Trouble In Dixie (37 page)

Her little body relaxed in Katie's hold then
she stood back and grinned. "I got an A plus on my spelling test!"
she squealed then pulled it out of her backpack and proudly handed
it to Katie.

Dixie fought hard with spelling and reading,
and they'd been working on it every night, before she went to bed.
Katie suspected, as bright as she was, that she might have a
learning disability like Karlie had. Karlie had always struggled in
school, and Katie had done her best to help her twin too, so she
knew how discouraging it could be for a little girl to go through
that. She planned on talking to Tommy and her teacher about having
her tested soon.

Katie let out a whoop then hugged her again
and told her, "I am so proud of you, sugar. You are one smart
girl," she told her then took the paper from her hand and went and
clipped it onto the refrigerator with a magnet. "We're gonna show
this to your daddy as soon as he gets back from the barn," she told
her with a grin.

Her daughter's face lit up like a hundred
watt bulb, and a grin split her face. "He'll probably like it,
huh?" she said.

"He'll love it! Now, go get changed, and
take Snuggles out for a walk, before we have a snack," Katie told
her and Dixie took off for the stairs, her ponytail bouncing behind
her.

Gerrie walked into the kitchen and smiled at
her then asked, "What do ya'll want for a snack?"

"You have any of those chocolate chip
cookies you baked yesterday left?" she asked with anticipation in
her voice. "Those were scrumptious...the peanuts loved them," she
said with a chuckle and rubbed her belly, and got a kick in her
palm for the effort.

"Yep, have quite a few left...milk?" she
asked then pulled down a couple of glasses from the cabinet and
walked to the refrigerator.

"Yes, indeed...thanks Gerrie, I appreciate
you, lady," she told her sincerely.

Katie sat back at the breakfast bar, and
heard Snuggles toenails clipping across the hardwood floor, mixed
with the sound of Dixie's boot heels, as they headed to the front
door. When it closed behind her, Katie told Gerrie, "I think I'm
gonna take this out to the porch."

"Let me get you a tray then," Gerrie said
and loaded the cookie plate and glasses on it, then told her, "I'll
carry it out for you."

Katie gave her a grateful smile, then walked
to the front door with her. When they got out on the porch, Gerrie
sat the tray on the table between two rocking chairs, and turned to
go back inside, but stopped and shaded her eyes with her hand and
stared down the driveway at a car parked under a tree, then asked,
"You know someone with a black Cadillac?"

Shortly after she said that, Katie heard
Dixie scream then yell, "No!" Katie took off running, with Gerrie
right beside her, screaming Tommy's name at the top of her lungs,
several times. Since he was at the barn though, she didn't hold out
much hope he'd hear her.

When she got closer, she saw Dixie
struggling with Edith Preston, who was trying to drag her to the
open door of her car, where Cookie stood twisting her hands. Dixie
was screaming, and kicking the old woman in the shins with her
boots. Snuggles was dancing around dragging his leash, and barking
and growling at Edith for all he was worth. Cookie evidently saw
them she went over and grabbed Dixie's arm to try and help Edith
get her into the car, and Dixie dug in her boot heels and screamed
louder.

Dixie was losing ground though, because they
almost had her shoved into the back seat when Gerri and Katie got
there. Without thinking, Katie headed for Edith, and grabbed her
hair with her good hand, and yanked as hard as she could. Edith let
go of Dixie, but swung her fist in a wide arc and connected with
the side of Katie's head, which stunned her for a second.

She let go of Edith's hair and balled her
fist and swung at the woman's nose. Edith sidestepped the blow, so
she missed and the forward momentum sent her crashing to the ground
in a heap. With only one arm free, she landed pretty hard on her
left hip, and it took her breath, as pain shot up her broken arm.
When she recovered, Katie tried to get up, and Edith kicked her, a
glancing blow to her arm, and she groaned and fell to the ground
again and curled up to protect her stomach, in case the woman got
an idea to kick her there.

She glanced over and saw Gerry, sitting on
top of Cookie with her knee in her back, and breathed a relieved
sigh. At least one of the crazy bitches were under control. Katie
saw Dixie slide out of the back seat of the car once Cookie was
subdued, then watched in horror as instead of running to the house
to get away, she stalked toward Edith with determination. "Don't
you kick my mama!" she yelled in a high-pitched voice right before
she kicked the old woman in the knee, and Edith collapsed to the
ground.

When Edith hit the ground, Snuggles stopped
dancing and ran over to Edith and sunk his teeth into her arm,
tossing his head from side to side. She screamed, then swatted him
hard in the snout, and he let go, and whined. Edith pushed to her
feet, then raised her hand high above her and brought it back down
toward Dixie's face.

Dixie flinched and put her hands up to
shield herself, and Katie surged to her feet, but she couldn't get
there before the blow landed, and Dixie flew backwards and landed
on her butt, and wailed.

Katie rushed up behind Edith and pushed her
as hard as she could. Edith pitched over face first into the dirt,
and Katie went over to her and cocked her foot to kick her in the
head, but Edith's arm shot out and she caught Katie's ankle and
jerked. Katie felt her feet leave the ground then she hovered in
the air a second before her back hit the ground and her breath left
her.

Edith got up and stared down at her
malevolently, her breathing fast and her eyes wild. Katie cringed
as she pulled her foot back in preparation to kick Katie in the
stomach, because she knew there was nothing she could do to protect
her babies from the blow that was coming, so she drew her legs up
reflexively and prayed. Suddenly, Edith's eyes widened, and then
she flew off her feet and was thrown down in the grass, then Tommy
was on top of her with his fist drawn back.

Katie flew to her feet and ran over to him
and grabbed his arm. "No, Tommy...she's crazy, she needs help."
Katie told him, then repeated it. He dropped his head and huffed
out a breath, then shoved up off of her to stand beside Katie.

His chest was heaving, and his face was
green, but that was nothing compared to the anxiety, disgust and
red hot anger that burned in his eyes. A broken sob escaped him,
then he pulled her into his arms and held her tight asking in a raw
voice, "Are you okay, sweetheart...are the babies okay?"

"I think so, but I want to go get checked
out...she kicked me in the arm, and I landed pretty hard on my
hip," she told him in a trembling voice. Katie wasn't taking any
chances, her body had been through a lot, the babies had been
through a lot, in the last couple of weeks. For her peace of mind,
she had to make sure they were okay.

"I called Gabe, and the posse is on the way
here, they have Mark Preston in custody...this one got away," he
told her with a nod at Edith, who was laying on her back with her
arm over her eyes.

Katie looked around and asked with concern,
"Where's Dixie?"

Right then she looked over to the side of
the house and saw the little blond haired sprite run around the
porch with a hoe in her hand. When Dixie saw the action was over,
she stopped, then dropped the hoe and fell to her knees and hugged
Snuggles, who was right by her side. Katie grabbed Tommy's hand
then walked over to her, and dropped to her knees and put her arm
around her. "Thank you for trying to save me, sweetheart. I love
you, Dixie...are you okay baby?"

Dixie nodded, then her body trembled as she
threw her arms around Katie's neck and started crying, "I thought
she was gonna hurt you and my babies, I had to do something to
help," she said and cried harder.

Katie heard Tommy let out a strangled groan,
then he was beside them, and had his arms around them both, hugging
them fiercely. "I love both of you with all my heart," he told
them, then added, "My two warrior princesses."

Katie's heart expanded in her chest, and the
peanuts started playing inside her belly. With a giggle, she put
her hand on her stomach. "I think we have two little warriors in
here too," she told them, so happy to feel proof that her sons were
alive and kicking.

Tommy put his hand over hers and squeezed,
then kissed her hair. The sound of faint sirens got louder very
quickly, then an entourage of police cars, black SUVs, and sedans
came barreling down the driveway toward the house, and Katie
breathed a sigh of relief, and her shoulders slumped. When the lead
police car stopped, Gabe jumped out and took off running toward
her. When he got there, he dropped to his knees and demanded
frantically, "Are you hurt, sugar?"

"I don't think so, but I want to go and get
checked out to make sure...my arm...and the babies," she told him
and he nodded, then got to his feet and ran over to another man in
a black suit. The other man talked into a handheld radio, then Gabe
came back over to her, and pulled her into his arms and hugged
her.

"God, I was so scared...if something
happened to you, your sister would've killed me," Gabe told her
with a chuckle, then he stood back up and grinned. "I'm going help
clean up the trash...an ambulance should be here shortly."

"Thanks, Gabe..." she said smiling up at her
brother-in-law.

Tommy sat down beside her and pulled her
into his arms, and held her tightly. "I would've killed him too..."
he told her gruffly, then added, "And Edith."

"It's over now, Tommy...and we're all
okay."

Katie watched as a man in a black blazer
with FBI in big yellow letters on the back pulled Cookie to her
feet, then cuffed her hands, before he did the same with Edith. He
and another agent led them to separate vehicles and stuffed them in
the back seat. The cars followed one another down the driveway,
passing an ambulance speeding toward the house on the way out.

"I sure will be glad when we have a helluva
lot less drama in our lives," Katie told Tommy, then leaned back
against his chest and sighed.

"Me too, sugar. My life was pretty sedate,
before you and your sister came along," Tommy told her with a
chuckle.

What Tommy said was true, Katie thought.
Before he'd helped Gabe and the crew save Karlie from Jake Johnson
the bull rider trying to kill her, Tommy Tucker had been a
successful quarter horse rancher, raising his daughter alone. He
didn't have to put up with a daily dose of drama, or fear that he'd
lose his daughter. Back then, from the outside, it looked like
Tommy had been happy with his life the way it was, before he'd
hired Karlie to work for him, before Jake Johnson tried to kill
them, and he'd chosen to step in and help save both her and Karlie,
since then his life hadn't been one drama after another. Katie's
had too.

Her sister had left him high and dry to
marry Gabe, then Katie had turned his horse operation on its ear
and put the fear of God in his employees, straightened up what
probably didn't need straightening, and led him a merry chase from
here to Bowie when she ran away from him, then she'd gotten
pregnant...with twins.

Now the poor man had almost lost his
daughter, because he'd chosen to make Katie a fixture in his life,
and his mother-in-law had gone off the deep end because of it.
Looking at it that way, made Katie wonder if he'd been happier
before she'd come into his life.

Fear that he'd finally reached the end of
his rope with the trouble she and her sister had caused him surged
through her, and her body tensed. Her parents had dumped her and
her sister on Uncle Jerry's doorstep when they were ten, because
they had been too much trouble, maybe Tommy was planning on dumping
her too. "I'm sorry we've caused you so much trouble, Tommy," she
told him with a tremble in her voice.

He turned her in his lap and looked at her
intently, then said, "Honey, I welcome every minute of trouble you
and Karlie have caused me. If ya'll hadn't come into my life..." he
cleared his throat and took a deep breath then finished, "Edith
would have made sure I was miserable and alone for the rest of my
life, wallowing in my guilt, and I wouldn't have you and the twins.
You are the best thing that ever happened to me. I love you,
sweetheart...thank you for shaking up my life."

The ambulance came to a stop at the end of
the driveway, and two blue uniformed men hopped out, then went to
the back and grabbed kits of some sort. They met Gabe in the middle
of the yard and he pointed toward her, and they headed toward
them.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Katie's hand cramped up and she threw the
pen she was writing with down on the breakfast bar, then huffed out
a tired breath. It had been two months since the showdown with
Edith at the Rockin' D, and Katie couldn't believe all that had
happened in that time.

Karlie snorted then looked at her and said,
"Don't quit on me now, sis, we still have a hundred invitations to
finish. Your damned wedding is in a month, and if we don't get a
move on, people aren't going to be able to make plans."