Chapter 2

About fifteen minutes later, Carly came into Kevin’s room and climbed into bed beside him. “They told me to go get some rest. Why is Grandpa so mad?” She asked.

Kevin snuggled up to her and said: “He has a lot of responsibility and somebody loaded him up with some more. How’s your mom?”

Carly’s brow furrowed. “Umm ... I don’t know. She keeps saying she killed daddy. She wasn’t there. She was in Kansas. I remember it.” Her gaze clouded for a few moments then she spoke. “He picked me up from school. He was taking me to Mrs. Anne’s for a few hours. He said we’d get pizza on the way home. I remember asking when Momma would be home. Daddy told me she called and said her job was keeping her in Kansas for a few more weeks. It was after that the pickup truck hit us.”

Kevin tensed as his expression hardened.

“Are you ok?”

Kevin shook his head and said: “No and I can’t talk about it without breaking a trust. Too many bad things have happened lately.”

Carly lifted her head when Kathy and Ben’s voices came through the walls. She looked at Kevin fearfully. “They’re screaming at each other!” She started to get up when Kevin stopped her.

“You know, we used those machine guns I passed out. It was a real war.”

Carly pulled back from him. “D ... did...”

Kevin touched his finger to her lips and nodded. “Here, lie down with me.”

Carly got comfortable draping herself around Kevin.

He gave her a gentle kiss then said: “War can give you bad feelings. Sometimes, the only way to get them out is to yell. That’s what your Grams is doing. She’s helping your Grandpa to feel better.”

Carly nodded, then smiled mischievously and kissed him. “I know what I want to feel better.”

“Is that right?” Kevin said as he rolled over onto her.

She shot him a thousand-watt smile and nodded. “Uh-huh. I want to feel lots and lots better.”

Kevin laughed. “We can do that.”

A couple of hours later, the sound of knocking woke them. “Can I come in?” Kathy asked.

Carly blushed and pulled the blanket up.

“Come in please,” Kevin said.

Kathy came in and shut the door behind her. She grabbed Kevin’s bathrobe and tossed it to Carly. “Sweetie, I need you to take a quick shower and come help with your mother.” She turned her back to them. “I won’t look.”

A moment later, she kissed Carly’s cheek as she passed her. “I need to talk to Kevin for a minute.” Kathy turned to her son. “Don’t worry, I’m not angry. I’ve had your father relieve my stress more than once.”

Kevin flushed a light red.

“Oh no, you’re blushing days are over. You’re the one who wanted two women and now you’ve got them. I hope you had your stress relieved because that’s the last chance you’re going to have for a while. This thing with Meg is going to take a week or more.”

“Mrs. Addison wants a turf house built for the major part of the ceremony. It has to hold at least twenty-five people. She says it needs to be near a river or creek if at all possible. We need it within two days. You’ll have to gather the men to get it done.”

“What’s a turf house, Mom?” Kevin asked.

Kathy shrugged: “I don’t know. You’ll have to look it up on-line and do the best you can. I have to go make some lunch, then wake your father. We needed some stress relief too.”

Kevin turned scarlet. Kathy laughed: “I told you you can’t do that anymore. The main reason I came in is that until this is over Mrs. Addison said Meghan can’t see you at all.”

Kevin sat up. “WHAT!”

“Calm down and listen.” Kathy waited a few moments until Kevin got himself under control. “She said in Meghan’s mind, you are her protector from everything bad. That includes the pain that’s destroying her.”

“The only way we can convince her to face it is if you are out of her life until this is over. No phone calls, no messages, no running into each other in the house. A complete separation. Part of the reason for the turf house is so she can be in a neutral environment. Carly’s going to be with us.”

Kevin nodded, then said: “Ok. How’s dad doing?”

His mom sat on the bed and said: “Your father is one of the greatest and strongest men I’ve ever known. He’s carried us and our people through thick and thin at great cost to himself. Let me tell you something, it is ok to let your loved ones see you cry. It’s not a weakness. The weakness is in whatever you do or don’t do while you’re crying. Will you remember that for me?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Kathy smiled. “Good. Relax, a few minutes. Give Carly a nice kiss when she comes back to get dressed. I’ll have lunch ready in about thirty minutes. Then I’m kicking you and dad out to get started on that turf house so I can feed the ladies and Meghan.”

“Um. Do we get to come back tonight?”

Kathy got up. “Only if it’s finished and we’re moved in. So you better grab some sleeping bags and have somebody get some carry out.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Kathy called back as she left the room.

“Why are we building it here?”

“Your woman, your land. Keeps it simple. Don’t you agree?” Ben said to his son.

“I can see that,” Kevin said. He put his hand on his father’s shoulder. “Dad, I don’t do it often, but I want you to know I love you and I’m proud of you.”

Ben’s eyebrows shot up and he pulled back a little. “Thank you. I love you and I’m proud of you, too. What brought that on?”

Kevin looked into his father’s eyes. “I realized today that if it hadn’t been for that vision I would have never told Don I loved him. Speaking to a jar of ashes isn’t the same thing. I didn’t want to make the same mistake again.”

Ben gave him a quick hug. “Well, at least something good came out of that war. I wish it hadn’t cost so much.” A look of deep sadness and regret crossed Ben’s face. He shook himself, then smiled. “The heavy equipment and sod trucks will be here in about an hour. The lumber and gravel will be about an hour or so after that. We need to get the area for the house marked out. We’ll take whatever soil we need from one of the fields.”

“I hate to think what this is going to cost me. The food alone will be outrageous.” Kevin said.

Ben grinned at him: “Not as bad as you think, based on the letter to Henry. He came by while you and Carly was napping. This is a clan project so the clan will pay for it.”

Kevin stopped walking and looked at Ben. “What’s going on here? I’m missing something.”

Ben shrugged. “Henry was pretty tight-lipped. Which is unusual for him. Some type of change is coming and Meghan and Carly are in the middle of it.”

Kevin reached into a box, pulled out two cans of red spray paint and handed one to his dad. “I looked up Healer’s sickness. It’s something someone who’s becoming a witch goes through. They used a different word, but that’s what I got out of it.”

Ben said: “You know more than I do. I asked Henry, who Grams Hallwood was and he wouldn’t say. Except, that she was highly respected. I grew up on the other side of the county so I never met her that I remember. I’m sure I did. But I was a kid and wasn’t paying attention. Apparently, her word is law.”

Ben looked at the trees around them then stamped his foot. “Damn it. I forgot to order some shitters. Call Frank and tell him I need eight, no better make it ten shitters. Each with an overflow tank and enough toilet paper to go a month. Plus two more shitters for the work crews. While you do that. I’ll start marking trees to cut.”

Once Kevin made the call, he helped his father mark trees. He then dropped flags marking posts for the privacy fence.

“Excuse me, gentlemen.”

They looked up from the line they were measuring.

“Yes, Mrs. Addison. How can we help you?” Ben said.

“I came to look at the site you’ve chosen. You’ve done very well.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

“The trees you’ve marked are the ones to be cut down. Correct?” Mrs. Addison asked.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

She pointed at two trees. “That large Oak there and the Birch there must stay. Do not cut them.”

“Ma’am, the Oak will be in the middle of the house,” Ben said.

She waved a hand toward Ben and enunciated each word as if he was half a truck shy of a load. “Then either move the house or build around the Oak, Sir. The Oak and the Birch must stay.”

Ben took a breath and stared at her a moment, then said through gritted teeth: “Yes Ma’am.”

She smiled. “Thank you. I’ll leave you men to your work. As I said before, this is a wonderful spot you picked.”

“Thank you again, Ma’am.” As soon as Barbara was out of easy earshot Ben whispered: “Prickly old bitch.”

Kevin started coughing trying to choke back his laughter.

Ben said: “Well, we better think fast, the crews will be here in about 20 min.”

Kevin studied the area a moment, then said: “We can’t move it closer to the river because of flooding. Moving it back would be too big of a job for the time we have. So it’s either move it to the left or build around.”

Ben looked around and sighed. “It’s going to screw everybody if we go to the left because we color-coded our paint. They won’t know what the hell they’re looking at.”

“How about this then,” Kevin said. “We build around it, but slide the building forward enough so the Oak is near the back wall.”

“Let’s grab the tape measure and let’s see how it works.”

After they measured, Kevin said. “It looks like if we leave eight feet or so behind the tree that will keep us far enough away from the river.”

Ben shook his head. “I’m not happy with that. We better make it twelve feet between the back wall and tree. There’s only one door. So we can’t risk them getting flooded.”

“All right, should we widen it by two or three feet?”

Ben nodded. “That might be a good idea. Three will work. They want a cooking hearth too.”

“A what?” Kevin asked.

“A fireplace you can cook in.” Ben looked at his son funny. “I thought you went to school.”

Kevin chuckled. “I did, but not in the stone age. They’re not expecting much are they?”

“Nope, they want the near to impossible in three days and the impossible sooner. Get used to it.”

Kevin and Ben had been working with the crews for several hours when Sheriff Tulane drove up.

“Can I borrow you and Kevin a minute, Ben?”

“Sure.”

“We need to go up to your office,” Henry said as Ben and Kevin got in the squad car.

Ben shook his head: “We can’t use it right now. The Ladies ran us out.”

“We can use mine. It has all the comforts of home.” Kevin said.