The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

and even then I offered him an open marriage and he could still keep her and stay married to me but she wants children and you know that if he has children Jake would want them to have his name so they have to get married.”
“Violet is never going to give him children and he’s a fool to think she is,” Jan said firmly. Harry shrugged.
“She will if she wants to keep him,” he said and Kate sighed.
“She will just because you can’t and she hates you enough to do it, she’s been waiting ninety-three years for her revenge and she’ll keep Jake as long as she sees it hurts you and drop him the instant you move on with your life,” she predicted. Barb hugged him.
“That’s what you’ve got to do, Harry, you’ve got to move on with your life as fast as you can and forget Jake Jackson ever existed,” she advised. Harry nodded and turned around and walked away.
“Come to dinner on Saturday, we’ll keep you company,” Kate called out. Harry waved but didn’t turn around. They all sighed.
“He won’t come, he’ll sit at home in the dark all alone and cry,” Joy predicted and they nodded.
“Poor little Mouse,” Barb said and choked back a sob. Kate pulled the cow into the pasture with the others.
Harry loaded up the passenger carrier and put his cow on with enough food for nine or ten days just in case he got lazy. He was leaving a message on his phone saying he’d be away for a week in case his kids wondered where he was and worried when wedding bells rang and the Wedding March began to play and a formal picture of Jake and Violet came faxing over his machine. He gasped in horror and just watched the whole thing appear. They wouldn’t dare send him an invitation to their wedding, how could they have that much nerve? But apparently they did because that’s exactly what it was.
Dearest Harry, you are cordially invited to our joyous occasion, the damned thing began. Harry read the whole thing asking for presents and his best wishes for the happy couple and stared at the glowing smiles the couple wore and the tacky door knob adorning Violet’s ring finger. He couldn’t help but face the fact, Jake looked happier than he had in years. His dark, brown eyes were glowing. Harry ripped the picture in half and threw it in the trash and looked around for anything he had missed. Then he locked up the house and walked out to the Elizabeth.
“Off to Savannah we go, guys,” he said cheerfully to the dogs that wagged their tails. Gertie barked and he flew away.
Danny got home that night and read his invitation. He sighed and looked at his dad’s smiling face and glanced over at the dark house across the way. He wondered how Harry was taking the news and decided to go over and check on him. When there was no answer to his knock he called him on the phone and got a cheery message instead.
“Hello, this is Harry, Gertie and Bo and we’re not home, we’re gone off exploring the Dark Continent of Savannah and will be back in a week, see you then, leave a message if you must.”
“Fuck,” Danny cursed. Of course his dad would find a way to be out of town for the wedding. He should have taken one of them with him though. It wasn’t good for him to be all alone at a time like this. Danny called all of his siblings and told them the news and all of them got angry.
“Did you know he was planning a camping trip?” Jackson demanded to know. Danny shook his head.
“No, he never said a word to me, and I never saw any camping gear anywhere,” he told them. Emma sighed.
“This really sucks, this is the happiest night for Jake and we’re all going to be worried about Harry,” she snapped. Ryan glared at her.
“I don’t think he did it on purpose,” he snapped at her. Jackson glared at him.
“That’s not what she meant,” he snapped at him. Sean glared at him.
“That’s what it sounded like to me,” he snapped. Adam held up his hands.
“Hold on everyone, fighting with each other isn’t going to bring Harry back or make Jake cancel the wedding and go back home where he belongs,” he told them. They all looked embarrassed.
“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Ryan said to Emma who said it back. Everyone said they were sorry. Then Danny sighed.
“Well, wherever Harry is, he’s got the dogs with him so he won’t do anything stupid, all he’ll do is cry a lot but he’ll be back,” he said and they all looked appalled, they hadn’t even thought of that.
“You don’t think Harry would do that, do you?” Cassie said softly. Danny shrugged.
“Not as long as he’s got the dogs with him he won’t, he loves them more than he loves anything, even himself,” he told them and they all suddenly were glad Violet was allergic to dogs.
“Let’s just get through this wedding, put on a happy face and put it behind us and when Harry gets back, we’ll kill him,” Sean teased and they all laughed. Ryan hugged him.
“That’s the best idea you’ve had all week,” he declared. They all went home leaving Danny to stare at the dark house. He took his two dogs Chance and Checkers inside and fixed his dinner.
Harry landed on the southern coast of Savannah and parked away from the beach and began to set up his camp site. He brought with him one carrier just filled with hundred gallon plastic bottles of water and hooked one up to his shower and one up to the kitchen sink. Savannah was a desert and he didn’t think he’d have much luck if he tried to drill for water. Once camp was set up he set the camera on the tripod and put the wrist view screen on and played with the toggle until he could accurately move it around. Then he looked around for something interesting to film but it was almost night time so he decided to try again in the morning.
“Let’s have supper,” he told the dogs who looked like they thought that a wonderful idea so he feed them and ate a sandwich and some yogurt and sat in a chair on the beach and listened to the waves hit the shore. There was no other sound and it was very peaceful, like he was the only person on the planet and for a little while he could forget all about Jake and Violet and everyone else and just listen to the sound of the waves.
The cold eventually drove him inside and he snuggled in his blankets with two big dogs keeping him warn and fell asleep eventually to the sound of the waves crashing to the shore.
The moo of the cow work him up so Harry go out of bed and milked her and ran the milk through the pasteurizer and faced the day. ‘The Day.’ But he pushed that aside and made breakfast for him and his best friends and changed his clothes into his safari look, compete with pith hat and marched to the beach to look for something interesting to film. He found giant purple sea turtles coming on land to lay eggs and thought this was the perfect thing to film so he set up the camera and put himself and the two dogs in front of it.
“Hello there, this is Harry, with Bo and Gertie, say hello Gertie,” he said and Gertie barked on cue which he knew that she would. He grinned and patted her head and then hugged Bo. “Bo is the strong, silent type,” he said. “We’re here on the Southern Coast of Savannah, also known as the Dark Continent and today I’ve discovered giant purple sea turtles that have come on shore to lay their eggs in the sand. Let’s get a little closer shall we and take a look.” He smiled at the camera and lifted it off with his telekinesis and it followed him down the beach.
“There they are, look at how big that one is,” he gushed and did a close up of the turtle. “See her legs and how they dig into the sand and carry her along, they must have superior muscle strength, I bet she swims fantastically. Now she’s going to lay her eggs in that big hole she’s dug, I’ll get a better look for you.” He moved the camera around and in closer.
“Now you can see the eggs coming out and they’re green, that’s surprising, green eggs from a purple turtle, I would have thought they’d be purple too, but that’s the beauty of Eden, you never know what color something is going to be.” They watched the eggs for a bit and then the turtle walked away and another turtle, a bigger one walked over.
“Oh, I think this is the male and he’s going to fertilize the eggs, yes, he’s beginning to spray them, oh my, this is rather disgusting, but I can’t stop watching,” Harry declared and laughed. “Now isn’t that interesting, now the eggs are turning blue, rather odd, but very interesting. Now he’s going to cover then I suppose so that birds and other creatures don’t eat them. We’ll have to come back later and watch the little turtles hatch and walk to the sea; that should be fun. Now let’s take a little walk up the beach and see what we can see shall we. Oh, look at this, some tiny crabs and they’re blue, Bo, don’t sniff them, they’ll bite,” Bo gave a little yelp as the crab reached up and bit him. Harry put the camera back on him and grinned.
“See what happens when you don’t listen to Harry,” he teased then he heard the call of a bird overhead and lifted the camera up. “Look at what we’ve found, some very ugly sea birds, I think they’re after the turtle eggs, yep, see them diving for them, I’m not letting that happen on my watch, watch me throw some rocks at them and scare them away.” Harry threw some rocks and laughed when the birds cried and dashed away. He did that until the turtles covered their eggs and then moved down the beach.
“Well, that was more fun that we deserve, wasn’t it Bo and Gertie?” he asked and pointed the camera at them. They both barked on cue and he laughed. Then he pointed the camera at the waves crashing on the shore because they were almost out of time and then pointed it at him and the dogs.
“Well, that’s all the time we have for now, see you next time but for now, this is Harry with Bo and Gertie, say goodbye Gertie,” he said and Gertie barked. He smiled and patted both dogs and then the time ran out and he was finished with his first video. He looked down at the dogs.
“Well, that was a lot of fun, wasn’t it guys, you both are regular ham bones,” he teased and they jumped up on him and licked his face. He got the camera and they ran back to camp. He put the CD in its case