Blink of an Eye: Beginnings Series Book 8

by Jacqueline Druga

Ellen’s hands covered her ears. “Stop it, Frank! Stop it! You could have killed Henry. You could have killed him.”

  “I could have killed Henry? No, El, you stood more of a chance of killing Henry.” Frank twitched his head to Henry. “I was fighting with him, holding on to him. And you shot at me? Where the hell are your brains?”

  “Fighting. You were fighting?” Ellen asked. “You two weren’t fighting. No offense, Henry, but it was a slaughter.”

  A reality check hit Henry and then fear plastered his bleeding face. Henry shuddered some, shaking his head, and he rolled with a painful grunt onto his back. “El, I know what you were trying to do.” He coughed and grabbed his side. “But ... but.” Henry’s eyes widened and he stared out in shock. “Oh my God.” He took a second to wipe the blood from his face.

  Frank tossed his hand up in the air then looked at the revolver. “Is this yours, Henry?”

  “Yeah.” Henry took it from Frank. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” Frank looked up at Ellen who surprised him when he saw a tear roll down her cheek. “What are you doing, El? Shut up, Robbie. This isn’t funny” He elbowed his brother who laughed. “Huh? Why are you crying?”

  “Leave me alone, Frank. You’re an asshole!” Ellen held her hand to Henry. “Come on, Henry, let’s get you to the clinic. Look ... look what he did to you.” Hard she swung her leg out to Frank.

  “Ow!” Frank grabbed his shin and stood up. “You fucking kicked me.”

  “You’re yelling at me! You beat up Henry!” Another kick at Frank.

  “OW!” Frank hopped then grabbed his leg. “You shot at me!”

  Ellen sniffled, holding tightly to Henry and trying to back up, crying as she did. “I was only trying to help. Joe ... Joe and Rob ... Robbie. They couldn’t stop you. I was scared. Henry, I’m sorry. I was only sacred.”

  Frank rolled his eyes. “But you shot into a group of men. You don’t fuckin shoot into a group of men. It’s a good thing your aim just sucks. It’s a good thing you didn’t hit anyone.”

  Joe cleared his throat and grunted as he picked himself up a little from the ground. “I wouldn’t exactly say that, Frank,” he spoke with such an agitated tone. “Because!” Joe yelled as he gave scolding eyes at Ellen, “she shot me in my goddamn ass!”

  <><><><>

  “So you understand?” Joe asked Robbie, who stood in the examining room with his father. “You know what needs to be done.”

  “Yes.” Robbie nodded once, looking at his father who lay on his stomach on the table.

  “Assess the damage over at Henry’s and give me a report. Those two are going to be the ones to clean up the mess.”

  “Got it.” Robbie looked at Andrea who gathered her supplies on a tray near the table. She whistled while she worked. “Will my dad be OK?”

  Andrea snickered. “Oh just fine. May have limp for a week or so.” She smiled widely and pulled down the sheet some from Joe. “Ready, Joe Slagel?”

  “Christ.” He ran his hand down his face. “Go on. And, Robbie.” He pointed at his son who was leaving. “Make it dramatic. You know what you have to do.”

  “Yes. I know just who to get to do it too.”

  “Good.” Joe’s head plopped down when Robbie left and he felt the chill of the air against his burning backside. His head sprang back up when he heard Robbie say, ‘hey, El’ and then heard the examining room open. “No.” He looked at Ellen who walked in. “Andrea, make her leave. Get her out of here.”

  “Oh hold still, Joe.” Andrea tapped his rear-end with a snicker and worked some more.

  “Joe.” Ellen walked closer slowly.

  “Out!”

  “Joe ...” Ellen ignored his dismay. “I’m sorry I shot you in the butt, Joe. I didn’t mean to do it.”

  “You never mean to do anything that you ... Ow! Goddamn it, Andrea, use something to numb the area. Ellen, get out.”

  “No.” Ellen shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry ... Andrea?” Ellen smiled. “Is that the ‘Silly’ song you’re humming? Nice rendition.”

  “Thank you.” Andrea’s hands kept busy. “I like it. I also found if I slow it down just a tad it’s so emotional.”

  “You should see if Robbie would let you sing that with his band,” Ellen told her. “It would be such a change of pace to hear a woman ...”

  “Hello!” Joe called out. “I’m lying here with my ass exposed and you are the last person I want to see right now, Ellen. I’m pissed at you. Really pissed. You shouldn’t have grabbed that gun and you shouldn’t have fired at us. You understand me?”

  “Yes, Joe,” Ellen said with fright. “But I ...”

  “No ‘but I’. Getting Henry’s gun was one thing. Firing it into the air was another. Shooting at one of us ... that’s, that’s a whole other ball game, Ellen. And you hit one of us. What in Christ’s name would make you shoot Frank?”

  “He was killing Henry. He was beating him up.”

  “Do you really think Frank would have killed Henry?” Joe asked her, so upset. “Son of a bitch bastard, Andrea, take it easy!”

  Ellen fiddled with her hands, “Yes, Joe, I think he would have. Frank is strong. I know what Frank can do. Henry, Henry isn’t as strong as Frank. No one is and Frank being as upset as he was ...”

  “Stop!” Joe held up his hand. “First of all, Ellen, I was there. Robbie was there. We wouldn’t have let Frank kill Henry.”

  “Not meaning any disrespect, Joe,” Ellen spoke, “but you guys weren’t doing a very good job.”

  “At least we didn’t shoot anyone! I’m shot, Ellen. You shot your father for crying out loud.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Andrea’s excited ‘oh’ caught Joe and Ellen’s attention. Andrea held up the bullet with the tweezers. “Got it! Buried nicely just in the flesh.” The bullet clanked when it dropped in the basin.

  After giving a thumbs-up to Andrea, Ellen resumed looking at Joe. “You are the last person I would shoot, Joe. I feel really bad. I do.”

  “Tell me something, Ellen. Tell me what started this whole thing,” Joe said. “Why was my son going after Henry with such a vengeance? I know no one is going to tell me any differently. It had to do with you. Ninety-nine percent of the fights in this community are over our women. What the hell happened?”

  “It did have to do with me, Joe.” Ellen hung her head down. “But it was Frank’s fault. He shouldn’t have gotten so out of control. He had no right.”

  “What did you do?” Joe asked.

  “Some things have been going on with Dean in his life. He’s ... he’s having problems, bad problems and I’ve been helping him. Well Frank, he, he walked in on something tonight that he probably didn’t want to walk in on. And he got mad. I told him that I was allowed and that Henry knew about me and Dean.”

  Andrea let out a sweet ‘ah’. “That’s nice, Ellen, you and Dean are back together. That is really ...”

  “Andrea!” Joe scolded in his yell. “Finish, Ellen.”

  Ellen took a breath. “Anyhow, Frank immediately got mad at Henry at that point. He stormed out of Dean’s house and beat up Henry.”

  “Tell me, Ellen, if I’m getting this right. If Frank walked in on you and Dean, how in the world did Dean get off so easy?”

  “Well, Joe, that’s kind of personal don’t you think?”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about!” Joe yelled. “I would think that Frank would have given his wrath to Dean as well.”

  “No, Joe.” Ellen waved her finger about. “Frank shouldn’t have given his wrath to anyone. Dean and I are together. We’re allowed to be together. I’m sorry that Frank doesn’t like it.”

  “There’s a little more to it than that, Ellen. Do you have any idea why Frank got so mad about it?”

  “He was jealous.”

  Joe imitated Ellen. “He was Jealous ... No! Granted my son would get jealous, but do you honestly believe, in his jealousy over you and Dean, he would have beaten up his best
friend?”

  “Come to think of it.” Ellen tapped her finger on her lips. “No. So why did Frank beat up poor Henry?”

  “You don’t know? You really don’t know?”

  “No, I don’t. What did Frank tell you?” Ellen asked.

  “Frank didn’t tell me anything.”

  “Then how do you know why he beat up Henry?”

  “I’m gonna make a pretty good guess here, Ellen. Now I’m not defending my son’s actions. I’m defending his reasons for his anger, understand?” He waited for Ellen to nod. “Frank went after ‘poor’ Henry because Henry has been lying to him for quite some time.”

  “What?” Ellen was shocked. “Henry doesn’t lie.”

  “Not intentionally and I truly believe Henry believed every word of it. You said you are with Dean. Henry knows?”

  “Of course he knows, Joe.”

  “Well I didn’t know. Frank didn’t know. If Henry knew, why on earth would he set up an understanding arrangement with my son? And he did.” Despite Ellen’s shocked expression, Joe continued, “I even thought at first that you and Dean were gonna have that understanding or whatever you want to call it. But I was quickly corrected by your poor Henry about that one. Ellen, not once in any of the conversations that I had with Henry or Frank was it mentioned to me about you and Dean.”

  “But, Joe, I never ... I never told Henry that.”

  “He thinks you did. From what I gathered, it happened or you said something during your quarantine time. I don’t know. Whatever the case was, Henry believed that you were going to be with Frank. Your poor Henry rolled with that. Here my son is be-bopping along Beginnings thinking he’s getting the love of his life back, when all along you’re with Dean and his best friend, the same one who was stringing him along like a puppet, knew about it the whole time. Pissed? I’d sure as hell be pissed at Henry if he led me on like that too. Maybe he just didn’t want to hurt Frank, but he hurt him more by not telling him the truth. Frank hurt back the best way he knew how. If I were Frank, right now I’d be mad at Henry, you, and though he’s an innocent in this, Dean ... just because he has attitude.”

  Andrea had to get her two cents’ in also. “I heard you were getting back with Frank too, Ellen. That’s probably why I’m shocked that you were with Dean. I’m glad, but shocked, especially the way you jump to Frank’s defense all the time. Hang around him all the time.” Andrea shrugged. “You can see where ideas are had. And ... I’m done.” Upon hearing Joe’s ‘Good’ Andrea covered Joe’s freshly bandaged backside with a sheet, swatted down with a slap to his rear-end, and stepped back with the tray to the sink.

  Joe grunted, “Andrea.”

  Andrea snickered and washed up. “Oh, Joe.” She took a breath and dried her hands. “I’ll let you two talk. Don’t sit on that rear tonight. It’ll be a little sore. Stop by my office for some medication. Right now, I have to go help Patrick with Henry.” She rubbed Joe’s head, messing up his hair as she passed him and laid an understanding hand on Ellen’s shoulder. “It’ll all work out. It could have been worse. Joe, Ellen.” With a wiggle-of-her-finger wave, Andrea left.

  Ellen stood so shocked, staring blankly as Joe slid from the table, holding the sheet around his waist. “Frank thought we were getting back together?”

  “Yes.” Joe grabbed the fresh clothes that had been dropped off for him. “Turn around. I can’t speak seriously to you anymore without my pants.”

  Ellen turned her back to him. “Even though Henry told him this, why would he believe this? We never discussed this.”

  “When, in the whole entire ‘Frank and Ellen’ history, has it ever been vocalized between the two of you, that you would be a couple aside from when you got married. It was always just assumed.” Joe finished placing on his pants, quietly whining and cringing as he did. “It was assumed now. What have you done to discourage his thinking?”

  “What have I done to encourage his thinking?”

  “Think about it, sweetheart.” Joe laid his hand on her shoulder. “You hang around him and the kids, you and Henry. When Henry was in the hospital, where did you sleep? At Frank’s house, in Frank’s bed nonetheless. Right then and there, whether it was innocent or not, you crossed the friendship lines. You led him on, Ellen, inadvertently, but you led him on.”

  Ellen turned around, facing Joe. “Because of my situation with Dean, Henry got hurt, Frank got hurt, and you ... got shot.”

  “It’s not all your fault, Ellen. It really isn’t. I’m not blaming you. I’m blaming all of you. It appears that everyone was communicating, just not everyone together.” Joe placed his hand on her cheek. “Now that I have you feeling guilty about shooting me, what is going on with Dean? You said he has a problem. You’re with him because of it. What’s the problem?”

  “I can’t tell you, Joe.”

  “Can’t or won’t.”

  “Can’t. I promised Dean.”

  “It’s his health, isn’t it?” Joe asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Dean’s health affects this community, especially if this virus hits. Ellen, I have a right to know. I run this community. ”

  “I know. Because you lead us, Joe, that’s why I can’t tell you. If I do, you could pull Dean entirely and if that happens then we don’t stand a shot in hell of beating this virus.”

  “Ellen, please. Why in the world would I pull Dean because he’s sick? There isn’t anything that could be so wrong with him that I would pull him before he’s ready.”

  “How about if he can’t see?”

  Joe’s words stumbled out as he lost his balance. “What? I know he had some trouble with his vision after that attack on the two of you. Is Dean losing his sight?”

  “Lost it, Joe. It’s gone.”

  “Dear God.” Joe’s hand immediately covered his mouth. “When? When did this ... wait a second.” He stepped back. “When did this happen?”

  “Not last night, the night before.”

  “Almost two days ago? Ellen, I saw him driving today.”

  “True.” Ellen nodded. “He was driving.”

  “If he can’t see, why in the world was he driving?”

  “Because we were trying to keep up appearances. He knows and I know, Joe. When it was mentioned about his problems with his vision, you and Andrea acted like it was good thing he wasn’t blind. Dean and I have been preparing for this. We saw it coming. We learned how to work together if his sight went. We planned on how we would do this so our fight with the virus could continue even if he lost sight.”

  “Ellen, the man can’t see,” Joe spoke with concern. “He can’t possibly beat this virus with the efficiency that he could with his sight. We are going to have to put someone else on this immediately. This is way too important.”

  “No, Joe,” Ellen argued. “See, this is why we didn’t tell you. Dean’s eyes don’t cure this community, his mind does. We’re using his mind with my eyes. He can still mix meds. He can still figure out what’s wrong with people. He can still figure out what is needed to beat this virus, but he has to be able to do it. He is the greatest mind we’ve ever had in Beginnings, no, wait, that this world has ever had. Mind, Joe. Not eyes. Your attitude will be everyone’s attitude. Let Dean and I prove he can do it before you pull him. I know he can still work in his field. Let him. But I’m asking you to not let anyone know yet. Not yet. It’s bad enough he lost his sight, please don’t let him lose the faith of the people that trust him as well.”

  Joe was silent, staring at Ellen in thought. He took a long, deep breath before answering. “All right. Maybe I’m being closed-minded. I’ll try to open it. I won’t say anything to Andrea until you can show her what you can do. You two can do this, right?”

  “Yes, Joe.” Ellen smiled.

  “I’ll talk to Dean myself, you hear. He’ll know that I’m aware.”

  “Yes, Joe.” Ellen kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you. We won’t let you down. We’re already on the way to beating this.”

 
; “I know you are. I’ll help you out. I’ll take him off of patient duty and devote him only to research. It’s a valid move, especially with this virus thing.”

  “Thanks, Joe, and once again, I’m sorry I shot you in the butt.”

  Joe grunted, “Yes well, your ass is gonna be searching a mighty soft pillow for me. You hear?” He pointed at her.

  “I’ll get right on it. But first, I want to go see Henry. He looked bad and I suppose he’s feeling just as badly too.”

  “You go while you still have time,” Joe told her.

  “Time? Oh yeah, I have to get back home and relieve Denny with the kids. You’re right.” She reached for the door.

  “Ellen before you go,” Joe walked to her, “let me ask you something.”

  “Sure, Joe, what?”

  “If after all these years, it’s finally gone, why haven’t you told Frank?”

  “What are you talking about, Joe? Told Frank what?” Ellen asked.

  “That you don’t love him.”

  “Oh my God, Joe, that’s not true. I love Frank. I love him with everything I am.”

  “Yet you still don’t want to be with him.”

  Ellen’s head lowered. “Joe, sometimes I want to be with Frank so badly my heart hurts but I can’t. I can’t be with him. I can’t. We pull each other apart when we’re together.”

  “Ellen, if you feel that strongly about him, you should be with him. Or at the very least, have the understanding with him.”

  “No, Joe. If I had the understanding with him, he’d end up taking me from Henry and the time I give him. He’s my friend, my companion, and he’s the one and only person I have ever known in my entire life that doesn’t judge me. He accepts me for who I am. I’ll stand by Henry because he has always stood by me.”

  “But, sweetheart, what about love? Huh?” Joe spoke fatherly to her, dropping his voice to a whisper, “What about love?”

  Ellen closed her eyes with a slight smile upon her face. “Yeah, Joe, but it doesn’t matter how great of a love I have for Frank or Dean. There’s a good reason why neither of them are my primary. Henry gives me something Dean or Frank could never give me. Peace. Henry would never hurt me or make me sad. I believe with all of my heart, Henry will never hurt me ...”