EMP Lodge Series Box Set | Books 1-6

by Hamilton, Grace

  Wyatt didn’t look interested. “All right, we’ll talk about it tonight. I need to get to the house.” Wyatt went back across the stream.

  Kyle watched as he bent close and quietly talked to Megan. She looked up at him once, but quickly looked away when he stared back at her. Let them gossip. He wouldn’t be around much longer, but they would certainly remember him.

  23

  Megan and Wyatt ran the rest of the way back to the cabin. Once they could see the cabin in the distance, Megan surged ahead with Wyatt close behind her. She burst through the small front door shouting. “Rosie!” Gasping for breath, she rested her hands on her knees, taking long, slow breaths to slow her heart rate down.

  Rosie had been out back but quickly appeared in the kitchen. “What’s wrong? What it is?” she asked trying to keep the terror out of her voice.

  “We got it!” Megan shouted tugging the pack off Wyatt’s shoulder and fumbling to open it. She wasn’t worried about staying quiet. If her shouting woke Caitlin up, that was even better.

  “Oh, praise God!” Rosie put down the basket of laundry and quickly grabbed a pot to fill with water as Megan still fumbled with the pack. Wyatt stilled her shaking hands and opened the backpack. Pulling out the container, he handed it to Megan who rushed it over to Rosie.

  Megan paced a steady course around the kitchen and living room waiting for Rosie to prepare the tea. She silently wished that the woman would work faster as she shook the tiny seeds onto the counter, then ground them up to add to a cup of boiling water. It took about ten minutes, but Megan swore it was hours.

  Wyatt followed the women into the room where Caitlin lay almost lifeless. Duke lifted his head a mere few inches before staggering off the bed and heading for the door. Megan noticed, but didn’t pay much attention to the dog. She was focused on her little girl. She sat behind her and propped her up so Rosie could give her the tea.

  They all stared at the girl. Rosie’s laugh broke the tension.

  “It isn’t instant. We need to give it some time to work on the liver and clean out the poison. I’m going to go finish that laundry,” she said walking out the door.

  Megan cradled her daughter, quietly humming a tune and pleading with her to open her eyes.

  “Wyatt!” Rosie called with alarm in her voice. “Wyatt, you better come take a look at Duke.”

  Megan met Wyatt’s eyes. The alarm in Rosie’s voice put her on edge. She pulled Caitlin a little closer to protect her from whatever it was that scared Rosie.

  “I’ll check back with you two in a bit,” Wyatt told her, giving Caitlin’s head a gentle pat. “Holler if you need us.”

  Megan nodded and watched him leave. She prayed her daughter would wake up soon. Rosie had warned her that giving too much of the milk thistle could actually make her daughter sicker. If this didn’t work, she didn’t know what else to do but she would be damned if she let her daughter die.

  It was so painfully obvious that Caitlin was slipping away. Her mother’s instinct was screaming at her to fix her baby. She was trying, she just didn’t know how. Megan was so grateful for the help of the others; their friendship and simply being there had helped to get her through the past few days. Without them, she imagined she wouldn’t even be functioning at this point.

  Wyatt bent down and rubbed Duke’s head. The dog was seriously ill and he couldn’t figure out why. The poor guy had barely made it out back before he began vomiting.

  Duke laid down and groaned.

  “Stay here, buddy, I’ll get you some water,” Wyatt told him, standing up to go get his bowl.

  Wyatt had no idea what could’ve happened. Duke had been fine up until about a week ago when he first became listless. Kyle said he couldn’t see anything wrong with him but something wasn’t right. Duke had stopped eating altogether and now was vomiting. He looked around, hoping Ryland wouldn’t see his dog in such bad shape.

  Rosie was standing near the door. “What do you think?” she asked with concern in her voice.

  “I wish I knew. Maybe he got into something out on the property.” Wyatt stared at the dog, willing him to give a clue about what had happened. Nothing.

  “I’ll get the water,” Rosie offered turning to go inside.

  Ryland and Willow came around the house both covered in dirt. It was obvious they’d been working in the soon-to-be garden.

  “What’s wrong?” Ryland called out rushing to his dog’s side.

  Willow looked at Wyatt, tears in her eyes. “Is he sick?”

  Wyatt shrugged. He didn’t know. Sick, yes, dying, he didn’t know and didn’t want to make the situation worse by suggesting it.

  Rosie put the bowl of water in front of Duke. He smelled it, but turned away.

  “Come on, boy,” Ryland encouraged. “Take a little drink; it will make you feel better.”

  Duke laid his head in his master’s lap and groaned again. Wyatt looked on, feeling helpless. Tears were streaming down Ryland’s face as he rubbed the dog’s ears and then his belly.

  Albert and Chase had come into the house. Hearing the commotion out back, they came to investigate.

  They both stood and stared at the scene in horror.

  “Oh no,” Albert murmured.

  Chase clapped the guy on the shoulder. He never would admit it, but everyone knew Albert was very fond of the dog.

  The adults formed a small circle around the boy who was quietly crying and doing his best to get the dog to drink. Ryland dipped his fingers in the water and put them to Duke’s mouth, but Duke wasn’t interested.

  “Hey, what’s everyone doing back here?” Jack said walking through the back door. His good mood vanished when he saw his son holding his best friend.

  He didn’t have to ask. “Mom, is there anything you can do?”

  Rosie took a deep breath. “Well I can certainly try, can’t I? Ryland, you keep trying to get him to take water. Let me see what I can find,” she told him before rushing into the kitchen. .

  Wyatt looked at Jack. “Where’s Kyle?”

  “We caught a ton of fish. He’s down by the stream cleaning them. I came up to get a fire going so we could cook them.” His earlier excitement had vanished.

  They all stood in silence for several minutes watching the dog and Ryland. It was a heartbreaking scene. Every fiber of Wyatt’s being demanded he do something to help the poor dog. He didn’t know what to do.

  Rosie popped her head back out the door. “How’s he doing?” she asked in a whisper.

  Wyatt shook his head.

  “I’ll make him more of that rice Kyle insisted on. He also mentioned canned pumpkin. I’ll check the root cellar, but I don’t think that’s something we added.”

  The men slowly wandered away to take care of other tasks, leaving Willow and Ryland alone with Duke. It seemed like the right thing to do. Wyatt wasn’t sure what else they could do, but felt some privacy would be best.

  Wyatt and Chase had gone down to the stream where Kyle was supposed to be cleaning the fish to bring him back to check out Duke. The man was nowhere to be found. The fish were in a bucket, but he’d vanished. Wyatt didn’t like it, but there was little they could do.

  Maybe the guy went for a walk or maybe he decided to leave. He didn’t know, but figured he’d give it until sundown before he spent too much more time thinking about it. There were more pressing matters to deal with. Chase volunteered to finish cleaning the fish while Wyatt went back up to the house.

  He’d just finished stocking the outhouse with toilet paper when Rosie appeared at the back door. Her cheeks were flushed and she appeared extremely agitated. Wyatt rushed back, assuming Duke had passed away. Jack had helped move Duke into the downstairs sitting area in front of the woodstove. He had a fire blazing. Ryland insisted the dog had been cold.

  When he walked through the door, Ryland was still on the floor with Duke. Willow was removing a pot of water from the woodstove and adding a fresh one.

  Rosie grabbed his arm. “In here.”r />
  Wyatt followed her into the bedroom where Caitlin had been for days.

  “She’s starting to wake up,” Megan said in an excited voice.

  It’d been several hours since they’d first given her the milk thistle. Rosie had given Caitlin more tea about an hour ago adding in nettle and dandelion to the thistle telling Megan between the three plants, the poison didn’t have a chance.

  Wyatt turned to his mom who looked like she was going to start crying. The scene was in stark contrast to what was happening beyond the doors of the bedroom.

  Albert stomped into the bedroom. “She up yet?”

  Rosie scowled at him. Wyatt knew the guy was acting tough, but they’d all grown fond of the little girl. Within minutes, the room filled up. Everyone stared at the little girl on the bed who started to moan.

  The moment Caitlin opened her eyes, there was a collective gasp. They all held their breath as they watched Caitlin blink several times before focusing on her mother.

  “Caitlin? Caitlin, baby?” Megan asked in a strained voice.

  The little girl started to cry. “Mommy, my throat hurts.”

  Every person in the room had tears of joy in their eyes. They’d never seen the little girl’s beautiful blue eyes or heard her melodic voice.

  Megan was openly crying and laughing at the same time. Rosie wiped her eyes and quickly rushed to get the little girl some water.

  Even Albert had tears in his eyes. They’d all grown so attached to this little girl and none of them had actually met her. Ryland had left Duke’s side to come see the little girl he’d been dying to meet, shyly introducing himself.

  24

  Megan looked up and was surprised to see all the teary faces. Albert was rapidly blinking, clearly trying to get rid of the tears welling. When he caught her looking at him, he scowled. She smiled. Even the toughest men have a softer side

  It was amazing. Caitlin was awake and Megan owed it to these wonderful people who’d taken her in. Without their support and Rosie’s wisdom, Caitlin probably would’ve died. The thought alone made Megan shudder in terror. She’d put her daughter’s life in their hands, depending on them and they had come through for her. For them.

  “Thank you,” she said to the room as a whole. “Thank you so much for all your help.”

  Wyatt beamed. “How about we give Caitlin some time to talk with her mom in private,” he said ushering everyone out the door.

  Ryland went back to Duke. “Mom, he puked again,” he cried.

  “Oh, my. Okay, hold on, I’m coming,” Willow said stopping by the basket where they kept their rags. Paper towels were an expensive commodity that couldn’t be wasted. The rags were cut up shirts that were beyond stained or torn. Nothing was ever thrown out.

  Wyatt walked over and looked at the latest pile on the floor. He bent closer and saw chunks of green in the vomit. In an instant, he knew exactly what it was! Duke had somehow eaten the rat poison that his dad had used in the past. The green cubes were placed in the root cellar and the area where the water barrels were stored. There was no possible way Duke could’ve gotten into the poison by himself.

  “Mom, you’re going to need charcoal. He’s been fed rat poison.” Wyatt remembered what she’d said earlier about Caitlin and knew right away charcoal was on the menu for the poisoned dog.

  “What? Are you sure?” she asked.

  The rest of the group looked horrified sharing anxious looks.

  “How did he get into the rat poison?” Jack asked.

  Wyatt shook his head. “I don’t know, but I can see chunks of it. It’s like the chunks were cut off one of those blocks.”

  Chase ran out the back door to grab the bucket they put the charcoal from the stove into. Since it was an excellent additive to soil and helped add organic matter, they were planning to use it in their future garden. He reached in with his bare hands and pulled a chunk of coal out, handing it to Rosie. She quickly smashed it up into a fine powder, added some water and made a thick slurry.

  She yanked open a drawer and pulled out an empty syringe. Duke was wobbling back in the door, headed for his bed in front of the fire.

  “Jack, you’ll need to hold him, while I squirt this in his mouth. I doubt he’ll drink it willingly,” Rosie said sitting down next to the dog.

  Between Jack, Ryland and Rosie, they got the cup of charcoal slurry into the dog’s mouth and down his throat.

  Wyatt had a sneaky suspicion that their recent visitor may have been responsible for the sudden rash of poisoning. He couldn’t prove it, but something was happening. There were too many coincidences. Kyle had been feeding Duke, but that didn’t explain Caitlin.

  Caitlin’s poisoning was likely an accident, but something felt off. He trusted his instincts and they were demanding to know where Kyle was because he seemed to be at the center of it all.

  Wyatt went back to the room to check on Megan and Caitlin. The little girl was sitting on the edge of the bed leaning against her mother. She looked incredibly tiny.

  “Hi,” Megan said. “Caitlin, this is Wyatt. He helped me find the medicine that made you better.”

  Caitlin grinned, revealing what had to be two new front teeth that were too big for her tiny mouth. The look was so common among kids her age. It was like a rite of passage.

  “Hi,” Caitlin squeaked out. Mom says I can try to walk, but I have to sit first,” she explained.

  “That’s a good idea.” He looked at Megan. “Want me to help?”

  She shook her head. “I got it. She’s a little shaky, but she wants to walk on her own and I figured I could take her out to the outhouse to see if she’ll go.”

  He looked at the little girl who was now standing next to the bed. “Okay, mom, I’m ready.”

  The little girl was very unsteady. Her determination to make it on her own was so much like her mother, Wyatt had to smile. So independent.

  “We’ll be right beside you if you think you may fall down. Okay?”

  Wyatt took that to mean he was invited on the trip to the outhouse. He was thrilled. This was Caitlin’s first time seeing the place and he couldn’t wait to experience it with her.

  The three of them walked very slowly. Wyatt was afraid he would break her tiny little arm if he had to grab her if she did trip. He looked at Megan who looked only a little concerned. Maybe this was normal?

  Wyatt hadn’t spent much time around kids. It was only the last year that he got to know Ryland. His mind drifted to having his own kids who happened to look very much like Megan and Caitlin.

  He didn’t know if he would ever make his dream of having his own family come true. He didn’t think there would be many women willing to have a baby with the way things were now. Without medicine and an experienced doctor there to make sure everything went okay, women would be risking their lives. Obviously, without the benefit of condoms or birth control, it was going to happen, but it was scary to contemplate.

  Wyatt decided there was no point in worrying about any of that right now. He needed to focus on what was happening to the family he did have. He would worry about babies and all of that when it was actually a possibility.

  Megan went into the tiny outhouse with her daughter while Wyatt stood outside. Everyone was already getting back to work. He knew his mom would be in the kitchen whipping up some fantastic feast that would help put some weight back on Caitlin. Jack had asked Ryland to help him take care of the fish in an effort to get his mind off his sick dog.

  Duke had been left to rest by the fire so Rosie could keep an eye on him but she was confident he would be fine. She explained to Ryland that all the vomiting was actually a good thing. The charcoal would get the rest of the poison and within a couple of days; Duke would be back to his usual, goofy self. In an instant, their quiet, serene little home burst into a flurry of noise and shouting. Albert’s voice in the distance could be heard barely over the alarm system they’d rigged up a couple weeks ago. Someone was coming.

  Megan opened the outhous
e door. “What’s happening?”

  “I don’t know. Can you get her back to the house on your own?”

  She nodded hugging Caitlin to her side.

  “Go inside. Lock the doors. Go into my room. The closet has a false wall in the back. There’s a small hole along the right edge. Stick your finger in there and pull open the door. It’s a small space, but you two will fit fine,” he told her.

  “Got it. Be safe, Wyatt,” she called out as she scooped up her daughter and carried her precious cargo back to the house.

  Wyatt ran towards the area where Albert was yelling. It sounded like he was in his favorite perch up high in the tree. When Wyatt arrived at the scene, Jack, Ryland and Willow were already there. Chase and his mom ran up behind him. They all stared down at the owl tangled in fishing line. It’d been trying to feast on the fish guts under the line. The owl was flapping wildly, trying to free itself.

  The security system used a combination of fishing wire and battery-powered window alarms. Chase had secured one contact on the pole and another was carefully placed on a stick with the fishing line tied around it. If someone crossed the almost invisible fence, the fishing line would pull the stick, separating the contacts and triggering the alarm.

  The elaborate system was set in this particular corner because it was closest to the house. Wyatt and Chase had plans to add more of the alarms around the perimeter, but because of the proximity to the house and their storage area, this point of entry was of most concern.

  The fish guts were clearly put here on purpose. Chase quieted the alarm. Between the three men, they managed to free the owl, suffering some minor wounds from a very angry animal who didn’t appreciate the trickery.

  The group didn’t have time to wonder who would do such a thing. A faint scream could be heard tearing through the air. Wyatt’s heart nearly exploded in his chest at the sound of Megan screaming in what could only be described as excruciating pain.