"My brother would never do that to you Paige. You'll see, wait until we get home and talk with him." Megan told her as they continued up the road seeing the farmhouse about three hundred meters ahead.
The front porch door opened as Sean came out looking around for Megan. He saw them moving up the road, thanks to the moonlight and headlights of the SUV following them. He ran out towards them.
"Of all the nonsense, girl. What do you think you are doing out at night alone?" Sean chastised Megan as he tried to help.
"Someone had to do something to help Walter and Paige. And since he's my little brother and she's my little sister I was going to do it. Just leave me alone Poppa, you didn't help with the problem and actually made the situation worse with all you did by demanding that we go to America." Megan told him bitterly. "Just go on back to the house. Paige has me and if we need more help Cabe can come up here and help."
Sean froze as he watched the two young women move on up towards the house.
They saw a light on in the barn. Walter's bedroom window was dark and instead of moving on up to the house they moved back towards the barn.
Cabe stopped for a moment and gently touched Sean's shoulder.
"The ladies have a lot of things going on Sean. Try not to take what she said personally." Cabe told him. "I'll make sure your girl is safe."
Sean just nodded as Cabe moved on.
"Deartháir, come down here." Megan said as they entered the barn.
Walter slowly moved over to the railing and his eyes went wide seeing Paige helping Megan to sit on a bale of hay.
"Deirfiúr!" Walter said thinking she was hurt. He just leaped over the railing and fell to the floor before he struggled over to them. "What's wrong?" Walter asked even as he grabbed her hand with one hand and rubbed his knee with the other.
"Both of you sit, right there." Megan pointed to the hay bale next to her. "You've got to listen because Paige needs to open up and talk to you."
Walter swallowed as he stood up straight. He looked at Paige who still seemed to be hiding from him. Walter decided not to give her an option and he reached out and took her hand in his.
"Would you sit with me, please?" Walter asked in a caring but quiet voice.
Paige nodded but still didn't look at him. But she didn't pull her hand free. They both stepped over to the hay bale and Walter waited until she sat down and then he sat next to her so his right side was touching her left.
Walter reached over and lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes.
"Paige, I've been trying to get you to talk to me about what is going on for days now. I don't understand how we went from being so happy and always together to…whatever we are now. Please, talk to me, tell me what is wrong or going on or whatever it is. I can't help you, or make it right, I can't change any behavior I've demonstrated that has bothered you if you can't help me understand. Please." Walter asked.
"Walter, you haven't done anything wrong, I wasn't lying to you. I'm not mad at you. Well I was a little mad when I thought you were breaking up with me." Paige started.
"If that was you, a little mad, I don't want to see you really mad. But I wasn't breaking up with you." Walter said softly.
Paige gave a slight chuckle even as she wiped at her eyes.
"Walter, while I don't really know yet, it has been making me worry, and that worrying has been making me act badly, inappropriately even. And I'm sorry for that." Paige continued.
Walter frowned.
"Walter, it isn't definitive, but I'm a little late. Of course that could just be me being a little late. But it is concerning and I couldn't get it out of my mind that you'd be so mad at me. You'd even hate me over it. I am sure I can deal with everything as long as I have you and your support but if I lost you, I'm not sure what I would do." Paige told him.
Walter looked puzzled at Paige and his eyes seemed to blink an inordinate amount of times.
"Do you understand what Paige is telling you Walter?" Megan asked gently since he hadn't moved or said anything.
Walter's head nodded a few times as he put it all together.
"You're worrying you're pregnant." Walter said softly.
"No, not worrying exactly at being pregnant." Paige started but before she could finish Walter stood and walked out of the barn. "Walter?" Paige said as a tear leaked out of her eye.
"Deartháir?" Megan called after him. She reached out and took Paige's hand. "Let's give him a minute Paige. You've had a few days of thinking on this."
Paige swallowed hard but gave her a weak smile.
Walter was gone perhaps ten minutes and then he came back in and sat back next to Paige and pulled her into his arms. Paige began crying into his neck.
"I thought you were abandoning me." Paige cried.
"Never, I told you I am yours forever." Walter told her.
10 minutes earlier:
Walter stepped out of the barn and looked around and saw Cabe sitting at the picnic table and he walked over and sat down in front of him. It took him a few minutes but he finally spoke.
"You told me, if ever I needed anything, I could come to you. You'd help me. Is that offer still good?" Walter nearly begged.
"Always." Cabe smiled and nodded.
Walter pulled out his wallet and pulled a one hundred Euro bill out and held it out to him.
Cabe frowned.
"What's this?" Cabe asked without taking it.
"I need you to pick up some of those early pregnancy test kits for Paige. I'm not risking Paige's reputation and there is no way we can do it secretly." Walter told him.
Cabe nodded as he took the money.
"I'll leave the other agent here and go pick it up now and that way she'll have it first thing in the morning. It'll probably take me a half hour or more so I can go somewhere they won't recognize me." Cabe told him as he began removing his tie.
Walter nodded.
"Don't worry Cabe, whether she is or not, I'm standing beside her to protect and support her." Walter told him.
Cabe smiled even as he chuckled a little.
"You think I don't know that son?" Cabe nodded as he removed his suit jacket and opened the top two buttons of his shirt. He was trying to not look like normal before climbing into the SUV.
"Where did you go then Walter?" Megan asked as the young couple sat there hugging.
"To ask Cabe to go get an early pregnancy test." Walter told her.
"You told him?" Paige asked, shocked.
"Paige, there is no other way to get one without raising suspicions. Neither of us could go, Megan can't go. And I certainly don't want to have the conversation with any of our parents until we know for sure you are. So I gave Cabe the money and asked him to get them." Walter smiled.
Paige nodded as she thought about it.
"So you didn't leave a minute ago to think about this situation?" Paige asked.
"I didn't need to think about the possibility that we were pregnant. I told you on your birthday, I would have no problem taking care of our baby. I accepted this possibility of happening before we made love the first time. And no matter what I would support and protect you." Walter smiled.
Paige kissed Walter passionately.
"Uh, I think that is how we got to this point the first time." Megan teased even as she laughed.
Paige and Walter joined her laughter.
"I'm sorry Walter, I should have just been honest and trusted you to start with. Please forgive me." Paige asked.
"I'll always forgive you." Walter nodded. The three of them sat talking quietly for some time.
Finally Sean and Louise stepped into the Barn and Sean cleared his throat.
"I'm happy to see things back the way they should be." Louise smiled at her children.
"Yes, but it is late and you need to put it away until tomorrow." Sean told them.
Walter had looked over startled at first.
Paige frowned as she really saw that side of his face for the first time and even in the low light of the barn she could see the bruising now as it had deepened since Sean had slapped him.
"Walter! What happened to your face?" Paige demanded as she grabbed his chin to keep him from turning his cheek away from her.
"Poppa slapped him so hard he fell to the floor when Walter told him he wouldn't go to America with me." Megan told her.
Paige growled as she flew off the hay bale so fast that Walter barely caught her.
"If you ever touch my Walter like that again I swear to all that is holy that I'll kill you!" Paige swore at him.
Cabe saw the other agent rush into the barn as he was pulling back onto the property. He quickly put the SUV in park and jumped out and began running for the barn.
"Don't you speak to me like that girl." Sean yelled even as the agent got between them.
"I'll say whatever I like to anyone who'd abuse their own child." Paige yelled back.
"Calm down, both of you. Ms Dineen, perhaps it will be best if we take you home now." The agent tried to get things under control.
"And leave Walter here defenseless to a child abuser? Never!" Paige screamed.
Megan was doing her best not to laugh at what Paige was doing.
"What is going on out here?" Cabe demanded as he came running into the barn.
"Sean abused Walter earlier." Paige told him.
"I only slapped him for mouthing off to me." Sean yelled back.
"No, you slapped him trying to dominate him." Louise told him. "I don't blame Paige for being so mad at you. I still am."
"Okay, hold on, everyone take a breath and try to calm down. Walter, are you okay? Do we need to take you to the clinic?" Cabe asked as he walked over to look at him.
Walter shook his head, his face red in embarrassment.
Cabe looked his face over and had him move his jaw a bit before nodding.
"Okay, it looks fairly painful but superficial, but to help matters, will you consent to letting Walter come back to the Dineens? They have plenty of rooms and Walter can sleep there tonight. You'll know he is safe there, Paige won't worry that you might hurt him again. Agreed?" Cabe asked.
"Fine, for now." Paige told Cabe.
"As long as Ralph and Veronica are okay with it, that is fine with us." Louise said before Sean could say anything else.
Paige looked at Megan.
"Dad was going to come over tomorrow and tell you all this then, but I want you to know, after Walter told me your Dad was sending you to America I called my Dad and he's worked out a deal so that the top doctor in the field of Multiple Sclerosis at the Mayo clinic is going to take charge of your care personally. He or she will conduct phone consultations, and see you over the internet, he'll direct your treatments and therapies through the internet here in Ireland. And then coming out a few times a year to conduct an in person examination with you. So you won't have to leave us and you will still get the best possible care." Paige told her.
Megan teared up and she reached out to Paige. Paige stepped in and they hugged.
"I love you sis." Megan told her.
"I love you too sis." Paige replied even as Louise moved over and hugged them both.
"Thank you so much Paige, that is a load of worry off of me. I didn't want her going away anyway." Louise cried even as she kissed Paige's cheek.
"I'd do anything for my family Mom." Paige told her. "Though I might think twice about it now for Uncle Sean."
Calling him Uncle instead of Dad hit Sean hard and he slipped out of the barn mostly unnoticed.
"Mom, Daddy!" Paige yelled as she came in the front door and began walking towards her Dad's study.
"Paige?" Ralph said even as he stood and met her at the door of his study.
"Walter is spending the night in one of the guest rooms." Paige told him.
"Wait, while that is fine, why is he needing to stay here?" Ralph asked and then he saw Walter's face. "Who hit you?" Ralph asked.
"Uncle Sean did earlier when Walter told him he wasn't going to America." Paige told him. "I told him if he ever touches my Walter like that again I'd kill him." Paige vented.
Ralph nodded even as he picked up on her calling him Uncle. He looked at her sternly.
"Paige, you can't make threats like that." Ralph chastised her.
"That wasn't a threat Daddy, that was a promise." Paige told him.
"Be that as it may, little one. Never do that again. If something suspicious ever happened to Sean those words could be used against you." Ralph told her even as he stepped up to examine Walter's cheek.
"What's wrong?" Veronica asked as she came hurrying down the stairs.
"Apparently Sean hit Walter when Walter told him he didn't want to go to America earlier. So Paige brought him over to spend the night here." Ralph told her as he patted Walter's shoulder. "You look okay Walter, I don't think we need to take you to the clinic. But be honest with me, does Sean do this often?" Ralph asked him as his eyes seemed to pierce into Walter's.
Walter kind of fidgeted a bit. He didn't like what his Dad did, but he didn't want him in trouble either.
"He's used his belt as discipline before." Walter shrugged finally.
"Like America, I know Ireland has some leniency on allowing such things but this is too much. I can't abide by what he did, Walter. I'm going to have to talk with Sean tomorrow about this." Ralph told him.
"Come with me Walter, we'll get you situated in a guest room." Veronica told him while holding her hand out towards him.
Walter slowly nodded as he walked towards her.
Veronica hugged him before leading him and Paige up to the second floor.
Sean was out in the field early the next morning fixing a hole in the fence when he saw Ralph walking through the pastures towards him. Sean put his tools down and took his gloves off as Ralph got closer.
"What in the world Sean? How dare you strike Walter like that. What is wrong with you? Not only is it just plain wrong, but you could have caused a brain injury." Ralph demanded.
"Ralph, you're like my brother and I feel bad enough as it is. But I'm not putting up with being talked to like this. The boy smarted off and got what he deserved." Sean told him.
"Really? A fifteen year old boy got what he deserved for standing up for himself with words? So you're telling me that as a grown and experienced man of the world you are so soft and cowardly that you are physically going to attack your own child to get your way?" Ralph all but roared.
"Who are you calling a coward?" Sean demanded.
"You, you're so big and tough, try that with me." Ralph demanded.
"Right, so I can get in trouble for hitting a US diplomat. I'm not stupid." Sean told him.
"You hit your own boy like a coward because you know he wouldn't retaliate and you could hide behind an accepted custom of your country. But now you want to cower behind fear of legal ramifications not to hit me. Well I don't see any security here Sean, I don't see any guardia either. Not another living soul but you, me and the sheep. Come on coward, take your best shot." Ralph pushed Sean backwards.
Cabe stood with his back against the SUV where Ralph had told him to wait. The back door of the house opened and Louise moved out to gather eggs.
"Good morning Louise." Cabe called to her.
"Good morning Cabe. Is Walter and Paige already up and in the barn?" Louise smiled as she walked over.
Cabe shook his head.
"Mr. Dineen wanted to have a word with Sean." Cabe told her.
Louise sighed.
"Because of him hitting Walter." Louise said.
Cabe nodded.
"I really don't know what gets in his head sometimes. He's always been a little quick to use some kind of physical punishment with his belt, but that was the first time he'd ever struck Walter." Louise said with grief.
"Looks like he's headed back finally." Cabe told her as he saw Ralph moving through the pastures.
"Good morning Louise." Ralph said as he drew closer.
Cabe and Louise could both see his knuckles were scraped up and he had a few bruises forming.
"Good morning Ralph. Is he conscious or should I go out with a pail of water?" She grinned at him.
Ralph chuckled.
"He was conscious when I left, he might need some ice and bandages though. I'm kind of sorry about that." Ralph told her.
"Don't be, Sean was barking mad yesterday. I was so mad at him. He spent the night on the sofa. And he might be spending the next couple of weeks there as well." Louise told him.
"Well I told Sean and I'll let you know. When Paige's protection is around, if he goes after Walter again they have my permission to stop him however they feel it is necessary. And if he ever puts his hands on Walter like this again, I'm not going to be so nice about it." Ralph told her.
"Thank you." Louise nodded.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Railman - Looks like Megan was successful! And Paige and Ralph certainly had something to say about that slap! lol Yes, I mean it would be amazing if someone could become mega-rich like that completely being "fair and nice" but sadly, to make that kind of money that way would take an extraordinary achievement...nearly a miracle I think.
Margaret - Did you get back into 26 to figure it out? If not, long story short, Paige got seriously upset with Walter and stormed off. Told her Mom that Walter would be going to America with Megan. Veronica recommended she contact her Dad and maybe he could think of something to stop that.
2LawDog - LOL Almost could be a good theme song for last chapter! lol Happy said to let you know it is okay. She mostly does it just to push the boundaries with her Mom. So glad you are enjoying it!
Susan - hehe Stay away from the water! Ralph's really hoping this doesn't come back to bite him on the hinny! lol
To the Adventure! -Tim