Chapter 43

Lug Nut


I go towards the reception desk to find out where Ailee is but Callen stops me and leads me to the elevator. The up three floors feels like it takes forever. Callen looks down at my hand holding the kutte. “ Ailee’s?” he asks, pointing to it. “ I’m claiming her no matter if I have five minutes or fifty years with her.” I say. He just nods as the doors open. I know Ace is behind me but he is keeping his mouth shut. I did notice he was wiping blood from his nose. I know I didn’t break it but he is going to hurt and breath funny for a while. As soon as we step out I see both sides of the hall are lined with guards standing shoulder to shoulder. There has to be fifteen on each side. Callen leads me down the long hall to a room at the back. I see a plague on the door ‘ VIP Room’. Callen opens the door and lets me go in first. I look around and see Ailee laying in a queen size bed covered in a thick comforter. If it wasn’t for the machines hooked up to her and the oxygen mask on Ailee this place would look like a regular bedroom. Ailee looks like she is sleeping but I know better. Her breathing isn’t even like she is struggling. There are dark circles under her eyes that I have noticed before so she must have been covering her up. She is so pale she is almost translucent.

Finn is on one side of the bed holding her hand and Cormac is on the other doing the same. There are even guards on either side of the walls with their heads bowed. I guess as a sign of respect. Cormac lifts his head and sees me. He leans over and whispers something in Ailee’s ear. She turns her head towards me and slowly opens her eyes. She manages to give me a weak smile before whispering “ Travis.” Finn turns to see me and stands giving me his chair. Not that I need it. I’m getting in bed with her. I walk over to her and brush her hair back from her forehead. I lean down and kiss her forehead. “ Hey, honey. I brought you something.” I hold the kutte out for her to see. Her eyes light up “ Beautiful,” she whispers. I gently lay it across her chest. Ailee lifts her hand to run her finger over the emblom. It is a large gold medallion with Reckless written over the top and Renegades on the bottom in black in bold letters. In the middle is a cowboy hat with an emerald green ribbon around the brim. The hat was tipped on its side. Next to it was a crown of ice and jewels tipped to the top touching the hat. Under that hat and crown was ‘ Property of Lug Nut.’ It really was a work of art.

I get down on my knees and grab Ailee’s hand. “ If you accept. I’m laying my claim to you right now, in front of your grandfather and all these witnesses.” I see a single tear roll down Ailee’s cheek. “ Not much time left.” Ailee wheezes. “ I’ll take all the time you can give me.” I told her. Ailee motions with her finger for me to stand up. I do and lean over her so she doesn’t have to strain her voice. She removes the oxygen mask. “ I accept Travis. I love ye. I belong to you body, heart and soul.” she wheezes. I give her a quick kiss before helping her put the mask back on. “ Travis, I’m tired.” Ailee says weakly. She used what energy she had left to accept my claim. I kiss her forehead again “ Just rest honey. I’ll be right by your side when you wake up.” In less than a minute Ailee is out cold. I stayed a few minutes longer making sure she wasn’t going to wake up, holding her hand the whole time. I place her hand on the bed and step back. I see Cormac and the others talking at the back of the room. I walk over to get to the bottom of what happened and what the prognosis is. I want answers. When I get to Cormac’s side before I can open my mouth to demand answers Cormac holds his hand out. “ Welcome to the family, lad. You earned it.” In better circumstances his words would mean the world to me. “ Thank you, sir. Now I would like to know what we are dealing with. How did my girl get here?” I asked.

“ The doctor is on his way up. We will have more answers then.” Cormac says. Finn tells me about being at the baby shower. He noticed Ailee looked exhausted but she insisted that she was fine. I know how headstrong Ailee is so they had no choice but to take her at her word. Ailee was determined to attend the shower. He said Merigold had told him Ailee wanted to get some water. They noticed Ailee started to sway on her feet and yelled for Finn and Callen. Finn caught Ailee as she collapsed. He ended the story there but I could tell there was more to it. “ Spit it out, Finn. What aren’t you telling me?” I growled. Finn runs his hand down his face. It is then I notice how bloodshot his eyes are and how tired he looks. This is taking a toll on him and everyone else in this room. “Before she passed out Ailee said she was out of time.” Finn whispered so low I almost didn’t hear him. I look over my shoulder at my girl. She thinks she is out of time. I look up at the ceiling and hope Ailee is wrong.Ace

I didn’t wait for permission when I chased after Lug heading to the hospital. I was going to see my daughter and no one was going to stop me. I followed them to the hospital and to the elevator. When we entered Ailee’s room I felt my heart stop beating. There was my little girl looking so small and sick laying in bed connected to tubes and wires to keep her alive. I have seen Merigold and Lilly like this before and it hurt. Don’t get me wrong. I hated seeing them like that. But this was my own flesh and blood. Seeing her like this is devastating. I feel my chest tighten and it is hard to breathe. I wanted to go to her and hold her in my arms and never let go. All those months wasted because I couldn’t get my shit right. This isn’t how I should be meeting Ailee again. Cormac whispers something to her and she opens her eyes. Even as sick as she is she still manages to light up when she sees Lug. It shows she still has strength in her.

I watched as Lug went over and claimed Ailee in front of all of us. I have been more proud to have him as my brother than I am at this moment. He doesn’t care how much time he has left with Ailee he is making her his. I can see the love between the two of them. We need to figure out how to make her better so they can have a long life together. I stand at the back of the room with Finn, Cormac and Callen. Finn looks at me like he wishes me a long painful death. Not that I blame him. I have overheard the ol’e talking about how close Callen and Finn are to Ailee. Like close uncles or surrogate father’s to her. Lug stays with Ailee until she falls asleep. When he comes over he is pissed and is demanding answers. I would like some as well. I want to know what happened. Cormac said we were running out of time last week but he made it seem like we had a few more months not days. Finn filed Lug in on what happened at the baby shower while we waited on the doctor. We are the only ones on this floor and I know the hall is lined with guards so no one is getting up here without permission. Cormac spared no expense when it came to taking care of Ailee including this private room.

There is a knock on the door and a guard lets two doctors in. One looks to be in his early sixties maybe with graying short hair. He stands about five foot eight, maybe nine. The other looks a little younger, late thirties early forties. The older doctor looks over at Ailee for a minute. I can see the sadness in his eyes. He looks around the room before he lands on Cormac. “ Cormac, if you want to step outside with me. I have the results.” the older doctor says. Cormac shakes his head “ These men are family. It is fine to speak freely.” Both doctors come over. Cormac makes the introductions “ Ace, Lug. These are Ailee’s doctors.” He points to the older one “ This is Dr. Donavon. He has been with Ailee since her first run with cancer. And her personal physician ever since.” Cormac points to the younger one “ This Dr. Graves. He has been on Ailee’s case when she got diagnosed this time.” Cormac introduces Lug and I as we shake hands. I don’t care who they are, I want to know what is going on with my daughter.

Finn looks at Cormac with some unspoken question. Cormac nods and I see one of the guards closest to us remove his ear piece laying it on his shoulder. That means all the other guards will be able to hear our conversation. I’m not sure I like that but Cormac knows what he is doing. “ I have Ailee’s test results. I’m afraid they aren’t good.” Dr. Donavan says. “ Ailee’s body is no longer responding to chemo and is starting to shut down.” “ So what do we do? What treatments do we try?” Cormac asked what we were all thinking. Dr. Graves said “ I’m sorry, Cormac. There are no other treatments to try. The only thing we do now is keep her comfortable. And you need to start saying your goodbyes.” “ You are telling us there is no hope. Ailee is dying.” Finn said his voice was harsh trying to stop himself from getting choked up. “ I’m afraid so. Ailee has fought this for a long time but her body just can’t handle it anymore.”