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Tony yelled and bent over.

She paused in amazement, but she didn’t let herself stop. She kicked him again, this time in the shin, harder even than before and he collapsed to the ground. She kicked him again and again, mostly to the head but also his stomach. He tried to grab her but he was too surprised and in too much pain to fight effectively.

Then she caught her breath and grabbed the gun.

He glanced over to her and said, “You don’t know how to use that. I’m going to kill you.”

But he didn’t move from the ground.

“No,” she said. “It’s me who’s going to kill you, you fucking monster.”

She started to pull the trigger, when she heard a yell from behind her.

“STOP, Cindy! Don’t do it”

Cindy relaxed her finger but didn’t move her aim. She was still pointing directly at Tony’s head.

She knew the voice. It was Suzanne McDermott.

“Suzanne, please go away. Just leave us alone. I need to do this.”

The detective had caught up with them and stood twenty feet from Cindy.

“You can’t do this, Cindy. Come on, you know it’ll ruin your life.”

“He’s already taken care of that.”

“Cindy! Look at me!”

In spite of herself, Cindy did glance over quickly, but turned her attention back to Tony almost immediately.

Suzanne was pointing her own gun directly at Cindy and she said quietly, “I can’t let you murder him in cold blood. I just can’t. Let the courts have him.”

Cindy hesitated. She knew Suzanne was right and that she should let the justice system have him. But she also knew she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she did that. Avril deserved more.

She started to pull the trigger.

“Cindy, don’t make me do this!”

“You do what you have to.”

Cindy shot. The blast knocked her hand back, even though she knew there would be some kind of recoil. She’d never shot a gun before, but she wasn’t far from Tony and maybe it was just dumb luck, but the bullet found its way true, and a small bit of blood spurted from the hole in his forehead. He was pounded back to the ground, clearly dead.

Cindy, however, was still alive.

She looked to Suzanne, who still had her gun pointed at her. She knew she deserved to die, and maybe she even craved that.

Suzanne lowered her gun.

“Oh, Cindy . . .”

Cindy dropped the gun to the barn floor. “You do what you have to do,” she said again. “I’m ready for whatever comes.”

Suzanne shook her head and then looked up to the roof of the barn. It looked like she was praying for guidance, but more likely she was just frustrated with the mess she had to deal with.

She looked back to Cindy.

“Okay, so here’s what happened. I came here but you shot him in self-defense. When I came in the barn door he was beating the crap out of you. You have evidence of that all over your face. Then before I could cover the distance you struggled for the gun and grabbed it from him and shot him. It was your only chance because you didn’t know I was coming.”

“How did you know?”

“Maria called me.”

“Of course she did.”

“Of course she did.”

“Why?” asked Cindy. “Why don’t you just arrest me? I won’t argue.”

Suzanne gave her a hug. “I remember that look in your eyes. The look that only a beaten woman has. I remember my mother. And I remember your little girl’s photo.”

She shrugged.

“You both deserved better.”

Cindy’s Wedding Vows:

I promise to be the very best wife I can possibly be. I will cherish every day with you, love you with every breath I take, and will show you through my actions that you are my entire life.

I will support your music because that is what brought us together, and I will enthusiastically work with you on whatever the future brings us.

Our lives will be enriched by our joining in marriage, and I cannot wait to begin this journey with you.

* * *

Tony’s Wedding Vows:

Cindy, you will be my wife, and I will love you as much in the future as I do now. I will treat you with kindness and generosity and we will be the happiest couple we know.

You will never regret today, my darling.

Never.

John R. Little published his first short story in 1982 and hasn’t stopped since. He’s published a dozen books so far and has many more ideas finding their way to print. John won the Bram Stoker award for
Miranda
in 2009 and was nominated two other times (
The Memory Tree
and
Ursa Major
). His most recent books are
Little by Little
and
Ursa Major
.