Chapter One #2
“Nope. It’s silent. We’ll find out in spring, but we haven’t heard shit from it. That’s a good thing. When Duncan and Ciarán start showing up, and appearing out of nowhere, you know it’s about to go down, or when you hear Ceit crying.”
She stared up at him.
“Michael Graves! That’s not making me want to stay here. I’m insane, but not that insane!”
He laughed.
“Don’t worry.”
She blinked.
“Uh, famous last words.”
Again, he reassured her.
“They’ve been calm since we reunited their bones.
Duncan just wanted to be with his love, and now, he is.
Ceit is back in her stone coffin and not ostracized from her castle.
Catherine has her baby back. Plus, Oison was buried far off in the woods where he can’t bother us, and everyone is where they should be.
I haven’t heard shit in the castle for a good month. ”
Well, that helped.
Again, she was one issue away from a stay at the local sanitarium.
“If I see one ghost…”
He laughed.
“Well, a wise woman once said to me, the dead can’t hurt you, but the living can. I’d go with that and you should be perfectly fine.”
Oh, hell.
He had her there.
That was what she told everyone—mostly because she stood over the dead, and people asked how she could stomach it.
How?
That was easy.
Someone had to do it.
As they reached the back of the castle, there were trees surrounding the courtyard and entrance. They’d see that next, because Elizabeth found the barn.
And took off.
Michael had to jog after her, and he was amused. Why wasn’t he shocked that the animal whisperer wanted to be where the critters were?
As she headed into the barn, the animals were making noise at the company.
When Elizabeth’s head popped over the gate where the goats were, she scared them.
And they all fell over.
The second they all dropped to the ground, she started laughing outrageously.
How could she not?
Michael got there in time to see them topple over like dominoes, and he had to admit…
That didn’t get old.
“Oh, my God,” she said. “They pass out. They freaking faint! You have a pen of goats that can drop on command!”
He was amused.
“I told you,” he said.
Going into the stall, she picked one up, and it immediately came to life again, proving it had been faking it. The little guy squirmed, but let her hug it. In fact, it cuddled into her, and began chewing on her curly hair.
“You are so sickening cute,” she cooed to the goat. “How did you get so adorable?”
Then, she looked up.
“Does he have a name?”
Oh, well, she’d better believe it. His husband loved naming the animals on the farm. In fact, he insisted, and Michael had joined in the fun.
“Yep. That’s Ivan,” he said.
She stared at him.
“You named the goat Ivan after your once boss?” she inquired.
He shrugged.
“I missed the bugger. Now, I get to boss him around. Ivan, get off the fucking fence! Ivan, stop humping the hay! Ivan…”
That amused her in ways she couldn’t explain.
“I mean, that sounds like something he’d do,” she joked, missing him too.
“And that one is Demeter,” he said, pointing at the beautiful all black one.
“It seemed fitting. He’s the black goat of the herd,” he joked.
“Literally and because if one of them is going to get into trouble and do stupid shit, it’s that one.
He gets stuck in trees all the time when he escapes.
He falls into the watering containers, and he likes to wander.
We sometimes find him halfway across the estate doing stupid shit. ”
She snorted.
Well, that did sound like Demeter. The man was all funny, little seriousness, and she missed that too.
Because she was curious, and knew if these two were named, they likely all were.
So, she sat down on a bale of hay, and they all crowded her.
“That’s Saint,” he offered. “He’s always trying to hump too, except it’s a goat, and not hay. That one is Raphael. He just stands there and stares off into the distance, even as the humping is happening—which I like to think happens in their bedroom too.”
Oh, holy shit.
She was amused.
“He will kick your ass,” she said, giggling. “There will be Archangel on Archangel violence.”
He snorted.
“Oh, no. That’s Biblical, I think,” he teased.
Then, he kept going.
“Saint, the goat has issues,” he stated. “He walks into things, and scares himself. He’ll randomly fall over. I also fear he’s as gay as the day is long too, I suspect, and going to start humping all of them.”
She was entertained in a way she’d never expected. It touched her soul. The simple joy caught her off guard.
When she started crying again, he sat beside her.
“You feel guilty for taking a break, don’t you?” he asked.
Elizabeth nodded.
This was exactly what she meant when she’d said he was wise. Her daddy would have nailed that too, and without her saying a word.
He reassured her.
“You can tell me.”
Elizabeth sniffled, but did open up.
“I feel like a shit wife and mother for walking away for a bit. I didn’t get to say goodbye to the baby birds, since they were in lockdown in Fiji.”
He dropped his arm around her shoulders and did his best to give her sage advice. She was known for it, and many of them took their cues from her.
“How can you be a mom and a wife if you’re empty?” he asked. “Don’t you think that you deserve to refill your well too? Don’t you think that the baby birds need you to be whole and have that spirit back in you?”
She was silent.
So, he answered.
“Mom, as one of the people who loves you, let me be to the point so you can put that away. You deserve to have a break too. You deserve to have a few moments of your own joy without having to take care of everyone. NO ONE will be upset over you taking a well-deserved vacation, and honestly, if you think the kids are not happy as pigs in shit to be at the beach… I have bad news for you. They’ve forgotten parental supervision even exists. Wyler gave up parenting a week ago.”
She laughed and wiped her eyes. As she did, the one brown and white goat climbed up onto her lap.
“Wait until they come back and they’re feral. I have NEVER been sadder that I won’t be there to watch them terrorize the security team. God. I might fly home just to see that.”
She snorted.
“You’re sick.”
Oh, he was well aware. Because she needed it, he distracted her with another critter.
“The goat in your lap is Uriel.”
She was scratching him behind the ears as he licked her face and the tears there.
“DON’T EAT HER!” he warned. “He’s always chewing on someone or upside down because he’s clumsy as fuck!”
She found that amusing.
“Vegan my ass,” he stated. “We’re missing a goat, and I think we know where it went,” he joked.
Elizabeth rested her head on Michael’s shoulder. Honestly, she needed this. He wasn’t wrong about her being empty, and maybe, just maybe, she shouldn’t feel guilty.
Oh, she still would, but progress might be in small steps on this one.
Besides, how could she refill the others when she was bone fucking dry?
“Who is that?” she asked, pointing at the one goat in the corner.
“That’s Jet. He’s the quiet one, and sometimes, I come out here to talk to him. I miss my friend,” he admitted, as they both took that moment to mourn.
Yeah, they both sat there, and watched that goat. Finally, she spoke.
“He likely misses us too.”
He needed to know.
“Did he suffer?” he asked.
She shook her head.
That was her ONLY solace.
“No. The car pulled up, and it was one shot through the glass. It hit him in the side of the head. One in, one out,” she said, her voice hitching as another batch of tears fell.
He wrapped his arm around her, and together, they watched as another goat jumped off the hay, landing on Jet.
“He always was bad at ducking,” he said.
Elizabeth gasped.
“MICHAEL! Too soon!” she said, laughing. “God! You have the timing of…me.”
Oh, he was well aware.
“I learned it from you, Mom. I learned it from you.”
Yeah, he did.
Elizabeth was to the point.
“He would find it amusing you named a goat after him. I think wherever he is, he’s smiling down and sees it. That’s what I’d like to believe.”
He did too.
“When Gabby showed up and told me he died, yesterday, it hurt,” he admitted.
“But then, I knew him best. He was my best friend too. He would have been good with dying if it meant you were safe. That’s how all of the Marines feel.
We know the cost, Mom. We’ve always known the cost. That’s why we took that oath and swore to uphold it. ”
She held his hand.
“I know, Michael. It’s just difficult to say goodbye to the men you’ve loved for years. I love me some Marines. You’re all part of me. Losing even one is unacceptable to me. Leaving anyone behind is not my thing.”
Oh, no one knew that more than the Marines.
Trust.
And.
Believe.
“Well, I hear you took out the trash that killed him.”
She simply nodded.
“Thank you for that. I know each one of your security team appreciates that, and any one of us would have done it for you, willingly. Hell! I would have danced around his corpse, and pissed on him.”
Yeah, she was aware.
“I’m glad you all weren’t there to put that fire out,” she admitted.
Then, she proved she was done talking about it. That was the thing with Elizabeth. She would give you clearly defined boundaries. They were at one right now. It wasn’t going to be a discussion with them.
Period.
And he respected that.
Michael understood a ‘classified’ mission since he’d been on a few.
“Thank you for sharing the goats with me. They’re ridiculous, but in the best way,” she said, moving her arm and scaring one so it fell over.
He laughed.
“It doesn’t get old. Sometimes, I come out here and yell Boo!”
She snorted.
“Well, I know what I’m doing tomorrow,” she teased. “I hope the horses don’t faint.”
Oh, hardly.
They were a whole other menagerie of fun with individual personalities.
Putting the goat down, he led her to the next few stalls. When a chestnut mare put her head over the gate, he patted her forehead.
“Meet Lady MacBeth. We call her MacBeth because she’s no lady. She’s a whore.”