St. Columb - Chapter Fifteen

XV

The rain was falling harder now, it stung my eyes as I ran down the path from the shack and into the woods once more. I heard him call my name and laugh, my heart pounded as I tore through the underbrush trying to get to the creek so I could follow it back to the orphanage. Dear God please, please let me make it to the creek. Run Rachel, run as if the devil himself were chasing you! My body began to ache from the kick that I had previously received, I later learned that he had cracked four or five of my ribs but adrenaline kept me from focusing on it. I heard the branches snap behind me as Robby closed in on me, I managed to gather up some sort of strength to run faster. I made it to the clearing and ran down the side of the bank, trying to keep my head about me so as to not slip and fall in; the creek had risen, flood waters splashed on the bank causing parts of it to be soft and unstable. I didn't see the softer spot in the soil, my foot sank in, causing me to fall. I tried to get up in time but it was too late, he was already upon me.

“You know I was hoping that you would put up some sort of fight! It gets rather boring just killing someone and all they do is beg for their life.” he laughed, grabbing me by the arms again.

I was not going to just let him kill me; not after all he had done to Dona and the other children, how he had killed poor Beatrice and Max, how he had defiled Julian's name and murdered him, but most of all how he shot Dougan and left him out in the wilderness like yesterday's trash.

“Good, I'm glad that I can provide you with entertainment!” I yelled; I turned and curled my fist and struck him.

I remember regretting that decision because I added three broken fingers to my list of injuries. He staggered back and smiled at me, I saw the gun tucked in his belt; suddenly I remembered something, and felt the cold steel against my wrist.

“Well my dear you have more fire in you than I thought.” he said, his voice low again. “However I tire of this, and now you've ruined any chance of my going back to St. Columb. That I cannot let you get away with.” he said, drawing the gun and pointing it at me.
“Go on you coward, shoot me like you shot Dougan. You'll never escape, Celia knows who you are and you can be damned sure that she will search all of England and won't rest until you're rotting in a bloody cell!” I said, I hoped that he didn't notice my hand fooling with the fabric around my wrist.
“Oh you're so noble, I'll give you that. However I've won Rachel, soon I'll go and find your sister and kill her too. Then I'll be on my way on the next barge out of England, so sorry.” he laughed, clicking the hammer; I had to act now.

Celia was coming down the creek when she heard the shot, she drew her gun and ran towards the noise. She came upon the scene: I was on the ground trembling, as was Robby; I heard him laugh and Celia's gun go off. I knew then that it was over, I sat up and tried to come to my senses.
“Rachel! Rachel, oh God are you alright?!” Celia cried, coming to my side.
My shoulder felt like it was on fire, and the fabric around it felt warm; I looked over and saw the switchblade sticking out of Robby's abdomen.
“H—He was going to kill Lynsay...I—I had to do something...he killed Beatrice and Max and Julian...and...and....oh God Dougan!” I ignored the searing pain in my shoulder and fell into Celia's arms weeping.
“Shh it's alright Rachel you're safe now, we have to get you back to the orphanage so we can bandage you up.” Celia said, stroking my hair; she tore the sleeve from her jacket and wrapped it around my wound. I nodded, wiping the tears from my eyes; I noticed that the rain had subsided to a light drizzle and the wind had stopped howling.
“Can you walk?”
“I—I think so...”
“Alright then, come on.” Celia helped me up, I tried to stand, but the fatigue caught up with me instantly and I almost fell over.
“Whoa, careful darling. Perhaps you should just lean on me.” Celia said, managing a smile; she shouldered me and we slowly made our way back to St. Columb. The last I saw of Robby was him lying on the bank of the creek, a knife sticking from his abdomen, blood staining his mouth and a gunshot wound to his head. Try as I might, I still cannot purge those insane brown eyes that still stared at me even in death, from my mind.

I must have blacked out when we reached the orphanage, for I have no memory of arriving or of being placed on a cot in the parlor of Emma's house. I awoke to my shoulder in a sling and an immense pain in my side where Robby kicked me; I realized that I was propped up and saw Lynsay asleep in the chair closest to me, Emma and Grace asleep on the couch, and Gavin on the couch opposite of them. I saw how badly beaten both Emma and Grace were and felt fresh tears form in my eyes, I couldn't imagine how it all came to this.
“Somehow I knew that you would be the first one awake.” Celia said softly, leaning on the door-frame; the glow of the fire cast shadows on her face. She had changed from her soaking wet uniform to a light blue dress, her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, some stray locks falling in her face; her badge still remained on her left hand side, I almost wanted to ask her where her gun was but refrained from doing so.
“How are you holding up?” she asked, coming over to my bedside and sitting on the coffee table.
“Alright I suppose, as well as anyone who's just been shot can I imagine.” I said, smiling a little.
“I'd say you're doing pretty bloody fantastic given your circumstances.”
“Celia...did Robby do that to Emma and Grace?” I said, glancing over at them.
“Yes...yes he did....there's no lasting damage, at least physically anyway.” she said softly, looking at them.
“Is Gavin going to be alright?”
“Oh he'll be back on patrol before you can say Bob's your uncle. There's not much that can keep him away.”
“I'm glad to hear it...” I said, my voice trailing off. Celia knew what I was thinking about, she gently took my hand and smiled.
“There's someone who wants to see you Rachel.”
“What? Who are you—“ I stopped when I saw him standing in the doorway. His shirt was open, revealing a large bandage covering the right side of his chest; he had a few scratches and bruises but he was otherwise alright.
“D—Dougan? You're alive?” I whispered; Celia stood and walked over to the edge of the couch where Gavin lay asleep.
“Rachel...” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He walked towards me, and sitting on the coffee table, took my hand in his; stroking my cheek with his other hand. “God...I'm so glad you're alright. You have no idea what it's been doin' to me waiting for you to return.”
“Oh and do you think it was a picnic watching you get beat up and then shot, afterwords tumbling down the hill like a rag-doll?” I said, smiling through my tears.
“I'm sure it wasn't a very pleasant sight was it?” he laughed, leaning closer.
“Oh shut up Dougan.” I whispered. I pulled him to me and kissed him, I felt as if we had spent years apart and were finally reunited again. He gently pulled me close to him, I felt the warmth of his body and felt as if no harm could come to either of us ever again. I was home.
“Oh Jesus, will you two give it a bloody rest.” Lynsay groaned. She was leaning forward in the chair, her head resting in her hand, she was doing her best to look disgusted with our display of affection for one another; she wasn't succeeding. We pulled away and laughed, I gestured for Lynsay to come to me; she willingly complied, throwing her arms around my neck and kissing my cheek.
“Oh Lynsay now we can start a new life, together.” I said, glancing at Dougan who put his arms around both of us.
“I think we make a rather happy little family.” he laughed.
“Rachel you really mean it? We all can be a family?” Lynsay said, taking our hands.
“Of course I do darling, I think it's about time we pick up where we left off.” I smiled. I was unaware that our little scene was being watched by not only Celia, but Gavin, Grace and Emma as well; we all finally noticed them smiling at us.

The moment was interrupted by the loud, booming voice of Richard Bingham outside. We heard him demand to know where Celia and Phillip were.
“Oh no...bloody hell someone must have let the damned cur out of his cage.” she muttered, walking to the front door; she didn't want him coming in and disturbing us, frankly we were all grateful.
“Thomas!!” he boomed, his eyes nearly bulging from his head. “Arrest her! Throw her in jail for assault on an officer, withholding evidence and jeopardizing a criminal case.” he said to the two officers that were with him. They were dressed in more formal attire, both bearing the badge of the commander's precinct
“Arrest me?! If it wasn't for your bigoted mindset, asinine behavior and downright incompetence we wouldn't have had nearly as much trouble with this case in the first place. You're the one who almost arrested the wrong man! You nearly fucked up the entire case and let a murderer walk free!” Celia said, not backing down.
“Your naïve little mind would concoct such a ridiculous story such as that.” he said in a venomous tone. “Face it Thomas, I've won. And you will never be able to show your face in London again.” he said in a low tone so the two officers couldn't hear him.
“I wouldn't be so sure of that Bingham.” Phillip said, he had come up behind them while Bingham and Celia were bickering; neither had noticed.
“Ah, Delaney how kind of you to save me the trouble of hunting you down to put cuffs on you.” he said, sneering at Phillip.
“That's Commander Delaney to you Bingham.” he said, flashing his badge. Richard Bingham turned pale, and suddenly lost the ability to speak.
“D—Did you say...” Celia began, her eyes wide.
“Commander, yes I did.” Phillip answered, smiling at her.
“When were you going to run that small little detail by me?” Celia said, walking over to him and putting her hands on her hips.
“I was going to get around to it eventually, when the time was right. What was it you said? ' There's never a bloody good time to say anything'? Did I get that right?” he said, smiling at her. She glared at him, trying not to show her excitement.
“Richard Bingham, I hereby remove you from Scotland Yard and place you under arrest for forgery, bribing, bigotry, jeopardizing a criminal case and just being an all around asshole.” Phillip said as the other two officers placed Bingham in handcuffs. He said nothing as he was carried away and placed in the back of a patrol car.
“I didn't know you could arrest someone for being an asshole.” Celia said, facing him.
“Well you can't, it was just bloody good luck that he happened to do all of those other things too.” Phillip smiled, earning him a laugh from Celia.
“Celia...I hope you understand that I couldn't tell you because if I did, everyone would have acted differently than they did. If they thought I was just some proby sent by the Commander then they would be more likely to act natural. I wanted to see how terrible of an officer Bingham was. Despite what you may think, I received every one of your complaints. That's why I came.” he smiled.
“You, you read them?”
“Every one, I must say given the fact that Bingham was a monster of a man to deal with, they were all very professional.”
“Well I assumed that if I said what I really meant, they probably wouldn't get read.” They laughed, Celia locked eyes with him, “Thank you Phillip—I mean, Commander.” she smiled
“No, it's just Phillip to you.” he said, stroking her cheek. “By the way I'm still dreadfully in love with you. I know that little lie about being a proby probably damaged what little trust you had in me, but know that I do still feel the same. I suppose what I would like to know is if you feel the same way towards me.” he said
Celia smiled and laced her arms around his neck, “What does this tell you?” she asked; she kissed him softly, feeling his arms wrap around her waist and pull her close to him. When they pulled away, she called over her shoulder:
“I don't know what you all are bloody staring at but if you don't get back to work I know several officers that will be out of a job!” she said to the officers who had stopped and observed the scenario before them; not wanting to see if she would own up to her threat, they quickly went back to what they were doing.
“You know, I don't know what it is but I find it very alluring when you bellow at your team like an angry bear.” Phillip smiled
“Well good, because that's not going to change darling.” Celia laughed kissing him again.

They were making their way back to the house when Celia saw little Dona rushing towards them, she remembered her promise to her and knelt down to scoop her up in a hug.
“Dona! It's so good to see you!” she laughed spinning around with the child in her arms.

Dona's laugh carried over the grounds, I remember feeling a surge of joy when I heard it inside the house. We all were aflame with curiosity, and against the doctors orders, went out on the porch.

“Miss Celia! You came back!” Dona laughed.
“Of course I did darling, I promised I would didn't I?” Celia smiled as if the child were her own.
“Yes you did!” Dona said, throwing her arms around Celia's neck; Phillip smiled, knowing he was seeing something precious.
“Miss Celia...I was wondering if I could ask you something.”
“Of course darling, anything.”
“Well...I was wondering if...maybe you could be my new mum.”
Celia's heart nearly flew out of her chest, a mum? Her? Was she fit to even be a mother?
“D—Dona....are you sure you want me as a mum? I don't think I would be any good...”
“I think you would....and I do want you as a mum.” she smiled.
Celia felt tears well up in her eyes, she hugged the child and swore that she would be the best mother that she could be. “Alright then, yes. Yes I'll be your mum Dona.” she said; Dona threw her arms around Celia's neck again. Celia put her down and stood in front of her with hands on her hips in mock seriousness.
“Now if I'm going to be your mum, there's a few rules that you'll have to follow is that clear?”
“Yes miss!” Dona said, saluting her.
“Just because you're adorable doesn't mean that you can get away with anything, and if you break these rules there will be consequences understand?”
“Clear as a bell ma'am!”
Celia laughed and picked up her new daughter, holding her tight.
“Miss Ce—I mean mum, who is going to be my dad?” Dona asked; at that moment, Phillip stepped forward.
“I think I can help with that.” he said, smiling at Celia
“Really? Is Mr. Phillip going to be my dad?” Dona asked, turning to Celia.
“I think Mr. Phillip will fit in quite nicely as your dad.” Celia smiled, holding Phillip's gaze. He leaned in and gave Celia a quick peck.
“Celia, I can have the paperwork ready for you in an hour.” I called, my smile growing wider by the second.
“What of the observation period? You can never be too careful these days.” she said, smiling back at me.
“I think this time we can make an exception, what do you think Emma?”
“I think that's an ace of an idea.” Emma replied, putting her arm around Grace.