Vetted Again

by K'Anne Meinel

  “Please wait for the ambulance and the sheriff,” she told Juanita, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand and sleeve. She grabbed her jacket hanging from the peg on the beautiful, rich, wooden hall tree as she went out the front door determinedly.

  “Shut down the clinic,” she told the interns. “Finish up now,” she directed them without explanation. “I’m sorry. An emergency has come up, and Doctor Herriot cannot see any more patients today,” she told two waiting clients. With much grousing, they accepted a discounted future appointment date, and Bart and Westley hurried to help Fey.

  “What’s this? An emergency came up?” Fey asked as she finished with her patient and came out to talk to Allyssa. It happened often enough, so she wasn’t alarmed. She was just curious where her wife would be sending her now the clinic was cut short.

  “Fey, I need to talk to you,” she began, waiting for the final patient to pay with her check and leave. It took quite a while as the Pekingese she was holding was so exuberant, and Allyssa ended up holding the dog while the owner paid her bill. “Goodbye, Mrs. Adams,” she said with a smile as the woman opened the cabin door and swept out with her Pekingese under her arm.

  “It isn’t Veronica Maylers’ prize mare, is it?” Fey asked worriedly, trying to see if Allyssa had written a call down anywhere on the large desk, which was made from a barn door she had sanded down and finished beautifully.

  “No, it isn’t the Maylers’,” she said, not sure how to tell her wife but knowing they were running out of time. The sheriff or the ambulance would be here any time. She glanced out the window, hoping Sean and Traci weren’t on the driveway yet. She hated what she had to do. “It’s your dad, Fey. He’s died.”

  “What?” she asked, blinking. “Don’t joke about...” she began, trying to make it funny and failing. Then she saw the tears falling once again from Allyssa’s large, blue eyes and her heart began to beat painfully in her chest. “My dad? What? Where?”

  “He’s in the house. I’ve called the sheriff, and an ambulance is on the way. He fell asleep on the couch and I found him dead,” she explained, not mentioning she had tumbled him onto the floor. Her wife didn’t need to know that.

  Fey was already heading out the door of the cabin. Allyssa went to follow her, exchanging a glance with Westley. She nodded her head towards the add-on to the cabin, gesturing him back to clean up the clinic, leaving it spotless for the next patient and keeping him away from her. Fey was practically running to the ranch house. Allyssa caught up in no time, her legs a lot longer than her wife’s.

  “Oh, no! Daddy! No!” Fey cried out, seeing the covered body and sinking down beside it. She started sobbing immediately when she lifted the blanket and saw the sightless eyes. “Oh, God, no,” she said, covering him back up and then putting her hands to her face and sobbing. Allyssa had never felt more helpless as she came up behind her wife and began to rub her shoulder, hoping Fey wouldn’t pull away. It took a little while, but Fey finally looked up at her wife, who was crying as much as she, and slowly rose from her knees to take her wife in her arms. They sobbed on each other’s shoulders as Juanita looked on, then quietly left the room to check on the babies, who slept, oblivious to the drama occurring around them.

  “What’s going on?” Sean asked as he came inside, out of breath in the crisp, clear, and cold fall air. Traci came in behind him, rosy-cheeked and slung her backpack onto the hall tree. “Are you two okay?” she asked, seeing the two women in tears.

  “Sean, Traci, I have some bad news,” Fey sniffed. She glanced down at the body behind her and both immediately saw the blanket-covered body. “It’s Daddy,” she began, but they had caught on.

  “Oh, no,” Traci said, horrified as she realized.

  “Is that Dad?” Sean asked, pointing. At Allyssa’s nod, he started to cry.

  The four of them were holding each other when the sheriff’s car pulled up in front of the farmhouse and Juanita escorted the deputy in.

  “Doctor Herriot, Mrs. Herriot,” the deputy said respectfully, pulling off his hat as he saw how devastated the whole family was.

  They broke apart, each wiping tears on their sleeves.

  “Excuse me,” Sean said, brushing past them to head for the stairs and his room.

  “I’m going too,” Traci said, grabbing her jacket on her way out of the room. She didn’t need to see her dead father on the floor of the living room.

  Allyssa repeated her story to the deputy, knowing it was important that her story was consistent with her statements on the phone. They would look for inconsistencies, and she didn’t want anyone unnecessarily suspicious of what happened. Keith had never overcome his injuries, he died, and the family needed time to cope with their devastating loss.

  The ambulance arrived, followed closely by the coroner, who had been summoned by the sheriff’s office. The coroner declared Keith dead and they put him into a body bag to carry him out. Allyssa had led Fey outside while they put his body in the bag, knowing she wouldn’t want to see that. They watched as Traci rode off on one of the rescues, heading for the hills around the ranch to mourn in her own way. Allyssa was certain Sean was in his room playing video games. They’d given him a console for his thirteenth birthday since everything he owned was lost in the explosion. His grades hadn’t suffered, so they allowed him to keep it in his room, and they felt he probably needed it now.

  “We’ll let you know when to contact the funeral parlor. It’s just a matter of procedure,” the deputy explained to Allyssa since Fey was staring sightlessly off into the hills and was noncommunicative.

  “Thank you. We appreciate that,” Allyssa told him as she saw him off. She was looking around as Bart came up to ask what was going on. She explained what had happened, and he left to give the family space and spread the news. She saw Rhonda and Woody working some horses in the corral as they had no patients today. She thought about going down and telling them but turned back to Fey and sat next to her instead. She reached out to hold her hand and they sat in silence.

  “Ms. Allyssa,” Juanita called from the door with Erin in her arms. Allyssa got up to tend to the baby, leaving her wife, who had squeezed her hand gratefully as she left.

  The funeral was well-attended by the surrounding community—many of the elders in the community remembered Keith Herriot growing up on the ranch were still around. Allyssa’s parents didn’t come to the funeral, but each sent flowers and a card. Allyssa’s sister included herself in their mother’s arrangement, but their condolences simply fell flat next to the outpouring of affection from the women’s clients and community. As they watched Keith’s coffin being lowered into the ground at the church cemetery in Sweetwater, both Fey and Allyssa saw the grave stones with Erin and Molly’s names on them for the first time. They stared at them, holding their own Erin and Molly in their arms. Sean was holding Tom as he read the names of these ancestors he knew nothing of. Traci held Allyssa’s other hand, crying unashamedly as she watched her father being lowered into his grave.

  The depression all of them felt upon Keith’s death hung over the farmhouse like a pall. They all tried to be cheerful, but it was painfully obvious they were faking it. Both mothers were still dealing with postpartum depression as well as the outside factors and were prescribed ‘happy pills’ by Leslie. “Just take them for a while until your body’s natural healing abilities take over and help you cope better,” she said when Fey objected. Frequently, Allyssa had to remind her wife to take her pill. Her outbursts and anger were becoming more common and causing a strain on their relationship.

  “I just changed Erin. Can’t you get Tom to stop crying?” Fey asked her wife, angry about the constant feedings and diaper changes. Molly started crying, hurt by Fey’s tone, causing Fey to feel guilty but she didn’t withdraw her angry words.

  Sean started acting up at school, and Allyssa was called to take him home twice in the next month.

  “What’s going on?” she asked him, annoyed that her day was interrupted
. It wasn’t easy dealing with three babies and everything else she had going on in her life. She didn’t have time to just drop everything and go into town for the boy repeatedly.

  He just shrugged. “I didn’t start it, but I sure as hell finished it,” he told her.

  “You watch your language!” she retorted automatically.

  “Why? You and Fey use that language,” he pointed out reasonably.

  Allyssa didn’t feel like being reasonable. She was the adult here. She and Fey were working with Henry to get full, permanent guardianship of Fey’s two siblings, but Trever and Peter were fighting it.

  “Why the hell did you put the notice of Dad’s death in the Portland paper? You just gave them ammunition!” Fey raged unrealistically at Allyssa.

  “I felt your father’s friends and coworkers should know. The obituary is public,” she pointed out in return. Their fights were becoming more frequent, which bothered them both.

  “You aren’t old enough to swear like that yet. When you are eighteen or living on your own, then you can decide what language to use,” Allyssa pointed out to the boy. “Right now, you live under our roof and our decision is final.” She hated having to talk to him that way. It reminded her of something her parents would have said to her long ago, and she saw it upset him. “Look, you don’t need to fight with some moron who pissed you off,” she changed tactics, trying to reason with him. Being a parent sure as heck wasn’t easy, and she was tired. “You’re smarter than that and can out-talk him,” she teased, seeing a glimmer of a smile as his lips twitched. She dropped it as they continued the ride home in silence.

  “What’s this bullshit? They are saying we don’t own the ranch?!” Fey raged at Henry, who had come out to give them the latest lowdown on Peter and Trever’s tactics. “How the hell do we not own the ranch?”

  “They are trying to say that Erin Herriot committed fraud, so your family, the Herriots, can’t legally own this land,” he said, showing her the paperwork that the two men had filed in their county to try and outmaneuver the veterinarian and her wife. It was just that, a tactic, but it was an annoying tactic and effective since the filing was public. “They are saying the journals you two published admit they committed fraud.”

  “And did they?”

  Henry shook his head. “No. Women could own land in those days. Your great-great-grandfather, um grandmother, er I’m not sure how to refer to Erin...?” he asked apologetically.

  “Erin was biologically a woman but publicly presenting as a man, so naturally that is confusing,” Allyssa put in helpfully. “Either title could apply, but we refer to him as a man and as Fey’s great-great-grandfather, so that should continue.”

  Fey looked at her wife gratefully, feeling ashamed for how many fights they’d had this fall and how often she was irritable. At least Fey could escape the ranch where her father had died by throwing herself into her work. Allyssa was on the ranch all the time with the clients, the rescue, and the children. She realized her wife deserved better than her surly self.

  “We’ll fight this of course, and I’m going to go after costs with these jerks,” he said, lowering his voice in case Traci and Sean were close and could overhear them discussing their older brothers.

  “What the hell does our ownership of the ranch have to do with us getting custody of my sister and brother?”

  “They are trying to drain your resources. If you don’t own the ranch, you don’t have as strong a case about being a stable family with a safe place to raise children. But the babies make you look like a family unit and strengthen your case. Also, your father named you as Sean and Traci’s guardians, so that works in our favor. His will, however, is brand spanking new, and that’s another bone of contention with those two.” Henry explained that Keith had left a sizeable trust fund to pay for college for his two remaining children, but he had left some of the insurance money to Fey and Allyssa, so they would have extra monies to raise his children. The life insurance had been evenly distributed between the three siblings, and the money that would be realized from the house insurance would be put in the trust. Peter and Trever, however, were after all the money if they could get it.

  “I hate to bring this up...I know you two have a lot on your shoulders right now, but is it possible your father was poisoned or harmed in some way that caused his death?”

  “What?” Fey asked, shocked, looking from Henry to Allyssa in alarm.

  “How in the world? Are they are accusing us of that?” she asked the attorney.

  “No. I’m asking if it was possible for Peter or Trever to have gotten to your dad here in the house?”

  “Why?” Fey asked the attorney, suddenly angrier than she could ever remember being.

  “There are discrepancies in the autopsy,” he explained. “Not enough to stop his burial, but there may be questions later, and I’m covering all your bases.”

  “Oh, for Christ’s sake!” Fey exclaimed.

  “Juanita was in the house that day with our babies, and I came in to feed them,” Allyssa remembered. “You aren’t accusing Juanita?”

  “No. Not at all,” he hastily assured her.

  “There were a lot of people in and out of the clinic that day. Fey was also home that day,” she told him.

  “Is it possible that one of them could have slipped in the house?”

  “Jesus, Henry. What are you saying? Do you think Trever or Peter murdered my father?” Fey asked.

  He nodded. “We’re having an independent study done on the samples taken from your father’s body. Some of that is standard at an autopsy, but I don’t want to exhume the body. Fortunately, you didn’t have him cremated or any evidence we might have gained from the body would be...” he left off as he heard Traci come in.

  “Traci, could you go out and play or go up to your bedroom?” Allyssa asked her in a kindly voice.

  “Sure. I just wanted to let you know we were home,” the girl said, looking from the lawyer to her sister.

  “Change your clothes before going out to the barn and remind your brother too.” The expense of raising Fey’s siblings was telling, especially having to replace everything they had owned and lost. Clothing was expensive at the best of times and they needed two wardrobes; one for school and one for the ranch.

  The girl ran upstairs to change her clothes and noticed the adults stopped talking again when she came down. She wondered at that but didn’t worry about it. Whatever the adults were discussing was no concern of hers. She relished telling her brother to go in the house and change his clothes as Allyssa had ordered. He reluctantly left the dogs he was playing with to go inside and change. He knew it was expensive to replace his school clothes, and he looked down guiltily at his muddy jeans, knowing he was wearing them out faster than his sister and her wife had anticipated. He should take better care of his clothes.

  The lawsuits organized by Trever and Peter were frivolous and expensive, but Henry waved his fee until the case was won. He was certain he would win, the lawsuits would be dismissed, and he’d collect his fee from the brothers. He felt it just was a matter of time.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  The Christmas caroling was even better attended this year than the past year. The parents and children were beautiful in their Christmas costumes riding on horses made up like reindeer, with some Santas and a few elves thrown into the mix. One woman even managed to make herself into a snowwoman, her horse was mostly white. There were also a few shepherds and even an angel or two mounted on their faithful steeds. They had practiced the songs, so the troop at least knew the lyrics to many of the songs they would sing as they rode through the streets of Sweetwater. Ending up at the old folks’ home once again, they were greeted with hot chocolate, hot cider, and cookies. The residents were thrilled to see the carolers, the children, and especially the horses. Many of them had been ranchers, farmers, and residents of this rural community their entire lives, and they adored the efforts the 4-H troop made on their behalf.

  “
Whatcha looking at, honey?” Allyssa asked Traci when she saw her sitting in front of one of the photo albums Allyssa had filled with Herriot family pictures. She saw it was one of the more current albums filled with photos of the last few years here on the ranch.

  “I’m reading the article from last year’s Christmas caroling. Do you think they will write an article like this in the paper again?”

  “I’m sure they will. Didn’t you see the reporter who rode along?” Allyssa and Fey had invited some of the local TV stations and the newspaper reporter, who had written the favorable article Traci was looking at, to ride along.

  “Oh, yeah. I forgot,” she said as she turned back to the long article and read:

  “It’s not every day you see a horse with antlers,” one resident of Sweetwater commented with a smile. The carolers met at Spring Ranch Elementary and spread joy up and down our town streets, ending the festivities at the Sweetwater retirement home where many residents, former horse owners themselves, chatted with the children, petted the horses, and shared delicious, hot apple cider donated by the Feldmans. The locally grown apples were pressed on their ranch.

  “It was so exciting,” Edna Heike stated as she came out of the home dressed in her own Santa hat. “It makes everyone so happy to see the young people bringing us holiday cheer.”

  John Mason of Sunnybrook Street was walking his dog when he met the horseback riders singing songs like ’Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ and ’Have a Jolly Christmas.’ “I was not expecting that and seeing the red nose on the bridle of the horse was hilarious. Those kids really brought Christmas joy to a lot of people.”