Vetted Again

by K'Anne Meinel

  “We weren’t very religious,” he put in, listening to her avidly.

  “No, we weren’t either,” she said, including Fey in the proverbial ‘we.’ “For now, all we can do is wait and see.”

  Fiona, still a little annoyed, was pleased how Allyssa phrased it and realized she was right.

  They arrived home late that night and Rex and Lexy welcomed the foursome home, immediately becoming their shadows.

  Allyssa asked Buddy to move out to the cabin or mobile home for Sean’s sake, so he could have his old bedroom back, and Fiona backed her up. Buddy wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed to comply. He decided he would move into the mobile home for privacy, since so many would be in and out of the cabin. The interns immediately took Fiona’s attention away from her own troubles as they discussed what they had done with their unexpected week off. They were limited in what they could do as they weren’t qualified veterinarians yet. They had both caught up their notes for school, outlining the procedures they had seen since they could see no more cases without Fiona in attendance.

  Allyssa took all their dirty laundry and started a load in the washer as she let the kids get settled before sending them to bed. She was tired too but wanted to get to the office to see what Renee had done while they were gone. For the last week, Renee had been telling clients there was a death in the family and the doctor wasn’t available. She knew Fey would need a couple days to decompress after she returned but would probably not take them. She was certain Fey would be out on the road the following day.

  Allyssa was annoyed to discover someone had been through the kitchen and done some reorganizing. She put things back the way she and Fiona liked them and fixed herself a snack, sharing it with the children before sending them, protesting, to bed. She then took the snack in to the three who were chatting away in the living room. After sharing the snack, she insisted they could continue their conversation the following day.

  “Fey needs her rest,” she asserted. Tonight, Buddy would sleep in Sean’s old room and move his stuff in the morning. It was too late to send him out to the mobile home, so Sean now needed the couch. He was listening avidly to the adults’ conversation but looked exhausted. Althea seemed the most annoyed with Allyssa, but she didn’t care. Fey needed to rest and they’d have kept her talking all night if they could. They got enough of her time on the rounds and now was the time for her to go to bed. After all, she was very pregnant.

  * * * * *

  “I think you hurt someone’s feelings,” Fey began as they got ready for bed.

  “Too damn bad,” she retorted, struggling out of her shirt. Fey finally had to pull the material that was catching away from her back. “Thank you. I think someone thinks of herself as a little too high and mighty, and you need time to rest. If you won’t make time, I will make sure you do. We have both been under a lot of stress this last week and it can’t be good for the babies.”

  “You’re right. I hope the babies are all right.”

  “This one’s jumping on a trampoline on my bladder. How’s that one doing?” she asked, laughing, as she pointed to Fey’s extended belly. Fey helped her remove the sports bra she was struggling with. Allyssa was very careful never to say your baby or my baby since they were both their babies.

  “Oh, I think Junior here will be an Olympic champion at least,” she teased back, grateful to have Allyssa helping her. She was tired and didn’t want to be rude to the two interns.

  “Let’s take a shower together to save on water,” Allyssa suggested, but Fey knew it had nothing to do with conserving water. She welcomed a chance to be alone and touch each other. They had wanted to be together but hadn’t been able to with the children in the hotel rooms with them. Still, they enjoyed touching each other very much. They had a lovely time in the shower, which conserved no water, and they relaxed themselves and each other under its spray. It was amazing how creative they could be in their lovemaking.

  * * * * *

  Thankfully, Fey slept soundly because rounds started early. Because she had been gone so long, she let the interns take turns driving the RV as she caught up on the list Renee handed her with a smile. She was relieved she was back to work, and Allyssa made sure she had a good breakfast before heading off. Despite the midsummer heat, Renee appreciated the hot chocolate Allyssa brought over from the house.

  “Are the kids up?”

  “Not yet,” Allyssa shook her head. It was hard to believe how much had happened in the last week. They’d been majorly busy in July with the clinic, and now, they’d had to deal with the accident and the funeral. The kids were still in shock and she wanted them to sleep in. Despite sleeping on the couch, Sean had slept through the sounds of breakfast and Fey and the interns getting ready for work. That was a sure sign he was heading towards his teenage years.

  “Are you going to blog?”

  “You know me so well,” she said with a smile. She’d been compiling what she wanted to say and Fey had agreed they had to tell their followers something. Renee had taken a lot of calls as word spread that there had been a death in the family. Later, Allyssa would also find their post office box filled to overflowing with condolence cards.

  She had the same blog up on both sites within an hour, and by then, both children were up and looking for something to do as they were trailed by two faithful dogs. Rocky joined them all when Rhonda showed up to work with her clients. The children helped when she let them, saddling their own preferred horses when Allyssa finally let them go.

  “Don’t go beyond that ridge,” she said, pointing up to where she now realized Erin and Molly had gathered wood to build their cabins and the various projects, “and stay away from Brock’s fields.”

  They both acknowledged her admonishments as they rode off with the three dogs trailing them. Rhonda watched them, realizing they needed to be alone. It couldn’t be easy on them to have lost their mother and now, to have a father in the shape he was in. Allyssa exchanged a look with Rhonda before she too went back to work. She was pleased to find that Renee had caught up to where they had left off in the journals. She had another one for her that she finished in the week they were gone, and she was eager to start another one.

  “Make sure the children don’t see these,” she reminded Renee. They’d hid them when Sean and Traci were there for their vacations, ever aware that Keith didn’t want them to know about the contents of the journals until they were older.

  Allyssa was in the garden when the children returned. They were in better spirits for their ride, even if it had been limited. She was finding it harder and harder to bend down to weed and somewhere, Fey had found a rod with a grinder-like device on the end, which she could twist and dig up weeds. It sure made it easier to weed. She had an overabundance of squash and zucchini, and the cucumbers were too huge and had to be fed to the chickens, who didn’t seem too impressed. The tomatoes had gone wild. One was so big it was spending all its time in growth instead of production. She pinched off its towering stalks and hoped it would put its efforts into flowers and tomatoes instead of its bushy lushness. She had a few baskets filled with beans, tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers, so she asked the children to help her lug them to the front porch and sort them.

  “I love fresh cucumbers,” Traci said, spotting the abundance.

  “Some of those are too big,” Allyssa warned her, remembering how tart the taste could be.

  “And they make you fart,” Sean teased her.

  “Sean,” Allyssa warned, “we don’t talk like that.”

  “What? I’ve heard Fey use that word,” he protested.

  “When she’s talking about animals,” she pointed out. She felt quite gassy herself but knew a teenage boy would love to talk about farts, and she had no desire to encourage him. For a second there, she almost laughed, imagining her own mother’s reaction to such an earthy discussion.

  She appreciated their help but discouraged them from sitting mindlessly in the living room and watching the television. Neith
er she nor Fey were big TV watchers, preferring each other’s company or the internet. “Read a book or go do some chores,” she warned them, something they had helped with a lot when they were last here. Now, things were in limbo. Keith was still in the hospital and they weren’t sure what was going to happen there. Fey had mentioned a rehab facility, and Allyssa intended to check one out when he was finally released from the hospital. He could come here to the ranch afterwards but that was a ways off.

  “Allyssa!” Renee called from the porch of the cabin. “Phone for you!”

  Allyssa picked up the extension in the house.

  “Allyssa, it’s Henry. I just wanted you to know the judge granted you and Fiona temporary custody of the children while Keith is healing.”

  “Oh, that’s great to hear,” she told him sincerely. She and Fey had both worried about Trever and Peter and their shenanigans. “Should I pick up some paperwork or something?”

  “I could mail it. I need to send copies to the brothers too. Do you know their addresses?”

  “Haven’t the faintest,” she admitted, not really interested in where the two of them lived. She knew they lived in Portland and they didn’t live together but that was all. Her eyes narrowed on the children. Should she ask them?

  “Could you ask Sean?” Henry asked, proving he was on the same wavelength as she.

  “Yeah, I thought of that too,” she admitted. “But should I? They’ve been through so much.” Still, after talking to Henry, she pulled Sean aside and asked him. He didn’t know his older brothers’ addresses either, but he did know the towns they were in, so Henry could find them. After she hung up, Sean asked her why she needed to know the addresses.

  “It’s so we can send them proof of our temporary custody of you and your sister. Your brothers wanted you too, and we need to give them copies of the paperwork.”

  “I don’t want to live with them. They’re mean,” he admitted.

  She smiled and wanted so badly to ruffle his hair, but she knew he was getting too old for that and would be embarrassed. “We’ll do our best to see that you won’t have to live with them.”

  He looked around and saw that Traci was going through the basket and pulling out the oversized cucumbers. The cats were sniffing cautiously at the basket, and he was just in time to see one cat freak out over a stray, rolling cuke. The animal leapt into the air and ran off, scattering another cat that was also curious. They all shared a good belly laugh over that.

  “I saw videos of cats on the internet reacting to zucchini and other squash,” Sean told her as his chuckles died down.

  “I think once is enough. After that, it’s just mean,” she answered with a smile, still chuckling at the sight of the cat running off from a cucumber, of all things.

  The weeks passed, and Keith was scheduled to go to a rehabilitation home. Fiona and Allyssa discussed whether to travel all that way, so the kids could see him improving. In the end, the women’s conditions were the determining factor in their decision not to make the long trip. They’d already sent Allyssa’s old laptop to Keith, so at least they could Skype with him. Keith was thrilled to be able to talk to everyone ‘face to face’ as it were.

  “I don’t think I’m going to get out of here in time for the school year,” Keith lamented. Being impaled on a tree meant he had a lot of healing to do, and he still didn’t feel very well. Seeing him in the video, they could tell he wasn’t looking very healthy. Fiona had called his doctor to ask how he was progressing, and Keith had agreed the doctor could release whatever information she was looking for. He stressed that the doctor was only to release that information to his daughter. He was not doing well. His spirits were up despite being constantly hounded by Trever and Peter about the house and their mother’s life insurance. That had really upset him, so Fiona told her father to have the young men contact her. In turn, she referred them to Henry, who told them in no uncertain terms that the house and life insurance were none of their business. Both Henry and Fiona mentioned the young men’s harassment of Keith to the detectives investigating the explosion.

  “I don’t know what’d I do without you, Fey,” Keith told his daughter affectionately as they Skyped one night after the kids had gone to bed.

  “I just want you to get better, Dad. You can live here if you want,” she gestured at the room behind her, including the ranch. She was simply repeating the offer she had made at least a dozen times.

  He was truly touched. After all, he hadn’t done much for her for so many years. She was a genuinely good person and it was all due to his parents, not him. “Well, I appreciate Henry handling the legal stuff for me. Send me the bill,” he advised, looking sleepy. He was taking a lot of medication and he frequently drifted off.

  “Okay, Dad.” Seeing how tired he looked, she said, “I’ve got to be going. I hope you don’t mind if I sign off?”

  “No, that’s okay. I know you’re busy. You and Allyssa take care of my grandbabies!”

  “We will, Dad. Bye!” She waved before pressing the button to hang up, closing the laptop so he couldn’t see her anymore.

  Allyssa was watching her wife from where she was rummaging in the trunk and organizing the journals one more time since they were now done transcribing them all. It had been an amazing set of tales.

  “He doesn’t look well, does he?” Fey asked her as she turned awkwardly. They were both due in a few weeks and she felt enormous. She couldn’t drive comfortably anymore, so Buddy and Althea took turns behind the wheel. She didn’t like how either drove her RV, but she had no choice. She felt they were a tad reckless and she really loved that RV. Now, she just supervised their work and explained why certain procedures or meds were better. She turned every case into a teaching opportunity. They had learned a lot and were grateful for the experience. They weren’t as big-headed as they had been at the beginning of the summer and had become quite friendly.

  Althea and Rhonda had developed a close bond over the horses in the rescue and in her therapy sessions, and when Althea wasn’t working for Fiona, she could be found helping the therapist.

  Buddy had started working on an oversized box stall. He was using his friend’s diagram, which was based on the movie they had all watched, to create a platform that would allow a horse or a cow to be laid out at waist height. The platform could be pulled out and down, and stainless steel comprised its primary surface, so it could be sterilized and kept clean. He was determined to finish the project by the end of his internship. Fey helped when she could, but her belly got in the way these days and she couldn’t stand for long. The 4-H kids and some of their moms and dads had chipped in to make this unique surgery. They also offered to help with the construction, but Buddy didn’t have the tolerance Fey and Allyssa had towards these well-intentioned volunteers.

  “No, I agree, Keith doesn’t look well,” Allyssa said sadly. She went to get up, leaning on the edge of the trunk intending to give Fey a hug of affection, and tipped the entire thing over. “Whoops,” she said, nearly losing her balance. “What the heck?” she said as she realized there was a false bottom in the trunk. Getting down on her knees, she said, “Fey, come look at this.” She gently righted the trunk and found glass...it was a colored glass window. “Do you think this is...?” she asked, carefully holding it up by its edges.

  “Oh, my God, Allyssa! I bet that is the church window,” she gasped out, trying to hurry but unable to as a pregnant woman in the last stages of her pregnancy does not move quickly. She even had trouble getting up from the chair she had been sitting in the last fifteen minutes for her Skype call. Fortunately, the chair was wooden and strong, and she was able to pull herself up. She waddled over to her wife and looked down on the glass window. She could tell by the colors that it was old; it looked positively ancient. It had been wrapped in layers and layers of felt. Allyssa let those layers fall aside as she held it up to the light, trying to see through it and feeling the wonder that Erin and Molly must have felt when they saw this window for the fir
st time back in Missouri at the burnt-out church.

  “Oh, Fey. It’s beautiful,” she nearly cried, feeling emotions overwhelming her as she held it up.

  “Do you think we could get it framed and hang it?”

  “Do you think we dare let it out of our possession?”

  They shared a look, Allyssa lowering the glass as her arms ran out of blood, looking at it thoughtfully.

  “Could you...?” Fey began.

  “I think I’ll...” Allyssa began at the same time, then looked up and laughed. They were frequently on the same wavelength. “I’ll go with Renee and get it framed.”

  “Oh, yes. She has a vested interest in this too, doesn’t she?” she laughed, grateful for their assistant’s help in transcribing the journals. Allyssa had been learning how to self-publish a biography and how to format it for a paperback as well as an e-book. Apparently, there was a learning curve. She played with it. She had plenty of time as they were in no rush. Because of the many journals and the two points of view, there would be several books.

  Allyssa carefully and affectionately rewrapped the old glass in the felt layers, realizing that it must be from... “Do you think they made this felt themselves? From their own sheep?”

  “I bet you’re right,” she answered, carefully taking the glass from Allyssa when she handed it to her and holding it close. She wondered how it had survived the fires and the many decades in the trunk. It was then she saw the extra padding of papers at the bottom. “What is that?”

  Allyssa began to gently spread out the papers, adjusting herself as she realized she’d been sitting on the ground too long. The baby didn’t like her sitting so long and was now kicking agonizingly against her rib, a foot catching there to cause her additional pain. She rubbed it absentmindedly, trying to ease it back only to have the baby’s other leg get stuck. This kid has mad skills that way, she thought uncomfortably. “I think this is the original paperwork for their land!” she said excitedly. “Put that window somewhere safe, so I can hand you this. I’ve got to look at it under the light and first, I have to get up from the floor.”