The McClane Apocalypse: Book Two (31 page)

“Why do you want to know? It’s not like it’s sixteen,” she chides with a widening of her green eyes.

“I want to know. And this is the question-answer part of your lesson, so fess up,” he jabs this new interrogation at her.

“Game over. I’m done with this. Besides, anything I say isn’t going to be anywhere close to what you just admitted to,” she jabs again.

“Well then, you don’t have anything to worry about. Tell me how many?” John asks again, but Reagan turns away.

“One. Happy now?” she tosses over her shoulder but won’t turn to face him. Is she serious or just joking with him?

“You’ve only ever kissed one person?”

“No, he kissed me. I didn’t like it, so I didn’t do it again,” she confesses.

He believes her. John steps closer to her, places his hands on her shoulders. She actually stands still, doesn’t shirk his touch or threaten him.

“I think you could,” he drawls and her head snaps up. “I think you could like it if it was done by a man and not some punk,” he says, assuming that her first experience was when she was young or done by a fumbling imbecile.

Still she doesn’t move. John lifts her pile of soft curls to the side and bends lower. Her breathing has elevated. His has, as well. He presses a tender kiss to her exposed neck. This time she does jump. And, unfortunately, she skirts away from him.

“I’m going to bed,” she blurts as she goes around him to the other side of the bed, the same side she’d slept on the night before.

“Sounds good to me, babe,” he jokes, sort of. She gives him one of her best glares. There aren’t any more questions or answers this night, and she tucks in and ignores him.

After extinguishing the lanterns, John joins her in the small bed that is full of uncomfortable lumps and bumps. She lies on her side, exposing the indentation of her waist and soft curve of her hip. He’d like to trace the outline of those curves, but figures he’s pushed his luck enough for one night.

At a little after one in the morning, Reagan awakens him with mutterings and murmurs. She’s in the throes of a nightmare. These seemed to have let up lately, leading John to falsely hope they were gone for good. He understands nightmares. He rolls to his side, wraps his arm around her and whispers comforting words to her in her sleep. Reagan’s hand slides under her pillow. John follows her hand with his own and gently pulls hers away from the dagger hidden there.

“Easy, Reagan. Go back to sleep, honey. You’re just having a bad dream,” he whispers in the dark. It takes a few seconds, but she does relax and her breathing evens out again. John wipes the line of her forehead, swiping the hair back from it. Her cheeks are damp with tears as she must’ve been crying in her sleep.

He’s never felt such a strong sense of protection over another person in his life. John wants to chase away her nightmares for good. This sense of self-assigned responsibility he feels for Reagan doesn’t let up, ever. He worries about her near constantly. She murmurs a few times in her sleep again. John shushes her, feels her relax again, and kisses her temple. He feels triumphant for the first time since he’s met her. The word she’d just whispered was his name.

Chapter Eighteen

Sue

The family is all amassed, minus Reagan and John, for breakfast, but Sue is picking up on a rift or something amiss between Hannah and Kelly. Everyone is chatting about what can get done today since the weather has finally let up, each person offering forth ideas. Each person, except that is, Kelly, who sits there shoveling his food in and staring pensively at his glass of water. His face is tense and from time to time he looks at Hannah who is completely oblivious of his behavior.

“We should check the crops first thing. If they’re drowning in water, then we’ll hoe in deep enough ruts to get the water away from them. We’ll lose them to water rot if they don’t have a chance to dry out,” Grandpa breaks her train of thought about Kelly and Hannah with talk of the garden.

“I can work on that,” she volunteers.

“Fine, Sue. I’ll work with you, too,” Grandpa offers. “I have some things to do after breakfast in my office, but we can start in a few hours.”

“The hay is gonna be too wet to bring in now. Plus, I wish we had that part for the tractor, but hopefully John will find one for us,” Derek complains as he dips his toast into his egg yolk. He’s always so worried about everything.

“We also need to get whatever crops are ready and are still out there picked for canning. There’s no sense in wasting anything just because the season is coming to a close,” Grams says as she sips her coffee. She doesn’t seem to be eating much lately. It must be all the stress she also feels over her family.

“Right and if we have extra, then we can share them with neighbors or the new families at the condo community. It’s not like they can start planting now. The season is done,” Derek offers as he takes Isaac from her. He’s always been like that. He’s helpful with the kids, even when he’s not sure what the heck to do with them.

“Kelly said that we were going over there today to see if we can get them set up with the Reynolds for a work exchange. We can take some supplies to them if you want, Grams,” Cory says.

Kelly doesn’t respond. Sue’s not sure if he’s even said anything the whole meal. She’s not sure he’s even paying attention.

“That would be just fine. Why don’t you pick them a basket of produce, son,” Grandpa suggests kindly.

“Yeah, that’s cool, Cory. I’d like someone to do a perimeter check on the outskirts of the farm before you guys leave, though,” Derek interjects. “With John gone and you two leaving, I need to know we’re secure before you guys head out. Right, Kelly?”

“What?” he asks as if hadn’t been listening at all. He seems surprised by the question.

“Can you do a perimeter check before you leave with Cory?” her husband repeats.

His hair is slicked back with a sheen of damp sweat. He’s already been outside doing chores all morning before breakfast. His baseball cap is hung on the knob of his ladder back, oak chair. He’s so ruggedly handsome in his flannel shirt and jeans. She’s sure he’ll ditch the flannel as the day goes on and the sun gets higher. Sue doesn’t mind that view, either.

“Uh... yeah, sure, Derek,” Kelly responds but goes back to his food immediately.

“Good, then that’s settled. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder all day. I think I’m going to work on the roof of the machine shed. I saw the other day where it was sagging in the back, right corner,” her husband says.

All these men do is work all day, every day until dark. They’re lucky to have them. For the last few years Grandpa has been hiring out that kind of work.

“I’ll help when we get back. We shouldn’t be gone more than an hour. I don’t want to be gone long at all today, not with John not here, as well,” Kelly admits and has finally joined the conversation. Hannah smiles brightly at him, but he looks away sourly. Of course, Hannah doesn’t know this.

The meal goes on a few minutes longer, or at least it does for the other family members, because Isaac lets her know he’s tired of it and ready for his own meal by fussing. Sue takes him from Derek, kisses her husband, tells her other kiddos to finish their breakfasts and heads to her favorite window seat tucked away in a quiet corner of the music room. The sunlight streams in brightly, warming her bare breast and her baby’s soft forehead.

She is maybe ten minutes into feeding Isaac when Kelly’s deep voice resonates throughout the room, although Sue can tell he is trying to talk quietly. He has obviously not seen her in the back of the room. But, then again, the piano is partially blocking her.

“I don’t care, Hannah. Don’t argue with me. I know what I’m talking about,” he’s speaking with Hannie. Sue can’t see them, either, but she can definitely hear them.

“Kelly, don’t be ridiculous. You are just being paranoid,” Hannah tells him.

“No, I’m not. I mean it. Don’t go back over there. And don’t go back again unless I’m with you. Do you hear me?” his voice is tight, angry.

What the heck is going on between them? He has obviously brought her in here to discuss whatever this was in private.

“Kelly, you aren’t trying to dictate where I can go, are you?” her little sister asks with more spunk than Sue would’ve given her credit for.

“Actually, I am. Stay away from Lenny. He’s a bum,” he warns menacingly.

“A bum? Like a street urchin?” Hannah asks, and Sue tries not to laugh. Poor Hannie. Perhaps she has been sheltered too much. Kelly actually groans with frustration.

“No, Hannah. Damn it!” he curses. “Just stay away from him. He’s a leech, ok? He was checking you out, and I don’t like it.”

“Don’t be silly, Kelly. Of course he wasn’t. He was just being friendly and making small talk,” Hannah says lightly on a giggle. Kelly growls again.

“Hannah, I mean it. I’m a man, and I know what I saw. He was checkin’ you out. He was. Don’t make me go over there and kick his ass,” he threatens. Sue believes him.

“You don’t have any right to, Kelly. I don’t belong to you or any man!” Hannah interrupts.

Wow! This is definitely not the Hannie that Sue is used to. Maybe Kelly is a good influence on her, after all. She’s sure learned to have a lot more gumption than she used to.

“Hannah, damn it...,”

“Don’t swear!” she hisses at him impatiently. “Lenny is a nice enough man, and he’s been through a lot, Kelly. I think you’re just jealous.”

“What? No, that’s not why...,”

“Oh, really? I think you are. Now, if we’re done here, then I have work to do.”

Her frail sister must leave because a moment later Kelly stomps off, as well. But not before he curses fluently under his breath. Sue muffles her laughter.

“Oh, Isaac, I hope your love life is a much easier one someday, little guy,” Sue tells her baby, who stares up at her with his big, innocent eyes and then gurgles.

Twenty minutes later, Sue finishes with Isaac and puts him down for his morning nap in the music room on a bed of folded blankets in the same corner where she’d breastfed. The children have gone outside to play. She hears them in the backyard near the chicken coop, likely on the swing-set.

“Need some help, Hannie?” Sue asks as she comes into the kitchen. Her sister startles. Apparently her little skirmish with Kelly has left her side-tracked. “I can help in here for a bit before I go out to work the garden.”

“Um, sure, Sue,” her sister replies. “I’m going to can green beans today.”

“Ok, what do you need me to do, sweetie?” she asks of her lovely, flushed sister who seems harried.

“Pinch the tips off these beans? Then I can do the rest. This part usually takes the longest, so if you help, then it’ll go much faster.”

“Sounds good to me, kid,” she says and takes a second basket of beans to her own side of the island. Hannah also sits, takes a deep breath and shakes her head before she starts nipping. “Trouble in paradise?”

Hannah laughs and shakes her head again. “You could say that again.”

“I kind of overheard,” Sue confesses to which Hannah looks surprised. “Sorry. I was in there breastfeeding when you guys came in. It was too late to make a graceful exit by the time I realized you two were arguing.”

“It’s ok, Sue. I mean, it’s not like I wasn’t going to discuss it with you, right?” she asks with a laugh.

“Yeah, I guess so, Hannah,” Sue agrees with a chuckle.

“I don’t understand why he’s acting so irrational. His behavior is very uncalled for,” Hannah says with scorn in her voice. She knows so little of men.

“Well, honey, I’d say he’s jealous for sure. But he seems to think that the Reynolds’ cousin is kind of a bad guy or something. I don’t think I’ve ever met him. Have we?” Sue asks. She knows the Reynolds family, even used to hang out sometimes with Wayne in high school in mutual groups of friends. However, she doesn’t know his cousin and doesn’t remember them ever mentioning him.

“No, we’ve never met him. But I found him to be a nice man. He used to be a banker or something like that. I just felt bad because his parents were killed, and he had nowhere to go. He was talkative and considerate. And he didn’t swear!” Hannah says in a miff.

“Hannah, are you... are you interested in Lenny?”

“What? No, silly. That’s just crazy. I just mean that he seemed like a kind person. That’s all,” Hannah says with an adorable grimace on her face. “Besides, you know how I feel about Kelly, even if Kelly makes me very angry sometimes. I don’t know why he does, but he seems to be able to anger me quite easily. But I still only have feelings for him. Sometimes I wish I didn’t because he is so difficult for me to deal with. He’s the only one for me, Sue.”

“Ok, I just thought maybe...,” Sue remarks. “And being angry and fighting sometimes is just another part of relationships. Sometimes you have good days, and other days you just want to choke each other. It’s normal. I think if a relationship is passionate and the two people in it really love each other intensely, then they also fight intensely. It just seems to be how it works.”

Her sister’s eyes light up when she talks of Kelly. They always do. But Hannah is always so overly friendly with people that she can understand why Kelly is worried. Good. Maybe he should be a little worried.

“You and Derek never fight,” Hannah observes as she swipes a loose tendril from her forehead.

“Oh, we do. Trust me, we do. We haven’t in a long time, but when we first got married we fought more often. Having a military relationship is even harder because they’re gone so much that the last thing you want to do when they’re home is fight. But it happens. Your fights with Kelly will just be different than other people’s. A lot of couples fight over finances, but that isn’t going to be an issue anymore. Other people fight over infidelity or cheating or lying, but I don’t think you’ll ever have that problem with Kelly, either. But it’s normal to not get along sometimes,” Sue explains patiently.

“He has been acting so strange lately. One minute he kisses me, then the next he’s pushing me away. It’s just such a hectic time that we live in. I wish we’d met under different circumstances,” Hannah laments.