by Reed, N. C.
“Still not getting it,” Gordy hated to admit. “But yeah, I’m not the whole ‘me Tarzan’ type if that’s where this is still going. And, I shouldn’t have thought anything about you going and spotting for Heath. You do it here after all, so the only difference was going there. Well, and you were facing another sniper, or at least a hell of a rifleman, and it scared me. I should have had more faith in Heath, and in you. But fear sometimes doesn’t allow that. I’m sorr….” He stopped as her hand moved to cover his mouth softly, cutting him off.
“Never be sorry for loving me, Gordy Sanders,” she whispered so softly he almost didn’t hear it. “Never be sorry for caring so much for me. I have done you a terrible wrong, my love,” she had never called him something like that before. “And I am so sorry. Yes,” she looked up now, drawing back a little, “you should have had more faith in Heath and in me. But I should have had more faith in you. I knew better.” Standing on her toes, she kissed him, hard, wrapping her arms about his neck and pulling him down to her.
Gordy responded to it of course, and soon had his arms wrapped around her as well, picking her up as he straightened.
A throat clearing broke them apart, both red-faced and flushed, not entirely from embarrassment.
“As much as I hate to interrupt this Hallmark moment,” Dee Talbot smirked, “I really need you to finish that fence,” she pointed first at Gordy and then to the line behind him, “and I need you to help me move that group of cattle,” she told Sam, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder.
“Yes, ma’am,” both replied. Gordy turned back to the fence as Sam followed Dee away from him, smiling at the ground and feeling much lighter than she could ever remember before.
She decided she would have to start being nicer to Xavier Adair. Even if he did make her skin crawl a little.
-
“Well, Ally, everything looks good,” Patricia said as she replaced the sensor for the sonogram. “Still sure you don’t want to know-,”
“No, no!” Ally held up a hand, shushing her sister-in-law. “As long as we can do this and the baby is healthy that’s all I care about,” she continued as she tried to lever herself up from the bed. Patricia offered her hand and Ally used it to sit up.
“I’m just teasing,” Patricia promised. “Has the baby been active? There was activity during the scan, but sometimes it doesn’t pick up so much.”
“Oh, yes,” Ally groaned. “A field goal kicker for sure, if we still had field goal kickers. Hits my bladder every time.” Ally levered herself off the table as she finished.
“Well, it won’t be long now before-,” Patricia started, but then stopped short. Ally had an odd look on her face, and Patricia was looking at her midsection.
“Ally, honey, I think your-,”
“Patricia, I think my-,”
“-water just broke!” they finished in unison.
“Get back on the table,” Patricia said at once, helping Ally squirm up onto the exam table.
“I need to call Ronny!” Ally said fearfully.
“Let me make sure you’re okay and then I’ll take care of that, I promise,” Patricia told her. “Let’s get you undressed and into a gown as quick as we can.”
“I should have stayed on my feet for that!” Ally groaned as she tried to help Patricia with getting her maternity wear dress over her head.
“No, you shouldn’t,” Patricia replied. “Here,” she grabbed a paper gown and began placing it around her sister-in-law. They didn’t use them much, using cloth gowns instead and laundering them, but Patricia was in a hurry and it was the first thing she found.
“Kait!” Patricia raised her voice, calling Kaitlin Caudell. Seconds later the RN came around the screen.
“Patricia did you-, oh, boy,” Kait cut herself off as she realized what was happening.
“Or girl,” Patricia nodded. “Get Jaylyn, and have somebody find Ronny, please. And if one of the Duo isn’t working in operations, be sure someone lets them know.”
“Got it!” Kait sped off to take care of her tasks.
“I’m not sure I want to do this, Patty,” Ally said suddenly, looking scared.
“Ally, honey, I hate to tell you but it’s a bit late for that, now,” Patricia tried to keep her voice light.
“I’m too old, Patty,” Alicia fretted. “You know I am,” she insisted.
“Ally, I’ve seen women in their fifties have children,” Patricia told her, brushing Alicia’s hair back from her face. “You’re not too old. Will it be hard on you? Yes, but you know that from when you had the twins. We all knew that. But we’ll take good care of you, I promise.”
“Absolutely,” Jaylyn Thatcher came around the curtain, gloves and gown already on, pulling a mask up over her face. “You’re going to be just fine, Alicia.”
“Might as well call me Ally, Doctor,” Ally told her. “We’re about to know each other very well, it looks like,” she tried to joke.
“If you call me Jaylyn, I will,” the doctor replied, and it was clear she was smiling. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with, here.”
“You have done this before, right, Jaylyn?” Ally asked.
“Nope,” Jaylyn replied brightly. “Never even seen it except on a training film,” she added, winking at Patricia.
“What?” Ally demanded.
“I’m joking, Ally,” Jaylyn patted her legs. “Yes, I’ve done this before. I had to serve as a maternity intern and then had to work maternity during my residency. There weren’t enough OB/GYNs to go around, so the rest of us had to fill in.”
“Isn’t that some kind of malpractice suit waiting to happen?” Ally asked, trying to keep from hyper-ventilating.
“It’s the Army, sweetie,” Jaylyn replied. “The whole place was a lawsuit waiting to happen,” she laughed. “I’ve delivered over two dozen children, Mrs. Tillman. These twins of yours will make thirty, even, if I recall right.”
“Twins!” Ally all but screamed. “Again?!”
“Just kidding!” Jaylyn laughed. “I haven’t looked, since you didn’t want to know, and I wasn’t the attending. I’m just going to help your sister-in-law, who I think has also delivered a baby or two?”
“Or nine or twenty,” Patricia chuckled. “We did it all at Vanderbilt.”
“I’m certainly glad to see you two taking this so seriously,” Ally said, her sarcasm almost visible.
“I know, right?” Jaylyn nodded as she got ready to look under Alicia’s gown. “What if you got stuck with a bunch of jokers when you were trying to have twin babies? Wouldn’t that be awful?”
“Stop saying twins!” Ally demanded. “Patricia, I’m not having twins, right?” Alicia almost pleaded.
“You asked me not to tell you no matter how hard you begged, Ally,” Patricia reminded her.
“Yeah, but I changed my mind,” Ally shook her head. “Tell me I’m not having twins!”
“You’re not having twins,” Patricia replied flatly.
“You promise?” Ally’s face brightened.
“I just did what you told me,” Patricia replied. “You wanted me to tell you that you weren’t having twins, so I did.”
“Oh, God, why did it take the end of the world for this to happen?” Alicia asked the ceiling.
-
“X, how’s the back?” Clay asked, seeing Xavier sitting at the table in front of Building Two.
“It’s a bit sore, but no more than that,” Xavier promised. “No rib damage, so no worries. Just a bit of pain.”
“Well, pain is a medical condition,” Clay told him, and Xavier laughed at that.
“It is, indeed,” he agreed. “Still, it could have been much worse. My vest stopped the round completely. In fact, it’s still in good condition. I was surprised at that, but the new armor is quite well made.”
“That’s why I wanted us to have it if we could find it,” Clay nodded. “I don’t think anything we’ve ever had was any better.”
“I believe you are…likely…, well.
This makes me wonder what’s going on,” Xavier noted, seeing a golf cart bouncing across the ground as fast as it would go, the twins holding on for dear life. Clay was about to say something when he saw an ATV come roaring around from the barn, with Ronny hanging onto the side rail like he was glued to it.
“Hm,” Xavier hummed. “I do believe it’s likely that your family is on the verge of expanding, Clayton.”
-
“Oh, Go-AHHHHHH!”
“You’re at nine, Ally,” Patricia told her. “You’re doing good, sweetie. Everything looks good!”
“Hear that, honey?” Ronny asked, holding her hand. He was wearing a gown and mask as well now and used his other hand to move her hair back from her eyes.
“Honey?” she looked at him, her eyes like daggers. “Don’t you honey, me, Ronny Tillman! If we still had courts, I swear I’d divorce your asAHHHHHHHH!” she was once more cut off as a contraction hit her, feeling as if it were twisting her in half.
“You don’t mean that now,” Ronny soothed, wincing at the crushing pressure on his hand. It was easy to forget that Ally was a farm girl. As such, she was much stronger than she looked.
“It didn’t hurt this bad last time!” Ally shouted at her sister-in-law. “You can’t tell me this is normal!”
“Everything is as normal as it gets, Ally,” Jaylyn Thatcher promised. “Including how you’re treating poor Ronny,” she smiled beneath her mask.
“Poor Ronny?” Ally repeated. “What the hell do you mean ‘Poor Ronny’?!” she shouted. “He’s not the one laying here with a knife going through hi-ARGHHHHHHHH!” her head rocked back into the pillow as she was again cut off from finishing some kind of derogatory statement.
“Nine-and-a-half,” Patricia whispered quietly. “She’s all but there.”
“Remember Ally, don’t push until we tell you, okay?” Jaylyn reminded Ally.
“I’m not pushing!” Ally shouted between huffed breaths. “I’m just trying to breathe!”
-
“Was she like this when we were born?” Leon asked his grandmother. Gordon, Angela and the twins were gathered in the ‘waiting’ area outside the clinic. The twins had started out trying to study on tablets while their grandmother read her bible and their grandfather paced very slowly. They had given up on all that now.
“Oh, yes,” Angela chuckled. “I’m afraid she was. Your father was there and so was I. Your mother did alright for a while, but the closer you two got to arriving, well, the worse it got.”
“Did she threaten to divorce daddy then, too?” Leanne asked, her face pale.
“No, honey,” Angela patted Leanne’s knee. “She threatened repeatedly to kill him,” her grandmother’s tone never changed. The twins looked at her, their look alternating between shock, fear, and outrage.
“Angela, enough,” Gordon actually snickered. “Your grandmother threatened to kill me when your mother was born as I recall,” he told the twins. “Most women do that I’m told.”
“What about when Uncle Robert was born?” Leanne asked, looking at Gordon.
“Men weren’t allowed in the delivery back then,” Gordon explained. “I wasn’t actually in the room for your mother being born, but I was just outside and could hear your grandmother telling the nurse in no uncertain terms what her plans for me were.”
“Now Gordon,” Angela said primly, “let’s not hold what someone says when they’re in incredible and continuous pain for seventeen hours against them.”
“Seventeen hours!” the twins exclaimed in unison. Leanne looked really sick, now.
“Seventeen hours and sixteen minutes, if I recall correctly,” Angela nodded. “And I do, I assure you,” she added.
“Yeah, I’d have to say it was somewhere in there,” Gordon nodded. “Clay was the fastest, I think.”
“Ten hours and eleven minutes,” Angela nodded. “Always in a hurry, your Uncle Clay,” she winked at her grandchildren.
“I’m never having kids,” Leanne said firmly. “Never. Ever.”
“I said the same thing dear,” Angela warned. “And said it again after both Robert and your mother.”
“Well, I mean it,” Leanne declared, arms folding beneath her breasts as her mother screamed yet again, though whether in anger or pain they couldn’t tell. “I am never going to have children. Never, ever!”
“I’m glad I don’t have to worry about it,” Leon muttered. “And I don’t blame you.”
-
“Okay, Ally, here we go!” Patricia called. “You’re fully dilated now! Push when your contractions hit you and let’s see if we can’t get you some relief!”
“Hear that?” Ronny smiled at Ally. “You’re close to relief!”
“You jackass,” Ally snarled, her face twisted in a combination of pain and anger. “Now’s when the worst part starts!”
“Well, I know that,” Ronny assured her. “I was just saying that we’re getting closer, that’s all!”
“We?” Ally looked at him crossly. “Who is ‘we’, Ronny? I don’t see you laying here, screaming in pa-AAAAAHHHHHHHH!”
“I’m right here with you though, honey,” Ronny promised. “Your pain is my pain!”
“It will be if you ever lay a hand to me ever again,” Ally threatened. “You better be glad I can’t get up from here or I’d have killed you already!”
“Now Ally,” he soothed. “You don’t want the kids to hear you say that! Or the baby, either.”
“Right now, I don’t care who hears me!” she informed him. “I just waAHHHHHH!”
“Push, Ally!” Jaylyn encouraged. “You’re almost crowning!”
“I am pushing, dammit!” Ally snarled. “I’m doing the best I can here.”
“You’re doing fine, baby,” Ronny tried to hug her, but she shoved him off.
“Get away from me!”
-
“I remember you asking me if I wanted children,” Lainie said suddenly. She and Clay were waiting in his small office, which was close enough to the clinic to hear every word. “Remember that? Right after Alicia announced she was pregnant?”
“Yeah,” Clay nodded. “The night she cooked for us all, wasn’t it,” he stated more than asked. “I remember we talked about it because Leon was kidding you about it,” he smiled fondly.
“Remember I told you I hadn’t really ever thought about it?” she asked. “That I never expected to meet someone like you? Someone that I’d settle down with like that?”
“I remember,” he nodded. “You said that you had an implant of some kind, too. That it would prevent you from having children for at least two more years. I think it was two more years,” he frowned, thinking.
“It was then. Roughly, anyway,” Lainie agreed. “Anyway. I’ve thought about it, sitting here.”
“Yeah?” Clay grinned, thinking he knew what was coming.
“Yeah, no. I don’t want any kids,” Lainie said flatly. “That shit sounds incredibly painful. I’m good with spoiling other people’s kids, thanks.”
“Okay,” Clay smiled at her. “That suits me, so long as you’re sure that’s what you want.” Just then Ally scream again, and Patricia’s voice could be heard beneath it, yelling for Ally to push harder.
“I’m sure,” Lainie told him firmly. “Absolutely certain.”
-
“One more big push, Ally,” Patricia said tiredly. “One last big push on your next contraction and I think that will get it. Hang in there, sweetheart. We’re almost done.”
“You sai-said that an h-hour ago,” an exhausted Alicia gasped, looking at the lights about her without blinking.
“It was ten minutes ago, honey,” Patricia laughed softly. “I promise. I need you to take a deep breath if you feel it coming and then push like the dickens, okay?”
“You sound like Mom when you say stuff like that,” Alicia actually laughed just a little. “It’s cute.”
“She’s been a big influence on me,” Patricia shrugged. “I guess she’s worn
off on me over the years.”
“Yeah,” Ally nodded. “She’s good at tha-, here it-,”
“Deep breath, Ally, deep breath!” Patricia urged. “And…push! PUSH ALLY! HERE IT COMES!”
“Push, push, keep pushing Ally,” Jaylyn was talking now. “Keep going, keep going, keep going! That’s it! That’s it!”
Alicia suddenly let out a massive groan as her contorted body relaxed on the bed, going slack.
“You did it, Ally!” Patricia told her sister-in-law as Jaylyn finished things off. “Now do you want to know?” she smiled at her. Alicia nodded, tears in her eyes.
“You have a darling, beautiful little boy,” Jaylyn told her, handing the bundle in her arms to Ally, who cradled her new son very carefully.
“Congratulations!” everyone said in a ragged chorus.
“I’ll give you a minute with him, and then I need to take him and get him cleaned up,” Kaitlin smiled at Ally. “By then he’ll be hungry.”
“He’s so beautiful,” Ally crooned softly. “Look, Ronny,” she told her husband. “He’s got a headful of black hair,” she laughed.
“That would have tickled old Leon for sure,” Ronny nodded, laughing with her. “I’m proud of you, baby,” he said softly, nuzzling her hair and kissing her forehead. “You did good.”
“We did good,” she smiled at him. She let Kait step in and take the baby before laying back on the table, exhausted from the hours of effort.
“You need to rest,” Patricia ordered. “And so do you,” she turned to Ronny. “We have a lot still to do, and there’s no reason for you to be here. You also have two children waiting outside to hear the verdict, so you go take care of that while we take care of this.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ronny said, smiling tiredly. “I’ll be just outside, baby,” he turned to Ally, only to stop as he saw she had drifted off to sleep.
“Well, I’ll just be outside,” he whispered to Patricia, who smiled at him and winked. With that, Ronny Tillman went to inform everyone that there was a new baby in the family.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“-and that I will faithfully execute the office of deputy sheriff to the best of my knowledge and ability, agreeable to law, so help me God.” The assembled group finished their oath in unison.