Cousin Tabby Ch. 04

I was just chuckling away and she got very serious looking and said, "Thank you so much for last night; you don't really know what that meant to me."

"Well you can thank, Elyse, she's the one that invited you in, not that I'm complaining, mind you. What is it with my women that they keep ambushing me with threesomes?"

"You sound like you're upset."

"Not this time, Elyse did that for you and me and not for her own self-gratification or twisted logic."

"I'm glad you're not upset, because it meant the world to me."

"Miranda, I want you to know how much I love you and always have. If society didn't frown on it you would have never had to set me up with Elyse. I'm glad you did, however, because I truly love her and she is a big part of my life now."

Tears began streaming down her face and she came over and hugged me fiercely. "Ronnie, you know exactly what to say to make me feel better than anything in the world. You and Elyse are the most important people in my life. Once you get married don't forget your big sister and please stay a part of my life."

"Miranda, you know I'd take you with me if I could."

"You know, I really think you would, Ronnie."

Then Elyse came down and looked strangely and said, "What's so serious, why are you crying Miranda? What did numb nuts say to you."

"I was just telling her, how much I loved her and how much last night meant to me, thank you."

"AH, that's so sweet. I knew there was a reason I loved you, and it's not just for your body."

**********

The three of us spent the day together running around our little town visiting all the small shops, something that Elyse dearly loved. We ate a light lunch at the diner downtown and got ready for Uncle John's Christmas party. While we were at the party I got a look from Tabby that was both evil and calculating. It made me feel extremely uneasy as I stood there holding hands with Elyse and Miranda. I truly did not like the way she looked at Miranda either. Little did I know what this would come to mean later.

Miranda and Elyse both liked riding horses. I could always take it or leave it, but Miranda loved it so that's why I did it, plus, it was a necessity working on the ranch. Miranda asked Elyse if she wanted to see the stables and look at some of the horses. Elyse agreed and they took off. They asked if I wanted to go and I said, no. I stood and talked with Uncle John for about 15 or 20 minutes. I noticed Tabby looking at me strangely and then she winked at me and got a cold maniacal grin on her face. It made me wonder what she was up to. The girls weren't back yet, so I decide to go down to the stables to look for them. I left the main house and headed towards the stables looking for Miranda and Elyse as I went. Miranda had said something to Uncle John before her Miranda walked down to the stables and I wonder what it was. When I got to the stables which faced the road, there was no sign of either of them. It seemed to me they must have walked across the road and called it a night. That must've been what Miranda said to Uncle John. While I was in the stables, I heard a door close behind me and the door to the cabinet closes well. I turned around and there stood Tabby with that same maniacal grin.

"It's time to settle up, Maxwell."

Then I saw the gun in her hand, the .38 she always carried on the farm to deal with varmints and snakes.

"Tabby I told you I hate that name."

"I really don't care what the fuck you don't like. Where's your little girlfriend and my traitorous cousin?"

"Why do you want to know? I think they went home. Why do you care?"

"I'm going to kill her and Miranda's got to pay, too."

"What the hell is the matter with you, Tabby?"

"They're not taking you away from me, Ronnie, God took my mother and Shebiscuit; he's not taking you, too. You are mine, Ronnie, and that little bitch isn't going to take you. If I can't have you she's not going to, either. Miranda stuck her nose into things where she shouldn't have; she also introduced you to that bitch and she has to pay. She was my good friend; she was supposed to protect ME."

"Listen to yourself, Tabby, no one owns anyone on this earth. Let's talk this out."

She just stood there with the gun, placing the barrel along the side of her cheek and said, "Okay let's talk, Maxwell."

"When you bring out the gun, Tabby, diplomacy kind of flies out the window, doesn't it?"

CRACK

I actually felt the force of the bullet before I even heard the shot. The bullet entered the left side of my chest, just above my left nipple. The force of the impact knocked me down against the wall.

"YOU CRAZY BITCH, I can't believe you actually fucking shot me."

Tabby ran over screaming and crying and grabbed me and said, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Ronnie. Please don't die on me."

As she got on her phone to call 911, I lay there watching the blood pump out of my chest. I was coughing up blood while was thinking about losing everything I really had grown to love, Elyse, Miranda, my future career and my future family. I thought how sad Miranda and Elyse were going to be, when I died.

"How could you do this to me, Tabby?"

"Please don't die on me, Ronnie, I love you, I love you."

The last "I love you" sounded like it was coming from the end of the tunnel and I faded out. Somewhere I could hear sirens and my Uncle John's voice saying, "What in the world did you do, Tabby?" I also heard Miranda and Elyse's voices screaming my name.

**********

The next time I heard voices they were speaking about things I had no clue about. I heard, "BP 60/0 and dropping. He's gone into ventricular fibrillation. Paddles, shock at 200. "

I felt a snapping pain on my chest and remembered jerking.

"Sinus tachycardia, he's got a pulse , Doctor. Push the blood wide open and let's get him cracked open."

The next thing I can remember was waking up with a tube in my mouth and nurses running around screaming things at each other. I felt like I couldn't breathe, but my chest was moving to the rhythm of the machine beside my bed. A nurse came in and gave me a shot of something in the IV line and there was a tube sticking out of the side of my chest. I heard machines and then I heard the doctor telling a nurse that they were going to take out the tube. I decided to open my eyes, and a bright light suddenly shined into them. I was told to try to cough. I did and the tube was pulled out of my mouth. I took in a breath, my chest hurt and I began coughing. A nurse gave me a sip of water out of the straw, and I thought it was the best thing I've ever tasted in my life. I was still coughing a lot and my throat was scratchy.

The doctor said that I had some visitors and I looked over at the door to watch Miranda and Elyse come running into the room crying. Both girls came running over to me and kissed me rather heatedly on the lips. Miranda was the first to speak while Elyse stood there crying.

"My God, Ronnie, I didn't think I was ever going to see you again. You are so lucky you're even alive. I couldn't stand being in a world without you in it."

Elyse came over then and in between sobs said, "Ronnie, I love you, please don't ever do that to me again. I couldn't stand it; I couldn't make it without you."

"It wasn't really my doing Elyse, but I'll be happy to grant your request. I'm fine, pay no attention to the buzzards circling overhead."

Miranda said, "I can't believe that stupid bitch did that to you."

Elyse agreed and said, "She needs to be in jail."

Just then, a man walked in and identified himself as a county detective, Dan Barton. He said that he needed to talk to me. "Can you young ladies give us some time alone please?"

"No, Detective, they can stay, they need to hear this too."

"Okay son, if that's the way you want it."

"I need to ask you some questions about what you remember from the night of the incident."

"Accident, remember that I said that. It was an accident. My cousin Tabby was showing me the gun, she stumbled, and it went off accidentally."

"Yeah that's what she told us, but our ballistics guys tried to re-create it and the gun doesn't have a hair trigger or anything else that would make it go off that easily."

This got a very incredulous look from both Miranda and Elyse.

"I'm telling you, that's what happened and I don't want any charges filed against my cousin. Do you understand me?"

"That's up to you, Boy, but I don't think you're being totally honest with me. You have to live with that decision, though. If you remember anything else don't hesitate to call me." He left his card with me and left.

"Ronald House, you know that crazy bitch shot you on purpose," Miranda said, "You should've told him the truth, she needs to go to jail and you know it. You know they had to fly you to this trauma center and had to shock you once on the table to get you back. You actually died, Ronnie."

"DROP IT OKAY. That's my story and I'm sticking with it, leave it alone, I'm not ruining Tabby's life, I owe her that much."

The girls pretty much dropped it, and began filling me in on what happened after I was shot. Tabby called EMS, and when the paramedics got there they decided because of the chest wound they'd better fly me to the trauma center in our college town. Apparently, the bullet had nicked my pulmonary artery and one of my bronchi. They had to give me six units of blood after they cracked my chest. I had been out for three days before I woke up.

I looked at them and began sobbing saying, "I thought I would never see you two again; the two people I love more than anyone in the world."

They began crying, and told me to stop it; I was making them cry. Elyse came over, kissed me and said she had to go to the restroom really quickly. I looked at Miranda for a while, and she broke the silence.

"Easy does it, Ronnie, she's really had a rough time of it. She was a basket case until you woke up. To be perfectly honest with you, so was I."

"I'm sorry that I put you through this, but it wasn't by choice. Miranda, I do need to tell you something, though. I think that you better steer clear of Tabby for a while, she's harboring some rather unhealthy thoughts about your role in mine and Elyse's relationship."

"Ronnie, do you think she knows about us? My God that would be terrible."

"No, Miranda, nothing like that. She just blames you for introducing us."

"She needs psychiatric help, Ronnie."

"She won't get that in jail, Miranda, and you know it."

About that time, Elyse came back and I told her and Miranda to go home and get some rest. It took a little bit of browbeating, but I finally got them to leave.

It was about 4:30 in the afternoon when they left, and I decided to sleep a little. They awakened me when they brought in my supper tray, and I decided to try to eat something. The hospital food kind of sucked, so I just drank water and ate my bread and desert.

About 6:30 Uncle John walked in. He had a rather grave look on his face and I told him to ease up, I was fine.

"How are you holding up, Son, you bedded any of these fine looking nurses yet?"

"I haven't really had the opportunity yet, but I'll keep that in mind. I really haven't seen any of them that is worth cheating on Elyse over."

"You really got it bad for her don't you son?"

"You betcha, she's the love of my life, Uncle John.

"I knew that the first night I met her, and saw the way you looked at her, Ronnie."

"I want to thank you for what you did for Tabby, Son."

"What I did for Tabby?"

"Don't give me that bull shit, Boy. Dan Barton's a good friend of mine and he showed me the report. I taught Tabby how to shoot when she was nine years old and she knows how to handle every kind of pistol there is, clip fed and revolver. Don't give me any this shit about an accident, that girl can shoot the head off of a rattlesnake at 15 yards. You're lucky you're alive boy."

"I couldn't see any advantage to ruining her life over a stupid mistake on her part."

"I'm probably going to have to see that she gets some kind of counseling."

"That may be the thing to do, Uncle John."

"You just get well, Son, I'll handle all the bills."

**********

The next morning Miranda and Elyse came to see me about 9 AM and told me the doctors would probably let me go home in a couple of more days.

"Elyse, what are you doing here, didn't you go to Atlanta to be with your parents."

"Are you kidding me, Ronald House? Do you think for one moment that I would leave the man I love when you were fighting for your life?" She started crying.

"What did you tell your parents?"

"The truth, silly, I can tell them anything. They were truly worried about you and calling for constant updates. They also said they were praying for you."

"Well, thank them for me, Sweetie. Tell them that they're not quite rid of me, yet; I'm still marrying into the family."

She slapped me playfully on the shoulder and told me she loved me. The three of us just talked about things until there was a knock at the door.

Then surprise of all surprises, who stuck her head in the door, but Ambrosia Carver. I was so shocked to see her that I spit my mouth full of water all over myself. Elyse told Miranda that they should go get something to drink at the snack bar and left us alone.

"I've been following your progress in the newspaper, and I decided to come to see you. Do you want me to leave?"

"Of course not, Ambrosia, I hope we're still at least friends."

"I always thought that that crazy bitch would do something to you, but I never expected this."

"It was an accident, Ambrosia, I'm alive; that's what's important. How are you doing?"

"How do you think I'm doing, Ronnie? The best person in my life and I had to go screw it up. I know the one girl is your sister, was the girl with the purple dress her? "

"Yes that's my fiancée Elyse. What are you doing now?"

"I'm a consultant decorator for a local department store, and I'm making quite a name for myself."

"I always knew you would make something of yourself; you'll go far."

"I may go far, but I'll always know that I never went far enough, I could've had you."

"It just must not have been meant to be, Ambrosia."

"Maybe not, I'd better go."

She turned to leave just as Miranda and Elyse got back and Ambrosia stopped and said something to Elyse.

"You're lucky girl, he's a great guy and he deserves someone special."

"I'm the luckiest girl on earth."

"You sure are, always remember that."

With that Ambrosia turned and left, and I never saw her again.

Elyse looked at me questioningly and said, "Any regrets?"

"Who's here with me?"

"Miranda and I."

"Then that ought to answer your question."

**********

We got into somewhat of a routine the next two days, with the girls coming to see me and taking breaks to go home when they needed to. I did get a surprise when Dempsey stuck his head in the door one evening after dinner and asked if he could come in.

"Sure, come on in, Buddy."

"Boy, Ronnie, you definitely used six of your nine lives on this one."

"Yeah, it sure was a close one. How was your Christmas?"

"It was great, Libby and I got engaged."

"Well congratulations, at least I'm not the only one."

"You got engaged to Elyse? That's fantastic. I'm glad you didn't make her a widow before you even got married."

"Yeah that would've been ill mannered, wouldn't it?"

"After I heard what happened to you, I had to come back early."

"I'm glad you're here, there was something I had to tell you anyway. I won't be living at the frat house anymore. I'm moving in with Elyse."

"That sucks, Buddy. I'll have to break in a new roommate, I just got you trained. I'll miss you, man."

"I'll miss you, too, Dempsey. We'll see each other in class."

"Well, I'll see you later, Ronnie, I've got to get over there and get unpacked. I came straight here."

"See you, Friend."

He left, and shortly after, the girls returned. Miranda looked all happy, as well as Elyse. Miranda came over, kissed me on the cheek and said, "We get to take you home tomorrow morning, Ronnie. Isn't that fantastic?"

"I don't know, I think it may be a little hard on these nurses that have fallen in love with me."

Miranda and Elyse both smacked my shoulder at the same time. I just got a big smile on my face and said, "Then, I get to be taken care of by the two prettiest nurses."

They both started blushing and took turns kissing me. We visited for a while, and I ate the hamburger and fries that they were thoughtful enough to bring me. I wasn't doing well with the hospital food, and I knew I had lost some weight.

I slept well that night and was really raring to go when they got there the next morning to pick me up. As they drove me home, I asked them to stop at the diner for a real breakfast. We ate together and laughed and talked. Neither one of them liked the way I looked. They thought I had lost too much weight. I told them not to worry, I'd put it back on as fast as I could.

When we got home, we opened the Christmas presents we never got to open because of my incident. With Miranda's help, I had been able to pick out a pretty ensemble of clothes for Elyse. I'd never seen her so excited, jumping up and down, clapping and giggling like a little girl. I was so happy for her, and Miranda loved her gifts also, clothes as well. She was so surprised.

"How did you know my size and what I wanted?"

"It was easy, you said you were the same size as Elyse and I just watched your eyes as you helped me pick out hers."

"So my younger brother is the devious one, huh?"

"I can be when I need to be."

They both gave me kisses that were more than sisterly. I expected it from Elyse, but not from Miranda. We had a good day and talked a lot about our future plans. I started getting really tired by early afternoon, and took a nap. Elyse came in and slipped into bed with me.

"I hope you don't mind, but I almost lost you, and I need to be with you."

"I can't think of a better idea."

**********

We slept for about two hours, until Miranda woke us up for dinner. She fixed a feast fit for a king, and I was more than glad to partake. I ate like I was on death row and eating my last meal. My near death experience, coupled with poor hospital food, made me into a glutton. I ate until I was completely full, barely getting my desert down. Miranda had rented a movie, so we all sat and watched it for the rest of the evening.

I was tired so I went to bed as soon as the movie was over. When I got snuggled in just my boxers, Elyse slid in beside me, wearing the sheerest nightgown I'd ever seen her in. She looked absolutely beautiful.

"To think I almost died and wouldn't have had the pleasure of this beauty snuggling up to me again."

She started sobbing and said, "I don't know what I would've done if you had died, Ronnie. You're such a part of my life now; I don't know whether I could have handled it."

She reached down, grabbed my cock and began stroking it lightly. It didn't take long for me to respond with hardness, and she got down and took me in her mouth. She really started working on me hard and I knew I couldn't last too long like that, so I stopped her, picked her up and slid her onto me. I felt so good with her tight warmth enveloping me. She began riding me harder than she ever had before, and it didn't take her long to stiffen in orgasm. I felt my cock being flooded with her hot juices, pushing me over the edge, as I unloaded my pent-up sperm inside her.

"Ooooooh Ronnie, you never filled me so full of your cream before."

"Well it has been a while. It feels so good making love to you. I'm going to love it when we're married."