Chapter 14 #3
“He’s right, Margie. You need to put that gun down now and get back in your car,” Kyle called out, the Kel-Tec still shouldered. “If you leave now, nobody has to get hurt.”
“He’s right, Mama. Just put it—”
“Just whose side are you on, son?” Margie shrieked. “Are you serious? You’ve got a chance to get your kids back tonight, right now, and you’re siding with him?”
“Because he’s right, Mama. Just put the gun down.” Nate was inching closer, and Kyle watched in terror as the escapee approached his mother, his hands out. “Mama, please, just …”
Everything happened too fast. Just as Nate reached Margie, he reached out a hand and placed it on the gun’s barrel, then gave it a tug.
To Kyle’s horror, that simple action and Margie’s yank back toward her made her pull the trigger, and the full force of the shotgun hit Nate’s chest and face, sending him backward in a bloody spray.
Margie instantly began to scream. “My boy! Nate! Oh my god! Nate! I didn’t mean to … Nate! Wake up!” In an instant, she turned her rage toward Kyle. “See what you made me do! I’m gonna kill you!”
That was the moment Kyle realized her double barrel had hammer cocks, and she’d only pulled one trigger.
He was about to move back into the house when she leveled the gun again and pulled the trigger.
In that split second, he did the same—he squeezed the trigger on the big Kel-Tec and his shoulder took the recoil.
When his hearing leveled out a bit from the shot, he took stock.
Nate lay in the yard, and so did Margie.
He looked down his body. There were some holes in his tee shirt and a little bit of blood, but that didn’t surprise him.
He was in no pain. Instead of running toward Margie, he headed straight for Nate.
Kyle was sure he was dead. His face was a mess of ground beef flesh, and his chest wound was gaping, but when he approached the still figure, Nate rolled his head toward Kyle.
Through the gurgling blood, Kyle heard him say two words: “Thank you.” Then he fell silent.
Kyle stood there, stunned, as the trees lit up red and blue.
Sounds of feet running, someone yelling at him to get down on the ground, and the sight of shoes in front of his eyes …
Nothing made sense. He could hear someone screaming.
Gina? “Gina?” he called out, but his voice seemed weak, so he tried again. “GINA! Gina, answer me!”
“Kyle! Oh my god! Somebody let him up! Baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“What? I’m having trouble hearing. What did you say?” he mumbled against the gravel of the driveway.
“Hey! Hey you! Let him up! Right now! Hang on.” He could feel somebody working near his hands and in a few seconds, they were free. Someone rolled him to his back and he looked up into the face of an angel. “Hey, baby. You okay? You’re bleeding, Kyle. EMTs! We need some help over here!”
“We’ve got him. Mr. Miller, I’m Davis. I’m an EMT.
We’re going to take you to the hospital and check you out, okay?
It won’t take long. Cooper, grab that backboard and get a gurney!
We’ll just roll you onto it and you’ll be fine, okay?
Here we go. One, two, three!” Kyle felt himself rolled to his side and then back down.
In seconds, the sensation of flying through the air dizzied him, and then they were wheeling him toward an ambulance.
“I’ll be right behind you, babe! Right behind you! I love you, Kyle!”
“Love you too,” he called out, but he wasn’t sure she could hear him. The inside of the ambulance was dim, and his head hurt so badly …
“Hey, get over here. He’s coming around.” He could hear voices around him, and he was cold.
“Babe? Open your eyes and talk to me. Baby? Please?” A worried female voice poked at his consciousness, and he tried to open his eyes. It took him a few tries, but he finally managed, and he found Gina staring down into his face. “Kyle? You okay, baby? How do you feel?”
“Uh, okay, I think?” The tiny glance he could manage told him that is dad was across the room in a chair, and Keith was nearby. “What happened?”
Her voice was soft when she asked, “Do you remember? At the house?”
Yes. He did remember. He remembered the sight of Nate’s destroyed face and Margie’s body lying there, and blood, so much blood, everywhere. Then he remembered the holes in his shirt. “Was I hit?”
“Yeah, a little bit of buckshot. They put you under and dug it out to make sure there wasn’t worse damage, but you’re gonna be fine. Just some pinholes. That’s about it. And they said you’re going to have a headache for a few days because of the sound of the gun going off in your ear.”
“Yeah. It’s kinda ringing,” he said, fluttering his eyelids. Everything in the room was jumping just a little, and he hoped that would go away. “The kids …”
“They’re fine. They’re still at Casey and Twila’s. But we need to call them and let you talk to them so they know you’re okay.”
“Margie …”
His dad’s voice took over as the older man took his hand. “She’s dead, Kyle. It was kill or be killed, and you made the right decision.”
“But I didn’t mean to … She shot Nate.”
“Yeah. He didn’t make it.”
“I knew he wouldn’t. He was still alive when I stepped out there. I couldn’t believe it. He said thank you to me before he …”
“Thank you?” Gina looked down into his face. “Thank you? He said thank you?”
Kyle tried to nod, but it made his head hurt too badly.
“Yeah. You didn’t hear him, Gina. He really did try to make her stop.
He didn’t escape to try to hurt us. He only escaped to try to stop her.
If it hadn’t been for him, I’d probably be dead.
Shooting him was the only thing that slowed her down long enough to let me get that shot off.
Otherwise, if I’d waited until she pulled the trigger, I’d probably be dead too. ”
“Then Nate’s life wasn’t in vain.” A single tear rolled down Gina’s cheek. “I’m just glad he showed up and saved you.”
“I wish I could’ve done something to help him, but it was too late.” Things were starting to make a little more sense. “Am I in trouble? With the police?”
“No, son.” Kenton patted Kyle’s arm. “You’re not.
They knew what was going on. Gina called them from the back of the house.
They were on their way when everything fell apart.
She’d already told them Margie was out there with a gun.
They knew you were defending yourself and your family.
It was real obvious what was going on, along with all the things that had happened over the last couple of weeks. You’re not in any trouble.”
“Good. I just want my life back.”
Gina’s voice was wavering. “I’m sorry. I’ll give it back to you. The kids and I can go home now, and you won’t have to—”
“I didn’t mean from you! Do you remember what I said to you before all that shit went down?
” Gina nodded, big tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I meant that, babe. As far as I’m concerned, you’re my wife as surely as if we’d walked down the aisle in front of everybody.
I love you, and I’m not going anywhere. I don’t want out of your life. I want you in mine.”
Gina bent over him, laid her forehead on his chest, and cried as he stroked her hair. They were together. They were alive. And they’d be a family again in just a few days. But there was a truth he didn’t dare tell her.
As he’d stood on that porch, never in all the years since Becky’s passing had he ever felt her presence as strongly as he had there, urging him on, reminding him of love and family and all the things possible in his life, the good things he’d miss if he didn’t stand up for all of them in that moment.
It was as though she was there, steadying his hand, calming his mind, and telling him, “You can do this, Kyle. I have faith in you. Pull that trigger, protect your family, and I’ll let you go.
Do it for me so I know you have a happy life.
” He’d almost felt her hand on his, her finger wrapped around his, as he’d pulled that trigger.
There’d been no fear, only a sense of purpose and an incredible sensation of peace.
And when he awoke in that hospital bed, for the first time, he didn’t feel her anywhere.
There was no trace of the Becky he knew, no sense that she was watching over him, no vision of her in his mind.
She’d been there, followed him, supported him, strengthened him, and knew he was ready for her to let go.
He belonged to Gina, and she belonged to him. Together, they’d make a happy home, as happy as the one he and Becky had. He’d tell Gina about it, about Becky being with him in that moment.
Someday.
Sunlight streamed in through the huge glass patio doors as he sat in the recliner, and he heard the front door open. Little feet slapped the hardwood and he heard Myla yell, “Daddy! Daddy! Where are you?”
“Back here, cupcake. Look at you!” The child launched herself at him and he scooped her up, ignoring the pulls of the stitches on his ribs and belly where the buckshot had been removed.
“Are you okay, Daddy?”
“I’m fine, baby.”
She quit wiggling and looked him in the eye. “Why are we here? Are we staying here?”
“Yeah, for a while at least. Our house is kinda messed up. Somebody threw something at it and messed up the front door, but it’s getting fixed.
” The shot Margie had taken had missed him for the most part, but it had destroyed his front door and left a gaping hole in the front of the house.
It had taken Keith and Kenton two hours to board it up enough that someone wouldn’t make off with all his belongings, and raccoons, opossums, and squirrels wouldn’t set up residence in his kitchen.
“Okay. Where’s Miss Gina?”
“I’m right here, sweetie!” Gina called out and reached for Myla, who leaped off her dad’s lap and straight into Gina’s arms. In seconds, they were joined by Briley and Hadley, a big four-way pile of woman and kids.