Boyd kept an eye on Mackenzie when she was around, but didn’t interfere with her working. She was doing fine, and he was enjoying bouncing ideas or issues that he found off her. If he was honest with himself, he was sort of in awe of her. She knew more and had done more in her career than he’d ever do in his whole life.
“Dr. Boyd?” He looked up at Myrtle, his nurse, and wondered why she seemed so concerned. “There’s a woman in one of the rooms. She’s in labor. But.... I have called an ambulance and the police, but I don’t think she’s gonna make it.”
He told her to get Mackenzie as he made his way to the little room that served as a prenatal room. As soon as he stepped into the room, he knew that Myrtle was right. The woman wasn’t going to survive whatever had happened to her.
“I’m hurting.” He told her that he could see that, and made his way to her side. “The baby is coming, and I know that I’m gonna die. I’ve been hurt bad. You have to save him. He’s all I got left in this world. Please?”
“Who did this?” He was surprised that she was still conscious. Or able to talk around the wounds on her face for that matter. “Miss? What is your name?”
“Don’t matter. I ran as far as I could, but he found me. I killed him this time. But he hurt me bad. Please? You gotta save my baby.” He asked her again for her name and she simply fainted.
“Christ.” He nodded at Mackenzie as he started prep work to deliver the child. “Who did this?”
“She told me that she managed to kill him this time, but won’t tell me her name.” They worked together, Mackenzie setting up the operating area, him taking care of the woman. Once he got her undressed, he could see that she had fought hard at her battle to save her baby.
There were several stab wounds on her chest. Bruising on her belly too. A perfect outline of a boot. By the time the police arrived with their camera, they had washed up some of the wounds and were stitching them closed. Boyd didn’t think it was going to do any good in saving her, and if she didn’t survive, he wanted to say that he’d done his very best for her.
“You think she’ll make it?” He told the officer that he was going to try. “We found a body about an hour ago. Could be who she killed. He’s beaten to shit too, but not like this. A stab to his heart. He wouldn’t have gone down easily.”
When her heart stopped, they cut her open. There was little time now…it was the baby they were working to save. Not that they wouldn’t keep trying, but the child wouldn’t survive where he currently was. As soon as the little boy was delivered, Boyd took care of him…there was some bruising on his little body too. Mackenzie tried to save the woman. She found a small nick to her aortic artery, but the woman was long gone before they could do anything to save her life.
The police took pictures and made notes on the condition of not only the woman, but the child too. He was fine, other than beaten up a little from when his mom was. Boyd made notes on those injuries as well for the record. It was the quickest, as well as the hardest, hour of his life.
“We don’t have a place for him to go when he’s released.” Boyd had already figured that out. The child services that were in place in their town could only care for toddlers and up. This child would need constant care for a while. “You think your mom and dad will help us out a bit again?”
“I can ask them. I’m sure that they will.” Boyd reached for his mom and told her what was going on. “She said she’d be glad to help him out. Mom said that she and Dad would take care of everything with him.”
“Good people, your parents.” Joe Windfall, the officer in charge, looked down at the little guy. “Who would do this to a little baby, Boyd? I mean, it’s bad enough that he killed the mom, but to have hurt this little guy, no matter how indirectly, is a shame.”
“I agree. Do you have a name on the man?” He said that he had his wallet and they were looking for next of kin. “She outlived him, so if there is any insurance, someone will have to set it up for the boy here. Poor woman. I haven’t any idea how she made it this far. Even coming from out on the sidewalk should have killed her right away, but she had someone powerful watching over her today. I’m thinking that it was a little bit of motherly love, too. She told us to save him first, but she didn’t tell me her name.”
“There something else we should do right now? DNA. I think, should there be any family on his side or hers, they’ll want proof that she is who she is and that the child is hers and the man’s.” Joe thought that was a great idea and told Mackenzie that. “I can do both right now, since you’re here. The man…I’m assuming that they’ll need to do an autopsy on him, and we can do it then as well. It’s not for proof so much as getting to the bottom of things, right?”
“I like that. Covering all our asses is a good thing.” Boyd led his mom and dad into his office and brought the baby to them when they arrived. Joe followed and spoke to them. “I sure do appreciate you doing this for us again, Mr. and Mrs. McCullough. You know that the city will reimburse you for whatever you need. This little man will need some care, no doubt about that.”
“You don’t have to do that. Whatever we need, we’re glad to give. Do you have a name for him?” Boyd said that they didn’t, but would have to call him John Doe for now. “What a sad name. Hopefully he has himself some family out there that can come and give him a good solid one. To be such a little thing and not to have a soul to love you…We’ll take care of that right now. Won’t we, Rich? Show him right from the start what his momma did for him by coming to our family.”
As they cuddled with the little man, he went back to the room where the woman lay. Mackenzie was cleaning her up, making sure that she was ready to leave them. When she started to put the things that the woman had been wearing into a bag to go to the police station, a small wallet slipped out and onto the floor.
Neither of them touched it, but called for Joe to come back. When he picked it up after taking a few pictures of it and where it had come from, he was careful about fingerprints by wearing gloves. Joe looked inside and told them each thing he found, and Boyd wrote it down. There was four dollars, as well as a note. Boyd asked him if he was going to read it to them.
“I shouldn’t. But I’m gonna. It says ‘To whoever finds me dead. Call my brother here to fetch me. He’ll not take my little Samuel, but he will make sure that he has a nice pot to piss in.’ Then there is a number on how to reach out to him, and her name. Norine Jacobson.”
“The man’s body, is it Jacobson?” Joe nodded, but looked grim. Boyd glanced around the room, at the body still there as well as the pitiful clothing she’d had on, and then spoke again. “What is it, Joe? Something we should know about?”
“Probably not, but I’m gonna tell you on account’a it’s too hard for me to hold it together. Her brother, Peter Amos, died about a week ago. Car accident. The only reason I know about it, because he’s not from around here, is because it happened right outside our jurisdiction. It was an accident, not his fault. Texting and driving by the other driver took him out.” Boyd asked if there was a wife or any other family. “No, not that I know of. I’ll be looking, but I’m thinking that I heard that he’d only had the one sister. We’re looking into Jacobson’s family, but not having a lot of luck. There is one name associated with him, Basil Jacobson, but we can’t find hide nor hair of him.”
“If it won’t offend you, I’ll have Lauren look. She has some pretty extensive contacts.” Joe said he’d appreciate that. “Also, this little boy…we have a name for him. Do you mind if we go ahead and file his birth certificate? It’ll make it easier now that we know at least that much. We can fill in the name of the father later, after the tests come back.”
“That’ll be fine with me. Samuel Jacobson it is then.” Joe looked at the woman as they stood there. Since Mackenzie had cleaned her up, instead of looking better, her wounds just looked starker, more violent. “What do you suppose could possess a man to hurt someone they are married to like this? And her carrying his son? I mean, just look at her. She looks like she’s been beaten for a long time, doesn’t she?”
“I would say that she’s been beaten a great deal over the last several years. Especially over the last year of her life. There are scars on most of her body that are still new. There are even a few in her hairline, as well as her legs and back.” Mackenzie showed them the one that was on her hip. “This alone should have put her in the hospital for a long time. I’m betting at least a month. It looks like a gunshot wound to me. If not, then it’s something close.”
When the van showed up to take her body to the hospital, his parents were questioned as well by the county. Could they care for the little boy? Did they know that he was going to be up at night? And they were told who to call should there be any problems. Samuel was taken to the emergency room as well to be checked over, they told them. Boyd left to go to the hospital to perform the task of doing the autopsy on the woman. Mackenzie went with him, saying she’d help.
Three hours later, they were finished. The findings were horrific, far worse than they had thought. Not only had she been shot, but her leg had been broken before and not properly set. Her jaw had been wired shut for a time, but again, hadn’t healed correctly. Mackenzie had surmised that it had been taken out by someone other than a doctor. The woman had endured a great deal before her death, and Boyd hoped that someone would find justice for her.
Boyd was called to the nurse’s station just as he was leaving the hospital.
“There’s a phone call for you. Not you directly, but for the coroner. You want to take it?” He nodded at the nurse there, too tired to explain to her that he was only the acting coroner until they found someone to take the job. “Go ahead, Dr. Boyd. Line three when you’re ready. And so you know, we’ve taken up a little collection for the little boy. No way to start life out with nobody to love you proper-like.”
He said his name in the phone, and the person on the other end started barking orders at him. “I swear to Christ, if I get transferred again, I’m going to have someone for my dinner. I don’t have time for this shit, and I’m in no mood for any scam that Axel has going. He’s my cousin, not my fucking kid. Though there are times when he acts just like one.”
When she paused to take a breath, or so he thought, Boyd cut her off. “My name is Dr. Boyd McCullough. And since I don’t have the slightest clue what you’re talking about, I’m going to wait before telling you if this is a scam or not.” She sighed heavily, and he could almost feel her exhaustion and anger. “Can we start over?”
“Someone called here looking for me. A...let me look. Joe Windfall. He said that he needed to talk to me. Calling his office got me transferred...well, this is the fourth person that I’ve talked with to try to figure out what the fuck is going on.” He asked her name. “Virginia. Well, it’s Virginia Basil Jacobson, but the only person that ever called me Basil was Axel. My cousin. Whatever he’s done, I have nothing to do with him. I got enough shit going on right now that I don’t need whatever snake oil he’s trying to sell on my docket.”
“I’m sorry that I have to tell you this, Miss Jacobson, but he is dead.” The silence at the other end had him hurrying to fill in the quiet. “His wife too. She died giving birth to her son, Samuel. He’s going to be fine, but he’s going to need someone to care for him.”
“Did he kill her? Norine, did he kill her?” He said that he wasn’t able to say. “I understand. I talked to her once. I didn’t know she was going to have a baby, but I told her to get away from him. Axel is bad news to everyone he meets. And it doesn’t matter if he’s related to them or not.”
“I’m sorry.” He heard the shuffle of papers, then a door close. “I don’t know where you are, Miss Jacobson, but I’m glad that someone found you. We knew there was a relative around, but not who.”
“I tried my best to keep out of his life. It is...it was a nightmare and a catastrophe from the get go. Norine was a nice person. She and Axel were unsuited, but to know that there is a child makes me think that she might not have been able to get away far enough. Can you tell me what happens to him?” Boyd told her that he didn’t know. They were hoping someone would come forward. “I know that she had a brother. His name was Peter Amos. Him I didn’t know.”
“I’m afraid that he’s dead as well. Unrelated to these two.” She didn’t speak, but he waited this time. He wondered, other than the blood connection, what sort of other shit he’d done to this woman to make her dislike him so much. Axel had beaten his wife, and as they had no proof of it, they could only assume that he’d done it before as well. It was a messy situation, regardless.
“I can come there if I need to, Dr. McCullough, but I’m in no position to take the baby. I’m sorry about that. If you need me to help out with money, I can do that. But I can’t take the boy. I don’t...I know nothing about children, and I wouldn’t even have the slightest clue what he might need in the way of support.” Boyd told her that someone would need to come here, eventually, but as far as the child was concerned, he didn’t know as yet. “All right. I can be there in a few days. I can’t stay long, but I can come out and make arrangements for them both. And pay whatever needs to be put together for the little boy. But that’s all I can do. Nothing more. If you think you can talk me into something else, tell me now and I’ll just send the money.”
“No, I won’t try to tell you to take him. If you don’t want him, then that’ll be fine too. I’m sure that there is someone out there that would like a newborn little boy.” She told him he wasn’t playing fair. “I’m not trying to do anything but answer your questions, Miss Jacobson. When you get your arrangements made, call me and I’ll meet you at the airport.”
After giving her his number, he told Mackenzie what was going on. She told him that Lauren just called and gave her information on the cousin. As well as what she did for a living.
“She writes. Blogs and books. I’m not sure what she makes off either, but she must be doing well for herself.” Boyd told her what she was going to do. “I can understand not wanting a newborn. They’re a great deal of work.”
They both went back to work; the body of Axel Jacobson had arrived now and they were to do the same for his body. Cause of death was easy, Boyd thought. A stab to his heart was what killed him. Quick and clean. Not at all like what his wife had suffered.
~~~
Dustin came awake suddenly. His entire body was feeling the climax that rattled his head. Holding onto Mackenzie, he cried out a second time when she swallowed him past the tightness of her throat.
“Christ, woman.” She looked up at him, his cock deep in her mouth. “What are you doing, trying to kill me?” The small popping sound made him moan when she released him from her mouth.
“I thought you looked tense.” He tried to pull her up to his body but she moved back. “I’m not finished yet. I need to feel you fucking my mouth. Then you can fuck me.”
“I want to fuck you now.” She laughed and he laid back, but steadied himself on his elbows to watch her. “I love the way you woke me. Sometime I’m going to do the same for you.”
Dustin was having a hard time concentrating on his words. She was doing such delightful things to him and he didn’t want her to stop. But when she sat up, her nakedness there for him to admire, he told her to come to him.
“I want to ride you.” He helped her slide over him. He rocked upward when she was seated, and nearly cried out when she leaned over him and bit his nipple. “You taste amazing. I especially love the way your hot cum tastes when it slides down my throat.”
“You’re killing me.” She giggled and he had to smile. “Anytime you want to come in here and wake me this way, it’s fine by me.”
“I had a rough day.” He held her, not sure he could hold a conversation where he was going to be required to speak, when she told him she was coming. Watching her release was the best thing he’d ever seen.
Rolling her to her back, his cock still planted deep within her, he suckled at her nipples, nipping at the tender flesh that was there for him. When Mackenzie wrapped her legs around his, he fucked her harder, not caring at all if he ever left this room again.
“Come for me, love. Let me watch you come to peak while I take you.” She held him to her throat and he bit down. Not hard enough to draw blood, but she did cry out with a short climax.
As he licked along her jaw and throat, she held him tightly, both inside her body and out. Dustin watched her face while he pounded her harder, enjoying the way her breasts moved, and her mouth tightened when she was close. And when she bowed up from the bed, her eyes tightly closed and her mouth open in a scream, he bit her again, marking her not just with his teeth but his nails as well as he raked them down her back and hip.
Mackenzie came three more times, each time lovelier than the last. When she finally begged him to stop, to let her rest, he told her no, that it was his turn. He loved her, he realized, more than he ever had anyone or anything in his life. And when he came, his body melding with hers, he knew a kind of peace that he would enjoy forever.
They laid there for another hour, neither speaking, but touching and holding each other. Whatever had happened, he was sure that she’d tell him about it. If not, then he was all right with that as well. She was here now, and that’s what was important to him.
“Your parents are watching an orphan for the next few days.” He kissed her rather than asking. “His mom was beaten to death by her husband, and it nearly killed him as well. The man is dead. The only good that has come out of this whole thing.”
“I’m sorry.” Mackenzie nodded and said nothing else. “My parents have been doing that for a few years. I didn’t know that they were still doing it, but I’m glad that they could help out. They loved watching the children.”
“They had a set of rules, being that his parents are both dead. I don’t know.” He kissed her throat and held her. “We never talked that much about children. Do you want any?”
“I do. When you’re ready. I don’t have to go through what you do, so it’s up to you to tell me when you want them. I would, however, like to be married first. I know that it’s assumed that we are already, but I’d like to have it nice and legal.” Mackenzie didn’t say anything, so he changed the subject. “We have a buyer for the house we finished up today. Nearly double what we paid for it, but with the cost of us working on it, we’re still going to do well with it. I’m having the crew come out tomorrow and finish up what we need done here. Then they’re going to go to—”
“I’d like to have a child or two with you, but I would also like to adopt. I know that we’d have to be inspected and our lives looked into, but there are so many children out there like young Samuel, who need someone to love them.” He didn’t know who Samuel was for sure, but assumed it was the young boy his parents had. “What do you think of that idea?”
“Wonderful. I know that you’re aware that Colin and Lauren have adopted their children. I don’t know if I’d want to go with four at once, but I can see us taking in a few and raising them as our own.” She nodded; he could feel her head moving under his chin as he held her. “Anything else going on that I need to know about?”
“I’m sure there is, but I’m too tired to think right now.” He held her until she was asleep. It took her all of four minutes, he’d bet. When he moved to his back, taking her with him, Dustin reached for his mom to ask her how it was going.
Just wonderful. Samuel is coming home with us in an hour or so. He’s got some bruises on him, but nothing life threatening. Your dad and I are going to keep him for a few days, then we’ll see what happens. I guess he has no one left. Dustin told his mom what he and Mackenzie had talked about. Do you think you’ll take on this little guy? Well, it would be nice to keep him in the family. Your dad and I try so hard not to fall in love with these little guys, but we always do. Then it breaks our hearts for a time to let them go. But it’s for the best…for all the children we care for.
Because you’re a great person, and so is Dad. She thanked him. Mackenzie is doing better every day. I think whatever happened with you girls the other day, it was perfect.
I’d like to take full credit for it, but I think it was mostly Lauren and Reese. Then there was Hawk. I’m pretty sure that you have him to thank for all of it. We did talk, but he had opened the door for us. And the girls, they talked and Mackenzie listened. Do you think she’s going to be all right, son? He said that he thought so. Good. She’s such a sweet young woman. You couldn’t have done better had I picked her out for you. Dad said that you are going to have the house sold in the morning. That’s good for you.
Yes. I think they’ve been watching us put the house together, so they knew just when we were ready. Not having to put it on the market is nice too. No open houses and people running in and out all the time. She congratulated him again. We’re ready for a new house project once we have done the work that you and Dad want, as well as the things here that need to be complete. Hawk’s home is done too. Just needed a little sprucing up, and the furniture that he took gave it a nice homey look. When I saw him yesterday, he said that the flowers from you were a nice touch as well.
I put some things in his pantry and icebox as well. I know that he’s at our house a great deal, but he said he needed some alone time as well. But our house? I’ll be glad to have this house done over. Just the dining room is needing to be enlarged. I’m thinking that with some of you being married now, it won’t be long for the rest of them too. He thought of his brothers having mates, and knew it was a great idea too. But he was a little afraid for Hawkins’ mate to come. She sounded, from Jon, like a real hellcat. He could not wait. Why don’t you and Mackenzie come over for dinner tonight? We can invite the rest of the family and have a nice cookout on the deck. It won’t be long before it’s going to be too cold for us to eat out there.
I’ll talk to Mackenzie when she wakes up. Mom told him he was smart for doing that. Yeah, I don’t want to get my hat handed to me when it’s not necessary.
After promising his mom that he’d ask Mackenzie first thing, he got up and went to the bathroom to clean up. It was going to be a short day today, getting things finalized at not just his parents’ home, but at the new one and his too. As soon as he was dressed, he headed to the kitchen. Might as well get his day going, he told himself.
“The sooner we find a house to work on, the better it’ll be.” He smiled when he realized he was talking to himself. He supposed he’d picked that habit up from his dad.