That said she walked back into the observation room. She turned to her grandparents and saw her grandmother had tears streaming down her face she simply said, “They are ready for you now.” When they walked out the room, she pulled on her jacket and stood leaning against the window watching closely. The Counselor looked at Angel in awe and said “You knew just how to get to those boys. I can’t imagine the things you’ve been through, but you’re truly not damaged by it, you’ve grown from it.”
Angel almost smiled at that assumption she was fooling the world then if they believed she wasn’t scarred by it all. She had her scars she just kept them hidden. Honestly, she didn’t know if she could reach out for a relationship with a man ever. Not because of the past so much as it was giving that level of trust. How did you give up that control and allow that much loss of control in? She just knew she was nowhere near ready for that right now. She knew her looks drew attention to herself, but she didn’t care what others thought or wanted outside her family. She had to do what was best for her and those who depended on her.
Grant wasn’t fooled that counselor might not see it, but he and Hunter did, the shadows that were in Angel’s eyes. She had issues, but she worked them out within herself and she kept pushing through. When the door opened, the twins walked through first, Grant noted they walked to stand beside Angel; they had clearly aligned themselves with her. She was that lifeline that could hold them she might not know it, but he’d seen it before. They would take their cues from her, those she loved, they’d protect. Those who were her enemies would know her brothers’ wrath.
They were no longer viewing the room belligerently now they were viewing it warily as if taking their cues from Angel’s body language. When Angel straightened so, did they. Angel said evenly “Jackson, Kaleb, this is my father Hunter McDaniel’s.” She waited until they’d greeted her father properly though they seemed stunned to see him, then she turned to Grant and Devon and said, “This is Grant and Devon, Grant is head of my security team, wherever I go he goes, Devon is part of that team.” She let her respect for both men and her father bleed through to her voice. Before she could speak again her cell phone rang, and she excused herself for a moment, coming back a few minutes later tenser than she had been when she’d stepped out. Which meant the boys took their cue from her she was bristling angry.
Hunter stepped forward and asked, “What happened?” his concern was obvious, and Grant noted that seemed to gain him instant respect with the two teenagers. Angel gritted her teeth and said “It appears, Kingsley decided while I was out of town to try and get Enrique and Louisa deported. It’s okay Hannah is handling everything, and Louisa is a legal citizen she was born here. We don’t know for sure what will happen with Enrique yet. But Kingsley is playing it up that I willingly hire illegals for cheap labor.” Her frustration was showing, Hunter drew her into his arms and hugged her tightly and said “We’ll make sure Enrique is okay, his sister needs him. We’ll set things right.” Hunter realized she was shaking she was so angry.
She turned to the counselor and asked, “When will we be allowed to leave with my brothers.” She replied evenly “We have a meeting in the judge’s chambers in half an hour, we should be on our way. He’ll make his ruling there.” The look on the judge’s face when all of them piled into his chambers was clearly surprised. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize he knew her brothers from prior trouble. They listened as he droned on and on about their past behavior and the boys became more and more unresponsive until Angel said sharply “Can we skip the melodrama here sir. No disrespect meant here but if you’d seen to it these boys had a proper environment and home life their lives would have been a lot different. So, don’t put the whole blame on them, blame yourself, blame social services, blame the woman who abandoned them, blame the moron who raised them, but don’t you dare sit there on your moral pedestal and talk about how their irredeemable, because sir, no one is irredeemable, everyone can change and grow.”
The judge blustered and spit, out “And what would you know about it miss.” Angel proceeded to tell him in detail what she’d know about it. She then said “Did you ever once consider that they didn’t have anything challenging to hold their attention. My IQ is 187, sir do you know what that means to a kid any kid?” at his blank stare she said “It means complete and utter boredom, when you are not in a situation where your intellect can thrive and you are challenged, I read every book in the local library before I was 14, sir.
I have a photographic memory I can recite chapters from each book. They are my brother’s sir; I’ve read their records they both tested out at the top of their class at fourteen.
My father is smart so is his family, but my grandmother here, her great grandfather was a genius, he used that genius to become a very, rich man. You want to know why our mother was such a flipping head case sir. She had as much intellect as each of her children, but she was stifled, she had every opportunity to better herself but no drive to do anything but what her self-entitled ass wanted too. You want them to have a chance in life; their chance is standing right in this room.” The judge who had been sullen and sanctimonious before changed before their eyes as he smiled at Angel and said, “I do believe you are right.” At her questioning glance, he said “Pardon me for saying this but, your grandparents raised your mother, while they raised three boys who are upstanding citizens it has been proven that these boys are more like their biological mother than they are any other members of their family beyond you. While I wouldn’t normally do this because of your age Miss. McDaniel’s, I am giving full custody of both Montgomery boys to you. You are in a better position to understand where they’ve been, who they are, and what they need to thrive.” Angel’s mouth was hanging open and her grandparents looked stunned. Hunter said, “Your honor, my daughter’s only nineteen years old.” The Judge nodded and said, “And legally she is an adult, and she has the means to support them.” Angel was having an intent conversation with herself for blowing a gasket and only looked at the judge when he called her saying “Miss. McDaniel’s is this arrangement okay with you?” Yea like she could say she didn’t want them with them standing in front of her, she looked directly at them and said “My rules, my home, and my family. You mess up any of that for me, and I’ll kick your ass myself, we clear?” Jackson smiled and said, “Rephrase that, your rules, our home, our family.” Kaleb nodded at Angel and she looked at the Judge and said, “What do I need to do?” The judge replied, “You just need to sign the paperwork, but as of right now you are their legal guardian, they are your responsibility from this point on.”
He glanced at the counselor and said, “I believe you have some papers for her to sign.” The counselor was still stunned he’d considered it to begin with, but she nodded. When they were outside the judge’s office, her grandmother broke down and began crying, she asked nearly inconsolable “Is it really our fault? Could we have done something to help Stacia?” Angel said evenly, being honest “There were things you could have done grandma, you and grandpa, it’s not just any one person’s fault, it’s mainly Stacia’s. She made the choice to be who she was.”
It took another forty minutes to sign papers. Her grandmother was still distraught, and she didn’t have it in her to be an emotional support for her right now. Her grandparents did carry blame here, and she wouldn’t lie to them and say they didn’t. They left straight from the courthouse going to their hotel to pick up their bags. Angel had looked at the boys and asked, “Are all your things like that?” at their nod she’d said simply “Let them give them to someone else. We’ll get you brand new things.”
On the flight home Angel spent most of it trying to figure out what had happened in that judge’s chambers truthfully, she didn’t think her grandparents were fit to be their guardians, but she’d assumed one of her Uncles would step in. But no, the judge had given them to her. Working through it all in her head helped her to work out what was the next course of business. She turned to her grandmother and asked, “You know Harold pretty well, right?” at her nod; she asked “Would he deliver furniture to the main house for the boys, I’ll have Deanna meet him there to start setting it up for them. Just pick whatever you think they’d like, or you can show them that catalogue you brought with you.” All the dejection and uncertainty vanished the minute her grandmother had something solid she could do, all three Denae boys nodded at her, and her grandfather mouthed thank you, to which she nodded. She didn’t miss the speculative glances the boys threw her they knew she’d just out maneuvered their grandmother.
After her conversation with Deanna, she pulled Grant aside and asked if he could have a car meet them at the airport so they could take the boys to get new clothing, to which he’d promised to have the men bring the Hummer. When the plane landed her grandparents looked sad when they saw the car there for them, she told them they needed to go get the boys clothes, and things for their rooms. They needed to hit a bookstore as well, she was going to buy them a Kindle fire each and wanted to get them cards to use for e-book downloads, she had a feeling her brothers would put it to good use. Her grandparents told her they understood but she knew they didn’t. She had to do this; they would never understand why she had to. Her father of course came with them; she took the boys to the same factory outlet store she herself had gone to. When they arrived at the Levi store her brothers had looked at her curiously but before they could ask anything she’d told the associate that her brothers needed several outfits. From there it was chaos, the associates made two distinct neat piles of clothing for both boys when it was done Angel paid for it. They then headed to the next store, which was Abercrombie and Fitch, they received the royal treatment there as well. It went on and on like this for several stores. Grant had sent his men to the truck with their packages twice now. She took them to the food court for food, and then to get shoes. When she was sure they had all the clothing they could need they headed out.
She told Grant who was driving to head to the best buy store, when they arrived, she took them around and bought them new laptops, a television for their rooms, she sprang for the best Curved TV’s since she herself had them in every room of the house but their rooms. She bought them stereos for their rooms, and printers for their laptops, when she caught Kaleb staring at a Camera, she bought one for each of them; she now knew Kaleb was into photography. She bought them each a gaming system of their choice and four games each to start. She got them cell phones added to her plan and all the accessories they would need for their gaming systems, stereos and computers. When they got to the truck Grant was stuffing the last into the back, he said “If you plan to hit another store, we need another vehicle.”
It was hunter who said, “I got an idea, I can call Damon, and he can come meet us.” When Damon arrived, he glanced at her brothers and turned to Angel and said, “More candidates for Huntington Academy?” Angel shook her head which got her everyone’s attention but her brothers; she said, “They have already graduated.” She paused then said “No, they’ll go to school, just not high school. They can either choose a college online to start with, or they can choose a university in Houston to commute too.” Jackson arched his brow and asked, “Did you go to college?” Angel said to their shock “I’m taking online classes right now.” Hunter hadn’t heard about this, he looked at her questioningly she said, “You’d have told me I needed to take a step back and had too many projects going.” Hunter said honestly “You do have too many projects, which is why I’m going to find you an assistant.” It was Grant who said “Hey that’s a good idea. It’d give you more time for the center, the ranch, and your brothers.” Angel glared at Grant and said, “That’s dirty pool.”
After they were done in the bookstore, she wracked her brain trying to decide if they had everything. She decided to stop by Wal-Mart have them pick out some food stuff they liked since she didn’t know what they ate. When they arrived, she took the boys to get their hair cut first, they both came out with a short spiky haircut which made them look adorably innocent and was deceiving as hell. They were wearing their Abercrombie outfits and their new sneakers, their shirts tucked just in the front much like their sisters. She gave them each a hundred dollars and sent them off with one of the security men to get any personal items they needed. They had their cell phones and would meet up in half an hour. When half an hour went by, she met them back at the front of the store, she wasn’t surprised to see a group of girls already giving them their numbers. Devon and Brandon just shrugged like what could we do.
After picking up a few snacks for them she called a halt to anymore junk food. She said evenly “A little junk is okay I eat a little, but I work it off too. Your little asses are going to learn to like working out.” It was Kaleb who said, “I like to run.” Angel smiled and said, “Me too, I run ten miles every morning.” His eyes got huge, and Grant said “That’s not all she does, she says the exercise helps work off the tension and frustrations. She thinks well when she’s working out. She has an impressive home gym.”