by Morrel, Amy
Now that the odds were a bit more even Greg started going on the offensive. He took Freddy's arm and drove it behind his back, similar to the fashion he had in their last encounter. This time he didn't stop until he heard a 'pop' that let him know Freddy's arm was dislocated. Freddy was kicking backwards, striking Greg's shins and thighs repeatedly but Greg ignored the pain and drove Freddy's head into the wall. He knew there was a stud right in front of him since there was a picture hanging on the wall just above them, rocking precariously with each impact. So he drove Freddy's head into the wall just in front of the stud over and over until Freddy stopped struggling.
Greg let go of Freddy, who slumped to the floor. He turned to find Margaret staring at him, worry evident in her face.
“Is he dead?” she asked fearfully.
“I don't think so, I think I just knocked him out. Did Ben tell you how long before they'd get here?”
“He said they'd arrive as quickly as they could but that traffic was slow due to the storm.”
“Well, we probably ought to keep an eye on him until they get here. I don't know, maybe tie his hands or something. Is there anything in here we can use for that?”
“I've got a cloth belt in my nightstand drawer, would that work?”
“Better than anything else I'm seeing.”
Greg and Margaret both started to move to the nightstand but Margaret was closer. She opened the drawer and pulled the belt out. She turned to hand it to Greg:
“Greg, look out!”
Greg turned to see Freddy grabbing the knife from in front of the window with his non-dislocated arm. Freddy cried out:
“Die you fucking bitch!” Freddy started to charge across the room towards Margaret, knife raised high to stab with.
As Freddy took his first step, Greg started moving towards him. Freddy had only taken two steps towards Margaret when Greg launched himself through the air. Freddy was only a few feet away from him and Greg hit him in the torso with a flying tackle. The pair of steps Greg had taken before launching himself gave him some momentum. The momentum, added to the weight of Greg's body, gave his tackle a serious impact. Freddy staggered back from the strike, one step, then two before regaining his balance. Freddy stabbed down with the knife, piercing Greg's right shoulder. Greg, in a last ditch effort to protect Margaret, tried slamming Freddy into the wall again with the arm on the side that hadn't been stabbed. The only problem was that there was no wall behind Freddy this time. He went smashing through the window, shattering the glass on his way through. Greg had pushed Freddy hard enough that he went straight through the window with only his legs remaining in the room.
Freddy was sliding down the slick, snow-covered roof when Greg grabbed an ankle with his good hand. He got a solid grip on it and stopped Freddy's fall. Freddy started twisting and trying to get back in the room. He was nearly doubled over when his groping hand struck Greg's wounded shoulder. The pain caused Greg to lose his grip on Freddy's ankle and he began to slide once again. This time Freddy's questing hand caught Greg's bad arm. Greg screamed from the pain and felt himself start to slide across the floor.
Margaret grabbed onto Greg, trying to keep him from following Freddy through the window. She was only partially successful. Greg was doubled over, his torso hanging out through the broken window into the cold outside air. Freddy was trying to make his way up Greg's bad arm one-handed using his own good arm and trying to get traction in the slippery snow with his feet. Greg heard sirens approaching and his only thought was Shit, they're going be too late.
Greg was slowly being dragged out the window when Margaret let go of him. Freddy had made his way partially back up Greg's arm and was now grabbing for his wounded shoulder again. Greg could feel broken glass from the frame of the window digging into his stomach and left side. His feet were starting to come off the floor from his and Freddy's combined weight. Suddenly a wooden pole showed up in his vision, headed for Freddy's face. It struck Freddy in the cheek several times but his grip remained firm. Finally the pole adjusted upward and moved towards Freddy's eye.
Freddy looked on in disbelief. Margaret was hitting him with the end of a broomstick. She struck his cheek several times and when he didn't let go, she repositioned it and started heading for his eye.
“You don't have the backbone to do it bitch.” Freddy spat, just before Margaret drove the top of the broom handle into his eye socket. Freddy let go with his good hand, clapping it to the red ruin of his eye socket, before starting to slide and picking up speed. He disappeared from Margaret and Greg's view just as Margaret began to pull Greg back inside the house. Greg's last sight before he was all the way back inside was an unmarked car with a flashing light on its roof pulling up in front of his house.
Now it was Greg's turn to slide down the wall and slump to the floor. Margaret knelt in front of him saying something and putting a makeshift bandage on his shoulder. Greg's brain wasn't processing her words at the moment. After a minute he finally made them out:
“Greg, are you okay? Are you alright?”
Greg's eyes focused, then he gasped softly and pointed to the doorway. Margaret turned to see all three children staring in shock at the scene in front of them.
“I'm not okay but I will be.” Greg said softly.
“How long have you kids been there? I thought I told you to stay in the car!” Greg said with a bit more volume, and a wince from the deep breath he had taken for the extra volume.
Christine was crying softly, Jack was staring in disbelief, Ellen voiced the same concern that Margaret had:
“Dad, are you okay? I saw him stab you! Who was that?”
“That was my father.” Jack said, “and he was trying to kill my mom! And he hurt Uncle Greg!”
Christine's tears increased in volume.
Margaret was apparently torn between going to comfort the children and staying with Greg.
“Go to them.” Greg said softly, “they need you more than I do right now.”
Margaret hurried over to the children, swept Christine and Jack into a big hug while answering Ellen's question.
“Your dad said he'll be okay. He'll probably need to go to the hospital though.”
Agents White and Brown showed up at the doorway and Margaret moved the children aside to let them through.
“We got here as soon as we could. It looks like it wasn't fast enough though, our suspect is dead on your front lawn.”
Ben looked back at Margaret:
“You may want to get the children out of earshot and not let them look out front either Ms. Chisolm.”
Margaret moved the children away, taking them downstairs.
“What happened Greg? We've got an ambulance on the way but they're busy today and they won't be moving fast even when they have someone to spare to send here.”
Greg told them what had happened, leaving out only Margaret's part at the end where she struck Freddy in the face with the broom handle. In his story, Margaret had tried to get Freddy to grab onto the broom since he was dragging Greg out the window. Freddy's hands had slipped, probably from the ice and snow, and he had fallen. The agents looked at one another but didn't say anything before Greg remembered that they had already been on the street when Margaret had hit Freddy with the broom handle and they might have seen what actually occurred.
“Well, we won't know for sure that he was the one that set up the explosion in Ms. Chisolm's house but I'm thinking an attempt to kill her by hand certainly suggests that he was. This should be a clear case of accidental death. If anyone tries to push it beyond that, then you have a solid self-defense case. If I have my way about it neither of you will ever even have to show up in court.” Ben said.
“Thank you.” said Greg, “Could you send Margaret and the kids back in? I want to give the kids something to do, maybe snap them out of the shock they're probably feeling. Plus I have a question for Margaret.” Greg fumbled through his shredded jacket as he spoke, withdrawing a somewhat battered ring case. When he fou
nd it he noticed that the case had stopped one of Freddy's stabs and had a hole in its top. When he opened the case, the ring was still in pristine condition though.
Ben grinned as he noticed what Greg was doing and he and Agent White went looking for Margaret and the children.
Margaret and the kids came back into the room hesitantly. Greg motioned them over.
“I need your help kids, I kind of ought not move right now so I need you to do some things for me. Ellen, go out to my truck. In the tool box in the bed of the truck you'll find my big staple gun. Get it and bring it in to me. Please listen to me this time, stay on the driveway and do NOT look in the front yard.
Christine and Jack, I need the two of you to find me the thickest blanket in the linen closet in the hallway, okay? The blankets are all on the bottom two shelves. Get it and bring it in here.”
The children hurried off to do their tasks.
“What do you want me to do Greg?” asked Margaret.
“What do I want you to do...” Greg let the sentence hang in the air as he braced himself to move.
Greg painfully rose to one knee.
“I almost lost you again for a third time and I've never truly had you yet Margaret. What I want you to do? I want you to marry me.”
He slid the ring case out from under the ragged coat where he had hidden it again as he waited for the agents to send Margaret and the children to him.
“Will you marry me, Margaret?” he said, popping open the battered lid of the ring case and turning it towards her.
Margaret burst into tears and Greg braced himself for rejection. Once she had stopped crying enough to speak Margaret replied:
“Yes, yes I'll marry you! Is that why you've been so withdrawn the last few weeks? I thought I had done something to upset you.”
“I couldn't work up my courage to ask you, I was too worried that you'd say no. I'm such a coward.”
“Your actions say otherwise Greg, you'll never be a coward to me.”
As Margaret slid the ring on and found that it fit perfectly Greg slumped back to a sitting position.
“How did you know what size?”
“I measured your ring finger with a piece of string while you slept. I thought it would be close at least, I'm glad it fits.”
The agents came back in then and Ben shot a grin at Greg.
“Said yes, did she?”
Greg nodded.
“Well, let me be the first to offer my congratulations then. Now, I'm sorry to spoil the moment but we'll need to get statements from you both. It doesn't have to be right now though, later today is fine. We already have your initial statement Greg.”
The agents turned and started to leave the room.
Once the agents were gone, Greg whispered to Margaret telling her what he had said about her and the broom. He also told her to tell them whatever she wanted. Their stories could differ and no-one would think twice about it since people interpret things differently when under stress.
The children showed up a moment later with the requested items and Greg had Margaret cover the open window with the blanket, stapling it in place.
“If the authorities okay it, I'll see if Mack can come over and replace that this evening. We should have the materials needed at the shop.”
“Greg, you need someone to check you out, there's blood seeping through your bandage.”
“It's okay Margaret, Ben said the ambulance was on the way but that they were busy and couldn't drive very quickly. They'll get here as soon as they can. I hurt, a lot, but I don't think there's anything life threatening wrong with me. I can stand a little pain.”
The children were clustered around Margaret and Greg, staying close for comfort. Within a few minutes Ellen noticed the ring on Margaret's finger.
Ellen grabbed Maragaret's arm, tugging her hand to where Ellen had a better view of the ring.
“Did he?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Well, I'll have to admit that my dad is a normal guy now. It took someone trying to kill the two of you to get him to propose. I'd heard that it takes a lot to get a man to commit, now I know it's true.”
The attempt at humor was feeble, but still drew a weary laugh from Greg and Margaret. Christine and Jack didn't understand at all so Margaret had to explain it to them. When she finished, Christine wrapped her arms around Margaret, clinging tightly. Jack only said:
“Does that mean I can stop calling him Uncle Greg?”
“Once your mom and I are married you can call me dad if you want to Jack” Greg said.
Margaret smiled a weary smile at her son.
“Good, because I need a dad, even my father never really felt like a dad, he was just my father.”
Greg feared that eventually Jack would understand the concept of death better and hold his biological father's death against Greg and his mother. For now, though, Jack seemed to be handling things fairly well.
The ambulance finally arrived and the agents escorted the paramedics to the room. Greg was poked, prodded, and generally checked out. They found the obvious stab wound and quite a few small lacerations and gouges on his stomach and sides from small shards of glass in the window frame. A second ambulance arrived while they were checking him out. They loaded the body into it and it left at a sedate pace without its lights and siren going.
Greg was told that he'd have to be taken to the hospital. He was going to need stitches on the stab wound as well as antibiotics and a tetanus shot if his wasn't up to date. After asking Ben if he could get the window fixed and being told yes he made a quick call to Mack and asked him if he'd come over to do some emergency work. He also told him to call Margaret's number to get the whole story when Mack asked what was up. Mack was persistent in trying to find out what had happened until Greg told him he couldn't talk on his cell phone in the ambulance he was about to be loaded into. Then Mack simply said:
“Oh... What was Margaret's number again?”
Once at the hospital he went through the verbal inquisition that conscious people received before treatment. They got him out of the waiting room and as he was being stitched up they mentioned the antibiotics and the tetanus shot again. He managed to avoid the tetanus shot by pointing out he worked construction and always kept that one up to date. There was no muscle damage from the stab although a bone was chipped. He was told that he'd have to keep it in a sling and unused for at least a week while it healed. He was not required to stay overnight for observation but they wanted to see him in a few days to check on the wound and the sutures.
A quick call to Margaret and he guaranteed himself a ride home. She told him that Mack was working on replacing the window and that he had brought Eileen over with him when he came. She had told Mack that the kids saw the whole thing when she had explained the situation and he had thought they might like an older person, that wasn't yet an adult, to talk to as well.
When he arrived back home Greg called his boss and told him he was going to have to take more time off of work. He was worried his boss was going to explode and maybe fire him but once Greg had told him the story of what happened he went silent.
“You know what Greg? I'm giving your crew to Bernie. You're going to work in the office this week, I'll start teaching you what you'll need to know as a partner. You'll keep doing that until we have the extra guys we need for the new crew and then you'll take them, finish their training and start working with them while you continue to learn what you need to know in the office. We'll find a way to keep you out of trouble. Just see if we don't.”
“Oh and boss? While I'm asking, I'll need some more time off at an unspecified date in a few months.”
This time he heard real exasperation in his boss' voice.
“What is it this time?”
“She said yes.”
There was a long pause as his boss figured out what he meant, then he heard laughter from the other end of the phone.
“You must not be too bad off this time if you're yanking my ch
ain like that. No, I don't mean that I don't believe you asked her, I just mean the way you presented it. You can be a right pain in the butt Greg, even if you are a good worker. But you got me with that one. Yes, I'm sure we can arrange time off for you to have a honeymoon.”
“Last request boss. We haven't set a date yet or anything but I don't have that many close friends right now. Would you stand up with me as my best man?”
“I'd be happy to Greg. That you can quote me on. And Greg, since you'll be a partner now and I'm going to be your best man, would you please start calling me Paul instead of boss?”
“Sure bos... I mean Paul. I can do that.”
“We'll see you Monday morning at the office, be there at eight o'clock. As soon as the crews head out I'll start showing you my end of the business.”
The rest of the winter passed as uneventfully as life can when you're raising three children. Margaret and Greg decided on a June wedding, tying their lives together officially just as spring was turning to summer.
Paul stood as best man for Greg while Ellen and Jodi, one of Margaret's co-workers, were her bridesmaids. Christine was made flower girl while Jack was the ring bearer. It was a church wedding with all the trimmings. When Greg found out that Margaret's marriage to Freddy had been a simple one done by a Justice of the Peace he decided that, with her permission, theirs would be a full church wedding with all the extras. Even though neither of them were very religious, she quickly agreed.
Margaret's family was unrepresented at the wedding except for herself and Jack. The friends she had been making ever since she broke out of her shell took up the slack though. Greg's side of the church was filled with his two siblings, their families, and most of the people that worked for Paul's company. Greg was well liked and known for being fair to a fault so all of the crews wanted to share in his special moment. Paul mock griped about having to shut the business down for the day but it was clear to everyone that he was joking.
