Safe In All Things VII: The Flame of Auburn on the Mountain by L. M. Steen
Lil and Russell draw closer together when the hints of her disease in Book IV become reality. Now, while Pennington is there in hopes of doing some fly-fishing with them, they are interrupted by another woman from Russell’s past: Virginia Stanley. Immediately thereafter, Lil finds herself on the floor of the kitchen in the cabin. During her struggle to fight the brain tumor, Russell decides to change hers and his pasts, combining them into one as if they had married young. This was a gift Lil couldn’t ever match – nor the one he built with his hands and heart.
None of them, even Pennington’s past history with Virginia’s family, could have foreseen the damage Little Miss Virginia would try to do to them – including threatening Batsy’s unborn triplets and Andy’s health.
Then, to the surprise of both Lil and Russell, they discover the truth in the handiworks of the Lord. The Lord had delivered to Russell Thorn Barrington, the Fifth, his first love – the Flame of Auburn from his youth – his first love.
Excerpts:
Instead of Russell’s kissing, a sudden warming of the weather toward the end of April actually did melt a great deal of the mountain snow pack into the creeks and rivers, sending to the bottom of the mountains quickly that Spring. Lil and Russell returned to the cabin permanently by mid-May and dug the cabin out.
All the moisture everyone had been grateful for over the Winter became a problem and most of the humans at the bottom of the mountains were complaining including the rangers in the Kootenai National Forest on both sides of the Barrington mountains.
Then the rains settled in, sending even more of the snow pack southward. However, both Lil and Russell enjoyed walking in the rain. And other things…
Standing on the side of his mountain in the drizzle, Russell nuzzled her head while her hands slipped under his rain jacket.
“Mrs. B, we should go home…” whispered at her.
“Why? My head doesn’t hurt,” she mumbled. “We’re safe here.”
“Maybe you are safe,” chuckled against her. “But I’m definitely not…”
She looked up to see what he meant and met his dangerous lips instead as they slid down her wet face to her mouth. Perhaps she wasn’t safe either as his Renoir reduced her to threads of electricity… Lightning charged from her to the rocks behind them… Then jumped to the Douglas Fir, creating Christmas tree twinkles on it… Then…
“No, no, no, Lil, don’t you do that!” rushed out his lips, quickly disconnecting from her mouth. “Don’t you dare start another forest fire. I’ll have to stop using my Renoir if you can’t control where the sparks go!”
Sagging there in his arms, she mumbled, “Then don’t kiss like that…”
“Oh my Mrs. B, I can’t help it. But, can you please not be quite so… Well, receptive?” he whispered as the lips went toward her mouth again.
Yeah, right. Like it was her fault! However, her threads shot out again. Quickly, Russell disconnected, wrapped his jacket around her, and then pulled his hood over her face, too.
“Now, I think that should do it…”
Oh yes, it did. His raingear fried, but no fires started other than Russell’s… Well, hers perhaps…
The high water remained by the second week in June, the rivers still the color of chocolate milk. Unfortunately, Russell had plans – Ben and fishing. Ben arrived June 10. The fishing did not.
“Ben, your retirement was probably the quickest retirement in history,” she teased, looking toward the left end of the old oak kitchen table at Ben.
“Maybe, but I already had some good people to take over. I just didn’t seem to have a good reason to do it.” He patted his stomach while leaning his six-foot body and the chair back then rubbed his salt and pepper hair. “After you suggested it at Christmas, I simply did it. Feels good.”
“It won’t if you don’t get some fishing done.”
“Speaking of fishing – did you like that three-piece Winston 3wt. fly-rod I sent? Have you handled it yet to see if it fits your hand?”
“Yes, and thank you, although Russell had somewhat of an explosion because you found one first,” she laughed, shaking her head. “I won’t repeat what he said…”
The dark eyes on Ben’s face glinted at her probably knowing what Russell had said. The competition between the two men had lessened, but hadn’t disappeared.
“Well, having my new equipment isn’t going to make any difference if we don’t cast some line out. I’m so sorry about this miserable rain… Oh dear,” she laughed. “I shouldn’t say that! We prayed so hard for snow to return this temperate rain forest from the drought and now we have such abundance we are unhappy with that!”
She shook her head at Ben then suggested an alternative. “Maybe we should go somewhere else. You’re retired, Russell hasn’t had a Church calling since he was released as Branch President, and Batsy is training Harry to do most of the work on the mountain. Our time is our own.”
“That was the shortest calling he’s ever had,” Ben chuckled. “He was just starting to get the hang of it.”
“Don’t make fun of him, Ben. He was a very good Branch President. But…” she paused looking at the cup of warm herbal tea in her hand then sighed. “Russell thinks he had the calling just to get me. I don’t quite see it.”
Ben reached his hand over the corner of the table and patted her forearm. “You might as well accept it because it’s true. If the Lord hadn’t delivered you to him, He’d have brought you to me and you wouldn’t be living on this beautiful mountain.”
“Pennington!” rapped the air as the bass voice came out of the bedroom.
Ben’s hand quickly slid to the table.
“Just commiserating with her… And you,” the smooth tenor replied. Ben leaned back again and looked up at Russell. “What are you going to do now? The Bishop asked you about anything? The Stake President?”
Russell went to the kitchen counter by the sink for his bowl. “Nope. Maybe the Lord knows I need time to learn how to be married.” A slight chuckle accompanied that as he turned to her, the hint of a twinkle coming to his silver flecks. “Maybe a lot of time. After twenty-six years of being single, I haven’t figured it out yet. Although… I have been enjoying the rain lately. Makes for good rain-thinking.”
Lil blushed and lowered her eyelids, looking at her cup again. Rain-thinking my foot! she thought, remembering his dangerous lips! Rain walking and thinking was something she had always loved and introduced him to, but Russell had taken it to new heights. Or depths. Or fires. Or something.
His new Monet for shower-kissing was as deadly as the Van Gogh and the Renoir! If his “art” got any better, one of these days he was going to permanently melt her to the mattress or the road or the rain jacket or the jeep or the steering wheel or whatever they were next to. It would serve him right…
“Mrs. B?”
“Ummm?” Startled from her thoughts, she looked up. “Oh! Uh…we were just discussing going someplace else to fish since the water is too high here.”
“Where?” The sable-lined gray eyes on her husband flashed their silver flecks over at her from the fridge as his hand reached in for the milk. “If you’re talking about Mexico or New Zealand, don’t bother. I won’t leave the country or take you where I can’t get help if you need it.”
“What do you mean, ‘can’t get help’?” Ben’s tenor voice demanded. “Has something happened since her last labs?”
“I’m not sure yet,” Russell admitted. “The migraines have become too frequent and the adrenal gland isn’t working right. She’s been fussing because she wants to be in Sandpoint helping Andy with the pregnancy so Batsy hired someone and made Lil sit down.”
“Hey! Hey, you two! Knock if off. I’m fine!” she interjected firmly. “I wasn’t thinking quite that far away anyway. Maybe southern Idaho. Silver Creek, or something like that. Or maybe the Deschutes or Montana’s—”
Everyone jumped when the phone rang. It was particularly quiet now that Batsy and Andy had moved to Sandpoint – much to the pleasure of Batsy’s father – and sounded like a fire alarm when it went off in the quiet two-story wood ceiling. Russell stepped back and glared at it when it rang again so, as usual, Lil answered it. “Oh. You aren’t Russie. Where’s Russie?” a small female voice asked.
“Russie?” Lil asked back, confused.
“You know, Russie. Tall, dark, handsome,” the voice replied. “Is this the wrong number?”
Lil looked at her husband and replied, “No, it probably isn’t. Hold on.” She handed the phone to her puzzled-looking husband. “It’s a woman asking for a tall, dark, handsome Russie.”
He smirked a little at her inference then said, “Hello?” The silver flecks in his gray eyes darted to her hazels then Russell quickly turned his back on her. “Oh, uh, what do you mean ‘here’? You mean here? No! I mean we have company already… A…uh… Pennington is here! No, I don’t think so. No, Daisy’s B&B? No…”
Russell turned as he snapped the phone shut with a disgusted look on his face and set the tone for the day. “DAMN!”
“Russell! Whatever it is isn’t worth swearing over,” she pointed out.
“Oh yes, it is!” Russell looked at Ben and said, “Virginia.”
“DAMN!” Ben’s hand smacked the table then he quickly stood up. “I have a plane to catch.”
“No, you don’t. You stay and fight, Pennington!” the bass voice insisted.
“Not me. I never wanted you to marry the first one much less into that family,” Ben replied, heading for the stairs. “I’d rather visit hell for a while!”
“How did she find me? You tell?!” “Never!” Ben yelled back. “I wouldn’t destroy my peace on this mountain for anything! That would be like giving Satan a key to the Pearly Gates! I am gone!”
Just then, a car came up the cutoff – varooooming its way to the top with the throaty sound of a small sports car. Obviously not a mountain vehicle. And, obviously, the woman had phoned from her vehicle on the way up or it would have been at least thirty minutes before she arrived. Time that could have meant escape.
Lil watched as the men froze in place: Russell with his hand on the sink counter, Ben with his foot on the bottom step. Okay, which one was going to move first… Or explain this one…
Russell was first. “Lil… Mrs. B… Uh, there’s something… Well, I didn’t exactly forget this one. This is something that maybe wasn’t really important…”
Her wonderful-most-of-the-time husband had her halfway out of the chair when the vehicle varoomed its way into the parking area.
Russell’s eyes looked like those of a trapped rabbit as he stammered, “Uh…however, it’s becoming very important as the seconds pass…”
“Just spit it out,” she said, looking up into the worried silver flecks. “Is this another one of those things you keep forgetting to tell me, Mr. Slower-than-a-Tortoise-on-Ice?”
The car door slammed and a high female voice sang out, “I’m here. Russie?” as it rudely opened the back door without knocking. “Where are you?”
Russell let go of Lil, leaned back against the table, and wiped at his face with his large strong hands. Under his breath, Lil thought she heard another swear word. “Russie?” The voice came into the kitchen accompanied by the face and body that could sink a thousand ships. The one from the fables. The blonde one that every woman occasionally dreams she is but knows she isn’t.
The slightly muddy expensive heeled sandals, the graceful thin legs, the very short skirt and skimpy very expensive knit top, the exposed chest area with its delicate gold jewelry, the beautifully manicured nails clasping a gold key-chain, and long, generally straight blonde hair came together with the face of a decorated angel and soft blue eyes. This expensive model of perfection was a little older, but very well preserved.
“Oh!” The plum-painted, moist lips quickly went to a small smile. “You must be the new Mrs. Barrington.” The soft blue eye-shadow above the mascara moved as her lashes fluttered then the eyes landed on Russell. “The least you can do is introduce me, Russie.” The back of a hand was extended to Lil as if she was to kiss it.
Lil looked up at her husband’s very red face, waiting. Russell pointed at the beautiful blonde and simply said, “Lil, meet Virginia Stanley, Barbra’s sister.”
The confused dots in Lil’s brain connected. She was looking at the sister of Russell’s deceased first wife. She took the proffered hand and squeezed it gently. The dead fish handshake was accompanied by a laugh.
“I never did get you Mormon’s shaking hands with everyone.”
Russell didn’t leave his position against the table, his bass voice being served up a little on the terse side, “Virginia, why are you here?”
Startled by his unusual rudeness, Lil looked back at Russell. Even the disgusting Marjorie who had been openly rude to Lil had received a better welcome.
The blue eyes moved from Lil’s hazels to Russell’s silver flecks. “Well, I was just in the neighborhood. Can’t I drop in on my sister’s family? Besides, I always wanted to see what was so special about this place. All you ever did was talk about it like it had some kind of magic. All I see is mud and dirt…”
Virginia turned, her eyes surveying everything around and into the common room… Then landed on Benjamin Pennington who was still frozen at the bottom step like a rabbit, trying to avoid detection.
“Oh, Benjie. Hello. You still single?”
Well, the blonde didn’t waste time.
Ben stammered, “Uh…well… Sort of, BUT, I’m actually seeing someone… BUT, not anyone that you know…”
“Are you sure? I know most of the single set on the East Coast. What’s her name?”
“Well, she isn’t part of…the… Part of the… That set,” he stammered again.
“Oh? What set is she?”
“No set! She’s not in a set!” he snapped.
“Oh. You’re playing with a married woman. How delicious! Who is she?”
“Virginia,” Russell interrupted, rescuing his friend, “What can I do for you?”
Virginia’s attention and eyes returned to Russell. “Well. Nothing at the moment.” Then the blue-tints came back to Lil. “I saw you on the news and hear you create a lot of excitement on this mountain. When I asked directions, I got an ear-full of your exploits.”
“Well, the locals exaggerate,” Lil explained, slightly embarrassed.
“Virginia,” the bass repeated patiently, “Why are you here?” This time Russell stepped up behind Lil and put his arms around her. “It’s been twenty-seven years. Neither you nor anyone in your family has shown any interest in Batsy or coming here. Why now?”
Everyone waited silently while the blonde’s brain worked – the process clear on her perfectly manicured face. “Well!” was the sour response. “Your manners haven’t improved, have they.”
“Excuse me,” Lil interjected politely, “but Russell has impeccable manners.”
“For a mountain man, maybe.”
Giving up, Lil asked, “Virginia, am I to understand that you are planning to stay in the area tonight?”
Russell’s body tensed against hers. “Um-mum-mum-mum!” he mumbled under his breath. “No…no…no…no…”
“Well, I was planning on staying in the cabin, but not now. I saw a bed and breakfast sign on the highway to that dinky town on the river.”
“The name of the town is Libby,” Lil clarified, Russell’s body relaxing a little against her. She tapped her husband’s forearms.
“Can I speak with you in the bedroom?”
She tried to avoid the blonde’s eyes as she pushed gently on his arms. He moved toward the bedroom with her then shut the door after them.
“Mrs. B, don’t you even ask,” he stated, pushing her to sit on the end of the bed.
“Ask what?”
“I know you and don’t you even go there. That woman is dangerous, very dangerous. She might be stupid but she’s cunning. I know, believe me, I KNOW!” Russell started pacing in front of her. “No. Nope. I will not. Never. Un-uh—”
“Russell, all I want is a little explana—”
“Don’t you try to fool me, Mrs. B, you want to let that woman stay in this house!” He stopped, looking down at her forcefully, his hands on his hips. “No. Nope. NO WAY!”
Lil pushed her open hands down in the air motioning at her husband. “Quiet down! She’ll hear you.”
“Wouldn’t make any difference. You don’t know how thick she is. The Queen of England could snub Virginia and she’d think it was an invitation to the ball. She gets one little toe in this place, and we are all goners…goners…” Russell leaned over her, slowly forcing her back onto the bed with him. “You don’t understand how this one thinks—”
“Russie?” The bedroom door opened. “What are you doing?”
“VIRGINIA!” Russell bounced up using the springs in the mattress, taking Lil with him, clutched to his chest. “I’m in my bedroom with my wife!”
“Well, you are the one who rudely left me standing there.”
“PENNINGTON!” boomed way beyond the wood ceiling out into Russell’s mountains, rattling the rocks and shaking needles from the pine and fir trees, knocking surprised squirrels and birds from the branches.
A responding small diminutive sound came from the stairs. “No, please, I can’t. You know I can’t, please…” it begged.
“You OWE me!” insisted the bass loudly.
“But…”
“Virginia, wait in the kitchen at the table,” Lil said in her best authoritative voice. “Pennington will get you a soda or some water.”
“Well, why didn’t you just say so?” The blonde retreated but left the door open.
Russell rolled his eyes at Lil. “You see?”
Well, yes, Lil was beginning to see. But… “Uh, Mr. B?”
“Ummm?” Russell looked at her, the dawn coming quickly to his brain. “Uh…darnit, Mrs. B, you… Only some, Mrs. B. Barbra wasn’t as bad as that or I couldn’t have loved her. OKAY, SO IT WAS HORMONES!”
His admission knocked Lil right in her funny bone. She couldn’t help it, she just couldn’t. It was more than she could bear. She laughed so hard she couldn’t stand up. “Mister B, I no worried no more…” she tried to explain in gasps.
“You meant it?” Russell grabbed her up against him, searching her eyes. “Really?”
The best she could do was nod and try not to choke. Her occasional fear of the first wife’s beauty and youth left, just left in the midst of the laughter. However, Russell had to have the last word.
“Mrs. B, I adore you!”
His mouth grabbed hers right there with the door open! The earthquake rocked the cabin, melted part of the glass as her knees turned to jelly.
“No, no! Mrs. B, you get back here! Darnit!” he stammered afterward. “I hate it when I go too far. Mrs. B, you get back here, I need you!”
Her spouse held her up while she went into recovery. She, on the other hand, mustered everything she had and was just about to swing a fist at him when…
“Russie, are you through playing in there? I have to get back down the mountain and Benjie isn’t being very nice. At least with my sister you closed the door.”
Russell quickly looked down at Lil, his silver flecks doing some calculating. “Now, Mrs. B, don’t you start thinking. You just said you weren’t afraid anymore and you know everything else about that marriage. Darnit, Lil, you know it wasn’t like that… This… Then… Uh…”
“Mr. B, we will talk later, but we will talk!” she replied, glaring at him for emphasis!
Her very embarrassed spouse was saved by the phone. Russell almost dropped her.
“I’ll get it!” was the first time Russell had voluntarily answered the phone. Ever.
In the midst of all the talk and his Rembrandt kiss, Lil had decided that Russell was right. Little Miss Virginia belonged at the bottom of the mountain. However, Lil wasn’t sure she could cause such suffering down there either. If they just knew what the woman wanted, it might solve the problem. She went back out while Russell was on the phone and found the blue eyes staring blankly at the kitchen sink while Ben rolled his eyes, his backside leaning against the sink counter.
“Virginia?”
“Oh! You shouldn’t startle people like that!”
Realizing that an explanation was useless, Lil simply asked, “What can we do for you?”
“I don’t think you could help much. You aren’t really family,” the woman replied with a shrug.
Lil studied the blonde as she stretched her arms into the air and pulled in a deep breath, showing off every curve possible then relaxed everything into a teasing pout including the lips – the blue eyes studying Ben.
“So, Benjie, you didn’t say who your married lover is. East Coast or West?”
“She’s not married. I mean she’s not on a coast!” Ben retorted, his eyes darting to Lil’s.
“Oh. A secret. I love secrets,” the blonde purred. “You have to tell me, you know, because I will find out.”
“Virginia,” Lil interrupted, “he’s in love with his new dance partner and just a little shy about it.”
Well, he was. Lil just didn’t explain who the dance partner was. Her.
“Dance partner?” The blue eyes studied Ben’s. “Oh. I think I see. She’s married, isn’t well-known to the set which means you picked someone outside the circle to avoid being detected, and you always were a good dancer. She good, too?”
Ben’s face turned hot red, his chin getting that firm look that Russell wore frequently. “Yes! An excellent dancer and a better quality of woman than the SET!”
“Ah. She’s with the Kennedy group and has oodles of money. No wonder you don’t want anyone to know,” cooed from the blonde. “So, who is it?”
Ben’s hands slammed his sides as his voice slammed the air with, “NOT A KENNEDY!! Not a set! Not a coast! SHUT UP!!”
“Benjie, you don’t have to yell at me,” was calmly replied while the blue eyes seemed to do some calculating. “Nevermind if it makes you so upset. So, is she paying for your retirement?”
Perhaps Russell was wrong. The facial expressions on the Blonde gave Lil thoughts that perhaps there was more than just cunning in that blonde head. Perhaps something much worse. Her thoughts were interrupted by Russell coming out of the bedroom, rushing toward Virginia.
“Virginia, Pennington is paying for his own retirement,” his bass voice answered patiently. “You should probably get down the mountain before the bed and breakfast is full for the night or you could end up at the sleazy motel on the corner and you know how you hate that. Here, let me help you.”
He reached his hand under the closest tanned arm and firmly pulled Virginia up from her seat then made a gentle but firm motion toward the back door, pushing the body ahead of him while the woman stammered.
“But, we haven’t talked yet,” was the last thing Lil heard because Russell shut the back door behind him still guiding Miss Virginia to her car.
Through the sink window, Lil watched him put the woman into a deep blue Porsche and firmly shut the door. Ben sighed behind Lil and sank into a kitchen chair.
“Oh my. Lillian, you have no idea how deadly she is. Two more minutes with her and I’d have spilled my guts about loving you and fighting with Barrington. We have to leave immediately for somewhere or she will—”
Russell came in the back door, swacking his hands together as if getting some dirt off of them, a rather satisfied smirk on his face.
“Ah. I think I’ve figured out how to handle the Virginia situation – for today anyway. But there’s still tomorrow. So. Where are we running to, Pennington?”
“Nowhere,” Lil answered. “What does she want? She didn’t come clear across the country just to say ‘hello’.”
Russell looked at her then sat in his kitchen chair and sighed. “I’m not sure, but she asked if I changed my will when I married you.”
“Then there’s no problem,” she stated. “The changes in our wills were ironclad so Daniel couldn’t challenge them. Even Batsy’s which also leaves his money to me.” Her eyes darted to Ben’s.
“Don’t look at me,” he responded. “Virginia’s always been a money grabber. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Well, there isn’t any money for her to grab. Or…” Lil paused, looking at the handsome face of her forgetful husband, “is there? You forget something like you seem to frequently? A little detail?”
Russell ruffed his short graying sable hair with his hands, thinking. Lil looked at Ben again.
“I don’t that either other than Barrington legally prevented Barbra from getting her hands on it when he found out about her boyfriend.”
“After working three straight days in the ER, I went home to an empty apartment,” Russell explained. “Nearly in tears, I spent two hours frantically looking for my son. Barbra had left Batsy with her drunken aunt!”
Lil walked behind her husband and started rubbing his shoulders. What he had finally told her about Barbra wasn’t pleasant but there were little details that had been left out. Things he honestly didn’t remember and many things Lil hadn’t asked. Purposefully not asked. However, asking was now a necessity.
“That precipitated the divorce papers?”
“I wasn’t totally blind, but yes,” he sighed softly. “Her aunt was pretty drunk when I got there and literally gloated while telling me about Barbra’s new lover. I couldn’t leave Batsy alone with Barbra after that. We made up all kinds of excuses so Reggie’s wife Rebecca could baby-sit him while Dad and Pennington kept telling me to finish my residency at the hospital.”
“I’m sorry, so sorry,” she whispered as his head leaned against her hand.
“It was a long time ago, Lil.”
“Not long enough,” Ben interjected. “We called my mother for help, too, and tried to coordinate all of our schedules without letting Barbra know. Sometimes, I had Batsy while he was on duty ostensibly to take him to the zoo or something.”
“Dad was the one who set up the legal work with Henry,” Russell sighed. “Then my parents flew out to check on me as if on a vacation.”
“Barrington, is there something Virginia has? Any paperwork?”
Russell’s head shook a little toward his friend then he grabbed Lil’s hands, pulling her down to the back of his neck and head. “Please don’t worry. We’re protected this time unlike what happened with Marjorie and the foundation. Barbra received a sum of money from me in exchange for full custody of Batsy and wouldn’t contest the divorce. She died later that year, but Henry still has the papers and I have a copy. All Virginia has is cunning and bluster.”
Lil pulled on her arms, Russell let her up, and she sat down in her own chair – thinking.
“Nova Scotia.”
Lil looked at Ben. “Nova Scotia?”
“Yup. She’ll never find us there. I’ll help Barrington take care of you if needed. Whatever it is she wants will pass by the time we get back.”
Her brain almost agreed – until it hit her. “Oh dear. Oh dear! Russell!”
Pg 20...
In the next hour, Russell called their lawyer Henry Walding and set things in motion. Then the men went outside, talking about the situation and planning while working on something that required some clanking of pipes. Russell had been talking about redesigning the water system for the cabin.
Suddenly, the male voices started receding into the distance requiring Lil to grab the edge of the sink for stability. Her hands and fingers desperately tried to hold her body up. However, her knees and legs quickly grew weaker, the law of gravity winning. Her sight narrowed to pinpoints, dark overcoming her as her body flushed with an intense hot flash that wouldn’t go away. Panic spread inside her for no reason. Determined to hold on, she hoped the familiar attack would pass.
Finally, no longer able to hang on, she sank to the floor in front of the sink. That was okay with her – the floor was clean and wouldn’t get her blue slacks dirty. At least she hadn’t fainted completely.
With her first and second brain tumors years ago, these attacks had happened enough for Lil to adjust to them. Now, she had a new life and did not want to adjust – at all! Perhaps she’d be able to fake her way through this… Nope. Ben’s boots clomped in the back door.
“Lillian!” He tried to grab her then yelled, “Barrington!!” as loudly as he could above her. “Hold on. I’ll get you to the bed. BARRINGTON!”
Her clouded brain worked – the connection to her mouth didn’t. His voice faded into the distance, somewhere outside the fog that remained for the moment.
“An aspirin… Did you still take one for dinner last night?”
Lil tried to nod her head at Ben but it wouldn’t work so she tried her mouth again. “Fine, Batsy.”
Lighter feet ran into the kitchen just as Ben started carrying her to the bedroom, a bass voice attached to them. “Where did you find her?”
“The kitchen floor.”
“Can she talk?” was asked as Ben put her on the bed.
She nodded her head. She could, it just might not sound the same, though, her tongue felt so thick. She hadn’t intended to say Batsy, but it had come out that way. Ben quickly took her vitals while Russell checked in her eyes.
“I’m…fine, really,” she tried to inform him.
“No, she’s not, Barrington. She thought I was Batsy.”
Russell retrieved her meds then put an aspirin in her mouth while Ben brought the water. “Can you swallow?”
Lil nodded her head at her husband and swallowed the tiny pill although Russell had to hold the water glass. Then Ben took notes on a sheet of paper while Russell quickly checked everything. She tried to fuss with his hands and get them but couldn’t tell exactly where they were. He ignored her while she finally clutched the nearest shirtsleeve.
“You have any ideas?” Ben asked.
“Some, but we need the labs first. Right now I think it’s an unusually intense adrenalin rush, not a stroke. She’s been having problems ever since last Summer when Arnie almost killed her. Her prolactins have spiked several times since Batsy’s reception at Thanksgiving.”
“I’ll get her ready while you call Doc Wallace.”
Russell agreed then patted her arm and moved away from her grasp toward the kitchen. Ben put her shaky body into a light sleeping bag while Russell spoke with Doc Wallace. When Ben moved her right leg, she hissed. As usual, the muscles in her legs were now in sudden, intense pain. Each movement requiring a biting of the lips to avoid gasping.
“Barrington!”
“Yeah, Pennington.”
“She’s in pain.”
Russell ran back into the room, looking directly at her. “Where, Mrs. B, where.”
“Legs coming back,” she mumbled.
“Please hold on,” he asked softly. “I can’t give you anything yet.”
Knowing what he meant, she nodded. He finished his call to Doc Wallace then snapped the phone shut.
“Barrington, I’ll call Dr. Pheybar. He will see her immediately.”
“No! No! Please,” she begged.
Russell scooped her up, bag and all. “Don’t argue with me, Mrs. B. We will do what’s necessary.”
While he was trying to smash her and everything into the car, Ben got in and helped from the driver’s side. This was so ridiculous. Russell would learn, and wouldn’t be afraid for her. She hoped anyway.
“What can I grab for you besides the med kit?” Ben asked, slipping out the jeep’s door.
Russell sat on the edge of the floor by her feet, the long end of the bag cushioning him. He looked up at her as if he wanted to cry, but wouldn’t.
“Grab my rain jacket, please,” he replied softly.
“My speech is better,” she mumbled. “I don’t need a hospital.”
“Yup, you do. I want the labs and we already know it will be tomorrow before you come completely back.” Russell came up off the floor toward her then mashed her face and mouth with his, putting the seat into recline as he did it.
“Bossy!” she managed.
“Yup, and don’t even go there. You can argue when you get better.”
She tried to chuckle with a hiccup. Their relationship had started with his Bossy and those same words two years ago last April.
Ben threw the requested items in the backseat then himself just as the jeep started rolling down the mountain a little faster than usual. About halfway down the mountain, the pain in her legs intensified and she cried a little. Unfortunately, Russell knew she was crying and kept trying to squeeze her hand.
“We need you alert,” he whispered, leaning toward her.
“I know,” she acknowledged softly, clinching her jaw muscles. “I just get so sick of this. You probably don’t know anything about it, but my endocrinologist used to tell me that my status as a DES baby and the births defects were more important but I never thought so—”
A soft “Well I’ll be…” from the backseat interrupted her. The jeep came to a slow rolling stop as Russell looked over at her intently.
“It is very important! I do know something about it: a great deal about it. It wasn’t in the medical reports I got and it should have been. It should have been at the top in bold letters!” he snapped.
When they arrived at the hospital an hour later, the afternoon was waning. Lil was going to spend her evening in an emergency room. Again.
Ben ran for the wheelchair then Russell helped her from the sleeping bag and into the seat. Doc Wallace talked with Russell and Ben while she was wheeled down to the same large room she had been in after the dog attack – the one she had discovered was actually the Barrington room when Russell was in it after his second bout of illness last Winter.
Good grief! She didn’t mind the labs, she needed them anyway. However, use of the fancy room was ridiculous. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the ability at the moment to object.
“Mrs. B, you let me do that!” Nancy Summerhill said forcefully when Lil tried to stand up from the chair.
Lil looked up at the sister of the woman who had inspired the Summerhill attack and smiled. Nancy was so totally the opposite of her rather forceful sister Adeline that no one could ever figure out how they were sisters and raised in the same family.
“I’m afraid I can’t move much anyway…” Lil whispered, sinking back into the chair, her legs in too much pain to care about much else.
“Mr. B said to wait for him but I’m supposed to help you get those clothes off.”
“For labs?!” Lil squeaked.
“Don’t you try that personality on me, Mrs. B,” Nancy chuckled, “I know you too well. He says you might be staying the night.”
Lil sighed and stuck her arm in the air while Nancy started pulling Lil’s blouse off. Okay. Maybe she did need help. Her body had gone into the shakes that usually came afterwards.
“Mrs. B!” Harry came running around the corner into the room, winded. “Oh man, I drove down that mountain so fast I couldn’t see the trees!” Harry looked up at Nancy and gasped, “Thanks for calling me. I wish I was the one taking care of her.”
“You get out of my room and back up on that mountain,” Lil demanded as best she could. “You aren’t my nurse anymore.”
Harry looked down at her and put his hands on his hips. “Mrs. B, we are going to have an argument again, aren’t we.”
“No, we aren’t,” she forced out. “Immmafine.”
“Mrs. B, you always say that – even when you were in this room after those huge dogs almost killed you. Nobody believes you anymore.”
Harry smiled at her then held the gown over her while Nancy disrobed her top layer then steadied her while Nancy finished the rest.
“Are you happy on the mountain?” she asked the ex-nurse.
“Absolutely, Mrs. B. I spent most of my life up there with Batsy until I became a nurse. I wasn’t sure I could do it, but he seems to think so. I heard that it was your idea.”
“Mine? Oh, no,” she denied, not wanting him to know that it was. “Russell just needed to figure out how he was going to organize things and let go. Now he has time to enjoy his mountains without the distractions. That retirement of his.”
“If you say so,” Harry chuckled, “but that would be more convincing if he actually stopped working in them. I’m not sure you could separate what he is from what they are.”
My goodness! She turned enough to look up at the young man who made her laugh occasionally then surprised her occasionally. This was one of those moments of surprise at the maturity and depth of Harry.
“Harry—”
“Nevermind, Mrs. B. That isn’t an original from me. It’s a Batsy,” he admitted, the smile widening. “But I understand it. Oh! I have news,” he hinted, the smile broadening. “My Mandy is pregnant. She found out about four weeks ago.”
“Harry!!” The sudden explosion from her mouth widened her eyes as the pain seared through her.
“Oh! Oh, Mrs. B, you don’t need that.”
Nancy ran for a hot blanket while Harry rubbed Lil’s shoulders. The tears came anyway while she tried to laugh a little. This wasn’t terrible, it just hurt.
Richard came around the corner with his tray of torturous instruments just as Nancy got there with the warmth. Harry managed to get her to the bed while Nancy wrapped her legs in the heat.
“Have you had the guts to watch the video of your wedding yet?” Lil asked Harry while Richard tried to find a good vein in her arm for the needle.
“Uh…no,” he replied, turning a strawberry red. “Fainting like that was a little—”
“May I be so bold as to suggest that your reaction to the sight of your beautiful bride was indicative of your affection for her?”
Harry looked at her a little puzzled.
“Translation: she knocked your socks off and you were so terrified over your lack of skills in that department that you simply couldn’t handle it. That’s very close to what Russell did with me on our wedding night – very close.”
Harry laughed. “Mr. B? Really? I wouldn’t have thought that at all.”
Lil nodded her head. That was a stretch of the truth, but close enough. Harry laughed more comfortably and watched while Richard wiped her arm with the alcohol swab.
Richard finally poked the needle into Lil but the vein moved. Russell came in on the second poke in her arm. He knew where her veins were and showed the best one to Richard, saving Lil from being a pin cushion. When Richard was finally done, Russell started on her reflexes, checking the various reflexes that he needed her to be alert for. Harry ended up writing them down while Nancy went for the shot.
“Mr. B, you know what it is, don’t you,” Harry stated.
“Yes, Harry, other than the DES problems, I think so. But we won’t be sure until the test comes back.” The doctor in Russell’s silver flecks went into his soft mode when he looked at her. “Mrs. B, you know, too.”
“Yes, but I won’t go back East to that hospital again. That’s overkill.” She looked at her husband with her chin up and out.
“Where we are depends on what the labs say and what Pennington finds out. He’s talking to Pheybar,” the bossy doctor asserted.
Through with his exam, Russell sat down next to her and sighed a little. She looked up at her husband, taking his hands in hers.
“This isn’t what the Lord let me come back for, Russell. These will come and go – and maybe not frequently. You know there isn’t much anyone can do except make me very sick with pills. Then, if that doesn’t work, he’ll want radiation. Then if that doesn’t work, chemotherapy – if I choose to, that is.”
“Please don’t even hint that you won’t, Mrs. B.”
She bit her lip and tried not to cry but the look on Russell’s face produced some tears anyway. Tears were an easy thing to come by when she was weakened like this so she didn’t blame them on being female – which usually disgusted her.
“I’ll choose,” she whispered.
Russell quickly gathered her upper body into a tight embrace, his voice grateful. “My wonderful Mrs. B, you trust me. We are of one spirit. Thank you. And I do know about the DES. Your endocrinologist was right. It’s not only important, it answers so many questions, so many of them. I’m so blessed that you are here at all.”
Her husband was holding her in his arms when Nancy came in with the shot for the pain.
“Harry, you go back up the mountain now,” Russell requested, reaching for the syringe. “She’s going to be out anyway.”
“Yes, sir, but I want to know what you find out.”
“You’ll know,” Russell assured him, wiping her hip with the alcohol swab. “You’re part of the family, Harry.”
The young Harry blushed again and left. The wonderful liquid was injected to her system through her hip muscle then Russell rubbed the stinging spot with the alcohol swab to smooth out the effects.
“You need anything else?” Nancy asked him.
“No, you can go, too,” he replied, reaching for Lil’s hand.
“Mr. B, please take me home,” Lil asked softly. “Oh dear, I’m sorry, Russell. It’s too soon, too soon. I wanted more time. We haven’t even been on our honeymoon to Alaska yet. You aren’t even used to me yet and here we are doing this.”
“I don’t care, Lil. I can’t pretend that I’m not scared, but I’ll still be grateful,” he whispered, pulling her up to hold her again. “I know the Lord wouldn’t have let you come back to me if this were going to take you back so soon, but He expected me to take good care of you.” Russell kissed her softly. “We’ll go home for now.”
Finally the tears in her poured out while she held onto her husband with her shaking hands. “Thank you, thank you, Mr. B, I adore you, too.”
Russell’s response was under his breath as he squished her against him.
“Barrington, what’s going on?” Ben asked, coming into the room. “You okay?”
“No, Pennington, not really.” Russell let go of her a little, wiping the tears from his face. “But, for now, I’m taking her home where she’s comfortable. What did you find out?”
“The faxes from her previous endocrinologist shows she will have difficulty with the pills. We might need another method,” Ben replied hesitantly. “Did you call Batsy?”
“No! Andy can’t deal with this right now,” Lil insisted, afraid for her daughter-in-law. “Not now! She is having so much trouble just keeping herself and those babies alive.”
“Now, Mrs. B, and I will do it,” Russell insisted softly. “We are a family and Batsy will feel left out and miserable if he doesn’t know. I’ll call Sarah, too. Miles will bring her if needed.”
“Virginia… What about her?”
“You let me deal with her right now. She’s my problem,” Russell assured her. “Maybe we can fool her into giving up.”
Somehow, Lil didn’t think that was going to happen, but didn’t have a say at the moment. His warm arms left her when her body finally sank into the stiff bedding, her mental lights going out.
Pg 39 -
June 24: Day Four Sunday afternoon, Russell’s hand gently stroked Lil’s silver hair from behind. He had agreed to wait until after Church to take the dreaded pill, if possible. Too much time was being spent on the bed trying to avoid the throwing up. And, her appetite had emigrated to Mars. Her whole image of life had shifted to survival again. She hated it.
Even through all the years of illness, Lil wasn’t used to anyone helping her. Especially not her first husband who had been in those times the cruelest of all – his anger, fear, and frustration being taken out on her instead of loving her.
Lying there on the bed, she couldn’t stand it anymore. As his hand came down to her face again, she grabbed it with both of her hands, and squeezed it hard. “Please, please don’t do that any more…”
“Lil, I want to.”
“Please don’t. I can’t stand it.”
His long fingers closed, catching both of her hands and she tried to pound it on the pillow next to her. His strength prevented it, his arms closing around her even tighter.
“Lil, you might as well learn to depend on me. It’s going to get worse.”
“I don’t know how,” she admitted, the tears starting, turning her mind into a muddle. “I’m used to fighting on my own!”
“Not ever again, Mrs. B, never. Not even after I’m dead.”
“Right. You planning to haunt me?”
“I mean it, not even then. You use your strength to fight the tumor. I’ll use mine to take care of everything else.” Russell’s deep bass voice started humming as he started stroking what he called her Silver and her face again from behind her, her back cuddled against his front as usual. “This afternoon we’ll work on “The Quiet Thunder in Thorns Peak.”
“Please don’t be so nice to me. I don’t know what to do with it.”
The fingers on her forehead hesitated slightly then went on stroking.
“You’ve learned to trust me, Lil. You’ll learn this.”
Later, when she finally got back to the common room, Russell put their chairs together facing the view and pulled on her to sit in her chair then sat in his.
“Mrs. B, I think it’s time.”
“Time?”
“Yup. I’ve got an idea about a book and we are going to write it together.”
“Oh, you think so. And just what kind of a book is it?”
“It’s a love story about an older couple who rewrite history.”
Her eyes misted up as his hand came over his armrest and reached hers. They sat there for a few moments, staring out the two-story bay windows on the front of the cabin at the craggy rocks forming Thorns Peak while the rest of the people in the cabin receded into the background, leaving the two of them alone on his mountain.
