by Naomi West
“Anytime,” Donovan assured Vera, but he turned to Rascal with concern in his dark eyes. “I don’t really want to leave my motorcycle here, but they’re insisting on taking me by ambulance to the hospital. I’m sure that’s a good idea, but is there any way you can help me out?”
“Easy. I’ll have someone pick it up and take it to your mom’s house.”
Donovan nodded, wincing again at the pain it caused. “Thanks. Will one of you call her and let her know where I’m at? She doesn’t worry about me a whole lot these days since I don’t live with her anymore, but I have a feeling she’ll be ticked if I don’t make sure she knows I’m in the hospital.”
“Not a problem. Now go on the hospital and get better. We’ll see you soon.” Vera sent him off with a smile and a wave.
The ambulance left just before the last squad car did. Roland was in the back, lolling against the seat and looking every bit like a broken man. Rascal wished he had gotten even more of the punishment he deserved, and part of him wished the cult leader hadn’t lived through this experience. But the courts weren’t going to let him off easy, not with all the proof they had of what he had done in South Dakota. His actions in New Mexico were just a few more nails in his coffin. The prisoners would take care of him if nothing else.
Still, he put his arm around Vera, wanting to feel like her guardian even if her nemesis was in handcuffs. “Speaking of getting to the hospital and getting better, have you ever gone? You know, for the baby?”
She watched her feet as they walked back through the canal to where he had left his bike. “Not yet. I haven’t known for all that long; maybe a week. I know that the only reason I’m scared to go is because of Roland, and I don’t want to give him the power of continuing to control me, even if he doesn’t know it. But the idea makes me nervous.”
Rascal pressed his lips together at the mention of Roland’s name, but he also knew this was only going to be the first time of many that the two of them talked about him and the impact he’d had on Vera’s life. He was like an abusive ex, but so much worse. “I understand. I’m not a big fan of doctors, either. But I’ll go with you.”
Vera stopped and looked up at him. “You will?”
He almost laughed at the surprise in her eyes. After all, it didn’t seem like that big of a promise. But he had to remember who Vera was and what she had come from. “Of course I will. Vera, I want to be there for you every step of the way. If it’s going to the doctor, or picking a name, or buying diapers, I’m here.”
She looked so hopeful, a stark contrast from the way she had acted when she had her final confrontation with Roland. “What does that mean for us?”
“As long as you’ll have me, I’d like for us to be together. I don’t want to waste another minute without you.”
“Me, neither.” She reached up and kissed him, not shy or demure but firm and demanding. She shared everything with him in that simple gesture, her hands clutching at his close and pulling him down toward her.
Rascal happily complied, scooping her up off her feet and carrying her the rest of the way to his motorcycle so he wouldn’t have to put her down. He set her gently on the back, not feeling the least bit guilty about the possessiveness he felt over her. Vera was his, and nobody else’s.
Chapter Fifteen
Vera
The summer nights quickly faded away into the winter, but it was a mild and uneventful one. The weather was cool but not threatening, and there were no other members of the cult turning up to interrupt Vera’s life. Roland was put behind bars where he belonged, and he was given life without parole for the harm he had done to countless individuals. To make matters even better, he was extradited back to South Dakota. Vera didn’t mind the great distance between herself and her former leader, even though she knew she not only had Rascal and Donovan to protect her but the entirety of the Dark Vultures.
Just as the ground once again grew warm and fertile, ready for young plants to grow, and Vera could think of nothing but her plans for the garden for that year, a convulsing pain struck her lower abdomen. She paused over her notebook, where she had been jotting down a list of seeds to buy, and rubbed her belly. “You can’t already be coming, can you?” The doctor had calculated the days for her based on the baby’s size, but there should have been another week yet.
“Vera?” Lorenna said as she came in from taking out the trash. Her eyes were sharp. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I think so. I just—oh!” She dropped the notebook on the counter.
Lorenna was the vision of serenity and efficiency. “Let’s get you to the car. It’s time to go,” she said softly.
Panic overwhelmed Vera. She had gone to the doctor every month as Rascal and Lorenna had asked her to, and even more often over the last several weeks. But she had yet to get used to the smell of antiseptic, the plain white walls, and the fact that so much blood had been let in those buildings. She knew deep down that the nurses in their scrubs and the doctors in their long white coats were only there to help her, but she couldn’t help being afraid of them. “Do we have to? I’m not ready?”
Lorenna had her by the elbow. “The baby is going to come whether you like it or not. I’m a talented woman, and I’m sure I could help, but it would be a much better idea to leave this in the hands of professionals. Now, come on.” She scooped up the duffel bag by the door, which had been packed for weeks, and took Vera into town.
Rascal pulled up just as Lorenna stopped the car at the entrance. He dove off his bike and trotted up, opening the passenger door. “I’ve got her from here, Lorenna. I’ll get her inside while you park the car.”
Vera couldn’t help but lean against his strong arms as the glass doors swooshed open and then swooshed closed behind them again. She focused on the peaceful feeling he induced inside her instead of his words as he told the clerk what was going on and the clerk’s reply of where to go.
The nurses in the labor and delivery ward were smiling and friendly, not the least bit alarmed when they heard a baby was on the way. Vera knew it must be an everyday occurrence for them, but it certainly didn’t feel like one for her. They got her set up in a private room with floral wallpaper while they strapped monitors to her bulging stomach and put an IV in her arm. The mere thought of having a needle lodged in her skin made her woozy, and she was glad she was already lying down.
“You’re just beginning to dilate,” said a nurse with brown curly hair as she stripped her gloves off her hands and smiled at Vera. “You have some time yet. Just relax. Push this button right here if you need anything.” She left the room, closing the door behind her.
Rascal, who had stayed stolidly by her side during the entire process, finally pulled a chair up next to the bed and sat down. Her took her hand in his. “How are you feeling?”
“Terrified,” she admitted, holding back tears.
“Everything is going to be fine.” His voice was smooth as he spoke, but it was still that deep rumble she had become so used to. “They know what they’re doing here, and you have a very good doctor.”
“I hope you’re right, but it’s even more than that.” She clutched at his fingers, wondering if she would ever feel all right about this whole thing. “I’ve spend the last nine months worrying about eating right, getting exercise, taking vitamins, and preparing for delivery. But just this week it started to hit me: I’m going to be a mother.”
Rascal gave a soft laugh. “Of course you are. And a wonderful one, at that.”
“But that’s just what I’m worried about,” she argued desperately. “My childhood was spent with the Brotherhood of Light.” As her memories had continued to come back and they had both done what research they could into her former life, they had discovered that she had been an orphan, adopted into the cult at a very young age. “I’m sure that what I had wasn’t a ‘normal’ childhood, and I certainly didn’t have anybody around me who would have been a good role model. How do I know that I’m going to do this right?”
/> He leaned forward and touched her stomach, tracing his fingers against her taught skin around the monitors. “Vera, I’ve seen all those books you’ve been reading. I think you’ve checked out every single volume the library has on parenting and taking care of babies. Someone who does that can only be a good mother, because it shows just how badly you want to do right by this child. And you’ve got Lorenna, and then there’s my mother.”
Vera had to smile at that. She had met Rascal’s mother on several occasions now, and the woman had accepted her into her heart just as easily as Lorenna had. With dark hair and deep blue eyes like her son, she had been thrilled to hear of the new life coming into the world. Vera had felt alone for most of her life even though she had been surrounded by the other members of the brotherhood, but now she was discovering that her real family only continued to grow.
In fact, she was beginning to think of Lorenna as a mother. The older woman had helped her with all the preparations for the baby, and they had referring to Donovan as the child’s uncle. Nothing made Vera happier than to know that at the very least, her baby would never be alone in this world.
By the time the doctor pronounced that she was ready to push, everyone she loved was at the hospital to help bring the little one into the world.
* * *
It was a little late in the season, but the growing season in New Mexico lasted long enough that Vera knew she would still have a bountiful harvest in the fall. She had carefully placed corn, beans, and tomatoes in the ground, along with lettuce, radishes, and carrots. As Vera moved to the flowerbed to inspect the seedlings that were beginning to take root there, she made plans in her head for canning, freezing, and making her own baby food. There was plenty of work to be done, but she looked forward to it.
“Vera!” called a voice from the porch. “Come in and have some lemonade. You’ve been working out here all afternoon.
Vera looked up to see Lorenna, holding baby Rose in her arms. The little one was bright and beautiful, with a fringe of dark, curly hair like her father. She watched with a smile on her face as her mother came up the steps and took her in her arms. “I can’t help it,” she said, feeling pleasantly tired. “I just love the work. I was thinking about asking you if we could expand the garden a little. Didn’t you say you owned several acres here?” She turned to look out over the grounds again. There were no fence lines to delineate the property line.
“I do,” Lorenna affirmed, a smile on her face when Vera turned back.
“What’s so funny?”
“You are!” Lorenna admitted. “Any other woman I know would be glad to sit on the couch with her feet propped up doing nothing except what’s necessary to care for a new baby. But you’ve been working just as hard as you were when you first came here. I never see a dirty dish in the sink or a spot of dust on the bookshelves. And the cottage!”
She pointed at the guest cottage that Rascal and the Vultures had built behind Lorenna’s house. She had paid them the same as she would have paid any other contractor to do the job, and they had surprised everyone with both their enthusiasm and their skill. It wasn’t the sort of job they normally did, and Vera was surprised that they had tackled it with such alacrity. But it had turned into an adorable little home. It wasn’t as big of a home as Lorenna’s, but it was a comfortable enough size for Vera, Rose, and even Rascal, who was there more often than he was at the clubhouse these days.
Vera had then started in on it herself: painting, adding wallpaper borders, hanging up pictures, and decorating the baby’s room. Rascal and Donovan had insisted on doing all the heavy work instead of letting Vera move furniture or lay flooring, but she had been unable to resist getting her own hands dirty wherever she could. Lorenna had cautioned her often about overworking herself, but Vera didn’t want to rest. There was work to be done to create a nice, loving home for her daughter, and it gave her a special sense of satisfaction to know that she was growing her own food, as well. There were times that it bothered her to know she was using the skills she had accumulated during her time with the cult, but at least she couldn’t count the first part of her life as a complete loss.
“I’m glad you like it,” Vera said, following Lorenna into the house and sitting down heavily to the tray of lemonade laid out on the kitchen table. Rose sat amicably in her arms, patting her pudgy hands on the table and pointing at the ice in the glass. “I love the fact that I can still be so close to you without having to feel like I’m underfoot.”
Lorenna laid a cool hand on the back of Vera’s. “You’re never underfoot, dear. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been so close to someone I’ve taken in. I like to think of you as the daughter I never had, and I’m thrilled to have the chance to watch Rose grow up.” She leaned back and sighed happily. “And the way Donovan’s eyes light up when he sees his little niece, well, I don’t have to tell you how that warms my heart.”
“How are the most beautiful women in the world doing?” Rascal came in the front door with Donovan in tow.
“We’re fine,” Lorenna replied with a smile. “And how are the world’s most handsome fence-builders doing?”
“Why don’t you come on out and see for yourselves?” Rascal retrieved a handful of beers from the fridge and gestured toward the door with his head.
Lorenna and Vera followed them out. The sound of the beers cracking open made Vera feel cool and refreshed before she even took a sip. She sat down in an Adirondack chair and admired the work the two men had been doing. They had ripped out the fence that had originally surrounded Lorenna’s front yard after she had discovered the posts were rotting underneath the ground. They had then set to work constructing a new one. Vera had wondered if Rascal had simply been motivated by building the cottage and was eager to continue with the same type of work or if there was some other incentive in his mind, but she was glad to see that he was doing more and more jobs that made him an honest living.
“We’re just about done,” he announced as he sat down beside her. “Turns out Donovan knows an awful lot about this sort of thing.” Rascal leaned forward to address his building partner. “But don’t think I’ll let you boss me around all the time,” he said with a wink.
Donovan sat on the edge of his seat with his elbows on his knees as he studied the label on his beer bottle. “Actually, I was thinking about starting my own construction company. I’ve been working for the Steele Brothers for several years now, and I’ve moved up a lot within their ranks. I was hoping you might join me.”
Rascal nodded as he considered the idea. “I might. I’ll let you know.”
“Donovan, why don’t you come inside and help me out with a few things in the house?” Lorenna stood up and went inside, bringing her son along with her.
Rascal reached out for his daughter, taking Rose onto his lap and kissing the back of her dark head. “I want to thank you, Vera.”
“Thank me? What for?” As far as she was concerned, she owed this man her life and her happiness. He had not only saved her from the scary men in the canal, but from a brainwashed existence under Roland. If Rascal hadn’t stepped in, he might have easily dragged her back to South Dakota or killed her.
“For everything,” he replied. “I thought when I joined the Dark Vultures that I had everything I needed. They provided for me and taught me how to stand on my own two feet. But it wasn’t until I met you that I realized something was still missing.”
“Oh yeah?” she said with a smile. “Like what?”
“Like sitting on a front porch with a beer in my hand, a beautiful woman at my side, and a gorgeous little girl on my lap. I never realized just how nice this could be.”
“I agree.” Vera hadn’t thought about it that much herself, but she understood what he meant. She had never enjoyed her life before, and now she couldn’t imagine living it any other way.
“I also want to thank you for not trying to pressure me into leaving the Dark Vultures,” he said after a moment’s pause.
Vera turned
to look at him. “Why would I do that?”
Rascal shrugged. “I can’t lie. I’ve been getting plenty of shit from some of the guys about settling down with you. They’ve told me all about how now that I’ve got a ball and chain, I’ll end up leaving the club and selling my bike. I knew it wasn’t going to be like that, but they did make me wonder just how much truth there might have been in that.”
“I’d never do that do you,” Vera promised. “I know how important the Vultures are to you.”
The three of them watched the sun sink down behind the mountains, the wilderness around them standing out in shades of gold and red for several minutes before it faded to blues and blacks. They then made their way on the little stone path around the house to their own cottage. Vera gave Rose her nightly bath and dressed her in cozy pajamas, and they tucked her into her crib.
