Should he follow? They were probably headed to school. But what was in the envelope? Could he find a way to have them show it to him? For her sake and theirs, he hoped they weren’t involved in drugs. But was he overstepping? Their future could be on the line. This could be serious. He needed to consider his actions seriously.
Joseph decided to head to work and not confront the situation just yet. He decided that perhaps he needed to hang out with the boys, earn their trust, and his thoughts of doing something over the weekend was going to be pushed up to tonight. Jewel had the night off. And he could spare one evening from the campaign trail to do a little digging. It was all he could think of at the moment. Whatever they were doing could be thrown back on her. He needed to find out what that was.
*
Before heading into work, Joseph drove quickly to his home in Ledyard. He needed a shower and to come up with a plan for that evening. Something they could all do together, but something that would give him a chance to talk to Jewel’s brothers alone.
Pulling up to the house, which was next door to his brother’s, he quickly parked near the front and pondered what he could plan.
There was a comedian that the boys might enjoy at the casino, but then he had another thought. They loved sports. He knew there was a cage match at the Mohegan Sun. He was sure he could snag some tickets from some of his friends on the other reservation. They might not be the greatest seats at such late notice, but it was something the boys would most likely want to do if they hadn’t made other plans for the night.
Unlocking the door, he simultaneously retrieved his cell phone and made the call to Gerald Plunkett, a friend he knew that worked at The Mohegan. He was in luck. The tickets would be waiting for him at all call. He bartered with tickets to the opening night of his sister’s new club. Gerry had a bit of a crush on Dawn, and he hoped she didn’t get mad at him over it. But this was something he needed to do, and he didn’t want to waste any more time.
While making his way to his bedroom and master bath, he dialed Jewel’s number. She was surprised to hear he had changed his plans for the evening, but was more than eager to spend the extra time with him. She was also thrilled to hear about the tickets to the MMA fight. Her brothers were boxing fans as well as fans of mixed martial arts, and hadn’t been to see a match since their father had passed. She was sure they would be more than willing to change their plans, if they had plans, and promised to text him as soon as she got ahold of them.
He promised he would text her the information and would pick her and her brothers up for the fights at seven that evening.
Joseph made quick work of his shower. He heard his notifications on his phone the moment he stepped out. He had missed two calls. One was a text from Jewel saying the boys would love to go, but they would drive themselves there and meet them. They had plans but would push them back until later in the evening. They would go to the fight first. And the second call was from his brother. With the text was a picture. An ultrasound picture. The text beneath it said, a boy!, and there was something circled on the picture.
He grinned at the grainy image. He didn’t know what those ultrasound technicians saw to make that determination, but, hey, it was what they were trained to do. He was excited for his brother and new sister-in-law. Aliya was nearly five months pregnant. The thought of the soon to be new addition to their family made him think of Jewel, and seeing her belly swollen with his child. It made his smile widen even more. It also made other parts of his body react. He willed his libido to calm down. He had a long day ahead of him, and an evening where he planned to woo his future wife. But the evening also had another purpose—to help guide her brothers while hoping they were not involved in any serious kind of trouble.
*
The evening went well. He was able to talk to the boys between bouts, and Jewel ran and got drinks while the boys talked about the matches, and the merits and strengths of each fighter. Joseph had been reluctant to be direct especially with Jewel around. He didn’t want to spoil the evening, so instead focused on warning the boys through stories of himself and some of the fighters, how stupid childhood mistakes could cost one of them their future. Mostly the boys were receptive, nodding their agreement, but he could sense they knew he was attempting to give them some kind of a lecture. So he toned it down. The boys assured them they wanted to be athletes, and role models. They weren’t going to screw that up.