by Katy Kaylee
“… Not so talkative now, are you, you stupid, spineless bitch?” The barrel of the gun seared a path up my cheek, and I whimpered pathetically when Greg jammed it past my teeth. Icy cold, the metal burned everything it touched, and I gagged as he tried to shove it down my throat. “Did you think I’d let you just get away with it? Well- there’s no where left for you to run.”
Black spots dotted the corners of my already blurred vision, but everything went white when a sharp pop echoed through the air. The weight atop me vanished, and my body felt lighter than air as all my processes came to a screeching halt.
“Delainne!” Eric’s frantic call was faint, and even softer blues and pinks started to whip through the white that overtook my senses. Even the metal against my tongue disappeared, but I didn’t miss it; I didn’t miss anything at all. “Oh, fuck- fuck- fuck-“
“Delainne!” Maggie’s bloodcurdling shriek pierced through my still peace, and the world suddenly filled with color as adrenaline shocked my heart. Small, clammy palms collided with my cheeks over and over again, and I forced my heavy lids apart. Tears dripped onto my face, and my eyes widened when I realized that they weren’t mine. The past two minutes caught up to me, rushing into my mind’s eye to give me a picture that was absolutely horrifying to behold.
Only then did my screams breach the dense lump of fear in my throat. Big, strong arms crushed me to a hard chest, and my brain swam in my skull as the world spun wildly. My wails muffled in Eric’s shirt, his heat seeping into my frosted flesh, and two slighter, shorter arms wrapped around my head.
What just happened?
“Eric! Eric- look!” Tony’s frantic call rattled my bones, and my head whipped up to find him pointing in the direction of the house. Huge, billowing clouds of black smoke stretched high into the sky, and my overloaded mind went into shut down. “He set your fucking house on fire- he was watching us all fucking morning- how’d this happen?”
“Who cares about the fucking house, Tony!” Sirens drowned Eric’s rasping shout, and I blinked hard as he squeezed me tightly. Fire… the house is on fire…
“I don’t understand?” My heavy slur barely made it off my tongue, but Eric didn’t seem to hear me as he hoisted Maggie and I into the air. Red and white lights flashed brilliantly across his hardened face, and I wheezed weakly. “What- what- what-?”
“Delainne’s in shock-“ Garbled voices mingled with Eric’s, and my body grew heavier and heavier. I didn’t try to stop my descent into the abyss; no, I embraced it.
Because I was tired, and Eric would protect me.
Delainne
Shooting up, I gasped wildly as an ache threatened to pound my skull and brains into mush. Large, familiar hands gripped my shoulders, and I shivered violently as I desperately tried to remember what had happened.
Greg. The car- the gun-
“Oh, God…” Clamping my hands on my mouth, I gagged at the metallic taste that lingered on my tongue. Hot, loud breaths scorched my nostrils, but the hands that kept me rooted to reality gingerly pushed me down onto my back. Uncomfortable, rough sheets rubbed my skin raw, and I whimpered weakly as my memories came rushing back with crystal clarity.
“Hey, hey, hey- sweetheart. You’re okay.” Pain skewered my eyeballs at Eric’s hushed voice, and I ground the butts of my palms into the sockets. “Everything is okay. You’re alright- Maggie’s alright. Everything is alright.”
“Maggie…” Blinking hard, I licked my lips heavily as Eric’s smile warmed my face. “Good- she’s okay- good.”
“You saved her from getting crushed, you know that? You’re a bon-a-fide hero, Delainne. You’re gunna get your own medal.” The affection and pride in Eric’s tone tightened my chest, and he stroked my cheek with firm fingers. “Of course- Maggie will have more medals than you. She’ll have two, and you’ll only have one.”
“Two?” Finally, Eric’s face snapped into focus as he loomed over me, and my brain swam as he nodded. Even the slight tilt of his head sent waves of dizziness slamming into me. “Two-?”
“Yeah, sweetheart. The one for the scrape, and my commander agreed to present her with a Medal of Valor- a plastic one, of course- for helping Tony and me out of the car.” A dark shadow flashed in Eric’s eyes, and my breath caught as shame drenched his features. “I’m sorry- I had a gun in the glove compartment, but Tony was on top of me. His fat ass kept me pinned until Maggie hit his injured shoulder and woke him up.”
“Are they okay?” I couldn’t find the energy to panic about Maggie and Tony; only a weak tether of worry threaded my veins. Relief knocked the air from my lungs when Eric nodded again, and I sighed a gust of a breath.
“They’re both fine. Maggie had a few cuts, and she’s a little rattled, but she’ll be fine once she sees you’re awake. Tony… well- he shattered his injured shoulder, and they’re already talking about medical discharge, I guess. They had to do an emergency replacement surgery, and he’s not fit for battle anymore.” A rough clearing of a throat made Eric tense, and his smile strained as he withdrew. “Your father and step-mom are here.”
“Wait-“ Halting him from leaving my side, I gulped down the whirlwind of emotions that threatened to choke me. “Tony’s sisters- and the house…?”
“The house burned to the ground. Tony’s sisters left a little after we did, and I guess that’s when Greg doused the place in gasoline. It was on fire before we even got into town.” Eric sounded so nonchalant- as if his entire life wasn’t ash in the wind- and I could only stare in wide-eyed shock. He had no home, no car, no clothes beyond what was on him… yet, he was smiling.
Hiccupping a soft sob, I pulled my knees up to hide the deluge of tears that streamed from my eyes. The uncomfortable, thin mattress rippled as Eric stood up, but I didn’t try to stop him as sorrow flooded my chest. Unanswerable questions raced through my mind, intensifying the headache that beat against my eye sockets.
How did this happen?
“Delainne…” Whimpering at the somber call, I clenched my jaw hard as the bed dipped slightly. “I don’t know what to say.”
My dad wrapped his arms around me; so long, they could envelope me and then some. His smell wafted up my nostrils, and shivers raked my spine as I leaned heavily against him. Hard, lean muscles provided security, stability, and my throat opened to allow me a breath deeper than a faint wheeze.
“What happened… where’s G- Greg?” Sputtering slightly, I sniffled hard as I peeked out from over my elbow, and Georgia immediately filled my vision. She looked beautiful- like a mournful ghost, pale and gaunt with red rims around her eyes as the only form of color on her face. Even her irises were duller than I remembered, and she sat on my other side gracefully to place her hand on my back.
“He’s alive… barely. I guess, from what the police told us- he had the car title and some agreement about the car, and they couldn’t hold him for more than 24 hours. The owners of the car didn’t get back to them in time, and they had to release him since they couldn’t charge him with theft. The police said that when they got the call back, the real person that was supposed to buy the car had the owner file a report because he’d already paid a good portion of it.” Astonishment sloshed around my chest, and Georgia smiled a faint, phantom of a smile. “I was really worried about you even though your dad said you were fine. I didn’t even know Greg was after you…”
“I- I’m okay… Eric- Eric has been really good to me…” My voice surprised even me with its steadiness, and I blushed furiously when Georgia’s smile became more genuine. “I’m sorry- I just… he came to my apartment, and I- I didn’t know what to do. I should’ve told you guys.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, sweetie.” Pulling back to inhale a deep, hard breath, my dad cupped my cheeks to stare intently under tightly furrowed brows. “There’s no right thing to do in this situation.”
“… Is he going to jail?” Shame smeared my expression at the hope in my voice, but my dad couldn’t answer my question when an ear-pi
ecing shriek filled the room. Flying to the door, my eyes widened as Maggie just dropped onto the linoleum to cry loudly, and my heart leaped into my throat. Eric picked her up, a guilty smile on his face, and she hung limp in his arms even as she trembled violently.
She was such an amazing little girl.
“I’m sorry- I tried to keep her away.” My dad wore the ugliest look I’d ever seen, and Eric frowned as Maggie babbled away incoherently against his chest. As if realizing what he sounded like to someone that didn’t know his daughter, he quickly shook his head, and a sense of normalcy steadied my quivering innards. “No- uh- she’s upset because we were going to have a party, and we can’t because… the house burned down.”
“Maggie, do you remember what I said before about going on a trip?” Maggie instantly stopped crying to look at me, and I scanned her tiny form as relief slumped my shoulders. There was nothing physically wrong with her, at least; I hoped that she hadn’t seen much, too busy trying to get help. “What do you say? You wanna go on a trip? Maybe Eric can take some time off work…?”
“I have time. My commander already put it in for me.” Nodding firmly, I threw back my shoulders with a huff, and Maggie’s face puffed up in a huge smile. Scrambling out of Eric’s grasp to climb onto me, she smushed my face between her palms, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re finally going to marry Daddy so we can go on the trip?”
“No- but we’re going to go on a trip anyway. Why don’t you go make a list of everything you need to go, okay?” Now, with renewed vigor and purpose, Maggie bopped her head in a nod, and I reached to stroke her wild, unkempt hair. She was so resilient and beautiful, and she squeezed my cheeks hard before sliding off the hospital bed. A woman I didn’t know appeared in the doorway, and Maggie skipped over to her to take her hand.
Some tiny part of me knew that must’ve been Sasha’s mother, but that just took too much effort to acknowledge.
The atmosphere she left behind was stiff, though, and I twiddled my thumbs absently as my dad and Eric stared each other down over my head. This was most definitely not how I expected them to meet, and I twisted my lips in discomfort before Georgia broke the silence.
“… Greg is in surgery, still… The doctors are pretty sure he’ll make it.” Reaching without thinking to grab her hands, I gulped harshly as Georgia heaved a shuddering, tired sigh. “Do you think you can ever forgive me, Delainne?”
“I don’t blame you, Georgia. Sometimes, things happen- and people can’t recover from it.” Glancing up at Eric, I smiled small at the silent but intense conversation he was having with my dad. It was weird, for sure, but I wasn’t going to butt in; first impressions were important, after all, and I knew that Eric felt some kind of way about my father. “Uh- so… what are you going to do now?”
Turning back to Georgia, I pursed my lips at the tightness in her expression, and she squeezed my hands tightly. Her mouth thinned, eyes flaring with fire and shame and guilt, and I held my breath as she inhaled through flared nostrils.
“I was hoping that we could spend some time together- the five of us. Maybe… you wouldn’t mind staying at the same hotel we’re in?” Both Georgia and I looked around, and a little giggle burst from my throat. Neither my dad nor Eric had blinked yet, and the redness in their eyes was cute. “Well… as long as we keep the boys in check, right?”
“I’m gunna have a grampa!” Once again, Maggie’s overly loud shout rippled through the air palpably from her excitement, and the standoff between the two men finally broke. My dad didn’t even have time to tense before Maggie was in his lap, and he stiffened with a flicker of discomfort on his face when she beamed brightly. “I always wanted a grampa that liked me.”
“Maggie. It’s not acceptable to sit on strangers’ laps, honey.” Clearing his throat roughly, Eric cast Maggie a hard look, and Georgia and I shared an amused look. Maggie swung her legs back and forth, crushing a paper against her chest and a pen in her little fist as she shook her head.
“He’s my grampa, though.” The answer couldn’t be contended with, and Maggie dismissed everyone else to grin broadly at my dad. Poising the pen in her hand, she scribbled a little on the paper, flat and taut against her legs. Silence descended on the room as I lost myself in my thoughts.
It was really over- the horrible feeling that always clung to my gut had vanished. If Greg made it out of surgery, he’d go to jail, and there’s no way he’d be let out. He tried to murder four people, and he set an entire house on fire. It was really over.
And these people around me were the beginning of something new.
Eric
“This brings back memories.” Squeezing Delainne against my side, I smiled broadly as I gazed at the meticulous rows of flowers she’d planted so long ago. My memories overlapped with reality, and my hand trailed down her back to grip her ass none-too-subtly. “I slowed down so I could look at your ass longer.”
“I didn’t even notice you- or anyone, really.” Out of the corner of my eye, Delainne flushed red, and I chuckled at her bashful admission. “I didn’t want to come, but Donald made me because he was already shorthanded. I remember being surprised at how much I liked planting the flowers. It was… I don’t know- soothing. Simple. Easy.”
“You know, I’ve gone on house calls and stuff to inform people that their loved ones had died. I’ve never had to explain to a mother that her son went on a murderous rampage because he’s bitter that he didn’t feel like she loved him.” Staring dazedly at this ordinary, forgettable spot along the walkway, I rolled my jaw absently as Delainne tensed. “I have no idea what to say to Georgia… it’s not like she wanted Greg to try to kill us. She did everything she could to help him, but…”
“But it wasn’t enough.” The familiar, feminine voice from behind my rolled smooth and sad down my spine, and I twisted as Georgia stepped up to my opposite side. She looked bad- the kind of bad that came with being unable to process a tragedy. “Greg’s father left me for another woman, but there were a lot of problems beforehand. I stayed in the marriage because Greg loved and idolized his father, and his father loved him. A boy needs his father. I always feared that I was making a mistake, but I knew that if we divorced- Greg would choose his father over me. I never wanted him to think that I’d abandoned him because I wouldn’t have fought for him.”
“I’m sorry, Georgia… I’m sorry about everything.” My apology earned me a hollow smile, and I held my breath as my gut rotted away right inside me. “If there’s anything I can do-“
“I don’t want your pity, young man… your sympathies, I can handle, but not your pity. I married Mark because I was selfish, and that’s my own fault. At the very least, you didn’t kill Greg. That’s all I could ask for. Even though I’ll probably never see him again, there’s a chance that he can atone for what he’s done. That’s all I want.” Casting me a steely glance, Georgia inhaled sharply before shaking her head. “Your daughter is an amazing little girl. You did an amazing job with her.”
“Thank you. Honestly… I never expected her to take to you so well or so fast.” For a fraction of a second, Georgia’s smile became a little livelier, and I turned back to the flowerbed to sigh heavily. It’d only been three days since the whole incident with Greg, but Maggie and Delainne’s father were joined at the hip. He didn’t disrespect the rules I had in place, but he was wrapped around her little finger. “I don’t really know how to feel about it. Then again… I wasn’t sure how to feel when it happened with Delainne, either.”
“She probably reminds him of you, Delainne. When your father and I first started dating, he’d go on these tangents about your medical problems- how he hoped you’d get a good deal with the hormones- that he was worried that because of your issues, you’d have a hard time in high-school. You were ten, and the subject had come up. Mark confessed that that was one of the reasons he dated and eventually married me.” Delainne blushed furiously under the baking heat, and I wrapped her up in my arms as Georgia w
atched on fondly. Her eyes glazed, as if she was looking past us, and her ghost of a smile grew slightly. “I always knew we were together because it benefited us more than any feelings we might have with each other, but we’re happy. My son… Greg has made his choices, and all I can do is shoulder what part of it I’m responsible for.”
“You’re a good woman. My mom hasn’t even called to check on us-“ Just in that moment, my cell phone trilled shrilly, and my brows threatened to shoot off my forehead. Teagen’s face flashed on the screen, and an uncomfortable sense of disappointment and resignation swirled in my chest as I answered the call. “Hey-“
“So, Maggie says you were going to have a party- and you didn’t invite us.” Accusatory and loud, Teagen’s shout made me wince, but I couldn’t open my mouth to answer before he continued. Goosebumps washed my arms, and his aggressiveness sent an ache behind my eyes as my lids closed tightly. “The only reason I’m calling is because Casey made me- you know how much I love a good party. It doesn’t even matter that we were in Italy… I just want to know I’m worth being invited even if I can’t actually go.”
“Okay… why’d you call me if you’re just going to bitch me out? What are you doing right now?”
“I’m sitting in my car in the parking lot wondering why Maggie’s on some old dude’s shoulders?” Whirling around, I scowled as Teagen laughed uproariously across the line. “Seriously- who is that guy?”
“Delainne’s father- Teagen, why are you at the hotel?” Delainne looked about as surprised as I was, and I made my way back towards the parking lot on stiff legs. “This isn’t a party weekend like when I was deployed. My fucking house burned down.”
“Dude, I was expecting you to ask to come live with us until you found something. I’m hurt, you know- I’m inconsolable that you just brush me off after I let you propose to a stranger at my wedding.” The slight chide in Teagen’s voice sent a twitch to my eyelids, and I scanned the parking lot before spotting his truck. Hanging up easily, I strode heavily over the hot asphalt as I slid my phone in my pocket. Georgia veered off towards Mark and Maggie, but I ignored it when my cousin hopped out of his truck.