Chapter Fifteen #3
“My love, I’m sorry about the noise. Brooke, if you could
scream, please,” Henry apologized, and then the sound of a shotgun going off
exploded through the air.
The goats brayed and ran in circles.
“Brooke,” Henry prompted. “I need to make this sound real or
he’ll send someone else. One shot for each of us because I don’t know how good
their intel is.”
Brooke screamed at the top of her lungs. It felt good,
actually, because it was so fucking unfair. How dare they walk in here and
expect…what? They were walking in and murdering people who’d done absolutely
nothing to them, and she included Shane in that.
Another shot and another, and those poor baby goats were
terrified. She screamed again because she was pissed about the goats. They were
in their home. They should be safe.
Henry fired again, and Brooke could hear Nell’s long groan.
This baby was coming faster than she could believe.
Henry came back and held the shotgun out to her. “Now
they’ll think he’s prepping the bodies. They’ve been careful. They made sure
the ranch was as empty as possible. I’m going to hope that means they think
they’ve got time. I need you to watch over my wife. If anyone walks through
that door, you shoot. Do you understand, Brooke?”
He was so cold, so unlike the Henry she knew, but he was
also deeply competent and she trusted him. The Henry who always helped, who’d
read her college history papers and edited them for her, was still in there. “I
do. Please help Shane. I know they said they have him, but I can’t help but
wonder if he’s been shot.”
The barn door came open and Brooke held the shotgun up, but
Henry quickly deflected it before she could fire.
Noah Bennett stumbled in, blood pouring from his left side.
“Henry, you have to get Nell out.”
Brooke rushed to help him. “Noah, what happened?”
Henry glanced out the barn door. “Brooke, I need a shot.
Someone saw Noah and they’re coming to check on him. We might be able to
deflect.”
Brooke quietly apologized to the goats and blasted a shot
toward the back of the barn.
“Everything okay in there?” a deep voice asked.
“Is now,” Henry replied, his voice equally deep. “Tell the
boss I got it handled.”
He did an excellent laconic Western accent.
Henry turned. “He’s going back. Noah, what am I dealing
with?”
Noah was pale, and he gritted his teeth as he moved. “I’m
not sure, man. I walked into Trev’s place to grab some towels for the ride.
Birth is messy. And then this woman stepped out of the living room and shot me.
I went down, and luckily she didn’t look too closely. She assumed I would die.
She’s a terrible shot and doesn’t know anatomy. I’ve got a while before I bleed
out. How is Nell?”
“She’s great if we want to have a baby in a barn in the
middle of some kind of range war,” Lucy replied. “And among a bunch of goats.”
Brooke noticed a couple of the babies were huddled against
Nell. Like they knew she would protect them even when she was at her most
vulnerable. One of the little suckers rested his head on her belly. Nell simply
petted the animal as though she got comfort from it, too.
“I pretended to be dead, and when I was alone, I made my way
here,” Noah continued as he allowed Brooke to help him to the back where Nell
was currently fighting through a contraction. “I counted at least seven men,
but I suspect the interviewees were sent in to tell Kingman when it was a good
time to murder us all. So nine men and one woman, give or take.”
“And they’re in the big house?” Henry asked the question
blandly, as though all his emotion and anxiety had been shoved deep.
“Yes. I heard some as I was lying there,” Noah managed.
“They have Shane. I think they want something from him.”
“He saw something he shouldn’t have,” Brooke said but then
why… “If that’s true, then they would have killed him. Why all the drama? Why
risk this? There’s something more here than silencing a witness. That man said
they could use him against Bay.”
It made no sense that Kingman would put himself in this
position when it would be so easy to arrange an accident for Shane. For Bay,
too. Why risk becoming a Dateline special when he could keep this
quiet?
“It doesn’t matter,” Henry said. “Not now. I’m going to get
to the radio Trev keeps in the office. I’m fairly certain Kingman is the reason
we don’t have cell service, but I bet he hasn’t taken the radio offline. Nell,
I love you.”
“I love you, too, Henry,” she said as she held Lucy’s hand
and her whole body seized.
Henry disappeared like a wraith. Brooke took her eyes off
him for one second and he was gone.
He left the dead body behind. It was dead, right? “Should I
check and make sure he’s dead?”
Nell groaned. “I assure you my husband doesn’t make mistakes
when it comes to this. He’s dead. You should barricade the door.”
“After she helps me,” Noah replied. “I need to be closer.
Lucy hasn’t actually delivered a baby on her own yet.”
He was covered in blood. Brooke moved in beside him and lent
him her strength. She walked him into the stall where Nell was…open and on
display.
Lucy knelt between her legs. “You’re doing great, Nell.
Noah, I think she’s fully dilated. I’m not great with the centimeters’ thing
yet, but I can see the baby’s head.”
Noah nodded Brooke’s way, and she helped him down to the
ground, back to the wall. He sat behind Lucy so he could see a bit of what was
going on. “How close are her contractions?”
Brooke ran to the door, shotgun in hand. She quickly found a
pitchfork and slid it through the handles. The doors opened out. It wouldn’t
hold forever, but it would at least give them a fighting chance.
“Two minutes,” Lucy said. She had her bag open and pulled
out antibac. “I know I should wash my hands, but this
is going to have to do.”
“Brooke, there’s a hose in the back. Could you fill a couple
of pails?” Noah asked.
She went back to where he directed her and was so grateful
that whoever was in charge of this place believed in organization and
cleanliness. The metal pails used to feed and water the barn animals looked
like they’d been cleaned and dried. She located soap and carried that back,
too, along with the big roll of duct tape she found.
Nell wasn’t the only one who needed medical help. She had to
keep Noah alive until Doc could get here.
Huh, someone had been shot. Doc knew what he was
doing.
If he’d heard anything she’d said, Doc was likely trying to
figure out what was happening. The first thing he would do would be to call
Nate Wright.
She prayed Bay was still at the sheriff’s office.
“I need to put pressure on that wound,” she explained.
Noah hissed as he shifted but allowed her to do what she
needed to do.
After she’d duct taped Noah together, she sat down for a
moment and held Nell’s hand. “Just breathe, Nell. We’ll get through this. Tell
me what you’re naming this baby girl we’re about to be blessed with.”
Lucy had Noah’s kit out, the two of them deciding what she
could and couldn’t use.
“I was going to name her Justice Heart Flanders,” Nell said,
sweat dripping from her forehead. Her face was red but she was handling it all
with such grace. She laughed before her whole body went tense. “Henry hates it.
I think I might change it if we survive.” She gritted her teeth and squeezed
Brooke’s hand tight. “Noah, how is this possible? It took so long with Poppy.”
“All pregnancies are different,” Noah said, his voice a bit
strained. “Often the second comes on much quicker than the first. Like your
body knows what to do. Or baby Justice there really wants to be here.”
“Lucy,” Nell whispered. “I’m naming her Lucy. Lucy Brooke
Flanders. She’s going to be my fierce warrior girl. I don’t know how I know
this, but I won’t understand her all the time. She’ll be like her father. I
dream about her. Poppy is mine but this one is…”
Brooke held her as she suffered another long contraction. “I
speak for both of us when I say I’ll be honored and I’ll always help her.
Always.”
“Me, too,” Lucy said, getting into position.
Nell sank back, her words coming out in a breathless sigh.
“My mother always said we came from another place. From a faery world. I know.
A little on the odd side she was, but maybe she wasn’t lying. She claimed I had
a bit of what she called the sight. I never believed her until I started
dreaming of my children. When I close my eyes at night, I see Lucy with a sword
in her hand, and Poppy tends the gardens. My girls. In my dreams we live by a
shining river like the one we do now, but we’re in a brilliant white palace
with my kin from there. My girls are princesses of the realm. They have more
power than anyone knows.” She touched her belly, stroking it. “She likes this
name better. I can feel it. She’s Lucy Brooke, and she’s ready to be here. She
won’t be a princess in this world, but she will move mountains.”
Lucy took a long breath and Brooke watched her calm herself,
settling herself to take on the herculean task in front of her with grace and
competence. “She is definitely ready. She’s crowning. All right. Brooke, make
sure no one gets in. Let’s have a baby.”
Brooke gave Nell’s hand one last squeeze. “I won’t let
anyone get in.”
Nell clenched her teeth as another contraction hit.
“All right, let’s do this,” Noah said. “Lucy, I’ll walk you
through it. Nell, it’s going to be okay.”
Brooke moved into position, staring at the barn door.
She was ready to defend her people.
She prayed Henry saved Shane and that Bay stayed far away.