Shay and the rest ofthem stepped inside.
Shay walked over to the sofa and studied Char.“Are you the one who taught her how to use a baseball bat?”he finally asked.
Char chuckled.“We taught each other how to do that.Kelly always had a meaner streak than I did though.She’d see someone bullying another kid and she went after them even before we knew what was going on, I mean really going on.”She shrugged, “Sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn’t.The times it didn’t we figured out how to better protect ourselves.We learned not to cry when we got hit and we found when we didn’t cry, the bullies left us alone.The ones that didn’t learn.Well, they found out the hard way that she damn well knows how to swing that bat.”
“Yeah, so I heard.”Shay nodded.He finally turned toward his wife.“I looked into the names you left me.”
“And?”Kelly asked with a raise of her eyebrow.
“They are gonna go down, hard and very public.”Shay grinned.“What they’ve been doing behind closed doors is criminal and the whole world is going to learn about every shady deal they’ve ever come up with.”
Pappy stepped forward and said, “The US Marshals are already very interested.”
Char looked at Shay then at Pappy, “Can you get Victor for my dad’s death as well?He told my mom plain as day that it was too bad he fell from six stories up.”
Pappy nodded.“We can discuss that later.You’ve all been up all night and you need to rest.We also need to talk about what you did last night.”
Kelly nodded then shrugged.“I can partially claim self-defense.I mean he did hit me first.But I do admit the hit when I crushed his balls wasn’t self defense that one was just because.”
“Just because?”Pappy asked with a tilt to his head.
“Just because he deserved it,” Kelly claimed.“And I’d do it again every time.He raped a seventeen-year-old girl and he beat her too.Like I said, he deserved it.”
Pappy coughed and his hands went to cover his own package but still he nodded.“Yeah, we’ll have someone check on him and get him to a hospital if he needs it.”
Char snorted.“I wouldn’t worry about Ty Regis.He’s in this deal right up to here.”She drew a line just over her eyes.“At least my grandmother knew better than to force Rosie into a marriage that wouldn’t be legal.When Victor took us, he took us without the paperwork.In fact, he kidnapped us in the legal terms of the word.He left our mother unconscious on the floor; all beat to hell.”
Pappy nodded.“Yeah, there’s a police report on that and that’s part of the charges your uncle will be facing.”
“When my mom got out of the hospital and we weren’t there she knew what he’d done and it finally broke her heart.She never recovered and a few days later she was dead.Add that to your files on my uncle.”Char snarled.
Comanche stepped up and knelt in front of her chair.“Honey, we’ll get everything we can and we’ll tell your story.We’ll make them both pay for what they did to you and Rosie.”
Char leaned toward him and placed her head on his chest and sobbed.“It isn’t fair what they did!”She cried out.“My mom tried so hard.She ran away from them because she wanted to choose her own husband.She wanted love and she found it with my dad.They were so happy together, and even after he died, she kept a roof over our heads and food on the table.She was the best mother you could ever have and they finally broke her.She died more of a broken heart than anything.Those two just take and take until you have nothing left then they take some more.”
“Well, they are done talking now.”Shay growled.“I’ll make sure of that.”He looked over at his wife.“But Pappy is right, you guys need some rest.Crusher has already taken Rosie to a room.Things will look different after we all rest some.”
Comanche got up and held out a hand to Char.
She looked up and took it and they walked down the hall.
Shay reached out a hand and Kelly slipped hers into it.He looked over at Pappy and said, “We’ll meet back here for supper and we’ll discuss the plans again.”
Pappy nodded.
Shay led Kelly down the hall to their bedroom.When he closed the door behind them he pulled her into his arms and just held her for a moment.Then after a while he whispered into her ear, “You scared the hell out of me, woman.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered back.“When I got that call last night I had to go.I had to help her.”
“Babe, I know you don’t want the boys to know this.But when they find out that you went on this dangerous mission while pregnant?”He shook his head.“I was fit to be tied when I read your note.It took everything in me not to call them and tell them to bring you back here.”
“But you didn’t.”She cupped his cheek.
“No, but I wanted to.Then again it was already too late.But you do know you are grounded now, right?”
Kelly nodded.“Yes, after this I swear.No missions.”She raised her hand up as if swearing on a bible.
He narrowed his eyes at her as he took her hand into his.“I’m just grateful you came back in good shape.”He reached over and brushed a finger over her slightly swollen lip.“I should go and kill this Ty guy.I really should.”
