar. Except I never remember giving my kids a choice.
Hope all is well with you.
Thanks,
Carolyn

[begonia9508]

Hey Ginger,

Two fantastic parts!

I had to laugh at how stubborn her little son is! My daughter was like that but my son, never!

Anyway, it is creepy again, in this story and I can't think of a reason why... They are people who have nothing to do in their life than to ruin the one from others... definitely!

Looking for more and I hope you're doing well! EVE