The Fall (Book 1) Page 11

  “Brooke must think I’m the worst person in the world. She wouldn’t want me in your family. I really messed things up, didn’t I?” Garrett’s face softened.

  “I think she’ll understand. She’s trying to make herself seem tougher by saying that she doesn’t care, but I know my daughter. She does. Don’t you worry about that. Maybe, in time, she’ll forgive you.” The smile that beamed from Nat’s face was enough to light up the entire room.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The sun gave the garden a cheery look, and Jenny, Garrett, Max and Athena were enjoying it to the fullest. Granted, the space wasn’t quite as large as they would have liked, so they ended up falling all over one another, but it was still fun for all of them. They were in the process of taking down the fence between Garrett’s backyard and Kayleigh’s, and they were having a ball doing it. It was something that Garrett saw as a blessing, because it kept Jenny from being down and depressed.

  Alice had decided she was going to make it to Kayleigh’s trial one way or another, and so she’d managed to get herself dressed and limp down the stairs as best she could. When she got to the back door, she could see she had her own little family there, working together and having a good time. She stood in the frame of the door for a few minutes, just watching, letting a smile light up her face. After a few minutes, she cleared her throat.

  “I’m ready to go, guys!” Garrett and Max whipped around at the sound of her voice, but Athena and Jenny just waved in her general direction and kept going. Once the words sank in, she got everyone’s attention.

  “And where exactly is it you think you’re going?” Garrett eyed her in the fresh clothes and walking on her own, and he hated it. It was too soon, in his opinion, for her to be up and about on her own without any kind of support.

  “I want to go to Kayleigh’s trial.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest, making it perfectly clear she wasn’t going to let anyone talk her out of it, either. Garrett simply saw that as a challenge he was willing to accept.

  “You’re not going anywhere. You need to rest your leg, and I don’t want you going anywhere near the sheriff and his team if it looks like they might not be able to control the situation.” Trying logic and common sense was his first approach.

  “I don’t care. I’m the reason there is a trial, and I want to go and set things right. It wasn’t her fault, and what she did was out of self-defense. I want to make sure they know that.” While Garrett found it admirable that she wanted to help her friend, he didn’t want her exposed. Athena nodded in understanding.

  “Let her go, Garrett. It’s not like she won’t be protected. Even if the sheriff and his crew can’t keep people in line, you know for a fact we can.” That was true. If any situation turned sour, there was no one else he’d rather have by his side. Sighing heavily, he finally relented.

  “Alright, fine. You can go, but I want it understood that I’m not happy about this. At all.” The triumphant look on Alice’s face said it all.

  “But we’ll be taking the car so you don’t hurt that leg any worse. Take it or leave it.” Alice frowned. She wanted to go, yes, but she didn’t want to be treated like a child or an invalid. She bit her lip. If that was the only way that she could go, then so be it.

  “Fine.” Athena raised an eyebrow at Garrett, and he glared at her while she did her best to hide a smile.

  The group, minus Jenny, who was staying home with Brooke, Ben and Wren, piled into the minivan that Garrett’s buddies had driven over in. It was pleasantly clean, with a tangy odor of weapons’ cleaner. It made Garrett feel right at home. Alice wrinkled her nose in disgust, but she too recognized what it was. Knowing she would be the only one who didn’t like the perfume, she kept her mouth shut. Athena and Max were in the front seats, leaving Garrett and Alice in the back. She cleared her throat.

  “Garrett?” He immediately looked at her leg, silently asking if she was alright.

  “What is it?”

  “I wanted to talk to you about the kiss we shared…” She trailed off, not sure how to proceed now that she’d brought it up. He waved a hand at her nonchalantly.

  “Don’t worry about it. I know that you were in a bad place when it happened. I don’t hold it against you at all.”

  “That’s not true, though. I just wanted to talk about it.” Garrett held up a hand, and a meaningful glare came with it.

  “No. I’m not talking about that. If you want to talk, pick a different subject.” He’d gone into his stubborn, defensive mode, and Alice knew by now there was nothing she could do once he retreated there except to wait him out.

  “Alright. Then about the trial…” She trailed off again, waiting for him to make eye contact with her now that the subject had been changed to something he presumably would discuss.

  “Do we have a plan? I already had thought about lying in her favor and saying that John would have killed all of us if she hadn’t done what she had. And I was going to mention that he wasn’t lowering the gun at all.” This part of the conversation was loud enough for everyone to hear, and that meant it would be the story they stuck to.

  At the trial, the sheriff had Kayleigh sitting in a little metal chair, almost like she was in an interrogation room. As the group traipsed in, they could see the sheriff already had begun. He was asking Kayleigh to justify herself, and as they took their seats, they all could hear her telling the sheriff about all the years of abuse she’d endured at his hands. She told him how she’d been afraid for her life, and that finally, her anger and fear had reached the point where she had shot him.

  “Are you claiming self-defense for your actions?” The sheriff’s voice was cold.

  “N-no. I wasn’t the target.”

  Kayleigh was shivering, but it was certainly with fear as the room was sweltering. Her hands trembled as she wrung them in her lap, waiting for what was going to happen to her. At Garrett’s side, Alice scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could.

  “That’s not true!” The outburst caught everyone’s attention, and now the sheriff had his beady eyes on her.

  “I was the other victim in this situation, and I believe Kayleigh did what she had to do. John wasn’t lowering his gun at all.” As she said the last part, she looked meaningfully at Nat, who was sitting in a little chair not far behind his mother. He gave a curt nod then jumped into the conversation.

  “That’s right. My dad wasn’t lowering the gun. He was trying to shoot Garrett in the chest, but he missed and hit Alice instead.” Kayleigh’s eyes were on the floor, and it looked as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They were protecting her.

  “I know I had a gun also, but I only was doing what my father told me to do. If you check the gun you took from me as evidence, you can see it never even was loaded.”

  He was squarely laying the blame on his father, and it made Garrett smile. This was what they’d talked about in the cell not too long ago. After a long pause, the sheriff looked to Alice.

  “Do you want to press charges for the harm you suffered in this unfortunate situation?” Alice shook her head.

  “No, sir. I don’t want any charges brought against either Kayleigh or Nat. They only were doing what they had to in order to survive.”

  Even though a simple no would have sufficed, she took the opportunity to again tell everyone in the room that neither of the people on trial were at fault for what had happened. She hoped it would be enough.

  “Alright. Then the charges are dropped, but I believe that it would be in everyone’s best interests if the Pritchard family were relocated somewhere farther away from society.” He picked up the gavel to make his decision official. Garrett bolted to his feet.

  “That won’t be necessary, sir! We’ve decided to add them to our family and offer them the same protection and rules we’ve been living by since this whole thing started.” The sheriff glared at Garrett.

  He clearly didn’t like being undermined, especially when he was supposed to be
the one in charge, but Garrett and his family had been an asset to him since this fiasco started. If they could vouch that there would be no more trouble out of the Pritchards, then that would be acceptable.

  “Then from now on, Garrett, I hold you responsible for these two and their actions.” With that, the gavel came down, and the sheriff walked out.

  No one moved for a second. It seemed as though the room was holding its collective breath to make sure the sheriff didn’t come back before they started their low murmur of conversation. Kayleigh’s eyes still were wide with fear, but after a minute or so, Nat got off of his little chair and came over to sit with her. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him, not having anything she could hold on to, other than him. Alice and Garrett were on their way up to the center of the room. Their minivan was in the center of a group of people, so they were going to escort Kayleigh and Nat, just in case someone in the crowd tried to get to them. Garrett didn’t trust anyone as far as he could throw them nowadays, other than his friends and family. He was helping Kayleigh into the van, when she clutched him tightly and burst into tears.

  “Thank you! Thank you so much for coming. I don’t think we would have made it out of there if it hadn’t been for you. But I’m so scared!” Garrett patted her back and held on to her for a moment until she could calm herself down.

  “Why would you be scared? He let you go, and you guys are coming home to stay with me and my family. What’s wrong with that?” She shook her head, and he could see there were still fresh tears on her face.

  “The sheriff told us before we went in there that if by some miracle we got off, he’d find a punishment for us in the week or two after the trial.” Garrett’s eyes hardened as he glanced back at the door that the sheriff had left through.

  He silently dared the sheriff to do what he’d said. These two were now part of his family, and he would do whatever was necessary to keep them safe. If that meant taking on the sheriff and his crew, then so be it. Softening his look, he turned back to Kayleigh, who still was shaking in his arms.

  “Don’t you worry about him. If he tries anything, we’ll protect you. It doesn’t matter what he thinks he can do. He’s not going to hurt anyone I care about. That I can promise you.”

  She gave him a grateful smile then crawled up into the minivan and sat beside her son. Garrett helped Alice get herself in and situated before jumping into the empty seat and slamming the van door closed. Max stepped on the gas, and they were out of there. The farther away they got, the more Kayleigh relaxed.

  “I’ll do whatever I can to pay back this debt. I know John wasn’t the best person, but I hope you won’t judge us on what he was like. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you know that.” There was a fierce determination in her voice, and Alice took her hand.

  “If we didn’t already know that, we wouldn’t have told the sheriff you were going to be part of our family.”

  Garrett had to admit, bringing Alice had been a good thing. Not only for getting Kayleigh and Nat out of trouble, but now she was helping the woman calm down, and that was something he’d never been that great at. As they pulled into the driveway, Garrett saw Brooke on the front porch. She smiled when she saw them come home, and it hit him suddenly that she might have been worried they wouldn’t make it back. Nat got out and saw her, smiling and giving her a shy wave. The grin vanished from Brooke’s face and she turned on her heel, marching back into the house. Garrett put a hand on his shoulder, silently telling him she’d come around in time.

  “She’s going to hate me for the rest of her life, isn’t she?” he asked glumly. Garrett chuckled and cuffed him under the chin.

  “Don’t you worry. Yes, she holds grudges, and sometimes those take a long time to go away, but eventually they all go away. You’ll be fine, just be patient.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  The backyard looked a lot different with all of the work that Garrett and his army buddies had put into it. The fence posts that had separated the Pritchard’s backyard from Garrett’s had been smoothed down, then the points sharpened to make spikes for keeping people out. They’d also added a couple of rolls of barbed wire across the top, so it kind of looked like a prison yard. Alice couldn’t help thinking that she was behind bars. Granted, she was safe, but that feeling just wouldn’t go away. Sheriff Ramsay was knocking on the door before Garrett had a chance to get cleaned up, and so he answered the door drenched in sweat.

  “Hello, Garrett. It looks like you’re getting busy over here. Are you making a prison in your neighbor’s yard?” Garrett chuckled humorlessly and kept his eyes on the sheriff, and his hand on the pistol that now never left his hip.

  “Hello, sheriff. No, I’m not making a prison, I’m just making sure no one else tries to do what John did. I have my family and we have our supplies, and if I don’t choose to give any away, I don’t want people to think they can come over here and try to take them.” As far as Garrett was concerned, that was enough of an explanation to keep the sheriff satisfied, and enough of the truth so others would know what awaited them, if they tried to do what John had done.

  The sheriff gave Garrett a hard look, almost as if he was gauging whether Garrett would cause him any trouble later on, but Garrett just kept his smile hitched firmly in place and waited for the sheriff to either speak or leave. There was no way he was letting the man into his house. Not after the way he’d started acting when this attack happened. Sheriff Ramsay cleared his throat again, then looked past Garrett to see if anyone else was around. That was something that Garrett had made sure wouldn’t happen again. If no one else was around, then they couldn’t get shot.

  “Well, it’s starting to scare the neighbors. Maybe you should take the barbed wire down.” Garrett had to school his face into an expression of nonchalance.

  “No. They should be scared. This is only going to get worse. I’ve been telling you that, and I’ve been right. I can tell by the look on your face that I am. I’m doing everything I have to in order to protect my family, and if that means scaring the neighbors and kicking them into gear, then so be it. They need to be doing what I am to protect themselves.”

  Anger sparked in the sheriff’s eyes that Garrett so much wanted to put out, but for the moment, society still was placing its faith in the authority that had lost control of the situation. It wouldn’t do to start a fight when people would be against him. The sheriff could tell he wasn’t getting anywhere with Garrett, so he decided just to pass on his news and move on.

  “There’s a town hall meeting tonight if you’re interested in going.”

  The words were barely out of his mouth before he spun on his heel and headed down the porch steps. Garrett could only smile at his leaving. As the family got together for dinner, Garret thought he would hold a vote on who would be going to the town hall meeting. Max drew him aside.

  “Hey. I don’t think we need to call this meeting. You and I will go for this household.” There was an intensity in Max’s eyes that Garrett hadn’t seen in a long time, but he knew it was something to at least hear him out about.

  “What about Ben and Athena? Shouldn’t they come with us?” Max shook his head.

  “Ben had a few incidents back home where he got violent with people because he was paranoid they wanted to hurt him. Athena did her best to keep him in check, but by herself she’s no match for him. I think it would be better to leave the two of them here with the family to guard the house while we go see what the sheriff is trying to accomplish.” That made a little more sense now. While both of them loved Ben to death, Garrett knew he sometimes could go completely crazy when he got a thought in his head that he couldn’t shake.

  “I’m worried that things might go badly with him when things get worse with the neighborhood.”

  Garrett understood that, and he hoped they would be able to keep Ben in check for as long as possible. Eventually, things would start happening, and the number of people around them would get to be smaller. He didn’t want t
o run down the list of things that would thin out people right now, but it would happen.

  “Wren? Can you get everyone fed please? Max and I are going to be heading down to the town hall meeting. Everyone listen up. Wren is in charge, and if you don’t think she can be a mother and treat you like you’re her child, then you are sorely mistaken. She’ll spank you and send you to bed without dessert.” He winked at Wren and she giggled.

  “Max and I are heading out, so everyone be good, okay?” Jenny and Brooke came running over to give Garrett a hug.

  “Bye, Daddy. Make sure they know what to do, okay?” Jenny was always the utilitarian, and she wanted everyone to get along all the time.

  Garrett squeezed her and promised that he would. Brooke was more shy and gave him a quick hug before finding a seat at the dinner table…as far away from Nat as she could. Garrett had invited them to dinner at his house tonight, just to make sure that nothing from the trial still was lingering in peoples’ heads. If someone decided the trial hadn’t ended the right way and came looking for Kayleigh and Nat, he didn’t want them to be alone. Max and Garrett took the bikes to the meeting, deciding to get a little more exercise in since they mostly were cooped up in the house. He felt like the two of them were much younger men again, challenging each other to see who could get there first, and who would win the race. Granted, Garrett had the advantage, since he knew where he was going, and in the end, he managed to pull his bike into the parking lot a few seconds ahead of Max.

  “Man! That was a good workout!” Both of them now were dripping sweat and they looked like they were satisfied with themselves.

  “Should we chain up the bikes?” Max was looking around for a place as he said it, but Garrett already was scanning the landscape for anyone who could have seen them arrive. The parking lot was empty, which made him think they might be a few minutes late.