“Neither am I,” I retort as the ropes fall free. “You stay put and let me look. You don’t know these bastards like I do. Plus, I’m not gonna let you hurt Junior, anyhow.”
She snickers and says, “I’m not sure the world is ready for a Rebel Junior.”
I shake my head because I know they’ve been tossing a lot of names around. Rebel wants her grandfather to be honored somehow, she wants him to have his daddy’s name. I suspect that whatever they come up with will be perfect for the baby. I don’t understand the trend these days where people name their babies before they have them. I would personally have several of each sex picked out so when I looked at my baby, I could name them then. But… that’s just me. To each his own and all that jazz.
Spying some tools in a corner, I swipe at the dusty cobwebs, shivering at the thought there could be an actual spider in them, until I see a pitchfork and a hoe. Both are rusty but still appear to be sharp enough to do some damage. Picking them both up, I walk back over and help Holly stand up. She wobbles a bit and I ask, “Are you alright? Do you need to sit back down?”
Not that I’m any steadier, since I’ve been moving around without my walker, but again, I’m not pregnant, so my concern is for her, not myself.
“Nope. Let’s do this,” she replies.
“Okay, I’ll stand over here,” I tell her, pointing to just inside the door, “and you stand behind the door. They’ll come in one at a time so while I stab whoever comes through first, you can whack them wherever you can reach.”
I hear the unmistakable sound of tires on gravel and motion her to get into position. The two of them are making so much noise that I’ve already jabbed the pitchfork into Paxton’s gut by the time either of them realizes that we’re no longer tied up. As he wrestles with me to get it out of him, I hear Porter scream and glance over to see that the hoe is buried in the side of his neck and blood is spurting everywhere so she must’ve nicked an artery when she buried it into his flesh.
Whoopsie, that’s gonna leave a mark for sure! Not that I give a fuck, seeing as my stomach looks like a damn roadmap thanks to the two of them.
“Did you think we were just going to take whatever you were going to do to us lying down?” I yell as I pull the pitchfork free and jab Paxton again. He’s not paying attention to what I’m doing as he’s trying to stop the blood that’s freely spurting from his brother’s neck. “Uh oh, looks like it’s just you now, asshole. Holly, step back, please.”
“You fucking bitch!” Paxton screeches as he rips his shirt off and tries to stem the blood. Porter’s trying to talk but all that comes out of his mouth are frothy blood bubbles. “You killed another one of my brothers!”
“Nuh-uh, I didn’t hurt Pace, he hurtme,” I retort. “Then the two of you hurt me again. As far as I’m concerned, y’all are getting your just desserts.”
With both of them now on the floor of the barn, I grab the rope and make quick work of tying them up. I know Porter’s dying, and if Paxton doesn’t get medical care shortly, he’s likely got a short lifespan as well. Doesn’t bother me one bit even though I would normally state that I’m a pacifist. Taking another person’s life isn’t something I ever thought I would do, but knowing that they wouldn’t have blinked once before they did the same to us? I have zero issues with what we did.
“Holly? Are you okay?” I ask as she doubles over.
“I think my water just broke,” she grunts out, her hands clutching her stomach.
I glance at her and realize that she’s soaked from the waist down, as if she had peed herself. Only… it’s too soon, I think. Hell if I know; she’s just steadily gotten bigger and bigger. With my heart racing, I pull out my phone from my back pocket, only to see that I have no signal.
“Okay, okay. Let’s go see what they have in their van that we can use to help you,” I say. I walk over to her and put my arm around her so I can lead her out of the barn and away from the death rattle that Porter’s now making. Paxton’s now bleeding freely as well, and there’s a small part of me that feels for their parents. Averysmall part of me, that is, because all three of the brothers were dangerous to womankind.
It takes us quite some time to get to the van since Holly has to keep stopping as contractions wrack her body. I’m now sweating because I have no clue what to do in this situation. Plus, mybody’s trying to remind me that it wasn’t all that long ago that I was still laid up healing.
Opening the side door of the van, I get her set down on the side and slightly stumble. I’m pretty sure right now that the only thing holding me up is pure adrenaline, but it doesn’t need to stop pumping now. “We need to time your contractions,” I tell her as I start searching the van for a first aid kit. Hell, at this point, I’d take a bag of clean shop towels, since I suspect if help doesn’t arrive soon, I’ll be delivering this baby.
“They’re close, I almost feel like I need to push,” Holly grits out.
“No, no, no. No pushing yet! Okay, new plan, I’m getting you out of here and to the hospital,” I decree.
Hobbling around to the side of the van, I bend down, wincing at the movement, and swing her legs into the van. Once I’m sure she’s in, I close the side door then make my way around to the driver’s side and gingerly get in. My body is thrumming with pain, but my best friend needs me, so I push it down and thank God that the keys are hanging from the ignition.
“Hurry, Marnie,” Holly says in between some weird breathing.
As I go up the long road, I come to the end of the driveway to a T in the road and wonder which way is best, finally deciding to turn right since it looks like there’s asphalt ahead, not gravel road. A loud roaring reaches my ears and I see several motorcycles bearing down on us.
“Thank God, the cavalry’s here!” I exclaim as one of the bikes stops by my window. I quickly roll it down and say, “They’re in the barn but Holly’s in labor and I need to get her to the hospital!”
“Not without me,” Rebel decrees as he parks his bike and gets in the back of the van with Holly. “Psycho, go see what’s going on in the barn. Cops are already on their way out here. Ash, you drive, Marnie you scoot over, darlin’.”
Relief courses through me as Ash gets in and takes over the driving. I won’t lie; I would’ve done it, but I’m grateful as hell that I don’t have to because I’m not sure how much more I can put my body through.
TWELVE
ASH
“You did good, sweetheart,” I tell Marnie as I hold her close.
