Ding Dong!! Is She Dead? (16 page)

Taking charge, G.G. shooed them from the room with a wave of her hand. “You too, Justin, out.”

“It’s gonna be okay Allie. Sometimes you just have to have a good cry to get all those pent up feelings out.”

Justin went out when his mom shooed him, but didn’t go far. After about 10 minutes, he stuck his head back in to check and saw Allie was no longer sobbing, she was fast asleep. His mother nodded and he came back in the room.

“I’ll carry her to the guest room. As tired as she has been she might sleep all night.” Justin lifted Allie into his arms without waking her. His mom went ahead of him to open the door of the guest room on the first floor and pull back the blankets.

He laid her on the bed and covered her with a light blanket since the air-conditioning was on. He had noticed last night that she had slept with the bedspread on so that she could snuggle with it.

Waiting to make sure that she was still asleep, he checked the room. The windows were locked and there was nothing that anyone could hide behind. He left the door partially open so that he wouldn’t wake her up when he checked in on her later. He rejoined the group to discuss happier things, like which grandchild had hurt themselves yesterday.

G.G. was just telling how her older son, Luke’s daughter, Violet had gotten hurt.

“You should have seen her, she was so quiet and was obviously crying, but I couldn’t see what was wrong with her. So I held her and asked, ‘Did she run into something?’ She shook her head no. Then I asked, ‘If someone had thrown something that hit her?’ Again, no. I asked, ‘Did you fall?’ Again with the head shake. At this point I have no idea how she could have hurt herself so I asked what I thought was a dumb question, ‘Did you hit yourself?’ This time I got a yes, ‘What in the world did you do that for?’ She looked up at me through the tears and shrugged her shoulders, smiling now with tears running down her face. She had been carrying a rock with her feet and managed to drop it on her nose. Only way I can figure that that happened was that she was on her back and the rock was on the bottoms of her feet sticking straight up in the air which fell on her nose.” G.G. finished with laughter.

All of the adults were laughing at the antics of a seven year old instead of worrying about the real world. It was good to see Megan was enjoying herself. Maybe there was hope for both her and Allie to recover from their terrible experiences, Justin thought, without leaving too many scars.

Chapter 11

Sally followed the sound of laughter and found the group of adults. This was a new experience for her since there had not been genuine laughter in her house for quite a while. The rule was that children were to be seen and not heard. She knew that her mom worried a lot about stuff and she hoped that her mommy would keep the smile on her face that was there when she entered the kitchen.

“Hey, can we go see the horses? I haven’t been close to one before and it would be sooo nice to ride one.” Sally pushed out her bottom lip just a little bit so that they would think she was cute. It always helped to get what she wanted from her Daddy.

All of the adults had forgotten about Sally, but Mark agreed to take them on a tour of the barn. There was no riding for today since Sally would need a few lessons on safety and the poor horses needed a day occasionally to rest from all that hard work that they did all week. Karen and Megan went with them just in case there were any problems.

Justin was immediately ambushed by his parents about his feelings for Allie.

“Well, son I’m guessing that you and Allie have gotten to know each other pretty fast and furious, but the question is will you still be serious about her when this is over?” James took over before his wife could start in with thousands of questions that Justin probably didn’t have a clue about. Women could always take a situation and cloud it up with lots of unnecessary questions.

“You know Dad, I have dated lots of girls before, but not very many of them have turned me down. Most can’t wait to go on a date with me so that they can be seen with one of the Greenley boys. Not only did she have no idea who I was, but she wasn’t interested in that type of thing. She is hardworking and honest. I don’t know any women that would give up their time to help someone in Megan’s situation. It is extraordinary. I was almost convinced that there weren’t any women out there that weren’t completely superficial. I could become very serious about this one. I really appreciate the fact that you offered to have them stay here so that they can have more security. You don’t think that this is happening too fast between Allie and I?”

“I knew that I loved your mother when I saw her at the County Dance, they call it the Fun Fest now. I knew that she was just what I had been looking for. I found someone that could introduce us and it took a while and a lot of flowers, but she finally said yes to a date. After the first date we just knew, that we were meant to be together and she has stuck with me through thick and thin. Just because it hasn’t been very long that doesn’t mean that you can’t be in love with her, right?”

Justin hadn’t expected to come across the idea that they could already be in love. He was pleasantly surprised that he might be able to settle down with Allie, if she was interested, when all of this was over. Hopefully he wouldn’t scare her off before she was ready to take that step. However long it took, she was worth the wait.

“I think I speak for both your mother and I, since you have robbed her of speech; when I say it’s about time that you got serious with a girl that has some sense in her head.” James gave G.G. a loving smile.

“I believe that I will go and take a nap with your mother, while you check on Allie. I am certain that Megan and Sally will be just fine with Mark and Karen. Who knows where that will lead considering Mark’s past?” Steering G.G. from the room, James left the young people time to mingle.

--------------

Megan walked out with Karen to see the barns, while Mark went ahead with Sally hanging onto his every word. Megan was in no hurry to see the horses, but was enjoying an afternoon that seemed relatively carefree.

Karen was glad to see them enjoying themselves outside since they had been cooped up in a hotel for most of the week.

“How are you really feeling this afternoon?” Karen asked.

“I’m feeling pretty good as long as I don’t laugh too hard. My wrist is starting to itch in this cast, but I’m starting to feel more like myself. I think it helps seeing Sally happy and knowing that there are people who genuinely care about what happens to us.”

“There were times, when I was with Mike in the beginning when I would just scream and hope that someone would hear so that they could rescue me. I gradually assumed that I was the freak and that all husbands did this to their wives. No one was going to rescue me because it was normal. I’m still not sure that I can change enough so that Sally will choose a different life for herself.” Megan looked kind of sad.

“Honey, none of this is your fault. Mike should have known better than to treat his family like this. Somewhere in the process, Mike decided that he would use his fists rather than his brains. You know the saying you catch more flies with honey then vinegar? Well, obviously Mike’s momma never explained that principle to him.”

Karen earnestly hoped that sometime Megan would be able to let the truth into her heart so that she would know the difference in circumstances and choices. Circumstances were what life handed a person and what they then chose to make of them was up to them. Megan’s choice had some horrible consequences to it, but she could choose to move past her mistakes and look to a better future. Not everyone got a second chance.

“While I couldn’t have been the reason Mike is the way he is, I do feel bad that Julie and Allie have gotten hurt because of me. If I had just told Allie to go away, then this wouldn’t have happened to them.” Megan couldn’t even look at Karen as she said this.

Mark was glancing at them occasionally, but made sure that there was enough room for them to have a semi- private conversation.

“Megan, Allie, Julie and I have all made a choices that we won’t let bad things go unpunished. We can’t sit around while people are killed, raped, or beaten. We have to help those that need us. I know that Julie and I both took an oath to protect those in need of our help. Allie is just a precious angel that stood up for you when you couldn’t do it for yourself. If you asked any one of us, we would all do it again.”

“Besides, Allie considers you and Sally family now. That says a lot about the way that she feels about both of you. I think that you will be given a wonderful opportunity while staying here to see how a real family operates with each other. This is one of the best families that I have ever been around. So maybe a little love will rub off on y’all while you’re here. Just be open, to it okay?” Karen gently touched Megan’s arm to turn her until they were facing.

“I’m not sure that I can, but I will try for Sally’s sake. This whole place just makes you want to take a deep breath and know that everything will be all right. Is that even possible after all that has gone on lately?” Megan left Karen with that unanswered question and walked over to see what Sally had found so interesting.

Karen just smiled and looked around the peaceful fenced land, knowing that this place could really heal wounds. She knew from personal experience that life could go on and the people that loved you could make all the difference in how well your spirit healed.

--------------

Getting the ladies settled in the basement apartment; wasn’t that hard. Justin and Mark carried their things down in just two trips. Megan and Sally would share one room and Karen would take the other. Since Allie was already asleep, Justin set her suitcase inside the door of the guest room for whenever she woke up.

Karen checked all the exits and ways that someone could gain entry into the house. They did have an alarm system, but they only set it when they went out of town for more than one day. There was always someone around to keep an eye on things. Karen made sure that they were planning to set it each night before everyone retired. While they normally didn’t lock the doors until bedtime either, the Greenleys were more than happy to lock the front and side doors leaving only the kitchen door open until bed time.

Sally was supper excited to staying there in such a big house. She couldn’t wait until the next day when she could try out the horses. Karen had to explain the rules that would apply for going outdoors and what to do in an emergency.

Since it was Sunday night, the rule was that everyone had left overs or fixed sandwiches so that there was no cooking since lunch was normally quite a large meal. They put it all out on the counter and then everyone heated up what they wanted. Once they were all at the table, enjoying an evening of family time, G.G. brought up something that only a good Southern woman would suggest.

“I think that while you ladies are staying here you should learn how to ride a horse.” Smiling at Sally’s enthusiasm, she got down to what she knew could be an issue with some people. “I would also like all three of you, Megan, Sally and Allie to learn how to shoot a gun. Karen already knows how and all of the ranch hands that work here know how as well.”

Megan wasn’t real sure how they had gotten on this topic. “I have not wanted to have a gun around the house with Sally, but Mike always had one in a lock box since he had to have one for work. I was just hoping that I never gave him a reason to use it.”

Sensing that it made everyone uncomfortable when she spoke like that about Mike in such dramatic details; she hurried to explain her reasoning.

“I’m sorry y’all, I have been trying to change my frame of mind from the way I have lived life so far. Most of the time I was too scared of what might happen to me, I didn’t even try to start thinking of things like that. Somehow he could always read my mind and know when I was being disloyal. So now, when I think about something, I just say it out loud so that it seems real. If I had told someone about this before, it might not have gotten to this point. Do you really think it would okay for both of us to learn how to defend ourselves?” Megan realized everyone was staring at her.

Knowing that Megan was completely without confidence, G.G. spoke up. “Sweetie, my children learned how to protect themselves when they were about Sally’s age. We had all sorts of animals out there that could hurt them if they were not prepared. I think that considering the way that things have been going, it wouldn’t hurt if you and Sally could kill a snake if you had too.”

“Karen, do you think that you could be in charge of target practice? We have plenty of guns and there is an area out back that is set up for target practice. I would feel much safer if Sally knew how to handle any guns that she might come across. The ranch hands don’t leave them laying around, but accidents do happen.” G.G. was smiling like she had just solved the solution to world peace. There was nothing to say to her at that point except yes ma’am.