Vetted Again

by K'Anne Meinel

  The officer nodded. That confirmed what they had gotten from the children and corroborated the story as they were putting it together.

  “Where are Trever and Peter?” Allyssa casually asked. She had taken her gun off in the car and placed it in the lock box. She didn’t know where Fey’s gun was, but she knew Fey hadn’t worn it on the drive to return her siblings to their dad. That trip seemed like it had happened days ago instead of just hours ago.

  “The Kapatricks were asked to leave the premises,” the officer answered her.

  The officer escorted the women to a regular hospital room where the children were lying on beds. They were not admitted as patients, just staying in that room so they could watch television. There were several officers outside the room and they looked on curiously as the two women were escorted into the room by the doctor and the officer.

  “Fey! Allyssa!” the children shouted when they saw the two women, and they jumped off the beds to rush towards them. Both women got hearty hugs. It didn’t feel as though they had just said goodbye to them earlier that day. Both women’s bellies were bumped, and the children backed off, laughing, and grasped the other woman tightly in their arms for a moment.

  “Are you okay?” both Allyssa and Fey asked the children, concerned as they looked them over. They both had cuts and abrasions and sported a few bandages.

  “We’re not as bad as Dad. He was unconscious, and it seemed to take forever for the ambulance to arrive,” Sean told them, trying to hold back tears. Fey put her arm around her brother as he sniffed suspiciously.

  “Dad was bleeding all over the sidewalk and they had to pull a tree out of him,” Traci put in, the tears flowing unashamedly down her cheeks.

  “What?” Fey asked, alarmed. Allyssa took the young girl into a one-armed hug and guided her back to one of the beds.

  “Let’s sit down, and you can tell us what happened,” Allyssa advised, looking meaningfully at Fey. They were both exhausted and starving, and she knew she was going to need to visit the bathroom very soon. She tried to catch Fey’s eye and point out the police officer was listening in unashamedly. She also saw the doctor was outside talking to what looked like a male nurse.

  “When we got home, Dad told us to grab our stuff from the car. I know he was worried that we were so late, and I know Mom was going to be unhappy about that,” Sean told her, the sound of crying in his hoarse voice. “They don’t know if she was in the house or what really happened, but suddenly, I heard a loud boom! It was like those firecrackers on the Fourth of July but louder, and then, I looked up and Dad was flying through the air.”

  “I didn’t know we’d been hit with anything until we ran to Dad and I felt the pain,” Traci put in, sniffing audibly.

  “Dad hit that tree in our yard and broke it,” Sean went on. “It impaled him,” he added, sounding intrigued and sad at the same time. “They had to cut the tree to get him in the ambulance.”

  “Do they know what caused the explosion?” Fey asked, horrified by what they had seen.

  “I heard someone say it was gas,” Traci confided, shuddering slightly. Allyssa was rubbing Traci’s arm, trying to warm up the cold, little girl next to her.

  “Then Trever came and said we had to go with him,” Sean put in. “I didn’t want to leave Dad yet, but he tried to make me go.”

  “He was really mean. He’s a jerk!” Traci added.

  “Did he say why he wanted you to go with him?” Fey asked. She really didn’t think of her stepbrothers often. She frequently forgot they even existed. Both boys had been bullies in the making when she was younger, and she had avoided them, which wasn’t hard since Rosemary didn’t want her around anyway.

  Sean shrugged and then winced from his bruises. “I don’t know,” he admitted.

  “I think he just wanted to show off,” Traci told them.

  “Show off how?” Allyssa asked.

  “Like pretending he was the good, big brother...but he’s really mean, and Peter backs him up. I don’t like them very much,” she said in a quieter voice in case she could be overheard.

  Allyssa exchanged a look with Fey, who was sitting on the other bed with Sean. Long ago, Fey had told her wife about her two stepbrothers. They’d gone into the army and become belligerent bullies, barely making it through and just doing their time. Their sense of entitlement rivaled Rosemary’s, so it wasn’t a surprise they weren’t well-liked.

  “Are you okay?” Allyssa asked the young girl, looking at her concerned.

  She nodded, but the tears continued to flow. Allyssa leaned over to pull a tissue from a box between the beds and handed it to her.

  “How about you?” Fey asked her brother, who nodded manfully and then, suddenly, burst into tears.

  “I think Mom’s dead and they haven’t told us,” he admitted through his sobs that were wetting her shirt.

  Over his head, Fey exchanged another look with Allyssa. They both suspected the same, but the police hadn’t told them much. The investigation could take a while as they verified the identity of the person caught in the explosion. They both held the young children while the trials of the day caught up with the youngsters. Both children fell asleep in the older women’s arms and gently, one by one, they put them to bed and pulled up their sheets. Turning off the TV, which had been a monotonous drone in the background, they left the room so the two could sleep. Both women were rubbing their lower backs. It had been a long day for the pregnant women.

  “They’re asleep,” Fey told the doctor who came up.

  “Good. I was going to suggest a sedative, but natural sleep is the best.”

  “They are both okay?” she asked for confirmation. She had seen for herself that they were both naturally upset but wanted the doctor to confirm there were no hidden injuries.

  “They are going to be fine. There are a few contusions, but everything will heal in time. Neither child required stitches. It’s their mental state that will need a lot of TLC.”

  “Do they know yet where their mother, Rosemary is? Was she inside the house during the blast?”

  “We know someone was caught in the blast. We found the body, but we haven’t identified it as Rosemary Herriot yet,” the officer walking up told them. She’d seen how the two women were a calming influence on the children, not like the other brothers. They had also made no demands that the children go with them. She was learning the dynamics of this family.

  “Do you need to do a DNA test?”

  “Both Trever and Peter have given tissue samples, and the morgue will be running tests to confirm our suspicions that the body is Rosemary Herriot,” she acknowledged. “You are the children’s older sister?”

  “I was born during my father’s first marriage. He married Rosemary when I was young, but I wasn’t raised with their family,” she said, indicating Trever and Peter as well as the younger children. “I was raised by my grandparents on their ranch, which I have since inherited and now run.” She saw no reason to be evasive or not clarify the relationships.

  “Will you be around town the next few days?” the officer inquired, glancing between the two of them.

  “We are going to have to eat and then, get a hotel room,” Allyssa put in almost forcefully, speaking up for the first time. “We had to drive all the way from the ranch today, and as you can see, we are both pregnant.”

  The officer had noted that, and while she wondered at them both being pregnant at the same time, she knew that was none of her business. “Could I get your cell phone numbers in case we need to ask some more questions?”

  Allyssa readily gave the numbers to her as Fey went to talk to the doctor about her siblings’ care. She gave the doctor their cell numbers too, so they could contact them when the children woke up.

  “Do you know if your father or his wife had wills?” the officer asked Allyssa.

  “My father-in-law,” she clarified, “and I have no idea.” She saw Fey look up and jerked her head to signal her to come over. “Do you know if Ro
semary or Keith have wills?”

  “A living will or the other kind?” she asked, looking at the officer questioningly.

  “Either?”

  She shook her head. “I have no idea. But if you need someone to take responsibility for Sean and Traci, we’ll do that gladly.”

  The officer nodded. She had seen how calm the children were in the women’s presence. She was relieved to know they have a good relationship with these two. It was a far cry from the relationship with the two men who had tried to take custody of the children. She would note that in her report.

  Holding hands, Allyssa and Fey made their way out to the Jeep. They stopped at a Denny’s to fill their empty stomachs and got an extra meal to go in case they wanted to nibble on sandwiches later before finding a hotel room. It was late, and they were exhausted, so they slept like the dead once they showered and fell into bed. Each held the other’s hand as they fell asleep, and they woke up curled on their sides with Fey’s hand around Allyssa. Her rounded belly was pressed against Allyssa’s back, and she was touching the baby moving restlessly within her wife’s body. Her own baby wasn’t happy with all the stress that had been going on and she was uncomfortable.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Fey took another shower in the morning, and Allyssa began making phone calls to check on the practice and let Renee know what was going on. She also called their lawyer, Henry, as a precaution. From what Fey had said about Trever and Peter, they just might find themselves in need of legal advice. She was concerned about the two men’s actions and both women wanted to protect the younger children until Keith was well enough to care for them himself.

  “What’d Henry say?” Fey asked as she got out of the shower with a towel around her and began to change into the clothes Allyssa had packed for her. She was grateful for her thoughtful, efficient wife.

  “He’ll see if he can find out about wills through legal channels, especially living wills, but he isn’t hopeful. Do you think they might have drawn those up?”

  “I can’t see my father, much less Rosemary, worrying about an advance directive, can you?” she asked.

  Allyssa shook her head. “Makes you think though, doesn’t it? We should plan to draw up wills.”

  Fey nodded and then rubbed her uncomfortable stomach. “Junior here is hungry and not happy. Hey! You got into the sandwiches,” she said, seeing the open takeout box from Denny’s.

  “I left you half, sorta. And cold French fries are gross,” she informed her wife as she got up to kiss her good morning and head in to her own shower.

  “Are you feeling okay?”

  “I’m better for having slept. It’s not as nice as our bed at home but at least it was a warm bed. I don’t know how you coped in the Jeep or on hay piles last year!” She was referencing the time between the accident that had totaled her work truck and camper and when they got the awesome RV they now owned.

  Shrugging, she answered, “You just cope. I got so tired I could sleep anywhere. Plus, I didn’t have to deal with Junior here.”

  “Are you going to name him after your dad?”

  “Are you?” she countered, laughing as she watched her wife rub her belly as though it were some spell. She looked kinda like Buddha, and Fey’s laugh turned into a delighted smile.

  “We really do have to come up with some names,” Allyssa reminded her.

  “Boys’ and girls’ names,” she agreed and headed into the shower.

  Fey thought about that. If it were a boy, did she want to name him after her dad? No. She liked the name Benjamin more, after her grandfather, who had raised her. She liked Elizabeth too, after her grandmother. Then, after reading about Erin and Molly, she thought it might be nice to revive those names. She didn’t know if any of her great-great-grandparents’ children had named children after them but she liked the idea of honoring them. Still, Allyssa had input into this and she’d discuss it with her. She wondered if Allyssa would want to name a child after either of her parents, but she doubted it. Helen and Bob weren’t the warmest human beings she had ever encountered.

  After picking up drive-through food, they arrived at the hospital to find it in chaos again. Trever had shown up and was attempting to take the children again. He must have arrived right before Allyssa and Fiona as he was still there and loudly asserting his rights.

  “I’m their older brother, and they should come with me!” he insisted.

  Allyssa could see a fearful Traci and Sean peeking out from the room the hospital had let them share.

  “I’m their older sister, and they want to go with me,” Fiona said. Trever whirled at her voice.

  “Oh, lookee here. If it isn’t the dyke sister,” he sneered.

  “It’s nice to see you too, Trever,” she answered, sounding completely insincere.

  Allyssa looked at the man and saw Rosemary’s weakness in his boyish good looks. Judging by his stocky body, he obviously worked out, but his face, his jutting shoulders, and his bad attitude showed that he was a bully, who was used to getting his way. And the other man standing beyond the security officer and blocking their way into the room looked like a smaller version of the first man. Both men looked Allyssa up and down in a way that made her slightly uncomfortable. She wished she could have worn her gun into the hospital. While she did have her carry permit with her, she didn’t want to get anyone excited by wearing it into a place of healing. She felt a hospital was an inappropriate place to wear a gun. Looking at the two men, she realized she was as tall as Trever and taller than the man she suspected was Peter.

  “You can go now. We got this,” he said, thumb pointing at the other man.

  “I don’t think the children want to go with you,” Fey said calmly.

  “Mrs. Herriot,” began the police officer, who came up to help alleviate the situation.

  “Doctor Herriot,” she corrected, knowing people were often impressed by titles. Why not use it, she had earned it?

  “Doctor Herriot, we don’t wish to escalate this situation. Mr. Kapatrick is willing to take the children into his home–”

  “They don’t want to go with him,” she pointed out, seeing her sister and brother looking on fearfully from the doorway of the room they had slept in.

  “He is their brother.”

  “And I am their sister.”

  “Do you have the legal right to–”

  “Do they?” she countered, ready to fight this. She hated the patriarchal bullshit that assumed a man would have rights over a woman. She was older than both these assholes. She was relieved that Allyssa had suggested they call Henry. Maybe they would have need of his services after all. She glanced at her wife, who was looking anxiously at her and glancing back at the children.

  “Look, my sister and brother need a stable place to stay until their parents are better...” Trever began.

  “Yes, I agree they do, but they don’t want to stay with you or Peter. They prefer to stay with us,” Fiona quickly put in and smiled at her siblings to reassure them. There was more here than met the eye. Why were Trever and Peter so adamant about getting custody of their two siblings?

  “Is your father awake?” the officer asked, hoping to find a way to settle this amicably, for now. She saw her superior officer listening in. She had apprised her superior of the situation, but apparently, she was letting her handle it alone, so she would gain confidence in her abilities.

  “We don’t know. We just got here,” Fiona admitted, wondering where this was going.

  “If he is awake, we can ask him. The hospital has no advance directive on file,” she admitted, showing she had done her homework.

  Fiona nodded, glancing coldly towards her stepbrothers and then warming as she glanced towards her siblings and her wife.

  “Why don’t you go visit with your father? I’m going to say hi to the kids,” Allyssa told her encouragingly. What she wasn’t saying and Fey caught was, I’ll protect them from your stepbrothers while you see if you can get your father to say something t
hat might be binding. She too sensed there was more here than met the eye.

  Fey nodded and headed towards the ICU, ignoring the glares of her stepbrothers. Allyssa headed to the children’s room, and the security officer stepped aside after receiving a nod from the police officer. It looked like Trever was going to try to stop her, but she stared him down. Not used to dealing with women his own height, he was surprised to find himself moving aside and then flushed in anger. She ignored him, sensing an enemy when she saw one. Who knew what Rosemary had told them?

  “Hey, guys. How’d you sleep?” she asked them as she entered the room, backing them farther into the room and shutting the door.

  “I slept good,” Traci admitted and looked worried as she closed the door.

  “What’s going on, Allyssa?” Sean asked. She could see the worry around the cuts on his face.

  “I have no idea, but it won’t do any good to worry. We will see what happens. Have you eaten?” she asked, then saw the trays on the tables. “Was it any good?” she teased, holding up the fast-food bag she had brought.

  * * * * *

  Fey headed for her father’s room and looked in through the window for a moment. She wondered if he would survive. It was no small thing to have a spleen removed, and the damage to his kidneys and liver were bad enough. She saw he looked restless again. His hand was moving animatedly on the bed as though searching for something. She went in and took his hand firmly in hers, feeling how cold it was.

  “Hey, Dad. It’s Fey. Are you awake?” she asked him cheerfully. She was trying to hide the need to cry at seeing him so helpless. His color hadn’t improved. Allyssa had mentioned the gray color when they discussed it yesterday and she was right.

  His eyelid opened slightly, and his eye seemed uncoordinated as it searched the room.

  “Hey, I see you are awake!” she said, sounding cheered by it. “How are you feeling?” She squeezed his hand slightly, trying to warm it.

  “Whaaaat?” he slurred.

  “Mr. Herriot?” another voice spoke up. The doctor had come in behind Fiona, but she was so focused on her father she hadn’t realized. “I’m Doctor Braun,” she told him as his eye tried to focus. “Can you hear me?”