We were getting in our SUVs when a car came racing up the driveway. It was an old beater, and as it drove, I was hoping it wouldn't lose pieces. It reminded me of some of the cars that I had driven in the past. There had been several times that bumpers had gone missing when I drove. I usually heard the thump, but I would just keep driving. I needed the backseat to pick up skips and couldn't have it stuffed with bumpers.
We got the little ones into the car seats as Heather reached us, and she jumped out in anger. "It's not fair for you to have family functions and not invite me."
"I'm sorry, but you aren't family", I said.
"He was my father!"
"No, I'm sorry. He wasn't. I did the research to see who your father could have been. But my Colin Stewart was living in England for the year of your conception. It literally could not be him. I reviewed every Colin Stewart in Inverness the year of your conception, and none of them seem like a good fit." I pulled out the report that I had prepared and handed it to her. "I'm sure you want to see this yourself. This copy is for you."
"NO! Colin Stewart is my father!" She ripped the pages out of my hand.
"I'm sorry", I said. I turned to get in the car, and Heather kicked out and hit me in the pelvic region. Ranger jumped forward, kicked up and knocked her head back, did a leg sweep and knocked her onto the ground, flipped her over and kneeled on her kidneys. "Cuffs, babe?" He looked back and his eyes opened wide in shock and fear. I was lying on the ground in a ball, snivelling and crying. The girls were in the backseat screaming for me. Kai had run over to me and was attempting to get me to lie flat on the ground. Tracy was assisting him. Joe was cuddling Eli as he cried, and Julie was standing there in horror.
"Jules, can you go through my purse and get my cuffs? Your dad needs them." I whimpered as Kai touched my abdomen.
"Bring her inside", said Lindsay. "Lying on the damp ground won't do anything good."
Kai lifted me up and carried me inside. "I'm sorry. I'm heavy", I said with tears in my voice.
Kai smiled. "And I'm a he-man. You're a light little feather. Lighter even than you used to be, since you have lost so much weight over the last four months."
Lindsay led Kai to a bedroom and pulled down the comforter. Kai turned to her and asked for a dark towel. She ran to get it as Kai turned to me. "Where did she hit? I couldn't quite see."
I pointed to the part of my body that formerly had my uterus. He and Tracy pulled down my pants so that they could see, and Tracy pulled up my top. "I can see the bruising, Steph", said Kai. Lindsay came in with the dark towel, and Tracy and Kai raised my hips and spread the towel underneath me.
Kai washed his hands in the adjoining bathroom, and came back again. "Steph, on a scale of zero to ten, ten being excruciating, where are you?"
"About an eight."
"Okay. I'm sorry, Steph, but I have to do an external and internal exam. I know it is going to be uncomfortable, but I have to see what we are dealing with."
"Okay."
"We'll start with the external exam." He felt around. It hurt like hell, but he didn't say anything. He then did the internal exam, and Lindsay held my hand as we both cried. When he took his hand out, it was covered in blood. He went into the bathroom again to wash his hands, and he came out a few minutes later. Tracy had helped dress me again in the meantime, and she had come around and held my other hand as she swiped the tears from my face with a tissue.
Kai sat on the side of the bed. "Okay, Steph. You have definite bruising, which means that you have some damage. The bruising is extensive and will be uncomfortable for a while. The amount of blood that was on my hand was much more than it was last night when I did the exam, and today it was fresh blood. Last night, there was very little blood at all on my hand, and it was all old blood. Last night the internal caused little discomfort as well. That was not the case today. I suspect what happened is that some of the injuries in the surgical site have broken open again, and you are going to have to take it easy for far longer than two weeks before you are up to speed again."
I shuddered in a sob. "Do I have to go to the hospital?"
"If that bleeding doesn't slow down, then yes. However, they won't go in and sew the cuts up again unless they have to. The hospital will tell you to rest and let the cuts heal themselves. I'll check the bleeding before bed, and again first thing tomorrow. I suspect what will happen is that the bleeding will slow down and stop on its own.
"At the castle, I brought some acetaminophen with codeine, and I will give you some when we get back. That should help knock you out for the night. However, I am hoping that most of the pain will be gone with only one dose, and that you'll just be uncomfortable tomorrow. If you are still in pain though, I brought quite a few of the tablets and they are there to be used. I also brought extra-strength acetaminophen, and if the ones with codeine are too much, you can take the lower dose."
"How long am I going to have to take it easy?"
"I don't know yet, but my guess is a month. I want you in bed for at least the next two days continuously."
I swiped a tear from my face. "Miguel is going to kill me."
"Miguel will be worried about you."
"I know, but if I'm down and out for four weeks before I can start working with the research department, that means that Miguel is Acting Executive Vice-President for a longer period, and he hates the role."
"What task does he hate the most?" He took my pulse.
"Probably going into court. It's a real bore."
"At least you stay out of trouble. What is the worst thing that can happen in court?"
"One time I was going to the witness stand and I saw that there was a bomb under the judge's desk. I called over Raphael and he dismantled it. It was a little tense for a few minutes though."
"What happened then?"
"Court was dismissed for the day."
Kai smiled.
"Okay, Steph", he said quietly. "I don't have my blood pressure gauge, but your pulse is very high. I need you to concentrate on your breathing, breathe slowly and deeply, and calm your body down. Remember, deep breaths are going to help you immensely."
Ranger came into the room looking a little frantic. "Steph?" he said in a panic when he saw my eyes closed.
"She's okay, Ranger", said Kai calmly.
"Yeah, I didn't even scream when Kai told me that I can't go back to work for a month", I said. "But I'm just being good because he promised me some of the good meds when we get back to the castle."
Lindsay moved out of the way, and Ranger took her place. He picked up my hand and massaged it, and I could feel my heart rate calm and decrease. "What's going on, babe?"
"She kicked me in my lower abdomen where my uterus used to be. When she kicked me, we think she reinjured the surgical site and I'm bleeding. Kai wants me in bed for the next two days, and then to take it easy for the next month. So anyway, I've been thinking, I'm going to tell Hal this doesn't count for the pool. I know there are going to be people who want to count it as me collapsing, but I think this is a different kettle of fish."
"I'll support you on that, babe. If they allow this to count, it's a little unfair. They will be getting you on a technicality."
I smiled. "Exactly!" I opened my eyes and smiled at him, and he brushed my hair out of my face. He looked worried. "Did the police come yet?"
"We are just waiting for them. Angus called them for us. Julie has the four kids in the living room playing games. Joe is standing over Heather wishing that he had his gun, but he said that was very forward-thinking of you to carry cuffs in your purse, and he wanted to know what you planned on doing with them."
I smiled. "Just a habit I got into when the kids were teething. They made the best teething rings ever. I've reduced the number of cuffs that I carry. I only carry two pairs now. I used to carry six. It was funny though. Sometimes the cuffs would still have baby drool on them, and then I would use them on the skip. The skips apparently didn't like the feel of baby drool on their wrists. The hardest part for me was explaining to you why I was disinfecting my cuffs each night. You always wanted to know what I was doing with them, that I needed to disinfect them every single night."
Ranger smiled. He had been around me enough to know that pain gave me verbal diarrhea. Apparently, this time was no different.
"Do you think the police will be long?" I said.
"No, babe. Just a few minutes. Why don't you go to sleep?"
"I'm in too much pain."
"Remember how you rode the pain when you were in labor? Could you ride the pain now?"
"Uh-hunh. Can you do that thing with my hair?"
He adjusted himself on the bed so that he could reach more easily, and then he slowly and rhythmically brushed my hair away from my face. I closed my eyes and let myself float. The pain receded into the background. I could feel Kai take my pulse again, and I guess Ranger looked at him because he said it was at one-ten, but it had been up at one-fifty.
I don't know how long Ranger was soothing me before the police came. I heard them talk to Ranger and Kai, and then Ranger stopped brushing my hair aside. "Babe", he said. "Can you talk to the officer now?"
I slowly opened my eyes. "Hi", I said with a smile. "How are you?"
"Better than you, ma'am", said the officer.
"I'm glad to hear that. I wouldn't wish this pain on anybody."
"Not even the lady outside?"
"Heather? No. She honestly believes that Colin Stewart was her father. She just wants him to recognize, both monetarily and physically, that he is her father and now that he has died, she wants us to. I understand. I'm not happy about it, but I understand. I'm a researcher though, and I proved that Colin Stewart was working in London during the year that she was conceived. I then looked at all the Colin Stewarts that lived in Inverness during the time of her conception, and none of them match the details her mother gave. Since her mother was a prostitute, I think the story of Colin Stewart being her father was a fairy tale told to her daughter to give her some pride in herself. Only, what it did instead was instill an anger. Heather was told tonight that she could not be Colin's daughter and I proved it to her. She has my research report. She reacted violently and I wasn't expecting it. She hit me square in my pelvic region. Since I had a hysterectomy six weeks ago, I am still recovering and being hit in my sore spot didn't help."
"Babe, if we get the officer's email address, could you email the report that you prepared to him?" said Ranger.
"Absolutely. If you do it for me tonight, the officer could get it within the hour. Otherwise, it will be in the middle of the afternoon tomorrow because Kai promised me some strong pain medication, and I'm counting down the minutes until I can have some. It will knock me out."
Ranger took the officer's card and his email address and, after the officer wished me well, he left the room and Lindsay escorted him out.
"Now can we go back to Lochimor?" I said.
