Published: 14 May 2026

From the Previous Chapter:

He, again, told himself that he needed to make time for the boys, each one of them, but he was at a loss for how he could do that with everything that was on his plate right now. He thought to himself that maybe he had overextended himself, while attempting to build a larger business empire than he already had amassed. This was something that he also told himself that he needed to answer after the Holidays.

The owner of The Cove, dad, as well as foster dad, knew that he couldn’t fix it tonight, so he reached over and turned off the light and then crawled under the covers. As the night moved on the entire Cover household was quiet and everyone slept peacefully.

Instead of getting up at six o’clock, as he normally would on school days, Ken Thomas set his alarm for seven o’clock that Sunday morning. That was so he would have time to get himself cleaned up, dressed and outside to retrieve his morning newspaper, and have some time to read through it before the boys came down to go out to breakfast.

After coming inside with his newspaper, Mr. Ken set it down on the table in front of where he usually sat, and then went over to the counter to get his first cup of coffee. He took his favorite cup out of the cupboard, set it down and then filled it with the hot brew.

He could smell the flavor coming off the blend that he liked, and he was looking forward to drinking that cup of coffee, and hopefully a few more, before the boys were down and ready to go out to eat.

The owner of The Cove enjoyed the almost two hours of quite that morning, as he drank his coffee and read his Sunday morning newspaper. But that all went away as the boys began entering the Kitchen Nook and began saying good morning to him.

Even Chief and Sarge came over to greet him and, of course, get some behind the ear scratches and a belly rub, before they had their morning meal, being fixed by Darrin and Matthew.

After the Covers said good morning to their ‘dad’, and the resident pets got fed, ‘dad’ Ken went and used the half bath to relieve the pressure in his bladder from all the coffee he’d drank, as he waited for the boys and read the newspaper.

It wasn’t long then that the Covers were loaded into the Sprinter van and headed out to breakfast. Billy was driving and he knew exactly where to go.

As the large group ate their IHOP breakfasts, Robert asked his dad if he was going to give him his first driving lesson after they got home. The teen’s dad smiled and asked his son if he was ready for a grueling time behind the wheel driving backwards. Billy heard what his foster dad told his ‘brother’ and he laughed knowing what that meant.

“Dad, that’s not fair. I haven’t been behind the wheel going forward yet, and you want me to drive the car backwards,” complained Robert.

“Yes, son … anyone can make the car go forward. The trick is how well can the driver make the vehicle go safely backwards. Just ask you older ‘brothers’ Collin and Ryan. Oh, and Billy, too,” said a smiling Ken Thomas.

When the Covers returned home, dad Ken told Robert to get the Kia out of the garage. Robert looked at his dad with a question on his face. Billy spoke up and told his ‘brother’ that he’d back the car out of the garage for him. Robert let out a sigh of relief that he didn’t have to back the car out, and all dad Ken did was smile.

Ten minutes later, dad and son were in the Optima with Robert behind the wheel. Dad Ken explained a few things about the Kia that he felt his son needed to know before he even started the vehicle and drove it, like setting his mirrors. The man then told his son to start the car, then drive out of the Parking Corral and up the rise towards the Main Gate and then to stop.

From there the dad had the son back the car all the way down the driveway almost to the end. And since the teenager had never driven a vehicle that large before, driving it backwards was an interesting sight to anyone who was watching.

Dad Ken had Robert drive the vehicle back up to the Main Gate and then back the car down to where he had just started. They did that repeatedly four or five times and each time Robert backed the car down the driveway he got better at doing it. After the fifth time, dad Ken complimented his son on the way he was able to learn from each attempt to back the car down the driveway.

Dad Ken then asked Robert to drive into the Parking Corral. Once there, the dad asked the teen to try to turn the car around by using the least number of back-ups. Robert was confused, at first, but after getting some additional explanation, the teen began to do as he was asked.

It took the teen three back-ups to get the Optima turned around to go out of the Parking Corral, at which time his dad had him drive up to the Main Gate and try to turn the Kia around while up there.

That time it was much easier, as the vehicle was already on the right side of the driveway and all the teenager had to do was back-up once, drive forward left, back-up again with some right turn of the wheel, and then drive forward, as he turned left and down the driveway. Dad Ken then had him drive into the Parking Corral, once more.

“Robert, that concludes your first driving lesson. You got the chance to drive forward, backward and to turn the car around in a small space. How do you feel?” asked the teen’s dad.

“Dad … at first … I didn’t know what you were going to have me do, but … but after we got started it got easier, as we went along. And that driving backwards … it wasn’t easy at all. But I did get better at it, didn’t I? And then turning the car around in a small space caught me off guard, for sure. But I understand why I need to know how to do that,” answered Robert.

“Great, son, now I want you to practice everything you just did for the remaining hour. And don’t forget to write that down as one of your practice driving hours. And when you get the chance, talk to your older ‘brothers’ about when they began their introduction to driving. I’ll bet they’ll have some interesting stories to tell,” teased the teen’s dad.

With that all said and done, dad Ken went into the house, while Robert stayed with the Optima to continue practicing his backing up and turning the vehicle around.

The Covers friends had begun to arrive while Robert and his dad were driving the Optima up and down the driveway. Robert’s friends watched in earnest knowing that they would eventually be doing something similar with their parents.

The other Covers friends watched occasionally, but they were more interested in riding their skateboards, or playing the Pavilion Games, while others helped get the barbeque ready for later.

Darrin and his friends made up a part of all three of those groups. But even so, when together, they still talked about Darrin’s upcoming visit to the court on Tuesday, and their hope that Mr. Ken could convince the judge to give their friend all of the insurance money, and to keep him at The Cove.

Phillip’s band mates, who weren’t there yesterday, heard about what Phillip told the others about being paid, and they asked him to tell them more about it. But all Phillip could tell them was that his ‘dad’ learned that after they worked two weeks their first week’s pay would arrive by Monday or Tuesday, so the Cover told them to watch the mail for their check.

Phillip then told them that once his check came, he and his ‘dad’ would be going out and creating his bank account. A few of the band mates told the band leader that they already had a bank account, and would probably just deposit the check in it. Some wondered how much they thought the check would be for.

Not knowing how much their check would be, the boys started to try to figure out how many hours they worked that first week. They began by looking at how many hours they worked beginning that Sunday through the following Sunday. But someone mentioned that the pay week would be Sunday through Saturday, not Sunday through Sunday.

It was all confusing to the boys who gave up trying to figure out how much they would be paid. Plus, they didn’t know exactly how much they were being paid per hour. So, they decided to wait until they got their checks next week, and then they’d compare them.

The day went on as any other Sunday did, except for Robert driving the Kia up and down the driveway. The boys had their barbeque, they swam and at five o’clock they all went home. At 5:15 Phillip, and one of the estate guards, headed down to the Four Corners Amusement Park as the Cover was scheduled to work that night.

After all of their friends departed The Cove, the Covers then went out for dinner and that Sunday night they went to the Four Corners Restaurant. The boys weren’t happy as, again, they had to change into school clothes. They tried to change their ‘dad’s’ mind, as to where to go out to eat, but their ‘dad’ told them that they hadn’t eaten there in quite some time, and he needed to show his face and observe the operation.

When the Covers walked into the Four Corners Restaurant, the new Restaurant/Diner manager, Xander Perez, greeted Mr. Ken and then immediately recognized Billy and Robert and teased them by asking them if they had found a girlfriend yet. Both teenagers told the man that they were still looking, but they’ll take him up on those free meals when they do.

During dinner, the boys talked about Robert taking his first driving lesson. Darrin and Matthew wanted to know how it felt to be in the car with Mr. Ken and driving the Optima when he’d never been behind the wheel before.

Robert told his ‘brothers’ that it was very intimidating, at first, but he settled down after he began driving and his dad stopped yelling at him.

Hearing his son tell his ‘brothers’ that he was yelling at him caused him to choke, which got the boys attention. “Robert, son … aren’t you exaggerating me yelling at you a bit much?”

“Well …. I know you never yell at us, but … I was trying my best to keep the car going straight, when I was backing up, and you were telling me to keep it straight and it sure sounded like yelling to me,” honestly replied the teenager.

“Well, son, you know that was not my intention. It might be that, maybe, you are just too sensitive, to correction, my son,” teased dad Ken. All the boys laughed at what their ‘dad’ just said about their ‘brother’.

“Daaaaaad, I’m not that sensitive,” argued back Robert, with a smile. “I’m just delicate and I need to be treated with ‘kid’ gloves,” finished the smiling teenager. The boys all chuckled with their ‘brother’.

The Covers didn’t drive the Go-Karts that night, but they did stop for ice cream, but not at Mr. Ken’s Kreamy Kone. That night they went to their other favorite ice cream stand, DQ, where they all got banana splits. And, again, they did not get any ice cream for either of the resident pets.

During the evening meeting, which ‘dad’ Ken waited to hold until after Phillip returned from his band playing job at Four Corners, he went through what was going on with The Cove and its inhabitants for the coming week.

The foster dad made sure that Darrin knew to stay home on Tuesday, as they would leave from there for the courthouse together. He also reminded the boys that he was leaving on Wednesday around noon to fly back east to be with Kate for her court appearance, and that he wouldn’t return until late Friday night.

One other item that ‘dad’ Ken wanted to jog the boy’s memory on was that Chief was going to have another litter of pups, and that she was due around the second week of January. The man wanted to make sure the boys understood that and for them to not get too frisky with her and that after the Holidays they all needed to plan to set up the whelping box down in the Great Room. The boys all thanked their ‘dad’ for reminding them.

It was Phillip who then asked what was it that he was supposed to be thinking about as gag gifts for his ‘brothers’. He told his ‘dad’ that he’s never done anything like that before, so he wasn’t sure what he should do. Then Darrin spoke up and told Mr. Ken that he’d never done that before, too.

Mr. Ken smiled and told the two boys that the gag gift was just that. A gag, or joke, something funny to say about your ‘brothers’. Then the foster dad gave the boys some examples that were given on the past, like the Poo-Pourri, Before-You-Go Toilet Spray. Phillip and Darrin both laughed at hearing that.

Mr. Ken continued telling the boys about the gag gifts and then he mentioned the toilet night light gadget that you put under the toilet seat. Darrin said that there was one there, but it doesn’t work, so the battery probably needs to be changed.

Robert and Charles looked at one another and then asked in which toilet stall it didn’t work, because each of them had received one of those lights as a gag gift and they knew which stall they put their in.

‘Dad’ Ken smiled and told his sons not to argue over which night light didn’t work, but for each of them to change out the battery in both of them, so that they were both working fine. The man then continued with a few more examples of gag gifts like a small bell for a new bike that someone got (Matthew smiled upon hearing that), the Pop it Pal for someone who had acne (Robert snickered at hearing that), a book of jokes for a boy who couldn’t give a good comeback, or wisecrack, or a small kid’s construction set inside that included a road grader, a front-end loader and a truck, for a man who was building apartments.

After hearing those examples, Darrin and Phillip both said that they now understood what getting gag gifts meant. They then said that they needed to go out shopping to see what was out there that they might get for their ‘brothers’. ‘Dad’ Ken said that maybe Mr. Wayne, or Mr. Dennis, could help them during the week.

That night, as Mr. Ken talked to the boys as he said good night to them, Billy thanked him for giving them the examples of gag gifts, because he admitted that he was perplexed at what he was going to look to get his ‘brothers’, too. Hearing that put a smile on the foster dad’s face.

Both Robert and Charles told their dad, when he went to say good night them, that they had changed out the battery in the toilet night lights and that they now worked as advertised. They also thanked their dad for that little trip down memory lane with the gag gift review.

When Mr. Ken visited Matthew, the soon-to-be-teen thanked him for mentioning the bell. The boy said that it brought back some good memories of those days when Kyle had his bike. The two shared a few of those old memories, and a hug, before Mr. Ken moved onto Phillip’s room.

When he arrived, Phillip welcomed his foster dad into his room. The boy also thanked him for explaining what gag gifts were all about and he told the man that he now knew what to look for when he goes looking for them. Phillip also mentioned that all of the band members were now looking for their first check to come in the mail tomorrow or Tuesday.

Just before Mr. Ken was getting ready to leave, the boy asked him if he would be there to take him to the bank to open his new account. The foster dad smiled and told the boy that it would depend on when the check arrived. But if they didn’t do it that week, they could take care of it on Saturday, or next week after school. The two then shared a hug, and ‘dad’ Ken was on his way to visit with Darrin.

“Knock, knock, knock,” announced Mr. Ken, as he came to Darrin’s bedroom. The teenager immediately invited his foster dad into his room and told him to have a seat, which the man did on the bed. Mr. Ken asked the teen if he had any questions or problems he needed to deal with, and the teen said that he didn’t.

The two then talked about the gag gifts that the boys would begin buying the next weekend and that brought up the question as to where Darrin would get the money to buy those, or any other gifts he needed to buy.

Mr. Ken smiled at the question and told the teen that he would give all the boys money to buy whatever gifts they needed to get. Darrin smiled back and thanked this foster dad that he would give them the money they needed to buy their ‘brothers’’ gifts.

The two shared a quick hug just before Mr. Ken left to go to his own retreat.

After getting ready for bed, Ken Thomas sat on the edge of his bed and thought about his day. He smiled at how Robert drove the Kia up and down the driveway and turned the car around in a small space. He then wondered if he would turn out to be as good a driver as Bill is.

The owner of The Cove then thought about how busy he would be that coming week. He again told himself that he needed to delegate more of his work load at the office, so he could, spend more time with the boys.

Then, before he began dwelling on what he needed to do, he turned off the lights, so he could get to sleep. Before long everyone in The Cove was asleep and the household was quiet throughout the night.

Monday morning was just like any other morning at the Cove. Ken Thomas got up, showered, dressed and went out to the Kitchen Nook for his first cup of coffee and to read the morning newspaper. Of course, the man saluted the woman after his first sip of the coffee, as was his habit.

The boys came down in the two groups as they had that school year with Matthew and Darrin taking care of Chief and Sarge before eating a Momma breakfast. The three younger Cover boys would leave for school and about a half hour later the three high school aged Cover boys would come into the Kitchen Nook and have their Momma breakfast before they would head off to school.

Being that it was a Monday, Mr. Ken didn’t stay too long after the older boys left for school, because he had his regularly scheduled Group Managers meeting that morning, and he wanted to be there as he wasn’t at the previous Monday’s meeting.

Rosemary Martin, Mr. Ken’s executive secretary, was already at the office when he arrived. She had the coffee ready and the minutes from the previous Monday’s meeting ready for him to take into the meeting that would begin at eight o’clock.

During the Group Manager’s meeting, Mr. Ken heard from all of the managers, but as the Holidays were upon them the reports were similar to last year, as things tended to slow down during that time of year.

Jacqueline Kromiere, known as Ms. Jackie to everyone, and Mr. Ken’s Project Manager, appraised everyone on the progress of the installation of the train at the Four Corners Amusement Park and the construction of the new railroad station building, and the other ancillary buildings along the tracks right-of-way.

Ms. Jackie reminded everyone that the contractor moved train track installation away from the front of the amusement park and went back and checked the track alignment on what they had already installed by tampering what they had already installed and adding ballast where needed.

The Project Manager also reminded everyone that the Four Corners Amusement Park would close beginning Monday the 8^th of January and would reopen on or about the 8^th of April, a Saturday. She explained that time would be used for park maintenance and completion of the railroad station and to finish the installation and certification of the train.

Ms. Jackie went on to say that the ancillary buildings, which included the schoolhouse, cottage with an outhouse, a farmhouse with paddock, and the saloon with a horse hitch and watering trough, were all completed and were weathering nicely and should blend in well when the train begins running next spring.

Before ending the meeting, Ken Thomas asked Emilio Ramirez, the Three Finger Real Estate Group Manager, if there was anything to report on the adjacent property to the Four Corners Amusement Park. Mr. Ramirez told the meeting that from what he’s heard, is that the owner of the property does not like that they were going to place that noisy roller coaster next to his property and would probably sue to have it cease operation as a nuisance once it was installed.

The people at the meeting began to murmur amongst themselves about the owner’s stubbornness to sell the property. They couldn’t understand how he could even sue when there wasn’t anything standing on his property. Mr. Ken smiled and reminded them all that anyone, these days, can sue anyone else at the drop of a hat. He told them that he’ll just, “Have to make the man an offer, that he couldn’t refuse.” All the people at the table laughed at the inference.

With the meeting over, Mr. Ken had Ben Walthers and Emilo Ramirez meet with him in his office. He wanted to discuss with them any thoughts they might have which concerned him making an offer to outright buy the 8+ acre property that abutted the Four Corners Amusement Park.

Ben was all for him buying the property. It was what Four Corners needed in order to build an operations building and provide the needed additional parking to satisfy the publics love for the new amusement park.

Emilio felt that a strong offer could convince the property owner to relinquish his ownership of the property. His only concern was whether Mr. Ken would use one of his ancillary companies to try buy the property instead of being up front and letting the man know it was him who wanted the property for Four Corners.

Ben felt that there wasn’t anything wrong with a little subterfuge, while trying to gain what you were after. Although, he did tell his boss that he understood why Emilio wanted Mr. Ken to be up front and tell the owner that he was the one trying to buy the property for the amusement park.

The next question was what should Mr. Thomas offer for the property. Emilio had done what would be considered comparable property values for the area, but with only Mr. Ken’s purchase of the Four corners area and then his purchase of the rest of the property where he built his apartments and where the shopping center was now located, there wasn’t much activity nearby.

There were other commercial properties further up the street, that exchanged hands ever since Mr. Thomas had begun construction of the Four Corners area, so that gave Mr. Thomas a few more comparables with which to decide on how much he could offer on the adjoining property to the Four Corners Amusement Park.

So, before the morning was over, Mr. Ken Thomas had Emilo Ramirez write a contract to purchase the 8+ acre property that adjoined the Four Corners Amusement Park. He asked the Realtor to try to present the contract as soon as possible, telling the man that he would be unavailable from late Wednesday morning until late Friday night if he was needed to consider a counter offer to the contract or to accept it.

After lunch, Mr. Ken called Ms. Judy to talk to her about Darrin’s court hearing scheduled for tomorrow. In particular, he wanted to know more about Darrin’s uncle and his ability or inability to care for the teenager with or without any proceeds from the Rossman’s insurance settlement.

Ken Thomas also wanted her to know that he intended to ask the judge to order a background check of the uncle, seeing he wasn’t well known to the teenager, as well as a financial check and job history to ascertain whether or not the uncle has a stable work record that Darrin won’t find himself back in the system.

Mr. Ken’s request caught Ms. Judy totally off guard. It wasn’t like him to want to know so much about who CPS was going to release the foster child to. When she asked him about that, he reminded her about what happened to Matthew, and he told her that he didn’t want another relative coming into the picture and taking what might be Darrin’s insurance inheritance and have it squandered away, and then the teen be sent back into the system.

Ms. Judy told him she thoroughly understood why he would ask the judge to do those checks and she said that she would support him. She did tell her friend that she hasn’t had much contact with the man, unlike with the Parkinsons, and that asking for a background, financial and work history check sounded prudent to her, too.

Ken Thomas was relieved that Judy Turner, the Director of Children’s Protective Services was going to support him tomorrow at Darrin’s hearing. He really doesn’t want to see the teenager to go through what Matthew almost had to go through last year at this time.

With his conversation with Ms. Turner over, Ken immediately called Amy Ozarker to see if everything was set for Thursday’s court hearing between Kate and the police over Lane’s confiscated funds. The lawyer told him that she was ready to present her arguments to the courts that the money was not drug money, but funds sent to Lane from four of his best friends over the past nine years.

Amy told him that she had all of the letters from Evelyn and would use them if necessary to convince the judge where all of the money came from. Ken told her that he was scheduled to leave around noon on Wednesday and should be back east around five o’clock, their time.

After his call with the lawyer, Ken called Kate. He wanted to know how she was doing and then the couple talked about the upcoming court hearing over the petition to dispense the confiscated monies as child support for Jessie. Kate was anxious over the court hearing and Ken had to tell her that he would be there for her and for her to trust Amy.

Ken also told the woman he loved that if you don’t ask the question, you could never get the answer and with $50,000.00 on the line, this was a great question to ask. He reminded her that the judge awarded her child support from Lane and the police confiscated $50,000.00 from Evelyn’s home that was reportedly Lane’s, so he reasoned that she should be given part of it as back child support payments.

Kate told Ken that was why she loved him so much. She continued, by explaining that he always saw the positive in everything, and he continually boosts her morale and attitude over things she seemed to lose hope over. Ken told his fiancée that he would be there late afternoon on Wednesday and that they could go out to dinner once he gets settled. Kate told him that she would be counting the hours until he was with her.

When Phillip returned home that Monday, he went looking for Mr. Wayne to see if he had any mail. He did. The boy quickly opened the envelope to see if it was his check from the Four Corners Amusement Park, as his pay for when he played there during Thanksgiving week.

When the young Cover and band leader looked at the check, he saw it was for $409.00. He also saw that there were $60.00 deductions for Federal Income Tax and $31.00 Social Security withholding. He didn’t understand what they were, so he asked Mr. Wayne.

The Estate Master explained to Phillip that as a working guy he now had to help fund essential services, like defense of the nation, highways, police, a justice system, that benefit all citizens, who could not provide such services very effectively all by themselves.

The man then explained that the social security taxes are paid as a future retirement program for him when he gets much older. Mr. Wayne also explained that those taxes are also used for people with a qualifying disability and a spouse, child or dependent parent of a worker who died, as well as a few others who qualify.

Phillip thanked the Estate Master for telling him why they kept so much money from him. But then he asked the man that if Mr. Ken couldn’t take him to the bank to open an account, if he could do it. Mr. Wayne smiled at the question, and told the boy that he would love to do that, but they needed to ask his foster dad first. The man explained that Mr. Ken might want to do that because as the primary guardian he might have to be on the account.

The young Cover had more questions about setting up the bank account, but he figured he’d wait and talk to his ‘dad’ later when they have their evening meeting. Phillip then went out to the Kitchen Nook to have his afterschool snack, where he explained why he was late to Momma Maria and excitedly showed his ‘brothers’ his first ever paycheck.

When the three teenagers returned home from school, Robert quickly ate his afterschool snack and then he went to Mr. Wayne and asked if he could take the Kia out of the garage and drive it up and down the driveway.

Mr. Wayne said that he could, and he watched the teen back the car out of the garage and then slowly drive the vehicle out to the driveway and then do what he did the other day, which was drive the Optima up to the Main Gate and then back it all the way down to the end and then repeat.

Billy watched his ‘brother’ drive the Kia and he somewhat smiled. But then he remembered when he first started driving and how much he wanted to learn and get comfortable behind the wheel, so he couldn’t blame Robert for wanting to get out there and drive. The thing was he learned on a different car that was crushed in the accident.

But it wasn’t too long before the teen’s dad came home from the office and he too smiled when he saw that his son was out driving the Kia up and down the driveway and practicing backing the vehicle up. He thought back to when Collin was doing the same thing not too many years ago.

After dinner that evening, during their usual after dinner meeting, ‘dad’ Ken told Darrin to get up at his usual time and that they would leave for the courthouse about the same time the teens leave for school. He also added that he talked to Ms. Judy today and that she agrees with his asking the judge to conduct financial and work as well as personal background checks on his uncle.

Darrin had a big smile on his face after hearing that his foster dad had talked to the Director of Children’s Protective Services and got her to agree to his asking the judge to check out his uncle. It told him that his foster dad was indeed looking out for his well-being and that if they found anything out of the ordinary it would keep him there at Three Finger Cove, aka The Cove.

Continuing, ‘dad’ Ken told the boys that his flight on Wednesday was scheduled for a twelve, noon, take off, so that he would be leaving The Cove around ten thirty and that he would be returning home sometime after ten o’clock Friday night.

He then asked the boys to have their Christmas Wish Lists ready along with a possible gag gift idea for their ‘brothers’ for when he returns, as they will have to start their Christmas shopping that weekend if Mr. Wayne hasn’t already started that process, with them.

When ‘dad’ Ken asked if the boys had anything they wanted to bring up, Phillip raised his hand and asked him if he wasn’t available could Mr. Wayne take him to open his bank account. The foster dad looked over to Wayne and asked him if he could do that for him. With a nod, Phillip had his answer.

The boys also mentioned to their ‘dad’ that there sure were a lot of boxes in the MRS Room. Mr. Wayne told them that those were the Holiday decorations the women would begin placing around the interior on Wednesday. The boys quickly asked if they could decorate their rooms again, as they had in the past. “Dad’ Ken told them that they could, as long as they didn’t overdo it.

As one last item he wanted to bring up, before sending them to their rooms, ‘dad’ Ken told them they had to let him know by the weekend how they wanted to visit the parks that year. Either all at once, or a few one week and the remainder the next. The boys said that they would talk about it while he was gone.

After the boys went up to their rooms to relax before going to bed, Mr. Ken and Wayne talked. The owner of The Cove asked his Estate Master if he had gotten Mr. Dennis involved with any of the Christmas happenings around the estate. Wayne told him that he has and that the man asked why.

Wayne explained that he told his assistant that he needed to be able to fill in for him for any and all of the things that he does around The Cove and that when Christmas comes along there are way too many moving-parts now and that he needed him to pitch in. The Estate Master added that he put him in charge of the moving decorations out on the back side of the estate that faces the lake.

Mr. Ken reminded Wayne that the boys had asked why Dennis wasn’t there as much as he. So, he asked the man to strongly suggest to Dennis that he come around on the weekends and with the Holidays here he should be around to see how all the decorations go up and to help with the train installation beginning after the Christmas tree goes up. Mr. Ken told Wayne to mention that he also might be needed to help with the boys going out and buying Christmas gifts and wrapping them.

Wayne smiled and remarked that Dennis was really happy with his part-time position. But that now he’ll see that his part-time job also includes a few additional duties around certain times of the year and that this is one of those times. Both men laughed at what the Estate Master had to say about his assistant.

‘Dad’ Ken started in Bill’s room when he went upstairs to say good night to the boys. Wayne didn’t join him, as he would be staying with them beginning Wednesday night.

Bill, again, asked him if it would be possible to visit his mom during the Holidays. All Mr. Ken could tell him was for him to look at the calendar and see if there would be any time during the Holidays for them to take him there. The two shared a hug and then Mr. Ken moved onto visit his sons’ rooms.

In Robert’s room, the man’s son asked his dad when would he be able to take him outside The Cove to teach him to drive. The teen’s dad told him that it would be very difficult between now and the end of the Holidays for him to plan anything like that. So, he asked his son to talk to Mr. Wayne and Mr. Dennis to see if they could take him out driving.

Robert was a bit disappointed, at hearing that. But he knew how busy his dad gets at this time of year, so he agreed to talk to those two men to see if they would teach him how to drive. The dad and son shared a hug and then the dad was off to check in on his other son.

“Dad”, exclaimed Charles, as his dad walked into his room, “I heard what Robert asked you. He sure can’t wait until he gets his license. Are you going to take him out shopping for a car like you did Billy?”

The dad smiled and told his son that right now he couldn’t do anything like that, but that they will definitely need another car when Robert gets his license, so they’ll do that eventually. The two talked about when they should go and visit the amusement parks over the Holidays and before long the dad moved on to Matthew’s room.

Matthew was waiting for his ‘dad’ to come to his room and when the man was there, he hugged him. He then asked if he knew anything more about getting his mom’s parental rights taken away from her.

The foster dad didn’t want to reveal what he and his lawyer were trying to do and get the boy’s hopes up, and then they don’t come through. So, he just told the soon-to-be-teen that Bill Jackson was still working the problem and when he knows; he’ll know.

Matthew smiled and told his ‘dad that all he has on his Christmas Wish List is that his mom’s parental rights are taken away. ‘Dad’ Ken told the boy that he’d see what he could do. The two hugged and then the man was onto Phillip’s room.

Phillip was playing his guitar when ‘dad’ Ken arrived outside his room. The man loved that the boy had taken to the instrument so well, and that he wanted to play even better than he was. The man was also fascinated, that the boy could put together a bunch of boys and form a marvelous band, that performs wonderful music. He knew that he would be sad to see the boy, who has so much potential, have to leave one day.

“Phillip, you are playing better each and every time I hear you play,” praised Mr. Ken.

Phillip looked up from his guitar and see who it was, ran to the man and hugged him. “Thank you, ‘dad’. I just love to play the guitar!”

The two talked about the boy’s first paycheck and what the boy wanted to do with it. Phillip said that he wanted to have some of it to use to buy Christmas presents. ‘Dad’ Ken told him to mention it to Mr. Wayne if the man takes him to open his bank account. The two shared a hug and then the man was off to the next boy’s room.

In Darrin’s room, the teen thanked Mr. Ken for talking to Ms. Judy about his uncle, and getting her to agree to have his uncle investigated before they let him take him away. Mr. Ken smiled at how the teen put what he said, but he didn’t correct him, as that essentially was what he was doing.

“Darrin … I want you to know that all the background checks … that all they might do is just delay the inevitable. That is if … if your uncle passes them, or even if he is found to have a few blemishes … he still might be approved to take you into his home.

“But I also want you to know that if your uncle can not take you into his home, I want you here, with us, until you get a better offer. You are welcomed here. Know that! OK?” finished Mr. Ken

Darrin sat there for a few moments taking in everything that his foster dad had just told him. Then the teenager offered, “Thank you, Mr. Ken for all that you’ve done for me and are trying to do for me now. I’ve watched how you do things, when it comes to us boys and I believe you … that you really care for all of us boys, and that you don’t actually have a favorite amongst us. You surely treat us as equally as much as you can. Thank you!”

Mr. Ken smiled at the way Darrin had articulated his way of thanking him for all that he is doing for him and the way he’s observed the way he treats all of the boys there at The Cove.

“Darrin … thank you for saying what you did. I do try my best not to treat any one of you boys differently, or better than any other. You came here for different reasons, and even though I may have adopted two of you, you are all equal in my eyes,” replied the foster dad.

Before he left, the foster dad gave his foster son a hug and told him to sleep well and that he’ll see him in the morning. The owner of The Cove then left the room to go down to his own retreat.

Down in his own retreat, Ken Thomas got ready for bed and then sat on the edge of his bed, as he had begun to do, as of late. He sat there thinking. He thought of what tomorrow might bring, and what was in store for the love of his life, Kate, at the end of the week.

He knew that there wasn’t anything that he could about either of them, other than to be there and encourage the courts to do what was in the best interests of his foster son, in one case, and to be there, in the other case, and offer his encouragement to his fiancée and hope and pray that the judge would award most of the money to Kate, as child support for Jessie.

The owner of The Cove then turned off the lights in his bedroom and then crawled under the blankets and went to sleep. Before long everyone in the Cover household was fast asleep and The Cove was, again, peaceful and quiet for another night.

The saga of Three Finger Cove continues. Let Chowhound know you are reading his story: Chowhnd at Gmail dot Com

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