by Kathi Barton
“No, none. It’ll be good that we can help out. They’re not going to miss their own dinner, are they?” Nate smiled at her. “Yes, well, I might be selfish enough to want all the help we can get. But I don’t want anyone missing a fantastic dinner like the feast we’re having.”
“You’re no more selfish than Ms. Eve is, silly. They’re each only working a few hours at a time. We’ve made it so that no one goes without. In addition to the money they’re getting paid, they’re each going to receive a turkey that can be baked at anytime they wish. Most of the adults working today are also going home with enough side dishes and pies that their meal isn’t going to be any extra expense for them.”
After eating her bagel and cream cheese, Ivy took off for the path, skipping over piles of snow and puddles of water. The fresh air with just a little bite of crispness in it was just what she needed today to blow out the cobwebs of the last few days.
She was still a little at odds with their Aunt Bea. The woman had startled her enough that she’d fought back verbally with her. Usually Ivy wasn’t one to argue with someone like the elder Whitfield, but she had brought out some kind of defensive mood that had her wanting to hit her. Ivy had not ever had such a feeling before.
Then last night, just as they were all leaving, she heard her talking on the phone. Not one to eavesdrop on anyone, she paused in the middle of making her way to the bathroom to see what was going on.
“I think this is the right one.” The person on the other end was easy for Ivy to hear, but she was not able to make out what they were saying. “Yes, yes, I’m aware of that as well. You will not take that tone with me, young man, or so help me, I’ll expose you right now.”
There was a shuffle, like someone sitting up straighter in a chair, then the conversation began again. It made her nervous, only hearing one side of the call, but she thought that she’d heard enough to surmise that whoever Ms. Bea was talking to, she didn’t much care for them.
“I have done just what you wanted me to do, have I not?” The answer was clearer, the person on the other end of the call spoke loud enough for her not only to hear what they said, but also that it was a man. “Then you’ll leave me alone? You’ll take care of what you promised to do for me?”
The answer was a deep throated laugh, then the line went dead. To hide herself to think about it, Ivy stepped into the small bathroom and shut the door. Ivy flushed the toilet and washed her hands before coming out into the now empty hallway. But for the rest of the night, she kept a close eye on Bea.
Just as she was rounding the bend in the path to take it back to the house, a large cat stepped in front of her. She knew immediately who it was. Stopping and taking several steps back, her fear of the elderly cat had her reaching for anyone that could hear her.
Her shift from animal to woman was quick. On some level Ivy knew that she shouldn’t be dressed, but she had more pressing things on her mind than clothing. Bea leaned over and picked up a gun—not pointing it at her, not yet, but it wouldn’t take much effort to bring it up and kill her.
“I’m in trouble.” Ivy nodded. “I know that you heard me last night. I waited there for about an hour before I made the call that I wanted you to know about. I was hoping...well, to be honest with you, I’m not sure what I was hoping. But I’m in deep trouble.”
“Are you going to use that? If so, you should know that I’ve spoken to Evan and Josh. They’re both on their way.” Bea nodded and looked around. Ivy, if it was a trick, didn’t do the same. “What is it you think that I can help you with? Or for that matter, why would I want to do anything for you?”
“I had to do that, fight with you. I wanted to catch you off guard, show you that while I’m an old woman and cat, I can take on a much younger person than myself. But you didn’t touch me. Had you done that, then I’d have had a connection with you.” Ivy knew that as well. There had to be some kind of blood exchange. “I wanted you to kill me.”
“I wouldn’t have done that. Not unless you hurt one of the others.”
Bea said that she could see that now.
Evan came through the woods first, his cat twice the size of Bea’s when she’d come out of the woods. Josh was next, and with him was Adam.
“She said that she’s in trouble. I don’t know what’s going on just yet.”
“I’m being blackmailed. They’ve taken all that I had. Not just money, but—well, anything else that they thought I no longer needed.” Evan must have said something to his aunt. When she looked at Ivy, she felt her sorrow and fear double for the other woman. “Evan said that he’d gladly help me. I knew that he’d say that, but I think that the only person that can help me is you, Ivy. And if you turn me down, I’m as good as dead right now.”
~*~
Evan paced the long room. It was about three hours before anyone in the family would show up to eat, and he was sick with worry that something would go wrong. When Dylan came to him, he reached for her to hug, but instead he got a smart slap to the face.
“What the fuck was that for?” She told him he was projecting. “Yes, well, so are you, but you’re a bit more violent with it. Really, what did you hit me for, love?”
“As I said, you’re projecting. And anyone within ten feet of you can see that you’re afraid. Stop it. Think of something else. Anything else.” Evan told her that it was difficult. “Yes, I’m sure it is. But think of this—if you give this up, then a lot of people are going to be hurt, perhaps killed.”
There was that. Just a little over an hour ago, he had sat down with his family. He had to admit, they were scary when they came together for a common cause. Now he was questioning a great many things that had happened over the last twenty-four hours, especially where his aunt was concerned.
Like her showing up right out of the blue. She’d have her surprise visits, but she’d always give them at least week before descending on them. Aunt Bea would like for people to be prepared for her when she arrived. He thought that was the only reason she came about five to seven days after announcing that she was on her way. That and the uproar that came with it.
But what she’d told them today, just this morning, Evan had to sit down and let it wrap around his mind before he traveled that well-worn path again. He looked up at his mom when she said his name.
“Dylan said that I should knock you around a bit. I don’t want to, but it would go a long way in making me feel like I’m being productive.” Evan smiled and took her hand into his larger one and kissed the back of his mom’s. “She’s never been in trouble before this. She’s been trouble. Bea has always danced to her own set of cymbals.”
Evan laughed, which he was sure that she’d intended him to do. Sitting down on the couch next to him, she leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed heavily. Evan watched the women in his family talk and plot.
“They’re brilliant, aren’t they?” He didn’t ask her who she was talking about but nodded. “Apart they’re a bigger force than I think that even an army would have. Together, I do believe that they could move a mountain or two. If any one of them were to start a war, I’d defect to a place that I’d find safer. Not that I think they’d harm me, but I think the fall out is going to be epic.”
“You need to stay away from Dylan, Mom. You’re beginning to sound just like her.” She thanked him. “It wasn’t a compliment. I was telling you that it’s not a good thing—not for my mom, anyway—to sound like my wife. She’s mouthy and full of spit and sausage, as Grandda says.”
“Yes, well, there a great deal to be said about acting like someone you admire. And I do admire them. Every one of them.” She laughed a little, and he had to smile. “Oh Evan, can you imagine what the next two mates are going to be like? My goodness, we’ll have a houseful before long. And no one will come within fifty feet of this family if they know what’s good for them.”
“I agree.” He watched as Sunny got up and then sat down again. Three times. “She’s not happy with the plan, I take it.”
“No, Sunny is upset that she didn’t think if it first. Adam’s mate, our lovely Ivy, is scary organized. Is she like that in the operating room?” Evan told her she was, and that Ivy listened to classical music, and everything was in place before she even picked up an instrument. “I figured as much. The two of you would never get along as well as you do if not. You’ve always been very organized. Even as a child.”
The doorbell going off was the signal that they’d all been waiting for. While the plan had been hammered out and then relooked at several times over, calling the man to come to the house had been the only recourse that they had. Then the hard part came. They’d have to operate on his aunt.
He and his mom, under orders from the people hidden among his family members, had stayed out of sight. The only people that could be seen by the men were his aunt, Grandda, as well as Ivy. Rachel and Nathan were under lock and key in the kitchen, where they’d be safe. They’d not stand a chance if this went sour.
“Beautiful—how are you faring this fine day?” The man’s voice was nasal, sounding like he’d been at a football game or something like that, and he’d screamed all night at the coach. Evan knew that feeling—he’d been to a great many— “We have an understanding, you and I. And I see that you’ve held up your end of the bargain quite well.”
“You make it sound as if I had any kind of choice in the matter. Do whatever it is you want, and I’ll be on my way to the grandchildren’s house for dinner. Not that I’ll be eating all that much. You’ve pretty much ruined my ever enjoying this holiday again. And it being my favorite.” He told her to shut up. “I will do no such thing. What is it you want? Your pound of flesh? I’m sorry, but I’ve given all that I can today. You’ll get no more from me.”
The man laughed again before speaking. “You’ll do just as you are told. Now, move out of my way so that I can take the good doctor here with me. A great many people are going to sing my praises once I show up with a surgeon to help our leader.” Aunt Bea snorted at him. “You don’t think my reasons are good enough for having blackmailed you into doing this? Well, not that I care what you think—I will be honored greatly for this.”
“You really think that I’m going to go with you easily? If so, then you’re fucking nuts.” Ivy’s voice was calm—hard but calm. “Why don’t you fucking crawl back under the rock you slipped out from under and leave us alone?”
“I was told that you were full of your own self-worth.” No one said anything, but Evan saw the moment when something happened. “You will come with me or I’ll kill this lovely woman here. She’s worth a great deal more to me dead than alive anyway. Perhaps I can kill her now, threaten you with the same thing, and take you anyway. There is no one here to gainsay me. You do know that you’ll never get out of here alive.”
“Really? Well, I hate to tell you this, but you’re fucking wrong. And what sort of person would I be if I just left here with you without a single thought?” The room seemed to have come alive in that moment. There were so many people surrounding him and his mom that Evan couldn’t see what was going on by the doorway. But when he heard Dylan laughing, Evan felt like the air had been let out of his head and he was relieved by it.
Aunt Bea was taken to the room to the left of the dining room. She had a small explosive planted in her leg that needed to be removed before some idiot on the other side of the world got wind of the capture of these men today and killed her. As soon as it was removed from deep within her leg, it was handed first to Sunny, then to the men that had come with Henry Cobb.
Sunny was able to find that there was two more in Aunt Bea’s body. One was up near her neck, alongside her spine. The other was in her right hand, near her wrist, that he supposed was to take off her hand if she became too much trouble. Dylan told him that it was more than likely put there so that she’d bleed out slowly. It was what she might have done. It would have made her suffer once it had been fired off. He asked her never to tell him that sort of stuff again.
After they were all removed, he and Ivy sat down on the room’s only two seats. It hadn’t been that bad, the removal of the explosives, but it had been stressful. This was his aunt. While he wasn’t sure that he liked her all that much, she was still blood, and they took care of all family members when they needed it.
“She saved my life.” Evan had never thought of it that way but told her he was sorry. “Yes, well, I’ll be beholden to her for the rest of my days, and I’m going to damn well make her feel grateful that I’m so nice to her. The old biddy had the nerve to tell me that I’m too young to be motherless. I’ve no idea what she meant by that, but I’ll have plenty of time with her to find out.”
“Those men, they wanted you because of what you are, not who you are. What I mean is, they needed you for your surgical abilities.” Ivy nodded, looking over at Aunt Bea. “Did you hear what Henry called the other man? He’s someone that they’ve been looking for a few decades. He’s been the cause of a lot of deaths.”
“He told me that the world would never know about this either. That the men here today with him have been briefed and briefed again to make sure that they know it.” Ivy looked at him and he felt her pain. “They hurt her, those men. They did more than just put a few explosives under her skin—they ruined her financially, too. She has nothing left. Just as I had done to me.”
He’d forgotten that, that she’d lost everything in a fire. Evan looked over at his aunt and wondered why she’d not reached out to any of them before today. When Ivy laughed a little, he asked her what was so funny.
“She told me out there, before you got her brought here by Tanner, that she fought with me that day to see if I would stand up to her. Then she told me that once she felt not anger from me, but a seriousness and conviction that astounded Bea, she knew that on some level I’d be all right. But she thought for sure she was dead. And no one would know that she’d never meant to be the mean old aunt that everyone hated to have around.”
“I’ll make sure that she knows that we’ll be here for her forever.” Ivy nodded, and he stood up. “I can smell all that food in the other room. She’ll be all right until she wakes, which won’t be long, and we can join the family.”
Just as they were leaving the room, he turned in time to see Ivy kiss his aunt on the forehead. When they left the room together, he took one more look back and saw his aunt smile. Evan knew that his family had gotten another member today. He only hoped that they could all survive her as they had the criminals that had messed with his aunt.
Before You Go…
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Kathi Barton , winner of the Pinnacle Book Achievement award as well as a best-selling author on Amazon and All Romance books, lives in Nashport, Ohio with her husband Paul. When not creating new worlds and romance, Kathi and her husband enjoy camping and going to auctions. She can also be seen at county fairs with her husband who is an artist and potter.
Her muse, a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Hugh Jackman, brings her stories to life for her readers in a way that has them coming back time and again for more. Her favorite genre is paranormal romance with a great deal of spice. You can visit Kathi online and drop her an email if you’d like. She loves hearing from her fans. [email protected].
Follow Kathi on her blog: http://kathisbartonauthor.blogspot.com/
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