by Cee Bowerman
“Are the babies okay?” Lena whispered. “I stopped fighting him because I didn’t want him to wake them up. I was afraid he would hurt them.”
“The babies are fine. They were here earlier, and I’ll have the guys bring them back tomorrow.” The nurse handed me a cup with a curved straw, and I held it down for Lena to take a sip. “Do you remember what happened?”
“He hit Nellie, but I don’t think she died. And then I ran away and hid. That man from the diner found me. That’s all I remember.”
“That was Clem, his Dad and mine were friends. Clem and his brothers and I all grew up together.”
“He said Ronnie fell down in a hole.”
“He did.”
“When he said it, someone laughed.”
“Let’s talk about this when you’re feeling better, babe.” I tilted my head toward the nurse and then shook my head. Lena seemed to understand, and she quit talking about her rescue. “I don’t want you to get upset.”
“Mr. Conner, the doctor is on his way in to do some testing on her, so I’ll have to ask you to step outside for a little bit. I’ll come get you when it’s all clear.”
“No.” Lena croaked. She held my hand tight. “No.”
“Ms. Sullivan, I need to … “
“No!” Lena growled. Tears pooled in her eyes as she stared up at me. “Please.”
The nurse shook her head, but I could tell she wasn’t going to make me leave.
“Mr. Conner, stay out of the doctor’s way and keep quiet or I’ll have no choice but to escort you out, okay?”
I nodded my head and smiled down at Lena before I whispered, “Look at you causing waves already. Are you going to be that patient?”
“Yes.” She croaked. “I’m not good at being sick.”
I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. She wasn’t sick, she was injured. Big fucking difference to me, and if she wanted to whine and get her way, then she could do it forever. As long as she was here to do it.
“I love you, baby.” I whispered as I leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips. “But don’t think this is going to get you out of the baby rotation when you get home.”
Lena tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace when she chuckled. “Dammit, man. That’s exactly what I was going for.”
✽✽✽
Lena had been sleeping soundly for about an hour the first time she woke me up. She was squirming in the bed, moving her arms as if she was trying to fight someone. I could hear her whispering, “No. No. No.” over and over again.
“Lena, baby. You’re okay.”
“Finn?”
“Honey, I’m here with you. I’m not going anywhere.”
“He almost caught me, Finn. He was going to bury me in a hole.”
“I know baby, but you’re safe now.”
“Nellie. She cut me.”
“Yeah?” I knew what had happened because I had been in the room when Lena gave her first statement to Detective Amerson.
“She wanted the house and the money, Finn. I need a lawyer. Can you find me one?”
“I’ll get ours to come up here tomorrow, Lena.”
“I want the babies and you to get my money. If something happens to me, I think she might be able to get it.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
“She’s still alive, Finn. She’s crazy. You should have seen her.”
“Oh, that bitch is crazy, alright.”
“She will just be worse now. She’ll find a way to get to me.”
“She’s in police custody, sweetheart. She can’t get to you.”
“Protect the babies, Finn. Just protect my babies.” Lena’s voice dropped off and I realized she was back asleep.
“She’s terrified that bitch will get away and come after her.” I heard Chess say from across the room. “She’s just a few doors down the hall, you know.
“What?” I whispered.
“Yep. Got a cop right outside her room.”
“Motherfucker!” I ran my hands over my face and stood up. Lena was still gripping my hand, and I knew once I let go she’d wake up. “Come over here and hold her hand.”
“What?” Chess whispered.
“Come over here and hold her fucking hand so she doesn’t wake up.” Chess stood up and walked toward me. “If she starts to cry in her sleep, just squeeze her hand. I’ll be back in a minute.”
I let go of Lena’s hand and she started to move until Chess took her fingers in his. I saw my brother smile down at her, and I knew he loved her too, and that she would be fine until I got back.
I quietly shut the door behind me when I got out into the hall. I looked left, and then right, and saw that there was a police officer sitting in a chair outside a room just a few doors down from Lena’s.
I walked toward the police officer and before I had taken more than a few steps, he was standing up waiting on me.
“Can I help you?” He asked me in a gruff voice.
“That woman in there. Any chance she might not make it?”
The officer raised his eyebrows but didn’t say a word.
“She’s the reason my woman is down there in that room. She sliced her leg open clean down to the bone, arranged for her to be kidnapped by a fucking psycho, all so she could get money.”
The cop shook his head.
“I just want to know for sure that she’s not going to get up and move around anytime soon. I just want to look at her.”
“That woman in there is the fucking devil, man. You have one minute.” The cop moved to the side so I could go into the room, and I nodded my head at him.
I walked inside to see that Nellie was sleeping. I noticed that one ankle and one hand were chained to the bed, and it made me smile just a fraction. I tiptoed over to her bed and moved the call button away from her free hand.
I leaned over and put my hand over her mouth and nose, pressing Nellie down onto the pillow. Her eyes flew open and she started to struggle.
“Quit moving and I’ll let you breathe.” I whispered to her. She stopped struggling instantly, and I took some of the pressure off her mouth. “You fucked with the wrong family, bitch. I just want you to know that. You don’t mess with the man who owns every kind of power tool in creation and pours concrete slabs for a fucking living. You even utter Lena’s goddamn name again and I’ll make sure the last thing you see is a hammer to the fucking temple, and the last breath you take is filled with fucking concrete. Get me?”
Nellie nodded her head and took a deep breath through her nose.
“Don’t push me bitch and hear me now when I say that I’m not even the crankiest one in my family. A few of my brothers have much more imagination than I do, and they’ve got no fucking problem doing whatever it takes to protect one our own. And make no mistake, Lena is one of us now.”
I leaned back but left my hand over her mouth.
“And that starts right now, you keep our little conversation tight to the vest, or that little love tap with the hammer and the concrete bath will happen sooner rather than later.”
Nellie nodded; her eyes wide. I took my hand off her mouth and took a step back from the bed. Smiling, I picked up her call button and moved it even farther down the bed.
“Sleep tight, Stepmother dear. I’ll be watching you.” I smiled at her, showing all my teeth, and then I turned and walked out of the room.
Once the door was closed behind me, I nodded at the officer.
“Feel better?”
“I do. Thank you. What time is your shift over?”
“My relief gets here at eight.”
“Holler if you need anything, my brother and I will get it for you. We’re right down there, four doors down.”
“Thanks.” The officer smiled at me, and I looked down at his name.
“Thank you, Officer Cardenas.”
I walked down to Lena’s hospital room and slipped back in quietly. Chess was still standing beside the bed, Lena’s hand in his. I walked o
ver and washed my hands in the sink, needing to get anything Nellie related off my skin. Finally, when my hands were dry, I swapped positions with Chess.
“You went down and saw her, didn’t you?” Chess asked me.
I nodded.
Chess chuckled. “That police officer is friends with Sam and Zeke Duke. Did you know that?”
“No, I had no idea.”
“Yeah. He belongs to their motorcycle club.”
“Hmm. That’s cool.”
“Yeah. That’s why he hasn’t had a problem letting every fucking one of us go in there and threaten that bitch tonight.” My eyes shot up to Chess’s and he smiled at me. “She and I, okay mostly me, talked about what a Sawzall can do to the human body.”
I chuckled.
“I told her she’d look good covered in concrete.”
Chess and I quietly laughed together.
“I’d do it for her.” Chess nodded his head toward Lena. “I would. Lena kind of rescued us all from drowning, you know?”
“She did.” I nodded. “She’s my ray of sunshine.”
“I think Lily is mine.” Chess looked down at the tiles between his feet. “I love her, but she keeps me at arm’s length. I’m not sure why.”
“What would Mom say in this case?” I wondered out loud.
“She’d tell you to stay as close as you can, show her you’re steady. Show her as much of your heart as she will let you, and keep showing her until she lets you in.” Lena whispered to Chess. “At least, if you were my son that’s what I would say.”
“You’re the shit, Lena.” Chess smiled over at my girl.
“Yeah. I am.” Lena retorted as she closed her eyes again. “I’m pretty fucking awesome.”
16.
“Where did that beard come from?”
Lena to Finn
LENA
“When can I go home?” I asked the doctor, the third one I had seen today, this one talking about my head injury. “Please let me go home.”
Finn chuckled from the chair beside me and I tried to covertly flip him off. I knew I wasn’t successful when the doctor’s lips quirked up.
“On my part, I want you here for at least another two days. As for the notes I’m reading here on your chart, and probably what the other doctors have already told you, it looks like no less than four days.”
“I’ve been here for almost a week now! I’ve got babies to raise. I can’t even imagine what the kitchen at my house looks like.” I leaned my body forward so that the doctor could see the urgency on my face. “Seven men have been taking care of my babies, my kitchen, my house for almost a week now.”
The doctor pulled his lips in so I wouldn’t see his smile. He wasn’t successful.
“What is Bella wearing today?” I asked Finn as I slowly turned my head to look at him. Okay, maybe the doctor was a little bit right. I still got dizzy when I moved too quickly, and my head still hurt like hell.
Finn shrugged.
“See?” My eyes snapped back to the doctor as I slowly turned my head back toward him. “It’s a family emergency.”
The doctor couldn’t hold it in anymore and he laughed out loud as he shook his head.
“No can do, Ms. Sullivan. My wife hired a great cleaning service, I can get their number for you if you’d like.”
I glared at him, but then Finn had to put his two cents in when he said, “Yes, please. I’d like to have that number.”
I watched the doctor pull his phone out of his pocket and punch a few buttons. He put it up to his ear and spoke in another language for a few minutes and then wrote a note down on a pad of paper he pulled out of his pocket. When he was finished with the call, he put the phone back in his pocket and ripped the page off and handed it to Finn with a smile.
“There you go. Household chores are taken care of. Babies are I’m sure well fed and cared for. I got a good look at them just the other day when they were here to visit. They do look identical, even though they are fraternal. I’m sure that dressing them in the wrong clothes could have happened to anyone.”
I stared at the doctor, but he just laughed again.
“You seem to be doing very well, Ms. Sullivan. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you. I’ll be back tomorrow to check in on you again.”
“Thank you.” I grumbled as the doctor walked out of the room. I slowly lowered my head back to the pillow and sighed. “I just want to go home.”
“I know baby. But it’s best you stay here. Your leg isn’t looking any better, even with the drugs they put you on. If something happens and the infection gets worse, it’s best you’re here in the hospital.”
I moved the blanket over and stared down at my leg, willing it to get better. When I touched my hand to my thigh beside the bandage, I could tell it was still hot to the touch. It felt cooler than it had yesterday before they started another round of antibiotics, but even I knew that the infection was still going strong.
“I wish they would let me get up.” I whined. “I’m going fucking crazy in here.”
“Royal is on his way up here with the babies. They can stay as long as you want. Maybe you can take a nap with them for a while, get your snuggle time in.”
I sniffed, trying not to cry.
“It’s like they’re twice the size they were just last week. Whatever you guys are doing, I have to admit it’s working. They’ve grown so much.”
“It’s going to be okay, babe. I promise. Let’s get you well, then you can just go stir crazy at home, rather than stir crazy here.”
“I want to go to court and watch them arraign Nellie.”
“That’s not going to happen, babe. Shirley is going to stay up here with you and the kids while we all go and watch. I want that bitch to see what she’s up against just in case she gets any wild ideas.”
“I love you, Finn Conner.”
“I love you too, Milena Sullivan.”
“If you really loved me, you’d bust me outta here. You know that, right?”
“Not happening, sugar.”
“Dick.”
Finn just laughed my insult off, and I wanted to brain him with the call button that was laying at my side.
“You’re a shit patient, you know that?”
“I know.” I reached up and scratched my head, shivering when I felt how dirty my hair felt. “Can you bribe a nurse to come in and wash my hair?”
“Let me go see what I can do.”
“Yeah. You’ll do that for me, but oh no, you’re not going to take me home.”
I watched as Finn got up to walk out of my hospital room, and I prayed that he could find someone to help me with my hair.
I flipped through television channels as I waited on Finn to come back. After what seemed like forever, he walked into the room, two nurses following close behind him. One of them was pushing a silver cart, and I could see different bottles on it. I looked up to see Finn smiling at me.
“They’re going to wash your hair, babe. Will that make you happy?”
“It will.” I smiled up at him. “Thank you, sweetheart.
“Anything for you, My Lena.” I smiled at the new name Finn had started to call me, a funny version of my real name, Milena.
“Anything? If that’s the case … “
“To quote the illustrious Meatloaf, ‘I’d do anything for love, but I won’t do that.’ Sorry babe.”
“You’re quoting that song? Ugh. I’m so glad we’re not married. I’m going to have to rethink this relationship.” I looked over to see one of the nurses smiling at the two of us. “I mean come on. At least quote me something worthy of my status as your Queen.”
“Okay. I’ve got one for you. ‘Got your chin held high, and you feel just fine, ‘cause you do what you’re told.”
I sat there, looking at him in confusion, trying to figure out what song he was quoting.
“Think about that one while I’m gone, babe. I have a meeting and then I’m going to meet my brothers at the courthouse. Royal will
be up here with the babies in just a little bit, and Shirley is going to stay with you while we’re in court.”
“I love you, Finn Conner.” I tilted my head up for a kiss. “What song was that?”
“Figure it out.” Finn winked at me as he walked out of my hospital room.
I heard one of the nurses snicker, and I looked over at her.
“Do you know what song that is?”
“Pretty sure he quoted Nine Inch Nails, ‘The Hand That Feeds’. You know that song?”
“That son of a bitch.”
✽✽✽
NINE HOURS LATER
FINN
“Her temperature spiked to a dangerous level, and that’s what caused the seizure. We’ve managed to get it down, but we’re keeping her sedated until we get her back into surgery. We’re going to go in and re-open the wound in her leg, drain it of the infection and see what needs to be done. I won’t know until we get in there if we can keep the leg.”
“No!” I heard Lena slur. “Don’t you cut off my fucking leg. Someday that man is going to get off his ass and ask me to marry him, and I’m walking down the fucking aisle dammit.”
“You heard her. Try everything you can to keep it.”
The surgeon shook his head as he walked out of the room.
“I’m sorry, Finn.” Lena slurred.
“What the hell are you sorry for?”
“I promised to help you with the babies, but now you have to take care of me too.” Lena said sleepily. “Please don’t leave me, Finn.”
“I’ll take care of you forever and I’ll never leave you, Lena, and you’ll help me raise the twins when you get better. I just need you to get well, baby.”
“It hurts.” Lena whimpered, grimacing as she moved her hips just a fraction. “I think it’s on fire.”
“It will get better, My Lena. I’ll be waiting for you in your room when you’re done with surgery.”
“Kiss my babies for me?”
“Every chance I get.”
✽✽✽
THREE DAYS LATER
“How long has she been back there?” Royal asked me as he sat down by my side. He had Dylan and Bella in the odd little bassinet stroller Lena had insisted on, and the two of them were snuggled together napping. “Why another surgery?”
