Marriage is Murder

"I haven't forgotten, Cassidy," Lee said, "but you're one of the few that are left standing, right now. I'm going to depend on you being able to rally the quickest if we need you for something. I know you're not necessarily feeling that you need a rest, but I don't know how anyone in this house will be by morning--except you. I'm going to count on you in case I need someone either during the night or in the morning."

"I think Lee is right," Michael said to Cassidy. "We need to try to keep the house in a normal routine if possible or we will have a dozen little kids all weirded out, and that's never pretty when that happens. You know their routines better than Lee's men, and if one of the kids gets a bit freaky during the night, you're going to hear them and know how to reassure them...."

He was cut off by the sound of little feet on the stone floor, running little feet. It perked up Robert's attention immediately. He knew that sound intimately. He was about to get up when Abbey ran into the room, calling for Papa, and in her hand was a little brown paper sack.

"Unca Lee!!!" she was delighted to see him again so soon. She got so excited she made a flying leap p towards his lap. He laughed and picked her up. She hugged him tightly around his neck.

"I wasn't gone that long," he laughed. "Did you miss me?" She nodded.

"You say you come back, and you do," she nodded. She showed him the sack. "You wanna see?"

"Of course I do," he laughed. She sat down on his lap and opened the bag and got out some pumpkin shaped sugar cookies that she clearly had decorated herself.

"They're beautiful," he said. "Did Uncle Angus help you with those?" She nodded. She gave everyone in the room a cookie and had just one left for herself.

"Any time you find yourself with one extra kid," Lee smiled at Robert. Lee was totally taken with Abbey, and if he had ever had a child of his own, he decided he wanted it to be like her.

"That would be Ellen," Lee laughed. "My second probably assigned her inside because she was a woman. Not a choice I'd made for her. She's better as a fighter than a bodyguard for children. I'll reassign her outside. I'll work inside tonight so she is more in her comfort zone."

"Unca Lee! You read stories tonight again?" Abbey bounced up and down on his lap, excited. Lee looked up at Robert. Robert nodded, feeling helpless that he couldn't even read with Abbey anymore, one of the largest joys in his life as a grandparent. If Lee could do that and bring some joy to the children, Robert had no desire to strip that from them.

"Alright," Lee said. "I'll read. You stay with Papa while I go outside for a minute..."

"No!!!" she immediately became upset. "No go!..."

"Abbey..." he began. She leaped off his lap and ran out of the room in a panic. Robert got up and went after her. He knew she was panicking that the 'doggies' might be outside and might hurt her new friend.

Robert went upstairs in pursuit of Abbey and found Cassidy had stopped her. Abbey was clearly upset. He saw Cassidy reassuring her, but he knew Abbey's fear was new and raw.

He went up to Abbey and touched her. Abbey turned and saw her papa there. He reached out to her. She wrapped herself around his legs, starting to cry. He picked her up, and she curled into his neck.

"Doggie killed my mama, and he gonna kill Unca Lee too," she said, sobbing into Robert's neck. "No go! Unca Lee no go!" He wanted to reassure her that neither was true, but he had no words. All he could do was hold her. He had the feeling it might be a very long night if Abbey were too frightened to sleep.

Robert nodded to Cassidy, thinking that the blanket and the kitty and the cocoa was a good idea for her. He was glad Cassidy had thought of it.

He would normally have taken Abbey to her room or to his, but he felt that she needed to see that Lee was still in good shape and safe. He considered it a moment and then pointed downstairs. He thought he would take her back downstairs and she could simply ride the night out with them there.

He took her downstairs, letting her just cling to him and cry. Lee was grateful that Robert had somehow gotten ahold of her.

"Can I help somehow?" Lee asked. Robert handed Abbey to him, and Lee had not see that coming. Abbey clung to Lee like a magnet.

"Hey," he frowned, holding her. "What's the matter?"

"Doggie ate my mama," she sobbed. "You no go. He eat you too...."

"Abs," Lee said softly into her ear, "He didn't eat your mama. He scratched her, but he didn't eat her. She's asleep in her room upstairs, and your daddy and your gram are with her. And if you really, really don't want me to go outside, I won't. I'll stay with you."

"All night? You promise?"

"All night," he said softly, petting her hair, "I promise. Okay?"

"We sleep in your chair again?"

"No, but we'll find one," he laughed softly. "It'll be alright. Your house has lots of chairs."

"Well done," Angus said, approving of Cassidy's efforts. "She'll appreciate that. You know Khaat would say we were spoiling Abbey, but under the circumstances, I think its alright."

When Cassidy brought the tray downstairs, and Robert covered Abbey with the blanket and handed her the stuffed kitty. Lee picked up the cocoa mug and fed her sips of it.

"What she's talking about is my recliner in my flat," he said. "Its where we slept last night. She fell asleep while we were reading stories there last night, and I didn't have the heart to wake her up to take her to bed. So we just slept in my chair."

"If you're going to make a chair for them," Michael said to Cassidy, perhaps you should make a recliner for them close to the fireplace in the bedroom Lee uses upstairs. The cellar can get a bit damp and cold here at night. It would be drier and warmer upstairs in one of the guest rooms, I think."