by Kate Morris
“You’re doing just fine, Paige,” Herb praises from the back seat.
Beside her, Derek has his rifle propped out the window just in case. She hopes he doesn’t have a need to use it. Just in case scenarios can quickly become likelihoods with far too much frequency for her taste.
“Thank you, Herb,” she says. “I’m sorry if I’m swerving around too hard. I’m just a ball of nerves.”
“They’ll be fine,” Derek says and pats her arm. “Don’t worry about your brother. Cory’s gonna meet up with them. He won’t let anything happen to Simon.”
Paige nods as they pull up to the gate in Pleasant View, which Doc ordered her to do. Derek greets the guards, and they are permitted entrance along with the truck of Robert’s men behind them.
Paige parks in front of the town hall, and they get out. The sheriff comes out of the building, where he lives full-time, and shakes Doc’s hand, then nods to her and Derek.
Herb explains the situation that is taking place at the condo community since it is so close to the town.
“Yes, we know about it, and we’ve heard the shooting,” their sheriff explains. “We’ve had extra men on guard all night. We haven’t seen anything, though.”
“No stragglers on the roads near here or people buzzing by?” Derek asks.
“No, nothing. It’s been a quiet night, other than the occasional shooting in the distance,” he answers.
“Have you talked to anyone else who has had problems with anyone tonight, the highwaymen?”
“No, not yet.”
“Keep a keen eye, my friend,” Derek says and shakes his hand. “Call it in if you see anything.”
They leave a moment later after Doc checks on the clinic, always his first priority. She helped him pack six boxes of medical supplies into the back of the truck before they left Robert’s compound. He doesn’t leave them at the clinic, though. She suspects he is nervous the town will be attacked tonight. Paige has no idea what the family will do if it is. Will they abandon the farm to come to town to save the people? She questions if they should; she also questions her own values because she’s not sure if she was in charge that she’d make the right call. There are many women and small children who live in this town who won’t be able to put up much of a fight.
They arrive safely at the farm where the rest of the family awaits. Robert’s men set up a perimeter to keep watch while the rest of them go inside. Derek and Herb rush to his office so that they can be ready to communicate with the men or their town.
“What’s going on, have you guys heard anything?” Paige prompts as she places her backpack on the first step to the second floor.
Reagan answers, “Nothing. I’m going nuts here!”
She’s holding a swaddled newborn, which Paige cranes her neck to see. Reagan obliges by tipping her daughter toward her.
“Oh, my, Reagan,” she says. “She’s so beautiful.”
“And quiet for this second,” she complains half-heartedly. “I’d like for her to grow up with a father.”
“Don’t worry, dearest,” Hannah says and comes over to rub her sister’s back.
Sam walks into the room and hugs Paige for a long time.
“I’m glad you’re still here,” Paige tells her.
“Me, too,” Sam says. “I hope they’re ok. I don’t know what to do. I wish I was there helping.”
“Don’t worry,” Paige says, mimicking Hannah.
“Sure, that’ll happen,” Reagan replies as Sue also enters the kitchen.
“I’ll take her, Reagan,” Sue offers. “Grandpa wants to see her.”
“Thanks,” Reagan says and relinquishes her hold on her baby. “My arms could use a break.”
“That’s because you haven’t put her down since she was born,” Sue scolds with a smile.
Reagan frowns and says, “She said she doesn’t want me to.”
Hannah laughs and kisses Reagan’s cheek. “You’ll spoil her. If Grams were still here, she’d be yelling at you for that. You’re going to create a habit that you come to regret.”
“Having a free arm is overrated anyway,” Reagan says and touches her sister’s cheek. “God gave me an extra.”
Paige is glad to be home. She misses the family more and more every time she leaves, and that actually scares her. To become completely attached to the McClanes would be to surrender some of her heart to the possibility of what could be here on the farm. Unlike Cory, she’s not ready to forget what can happen in the blink of an eye, that moment when you lose everything you care about; your possessions, your shelter, your food, and your friends. She’s been through this too many times and isn’t ready to revisit it again.
“How are you feeling?” she asks Reagan.
“Not too bad. I’m feeling like my body is mine again- or, at least until I can finally stop breastfeeding.”
“That’s good. We were all worried,” Paige confesses.
Hannah says, “No worries. Simon and Sam had it all under control.”
Paige laughs, “That’s what we were worried about.”
“Not me. Simon had it under control, but I was a nervous wreck,” Sam admits.
“You did great,” Hannah praises. “Simon told us how wonderful you were.”
Hannah wraps a slim arm around Sam’s waist and pulls her hip to hip. Sam lays her head on Hannah’s shoulder affectionately.
“I’m sure Simon was a wreck, too,” Paige says.
“No, he did great. He was very cool, very professional,” Reagan tells her. “I was really proud of him. Grandpa would’ve been, too.”
“Oh, good,” Paige says, also feeling proud of her little brother. He’s so serious all the time. She’s sure he was a frazzled mess on the inside the other night when Reagan went into labor, and he had no one else to rely on but himself. “And they said the baby’s healthy and all right?”
“Yes, of course,” Reagan boasts. “She’s a perfect little angel in every way. Of course, not when she wants to nurse at three a.m. Then she’s annoying and bothersome like her father.”
“Uh-huh, sure,” Paige teases, getting a smile from the new mother. “Oh, hey, your grandpa brought a lot of stuff back from the Army base for the clinic. He was pretty impressed with the research they’re doing up there. I guess the doctors from the CDC and some other types of doctors were doing vaccine and disease research.”
“Cool,” Reagan says without her usual zeal for medicine.
Normally she’d head straight for the shed to check out new medicine and equipment for their clinic. Tonight, she only has time for her baby and, apparently by the looks of the fatigue under her eyes, worrying about her husband. Paige knows just how she feels.
Sue rushes into the kitchen and fires up the coffee machine. “Grandpa said this is bound to be a long night. Anyone, want some?”
“No, thanks,” Reagan says. “I’m breastfeeding. I’m supposed to be responsible now or something. I don’t know. It’s just what I’ve heard.”
Paige chuckles and shakes her head at Sue.
“Right,” Hannah says with an ornery tone, “You’ll have to eat something more than candy and junk.”
“Wrong,” Reagan argues. “We never have the good stuff anymore.”
“Hey, we made honey candy the other day,” Hannah reminds her sister.
“Yeah, and I didn’t feel good, so I didn’t get any. Those little monsters ate all of it.”
“Oh, I’m sure you have a stash of candy somewhere in this house,” Sue teases.
Reagan doesn’t say anything but winks at Paige, who smiles in return.
After Sue has Doc’s coffee made up the way he likes it, they join him and Derek in the office.
“Anything?” Reagan asks.
“Not yet,” Grandpa answers and embraces Reagan in a long hug while holding her baby in his other arm. “How’s my new mother?”
“Fine,” she answers. “No thanks to you!”
He chuckles and says, “I know, honey. I’m sorry
I wasn’t here, but I knew you could do it.”
“That makes one of us,” she says with sarcasm.
He pats her back and kisses her forehead. “She sure is a little cutie, Reagan. Is she latching on and suckling?”
“Yes, sort of. Breastfeeding sucks. I’ve had to pester Sue and Hannie constantly about it. It’s harder than it looks.”
“Yes, I’m sure it is. She seems healthy. Her color’s good. I listened to her heart and lungs.”
“I have no doubt,” she comments.
“In the morning, I’ll give you both a thorough examination,” he says. Reagan just offers a smile of appeasement, her light eyes joyful at the sight of her grandfather.
Paige steps closer and looks down at the dark-haired baby. “She is adorable, Reagan. She has dark hair.”
“Probably our moms,” Reagan tells her. “Wanna’ hold her?”
“Oh, um, I don’t know. I’m not that great with babies.”
“What do you mean?” Reagan asks. “You took care of Maddie for almost three years.”
“She was a lot bigger than that when we took custody of her,” Paige tells them as Reagan places her baby into her arms anyway. Lucky for her, Charlotte is fast asleep and barely stirs when transferred to her. Paige takes a seat on one of the leather sofas. Reagan’s daughter is so tiny, feels like she doesn’t weigh much more than a sack of sugar.
A cool evening breeze passes through the large window near her. It almost seems as if it will rain. She hopes it doesn’t because it would make the mission her brother is on more difficult. There was fog settling in during the last few miles to the farm.
“Is anyone hungry?” Sue asks.
“I could use some fuel,” Derek tells her. “Doc and I didn’t eat much at dinner. We were busy with your father.”
“Oh, great,” Sue says. “I’ll grab some food from the kitchen.”
“I’ll help,” Sam offers and rushes from the room, probably eager to have any task to do to keep her mind off the night’s events.
Sue leaves, but her husband does not. Derek is busy at Doc’s desk with maps and pens.
“If they move this way, if the men push them and some escape, this is a possible route they’ll take. Or this one here. This is the one we don’t want them to take. It could bring them here.”
“Or our town,” Doc says.
Paige is too much in awe of the small bundle in her arms to look at the maps. Charlotte’s tiny eyelids flutter from time to time, but for the most part, she is content to be cuddled.
“They’ve been warned,” Reagan says. “They have enough people to defend it.”
“If they go that way, I’m sure John will follow,” Derek says about his brother.
Paige can tell by his body language that Derek is a tense ball of anxiety. He keeps clenching his fists and nervously tapping his pen on the desktop. He’s also leaning heavily on his cane as if he is exhausted and sore.
“There is the possibility that none of them will be able to escape. I know John’s not going to want any of them getting away,” Reagan adds before taking a seat next to her.
Derek says, “No, but with numbers that high and it being dark out, there could be some stragglers that escape.”
“What do you want to do?” Herb asks. “It’s your call, Derek.”
“I’m going to send a few of Robert’s men and a few from Dave’s to these two roads. They’ll act as roadblocks to prevent them from escaping. No prisoners. No escape. We have to eliminate them, make a show of force. If they escape, you can bet they’ll be leading more men back immediately.”
“If that’s how you want to handle it, I’ll support your decision.”
Derek nods and limps from the room. Paige assumes he is going outside to speak with the men who are guarding them. Minutes later, they are pulling out, and Derek returns to his position at the desk.
Huntley comes in a moment later and hovers near Derek. She saw him earlier standing guard in the music room where all of the kids are sacked out on the floor. Gretchen was sitting at the window seat reading a book. She also comes into Herb’s office.
“What the hell? How long’s it gonna take before we hear something? This friggin’ sucks! Luke shouldn’t have gone.”
“No swearing,” Hannah corrects her new sister.
“Awesome,” Reagan states. “Swear more, G. It gives Hannie someone else to yell at besides me.”
“No,” Hannah says firmly and takes a seat. “I just need to keep a bar of soap in my pocket for you two.”
“He’ll be fine, G,” Reagan says, referring to her new brother and ignoring Hannah.
“I’m sure he will,” Gretchen says, chewing on her darkly painted fingernails, exposing her anxiety.
“Does he have the experience to handle himself in this sort of situation?” Reagan asks.
“What?” she asks distractedly. “Yeah, of course. He went through military school before college. Plus, Dad always spent summers teaching him and forcing him to read military books and crap.”
“I didn’t know he attended military school instead of regular high school,” Hannah comments.
Paige notices that she keeps wringing her hands and twisting her fingers in her long dress. Hannah is also stressed out.
“Yes, four years,” she answers. “He went to private school like me until the general forced Luke into military academy.”
“That probably wasn’t a fun place,” Reagan says.
G grunts and says, “Yeah, no crap. But he did learn a lot.”
Sue walks in carrying a tray with a pot of hot tea, cups, saucers, hard-boiled eggs, and biscuits with a little jar of berry jam. Paige passes. She’s too nervous to eat.
“Where’s Sam?” Paige asks her.
“I think she’s outside with Henry,” Sue answers.
“Hm, interesting,” Hannah says as demurely as ever, even though Paige knows what a little schemer she is.
Reagan asks her new sister, “You said before that Luke had to deal with people when you guys lived in the forest or something up in Portland?”
“Right,” she says. “He got good at taking care of us. Plus, well, there was the trip to the cabin. That got pretty hairy.”
“What do you mean, dear?” Herb asks her.
“Oh, the usual. Idiots trying to rob us and shit…”
Hannah jumps in on this one, “Miss Gretchen!”
“Sorry,” she apologizes and swipes a hand through her short, dark hair. “Tried to rob us and stuff. Luke took care of it.”
“Where was Robert?” Sue asks of her father.
“He wasn’t there yet, remember?” G says. “He was trying to get to us from the other side of the country. Luke came for me and Mom and got us out of there. We didn’t really need the general. We just waited for Luke.”
“Where was your brother?” Paige asks.
“Seattle. It took him a while to get to us, too. That was scary. We had to wait a few days for him to arrive, and it was just Mom and me.”
“Did you two have any problems?” Reagan inquires.
G shakes her head and says, “Not really. We tried to stay inside, not go out.”
Paige believes that she is hiding more than she is revealing. Whatever her family went through in the northwest must’ve been harrowing because she definitely doesn’t want to talk about it.
“And you had trouble in the city trying to get out once Luke got to you?” Reagan asks.
“Of course,” G answers and plops down into a leather chair near Paige.
Everyone pauses and looks at her. She doesn’t continue but sits cross-legged style and opens her book again.
“And?” Sue presses. “What happened?”
Gretchen’s head snaps up, and she says, “Oh. I don’t know. The usual. My mom did a lot of the driving while Luke laid down suppressive fire. One group of ass…sorry, jerkwads tried to steal our car when Mom got stuck in traffic.”
“What’d you do?” Paige asks quietly so as not to
awaken the baby.
“Luke took care of them,” she answers. “I helped, but it was mostly my brother. He punched one guy out the window and shot two. I don’t know what happened to them, if they died or lived. Who cares, right? They were trying to jack our car.”
“So the city fell when you guys were still in it?” Reagan asks.
“Yeah, but we got out safe. It was only dangerous in certain areas. Once we got outside the city, it wasn’t so bad. Well, the one time it was, but we still made it to the cabin. Then it sucked ‘cuz we had a long hike to get to it.”
The baby begins to stir, wanting to be fed, so Paige passes her carefully to Reagan, who drapes herself in a soft, cotton blanket to breastfeed. She is tired from the trip and being away from home where she didn’t sleep well on that Army base, but she is way too keyed up and worried about her brother to go to bed.
“How long were you in this cabin out in the woods by yourselves before your dad got to you?” Paige asks.
“Um, a while. I think a few months. I don’t know. You lose track of the days when you’re so isolated.”
“Don’t I know it,” Paige concurs as her concern for the men grows. She stands and decides to pace the room instead. She wishes that she could’ve been involved in this fight, too, but understands why she couldn’t. If the men are defeated along with their allies, the highwaymen could hit the farm next. She’s not going to fool herself into believing that if the men can’t defeat them that she could. She’s not that delusional.
“Damn it!” Derek swears softly at Doc’s desk.
“They’ll radio soon, son. Don’t worry,” Herb says, trying to console their leader.
“I should be with them,” he growls angrily.
Doc lays a hand on Derek’s shoulder briefly before saying, “If you were, then we’d be in trouble if those men come this way. We need you here just as much if not more than your brother does.”
He groans quietly and hobbles from the room on his cane. Everyone is quiet for a moment. Then Sue goes after her husband with an expression of pain on her face. His disability is affecting his whole family. Paige has observed him falling deeper into despair with each passing day. She suspects that Herb requested his presence along for the trip to Fort Knox just to get him out of the house.