DAY OF RECKONING

CHAPTER 12

More than a month had passed since Lucas had reluctantly released Darvin from holding making sure that his position was quite clear on the matter of his family, "I'm warning you and this is the final time, if you so much as even think of looking at my wife the wrong way I wont hesitate breaking your neck."

So far it had been fairly quite and peaceful, Dara was now eight months along and although she still suffered from occasional exhaustion it was nowhere as severe as it had previously been.

The weather had turned warm for March, allowing the children the opportunity to play in the back yard and in the garden. Riesa and Alex had decided to come inside and watch their cartoons while Rinie chose to sit in the canopied swing and continue coloring.

Dara decided to venture outside to keep her youngest child company and was enjoying sitting with her daughter when she heard the squeaking of the back gate. Rinie looked up in eagerness, asking, "You think that's daddy, mommy?"

Dara looked down at her wristwatch, it was still a little early for Lucas to be home yet. Shaking her head at her daughter she stated as she struggled to push herself up from the swing. "I don't know angel, it's still a little early for daddy ye…." Looking past the back porch Dara understood why the gate had opened, standing about ten feet past the other side of the back porch was the most vicious looking mongrel dog she had ever seen, even in her extreme condition the animal was easily bigger than she was, Dara watched as the beast growled and bared its teeth at her.

Rinie was about to jump down and run towards the porch, not having seen the dog as of yet when Dara placed her hand on the little girl's shoulder to halt her. Speaking carefully to avoid panic in her voice she instructed her daughter, "Rinie sit right where you're at. Now I need you to listen to mommy very carefully, someone let a very mean dog in the yard so I need you to stay calm."

Rinie looked up at her mother with fear in her eyes, but remained calm, certain that her mother could get them out of this.

Dara was about to yell, in the hope of getting mama Lucy's attention when the dog took a step forward and growled more menacingly as though anticipating Dara's actions. Clamping her mouth shut she re thought her position and realized that either she or her child were going to be attacked. Hoping that she would be able to protect her unborn child she made her decision and instructed her daughter to slowly stand on the seat of the swing, then judging the distance as the swing was located next to the high porch, asked, "Rinie, do you think if you get up on the canopy of the swing that you can jump onto the porch and run into the house?"

Rinie nodded and confessed sheepishly, "I know I can mommy, me and Riesa and Alex have contests to do that all the time."

Dara smiled and nodded as she instructed her, "All right baby, I want you to slowly get on the bar and then on the canopy, but I want you to kneel down until you see the dog chasing me, then when he's away from the porch I want you to jump on the porch and run inside. Tell mama to get help out here."

Rinie looked at her mother in uncertainty, "But mommy you cant run that fast and that dog might hurt you or the baby."

Knowing that her daughter wouldn't cooperate unless she thought Dara would be all right, she decided to lie and put her at ease, "It's all right baby, mommy can make it to her car until someone comes, okay?"

Nodding in acceptance of her mother's logic, she began to slowly climb to the top of the canopy while the mongrel continued to move slowly forward, still growling ferociously.

Dara looked at her daughter, satisfied she was in position, she asked as she took the rake handle the children had been playing with and left handy to her reach, "Ready baby?" Rinie nodded, still unsure this was a good idea.

Dara silently counted to five then sprinted away from the porch with the dog giving chase, over her shoulder she yelled, "Go Rinie!" With that she glanced to make sure her daughter cleared the porch and was satisfied to hear the back door slam, knowing that she was now safe.

Dara saw her chance to get to safety and was about to make it when she felt her foot slip into an unseen hole which threw her off balance, slowing her down, which gave the mongrel the opportunity to launch itself at her, knocking hr to the ground. She had managed to twist around and land on her back, rather than her stomach, but she wasn't able to pick herself up as the huge beast pinned her to the ground by placing its hind paws on her legs and its front paws on either side of her body. Dara, still clutching the rake handle held it up between herself and the dog, pressing it against the huge animal's throat to keep it from sinking its teeth into her. Dara could feel her strength draining away and knew that she wouldn't be able to keep the beast from tearing her throat out much longer when the animal placed a hind paw in the lower part of her abdomen, causing her to scream in pain as well as induce her labor. Just as she felt the onset of the first pain and was about to lose the strength in her arms she saw a shovel make contact with the animal's head, sending it flying five or more feet off of her. looking over she could see the animal struggling to its feet even more determined than before. Dara screamed and covered her ears when she heard the gunfire sending at least five bullets into the animal ending its life.

Lucas laid the gun down as he knelt down, grabbing his wife's wrists to pry her hands away from her head, "Dara it's all right, its dead it cant come after you or the kids again. Baby come on look at me."

Dara looked up at him in uncertainty, then wrapped her arms around his neck in relief and gratefulness until the next pain hit, reminding her of the damage the animal had already done.

Lucas looked at her in alarm as she pulled away and grabbed her stomach, doubling over in pain. Noticing the smudge of dirt on the front of her dress and remembering the scream he had heard earlier he knew why she was now in pain. Slipping his arms under her he lifted her and realized that blood was quickly staining the lower half of her dress.

Mama Lucy came out hurrying, having seen the same thing looking at her grandson she sternly ordered, "Take her upstairs and put her in the bed."

Lucas looked at her as if she had lost her mind, "Are you crazy? We've got to get her to the hospital."

Lucilla shook her head, "No, you have to get her to the bed, she's hemorrhaging because she's about to deliver, if you put her in that car you'll kill her she'll bleed to death before you get her there."

Lucas did as told and hurried into the house and up the stairs, ignoring the persistent knocking on the door.

Lucilla hurried behind him, taking the time to let Matt Crower in followed quickly by Loris, who took charge of the three small children. Matt and Lucilla hurried up the stairs and entered as Lucas was laying Dara on the bed.

Matt, seeing the increasing bloodstain and the obvious agony that Dara was enduring, quickly instructed, "Get me some towels and sheets." Turing to Lucas he ordered, "Get her out of that dress, its filthy and put a loose gown on her."

Doing as instructed he accomplished his assigned task and asked, "Should we take her to the hospital?"

Matt shook his head, "There isn't time and she doesn't need to deliver en route, no we'll have to do it here." Taking the sheets and with Lucilla's help, he slipped one underneath Dara's hips and positioned her legs to drape the other one over her, then taking the towels he began pressing them to her to absorb the blood that insisted on flowing. With that he looked at Dara, "All right, we've about got this under control but your going to have to help me, we have to deliver this baby and fast so get ready to push, all right?"

Dara nodded as Matt motioned for Lucas to get behind her and push up on the pillows supporting her, "All right, on the count of three push until I tell you to stop. One, two, three push."

Dara put everything into pushing her child into the world and concentrated until Matt told her to stop, "All right that's good, we're almost there. Now, I need you to push hard and fast on this one. Do you think you can do that?"

Dara nodded and positioned herself to push, Matt instructed, "All right, push."

Concentrating on the task at hand she did as instructed until Matt motioned for her to stop. Dara fell back against the pillows, already drained and tired from the exertion and excruciating pain of giving birth.

Motioning for Lucilla to get into position, Matt explained, "All right I think one more should do it, we're at the shoulders, but we have to hurry there's a serious tear in the placental sac, that's were all the bleeding is coming from. So this time Lucilla is going to push on your stomach to help you along, all right?"

Nodding, Dara pleaded, "Please hurry, I don't think I can do this anymore."

Matt nodded, all too aware of how weak and exhausted she was quickly becoming.

Lucas looked into her tear-streaked face and offered as he held her hand tightly, "A good healthy yell or scream wont hurt and it might help."

Dara shook her head, determined not to give in to the pain as Matt instructed, "All right, ready? On the count of three you push and Lucilla you push, one, two, three." With that everyone did their assigned tasks and although she had declined the opportunity to release her frustration over the pain she was enduring no one was shocked when she finally screamed in torment and pain just before they heard a tiny wail coming out of the tiny body Matt now had in his hands.

Quickly cutting the umbilical cord he handed the baby to Lucilla to clean up and wrap in a blanket then went back to working on Dara. Satisfied that the bleeding was now stopped and both mother and child were healthy enough, he smiled, "Well, you're three for two, you've got another daughter."

Dara eagerly took her daughter from Lucilla, who was wiping tears from her eyes.

Lucas smiled at his wife and daughter as he looked at both Matt and Lucilla questioningly, "By the way, how did you get here so fast?"

Lucilla spoke up, "When Rinie came in and told me what was happening I called Crower after I tried the station. I figured that Dara would need medical attention. I was about to go after that monster when you showed up."

Dara glanced up at her husband questioningly, "By the way why did you come home so early?"

Lucas shrugged, "There wasn't anything going on at the station and all of the paperwork was caught up so I decided to leave early. I'm glad I did."

Dara smiled weakly as she nodded, "So am I."

Lucas returned the smile before turning serious, "I wonder who we have to thank for our unwanted visitor."

Dara glanced up at her husband in a silent plea before glancing back to the baby in her arms, pleading for this special moment not to be infringed on by the presence of Garrett Darvin.

Lucas nodded silently, understanding the look in her eyes before turning to Crower to ask, "Shouldn't we get them to the hospital so you can check them out and make sure they're ok?"

Matt nodded, "Yes, let me just call ahead and make arrangements for a room for Dara." With that he left the room.

Lucilla decided to follow Matt's lead as she announced, "I better go downstairs and let the others know that Dara and the baby are both okay."

After she closed the door Lucas glanced down at his wife as he held both her and his daughter closer, "I'm sorry darlin, I feel like I've let you down. If I hadn't come home when I did.."

Dara grabbed his hand and shook her head, "Don't think about what could have happened, just be grateful for what is." Before she could say anything more Matt entered the room once more.

"It's all set I think it would be best to take them to the hospital by car."

Lucas nodded as he got up and went to the closet to get a robe for Dara. Lucilla returned to take the baby from Dara while Lucas helped her into her robe.

Dara was about to take a step toward the door when Lucas shook his head, "I don't think so young lady." With that he bent down and swung Dara up in his arms."

Heading downstairs they saw their children waiting to see their new sibling. Trisha, who had come in with Caleb, stated more than asked, "Things happen rather fast in this family, don't they."