“ And I love you.And will for the rest of my life.Hopefully, there won’t be any more people carrying guns around us for a while.”He said that he’d like that as well.Then he was asked if he could change his clothing into something else.When he was given a pair of scrubs to put on, she wonderedwhat sort of evidence he might have on him that they’d need his clothing.She realized that she didn’t care so long as he was all right.She was taken to the hospital a few minutes later to have some tests done.
She didn’t want to leave him but knew that he was going to be all right.She was still nervous about leaving him, but with all the police around, she wasn’t too worried.He’d be just fine, she kept telling herself.
~*~
Getting to the hospital just as they were taking her down for an MRI, he sat in the room that had been hers in the emergency department and waited.He’d already talked to Locke, who was the doctor seeing that Olivia was all right, but he wanted to see her and touch her now that he was no longer being detained.
“ She’s going to need a few stitches in the back of her head.The officer who pushed her out of the way feels bad about it.The department is going to pick up the tab for the two of you, and I’d let them.They’re still trying to figure out how Mae got into the courtroom with a loaded gun.Someone will get their asses handed to them if I don’t miss my bet.”He said he was just glad that he’d been there, or there was no telling what would have happened to her.“ Mae will be tried for attempted murder.I know that she’s dead, but that’s what I heard from the officers.”
“ Yes, for the estate to pick up the billing for other things that will come from this.She’ll also be charged with having a gun in the courtroom.Also, the fact that she threatened the judge.He will be put in protective custody until such time as the Marshes are put in prison.I have a feeling that that’s where they’ll end up after all this.”Locke told him that he was going to keep Olivia overnight just to make sure that her head wasn’t going to cause her any pain.“ I’m going to be right here with her.I hope you understand that.I’ve fallen in love with her, and she has me as well.”
“ Good.It’s about time.”They both laughed.“ I have some clothing in my car if you want it.Those can’t be all that comfortable to wear when they don’t fit you right.I have to wear them so I’ve gotten used to them, but you don’t have to.”
“ I’d love that, but I want to wait until Olivia comes back here.I need to make sure that she’s all right.I’m sure that she wants to make the same about me.”Locke told him that she shouldn’t be much longer; he’d go get the clothing for him.“ Thanks.I owe you one.Just make sure that she’s going to be all right, big brother.Now that I’ve found her, I find that I can’t be without her.”
“ That’s wonderful news, Zander.I wondered if she would be the one for you.We’ve all been hoping that you and she would be a couple.Alex really loves her already.”He said that he did as well.“ I can tell.All right.As soon as you get changed, I’ll make sure she has a room with a recliner in it for you.They’re not the best to sleep in, but it’s better than a hard chair to sit up in all night.”
After his brother left him, he heard from the rest of the family.They were making sure that he was really all right, and he couldn’t believe how sobby he was getting because they cared enough to talk to him.As soon as Olivia was in the room with him and the nurses were finished with her, he went to the bed and kissed her.
“ How’s your head?”She said she was much better now that he was there with her.“ Locke is getting me something else to wear, so I’ll be out of these things.He also told me that he was keeping you overnight, so in the event your head hurts or something.”
“ They told me down in the MRI department that I’d be staying.I only wanted to see you, so I didn’t pay too much attention to what they were saying.”He told her what Locke had told him about Mae.“ She was going to kill me.I keep thinking about that, and I’m terrified all over.She actually pulled out a gun and was going to use it on me.And would have if not for you.”
“ I told you that I had you.”Holding her hand, he kissed her again.“ Will you still marry me?I’m counting on you having to be asked a great deal.”
“ I’m hoping that you don’t change your mind and stop asking me.”He said she didn’t answer him.“ Yes, I’ll marry you.I still have a crazy family left to get to us.”
“ I’m not worried about them anymore.I have a feeling that they’ll be in prison before the endof the day.The judge will not take too kindly to being in the room where a gun has gone off.He’ll have them put away for a good long time after what was said in there today.”She held tightly to his hand and said her head was hurting.“ Something that I learned from Locke is not to let the pain get ahead of you.If you need something for it, ask so that it doesn’t take longer for the meds to help you.”
Using the call button for her, he asked the nurse for something for pain for Olivia.While she was getting something for her head, he went into the bathroom to change.He wasn’t going to tell Olivia about the powder burn he had on his belly.It didn’t hurt, but he knew that it was going to be tender for a few days.Also, he had the beginnings of a bruise where he’d fought Mae for the gun.He was alive, and that’s what he kept telling himself.
While she dozed off, he sat watching her.A couple of times his phone rang, but since it wasn’t his family, he didn’t answer.Whatever anyone had to say to him, if they left a message, he’d call them back.Otherwise, he was going to spend this time getting to know Olivia.
He thought about how he’d wrestled a gun from a mad woman, and his heart would skip a few beats.He’d done it to save Olivia and would do it again if necessary.He hoped never to have to do that again, but he was willing for her.For any of his family.As the darkness of the room made him sleepy, he laid his head on her hand and closed his eyes.He knew that it was stress that was making him tired, but being with Olivia really helped.
Waking up when someone came into the room, he was told that they had to take her blood pressure and to wake her because of the head wound.He made his way to the bathroom again and, while washing his hands, realized how hungry he was.He’d not had anything since breakfast, and it was nearly ten at night.While in the darkness of the bathroom, he called Dusty.He knew that he’d be up this late and asked him if he’d mind bringing him something to eat.
“ I was just thinking about you.What do you want?I can pick up anything you want or bring you leftovers.Never mind, you don’t want that.We had chicken nuggets and French fries.I don’t even think there was anything left anyway.”He told him what he wanted.“ I can pick that up for you.By the way, it’s all over town that you saved Olivia in the courtroom.People are calling you a hero.”
“ I just did what I needed to do to make sure that she was all right.I promised her that I’d take care of her.To be honest with you, it wasn’t until the gun went off that I realized what I’d done.I told myself I’d do it again, but I can’t believe I did that the first time.”Dusty told him he’d rather he didn’t do something like that again.“ You’d do the same for Jack, and we both know it.However, she would have taken the gun from her before shots were fired and knocked her on her ass.She’s good at shit like that.”
He made his way back into the room and found the lights on.He asked Olivia if she was hungry too, and she said that she was.Dusty said he’d bring them both in something to eat so they’d not starve to death and would be in soon.He sat down next to the bed when he got off the phone.
“ I’ve been thinking about what you said about my parents going to prison.Do you think they’ll really go there?It would be nice not to have them in the same town as us.I mean, I know that I should feel bad about them going away, but all I can think about is how they said that they never wanted me in the first place.That hurts.”He said that it would him too.“ Tell me about your parents.They can’t be as bad as mine, can they?”
“ Worse.Our mother left us with our drunk, abusive father when I was barely five years old.She couldn’t take it anymore.On top of that, she said that she wasn’t going to have any contact with us, and for us not contact her either.We didn’t.She was selfish for leaving us behind, and I’ll never forgive her for that.”She asked about his dad.“ He was a drunk and would beat us daily until we got bigger than him.Since he was drunk all the time, it took him a week to figure out that we’d left home.He would get mad at us for the stupidest reasons and beat us for it.We got to the point where we didn’t have all that much to do with him.Locke never spoke to him again after he said he’d been cheating on a school test in his senior year of high school.Then we won the lottery.”
“ Really?Is that where all your money comes from?”He told her that in addition to them winning the biggest lottery to date, they’d also inherited a great deal from Martha Grable.“ I’ve heardof her.She owned a big house on Main Street up until she passed away.”
“ Locke inherited that from her and a lot of her things.That’s where he and Alex are living.We all did get something from her estate.”She said that was wonderful.“ I miss her every day.She’d be so happy to know that we’ve all found wives and are living the way she taught us to.She’s the reason that I became an attorney.And that Dusty is a financial wizard.We all owe our lives that we have now to her.But I’d give it all back to have one more day with her.She was that special.”
He told her how they’d left home one afternoon by getting into a van at a friend’s house that Locke was at to play chess.He told her how they’d been so terrified that their father would come after them that for three days on the way from Ohio to where they live now, they didn’t dare tell anyone who they were.
“ Then we pulled up in front of Martha’s home when our van finally died.She invited us into her home, and after cleaning up a bit, she invited us to stay with her to keep her son from knocking her around and stealing her money.”She said that there was a lot of that going around.“ No kidding.I never realized that until just now.How can people profess to love someone that they plan on knocking around a great deal?I’ll never understand people for as long as I live.”
“ I can see that too.I see the worst of people, too, I think.Working in retail, people think that you’re not human or something.They treat us like we’re nothing but there to cater to them.”He nodded and kissed the back of her hand.“ You’re the best thing that has happened to me.I hope you know that.”
When Dusty arrived with their meals he didn’t stay long.He said that he had diapers to change as it was his turn.He wondered if he’d ever be happy about changing diapers and thought that it was all on his brother.No one could be that happy and have to change crappy diapers.
