Part 6

Holding hands, Cash and Houston slowly made their way down the staircase. When they reached the bottom step the smaller of the two stopped and waited for the other women to step off the last step. She smiled when she gave the other woman a small tug to stop.

Cash turned around and raised an eyebrow at the smirk on Houston's face. "Yes?" She stepped closer so that they were an inch apart.

Without letting the hand go Houston brought it up to her lips. "Tara and Trent are smart kids. I doubt that they'll have a problem with this." She placed several small kisses on the back of Cash's hand.

"I hope you're right." Cash closed her eyes and sighed deeply as tingles shot up her arm and through her body. "Do you have any idea what you are doing to me?"

"Hmmmm." Houston wiggled her eyebrows. "Why yes, yes I do."

"You are incorrigible." Cash lean forward and placed a butterfly kiss against Houston's grinning lips.

The sounds of two children arguing over who would put the milk away broke the calm of the moment.
"Guess we need to go in there?" Houston gestured towards the kitchen with her head.

"Yeah we do." Cash started towards the kitchen, but stopped and turned to look questioning into the green eyes. "Unless you want me to handle it?"
Houston shook her head, while she wrapped her arms around the taller woman. "Together. Remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." Cash rolled her eyes when she heard her perfect angels calling each other names. "We should hurry. Before they start tossing cereal everywhere."

"Lead the way." Houston bowed and gestured with her arm.

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"You're a booger head!" Tara yelled out as she sat her bowl down on the table.

Trent stuck his tongue out at his sister. "Snot for brains."

Tara was about to reply back, when she was interrupted by her Mom's voice.

"Okay, you two. That's about enough name calling." Cash stated in a motherly tone.

"She started it." Trent pointed at his now seated twin. "You should ground her."

"Shut up." Tara snapped as she took a bite of her crunchy cereal.

Cash put her hands on her hips. "I said that was enough and I meant it."

"Yes, Mom." The two said at the same time.

Houston had to hide her face, or the three would see the grin on her face she couldn't get rid of. "Would you like some coffee?" She asked Cash, walking over to the coffee pot.

"That would be nice. Thanks." The tall brunette went to sit in an empty seat between her children. "Listen guys. Houston and I would like to talk to you about something important."

"You're gonna get us a dog?" Trent shouted out as milk dripped down his chin.

His sister piped up and shook her head. "No you idiot. We want a cat."

"Cats are for girls." Trent made a face of disgust. "A boy needs a dog."

Houston, with a cup in each hand walked to the table. She handed Cash's to her and then sat down next to Trent.

Cash smiled her thanks and took a sip. "No we are not getting a pet of any kind." She looked over to Houston and sighed. "What I want to talk to you two about, is about Houston and myself."

"What about you two?" Tara asked taking the last bite of her breakfast. "Is this why you were sleeping in her bed?" She asked as she raised the bowl of slightly colored milk and drank it down.

"Yeah isth it?" Trent ask with his mouth full of food.

Tara set her now empty bowl, down on the table. "You know it's not nice, not to invite everyone if you're going to have a sleep over."

At that statement Houston sprayed coffee out of her mouth and down her chest. "Oh shit that's hot." She pulled her t-shirt away from her burning skin.

"She swore." The small boy pointed. "She needs to have her mouth washed out with soap."

"Huh?" Houston looked from Trent's face to Cash. "Wash my mouth out?" She shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Well you did swear." Cash raised an eyebrow and smirked. "But I think we can let you slide this one time."

"Gee thanks." Houston winked.
"So what do you want to talk about?" Trent asked as he finished off the last bit of his cereal.

"Well," Cash hesitated a second. "When a person... When you.." She covered her face with the palms of her hands when the right words wouldn't form. "What I mean to say is..."

Houston interrupted Cash. "What your Mom is trying to say is that we love each other and want to spend the rest of out lives together."

"What about us?" Tara leaned back in her chair and pouted. Her bottom lip began to tremble.

"You mean about you and your brother?" Houston asked softly reaching over the table top. Her fingers grasped onto a small cold hand watching the small head nod.

"What are you going to do about us? Grandfather always said, that we'd have to go to a boarding school, when Mom finally found someone she loved. That way we could grow up and become decent people." Tara wiped a tear that had fallen. "I don't want to be sent away."

"Oh Baby." Cash hugged her daughter. "You are staying right here." She looked over to her son and looked him straight in the eyes. "No one is going anywhere."

After a few minutes, Houston cleared her throat. "Do you two have a problem with your Mom and me?" She questioned before she sipped more of her coffee. "And you do understand what we mean by I love her and she loves me? Right?"

"Sure we do." Trent leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "We don't live in the dark ages. And we aren't narrow minded dimwits."

Tara nodded, "plus we both had classes in school about tolerance and acceptance." She sat up in her Mom's arms and looked at Houston, then back at her Mom. "You don't know this, but Tracy has two Moms and it's pretty cool. They can talk about their hair, make up and just girl stuff without the boys getting in the way."

"Hey, nothing wrong with the boys stuff." Trent shifted in his seat. "It sucks though."

Houston looked with wide eyes and tilted her head slightly. "Why does it suck? Do you have a problem with your Mom being with me?"

"Well, yeah I do." The fidgeting boy replied as he chewed one of his finger nails.

Cash reached for her son and ran a hand through his still sleep tossed hair. "Why?"

He hesitated a minute before he shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "I'll be the only man in the house." He cringed at the thought. "I don't want to grow up talking about girl stuff."

Houston and Cash both started to laugh. The look on his face was priceless.

"Trust me, Trent." Houston patted the young boy on the back. "I doubt that I will be in on those conversations. I don't do, those kind of talks."

Tara tilted her head and asked in childlike curiosity. "So you're the 'butch' of the relationship?"

The room was silent for about three seconds before Houston nodded her head and grinned. "I guess you could say that."

"Ohh good." The young girl stated with relief. "Mom so does not fit that type."

"What?" Cash stared at her daughter, stunned. "I could be if I wanted to."

"No you couldn't. You scream like a baby if you see a spider." Tara smirked. "Do you do that Houston?"

"Umm, depends on if it's a big spider." The small blonde acknowledged shyly. "The big hairy ones make my skin crawl." She shivered at the thought of seeing one.

"Guess that means I'm the spider killer of the family." Trent slapped his hand down on the table for show. "Squash them like the bugs they are."

"You do know that they aren't a real bug?" Tara said while she played with her Mom's fingers, that covered one of her hands.

"Oh, be quiet. Smarty pants." Trent kicked at his sister's legs from under the table. He accidently hit his Mother's leg instead.

"Ouch," Cash leaned down and rubbed her sore shin. "Trent, you don't do that."

"Sorry Mom, but I meant to hit Tara." He picked up his bowl and spoon to take them to the sink. "She thinks, she knows it all. Just because she knows that spiders aren't a bug. But I say if they crawl on the ground and can crawl up a wall. They are a bug. Who cares how many legs it has."

Cash stopped him. "That doesn't make it right. You don't hit any one."

"Yes ma'am." Trent mumbled with a pout as he put his bowl in the sink. As he made his way back to the table he shuffled his feet and stopped at Houston's side, laying his head down on her shoulder. "You really don't like girly stuff?"

Houston wrapped her arm around the young boy's body and squeezed. "If it has to do with hair, or nails I'm gone, but not all girl stuff is bad."

Trent blinked a few times and bit his lower lip. "Well if that's all I can get, it's better then nothing." He wrapped his arms around her neck and kissed her cheek. "I'm glad my Mom loves you. Even if you are afraid of spiders."

"Thanks buddy." Houston laughed as her eyes met the smiling blue eyes from across the table.

"So you two are a couple?" Tara asked looking up at her Mom. "Are you going to get married?"

"Well Honey, we still have things to talk over and work out." Cash folded her hands on the table top. "Right now, we're just taking it one day at a time."

"But if you love each other?" The young girl turned to look right at Houston. "You're not going to let Grandfather scare you off are you?"

Houston shook her head. "No, Tara. He won't scare me off."

"Promise?" The fair-haired girl leaned forward and whispered. "Because I like you and don't want you to leave."

"I promise." Houston made a motion of crossing her heart. "Cross my heart."

"Can we get a dog?" Trent jumped up and down, still hugging onto Houston's neck.

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Joseph Dunn sat in his study with a glass of scotch and a cigar lit up sitting in an ashtray. He fiddled with a steel object in his hands. Twisting it one way and then the other. "No way will you win and get my daughter again." He mumbled as he popped open the bullet chamber and spun the wheel. "All I have left, is her and my Grandchildren."

"Excuse me, Sir. Is there anything else you need tonight?" Maxwell asked from just inside the doorway.

Joseph quickly dropped the gun on his lap and turned towards Max. "No." He waved the man away. "Just leave me in peace."

"Yes sir." Maxwell gave a small nod and shut the door. He knew his employer was acting stranger than usual and would make it a point to call Houston's office in the morning and leave a message. "If what I saw in his hand, was what I think it was. Someone needs to know." He thought as he made his way down the hallway away.

Joseph picked the gun back up and reached into one of his drawers of his desk. He reached in and grabbed a hand full of bullets. Slowly he opened his hand and let them drop on the top of the table, next to his drink. "Tomorrow is your last day you will ever have with them. Come Monday all will be right again." One by one her loaded the gun with the deadly objects. When he put the last bullet in he shut the cylinder and gave it another spin. "Cash will say she made the whole thing up and the charges will be dropped. The kids will get ready for boarding school and I'll find Cash a suitable man to marry."

He grabbed his glass and drank what was left. He cringed as it burned its way down to his empty stomach. "My world will be right again and nobody will ever try to burn me again." He slammed the now empty glass on the desk top with such force, that it shattered in his hand.

Slowly he brought his hand up to and watched as drops of blood fell. One large drop formed and he watched it slide it's way down his palm to drop on his crystal white shirt. "I wonder of she'll wear white on Monday? Will it look like this as her blood seeps out of her body?"

Suddenly he started to laugh as he wiped his hand down the front of his body. "God, I hope so."

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Continued in part seven..