by Caleb Borne
“Michael and Penny went down to see what they want. I believe Penny may be carrying a gun—she’s my hired bodyguard.”
“Take that bedspread still on the bed and get into the bathtub. Close the curtain but leave the door open. Lay as low as possible. It’s an iron tub and will protect you.”
I nodded and hurried to do as he said. I heard the door click and then the room was silent. I knew Butch had taken up position somewhere at the head of the stairs where no one would see him. I was scared to death. I knew what it took for Michael to ask for help from another man, especially from Butch.
Michael
“Can I help you gentlemen?” I kept my posture loose, just as I’d done when headed into a gang fight as a kid.
“You the Mick, Colin’s brother?” The man was stocky and had a thick neck that had no fat. I suspected there was more than his body beneath the heavy coat.
“I am.”
“You know why we’re here?” he asked. The other man said nothing.
“My guess is you want to see Colin?”
“Hell, no. His time is up. You’re the one with the bank account.”
“I had one. Lost most of it in a venture in Florida. Aerospace. Said they were going to get to Mars. You believe I fell for that?”
“Boss sent me for the dough.”
I reached into my pocket for my wallet.
“No, not that kind. Try half a mil.”
I looked up quickly. “Half a mil? Colin? He doesn’t have anywhere close to that money. I’m surprised your boss dealt with him.”
“He said you’re good for it.”
I laughed. “I’ll just bet he did. He’s been starting fights his whole life. Tells them, ‘My big brother will get you.’ Ask him. He’ll tell you. I told him I was done with that shit. Let him fight his own fights. No, sorry gents, but you’ll have to talk to Colin. This doesn’t involve me.” I turned my back to them; a move I knew could cost me my life but was the only way out of the situation at that moment. I heard the click. Just then Penny stepped out of the kitchen, a gun in her hand.
“I wouldn’t do that, gentlemen. We have guns trained on you at the moment but you can’t see them. Lay your guns on the floor and kick them away behind you. Then leave and we won’t call the authorities.”
The first guy chuckled. “Good luck. Phone is cut.”
“Guns are still loaded,” came another voice and I turned my head slightly to see Butch at the top of the stairs and heading downward, a rifle in his hands. He had it trained on the guy holding the gun. “Miss Penny, if you’ll search our guests, I’ll keep an eye on them. I have the rest of the hands waiting around the house,” he lied outright.
“Whaddaya think, Tony?”
For the first time, the other man spoke. “We’ll be back,” he barked and started toward the door.
“Uh, uh, uhhh… not so fast, fellas. Miss Penny?”
She moved quickly with agility. “Put your hands over your ears, gentlemen.” Penny frisked them both, her revolver pointed to the first one’s head. She pulled out several guns including a sawed-off shotgun. She dropped them to the floor and kicked them backward out of the way.
“Now you gentlemen may go,” Butch said in a calm, even voice. One might think he had the entire U.S. Army at his back. “I suggest you don’t come back. You see that camera mounted up there?” he said, pointing to the doorbell next to the front door. “That’s a surveillance camera and both of your mugs are at this moment being circulated at the FBI. I tell you this as a courtesy. Next time, the agents will surround the house and you’ll be done. Mr. Quinn wouldn’t presume upon the friendship because he is a humble man, but you gentlemen should know he was very close to the late president and the family would take it as a direct insult if anything were to happen to him. The same goes for his brother,” Butch added as an afterthought. “Good day, gentlemen.” He nodded toward the front door. The two looked at one another and took advantage of the invitation. Penny locked the door behind them and stood to one side, peeking from behind the sheers over the door sidelights.
“They’re gone,” she finally announced.
I went down to my knees and sent a prayer of thanks to the Holy Mother. “Thank you, both of you. You, especially, Butch. That was fucking beautiful. I would have believed every word if I didn’t know better. Penny, you’ve redeemed yourself. Now then, where’s Katie?”
Butch spoke up. “She hiding in the bathtub where I told her to go.”
I bounded up the stairs and found her huddled in the bottom of the tub. She was shaking. I held her against me. “Katie, darlin’, it’s okay. They’re gone. Everyone’s fine, thank to you. You should have seen Butch. My God, what a performance. Katie?” I carried her to the bed and laid her down. “Katie? Are you okay?”
“My head hurts so bad. So, so bad,” she barely managed to whisper.
“Penny! Call an ambulance!”
“The phone is down!” she shouted and came bounding up the stairs. She took one look at Katie. “She having seizures. Mr. Quinn, she needs to go to the hospital—immediately!”
“Butch! Drive to the Barrett’s at the next farm and call an ambulance. Now!” I heard the front door slam and then the truck ramming through the board fence as Butch screamed down the drive.
“What can we do?”
“Just keep her calm. Lay down next to her and hold her.”
Penny stepped back. I crawled onto the bed and gently pulled Katie’s jerking form toward me. “Oooh, now, Katie girl. It’s Michael. The men are gone and won’t be coming back. Your friend Butch saved us all. Here now, sweetheart, deep breaths. Just lie here. Help is on its way.”
“Michael?” she whispered. “I can’t see anything. It’s all dark.”
Desperately, I shot a look at Penny, who nodded sadly.
“I’ve got you, darlin’ and you’re not going anywhere without me. We’ll stay right here, right here at The Hill. We’ll raise our sons here and there will be little ones to come sit on their grandmama’s lap to beg a cookie. Just relax. Breathe slowly and deeply. Let your body go limp.”
I could feel tears on my cheeks and for that reason alone, was glad she couldn’t see them. I felt a rising panic but then there was a calm like none other. I’d felt it before, a moment before I thought I was to die. It was as if God sent angels to spread their wings and surround me with love and peace. I couldn’t lose Katie, and the child. I wouldn’t!
The front door slammed, and Penny ran to be sure who it was. She was back in a second. “It’s Butch, the ambulance is on its way. We’re lucky. They’d just dropped a patient off in Lexington and were on their way back to Louisville. They should be here in a minute.”
I nodded my thanks and prayed silently as loudly as I could. Katie continued to shudder in fits. I’d never felt so helpless.
I knew it was only minutes, but it seemed to drag on forever. I heard Butch talking to someone and then there were feet pounding the stairs. A man in a white coat poked his head in. “This her?”
I wanted to punch him. His callous reference to Katie infuriated me. I held my temper and nodded. “She has pre-eclampsia. We just had a scare, and this is how I found her.”
The attendant went around to Katie’s side of the bed. “Not no more. She’s in an eclampsia seizure. Let’s go!” he shouted toward the door and a gurney materialized, steered by three more attendants. Within a couple of minutes Katie was lying in the back of the ambulance and I jumped in beside her.
“Where are you taking her?” Butch shouted to the driver.
“General.”
“No! Take her to Methodist. It’s closer and more for women!” He looked at me. “Mr. Quinn, trust me on this. General gets all the downtown gunshot wounds. It’s no place for Katie.” I nodded as they slammed shut the doors. “I’ll be right behind you in the truck!” Butch shouted.
Michael
It was Wednesday evening and everything I held dear in my life lay in the bed beneath a web of wires an
d tubes. Katie’s seizures had last for two days and Dr. Groot, accompanied by the chief of staff at Methodist had been in to see me several times.
“Let the baby go, Michael,” Dr. Groot advised. “You can have more children, but there’s only one Katie. We can’t even guarantee her survival but I can tell you, if you don’t end the pregnancy, Katie will likely not survive to deliver.”
I shook my head. “I can’t make that decision on my own. It’s her baby, too. Give her a little longer to wake up.”
The chief of staff shook his head and wandered out of the room.
“I know what you two want me to do, but I just can’t. As you said, you can’t guarantee that if we take the child, that Katie will wake up, or be able to see again or even be in her own mind. I’m waiting from a sign from God. Heaven help me, Dr. Groot. Just give her a little longer.”
“You know you’re playing with her life, right, Michael?”
I nodded and put my face into my palms, praying for the thousandth time since I’d pulled her from the tub. My eyes were raw from crying and I hadn’t had two hours’ total sleep over the past five days.
Penny had been with me most of the day. She’d brought a change of clothes and urged me to get cleaned up while she stayed with Katie. Butch came and spent the nights with me, as soon as his shift was done. We talked about Katie. He shared little anecdotes, memories from things they’d done as children. He confessed he didn’t care for Bella much, even if it was a bad time to bring it up. I nodded and we shared a moment’s agreement. I think in another situation, we might have become friends. He was only a couple years younger than I was. After talking with him those nights, I came to understand him better. We were very different in one respect. He was purely traditional, from his “Yes, ma’am” manners to the way he looked after his parents. There were no complaints; he simply accepted it as his intended role in life. If given the same circumstances, I’m not sure I could have done the same. I’d always been restless, eager to improve my circumstances, at any cost.
Meanwhile, Katie lay quietly in her bed, the babe still growing and moving around. They’d put a tiny wire inside Katie and attached it to the baby’s head. It allowed us to hear the heartbeat. She was in intensive care and Dr. Groot had warned me that should Katie’s blood pressure exceed a certain number, he would no longer stand by, but would immediately move her into surgery and do a C-section to remove the baby. “It will be a C-section, regardless. She can’t stand up to hours of labor in her condition.”
I was kept awake by the guilt. I should have told Katie about her father’s situation as soon as I’d bought the farm. I should have been upfront about Colin before I married her—I’d never given her a choice. I’d just done what I thought was best, but maybe it was what I wanted that spoke loudest. I should have paid off the mob; turned over the whole bank account, everything. It would be a small price to pay to avoid what was happening to her and our child at that moment.
There was no priest to talk to at a Methodist hospital and I’m not sure I would have been forthcoming if there were. I remembered bad things about priests as a child. They’d cuff me aside my head, call me urchin and filth and a whore’s son. They’d put themselves between God and me, judging me unfit for a direct connection. It had an effect. I no longer waited for a priest; I went straight to God with my prayers and I’d sent up no shortage of them for the past few days.
Just before midnight, one was answered. Katie woke up.
Butch had gone in search of coffee so it was just the two of us. I’d laid my head on the bed next to her arm and a slight squeeze from her brought me instantly awake. “Katie? Sweetheart?”
“Where am I? The baby?” she managed.
“You’re in Methodist Hospital. This is Wednesday night. Katie, stay with me, darlin’. They want me to let them take the baby.”
Her head thrashed from side to side.
“It could mean I lose you, sweetheart. I’d lose you both.”
“No. Don’t take…” she managed. “I want to be with him wherever… he needs me.”
My ravaged eyes began tearing up again.
“Are you sure, Katie. We can have more children. Let’s give this one back to God.”
“No-no-no-no… came her whispered chant and then she fell back to sleep, exhausted by the short conversation.
“Sweet God, what do I do?” I moaned.
“I heard her,” Butch said quietly behind me. “I heard her wishes. No one will blame you, Mr. Quinn. It’s her body and her decision. I’ll vouch for it.”
“Can you vouch for me with God, Butch?”
“No, sir, that’s your job.”
I pulled myself upright. “Butch, will you stay with her tonight? I’m going straight home but I need some sleep. I have to be at the lawyer’s tomorrow to sign papers. I can’t postpone it. Stay with her?”
“Sure, Mr. Quinn. You go on ahead. I’ll call if anything happens. She’ll be safe.”
I nodded and patted him on the shoulder. “I should be back no later than ten in the morning. My appointment is for nine.”
“Drive carefully, sir.”
I left the windows down in the brisk air as I drove home. It helped to keep me awake. When I got there, there was no sign of Colin, which was just as well for his sake. I showered and fell onto the bed without even dressing, Katie’s scent next to me on her pillow. I was too exhausted to even cry.
At nine the next morning I presented myself at Bloomstein’s office. I was still beyond tired and noticed my hands were shaking slightly. Inside I was burning up everything I had. I’d barely eaten in almost a week. His secretary nodded when I came in and then ushered me back into his office.
“Let’s get this done, can we? I’ve got to get back to Katie.”
“Of course, it’s all ready. I’m very sorry to hear about the missus.”
“Yes, yes, where do I sign? They understand I have fourteen days to vacate, right?”
“Oh, yes. I made sure that’s in there.”
“Good. Okay, there you are.” I handed the pen back to Bloomstein. “You’ll take care of the money transfers, right?”
“Of course. Don’t worry about anything. Just give that wife a hug and my prayers for a speedy recovery. We can talk when she’s better. Her parents are already en route to Florida.”
“Good. Good.” I held out my hand and he shook it. “Thanks, Saul.”
“Don’t mention it,” he answered and walked me to the door. I drove as fast as I dared back to the hospital. Butch was right where he said he’d be, next to her bed, his eyes watching her every movement. He looked up when I came in.
“She’s doing a little better. The doctors came by. They still want you to do you know what.”
“Did she hear them?”
“I couldn’t tell. She didn’t open her eyes. I think she was waiting to hear your voice. She did call your name twice. I told her you went to the house to rest and you’d be back this morning. That seemed to calm her and she fell back to sleep.”
I bent over the bed. “I’m back, sweetheart. Right here. Everything’s fine.”
“Sir, I should go back and get a shower. You want me to come back this evening?”
“Butch, sit there a minute. We need to talk. Man to man, cards on the table.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Those men you ran off? They belong to an underworld organization.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You knew that?”
“Of course, sir.”
“And yet you still stood up to them?”
“The women needed protecting, sir.”
“My god, but you’re brave.”
“No sir, just the way I was raised.”
I swallowed hard. “Anyway, you know they weren’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer.” He nodded. “So, I had to make a hard choice. I sold The Hill and Tipperary, as well as the house in California. I’m taking Katie and the baby somewhere else where we can live quietly and hopefully, be le
ft alone. I’d planned to leave you with two months’ salary and an excellent reference for the new owner, but I’ve changed my mind. You’ve proven yourself and I’d like you to be my assistant. I’m not sure what that means, but you’re made of the right stuff and I want good people around me. Would you consider that?”
He grinned and nodded. “Yes, sir. As long as I have off every once in a while, to look in on my folks.”
“That’s another reason I want you around. I think you’ll be a good influence on our children.”
“Why, thank you, sir. I consider that quite a compliment.”
“You deserve it. Now, go ahead and go. Rest up. I’ll call if I need anything. As a matter of fact, send Penny down here. I’d like to take a break every so often.”
“Will do.”
With Butch gone, I talked to Katie, whether she was hearing me or not. I thought I felt her squeeze my fingers once, so I kept it up. Penny stuck her head in the door. “Mr. Quinn?”
“Yes, Penny, come in. I’d like you to spell me every so often.”
“Yes, sir, that’s no problem. I’m happy to. It’s my job. How is she doing?”
“The doctors want to take the child, but when she woke long enough for me to discuss it, she was adamant. She won’t allow it. She is so brave and not even yet really a mother.”
“In her mind, she is, sir.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Mr. Quinn?” I looked up to see the head nurse standing in the doorway.
“Do you need me to leave?” I asked, standing as I did every time they changed and bathed Katie.
“Not right now sir, but there’s a man asking for you at the reception desk. He said it was important.”
I looked at Penny. She shrugged. “They wouldn’t dare come to the hospital,” she said, mirroring my thoughts.
“I’d better go down and see who it is. Stay with her.”
I took the elevator to the lobby and was surprised to see the banker, Whitley. He drew me over to a remote seating group. “I’ve been trying to reach you at the estate all day, Mr. Quinn. They told me I might find you here, so I came over.”