Vetted Again

by K'Anne Meinel

  “Please take care of yourself and Allyssa,” her father murmured as he hugged her. She wasn’t as tall as her mother, but she looked enough like her that he suddenly missed her immensely. He hadn’t thought of his dead wife in years. How different his life would have been had she lived....

  “I will. Drive safe!” she called as she got back behind the wheel of the Jeep, happier for having taken the time to share a meal with them. Her back thanked her for it.

  The kids waved madly as they headed west, and she headed east then south towards their ranch. Fey had tears in her eyes for the first time after one of their visits. She wished they lived closer. And she was not prepared for what she found at the ranch when she arrived home!

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Oh, thank God. I’ve been trying to get you on the cell.” Allyssa had obviously been crying.

  “What is it? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?” she fretted, seeing her wife looking distraught.

  “No, the police called. It’s your father–” she began but Fey interrupted.

  “What? Were they in an accident?”

  Allyssa shook her head, starting to cry again. It had been a horrible half hour since the call came in, and she was frantic when she couldn’t reach Fey. “Let me finish,” she admonished when her wife began to ask more questions. “There was an explosion at the house. They don’t know what happened. They think it was a gas leak.”

  “The children...” she began, horrified at the thought they were all dead.

  “No, they think Rosemary was the only one inside the house. Apparently, your father was blown back by the explosion. The children are okay, only superficial cuts from the blowing debris, but they want us there. We must leave now. I’ve packed us both bags, and I’ll gas up the Jeep if you want to take a minute to go in and freshen up.”

  Fey was stunned at the news. It hadn’t yet penetrated her mind that Allyssa said maybe Rosemary was the only one inside. Did that mean Rosemary might be dead? She tried not to think about what could have happened to her father and siblings.

  “Fey, did you hear me? I have our bags packed, and I’ll go gas up the Jeep. Do you need to use the bathroom? Do you need to eat?” She was ready to shake the shocked look off her wife’s face.

  “Um, yeah, I need the bathroom,” she mumbled as she walked towards the steps of the house to go inside.

  Allyssa watched her go. She remembered feeling just as numb half an hour ago before she shook it off and forced herself to start packing. She’d gone into the bathroom and thrown up her dinner, wondering what was taking so long for Fey to return. She turned to the Jeep and got in, pushing the seat back a little since her legs were longer than her wife’s, and she headed for the gas pump to fill the tank.

  Fey went into the bathroom and sat down to relieve her bladder. It hadn’t sunk in yet. Was Rosemary dead? What about her father? How bad were the kids’ superficial cuts? They had a four to five-hour drive ahead of them. How could they get some news faster? She splashed water on her face and felt a little nauseous at the news. She grabbed some fruit from the kitchen. She knew they’d need food on the way, and she wondered if Allyssa had thought to grab water too. She picked up a couple of the water bottles they used that had filters in the caps and walked outside in time to see Allyssa pull up in front of the house. Fey carried the bags down with the other things she had grabbed, and Allyssa helped her load everything into the back seat of the Jeep.

  “What exactly did they say to you?” she asked as they closed the house doors. Both dogs looked on from the porch, concerned about being ignored.

  “Just what I told you. I gave them my cell number, so they can call again, and I have an officer’s number, so you can call him if you want.”

  She did want. She needed to know what was going on. “Do you know if Rosemary is...?” She didn’t want to sound hopeful about such awful news, but if someone in that house had to die, she hoped it would be that horrible woman.

  “They didn’t specifically say that she was dead, just that she may have been in the house. Your father and the kids were taken to St. Vincent Hospital. Do you know where that is, or should I put it in the GPS?”

  They both got in the SUV and Allyssa began to drive off.

  “We can put it in the GPS when we get closer. I want to know what is going on. Where’s that number?”

  Allyssa handed her phone to her wife as she maneuvered down their driveway and onto the road that would wind its way to the highway. From what she could hear of the one-sided conversation, Fey wasn’t getting any more information than Allyssa already had. She finally thanked the officer and hung up with a big sigh. By then, they were heading up the highway. Allyssa tried not to speed too much, but the trip they normally made in four hours—GPS said it was supposed to take five hours—was going to be cut down as far as she could make it without having an accident.

  “What do you suppose happened?” Fey finally asked. They had been driving in silence, each lost in her own thoughts.

  “I have no idea, but I was frantic when I heard the news and couldn’t reach you.”

  “I’m sorry. I must have turned off my phone to save the battery when I knew it wouldn’t work.”

  “I have a charger here,” she indicated the wires extending out of the cigarette lighter.

  “I didn’t think. I am so sorry,” she answered quietly, suddenly very tired. She realized the extra half hour would not have done anything for them even if Allyssa had reached her. She still would have had to come home, and they still would have had to make this same drive. She sighed wearily, the ‘what if’ questions already forming in her mind. Quietly she plugged in the charger and her phone to recharge it.

  The ride was quiet, both women at a loss to know what to say. They had just seen the children on their visit, and Fey had eaten dinner with her siblings and her father and hugged them all goodbye just a few short hours ago. Allyssa saw an emergency vehicle shoot up the freeway when she got on at Pendleton. It didn’t have its lights and sirens on, and she saw what looked like a father and son driving in the red vehicle, so she stayed about four or five car lengths behind it and trailed it faithfully. They sped up to over ninety miles per hour and she kept up with them. It reminded her of the days when she drove on the highways outside Denver, wanting an escape from her life. She sometimes remembered the dreams she’d had for the Mustang she had fixed up and intended to drive. Her thoughts, while chaotic, were focused on the drive and keeping them safe behind the speeding vehicle heading across the state. Fey didn’t notice. Her mind was almost numb from thinking and weariness.

  “Babe, you need to get the GPS out now,” Allyssa reminded her. The setting sun had been bothering her for a while. She’d forgotten her sunglasses and was using the visor extensively. She’d focused on the emergency vehicle for hours as they hurtled across the top of the state but now, they were coming into Portland and she wanted to drive more safely with the increasing traffic.

  “Which hospital?” she asked numbly, feeling her headache building. She wondered if she had dozed off; the ride had seemed relatively short. But if she had dozed off, it must have been with her eyes open.

  “St. Vincent?” Allyssa asked. “It’s on that paper with the police officer’s information,” she said, reminding Fey she had been holding it the whole time. It had been a long drive, she was hungry, and they needed gas, but she knew they both needed to get to the hospital first. She should have stopped to stretch at least twice during the drive as well. Her bladder was full, and the baby had been tossing and turning against it the last hour or so. Still, she hadn’t wanted to lose that vehicle that had allowed them to cruise down the interstate so effortlessly. She’d kept a respectful distance from them, but she had to wonder if the other driver had been suspicious of them following so closely behind him for so long.

  Fey put the name of the hospital into the GPS on her phone and it was soon plotting a course. They had lost their emergency vehicle, and Allyssa contended with the increasin
g traffic as the GPS’ voice told her when to turn as they made their way across Portland to the hospital. As they pulled in, both women rose stiffly from their seats and made their way to the emergency room doors. Both were rubbing their sore backs and walking oddly as they made their way to the counter.

  “I’m Fiona Herriot. My father and sister and brother are here? There was an explosion?”

  “I’ll be with you in a moment. Please wait,” the nurse at the emergency room desk glanced up as she rose from her chair and hurried out a door.

  “How are you doing?” Allyssa rubbed Fiona’s lower back, imagining it was hurting as much as her own.

  “I’m okay,” she returned almost automatically and then looked at Allyssa...really looked at her. She remembered that Allyssa hadn’t felt well enough for the two-hour drive to return her siblings earlier, and now, she had driven almost five hours to rush them to the hospital. “How are you?” she asked, looking up at her wife and wanting to take her into her arms.

  “I’m tired,” she admitted. “I’m okay,” she repeated Fey’s words back to her. “We both need to eat after we find out what’s going on.”

  “Mrs. Herriot?” a police officer approached them through the swinging doors. The nurse returned and stood back as she watched them.

  “I’m Fiona Herriot, Doctor Fiona Herriot,” she corrected, hoping that using her title might impress the officer and get them better service.

  “You are Keith Herriot’s–” she looked down at her pad and frowned.

  “I’m his daughter,” Fey finished for the officer.

  “Oh, I thought he had–” she started hesitantly and Fey interrupted again.

  “Yes, my brother and sister. Can someone tell me how they all are?” she glanced between the officer and the nurse, who was looking on.

  “Your brother and sister are fine,” both the officer and the nurse said simultaneously. They exchanged a look, wanting to laugh, but given the circumstances they simply turned back to a concerned Fiona Herriot, who looked slightly more relieved.

  “And my father?”

  “A doctor will be out shortly to talk to you,” the nurse informed her and returned to her seat.

  Fiona nodded and then looked inquiringly to the officer who appeared relatively new at this type of situation.

  Seeing Allyssa hovering nearby, the officer said, “Perhaps we should go somewhere else to talk?”

  “This is my wife, Allyssa, and anything you have to say to me you can say in front of her.”

  The officer barely blinked as she nodded and said, “There was an explosion.”

  Fey nodded, trying to encourage the officer to give her the facts. She was impatient for them.

  “We believe there was one person in the house.”

  Let it be Rosemary. Please let it be Rosemary and not my dad, Fey thought.

  I hope it’s Rosemary and not Keith, for Fey’s sake, Allyssa silently hoped.

  “When we arrived on the scene, we found the two juveniles, who had been hurt by the blast and the thrown debris, but their wounds were superficial,” she rushed to assure Fey who looked immediately concerned.

  “And my father?”

  “He was unconscious and was brought to the hospital in an ambulance. I believe they will have some information for you shortly,” she glanced at the nurse for confirmation and she nodded.

  Fey was relieved to hear it wasn’t her father in the house. “Where are my brother and sister?”

  The officer glanced at the nurse for her input.

  “The doctor will take you to them...” she began when a woman in a long lab coat came out the double doors. The doors must have been electronic because she wasn’t pushing on them and they opened with a whoosh. “Mrs. Herriot?” she called.

  “I’m Fiona Herriot,” Fey responded, brushing past the officer with Allyssa at her side.

  “Your father is Keith Herriot?”

  Fey nodded and looked worried.

  “If you’ll come this way, I’ll take you back to the ICU, so you can see him. I’ll explain everything we know,” she said gently. Looking inquiringly at the tall blonde who stood next to the woman, she added, “I’m sorry, only family–”

  “This is my wife, Allyssa,” Fey immediately introduced her.

  She mentally noted that both women appeared to be pregnant. “Oh, okay. Won’t you both come with me?” she asked, hitting a panel on the wall and causing the doors to whoosh open again.

  Fey and Allyssa walked rapidly behind her, followed by the officer. There were several officers standing around in this area. There was a large oval desk in the center of the area with rooms off it. The ICU had different kinds of rooms. There were glass partitions, and two officers stood outside the door.

  “Your father sustained multiple injuries from the blast. Apparently, he was at the door when the explosion happened?”

  “I don’t know anything other than there was some sort of blast,” Fey admitted, looking on curiously at all the officers. Was it her imagination, or had the doctor raised her voice when she said your father? The officers were all looking at Fey curiously now. They had all heard the doctor say she was the man’s daughter.

  “He was thrown for quite a distance. And when he landed, he was impaled by the debris from the house. His spleen has been removed and one of his kidneys and his liver were damaged. He is unconscious right now but restless. We’ve removed all the debris and given him something for the pain and to fight any infection.”

  “Will he be okay?” Fey found herself asking, something she had heard her own clients ask about her patients many times.

  Allyssa was watching everything in a detached way. She saw the officers watching them inquiringly, she listened to the doctor, but she also wondered where Sean and Traci were.

  “We aren’t sure at this time. I’m being cautiously optimistic, but I’m also concerned that he seems very restless and won’t calm down.”

  “May I see him?”

  “He’s in here. You can go in,” she offered as they arrived at the door. The officers stood aside, not really guarding the room, just watching the three women curiously. They walked away nonchalantly, headed towards the nurses’ station but still watching them. Allyssa was curious why so many officers were there, and then she noticed that one officer was guarding another room and she wondered about that.

  They went into the room where a respirator was helping Keith to breathe. Machines were beeping and blinking on both sides of him. There was an IV running into his arm and there were bandages on his face and arms where no skin showed through. He did not look well, and Fey couldn’t help comparing him to the robust and healthy man she had seen just a few hours ago. He did seem restless. He kept twitching and his hand kept reaching out.

  “Hey, Dad,” Fiona said as she leaned over him, trying not to cry. “It’s Fey.” Allyssa was rubbing her back again as she stood next to her. “Now, you’ve really gone and done it,” she gently chastised him. “I haven’t seen Sean and Traci yet, but I heard they are okay. You know we’ll take care of them until you can. Allyssa’s here with me, Dad.”

  “Hey, Keith. Don’t you worry about anything,” Allyssa told him, noticing his hand was reaching for something. She impulsively took the bandaged hand in hers and gave it a little squeeze. “We’ve got this. You just worry about getting better.”

  “Yeah, Dad. Take as much time as you need. We’ve got this,” Fey added.

  She looked up, and the doctor signaled with her head that it was time to leave. The doctor noted that he seemed calmer. Perhaps, he had been listening for this daughter’s voice. She wondered about the family dynamics. This daughter was considerably older than the other two children. And Fiona’s wife looked to be between the children and Fiona in years.

  “We will be back. Please, Dad, just sleep and get better. We aren’t going anywhere, but I want to check on Sean and Traci. I’ll report back,” she promised. Allyssa let go of his hand as they left.

  “He look
s terrible,” Fey said as soon as the door to the room closed and she knew he couldn’t hear her.

  “He’s been badly hurt, Fey,” Allyssa murmured, shocked at how gray he looked. His skin had an odd tint.

  She nodded and then asked the doctor, “Where are my brother and sister?”

  The doctor looked a little uncomfortable as she nodded towards a regular room, drawing looks again from the officers standing about. “There was an incident. Someone by the name of Trever tried to claim them?”

  “Trever is their brother. What about their mother, Rosemary? Where is she?”

  “They aren’t certain yet,” the doctor admitted reluctantly.

  “We believe Mrs. Herriot was in the house when the blast went off. They are still investigating. Mr. Trever Kapatrick was contacted as the next of kin,” the officer, who had been watching the interaction between the two women and the doctor put in, “but Sean refused to go with him and there was an altercation.” She consulted a pad of paper that she held in her hand. “Next, a Mr. Peter Kapatrick showed up and further exacerbated the problem. Traci mentioned you were her sister?”

  Fey looked stunned. “So, Trever and Peter both tried to take the kids and they didn’t want to go? What happened?”

  “Both minors were at the scene of the explosion. From what we can get out of Sean, he and his sister were behind their father and were carrying their things in from the car. When their father approached the front door to unlock it an explosion ensued. As I said, we are still investigating. When your brothers–”

  “Stepbrothers,” she corrected automatically.

  “When your stepbrothers showed up to take the children, neither wanted to go with them and they tried to physically take the children. The police were called, and that’s why you see an increased presence here while we ascertain the facts and try to calm the situation.”

  Fey glanced at Allyssa as she nodded and looked back at the police officer. “May we see my brother and sister? They recently spent a couple weeks on our family ranch. I’d just returned them to my dad today.”