DAY OF RECKONING

CHAPTER 11

Two days later Dara had had her fill of being confined to be. Lucilla looked up in surprise to find her not only standing in the doorway of the kitchen, but also fully dressed. Shaking her head, she asked, "Child, what are you doing out of bed? You know what Dr. Matt said and you know that Lucas will have an absolute fit if he sees you up."

Dara shrugged as she lowered herself into a chair and replied, "You let me worry about Lucas and as far as being out of bed, Matt said that if I felt better and wasn't having any kind of pain then I could get up."

Lucilla smiled at the younger woman's stubbornness as she stated, "Well if you start feeling bad you go straight back to bed, you hear?"

Dara smiled as she nodded, "I promise mama, now what's for supper?"

Lucilla handed her a bowl filled with potatoes to be peeled as she answered, "Peel these and it'll be mashed potatoes to go with this roast."

Dara began doing as instructed happy to be able to do something productive.

Caleb and Trisha came in, laughing at Caleb's latest attempt to teach Trisha how to drive. "I mean it Caleb, I'm not learning on that car, it's way too fast for me." Both stopped short at the sight of Dara sitting at the table peeling potatoes.

Caleb, having acquired his father's habit for directness, asked, "Mama, what are you doing of bed? You know dad will have a fit if he knows you're up."

Dara looked at him and sighed in frustration as she stated, "Caleb, I've spent most of my pregnancy in the bed. I feel perfectly fine and I'm tired of being cooped up in a bed, so I'm not going back up there until time for bed tonight."

Caleb shook his head as his mother's stubbornness, but couldn't contain the smile he felt at the return of the personality he had come to treasure in his mother.

Just then they heard the front door open and the rush of small legs running as the children yelled excitedly, "Daddy!"

Dara smiled as she saw her husband come in the kitchen in the old routine of having Alex on his back and Riesa and Rinie in his arms. Lucas Looked at Dara as he asked anxiously, "What are you doing out of bed, young lady?"

Dara sighed in frustration at having to go through the same argument for the third time in a row, but mama Lucy came to her rescue as she stated, "Leave her alone boy, she feels better and she's tired of being cooped up in that bed."

Lucas motioned for Caleb to take Alex as he set Riesa and Rinie back down, instructing them to go watch the television. Once the kids were gone, he knelt down and asked softly, "Do you really feel better, or are you just saying that?"

Dara smiled lovingly at him as she answered truthfully, "I really feel better, I'm not having any pain in either my back or stomach and other than just being a little bit tired, I'm fine."

Lucas nodded in acceptance as he reached in his jacket pocket and handed her some brochures.

Dara looked at him puzzled as she asked, "What are these for?"

Taking his seat and a cup of coffee from his grandmother he motioned for Trisha to take the bowl and finish with the potatoes so Dara could look over the brochures. "There what we discussed before, those are some of the better pre-schools for the kids."

Dara looked at him sharply, then remembering their discussion when he raised an eyebrow at her daringly, simply nodded her head in resignation as she began reading through them. Looking at her husband in question she asked timidly, "How long before we have to make a decision?"

Shrugging his shoulders he replied, "Well it is rather late, but I thought that we would enroll them as soon as possible, at least before the baby is born."

Dara looked at him unsurely, but remained silent. Lucas, sensing that something more than just sending her children to school or the first time was bothering her, asked, "Something else on your mind?"

Nodding she inquired fearfully, "What about Garrett Darvin? I don't like the idea of the kids being out of our sight until he totally leaves us alone."

Lucas considered her point of view; he had been forced to agree to release him within the next two days as the assault charges he had tried to press were outweighed by the charges Darvin attempted to press against Lucas. Since Dara had to be the one to formally charge him with assault, when she had discovered what would happen to her husband if she pursued it, she had agreed to dismiss them. Lucas hadn't been happy about it, but he knew it was a no win situation for the moment, if she charged him he would still get out before Lucas, leaving Dara and the children more or less at Darvin's mercy. Considering her statement, he asked quietly, "Would it put you at ease to keep the kids near you until this is settled?"

Dara nodded solemnly as she pleaded in a quiet voice, "Please."

Lucas agreed, wanting to keep her as calm as possible and knowing that truth be told he preferred the idea of their children staying close to home until this was settled.

Trisha jumped up and took the bowl to the sink, reminding them that they were not alone. Turning to the girl, Dara asked, "Would you like to eat supper with us, Trisha?"

Trisha smiled at the woman that she had come to consider a second mother as she replied, "I never thought you'd offer."

Laughing, Dara pushed herself up from the table to help her set the table for supper, glad to be able to at least enjoy this temporary lull in the storm.



After the children had been settled into their beds with a story from their father and a song from their mother, a ritual that they dearly missed but never complained about due to their mother's illness, Lucas and Dara settled in their own room.

Dara smiled mischievously at her husband as he emerged from the bathroom after his shower, "you realize that I didn't get my usual anniversary gift, right?"

Lucas glanced at her from under the towel he was using to dry his damp hair with, "What 'gift' would that be?"

Raising her delicately arched eyebrow she replied, "Guess?"

Lucas glanced at her in uncertainty, "Are you sure that you feel up to it?"

Dara looked at him sarcastically as she got up from the bed and walked over to run feather light touches across his broad chest with her small hands, "I think darling, that the question should really be, are you up to it?" Feeling the reply to her inquiry pressing against her swollen abdomen she glanced down and blushed as she quickly looked up into his ayes and stated, "I see that you are."

Lucas smiled leeringly at her as he pushed her gown down her arms to let it fall to the floor as he released the towel wrapped around his waist and reminded her, "Just remember you asked for it." With that he took her in his arms and took possession of her mouth as he lifted her in his arms and laid her on the bed.

Dara and Lucas both lost themselves in each other, grateful that even after the years of marriage and children they now shared they never lost the magic interweaving of both body and spirit intermingled with love that they had always had.



Once they were both satisfied, Lucas lay with his arms wrapped around his wife, who had her head resting on his chest. Bringing up the subject that he had been dreading, he sat up and reached into the bedside table drawer, bringing out a package.

Dara smiled as she looked at the package he silently handed her and asked jokingly, "What, another piece of jewelry? You know I think you've given me more than Tiffany's and Cartier's combined."

Lucas shook his head in deadly seriousness, "It's not a piece of jewelry darlin."

Dara looked at him in uncertainty, and then pushing her long hair over her shoulder she opened the heavy box and stared in shock at the contents. Looking at her husband she asked quietly, "Please tell me that this is a joke."

Lucas sighed, he knew when he had purchased it that it was going to be an argument for her to agree to it, but he also knew it was a necessity. "No baby, it's not a joke. Look I have to let him out the day after tomorrow and I'm not about to let him get another chance at you or at the kids. But this is very important whatever you do if you have to kill him make certain that none of the children are around if at all possible."

Dara glanced at him questioningly, "Not that I want them to see it, but why is that so imperative?"

Lucas sighed and answered her directly, "Because he can transfer his spirit into someone else. But in his case I think that it has to be a child."

Dara stared at him in shock as she asked, "Why just a child?"

Lucas replied honestly, "Because a child's spirit if fragile, they haven't quite taken root yet so they're easily displaced."

Dara stared at him in utter disbelief, "you realize how insane this sounds, don't you?'

Lucas looked at her as he replied sarcastically, "As I recall there are a number of things that you considered insane when we married, but that you now find acceptable."

Dara looked back at the automatic lying in the box and shook her head as she stated softly, "Lucas I just don't know, you know how I feel about a gun and you're expecting me to carry one what about you?"

Lucas reached back into the drawer and withdrew the one that was standard issue in the department, but that he had never felt a need to carry, until now. "Does that answer your question? Look this is just until this is over with; tomorrow I'll take you to the firing range and let you practice. And don't tell me that you don't know how to use it because I know that your grandfather taught you when you lived on the farm with him and your grandmother."

Dara looked at the gun once more and nodded, realizing that this piece of metal might be all that stood between her or her children or husband and death.

Lucas sighed in relief at her acceptance and took both guns and got up placing them in the back of the closet, well out of the children's reach.

Climbing back into bed he pulled her against him as she stated, "I still don't like the idea of having a gun, but I do see the necessity of it."

Lucas kissed her still bruised cheek gently as he replied, "I know you don't, but it's just until we get past this."

Glancing over her shoulder skeptically she asked, "And will we ever get over this Lucas, or is he going to haunt us until the day that we or he dies?" With that she settled down and drifted off to sleep, leaving Lucas to ponder her statement.



Lucas knew that she was able to use a gun, but he was utterly surprised to find that she was an excellent shot. Although she really didn't want to even touch the gun, once it was in her hand she focused all of her attention and concentration on the tack at hand.

Out of the ten targets she had used she had hit in or around the center circle on nine of them, having only missed the circle on the first one by no more than an inch or so. Despite her reluctance at using a gun Lucas could see she was proud of her proficiency with it.

Looking at her in shock as he studied her targets he shook his head as he stated sarcastically, "I believe that there is definitely something that you've neglected to tell me about your various 'talents'."

Dara looked at him in seriousness, "This particular 'talent' isn't one that I had ever intended having a need for."

Lucas pulled her close to him, "I know darlin, and I hate that you have to need it now, but you do, so we just have to make the best of it."

Sighing in acceptance, she nodded her head in agreement.