Found Family

Chapter 4 - Panic and Fluff

Griffin responded to me first, "Just get to the damn point!"

"Griffin, please do not use that kind of language around your younger brothers. But I will get to the point, I just wanted you to understand. Now the reason for this family meeting is Mrs. Matthews, the lady who is your CPS worker was supposed to come over for dinner tonight. But when Lucy called with concern to Nolan's crying I called her and explained the situation. So she will be coming over tomorrow afternoon for lunch. She is coming to discuss where you will go to school and make sure this is a safe environment. The first thing I would like to talk about is, why was Nolan crying?"

Nolan looked at me and got up, putting his mug on the coffee table in between us. He walked around it and came to me. He then pointed at himself and then to me. Griffin spoke for him in a soft voice, "He missed you. He didn't know where you had gone."

My face fell. Of course! Ever since Nolan had come here he would crawl into my bed at some point in the early morning. I left around 5 am this morning to get some work done before I got Grace and Mr. Torres settled, so I wasn't in bed when he came to snuggle up. Then I was gone all day, without telling any of them where I had gone. Lucy was used to it and Jason had called me to find out where I was. I opened my arms and Nolan sat on my lap. "I'm so sorry, honey. I left early this morning to get some things settled at work. But that is no excuse I should have told you guys or at least called. I'm afraid that I have gotten used to just leaving without having to tell anyone. I will work harder to remedy this habit. Now the next thing, what would you guys like to do regarding school? It's only July but I need to get this handled now so we can get everything you need."

This time Liam spoke first "School? We can go to, like, real school?"

My eyes softened in understanding to what he was saying. Most of the wealthier businessmen and women had their children taught at home, mostly so they could eventually take over the company. My parents had done the same thing and I graduated high school at 17, going to Harvard Business School at 18 years old. I smiled and said "Yes Liam. If you would like to go to school you may or I can hire a tutor for you and you can homeschool."

They all paled at the word tutor. Wren started shaking violently and I recognized signs of a panic attack. I quickly put Nolan down and walked slowly over to Wren. Griffin looked at his brother in sorrow and fear. This had clearly happened before as the younger two boys moved away and Griffin tried to move towards Wren. He wasn't able to get close before Wren shot up out of his seat and turned trying to go up the stairs. I saw this and quickly grabbed Wren, he grunted and balled his fists. He swung, hitting me straight in the face. Griffin gasped and I told him calmly while still holding tightly onto Wren, "Griffin, please take the younger boys upstairs with Lucy. Then you can come back down and help me calm Wren down."

He nodded and ran to Liam and Nolan. I grunted in pain as Wren landed a hit to my ribs. I let him go before grabbing his hands, preventing him from hitting me. Instead he started kicking. He kicked my shins leaving several bruises. I noticed when he slowed his kicks and spoke, "Wren, it's me. It's Natasha. I need you to calm down. You are safe here, no one is going to hurt you, okay? I know it's scary, I know someone hurt you. But I'm going to help you, your brothers are going to help you. It will all be okay, but you need to calm down. Breathe with me, okay? Breathe in... and out. There you go, see? It's okay."

Griffin was standing at the bottom of the stairs and he watched as I was able to calm Wren down. I felt when Wren's body gave out and let go of his arms in favor of wrapping him in a hug and lowering us both down to the floor. Griffin walked over then grabbing Wren's hand and tapped it. Wren tapped back and I realized they were using Morse code.

What horrid situation were they in that they felt the need to use Morse code? I felt Wren's body shake against my own while Griffin spoke in a whisper, something I had never heard from the passionate and loud boy "Never use the t-word again. The t-u-t-o-r-s our parents had hired liked using special punishments if we got something wrong. With Wren being the heir to their company, he had worse punishments than we did."