“Shawanda grew ... angry, she decided then and there to take her father’s plans and made them her own. A few weeks after that, Black Puma made her...first appearance in Shabby Heights. The rest, as they say, is history.” He stood, walked to a bookcase, and pulled a bottle of scotch from a secret compartment, pouring a generous amount into a glass. Lifting the glass, he drank it down, turned and smiled at Lacey.“Care for a drink?”“No,” she answered, “you’re worried.”“Shawanda Jones can take care. She giggled ‘Yeah… but I’ve always wanted to say that.’ ‘Mind if I ask you a question?’ ‘Sure, knock yourself out.’ She grinned. ‘How do you control that big thing?’ I tried to look as serious as I could when I asked this. She let out a real belly laugh and gave me such a pitiful look. ‘I know, I know, the bigger the gun the harder it is to handle. Right?’ I nodded. ‘Yeah. As you go up in caliber the recoil gets to be much bigger.’ ‘Well… that’s not the case here.’ She replied. ‘The gun. They would pay dearly.“I love you Jack. Sleep well. You are going to stay with Grams until I can figure out what is happening with your mom.” I kissed him on the forehead and moved to her sister.“Jill, I love you and I am trying to make sure that your mom is safe and can come home to us. You are the quiet one, but I need you to take care of the others.” I kissed her on the forehead.“Good night, my little loves.”“Good night daddy.” Jack answered first.“Daddy?”“Yes MJ?”“Can I say a prayer for. “Thank you. You really don’t know what that means to me.”No,” I said softly. “But we all care about you. This whole day was planned very explicitly for you and for Amber.”“So you getting married...” she started in shock.“Oh no. That was very real.”“Oh. Oh. Wow.” She smiled at me in a way that might have knocked my socks off once upon a time. She truly was a beautiful girl.“You are very, very welcome,” I said softly.“Bondy?” she asked slowly.I nodded. “And Sandra and Mrs Clarke. Adam and John.