Chapter 140

After the sound check, the guys roamed a little with their families, checking out the scenery. "You know, you really picked an amazing place to have this, baby", David said to his wife as they walked. They each had an arm around the others waist.

She smiled. "Thank you, but you could have said no to this location."

"But, why? It's fucking beautiful. And this clearing is fucking huge and totally natural. It's just amazing."

"I'm glad you like it here." She looked ahead and saw the kids poking at something, then looked at her husband. "We need to go see what the kids at doing."

He nodded and jogged ahead, shouting at the kids to drop the sticks. When he approached, he saw what they were poking at. It was a lizard of some sort. "What the hell were you kids thinking?"

"We wanted to see if it would go faster if we poked it", Jacob said.

"Jacob Micah, something tells me that you were the mastermind behind this. Now, all I have to say about this right now is that you need to think before you act. When we get home, your mother and I will deal with this."

"But, Daddy, it wasn't my idea. It was Jordan's."

"No it wasn't, Jacob! You were the first one to pick up a stick and start poking."

"Cut it out both of you. This will be handled when we get back home. Stop torturing the wildlife, or you're going to see a side of your Daddy that you won't like."

Maddie interjected. "Daddy, it was MY idea. I wanted to see Jake and Jordan get in trouble." She batted her eyes at David. "I'm really sorry, Daddy."

David gave her a blank stare. "Are you covering for them, Madison?"

"No, Daddy, it really was my idea."

He nodded. "Let's go talk to you Mama then." He reached out and took Madison's hand, then walked her over to Brie.

"What were they doing, baby?" she asked.

"Tell her, Madison."

"But, Daddy..." Madison said.

"NOW, Madison Jade."

"Madison Jade Draiman, what did you do?" Brie asked her daughter. Maddie told Brie the whole story. "And if I ask Jake and Jordan, they'll tell me the same thing?"

"Yes, ma'am." Maddie looked at the ground and kicked at the dirt.

"Your father and I will deal with this when we get home. Until then, you're not to leave me sight. If I have to get on to you one more time between now and the time we load up in the van to go home, you're in so much trouble that you won't be able to sit for a month. Understood?"

Maddie teared up and looked at David. "Don't look at me for help, Madison. You could have gotten off scot free had you not said anything. You tried to get your older brother and sister to take the fall, now you face the consequences. Look at your mother and answer her", David said to his daughter.

Maddie looked back to Brie, the tears in her eyes falling down her cheeks. "Yes ma'am", she cried.

"Now, go play with your brothers and sisters", Brie said. As Maddie ran off, she looked at David and shook her head. "That child is cunning and crafty. Kinda reminds me of her father."

David laughed. "Hey now, don't look at me. I didn't teach her that shit."

"No, but she picked it up from you", Brie laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"NO, not me." He wrapped her arms around her waist.

"Ok, smart ass. If you say so", she said and kissed him.

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As the crowd started arriving, the guys all disappeared backstage with the kids as the women all played hostess, taking tickets and ushering the speakers back to the backstage area.

"TIMMY!" Dan said when Tina brought Tim Schmitt and his friends back. "What's up, brother?"

Tim smiled. "Not too much. Just here to speak in front of all these people and then introduce you jokers."

Mike looked at Tim. "Jokers, huh?" He offered a hand to Tim.

Tim grabbed his arm and gave him the "BRO HUG". "Yep, that's all you assholes are. Just a bunch of fucking jokers.

After the guys had all greeted Tim, David looked at him. "Who are they?" he asked.

"Oh, these are my friends and fellow speakers. This is Jeff Ramsey, Mitch Davidson, and Frank Lewis." He pointed to each of them in turn.

The band shook hands with the other guys. Jeff, who was tall and lanky with blond hair and green eyes, asked, "Whose wife is that that was taking our tickets when we got here?"

"Mine, why?" David asked.

"No disrespect, man, but your wife is SMOKIN'!"

"I know. But, watch how you speak about the mother of my children. Ok?"

"I'm sorry, but you, Mr. Draiman, are a very lucky man."

"Thank you."

"Speaking of Brie and the kids, David," Tim started, "rumor has it that you two just had quads. Any truth to that?"

"Yep, two more of each. Meagan, Makayla, James, and Jeremiah."

"What is it with you two and M and J names?"

"I have no idea", David laughed. "It started with Malachai, then Jacob and Jordan were born, then Madison. Then when we were expecting the quads, we thought it was twin girls. We had a surrogate with the quads, long story that, but on one of the rides home from the doctor with the surrogate we started discussing girl names. Meagan and Makayla came up, and we kept them. Once the kids were born, we struggled for about thirty minutes with boy names. We had to stick with the trend we had started. One of the boys was going to be Matthew James, but we switched it around so we stuck with what we had, then I thought of the name Jeremiah."

"Interesting story. So, it was just sticking with a trend that you started?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"We heard that Malachai's not yours biologically. That true?" Frank said. He had close cut brown hair and blue eyes.

"Yeah, he's my adopted son. Brie is his mother, and legally, I'm his father, but not genetically."

"Does Malachai know that?"

"Yeah, he does, but he still calls me 'Dad'. Says I'm the only dad he knows and that he doesn't give a shit. That the other guy can go to hell."

"WOW!" Mitch said. He was also one with brown hair, but he had dark eyes. "Kid's really opinionated, huh?"

"He told me that almost six years ago on the day my daughter Madison was born. He'd come into meet his new baby sister then found out that I'm not his real father. He doesn't care. He fucking idolizes me, I think. I'm the first REAL MAN in his life. I've raised him since he was five. He's my mini me."