Ben took drove deliberately on the return trip, but we hadn’t gone that far. It took thirty minutes of easy driving to get back to the processing facility. “Put your damn clothes on!” I yelled at the craziness going on in the back seat. As soon as I stopped, I jumped out to make a run for it, but my leg gave way, and I collapsed. Floyd landed on me when he jumped out of the truck and rolled to the side as if he meant to do that. “Get out here and help unload this!” I yelled at the steamed windows of the airport truck as I pulled myself to my feet.
They popped out of the truck and rushed to the back to help Ben. I leaned against the wall of the facility. I wanted to yell at her, but knew exactly what she was feeling. It was the rush of being alive after a battle. She wanted to feel everything, revel in life. I understood.
When they restocked everything and had the freezers back in place and running, they came back outside, slapping each other on the back in triumph.
“Aeryn,” I said casually. She looked angrily at me. “Can you take me to Colleen?” She relaxed instantly. Ben waved goodbye and drove away in his quad. I put out a hand for Toby and he took it. “Take my bike and we’ll meet you at our house in a little bit.”
Aeryn jumped into his arms for one last kiss and then she hopped in the driver’s seat. I staggered to the other side, opening the back door for Floyd, but he just looked at me. “Get in the back, you big goof!” He reluctantly climbed in.
I joined Aeryn in the front. She looked at me with an odd smile. “Thanks, Dad. It’s good to have you back. Charles and I were worried that we’d lost you and Mom both.”
I nodded. We sat there in silence looking at each other until I couldn’t take it anymore. “In case you forgot, your boyfriend shot me with an arrow, and Colleen isn’t getting any closer while we sit here.”
She started the truck and carelessly floored it, throwing Floyd around in the back. He yipped in surprise before standing and barking his dismay. Aeryn slowed and drove more carefully. She hadn’t driven much as far as I knew. “Have you ever driven before?” I asked, because I couldn’t remember teaching her.
“First time, Dad!” she answered with a smile. We didn’t go fast, and she used the brake more than the gas pedal, so the trip wasn’t as terrifying as it could have been.
Colleen was just getting ready to wrap up for the day, but she was willing to stay open when she saw me limp in. She removed the bandage, declared the sutures competently done, added some bacitracin, and put a new bandage over it.
“Hurt much?” she asked.
I looked at her like she’d grown a second head. “It was in the bone!” I cried, feeling a new throbbing pain start. She laughed at me and handed me two bottles, one with antibiotics and the other with pain pills.
“Drink plenty of water with these. You should probably stay off your feet for at least a week, too. Then when you do get back up, it’s to come straight here and see me. Do you understand, Chuck?” She glared at me. I’d only disobeyed her orders a handful of times. It wasn’t like I made a habit of it.
“How much did you walk on that after you were shot?” Colleen asked. I shrugged. “I get it, a lot. Who shot you anyway?”
I looked at Aeryn and opened my mouth, but couldn’t say it. She covered for me. “Toby shot him,” she said simply.
“Oh, okay. How are those birth control pills I gave you working?” Colleen asked, watching me closely. I gagged and started frantically unscrewing the cap on the pain pill bottle. “I’m just kidding,” she giggled.
I popped one of the pills in my mouth regardless.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
Charles had Toby in a headlock when we arrived home. Aeryn quickly broke it up and Charles went back in the house in a huff. There was a heated exchange between Toby and Aeryn, then hugs. I could only shake my head, which was starting to float. My leg no longer hurt although it felt wooden as I tried to walk. I worked my way past the young couple and into the house.
“We got your bear meat back, Charles!” I shouted, thrusting my arms in the air. Charles wanted to see the wound on my leg, but I wouldn’t let him unwrap it, not again. We were going through bandages quicker than we needed to. “It’ll be fine. Colleen called the stitches acceptable, but she said that you and your sister have to serve me as slaves for the next week.”
Charles looked at me, clearly wondering if I was kidding. “I think she probably said that you need to stay off your feet for a week. I don’t think she prescribes indentured servitude for her patients.” Too smart for his own good.
Aeryn walked in alone, closing the door securely behind her. Charles had a sour expression on his face.
I had to defuse the tension. “Let me get this straight. I beat Toby up. Charles beat him up. Aeryn beat him up. Is there anyone around here who hasn’t beat your boyfriend up? Floyd? Did you get your turn, buddy?”
“Dad!” Aeryn exclaimed as I chuckled in my drug-induced stupor.
“Dinner, slaves!” I commanded. Floyd took his spot on the rug at my feet. I turned serious while I still had my wits about me. “Listen, you two. Whoever you bring into this house is welcome and accepted as a member of this family. Toby is good with me. Today sucked a whole lot, but we got our stuff back, food that the Community needs to survive the winter. Every little bit matters, and we did what we had to do. Now, I need you two to make up. I won’t tolerate divisions here. There’s only the three of us now. Three plus whoever you bring in. I trust you to decide what’s best for yourselves. Now shake hands and make up, then get me my damn dinner.” I finished strong and collapsed back into my recliner. I rocked back and closed my eyes, but Floyd decided that he was going to join me. He climbed on me, nearly tipping us both over. When he finally got settled, I couldn’t move.
The twins made a simple but good meal of potatoes, green beans, and fried moose sausage before we settled in for the evening. I knew that tomorrow would be a busy day, assuming my head cleared.
* * *
I wanted the satellite phone. I had calls to make. “Aeryn! Charles!” I yelled. I was still in my recliner, but a blanket had been placed over me. Floyd was on the couch, upside down and snoring. When I tried to stand, my leg suggested I should have listened to Colleen as I gasped in pain from the effort. I leaned heavily on one piece of furniture after another as I lit the kindling in my BioLite stove. Once it was going, I pressed the button for the fan and then the fire really started to churn. I added more kindling and put a small pot on top for my morning coffee.
I limped heavily as I headed to the outhouse. Floyd ran outside the second I opened the door, chasing a cow moose and her calf out of our yard. I let him go. He would not run far as he had his personal business to take care of as well. I discovered that I hadn’t drunk enough water. Damn opioids. When I stood back up, I tested the pain in my leg and decided that I could live with it. No more pain meds for me.
I returned to the porch and took a seat. It was a little cool, probably in the mid-forty-degree range. I pulled my sweatshirt more tightly around me as I sat on the rocking chair and watched Floyd run around the yard, sniffing and peeing on everything that he’d peed on yesterday.
I worked through in my head what I needed to start doing. It was so much that I decided to make a list, build an engagement plan. I was still the governor, unless that had changed. I didn’t know because I’d told everyone to leave me alone, and they had.
When I heard the pot whistle, I gimped back inside, calling for Floyd to join me. He happily ran through, almost knocking me over as he knew he’d get his breakfast. Phyllis used to get her breakfast after the first walk of the morning. She’d lasted three more years after our return, but then cancer got our little girl. It seemed that she had always been with our family. The twins took it the hardest, but Husky helped them through their pain. And then Husky passed away a year later. Living as we did in a new settlement without consistent support, it was hard on t
he animals.
I took the pot off my small stove and turned off the fan to let the fire burn itself out. It was almost finished anyway. The BioLite stove burned hot and fast. It had been a godsend over the years as I never gave up on coffee.
I dug out smoked moose, dried salmon, green beans, and a small handful of cooked rice for Floyd. He gulped it readily. He supplemented his diet with rabbits and other creatures too slow to avoid the half-wolf. He killed a calf moose once, and it was hard to get mad at him, but that was before I had him under control. Now, with one shout, he’d stop what he was doing and return to me. The twins could control him as well. They also had their dogs in our kennel. They each maintained ten dogs for sledding. It took some effort to keep them fed and taken care of, but they did that all on their own. They couldn’t imagine a winter where they didn’t mush a dogsled. I could drive one, but preferred to ride and let the kids do the work.
Charles was first into the kitchen, reaching for the water to make himself a cup of coffee.
“Hey! Are you old enough to be drinking that stuff?” I asked, unsure of when he started drinking my coffee. I instantly started running through the calculations in my mind and determined that we’d run out of coffee before next summer.
“Of course. I can’t imagine starting a day without a steaming cup of java. I see why you are so smitten. And old Sam. I remember how he worshipped his morning cup.” Charles smiled as he thought about our old friend and mentor. Reminiscing fondly still didn’t change the numbers.
“How long have you been digging into my stash?” I headed toward the cabinet under the stairs where my stock was. Charles got in front of me and blocked my way.
“Dad, you don’t want to look,” he said. There were a great number of things to feel sad about, but at that moment, the idea of going without coffee was the saddest thing on my mind.
“No…” I lamented. The stairs creaked as Aeryn started down the steps. I looked up to greet her. Toby was behind her, hair messed up from sleeping. My mouth hung open as words failed me.
No coffee and my daughter had a live-in boyfriend.
Floyd barked once, and a second later there was a knock on the door. Charles worked his way past me as I stood there dumbfounded. “Diane! Thanks for coming,” I heard Charles say warmly. It seemed like his voice came from a long way off. I looked as Amber and Lucas’ daughter jumped into his arms and hugged him. They stayed that way until Aeryn and Toby bumped into them trying to get into the kitchen.
“Ooh, coffee!” Toby exclaimed. I watched as two more cups of my life’s blood flowed from me.
“You, too?” I asked, but the question never passed my lips. No sound escaped me. I looked from Charles to Aeryn and back to Charles. Diane gave him a quick kiss on the lips and finally let go. She was only thirteen. He was sixteen. And I thought my brain was going to melt and flow out my ears.
Charles and Aeryn came to me, both grabbing an arm and guiding me to the couch. I sat and Floyd jumped up next to me and laid down, resting his head on my lap. His big golden eyes looked at me. I scratched him behind the ears. He was such a good boy.
Then the other four started talking all at the same time. The noise pounded against my head. “Nobody talk!” I yelled. Floyd jumped up and just as quickly laid back down. Everyone stopped talking and froze in place. I closed my eyes and tried to gather my thoughts, breathing deeply and deliberately.
“Pad of paper and pen,” I said, looking at Charles. Once he handed them to me, I continued. “You two, sit. And both of you, trying to hide in the kitchen, come here and sit down. I want to know what is going on. Stop!” as both Aeryn and Charles started to talk at the same time.
“You first,” I said calmly, pointing to Aeryn.
“Toby is going to live here now,” she said defiantly, arms crossed in front of her. Diane started fidgeting and grabbed Charles’ leg.
“I just have one question. Did I do something in a previous life to deserve this?” Floyd started licking my hand and then rested his chin on my arm. “I know, I deserve you!” I told him.
“Real funny, Dad,” Aeryn started. “Toby has asked me to marry him and I’ve accepted.” I looked at Toby, who quickly looked away.
“This is the modern world and you don’t need my permission to get married, but you have it regardless. But this is my house, and I used to have rules. If you get married, why don’t you find your own place?” I replied.
“Your rules, Dad. No one homesteads in the fall without guaranteeing they have supplies for the first winter. We can’t guarantee that, so we’ll just stay here until the spring, and then we’ll move out.” I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples.
“Nobody speak until I get another cup of coffee.” Aeryn jumped up and went into the kitchen. There was no hot water left. She made a fire in the BioLite stove and put the pot on. I kept my eyes closed and continued to rub my temples. I could hear the others adjusting positions, trying to alleviate their discomfort. I opened one eye and looked at Diane and Charles holding hands while they looked adoringly into each other’s face.
“Sixteen,” I said softly. “You be friends first. You learn everything there is to know about each other, but I will beat you senseless if you have a physical relationship before she turns sixteen.” I stared into the eyes of my son. He didn’t fight back. Although this was a different world, a new Alaska, some things had to remain firmly in place. She was too young, and that was all there was to it.
“I’m good with that,” Charles said. “And on that day, we’ll be married.” Diane squealed in joy, holding Charles’ hand in both of hers. I blinked and replayed the words in my mind.
“What is with the fascination in getting married?” I asked no one. Charles looked at Aeryn and she nodded, checked the fire, then turned back to me.
“We want what you and Mom had. You guys got married a little later in life. We know who our partners are and don’t want to wait until it’s too late. Life is worth living,” she said, mature beyond her years.
“You, too?” I asked, and Charles nodded. I looked to Diane. “You were little kids together, and you still like him?”
“I love him!” she exclaimed, sounding very young. I tried not to show my shock. I’d missed too much over the last year. When the twins thought they’d lost me, they went in search of the love they’d always known in our home. It seemed like they found it as both couples radiated happiness.
“Well then, come here future daughter-in-law, and give me a hug,” I told Diane. She vaulted into my lap, landing on my leg. I howled in pain and Floyd joined me. Charles picked her off me, and she looked horrified.
“Toby shot Dad in the leg with an arrow yesterday. I’m sure later it will be a really funny story,” Charles told her, rolling his eyes.
“Come here, just watch the leg.” I held my arms out to her. She must have been all of ninety pounds, but she was tall, almost as tall as Charles.
“What if she grows taller than you?” I asked him.
“More of her to love,” he replied too quickly.
I looked at her closely. Her eyes sparkled, the eyes of her mother and the frame of her father, my good friend, Lucas. “Do your parents know?”
“No,” she whispered.
“I think you better go tell them. No secrets. They’ll just eat away at you. Everything aboveboard and tell them what I said about sixteen! Knowing your mom, she may revise that to twenty-one.” I smiled as she danced away into Charles’ arms. They looked like they fit together. I knew that when the time was right, they would make a good couple. I also tried not to think about the fact that I had changed her diapers, although I’d changed Charles’ plenty of times, too. “You make a great couple. Now go on, and Charles? Find me more coffee!”
He looked at the hot water in the kitchen. “NO! More stuff. Replace what you drank because I will not survive this winter without coffee. Now do you underst
and?” He looked concerned, but nodded. He and Diane wasted no time in leaving.
“You live here now, huh?” I asked. Toby just looked at me without twitching a muscle. “It’s okay. If you leave a mess, you’re out. If you make Aeryn cry, you’ll get a beating, and then you’re out. If you drink my coffee, I will feed you to Floyd and he’ll crap you in our yard.”
“Dad!” Aeryn exclaimed. I held my hands up, wondering what I’d said wrong.
“I can get more coffee, Mr. Nagy, but it’s not instant, if that’s okay.” I nodded. “Good, I’ll deliver it later today. Some people traded coffee for their furs and we don’t drink that much.”
I looked directly at the cup he was refilling with hot water while reaching for our instant coffee.
“That’ll be great, Toby, and thanks. Aeryn? You’ve been quiet,” I ventured.
She looked at me and said with a smile, “I’m pregnant.”
And for the forty-seventh time that morning, I found myself speechless.
MAKING PHONE CALLS
I thought it over and felt the smile coming, only to be interrupted by thoughts of Madison. She would never get the chance to be a grandmother. I’d have to do double duty, but Toby’s parents weren’t far down the road. I knew that we would grow closer.
“Come here!” I said, grinning. She hugged me, taking care not to lean on my leg. “I’d ask more questions but I need to digest. And you need to get me the satellite phone. I expect Tanya has it, but if she doesn’t, she’ll know who does. I have many calls to make.”
Toby hovered nearby. I held out my hand and when he took it, I pulled him close. I smiled and whispered toward his ear, “Now, if you hurt her, I will hurt you, but know that we’ll treat your burial with dignity and respect.” He looked at me, unsure whether I was kidding or not. I figured that I wouldn’t have to do it. Aeryn could take care of herself. “Just kidding,” I said while shaking my head to further confuse the young man.
Fury (End Times Alaska Book 4) Page 7