CHAPTER 25
1184 Words
CHAPTER 25
Kennedy had never experienced a tornado, but she imagined it must be like this, only she was in the middle, sitting right in the eye of the storm while the chaos swarmed and spiraled around her. One of the policeman led Gino outside in his cuffs while his partner knelt down by Carl and radioed the ambulance. Kennedy didn’t want to look at Carl. Didn’t want to face him. The bullet had been meant for her. If something happened to him ...
Sandy put a hand on Kennedy’s shoulder. “You okay, hon? You didn’t get hurt, did you?”
Kennedy clinched her throat shut and shook her head. No, she hadn’t been hit. Only Carl.
Dear God, you can’t let him die.
It wasn’t fair. How could someone like Carl lie there bleeding on the floor while Gino just walked away in cuffs? Silent sobs shook her body. The world was even more topsy-turvy than she had previously imagined.
Sandy wrapped her up in a warm embrace, but it only made Kennedy feel even more wretched. She wasn’t the one bleeding. She wasn’t the one who had taken a bullet to save someone else. What had she done to deserve Sandy’s love and comfort?
A hand reached out and grasped hers. It was tough. Calloused.
Pastor Carl.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have ...”
Sandy tried to shush him, encouraged him to save his energy, but Carl wouldn’t be dissuaded.
“I never meant to scare you. You know I never would’ve done anything to hurt you.” His voice sounded so pained. Kennedy started shaking even more uncontrollably.
“Ambulance will be here in about two minutes.” It was the policeman talking. Kennedy tried to hold onto his words, but it sounded like his voice was receding and then rushing ahead at full speed. “Are you going to want to ride with your husband, ma’am?”
Sandy didn’t answer.
“You can’t leave Kennedy here alone,” Carl breathed.
Kennedy wished the earth would just open up its mouth and swallow her up, forever burying her and her mortification. Even as he lay bleeding to death next to her, Carl was still thinking of her comfort, her safety.
Sandy took in a deep breath. “I think Kennedy and I will take the Honda and meet you there at Providence.”
The policeman cleared his throat. “Beg your pardon, but the car’s taped off right now.”
“The car?” Sandy repeated. “Why?”
“We’re pretty sure that’s how Gino got in the house in the first place. In the trunk.”
The trunk? So he had been inside the car while Carl and Kennedy were driving? But when would he have found the time to hide in there? While they were at the hospital, maybe? Kennedy remembered Carl talking to the policeman before he opened up the garage door and parked, safe and secure, locked up in his little castle. Only Gino had been in here the whole night. Just waiting. Just biding his time.
“I can stay here with Kennedy,” Sandy suggested.
No. No, they couldn’t do that. Carl and Sandy needed to be together. They needed ...
Sirens wailed outside and came to a stop. Their lights flashed through the window. Kennedy forced her eyes to focus on Carl. The top of his back was bloody, but there weren’t huge puddles on the floor as she had feared.
“Is he going to be ok?” she whispered faintly as the policeman got up to show the paramedics in.
Sandy kept her arms wrapped around Kennedy shoulders. “Of course, darling.”
“What’s that you two yakking about over there?” Carl’s voice regained some of its usual jocularity.
“Kennedy was just worried about you, that’s all. I told her they’d need a whole lot more than a bullet to take my husband down.”
“You got that right.” Carl’s laugh sounded weak, but it still made Kennedy’s whole body fill with a delicious warmth. “Nobody better start planning my funeral yet. When my time comes, everyone here’s gonna know it, and there’s not going to be any doctors or nurses or policeman who are going to try to hold me back, I’m telling you that much. When God opens those gates for me, you bet your life I’ll be speeding on my way. I might look back once, but that would just be to say good-bye to my sweetheart.”
Carl and Sandy exchanged a glance that was more radiant, more loving, more passionate than any kiss from those romance movies Kennedy’s mom liked to watch.
“Let’s get out of these folks’ way and let them do their work.” Sandy helped Kennedy to her feet. “I should have asked you first if you wanted to go with us to the hospital. I just didn’t feel right about leaving you here all by yourself after everything. But then again, you’re so tired ...”
“No,” Kennedy interrupted. The idea of staying here alone was nearly paralyzing, but she wasn’t about to get in the way of Sandy riding with Carl in the ambulance. Besides, she was exhausted. “No, I don’t mind staying here.”
Her voice must not have sounded very convincing, because Sandy c****d her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “We could ask the policemen. They might be able to drop you off at the ER.”
Kennedy and Sandy made way for the paramedics, who were getting ready to transfer Carl onto the stretcher.
“That’s ok,” Kennedy replied. “I’m really tired.” She didn’t have to make that part up. In fact, once she got to sleep, she’d probably be able to snooze right through the apocalypse.
“Besides,” Kennedy added, “I know you probably want to be with Carl. Just to make sure everything ... Just to see that ...”
“What? Him?” Sandy waved her hand in the air. “God knows his work here is far from finished. He’s gonna be just fine.”
“Amen!” boomed Carl’s loud voice from the stretcher. “So what’s the plan? You two ladies riding in style with us?”
“Actually ...” began one of the paramedics.
“I know, I know.” Carl gave Kennedy a wink. “Immediate family members only.”
She really hoped he wasn’t going to tell them she was his daughter.
“Kennedy’s going to stay here and get some rest,” Sandy answered for her. “As long as you’re sure she’s safe,” she added with a nod to the police officer.
“We’ll call someone to stay in the house just to cover all our bases.”
“I’d appreciate that.” Sandy looked down and brushed off her floral nightgown. “I guess I better go get dressed.”
A few minutes later, a silence settled into the woodwork and paneling of the Lindgrens’ guest room, the eerie, almost ghostly quiet after a storm. If Kennedy had the energy to worry, she might have felt afraid. If she had the mental capacity, she might have stayed up praying for Carl’s healing, but the paramedics had seemed so calm. They joked with Carl as they wheeled him out the front door. Sandy followed them wearing a quiet, beautiful peace around her like a shawl. Or maybe a crown.
Kennedy’s mind spun in small, lazy spirals, the same sensation she got after staying up way too late with her dad to watch a movie. She couldn’t string the whole plot together, but some of the chase scenes and more intense moments floated through her mind, letting her recapture the emotions she experienced even if she couldn’t remember the details.
Her body was heavy, but her mind was surprisingly light. Maybe it was the exhaustion. Maybe it was the security that came from knowing her attackers were all in custody and there was an armed officer sitting on the Lindgrens’ couch. She shut her eyes and inhaled deeply.
Never before had she been more grateful for a pillow and blankets.
Never before had she been more ready to sleep.
- Writer
