The McClane Apocalypse Book Three (57 page)

Whatever has happened to Sam while she was
with the visitors has damaged this young girl. Kelly only wishes
that they'd kept a few of them alive to be kept tied up in the back
of the cattle barn for some interrogation. He and John used to be
rather skilled with that sort of thing.

"I'm sure you do, too, Samantha," Hannah
says lightly and takes the girl's hand into her own. "Someday I'll
be a guest at your wedding."

"Um, I'm just going to go in and help Grams
and Miss Reagan," Sam replies and hurries away.

Hannah frowns, but Sue nods with
understanding.

"It's just going to take her some time,
Hannie," Sue explains.

"I know," Hannah answers sagely.

For not being able to see, Hannah is an
expert at reading people. Sue hugs her sister tightly and also
leaves to help with the meal that the women are working on in the
kitchen.

"She'll be ok, Hannah," Kelly says, trying
to convince her. He's also trying to convince himself. He's not at
all sure Sam will be alright someday. She's very messed up from
whatever has happened to her. Her darkness reminds him of Reagan,
but whereas Reagan is outspoken and downright hateful, Sam is
withdrawn and morose.

"She will. I know," Hannah nods and
repeats.

He leads her to the front porch for a few
minutes of alone time before the dinner commences. There he kisses
her as they sit together on the swing. Unfortunately it doesn't
take long before the kids find them and Ari wants attention while
she cartwheels around the yard. Soon everyone is called for
dinner.

The women have made delicious food to go
with the steak feast including mashed potatoes enough for an army,
corn bread, stewed green beans with ham bits, baked squash with
crunchy walnuts that the children collected from the ground around
the trees near the apple orchard, crisp vegetables from the
greenhouse, rolls with fresh-churned butter, and Grams and Em have
worked since yesterday on making Hannah a proper wedding cake for
which she smiles gratefully. The candles down the center of the
table have been lit and the outdoor lights on the back porch are
left on. The sun is setting as they eat, and the atmosphere is
romantic and subtle as the sky lights up with bright pinks and
fiery reds. The meal is great, but all Kelly can think about is the
delicate, feminine woman beside him.

She also seems distracted, which isn't
difficult since everyone wants to talk to her. But she does
occasionally reach under the table to hold his hand. She sips at
her sweet tea, which has been placed in tall glass pitchers around
the tables. And every once in a while Hannah leans over and kisses
his cheek. All Kelly can do is smile down at her.

The Reynolds family seems surprised at the
quality of the meal, and Grams and Sue talk to Bertie about helping
her out with learning some of their techniques on making food items
go farther and how to do canning of which she is not yet familiar.
They make plans to go over in a few days to their farm to show her
how to can the remainder of her garden.

"Wayne and Chet have been going out the back
of our property to Glen Road—you know the one that leads to town?"
Bertie explains.

Kelly isn't sure it's a good idea to go to
town. Sue nods to Bertie and encourages her to continue. The men
have stopped eating and talking and are all listening to her, as
well.

"They go on short trips for supplies and
food items that we don't have. They go to Pleasant View and once
all the way to Clarksville. But I worry that what they're doing is
too dangerous."

"It can be," Derek says to Wayne who
nods.

"We take our shotguns and I've got my dad's
old pistol, too," her husband Wayne explains. "Plus, we've got
those guns you guys took from those… men. Thanks for leaving those
with us. We've run into some trouble from time to time, but we try
to just avoid people if we can."

"Yeah, that's best," John agrees.

His friend sends a look to Chet.

"Maybe if you radio us the next time you
guys go, one of us can tag along. It's safer to move around
together," Derek offers.

John and Kelly both nod. Kelly notices that
Doc does not.

"And Bertie should probably come over here
while you're gone. It's not a good idea for her to be there by
herself in case anyone comes in on foot," Grams adds.

The men all nod at this offer. Bertie
doesn't seem like the kind of person who could shoot anyone even if
she had to.

"Ok, we'll gladly take the help, Derek,"
Wayne acknowledges with a nod.

The conversation ebbs and flows again while
everyone praises the food and especially the steaks. John, Derek
and Wayne all eat two each. Even the littler kids seem happy to sit
a while longer at the table while the adults continue to
converse.

"It sure is nice to have electricity again,
Doc," Chet offers up.

Wayne and Bertie heartily agree. Kelly feels
bad that they hadn't been able to go over sooner to help with their
power source.

"Haven't had a hot shower since this all
happened," Wayne discloses.

"Or hot water for sanitizing the milkin'
equipment," Chet tells them.

"Or for washing our dishes or for anything
really unless we boiled it on the stove," Bertie says.

They will obviously need to work with this
family throughout the winter to help them survive because they do
seem like good people as Doc had assessed. Even if John keeps
sending dagger glares down the table toward Chet, who stares like a
love-sick puppy at Reagan.

"We're all glad to help, Wayne," Derek tells
the other man who nods with appreciation.

These two have become fast friends. Perhaps
it is because they are both the oldest in their respective families
and feel that added sense of responsibility.

"We're going to go back to the condo
community we've been establishing and help them, as well," John
tells them in between bites. "There's another new family now living
there. The more we can help others with simple things like getting
electricity going again, the better."

"You guys are welcome to come and help,"
Derek says.

"Yeah, sure, Derek," Wayne says. "I mean you
guys helped us. Now it's time to help others. Only seems right to
me. Right, Chet?"

Chet nods in agreement before pushing his
long hair away from his face. It doesn't seem to be an accident
that he is sitting right next to Reagan. John is sitting on the
opposite side of the table, two seats down from Kelly. His friend
seems more and more frustrated as the day goes by. Reagan is
completely unaware of Chet and is mostly talking with Sam on her
other side. Kelly's afraid John may jump across the table soon.

As the evening progresses and the sun sets
completely, the men build a large bonfire between the house and
barns in the yard area, and everyone gathers around on outdoor lawn
furniture. The kids chase fireflies, each other, the puppies and
cook marshmallows on shaved wooden sticks. Sue and Grams bring out
blankets for those who want one while John and Reagan put both of
the babies to bed. Kelly wraps Hannah in a plaid wool blanket as
the air grows chillier, and they snuggle closely on a two person
glider rocker. They are completely oblivious to the rest of the
family, the world. Kelly cannot imagine a more perfect wedding day
than this has been or one more intimate. Having their family,
extended new family and friends present has made it seem more
personal than some of the ostentatious wedding events he'd gone to
in the past held at country clubs with five hundred guests, six
course meals and champagne.

Their fingers play and intertwine, and it's
such a relief to be able to finally touch her in front of other
people and not feel like he is on a covert mission just to steal a
secretive kiss from his woman. The ladies have clustered and are
discussing whatever women talk about as the men do the same. Even
Bertie, who has been through so much and had not taken it well at
all, seems to laugh and smile a few times. It's obvious that nobody
wants this day of good cheer and good feelings to end. It's just
been too damn long since anyone's had one.

"I hate it when you leave the farm, Kelly,"
Hannah says out of the blue. "I wish you wouldn't go on so many
trips. I don't like that you're also going to go on runs with the
Reynolds now, too."

"I'm fine, Hannah," he tells her, squeezing
her shoulders gently. "I won't take any risks, but we have to help
people. Those people out there could've been me and my brother and
sister if we hadn't made it to this farm. It's the right thing to
do, baby."

"I just don't like it. I don't ever want to
lose you, Kelly," she states with a soft frown.

"You won't. I'm hard to kill, remember?" he
jokes lightly. She nods as Kelly presses a kiss to the side of her
mouth, effectively making her frown disappear.

"Now what do we have here? Your fingernails
are pink," he tells Hannah quietly as they press their foreheads
together and he holds up her hand with the long, thin, graceful
fingers to look more closely using the light of the campfire.

"Are they? Sue wanted to do everyone's nails
last night. Did you see Em's?" she asks.

She strokes her finger over the simple gold
band on his left hand ring finger. Another Sam's Club discount. It
doesn't surprise Kelly that she questions him about Em. She never
thinks of herself, and Hannah would want him to notice his little
sister's nails before her own.

"Yeah, I saw them. There were little white
flowers painted on hers. Sue's really artistic and apparently so is
Sam. Em was excited and came to my room before bedtime to show me,"
he says with a smile. "It's exactly what she needs, being with you
girls. I can't imagine raising her with just me and Cory."

"Well, now you don't have to," she tells him
and kisses his bearded cheek.

"Right, now I don't have to. You're the most
giving person I've ever known. I love you, Hannah."

"I know, my love. Besides, you two would be
showing her how to shoot the guns and beat people up all the time
if she didn't have us women to look out for her," she teases and
kisses his fingers.

Kelly chuckles.

"You're probably right about that. Although
I'm glad I've got you for a few other reasons, too," he teases back
with a smile. She's told him before how she can tell when people
are smiling by the sound of their voice. Kelly feels like smiling
every time he's around her, and he knows it will always be like
this for him.

"Oh?" she asks knowingly.

Hannah smiles brilliantly at him, lit only
by the campfire's warm glow. Sometimes her beauty takes the wind
out of him.

"Yep, and I'll tell you about those later,"
he promises as he presses a kiss to her fingertips.

"I think I'm going to hold you to that,
Sergeant," she teases right back.

Hannah is sometimes surprising in her
ability to be naughty when she wants to be.

"Oh, you won't need to. Wild horses couldn't
drag me away," Kelly says as he presses a light kiss this time to
her mouth. Her fingers tighten their grip on his, even at this
brief interaction. She's the most passionate woman he's ever
known.

"I love you, Kelly," she tells him when they
break apart.

"I meant what I said, Hannah. I'll take care
of you," he tells her reverently and presses a kiss to her
forehead.

"I'll take care of you, too, Kelly."

Hannah tells him this so stoically that he
believes her.

When John comes back with an armload of
firewood, he notices that Reagan is missing and so is Chet
Reynolds, which instantly makes the hair on his neck stand up
straight. Derek, Doc and Wayne are discussing the abatisses and the
increased security on their road. He goes straight for Sue who is
roasting a marshmallow for Justin. The women made homemade
marshmallows yesterday in the hopes of being able to do the bonfire
tonight. John has never even heard of making them from scratch, but
they smelled up the kitchen really nice when they were done and
he's pretty sure he saw his woman sneaking a few when nobody was
looking, the sugar freak.

"Have you seen Reagan, Sue?" he asks as she
tries to untangle the stringy, gooey mess from her stick.

"Um, yeah, John. I think she took Chet to
the hog barn to check out the new baby goats. They should be back
soon, though. Did you need her?" Sue asks.

Does he need her? He needs her to stay away
from Chet, but that isn't something he wants to blurt in front of
everyone.

"Ok, thanks," he tells her.

"Uncle John, sing us another song!" Ari says
excitedly.

She tugs on his pant leg and jumps up and
down.

"In a minute ok, kiddo?" he says and walks
away before she can answer and, more importantly, before she can
use her wily charms and persuade him to stay. He hears Sue telling
the kids to get ready for bed as he gets further from the campfire,
so he's hoping he's off the hook for the song. He's not too great
at telling any of the kids on the farm no. None of the adults are.
The kids have all been through enough.

He makes it to the hog barn without breaking
his neck and uses the man door since it's already illuminated by a
reddish orange glow coming from the interior. There are other
lights on deeper inside of the barn which flow into the center
aisle where he sneaks. Voices filter from the rear of the barn
where the goats are being kept until the babies are big enough to
be turned out to pasture. They've already shot three coyotes and
found wild dog tracks in the forest in the last few weeks. Unless
they want to feed the wildlife around the farm, they need to
increase the security of their livestock.

He moves stealthily toward the end of the
aisle. John pauses behind a stack of baled straw to listen before
he retrieves Reagan back to the campfire where she belongs. Back by
his side where she belongs.