The McClane Apocalypse Book 4 (59 page)

Grandpa quiets the room with a raise
of his hand. The meeting wraps with every person in agreement of
the new patrols, the wall, the security of the clinic and the
exchange of working on the harvest season later in the summer for
food. Everyone but Mr. Hernandez, of course, but nobody pays him
any mind once again.

After the
meeting,
Condo
Paul joins up with them to let Reagan and her grandfather know that
Anita, one of the women at the condo village who is pregnant, says
that she thinks she’s getting closer. The widow that John and Derek
had freed and saved from asshole creeps four years ago had married
a nice man who’d sought refuge over there and had ended up becoming
a very valuable member of their condo community. He was an ex-Navy
Seal,
an excellent
strategist and planner who’d
helped
Paul fortify the hell
out of that community. They’d taken the phrase gated community to a
whole new level. Every condo on their small cul-de-sac is filled
with
families,
and they all work together to make it thrive against all odds.
They keep over six dozen chickens in the former pool house, around
six or seven milk and beef cows, at last count, out on the golf
course, and quite a few goats. They’ve managed to find eight
abandoned and left for dead or turned loose horses over the years,
as well. They’d
turned
a two acre
patch
of ground including the
seventeenth hole into a healthy, robust garden. It still tickles
Reagan’s funny bone every time she goes over there and sees cows,
horses and goats grazing on a former golf course. That is until she
spies the armed guards that patrol it on foot. The women learned
how to can, care of the McClane family, and their garden flourishes
each season. Paul’s miniature community is a kick-ass fortress, and
he’s become the McClanes number one ally against outside enemies.
Reagan is glad that she and John helped Paul and his family in that
hospital four years ago. He’s a good man who only wants to keep his
family alive.

Grandpa reassures him that
one of them will be available for Anita’s birth and that he should
just call on the radio when she’s ready. They part on their usual
handshake. It’s hard to believe that she and John had met him when
Paul and his family had been on the run from murderers and thieves
in the hospital in Clarksville. He’d
been
defenseless, was shot and bleeding
and afraid for the lives of his family. Now he is a survivor and
warrior like the Rangers.

They ride home to the farm
in the SUV, which Kelly had repaired the other day. Something about
a fuel line or pump or some other thing that Reagan could care less
about. Gasoline is becoming
more
difficult to find
and salvage. Trips to
town will soon have to
become
modified by other means of
transportation if they don’t source more fuel somewhere. Every time
she thinks things could get
really
bad
, though, the men seem to put their
heads together and come up with a plan.

They stop to pick up Talia
and Maddie on the way home from their visit with the Reynolds.
Reagan slides over and takes Maddie onto her lap as Paige scoots to
the middle so that Talia can get in beside her. Talia is grinning
ear to
ear,
her cheeks flushed against her mocha, smooth skin.

“Have a nice visit?” Paige
asks
slyly
once they are moving again.

Reagan wonders at the playful tone in
Paige’s voice.

“Shh,” Talia says.

Reagan spies Talia
poke
Paige in the
ribs gently with her elbow.

“What’s going on?” Reagan asks.
“What’d I miss?”

“I don’t think Talia’s been
visiting the Reynolds for
Bertie’s
company if you know what I mean,” Paige teases her
friend, getting a scowl from Talia.

“Oh really?” Reagan asks.
She wishes she could tell John, but he’s in the truck behind them.
Kelly is driving their SUV, and Grandpa rides shotgun as usual. But
Simon and John are following them in the
truck
. Sam is also with John and
Simon, of course. Those two rarely separate.

“Stop!” Talia hisses with feigned
anger.

“So, Chet Reynolds, huh?” Kelly asks
from the driver’s seat.

“Oh my gosh!” Talia cries out with
embarrassment.

Reagan and Kelly both laugh. She’s not
at all surprised that he’s figured it out before her. Some of
Hannah’s intuition must have rubbed off on him over the
years.

“Chet’s a good man, Talia,” Grandpa
acknowledges, furthering Talia’s humiliation.

“Oh no,” Talia says as she covers her
face with her hands.

“Get used to it,” Reagan jokes.
“Nothing’s private in this family!”

“You could do worse,” Kelly
adds.

“Worse what?” Maddie
inquires.

Everyone laughs as they
pull into the gravel drive next to the house. Maddie forgets her
question as she bounds over Reagan and out the door. She
Charlie-horses Reagan’s leg in the process. The other kids, Jacob
included, greet her with calls and cheers before they all take off
for the swing-set. A grin touches Reagan’s mouth as she watches her
son Jacob climb like a monkey all over the fort part of the
swing-set. He’s a crazy maniac who knows no fear. She and John have
decided not to tell him
about
his real parents until he’s an
adult. This world is tough enough without finding out that you’re
an orphan of it and its cruelty. Besides, he actually looks a tad
like John with his light hair and eyes, and his mischief-making
personality.

The rest of their group join them, all
wanting to know what all the joking and razzing of Talia is about.
Even Hannah and Sue have come onto the back porch. It takes a
nanosecond for Hannie to figure it out. Damn Bassett hound
sister.

All she elicits over this
newly-discovered relationship news is a sad smile that doesn’t
touch her different-colored eyes before calling for the children to
come inside to wash up. Reagan wraps an arm around her shoulders
and leads her back inside where she is instantly met with the smell
of wonderful home-cooking.

“Good grief, Hannie,” she exclaims as
some of the others join them. “What the heck did you
make?”

“Nothing
special
really,”
she replies demurely. “Sue and I just made chicken and
dumplings.”

“Well,
that smells fantastic, little sister,” Reagan
tells her as she uses the kitchen sink to wash her hands. A timer
sounds near the stove. “Need me to get that, whatever it
is?”

“Sure,” Hannah says. “I
just threw some vegetables into the oven to roast since the
garden’s going
well,
and we should try to use up the vegetables
from
the winter
storage.”

“Mm, these smell good, too,” Reagan
says when she opens the oven door. “I see Kelly got the gas going
again.”

“Of course, does that
actually surprise you?” Hannah asks
with
a smile.

Reagan knows that he doesn’t like
Hannah to have to cook on the fireplace or the wood-burning stoves
in the basement. He still coddles her, but everyone gave up trying
to make him stop. It was just easier than facing the wrath of his
sneer.

“Not really, sis,” Reagan concedes.
“Mm, rosemary. That’s what smells so good in these.”

“Yep, that’s about the last
of it until the greenhouse herbs go
in
the ground,” her sister tells
her.

“I hope the strawberries do
well this year, or at least better than last year,” Reagan says.
Last year, they’d
been
eaten by deer and
wildlife,
and the family hadn’t been
able to save many of the plants from attack. “We could make a few
of Grams’s strawberry pies.”

As soon as Reagan says it,
she regrets it. Her sister’s face immediately
falls,
and she turns away
busying herself with another task. Sometimes even bringing up
Grams’s name causes Hannah to fall back into a
depression.

“Sorry, Hannie,” Reagan apologizes,
even though Grams was her grandmother, too. Everyone knows that she
and Hannah were closest, but there was never a jealousy over it.
Hannah had been the youngest when they’d all moved to the farm, and
she’d never left it like Sue and Reagan had.

“You don’t have to help,” Hannah says.
“You worked all

day at the clinic. You must be
tired.”

“I’m
fine
. Don’t worry about me.
I’m super tough, remember?” Reagan jests.

“Uh huh, I’ll take your word for it,”
Hannah jokes. “I seem to recall just a short time ago when you
almost croaked on us from a little old flu bug.”

“That was harsh!” Reagan teases.
Hannah has always been able to make her smile. She makes everyone
smile. Reagan just wishes she’d do it more often again.

“Hey, baby,” Kelly’s deep voice
interrupts them.

Reagan notices that all her
sister offers Kelly is a sad half smile. It brings down Reagan’s
playful mood almost immediately. Nobody likes Hannah to feel
bad
. She’s always
been the family’s core of lightness and joy. She’s been this
downtrodden for so long that Reagan worries about her constantly.
They all do. Losing Em had put the finishing touch on Hannah’s
deep-seated depression.

Dinner wraps up
later;
John plays
music on the guitar for the kids at Ari’s insistent demands. The
children dance and twirl, mostly the girls, while the boys play
with their cars and Army guys with the click-clack attached
feet.

Later as they lie in bed, Reagan
cuddled next to John in the attic after they’ve made love, she
tells him how worried she is about Hannah. She’s told him many,
many times how worried she is about her darling sister.

“She’ll come around, honey,” he tries
at appeasing her.

This is his usual answer, but tonight
it feels forced. Her husband rubs at her scalp soothingly and then
down into the curve of her back lightly. He kisses her full on the
mouth when she looks up at him.

“I don’t know, John,” she
says
on
a
sigh. “I feel like…”

A tiny voice interrupts from the
doorway, “Mama?”

Jacob has come into their room. Thank
goodness she’d pulled on John’s t-shirt. Reagan sits up and turns
on the bedside wall sconce. “What is it, sweetie?”

“My ear hurts,” he
complains.

Reagan makes eye contact
with
John,
who gives her a quick grin. He knows her so well.

“Want some help?” he
offers, laying a hand
on
her arm.

Reagan kisses his hand and says, “No
way. I’ve got him. You need some sleep if you’re leaving at four
again.”

John nods and pulls her
over for a kiss before resting back again, folding his arm behind
his head. His unruly blonde hair has lightened quite a lot with the
early summer sun hitting it. His tanned
arm
muscles seem to beckon her. She
hides her grin. If he knows what she’s thinking, he may not let her
leave for the whole night.

“Ok, buddy,” she says to her son as
she swings out of bed and pulls on sweatpants. “Come on, let’s get
you downstairs where Mama can take a look.”

She scoops her small boy into her
arms, kisses John on the cheek and leaves their room. Jacob buries
his face in her neck and clings on as they go downstairs. His skin
feels warm with fever.

Her medical bag awaits her
near the back door in the kitchen where she can grab it quickly and
be gone if need be. She places Jacob on his bottom on the island
and fishes out her otoscope. Jacob does indeed have some redness
inside his ear canal. He’s running a very
low-grade
fever.
Hopefully,
a hot
wash cloth will draw out the pain and ease his discomfort enough
without going as far as needing to take antibiotics. They are
nearly out of medical grade antibiotics. A minimal dosage of fever
reducer should help, too. They don’t have much of that left,
either. Having this many children on the farm means that they’ve
used up almost all of those
simple
supplies.

“Stay right there, sweetie,” she tells
him. “Mama will be right back.”

He nods and places his chubby palm
against his ear.

“It hurts,” he complains.

Reagan smiles sadly at him, kisses his
smooth, warm forehead and nods. “I know, kiddo. Stay here, ‘kay?
We’ll get ya’ fixed right up.”

Reagan goes down the hall, intent on
fetching a washcloth from the linen closet, when she hears Kelly
speaking quietly to Hannah. His tone causes her to inch closer to
their room, where the door stands open. Her brother-in-law is
kneeling in front of Hannah, who is sitting on their
bed.