Family Ties (Hidden Secrets) (26 page)

Mary
’s tears were falling faster now. Carson’s face changes. He takes Colbie from Mary handing her to Colleen. Then pulling Mary up into his arms.

“
You’ll have your turn sis. When you lost your baby, we all hurt with you. You’ll be an amazing mommy one day. Question is, is that amazing daddy going to be Tobey?” He says smirking at her.

“
Yes, definitely. He’s going to be a great dad. I have no doubt about that.”

“
I think I have to agree with you,” Carson admitted.

“
Thanks man,” I said standing taking his hand.

“
I know that I was pretty pissed when I found out what you had planned to do to my sister, but you’ve more than proved yourself since then.”

Smiling
at Mary and wrapping my arm around her waist, “She’s my everything. I’ll do anything for her.”

Mary
held Colbie the majority of the time. Carson finally let up and let Mary move around with her. Though I think Colleen had a lot to do with it. I find it funny how a guy like Carson was brought to his knees by a baby. Watching him with Colbie, I wonder if that is how I will be with mine. Turning, I watch Mary talking and laughing with Colleen. Carson was right. She was going to be an amazing mother. She takes care of us boys without even batting an eye. I’m so lucky to have her love me.

Before
long everyone was here. The guys and I were setting up the table on the deck out back. Nick walked out with another set of chairs. Swallowing my nerves, I approach him.

“
Hey Nick, can I talk to you about something?”

“
Sure. What’s up?”

“
I was wondering if I could pay you to help build a house. Um, I haven’t told Mary yet. I wanted to see if you’d do the job first.”

“
Wow! Building a house, huh? Things serious between you two?”

“
Yeah, they are. She’s it for me.”

Nick
smiles. “Call me when you tell her and we’ll set up an appointment.”

“
I’m going to tell her tonight,” I said nervously.

We
talked a little bit about the area that both Mary and I would love to have a house on one day. Nick said he’d come by tomorrow to have a look at it and go over the options.

Soon
we were all sitting down to eat and conversation is flowing freely. Mary looks at me, then reaches under the table and squeezes my leg. It was time to find out what the family thought about us having a baby.

“
Thank you everyone for coming to dinner at our house tonight. It is an amazing moment to have all of us together. Plus, we have little Colbie here as well. It just feels like an amazing jump for us from not long ago. I believe our family is stronger now than it has ever been before.  So many good things are coming for each of us.” She looks down at me and pulls me up from my chair.

I
stand behind her and wrap her in my arms. She’s shaking like a leaf on a windy day. Pressing a kiss to the side of her head, I whisper, “It’ll be okay.”

“
I know you guys have mixed feelings about Tobey. He isn’t like his family. He was raised right. By parents that love and respected each other and those around them. He may have started out wanting to hurt me, but I believe had that not happened we never would have met otherwise. He loves me and I love him.”

“
We know baby doll. That is why we helped get you all back together. He’s perfect for you. Brings out the best in you.” Larry says.

“
Tobey and I have been through a lot over the course of our relationship. One of the hardest things,” I felt a tear land on my hand and I held her tighter. “One of the hardest things was losing our baby. But now that I have fired Kyle and we both go to counseling, we are stronger and understand that it just wasn’t time for us.”

“
You fired Kyle?” Eli spoke.

She
smiles. “Yes. After I left Nick’s I called my lawyer and had it all done. I called Kyle too. He wasn’t happy, but we haven’t heard anything from him so…We’re pregnant.”

Cheers
and congratulations filled the air. Before Kayla stopped all of us in our tracks.

“
Looks like we can experience pregnancy together.”

Jason
’s beaming from ear to ear. I shake his hand and half hug him. “Congratulations man. Looks like we’ll have to make a club.”

He
laughs. “Definitely.”

Once
everything starts to settle back down, it was my turn to stand. “Now that I have the agreement for this to happen, I have a gift for my girl.” I pull her into my arms again. “You know how you and I talked about building our own home someday? Well, why not start now? I’ve already talked to Nick and he’s willing to take on the project. I’ve been saving for this for years. There is more than enough to get it exactly the way you want it.”

Before
she could answer, her phone started ringing. When I felt her tense, I looked at her caller ID and saw it was Kyle calling. I was about sick of this mother fucker.

“
Answer it, but put it on speaker.” I whispered.

She
set the phone on the table after she answered it and put it on speaker.

“
Hello?” Mary answers shakily.

“
I hear congratulations are in order. Who’s the chick on the right side of Carson? Could have some fun with her.”

All
of our attention is brought to Colleen. “You lay one fucking finger on her and I’ll kill you!” Carson hisses.

“
How did you-” Mary started.

“
You are really stupid sometimes. If you think I was just going to let you screw me over like you did without coming after you, you’re dead fucking wrong!” He yells.

“
Where are you?”

“
Turn around.” We all did and saw a flash light shine three times.  “Come to me or I get the new girl.”

“
You will not touch a hair on her head!  It’s me you want and it’s me you’ll get.  I will be there in a minute.  I’m not kidding, Kyle.  You touch her at any moment in time and I’ll make sure you do not live to touch anyone else.”

“
You are awfully protective of your brother’s girlfriend.  What it must be like-”

“
When you’re with a family member you’re treated as part of the family.  She is family Kyle.  Leave her alone!”

“
Get to me now!  No one follows and no one comes after you.  Do you understand?  Or I will make sure you don’t have this baby or any other if you disobey me again!”

Her
hand immediately fell to her stomach and tears welled up in her eyes.  He already took one child from us. I’ll be damned if he takes another. Though what scared me the most is I could see her decision before she even spoke them out loud.

“
Fine, but I want your word you won’t hurt my baby if I come there.  If you’re going to kill it when I get to you then I might as well take my chances and stay here.  I, also, want you to leave my family alone and Tobey too.  They don’t get hurt or I’ll push those charges.”

“
You don’t get demands!  Get to me now! Or everyone will die!  Can you handle knowing you killed your family?”

“
Fine, I’m coming.”  She hung up the phone.  I watched as she struggled with her composure. “I’m going to go to him.  No one is to follow or he will make sure I don’t have this baby or any others.”

I
grabbed her shoulders, “You’re
not
going out there! He
will
kill you Mary. I’m not losing both of you.”  She began to cry and I held her tight to my chest.  There was no way I was going to let her do this. I couldn’t lose her or our child.  If I did, there’s no way I’d survive.  They were what I needed to live.

“
I have to go or he is going to kill all of you.  I can’t let him hurt you guys because of me.  I mean he’s already wanting Colleen.  Carson you protect her.  I’m not kidding!  You all came here because I wanted to have a family meal and look what I brought you guys into.” 

A
twig snapped behind us and we all turned. “You’re taking too long, Mary.  I’ve come to collect my collateral.”

“
Carson, get her inside.”  Immediately Carson grabbed Colleen and Colbie, hurrying them inside.  I wanted to strangle this man if he thought he was getting his hands on my family.

“
I think that you need to get your ass off my property and away from my family before you’re sorry.  You’re not getting your hands on anyone today.  This is my family and my property.  You have no idea what you just stepped yourself into.”

“
Do I look like I am scared?”

“
You should be.  Do you understand the length a rancher has to go to protect their livelihood?  No, I don’t suppose a man of your career, as you put it, would know.  First, there’s this…” With one step on a hidden ledge I grab a gun and point it at Kyle. 

In
return, Kyle points his gun at me.  Knowing that I need to get everyone out of harm’s way.  It was time to take care of this or die trying.  No way was he going to get a hold of Mary and my child or anyone else for that matter. Turning to the one guy I knew could get her inside. “Colt, take Mary and get everyone inside now. Please”  Colt grabbed Mary and she started fighting him right away.  “Mary please go inside.  We have to protect our child and I have to make sure you’re safe.  I love you, now go.” 

Within
a minute everyone was inside and out of the way.  It was left to just me and Kyle.  I wasn’t sure how it was going to end, but I knew that it was going to be bad one way or the other.

“
You think that just because they’re inside that house they’re safe from me.  I’ll kill you and then get them.”

“
You can try.  See this gun here is only one step to protecting our livelihood.  There are other phases to be considered as well.  One of those has already been enforced the minute you came on my property without being invited. The next is-”

“
You talk a lot for someone who is about to die.  Such a brave one you think you are.  You think I came here alone?”

“
I know you did.  You think you’re tough enough to out beat seventeen other people.  You thrive on power.  This is a major power trip having eighteen people worried about what is going to happen next.”

“
You know, you may not be a stupid cowboy.  You are right, I am alone, but I did plan ahead.  How safe do you think that house is?  Do you think I didn’t plan on the house for shelter?”

A
chill ran up my spine and I began to panic, but I tried not to let it show on my face.  He rigged the house somehow.  Was that even possible? Or is my mind going crazy? I had to figure out how to get everyone out of the house and somewhere safe.  God, how was I going to save everyone when I had no clue what this guy had planned to do?

“
Yes, I can see by the look on your face you now understand what lies before you.  I’m not a stupid man, Mr. Young.  You’ve pissed me off by taking what is mine and compromising her further by getting her pregnant.  You see I had her long before you did.  She belongs to me.  I will have her even I have to kill everyone in the process I don’t care but she will not be with you or have that abomination she carries.”

“
Here’s the thing.  You’re going to have to get through me in order to get to her or anyone else.  The only way that is going to happen is if you kill me.  I tell you what, Kyle, if you are going to shoot you better kill me because my shot will
not
miss!”

The
next few moments happened in a blur but seemed to go in slow motion all at the same time.  It was like I was looking at the situation from the outside; like I really wasn’t in my body.  First came Kyle’s shot and then a shooting pain in my body.  Next came Mary’s scream and then my shot and a thud.  I staggered backwards and collapsed against the house. Scott was the one to come out.  He had his gun drawn and went to the railing first to check on Kyle.  He motioned to Joel, who jumped over the rail and down to the ground.  Then the lights dimmed, everything blurred, then went black.

Chapter
Thirty-One

Mary

BANG!

The gunshot echoed in my head and I watched as Tobey stumbled backwards.  I screamed.  Colt held me tighter. 

“
Let me go!  He’s hurt! TOBEY!”  I watched in horror as he shot and then stumbled backwards more before he fell against the house. “Oh my God!  Oh my God! Oh my God!”

“
Let me and Joel out to check.  We have our guns on us.” Scott said as he pushed through everyone.

Scott
and Joel headed out and Joel jumped over the rail.  Scott knelt down next to Tobey. 

“
He’s dead.  Tobey’s shot hit him in the head.  It’s safe.”  Joel called from below.

I
elbowed my brother in his stomach, causing him to wince and loosen his grip long enough for me to get out and run to Tobey. 

“
Tobey, honey, can you hear me?  Tobey?  Tobey?”  Faintly I could hear sirens and see lights almost to the house. “Hang on Tobey.  Hang on.  You’re going to be okay.” 

When
the paramedics got there, someone pulled me back out of the way.  I was shaking and crying.  Scott looked so grim, but he wasn’t dead.  He couldn’t be.  We were going to have a baby.  One day we were going to get married.  He couldn’t die.

Frantically
I searched the crowd of my family for Jack.  “Jack, he’s going to be fine right?  He’s going to be here to share our baby’s birth right and build our home?  He’s going to be fine, right?”  Jack just looked at me not saying anything. “Right, Jack?  He’s going to be fine.  DAMN IT Jack!” I started crying and he pulled me into a hug. “He has to be okay.  He has to be.  He said we were going to build our dream house.  We’re going to have a baby. He can’t leave me.  He can’t.  Why did he have to go out there, Jack?  Why did he have to be out there alone?”

** *** ** *** **

The ride to the hospital was a blur.  I rode in the back of the ambulance and watched them frantically working on Tobey.  He was so pale looking.  My family was following and would meet me at the hospital.  God, I can’t lose him.  He was everything to me.  As I held my hand over my belly I whispered softly, “Daddy will be okay little one.  He won’t leave us.”

They
rushed him into the hospital and before I knew it, I was away from him. 

“
Ma’am, you are going to have to wait in the waiting room.  A doctor will be in to tell you everything when they know more.” 

The
nurse ushered me into a waiting room.  There were several other people there.  All of them looked at me with smiles on their faces.  No, today I was not going to deal with it.  Today, I wanted to be left alone.  A man approached me.

“
Are you Mary Williams?”  I just stared at him.  “Wow, can I have your-” 

It
was the last straw, I’d had all that I could handle for the day.  For crying out loud, I may have lost the man I loved most in the world and this guy wants a freaking autograph?  I exploded. 

“
Do you think I’m in here to sign autographs?  Do you think I just felt like I had nothing better to do, why not go to the hospital at night and sign fu-”  I was cut short when my brother came in and pulled me into his arms and I started to bawl.

Jake
approached the man, “I’m sorry about that.  My sister’s boyfriend was shot tonight and we are unsure if he is going to make it.  I would appreciate it if you can give our family a little privacy in the matter.  Any other time any of us; Colt, Carson, Jeff, Mylee, myself and even Mary, would have been more than grateful to sign autographs, but this is not any other time and I would hope you could understand that.” 

The
man nodded his head and apologized.  Every other person in the room watched as the Williams family huddled around me trying to bring me comfort in my time of need.

I
felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders.  I paced the room.  My brothers tried to get me to sit down and I would fight them.  What I wanted was to hear something and I wanted to hear something now.  It had been two hours since they took him back for surgery.  Why haven’t they come to tell me anything at all yet?  The saying always went, ‘No news is good news’, but I wasn’t so sure that was true in this case.  By not giving any news means they are working too hard to take away from it and meant he was struggling for his life.  He had to be okay.  I couldn’t make it through life without him.  It wasn’t just me anymore.  We are going to have a baby.  I wanted our baby to know what an amazing father they have.

Putting
my hand to my stomach, “What if he doesn’t make it?  He might die because of me.”  I said to no one specifically, but Jeff came forward and put his hand on my belly.

“
You and this little one will always have us no matter what.  He is in God’s hands now.  No matter what happens today, we are always here for you, the baby and Tobey.  We love you all.”  I hugged my brother.  Never in my life have I been so scared, the worst I’ve ever been.  My life hung in the balance today.

A
doctor appeared in the doorway in scrubs and I froze and tensed.

“
Tobey Young’s family?”

I
walked forward and looked at him already knowing what was going to be said, I could see it in his eyes. The tension hung heavy and thick and I started to shake while everyone circled around me.

“
I am sorry ma’am, but the damage was too bad and he lost too much blood. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

My
knees gave way and I screamed loudly. For as I screamed my heart stopped beating in my chest. I lost him. I lost him before I could really have him. We had so much we were looking forward to but not now. Now I had nothing to look forward to but pain.

** *** ** *** **

I woke shaking with tears streaming down my face.  The loss was so heavy.  It consumed me and made it very hard to breathe.  My heart was beating fast and I felt dizzy.  It took me several minutes to remember where I was at.  I ran for the nearest trash can.  My life has changed so much over such a short span of time.

I
thought that life was pretty crazy watching Kayla fight for freedom and pretend that everything in her life was perfect.  It wasn’t perfect, but she did not want to burden anyone with her problems, especially when Kayla was already fighting for her life.  Life has not been perfect for me or my sister.  We’ve had to fight every step of the way.  I was able to keep mine at bay most times as long as I did what I was told when I was told to do it.  Kayla could not control hers and because of that she never knew what was going to happen.

Fear
was a motivator unlike any other, and it came in many forms.  Kayla’s fear was different than my own.  I had felt two kinds of fear in my life.  I had feared for my life when Kyle was after me and then I had feared for my heart when Tobey was shot.  Life would never be the same because of both fears.  The new saying I’ve learnt is that ‘everything changes and nothing stays the same’. But even change is scary.

Putting
the trash can down, I walked back over to my chair.  He frowned at me, “You have another bad dream?”  I could only nod.  The feeling of loss still heavy on my heart and a fresh round of tears started to fall.  “Come here.” He said softly.  I immediately got up and curled up next to him.  “You are not losing me.  I’m right here.  Only a shot in the shoulder and you heard the doctor, I will be back to normal before we know it.  You need to quit having these nightmares.  Think about our baby that will be here before we know it.”  He placed his hand on my stomach and said just above a whisper, “Our baby.  Wow, I am going to be a dad.  I wish my parents could have been here to see it.”

Looking
up at Tobey, I knew that this was going to be hard for him.  I had an idea that might help him, but I wasn’t sure if he would object or not.  Maybe I shouldn’t say anything. No, if I learned anything from these recent experiences it is to never take a day for granted. 

“
Tobey, I have an idea to run by you. I am not sure you will agree with it or if it’s stupid, but um, maybe we could get a picture of them to show our kids so they know them even though they will never meet them?  It’s just an idea.”  I looked back up at him and saw tears glisten in his eyes.

“
I love that idea.  I… thank you, sweetheart.  That means a lot to me.”

Life
was now about something new.  It was about love and growing; no fear.  Well, not the type I was feeling.  I worried about being a good mom, but what new parent didn’t worry about that?  I knew that above all my love for Tobey and his love for me would carry us through all that we have faced. We will do it standing strongly together.  Life was finally getting better. 

“
I love you, Tobey.” 

Tobey
leaned down and kissed me, “I love you too, sweetheart.”