I’ve never given it any thought, to be honest with you. It’s your body, and whenever you feel the time is right, we’ll work on one. In the meantime, we’ll keep practicing. He smiled when she laughed at him. I have never seen Mercy nervous. I thought she was above such feelings. I wish she was here. I’d really give her a hard time about it.
I wouldn’t. She could hurt you, king, or not. She really is a little on the intense side about this. When she laughed again, he didn’t ask what was going on. She was with the others. And they forever had a great time together. I’ll see you tonight. I have a few things I want to pick up from the store on the way home. Also, before I forget again, I signed Tracy up for driver’s training. She has to have it before she can get her license.
Duncan marked his calendar with the date and times she had to be there. Judith told him Tracy didn’t know about it yet, and for him to go ahead and tell her. He would too. That was another thing he added to his calendar. She’d need a safe car to be able to drive.
For the next two hours, instead of working, he was looking at cars for his daughter. Duncan thought he was enjoying that a little more than working. He had three that he really liked, and they were rated among the highest in safety. Since they all had to be ordered, Duncan ordered the three of them in different colors. He knew his grandparents needed one each, and Tracy could have first pick. When he was finished with that, he started on his paperwork.
Duncan was working on a proposal that had been given to him to open up a little floral shop near the chocolate shop in New Town when the lamp next to him shattered. It took the stuffing coming out of the back of his chair before he realized he was being shot at. Getting down on the floor, he wondered what the fuck was going on when Tracy came into the room with him.
“Get down.” He was too late to save her from being shot, but she assured him it wasn’t that bad. “Where is your brother? I don’t want him down here to get hurt either.”
“He’s gone to the movie rental place with Grandda.” Good. At least he was out of the house. “I have my cell. Want me to call the police, Dad?”
It startled him every time one of them called him that. But telling her no, he’d tell her mom first, had her crawling like a crab across the room towards him. The wound on her arm was bleeding pretty badly, but the bullet had gone through her arm. It was, thankfully, healing already.
Duncan tried to be as calm as he could when he reached out for Judith. She could feel his fear and anger, he was sure. When she told him they were on their way to him, all he could think about was six exceptionally large angry birds of prey coming down on whoever was out there and smashing them to smithereens. He told Tracy what he was thinking about when she asked him what was so funny.
“You don’t think they’ll be their big birds, do you? Holy crap, Dad. They’ll bring the entire town out here to see what the heck is going on.” Duncan told Tracy they’d take care of it. “Yes, I guess so. Mom, she’s going to be really ticked off if one of the others saves our butts before she can. I only hope they’re all safe.”
The loud squawking noise was the first thing they heard. He didn’t know which bird it was, but it didn’t sound like anything he’d want to hear again. Then there were dark shadows that flew over the windows of the room he and Tracy were in. They both stayed on the floor, not moving around in the event the shooter hadn’t been found yet. While they laid there, he told her about her driving school, as well as the cars he’d ordered for her and her grandparents.
He could feel her excitement. Duncan wasn’t sure if it was the fact she was going to start driving soon or that she was going to have a new car. After he and Judith talked about her driving, they’d decided a new car for her was the best way to go, especially since she might be driving her brother around too.
When the front door opened, neither of them said anything. It wasn’t until he saw a shadow that he realized it was none of the birds. Pulling Tracy to him, both of them laid there as still as they could as Hanna started toward the back of the house with a gun in her hands.
~*~
Hanna was light-headed, and she was ill. The stitches they’d put into her leg had long since come loose. She knew too that she was bleeding badly. The furnace tape that Harland had put on her was too tight, and Hanna thought she might not make it if she had to go up another flight of stairs.
She’d been able to get free of the hospital by going down a lot of stairwells. Twice she’d had to have a seat and wait a minute or two, but Harland had been right there with her with each step. Having to kill him had broken her heart, but she didn’t have time to mess with him right now.
He had wanted a grilled cheese sandwich because it was Thursday, and that was the day she made them for him. It had been her fault her brothers had to have certain things made for them through the week. Having a schedule like that was the
