Chapter 17

Jennifer

"...approaching the house now", Liam said from the front seat. 

"We have a early day tomorrow", I said with a yawn despite the just now setting sun. Looking over to the empty spot Alejandro had said in all day. I had to take him to The national Palace to get a message to an important man.

"We'll be ready, Mrs. Caffery", Liam responded. I just wanted to crawl into bed. Everything had been perfectly set up today to have the Domino's fall tomorrow. Hopefully Adam didn't mind watching the kids for one more day solo.

"Thank you, for everything you did today. It doesn't go unnoticed"

"I know, ma'am. It's always a pleasure being on your detail like old times".

"Exactly", I laughed ask the car rolled through the gates to the main entrance of the house. My feet were killing me, so I wasted no time kicking off my heels and walking barefoot into the house as the fire alarm sounded off. "KIDS?!ADAM?!"

"Mom!" Alma cried running into my arms like she was a little girl again. She hugged me tightly as heavy tears flowed from her eyes.

"Baby, what's wrong? What happened?"

In between panicked breaths she was barely able to get out,"Dad....is ...ruining....my... career---".

"Mommy!" Daniel moaned from the top of the stairs with a face flushed in pink wrapped in one of the crocheted blankets I made for him when he was a baby. He looked worst then I left him this morning.

"Daniel, come down stairs", This wasn't just a 24-hour bug. I needed to get him to a real hospital. "Something is on fire".

"That's just Dad cooking", Fitz shouted falling behind Daniel as they descended the stairs. I had a household of children each wanting my attention fully.

"Dad's going to ruin my career! I'll never work again!"

"I don't feel good".

"Dad killed Maria".

That last one worried me,"What did Dad do to Maria?"

"I don't know", Fitz's shrugged. "She been sleeping all day like she's dead".

Daniel rubbed his head against my hip So hard I was sure he was going to knock me over. I picked him up like he wanted and he immediately sank into the crook of my neck.

O he smelled.

I loudly announced,"The house is on fire! Everyone get out of the house! Out of the house! Out of the house and meet at the fountain".

No one argued and my children shuffled out the front door. I had Alma hold Daniel's hand and move to the fountain. I quickly made a beeline for the kitchen to find Maria exactly where it Fitz had said she was, passed out at the kitchen island. I ignored the path of black smoke coming from the oven as I grabbed my baby and rushed out the door. Passing a confused Lara who knew to just follow the leader out the door.

"What happened?!" She panicked as I quickly called emergency services. I gave the operator our address and quickly disconnected the call. Everyone from Lara down to Fitz wanted something.

Daniel threw up.

Alma screamed.

"Let it all out", We're going to the hospital the night anyway. Daniel couldn't continue on like this that was surprised his body wasn't completely dehydrated.

"Dad called me stupid", Fitzgerald pouted.

"You're not stupid", I stated.

"My career is ruined! And I had to be hosed down in the backyard after being thrown up on!" Alma cried.

"What?" There was a lot to process with Alma's story. And I didn't quite have the brain capacity to do that right now. I started to speak when I caught a whiff of alcohol.... Coming from Maria's mouth.

"Did someone give Maria alcohol?" Vodka specifically.

"Dad, probably did", Fitzgerald said quick to throw Adam under the bus.

Oh for the love of God! That's an easy no. Before I could ask another question everyone bombarded me with their complaints.

I snapped,"I need mouthes closed and force on me", everyone fell into silence,"Where is Dad?"

Fitzgerald raised his hand,"Burning down the kitchen making dinner".

O God.

"Ma'am! Ma'am!" Liam shouted sprinting across the front lawn over to us. "The fire brigade is here".

"I want you all to sit. And not another word", I demanded sternly as I resituated Maria's weight on my hip. They nodded yes.

I truly did not have the energy feel with this but I didn't have any other option. I didn't think we had any drugs or guns just laying around that would raise suspicion. Liam controlled  Alejandro's men and had them fall back away from the authorities and the firefighters entered the house. And after an hour they exited the house with Adam assuring me the house was safe and the fire was put out. The biggest hassle we were going to have to deal with was replacing the oven.

I could feel my eye twitching and I knew my blood pressure was rising. But I stayed calm, as looked at an exhausted and a bit fried Adam.

"Well hopefully your day was better than mine", he stated as I waved the children over to come back into the house.

"Did you give Maria alcohol?"

"I did".

All I could do was take a deep breath what had happened had already happened and I couldn't change that,"Can I ask why?"

"At the time he was easier to give her the alcohol than the thing that she actually wanted".

"Which is?"

"Apparently, to be a drug lord".

As everyone ran towards me with their individual complaints still at the forefront of their mind I stopped the chaos before it even started,"Lineup, and we will handle your problem in the order it was received".

Alma was first in line.

"Dad is ruining my career! Carnegie Hall has offered me a contract to play, I can't turn down one of the biggest venues in the world. I'll be blacklisted as a diva".

"Agreed", I said handing Maria to Adam.

"What? Love, We're in the middle of an emergency---"

"Relax. I don't think you should play, but we will play this game. Tell Nana that you want to renegotiate your price and make it something astronomical as they absolutely can't afford. You'll enter negotiations for you to play and by the time you finally come to an agreement this should all be taken care of. This buys you time in the world now that you'll not just some cheap performer, your skills are next to none and they should be paid at that rate".

"Okay", Alma said with a release of breath as if she were holding her breath.

"Anything else?".

"No", she said happily.

"Now what happened with the water hose?"

"Daniel threw up on me and Dad holds me off in the back".

I turn to Adam,"our child is not a dog You can just take in the back and spritz with water. Don't ever do that again".

"Yes, ma'am".

"Okay, you can go inside and go to to your room", I said as Alma made her way inside,"Next, Laura what do you got?"

"Nothing. Are we not going to have dinner?"

"Dinner will be provided but it will be carry out".

"Sweet, I'm good", Lara said making her way into the house as well.

"Daniel, I know you're sick. But other than your tummy it's everything else okay?"

"I have a fever", he moaned.

"I felt that", I admitted. "Did you take your medicine I left out for you?"

"You can't get better unless you take your medicine. You know that. We're going to break this fever and hopefully you can start holding down some food. I want you to go to bed and I'm going to set up an IV to get some fluids into you".

"Okay", He said coming to hug my waist. "Will you sit with me?"

"Of course I will. Up to bed", I said softly as he slowly made his way into the house and up the stairs. "And Fitzgerald what---"

"DAD CALLED ME AN IDIOT! AND I CAN'T HELP IT IF I'M STUPID!"

"I did not!" Adam shouted back.

"You are not stupid. Fitz you work really hard in school. We all know that. You may be a bit of a procrastinator but when you really do try you do try. There's nothing stupid about you".

"Dad said,'How do you fail when a whole wing of the school has your last name on it'. I don't know! I guess I'm just stupid!"

"You are not. So stop saying that. No one is a road scholar at the age of eight---"

"Daniel is".

"Daniel likes to learn. You don't like to learn so it takes a little bit longer. And you can't compare yourself to Daniel. There's only one Fitz and he's a amazing guy. I think you should be a little bit easier on yourself".

"You don't think I'm stupid", he said softly. I knelt down so we were eye level.

"Of course not", I said. I used to worry a lot about Fitz always being behind the curve. But I just had to teach myself there were different levels of intelligence. Sure he may not be book smart but he was street and emotionally smart. Out of all of my children if I had to ask one to go to the store and pick up milk I did not have to worry about Fitz being thrown in the back of a car, getting sidetracked, getting lost or even tricked. "And Dad doesn't think that either. If anyone could understand the struggle of school it would be him".

Fitzgerald rolled his eyes not wanting to hear it."You're still going to help me with my math?"

"Yes", He would think Adam would be able to help him with his math at this level. But I wasn't going to be picky or petty. "First thing tomorrow morning before I leave".

"What?" Adam gasped.

"You're leaving again?"

"I have to meet someone very important who's not in the country right now. But he will be tomorrow. And then I won't have any more meetings".

"Okay..."

"What do you want for dinner?"

"I get to pick?"

"Yes", I smiled.

"Pizza".

"Okay.... pepperoni?"

"Yes, and---"

"Breadsticks", I said matching his excitement.

"O, and a cheese pizza for Alma. And cinnamon rolls for Lara. And 7up for Daniel's stomach. In a tiny pizza with cheesy crust and sausage and bacon for Maria with a Pepsi", see emotional intelligence. Fitzgerald knew exactly what everyone wanted right down to the smallest details.

"Got it. Go make sure your PlayStation hasn't burned in the fire", Fitz ran upstairs. And I shouted,"And I want my Adele record back in my room".

"Yes, mom", he shouted back.

Now it was just Adam, a passed out Maria and I. "Before you even start I know it wasn't a good day. I did the best I could with a thousand problems being thrown at me. I know you do this every day and I should be better by now but I'm not. It hadn't even been 2 hours since you left and Daniel was telling me I know you don't like me but be nice to me because I'm sick. And I love the kids, I'm not trying to be like Roger. I want to be a good Dad. But it feels like I've lost something. I don't really know them like you know them. And that bullshit. Like I feel like I should know that fits can't have sodas because he farts war crimes. I know music is important to Alma and I'm not trying to ruin her career. But I don't know what to say. Daniel is so picky and precise of what he wants and how he expects it it drives me crazy. I shared my first drink with Brandon probably when I was seven so I didn't see a problem with giving Maria what I thought was going to be a sip. She downed the whole glass of vodka like it was water. And I did not call Fitz stupid. If anything he gets that from my side of the fucking family because none of us except Brandon went to college. Seeing him struggle is like looking at my fucking self.The only one I didn't piss off a fuck up was Lara because she can do everything on her own. And then you got the cooking, the cleaning and the puke. So much from such a little body. And it's disgusting. I don't remember it being this hard when they were babies. It seemed easy then".

"I think it was harder when they were babies. It's easier now because they can tell me what's wrong and I can fix it", I said. "Adam, I'm here with them all the time. You barely get to see them on the weekends and by the time you get home they're in bed asleep. Of course I have a better relationship with them. It's the only reason I can is because you take care of us. Laura understands that. Alma is starting to get that. But the twins and Daniel they're nowhere near close, that will just come in time. The twins in Daniel are at a funny age, They know some things but they're mostly still just going off of emotions. That's why it hurts Fitzgerald so much when you even hint at him not being as smart as Daniel. And on the flip side you have Daniel who wishes he could be like Fitz to be the life and death of every party, to make friends so easily without a second thought. And Maria worship the ground walk on---"

"Not anymore", he stated telling me about the conversation they had.

"I'm always going to be Mom. But you always be dad the drug lord to her. Am I excited about this interest? No. But if this is what she wants and I would give it a large birth to let her truly figure out if this is what she wants then why not?"

"There is nothing I can say that's not going to make me look like a misogynistic sexist asshole".

"Then don't. Because if you try and force Daniel to walk this path you will be no better than Roger and I know you don't want that", I warned.

"We could always scare her straight?"

"I don't like where this is going", I stated.

"Take her with you tomorrow".

"She's going to be hungover like a mother fucker tomorrow", I confessed.

"It just adds to it. Who are you going to meet tomorrow anyway?"

"The President of Mexico".

"What do you have planned?"

"Alejandro", was all I needed to say.

"Yeah, let her see that. Then I guarantee she's not going to want to walk in my footsteps.

"I will think about it. And depending on how much of a headache she has will determine if she comes".

"Fair enough".

"Put her to bed. I'm going to order the pizza. Then go to bed yourself, you've had a long day", And he got to do it again tomorrow. I would try and be as quick as I could. But there were no guarantees I would be back before another meltdown happened.

"I don't give ever said anything so sexy".

I laughed,"Go to bed old man. I got this".