I awoke with our whole family seating beside my bed. Dad, Felicia, Jake, Alona and of course Faith, Alita and Rosie. I put my hand up to my head, it was swathed in bandages.
They all started talking at once. “Whoa,” I said, “One at a time, what in the hell happened?”
Faith said, “We’ll let Rosie tell it, she’s the hero.” First, Faith leaned forward and gave me a kiss. She whispered in my ear, “If you’d died, I’d kick your ass.” Then she kissed me again.
“Well,” Rosie said, “it wasn’t much, really. But Brutus really saved you. By dropping to his knees, he must of sensed something. Anyway, the shot was meant for your heart. But instead it just cut a furrow in your scalp, it did crack your skull some. But they thought you were dead.
Four of them came roaring down the hill on ATV’s. They had the drop on us. They knew Faith had a pistol, they made her drop it. They made us get off of our horses. They said they were going to rape us and then kill us. But Alita was putting up such a howl, crying over you. It unnerved them. They told me to shut her up.
I told them she had a dirty diaper. They told me to change her then. I sat her on the ground and went over to the diaper bag that was on Diablo. It was all over real fast.”
“Huh? What happened then?” I asked.
“Oh, you must have forgotten, I had my Uzi in the diaper bag.” Rosie said.
“You killed all four of them? Who were they?” I asked.
Faith spoke up. “Some of that same bunch. They had I.D. from California though.” Rosie said, “Really I only did for three of them. One of them was still alive, I’d got him in the belly, he was crying and carrying on so, that Faith felt sorry for him, so she put him out of his misery.”
“Uh, yeah, but I thought that they had killed you. You had so much blood all over. He might have lived, but you know how it is with being gut shot.”
“Yeah, I do know. How did all of you get here so fast?” I said, looking at our family from New Mexico. “And did you call the law? They should be notified.”
Dad laughed, “Son, you’ve been in that hospital bed for three weeks. You started to come out of it yesterday. Till then we’ve been taking turns setting with you. We have all been by your bed since early this morning.”
“When can I go home?” I asked.
“We don’t know for sure, they said you had quite the concussion. They said you might have amnesia, but it doesn’t appear that way.” Jake said, Alona was holding onto to his hand or was it the other was around. Alona leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
Felicia said, “You are in the hospital in town. All of us are going to stay in Wyoming for awhile. Red and Daisy have moved back into the guest house. The four of us are going back to the ranch tonight. Your little family is going to stay in this room with you, see the beds on either side?”
“They’ll let you do that?” I asked Faith.
“Sure, money talks you know.”
Just then a nurse came in, “I’m going to have to ask you all to let him get some rest. Also I need to check his wounds.”
Dad said, “That’s Okay, the four of us are going to the ranch tonight. We’ll be back on the morrow. Is that alright Clay?”
“Sure, you guys go ahead, I’ll be Okay, these two have kept me alive so far, I’ll be alright.” I said. The nurse said, “Is your wife and daughters going to stay in the room?”
“Sure, why not, I don’t have any secrets from them.” The nurse looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. She took the head bandages off. “That looks pretty good, I think the stitch’s can come out tomorrow. But the Doctor will have to look at it first. Now for the other wound.” She started to take the covers down. Faith spoke up:
“What other wound?” She said loudly.
“That’s Okay Mom, I know about it, it’s not that bad.” Rosie said.
The nurse pulled my covers down and pulled up the gown. She reached down and moved my testacies aside. “Oh, yes these stitches can come out tomorrow also.” I stared at Faith. She said, “What, how did that get there?”
“I’m sorry Mom, I should of told you. But you were concentrating on the head wound and there was so much blood. And then you went over and gave that man his last rights. I sneaked a look then, I seen the ‘family jewels’ as you called them were alright, so I just tore off part of his shirt tail and stopped the blood. I’m sorry I should of told you.”
“Let me look!” Faith said, as she pushed the nurse aside. “Yes, their alright, wait, there’s nick on one of them,” she pulled the nurse close, “see there, is that okay?” They both bent over to get a good look. I looked at Rosie and winked at her. She had that small crooked smile on her face. She leaned over and whispered in my ear, “It’s just a small nick, nothing serious.”
Alita gave a small cry and reached her arms out toward me. I said, “If you two voyeurs are through looking, Alita wants me to hug her.” They both snapped upright, their faces bright red. The nurse hurried out.
“I don’t understand,” Faith said, “when did that happen?”
Rosie said, “There were two shots, one when Dad was falling out of the saddle. That’s when, I guess.”
“Rosie, I don’t understand how you can be so cool under fire.” Faith said. “I was totally terrified. I thought Clay was dead.”
“Yes, at first I did also. But then I seen his chest move, that’s when I knew he would live. But as to how I can be so cool; I guess growing up in that orphanage makes you that way. Oh, I’ve got some news for both of you, guess what? My period started yesterday, I’m officially a woman now.” She said, proudly.
Faith and I, both said, “That’s great Dear.” And Faith gave her a hug. I couldn’t help but think of the irony of the situation. Here she had just saved both mine and Faith’s life, not once, but twice by killing the total of six deadly men. And what she was most proud of, was that she was in puberty. A little late perhaps, because she was not the usual twelve years old, but she had just turned thirteen.
The Doctor came in. She, yes she, said, “So how’s my patient this afternoon?”
“Pretty good Doc.” I said, “but I feel like I should introduce myself. Being as this is the first time I’ve met you. Even though you’re familiar with me.”
“How’s your head feel? Any headaches?” She said.
“Well no, I guess not. My head hurts, which I suppose is normal, being they almost put a hole in my head.”
“Yes, I think I will pull those stitches out, you heal fast. Set up straight, will you?”
I did. Faith was standing at her elbow, so close she could hardly move. I know it made her nervous. She finished with the stitches on my head, then said, “Now let’s see how it’s healing down below.” She pulled the covers down, my gown was still up. “Oh yes, there ready to come out too.” She started to reach down,
Faith said, “Whoa there. I don’t mind you handling my family jewels, while my husband is unconscious, but when he’s awake the only hand that’s going to handle those are mine. Here, give me those scissors and the tweezers, I’ll do that.”
“Alright, do you know how?” The Doc said.
“Yeah she does.” I said. “She’s stitched me up before. It seems I’m somewhat of a target, but this time they almost did for me.” The Doctor stood at her elbow, it didn’t bother Faith, at all.
The Doctor noticed that scar in my side, the one that the pickpockets gave me, she poked around on it. “Is this the one she stitched up? It does look pretty good, in time it won’t hardly show. You did a good job Faith.”
“We’ll do an MRI in the morning, just to be safe. If that comes out alright, I think he can go home in the afternoon. But he’ll have to take it easy; no knocks on the head and such.” Doc said. “Oh yeah,” she added, “are you up to having visitors? There’s an FBI agent and the Sheriff wants to talk with all of you.” I nodded.
I looked at Faith, “They haven’t talked to you guys before this?”
“No, they haven’t, they came out I guess, anyway that’s what Red and Daisy said. Red showed them where they ambushed us. But this will be the first time we’ve seen them.”
John and Harry Silver came in with their hats in their hands. John said, “We hate to bother you so soon after you just come out of your coma, but we have a few questions.” Harry said,
“They’re not too important; since we investigated the crime scene. The facts bear out what Red told us about how you were ambushed. Was there anybody else there? That you seen anyway?”
“Not me, that’s for sure, I haven’t asked my women. Did you girls see anybody else out there?
Faith said, “No I didn’t.”
Rosie cleared her throat, “Uh, no I didn’t see anybody else, but I did hear another ATV take off.”
“Huh?” Faith said, “I didn’t hear anything.”
“You were too busy screaming.” Rosie said.
“Why do you ask?” I said.
“Well, like Rosie said, there was another set of tracks up there. One that tore away at a high rate of speed.” Harry said.
“Did you take casts of the tire prints?” I asked.
“Of course we did, plus also a shoe print that was close to the tire tracks. Funny thing, there were traces of manure in the print.”
“One last question,” John said, “Did Rosie kill them all?”
Faith spoke up quickly, “No she didn’t, I got in one shot, I think I killed one of them.”
“Yes, that’s what our CSI team said, we were just checking.” Harry said, while he was glaring at John. I filed that fact away in the back of my brain. I don’t think John and him were seeing eye to eye in this investigation. I think John would like to find some fault with us.
As they were leaving Harry turned and said, “Did they say anything?” Rosie said,
“Yes, they did, they said they were going to rape us and then kill us. And since Alita was crying about Dad, they wanted me to shut her up. I told them she needed her diaper changed. They told me to change her then. My gun was in the diaper bag.”
Harry and John stared at her, then they left. I think I seen John shudder a little bit as he went through the door. I asked, “Do you lady’s have your guns with you?”
“Of course we do. By the way, here’s yours, you can put it under your pillow.” Faith said.
“How did you get them in here? Don’t they have metal detectors?” I asked.
“Get real, in a little town like this? Of course not. And that’s just why we need them. Anybody can bring a gun in here, so how else are we to protect ourselves?”
Faith and the girls went to the cafeteria for supper, they brought mine. I was pretty hungry, all I had was those intravenous tubes in me. I ate everything they brought, and it was delicious.
I was actually starting to feel pretty good. In my head anyway, my groin was a different story, they ached some. The bullets didn’t destroy anything. It felt like I got hit with a baseball bat though.
After they came back from supper, we sat around talking till bed time. Alita and Rosie slept in one bed, Faith on the other side of my bed. The girls went right to sleep, Faith and I held hands from one bed to the other.
My arm was getting tired. “Hey Hon, how about I get in bed with you?” I said.
I’ll arrange the pillows on my bed so the nurse can’t tell I’m not in there. Don’t worry we won’t do anything, that’s going to have to wait for a day or two.” I said.
“Damn, I was hoping you could, it’s been three weeks for me, while it’s only been a day for you. Since you were in a coma time doesn’t count.” She said.
I started to get into her bed, then I remembered my gun, I got it and put it under the pillow on my side. It didn’t take us long till we were asleep.
We were awoke by gunfire, someone was standing in the doorway firing into my bed, of course I wasn’t in it, he shot five times, before Rosie, Faith and I cut loose, we made a rag doll out of him. He had been silhouetted by the light from the hallway. Who ever it was, he knew what bed I was supposed to be in.
All kinds of alarms were going off, Faith and I got out of bed, we told Rosie to stay with Alita. Faith was in her bra and panties, me in my gown that didn’t cover anything anyway. We went to the door, just as the so-called security guard got there.
The man, who was dressed in a police uniform of some kind, was laying on his face in the hallway. The guard turned him over, it was John, the Sheriff.
I said, to the guard, “You had better call Harry Silver, the FBI agent. I think he’s at the local Motel.”
The hallway was crawling with cops, every kind and description. They were all asking questions at once. When Harry got there, he quieted them down. Harry looked at me, “Okay who shot first? Like I didn’t know.”
“Look at my bed, you’ll find five holes in it, I would be dead, all except I was in bed with my wife. Harry, I’m sure getting tired of people trying to kill me. Why would he try and kill me? If I was you I would check his bank account, I bet someone paid him to do it.” I said.
The Hospital wanted us out. I guess I wasn’t going to get that MRI. Faith and I were still in the same dress mode. I finally noticed that everyone was staring at Faith, well why shouldn’t they she was wearing a thong. “Honey, get dressed won’t you, did you bring any clothes for me? Do you have a car in the parking lot? She said yes to all questions.
I called Dad and told him what had happened and that we were coming out tonight. They didn’t even take me down in a wheel chair, like they do when an ambulatory patient checks out. As we came out of the main door, the press was there, well why not?
I stopped and said, “I tell you what, you come out to the ranch tomorrow and I will answer all of your questions, it’s really quite a story.” Then we left.
Faith was driving, she looked at me, “Are you alright?” She asked.
“Yeah, sure, I guess. I still hurt and I feel pretty tired. But nothing I won’t recover from.”
“I’m pissed,” Faith said, “the way they kicked us out. I believe it’s against the law. I think we have grounds for a malpractice law suit. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been a fan of law suits. But yeah, I think you have a right to be pissed. After all, it wasn’t our fault that John tried to kill me. And I’m sure he would of turned his gun on the other two beds. I didn’t want to make a bigger scene than what was already going on. When the press comes out in the morning, that will be the time to air our complaints.”
Faith’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel. Yeah, she was some upset. I can’t blame her. If it was her that was injured and they did this to her. I would have been more than pissed. I was a bit sleepy. Faith seen my head nod, she said. “Recline the seat and take a nap, I’ll wake you when we get home.” I did so. I heard Rosie say, “Is Dad Okay, he’s not going to go into a coma again, is he?” That was the last I heard…
The sun was coming in my bedroom window. I was a bit disoriented, was it time to go to school?
Then I heard a voice say, “Well, you’re finally awake, I’ll call your wife.” I looked over at the chair beside my bed. A woman was setting there. She got up and left the room. I moved my arm, there was a tube in it. I followed the tube with my eyes, it lead to a bag hanging from a stand.
There was something else, my hand went down to my crotch, there was tube coming out of it. It was a catheter. I relaxed, trying figure out what was going on. Things were swirling around in my mind. Slowly, they were coming into focus. My name for one thing. I was Clay Bronson.
The woman said she would get my wife. Wife? Oh, yeah, Faith. I smiled, she was one hot babe. How in the world did I deserve such a babe? Then, children, Alita and Rosie, I smiled some more.
I looked around my room, it was more of a hospital room. But I could tell it was my room. Faith burst into the room, followed by Rosie and Alita? They were bigger than I remembered, but Faith was much prettier than she used to be, to me anyway.
“Oh Clay, Sweetheart, you’re finally awake,” Faith said, with tears running down her cheeks. She fell on her knees beside the bed, kissing me. I ate it up. “How do you feel?” she said.
“I don’t know, but you and the kids look wonderful, how have you guys been?”
“Us? Goodness sake, we’re fine.” Faith said. I tried to set up a little bit, but I could hardly move. “Don’t move too fast, you’ll have to take it slow.” Faith said.
“How come I’m so weak, how long have I been in bed?” I asked. Faith put her hands to her mouth, then Rosie said, looking at her wrist watch.
“Six months, one week, two days, and five hours. So it’s going to take you a while to get your muscles up to par.” She smiled at me then leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Alita was standing on her own beside the bed, she tried to crawl on the bed, Rosie lifted her up. She laid down beside me and put her arm around me. I gave her a kiss on the forehead. Tears were running down my cheeks, I don’t know why, I wasn’t crying, men don’t cry.
The woman who was here when I woke up came in the room. “Clay,” Faith said, “you remember Dr. Suong Tu?
“Yeah, I remember her, but I didn’t know her name. If I’m not mistaken that name is of Vietnamese origin?” I said, as I weakly held out my hand.
“Yes,” she said, as she took my hand and checked my pulse. “Hmm, that’s good. How are you feeling?” The Doc said.
“Well, there is one thing you can do for me, and that’s get that catheter out.”
“Do you think you’re strong enough to get up to pee?” She said.
“Well, if I’m not, my wife can help me, just get the damn thing out!”
“Alright, if your family would leave the room?” She said, looking at Faith and Rosie.
“They don’t have to, I’m sure they have seen me naked before, even Rosie, she stopped the bleeding down there when I got shot.” I said.
She flipped back the covers, I didn’t have a gown on. I guess it was easier to keep me clean without one. She proceeded to pull it out. Now if you’ve never had a catheter in, it’s hard to explain how it feels coming out, put it this way, I didn’t like it.
“What about these feeding tubes, can you take them out?” I asked. They were a little easier coming out, they only bled a little bit, when she pulled the needles out of my veins.
She said, “I hope you’re not getting, how you say, ‘the buggy ahead of the Donkey’?”
“That’s the ‘cart ahead of the horse.’ How come you’re here?” I asked, rather bluntly.
“Behave yourself Clay,” Faith said. “Dr. Tu has been very helpful, she’s on the company payroll now.”
“Huh? What payroll?”
“The Spanish Bit Oil Company. There have been a lot of changes in the last six months. One of them I’m sure you will like, Rosie is now officially a Bronson. The adoption papers went through last month.”
“Good, but how can that be, I thought I would have to sign some kind of papers?”
“Don’t worry, I have your signature down pat, you’ve signed oodles of papers since you went back into a coma.” Faith said, “In fact even Rosie has mastered your scrawl.”
“Why does the Company need a Doctor?” I asked.
“Well, someone is always getting hurt someway. But we owed it to her. You see, the next morning after you left the Hospital, she came out to check on you. She’s been here ever since. Also she testified on our behalf when we sued the Hospital.”
“Oh? What grounds did you use?”
“Several, from malpractice, to failure to provide proper security. It was sort of their fault that John ever got there to shoot into that empty bed. And then when they kicked you out, that was really a no-no.”
“Did you win?” I asked.
“We settled out of court, for three million, they were glad to pay it.”
“Well, you’ve turned into a regular money bags, haven’t you? But where is the rest of our family?”
“Oh, they went home a long time ago, they have to run the Oil company in New Mexico. They have been calling every day. As soon as you feel better, you can call them.
And I’m not the money bags, we are. You, me and Rosie, plus Alita. Of course, in the Oil Company, Dad, Felicia, Jake and Alona. All eight of us really.”
Dr. Tu spoke up, “I think we ought to let him rest for a little while, you can fill him in on everything that has happened later.”
“I want Faith to stay.” I said. Rosie took Alita, and the three of them filed out.
“So,” I said, “Just who has been giving me baths, during all of those months?”
“Now who do you think? Me of course. But I will sure be glad when you can take your own.”
“I’m sorry Honey, for all of the trouble I’ve put the family through. Not only the work of taking care of me, but the heartache of it. It must have been hard on all of you.”
“Well yes, but its been worth it, now that you’re awake again. This time you had better stay that way. We did get you that MRI, there is no permanent damage, but that bullet sure did rattle your brains.”
“How soon do you think I can get up?” I asked.
“Well, why don’t we play that by ear. First we had better see if you can hold down solid food. We have to get your digestive system working again. We know your kidneys work fine, as many times as I had to empty that bag.”
That took a week, before I could get out of bed and stand on my own. And another week, before I could get down stairs. I had been out for six months, missed winter. That I didn’t mind, but now spring was in full blossom. That I was determined not to miss.
Rosie had started going back to school. They gave her a placement test, she qualified for the 11th grade, she was a Junior in High School. The Bus picked her up right at our gate on the county road. She drove one of the ranch pickups there each morning. She made sure she locked it up tight. She didn’t need a driver’s license to drive on our own property.
Being a thirteen year old in with seventeen year olds was a test on one’s patience. It wasn’t the boy’s that gave her problems, but the other girls. You know how girls run in packs, just like wolves.
Anyway, they tried to beat her up, just because she was smarter than they were. Big mistake. There were six of them, they cornered her in the Gym. Rosie was a great one for learning things off of the internet. She could see it done, then translate that image into action. She had been watching a video on street fighting.
We had to pay for the Doctor bills, they couldn’t press charge’s since they started it. I guess we could of fought it, but I felt sorry for them, it wasn’t their fault that they were saddled with a ‘stupid gene’ in their makeup.
I was setting on the porch whittling, when Rosie drove in the yard, It was the first week in May.
She came up and set beside me. “Dad, can I have some money for my graduation ring and the gown and stuff?”
“Huh? Graduation? You don’t graduate till next year, do you?” I said.
“No, it’s this year, I have been doing double work.”
“Why in the world did you want to do that for?” I asked.
“It wasn’t my idea. The principal came up to me last fall, he told me they’d make all the arrangements, if I would do extra work. So I figured, why not?”
“You don’t have to ask for money. You can have what you want anytime, you know that. Is that why those girls tried to beat you up? Do they think you’re a nerd?”
“Not anymore. Their all scared of me now, even the boys. Plus also they’ve all heard the stories about our family. They say we shoot first and ask questions later.”
“Well, that’s certainly not the truth, we’ve never shot first.” I said.
“Yeah, really I think they’re just jealous, they think we’re rich.” Rosie said, then, “I’m going to get some cookies and milk, do you want some?”
“Yes, please.” I said, as I laid my whittling aside, thinking back to what Faith had told me about our late Sheriff. The morning after the shootout in the Hospital, Harry Silver had checked John’s bank account. Just that day he had tried to kill us, someone had deposited five hundred thousand dollars in his bank account.
The FBI could of froze his account, but he had children and a wife. Faith had talked Harry into letting his family have it. It wasn’t their fault he was an idiot. Faith had told me how she met her one time in the grocery store. His wife started to call us killers. Faith took her aside and explained things to her. Now they were the best of friends.
There was still some unfinished business; Dipper Tick. I was sure it was his bunch that paid John to kill us. We hadn’t heard anymore about him and we didn’t have any more trouble. But how long can one go in this world without having any trouble?
Rosie came out of the house with milk and cookies, Faith came out behind her, carrying Alita. I said, “Alita, how come you’re not walking? Making your decrepit old mother carry you, shame on you.”
She just giggled and reached down to me, I took her and sat her on my lap, we shared the milk and cookies. Faith twisted my ear, “Just who is decrepit? I think it’s time you started pulling your weight around here. The men need help in the spring roundup and branding. I told Red that you and Rosie would help them.”
“Sure, do you know how to rope Rosie?”
“Some, I’ve watched the men. But I would like you to teach me, the men missed about half of the time.”
“Sure thing, Sweetheart, we’ll start the lessons this evening. Have you been riding Diablo? And how has Brutus been?” I asked.
“Mom and I have been riding. We take turns in riding Brutus, he gets mad when we ride Diablo and Nick, he doesn’t like to be left back.”
“Did you have any trouble with him?”
“At first, but when I told him you were hurt, he quieted right down.” Rosie said.
Then she got up and took Alita, “We’re going to check on the horses.” As she walked away I noticed how she was growing into her bones. I suppose I’d have to put up a fence around her pretty soon.
Faith noticed me watching, “Yes, she is becoming quite the young lady. The last time we went to the movie in town, I noticed all the boys looking at her. Don’t worry though, she has a level head on her shoulders.”
“You’ve been going to the movies?” I said.
“Of course, you’ve had all of those sexy dreams for the last six months, while we had to pay for ours.” She said, as she sat down in my lap and gave a little wiggle.
Dreams? She was right, I did have some. Not sexy ones, but weird ones. Funny thing, I could remember each and every one of them. Which is unusual, most dreams you forget as soon as you wake up. I was still trying to figure them out.
I was feeling a lot better. Faith gave another wiggle. It dawned on me, she had been without for over six months. I said, “Come on Honey, I think we have time.” She said, “You mean?” I picked her up off of my lap and carried her into the house, “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”…….