Having bought the flowers and stopping at the Apple Market Food Store, Hutch climbed into his battered old pick up, and headed home. It was early twilight, and yet another spectacular sunset dappled the sky pink and blue. As he headed out onto Kau Trail Road, he spotted a tiny figure crouched at the roadside, next to a mailbox and driveway, and his heart gave a lurch.
Sunny Bingham, all of five years old, sat next to her tiny suitcase, waiting for her daddy again. Hutch knew the Binghams had divorced the previous winter. Sandy Bingham, Sunny's mom had been left with a struggling farm, and her only child while her husband Ray, had drank himself into stupors night after night. He swore vengeance but most folks chalked it up to drink. He'd promise Sunny she could come and stay with him on weekends and then he'd never show. The effects on the little girl were heartbreaking and nearly drove her mother insane with grief and bitterness. Tonight was no different, being Friday. He slowed, seeing her tear streaked little face look up hopefully, then fall with crushing disappointment as it turned out not to be daddy's truck.
Hutch swallowed, his throat constricting with anger and sympathy. Sometimes it just wasn't fair to these little ones. He heaved a sigh, threw an arm over his seat and began backing the truck up. He pulled up past the drive way, turned in, and parked.
Sunny stared sadly down the road, ignoring Hutch as he walked up. She had hair his color, only in ringlets and curls, with unusual hazel eyes, threatening to spill with tears at any moment. She had on a little red ski jacket, blue sneakers and elastic cuffed jeans, and next to her sat a pack back festooned with clip on animals. Hutch knelt down beside her, and smiled gently.
"Hasn't showed up yet has he?" he asked.
"No." she replied. "He said he'd come and get me."
"What time, Sunny?" he asked.
"4:00." she sniffed, dashing an arm under her nose. Hutch groaned inwardly, it was almost 5:00 and rapidly getting dark and cold. "He's gonna come." she sighed.
"It's getting kinda cold out here, Sunny. Won't your mama be worried?" he asked.
"I put on my good coat." Sunny said, glancing down her front then quickly looking back up in case she missed anything that came down the road. Hutch wished sincerely he could strangle Ray Bingham. He heard the faint sounds of shoes on the gravel drive and knew Sandy was coming to fetch her daughter.
"Sunny, maybe your daddy got tied up somewhere. Why don't you let me take you home?"
"No Mither Hutch. He said he'd come, " she protested, looking at him with eyes so full of sadness and dying hope that he definitely wished he could pound some sense into the girl's father. Hutch smiled sadly back, hearing Sandy approach.
"Hi Ken..." She said as he rose. They were neighbors in a sense, the backs of both their properties met, yet their homes were five miles apart.
"Sunny and I were just having a talk." Hutch smiled, looking at her knowingly. Sandy Bingham, looked far older than her twenty six years, once having been a vivacious brunette. Her dark eyes barely concealed the pain and bitterness, or the knowledge of what she was about to do. She smiled sadly at the tall detective and turned to her daughter.
"Honey, Daddy isn't coming," she said gently, leaning down to pick up the pack. "We have to go inside now dear. It's getting cold and dinner is almost ready."
"No Mom!" Sunny protested her little voice rising. "He said he would come, Daddy said he'd come!" Sandy, shut her eyes momentarily in frustration and weariness.
"Honey I know he said he'd come, but it's getting dark and I'm not letting you sit out here by yourself." She leaned down and picked up the girl, a tiny thing really. Sunny began to cry. Sandy stood helplessly, as her child wrapped her arms around her neck and began to sob, moaning how he was going to come. She looked at Hutch helplessly.
"Beggin' your pardon, Ken but there's times I'd like to kill that man!"
Hutch smirked slightly and relieved her of the suitcase as she rubbed her little girls back trying to say anything to give the inconsolable child some comfort.
"She'll cry herself asleep again tonight. The last time this happened her nose started bleeding and we ended up sitting half the night at the clinic."
"Climb in the truck, Sandy, I'll drive you up to the house." Hutch offered.
"Thanks, Ken. Don't mind me will ya? I just get so..." she started as he opened the passenger side door for her, setting the tiny pack on the floorboard. Sandy awkwardly climbed in with her weeping burden.
"I know Sandy, I've seen this more times than I care to count, and it never gets easy. Even way out here in the boonies." He shut the door for her, and climbed in on his side. Sandy looked at him and smiled slightly. He began heading for her house.
"Yeah I suppose you have seen your share of it, coming from the city and all."
"Well, I'm originally from Minnesota, my own family had a ranch, but I needed to get out of there." he smiled ruefully. "Still LA was a big change and is a big city. There's a lot of different worlds there and a lot of different heartaches." he glanced at the woman. "But even here heartaches never change."
"How is..."she asked. Hutch raised an eyebrow, then caught her question.
"Ali? Fine," he said. "Thanks for asking. She appreciated those pies you brought last week. Sometimes her migraines lay her out for days." Hutch said.
"You two seem to be settling in all right anyway."
"Yeah well, it's still taking a little getting used to having another person around the place after three years." He smiled. "At least she can't stand my clutter. Keeps the place immaculate."
"You've got the most beautiful gardens in 40 miles, Ken. She knocks herself out doing them."
"She does at that." Hutch replied and pulled up next to the house. Sunny still wept. Sandy climbed out of the truck and juggled her child and the suitcase.
"Thanks Ken." she smiled sadly. Hutch nodded.
"No problem, say listen," he said as she walked around the front of the truck. He leaned out. "Tell her that she can come up next weekend and ride the horses. Ali and I are heading out to bring the cattle down out of the ranges tomorrow. We should be back Thursday. Bring her over Saturday afternoon, we'll have dinner too."
"Hey that would be nice, we'll do that." Sandy smiled gratefully, sighing
a little in relief, her five year old daughter had long ago been bitten
by the horse bug. Hutch smiled back and reversed the truck. For a moment
he captured Mother and daughter in the beams as he turned and headed out.
It was the last time he would see Sandy Bingham alive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hutch never failed to marvel at the changes that had been wrought since
Ali had come back. She even looked totally different. A year of good, regular,
food had removed the gauntness which had made her chiseled slender features
look old and haggard. She looked healthier than he had seen in years. After
the long passage of time, her hair had finally reached it's original length
too. But some things would never go away. Blonde bangs barely covered the
scar starting on the left side of her forehead before disappearing into
the hairline, though thankfully it was no longer the angry red it had been.
Then there was the look in those light blue eyes, a mingled fear and wariness.
Seven years of a fugitive's life was going to take a little longer to get
rid of. The constant black hole of her memories however...
Hutch shook himself as he parked, and climbed out of the truck. Ali liked sitting on their deck, watching the sun set over Willow Lake, surrounded by the gardens they had spent most of their spare time putting in. She sat there now, coffee cup in hand, glancing his way as he pulled up.
"Hi." he greeted, climbing the stairs, ambling his way over with the grocery sack in one arm. She smiled back at him, searching his face with those eyes. He smiled slightly, seeing the question pop into her brain. He leaned over her, smiling into her face and lightly kissed her, gently running his hand down the back of her head.
"Happy anniversary." he murmured and tugged the rose out of the sack. Ali's face lit up with that smile that had caught him almost ten years ago. She accepted the rose, playing with the baby's breath that surrounded it.
"You remembered." she said, her lips curling wryly. Hutch chuckled.
"You're funny." Ali softly snorted back, studying this man who had become her husband.
"Hard to believe, huh?" she asked. He pursed his lips, thought it over, and smiled lovingly back down.
"There were times..." he drawled. Ali shook her head.
"Well at least we're not sitting in the Pine Ridge cell block," she teased lightly, a knowing look passing between them.
"No, you were sitting in the cell, I was standing outside of it," he teased back.
"Technicalities," she murmured, smiling deliciously up into his face."But you almost ended up on the same side."
"Some how, I think we're better off here, " he reassured her. Ali chuckled softly.
"I won't argue that, " she replied gazing into his eyes.
"And I still think you looked horrible in jail house orange, " he said, his voice low and full of mirth. Ali began to laugh, a sound Ken Hutchinson loved to hear. He straightened, catching her hand up in his, pulling her to her feet.
"You're freezing!" he chided.
"Been watching the sun go down," she said catching the sliding glass door for them which led into their dining room. "Didn't want to miss it."
"It's getting colder though, Ali, at least put a coat on," he said making his way into their large open kitchen.
"Yes, dear..." she drawled, her icy eyes glinting mischievously.
Hutch hauled a bunch of celery out of the bag and waggled it at her.
"Ah! None of that!" he shot back as he proceeded to unload the bag. Ali smirked at him a moment then began searching the cupboard for a vase.
"What happened tonight?" she asked, pulling one down and joining him next to the sink.
"Hmm?" he asked back. Ali looked askance at him.
"You looked a little sad." she said as she filled the vase then began arranging the rose in it.
"It was Sunny." Hutch said as he emptied the bag. He turned, leaning a hip into the counter and began to fold it.
"Waiting for daddy again?"
"Waiting for daddy again." Hutch confirmed. He glanced at his wife. "I uh, I invited them over for dinner next Saturday." he said cautiously. He inwardly winced at the sudden hesitation in Ali, a momentary stop in her breathing as she froze, then grimaced slightly. She looked uneasily at him.
"Sunny was heartbroken, " he said "And Sandy looked exhausted. I thought she'd like to ride the horses and we could give Sandy a break."
Ali deeply appreciated that we. The changes in her life were coming at such a rate that she felt inclined to want to hide from everyone. Both her and this man next to her knew that she carried a near crippling load of grief, and guilt, and pain. He had promised, when they had wed so abruptly a year before, to help her carry that load. She also dealt with trying to return to normal, and somehow, socializing was her weakest point. They both knew Ali would never truly be back to normal, nearly 30 years of her life had disappeared into a black hole with out much hope of returning. What little that had returned however was one of the most precious things Hutch could ever have hoped for in the aftermath of her shooting. Ali had remembered the night he had asked her to marry him. That memory and a seven year old pre signed marriage certificate (just needing an "authorized" signature) had been the two things which Hutch needed to get Ali out of the jail he had found her in. By then the statutes of limitations would have run it's course and Hutch would refuse to cooperate if the charges against Ali were filed again. For a change, things were going right in their life. Yet Ali also knew it had cost Hutch the other most precious "thing" in his life. There were times when she simply could not deal with that. She smiled bravely at him.
"Okay, " she said, trying not to squirm.
"We need to do this," he said gently, studying her.
"I know Kenny, I know." she replied, a bit defensively. He smiled slightly, yet his eyes reflected Ali's discomfort. She was doing the best she could, he knew that, but sometimes you had to hurt to heal.
He made her dinner as promised, having discovered over the past few years the joys of grilling. Grilled chicken, with a fresh salad, french loaf, and a delectable chocolate mousse for dessert. Afterwards, as he stoked up the fireplace, warming the huge open space encompassing the kitchen, living, and dining rooms, Ali vanished a moment and returned carrying a large flat box. She set the box on the floor as he glanced over his shoulder, stuffing another log into the fireplace. Ali sat on the hearth next to him.
"What's that?" he asked.
"It's for you, " she said. He looked at her a little dubious.
"When did you get that?"
"Couple of days ago. Mail order." she said, looking at him with wide eyes. Hutch frowned slightly, wondering what she was up to.
"C'mon! It is our anniversary right? I couldn't not get you something."
"Ali, we agreed not to buy anything. You know we're having trouble getting this ranch off the ground."
"I know that Ken. I sold the Firebird." she said, looking at him squarely. Hutch almost did a double take, and looked sternly at her.
"You sold..." he started. Ali nodded.
"$7500.00" she said. Hutch only stared, waiting for the explanation. Ali had long owned a '69 Firebird. One of the items he had shipped up from California in the first days he had moved onto the Ames/Hutchinson ranch. Ali's restored classic had sat under wraps in the barn since then and had been her all purpose car in the LA days. After her shooting it had done nothing more than collect dust.
"It's not doing anything in the barn Ken. It wouldn't last two days out here on these gravel roads. I thought about it a long time and finally decided we needed the money more than the car. I've been using the Suburban almost exclusively. So why let it sit and rust?"
She sighed, seeing the look in his eyes saying 'you should have consulted me about this'.
"C'mon Ken. It was my car. At least that's what everybody and the title tells me. I left the check on your ledger, and went ahead and ordered that." She nodded at the box. "I didn't want to let this day go by with out giving you something." she said quietly. Hutch didn't reply, he studied her a moment, seeing the sincerity.
"Babe, you are all I ever wanted." he said softly. Ali only gazed back at him. Sometimes he could pull the chords of her heart hard. She lowered her head. He looked away a second, staring at the box. Ali really had no recall of the old car, and it had been collecting dust and hay in the barn. He turned around and sat next to her, taking her small slender hand into his large one.
"Next time, give me a little warning, okay?" he asked. Ali nodded. He reached out and pulled the box to him with his free hand. It felt a little weighty.
"What is it?" he asked. She smiled slightly.
"Open it and find out." she replied and let go of his hand. She wrapped her arm around his knee. Hutch tugged the top off the box and stopped.
"Ali!" he gasped. He reached inside and drew out a coat.
Butter soft dark brown chamois met his fingertips as he pulled the jacket out of the box. A large man's coat, thigh length, and completely lined with sheep's wool. It had a high collar, and western tailoring, extremely well crafted. A coat meant for the bitter cold. He had remarked on it months back having seen it in one of the mail order catalogs that infrequently landed in their mail. A coat perfect for a mid autumn cattle drive.
"Try it on." she urged, squeezing his knee. Hutch shook his head and stood up, swinging the jacket on. The fit was perfect. He flipped the collar, straightened the sleeves and glanced at Ali, looking appreciatively at her handsome blonde man.
"Enough room for the Magnum?" she asked.
"Plenty! It's a perfect fit."
"I wrote your size down somewhere..."she said absently. Numbers were not her strong point. Hutch half smiled, glancing down at the jacket, smoothing it down. It smelled of leather. Almost intoxicating. He looked at Ali, then reached down and pulled her up to her feet. Pulling her arms around his waist he smiled down at her. Lingeringly he kissed her, holding her close.
"Thank you." he murmured in her hair. Ali grinned up at him.
"I love you." she said softly, catching her lower lip with her teeth. Hutch smiled back.
"What?" he asked.
"I said, I love you..." she let her words hang. Hutch looked towards the ceiling tipping his head slightly.
"I still didn't quite hear you."
She repeated it, knowing for some reason this man loved her too, enough
to wait years for her. She told it to him again and he lowered his head,
drawing her up into his kiss. The jacket didn't stay on very much
longer...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many hours later, in the master bedroom, Ali surfaced from the depths
of deeply contented sleep following their intimacy. A second fire, in the
bedroom hearth, had subsided to low embers, barely lighting the room. She
was snug against Ken, who was totally out, and wrapped protectively around
her. She frowned a little, dismayed that she had awakened. She tried to
go back to sleep, but then her sharp hearing caught the faintest sounds
from outside. She sighed, wanting nothing more than to stay in the circle
of his arms. She closed her eyes again and was almost asleep when she distinctly
heard, far off, the sound of a horse, neighing. She was fully awake
then. Straining her ears she listened for coyotes, who sometimes came extremely
close to the house. Tonight however they were silent. She heard something
dully hit somewhere in the barn.
She had to get up. With a smooth practiced move, she slipped quickly out of the bed, grabbing for her jeans. A glance at Hutch showed she hadn't woken him up. She snagged up her sweater, found a pair of boots and slipped silently out of the room. Hutch had long grown used to Ali prowling the house at night, her old injury sometimes depriving her of much needed sleep.
She padded quietly into the darkened living room, and paused by the window their barn being just across the driveway. She scarcely made out the sounds of some sort of commotion. Slipping the boots on, Ali jerked open the door and headed for the stables.
Hutch didn't even realize she had gotten up until the bedside phone rudely jangled in his ear. Having only been asleep about an hour, he wasn't altogether awake when he registered that the phone was ringing and his wife was gone. He grabbed the receiver on the third ring.
"Yeah?!" He growled forcing himself to sit up, looking around for Ali.
"Hutch? It's Doug." The sheriff sounded in his ear. Hutch looked a little bewildered and glanced at his clock. It was 2:45 in the morning.
"Doug?" he grumbled, looking around some more, trying to hear where his wife was at. Something began to run an icy finger down his spine.
"Sorry to wake you, Hutch. We need you here at the Bingham place."
"Bingham?" Hutch snapped fully awake now.
"Somebody has killed Sandy. We could use your help." The Sheriff said back.
"Killed Sandy!?" Hutch exclaimed. He had only seen her just that past evening. He suddenly heard the sounds of shouting outside.
"Ali..." he barely breathed and dropped the phone. Grabbing his own clothes, Hutch scrambled into them, running from the house, the sheriff calling out to no avail.
Ali heard first the sound of someone cursing, and the horses in the barn nervously shuffling around.
"Hold still dammit!" She heard a man's voice, grumbling.
Cautiously Ali slipped alongside the building heading for the open doorway on the buildings pasture side. Unconsciously she reached under her elbow for a gun that wasn't there as she slipped up to the dark open doorway. Barely starlit, she peered cautiously inside and spotted a large man awkwardly trying to hoist himself up into the saddle on one of their horses. In a flash, Ali reacted to the situation without even knowing why. She simply moved, instinctively, a situation Hutch had found frightening in more ways than just one. Ali's disconnected memory provided reactions but no realizations. She dashed foreword, aiming for the horses head, trying to grab for the bridle. The man however saw her just as he settled in the saddle. He let out a shout and spurred the animal on. The big gelding half reared, letting out a whinny and lurched ahead. Ali barely managed to dive out of the horses way.
"Hey!" she yelled. "That's my horse!" She watched as he whipped frantically with the reins trying to gain every ounce of speed he could.
Ali moved. Diving into the nearest stall, she snagged up a lead rope and quickly caught the halter of Hutch's gelding. Snapping the rope on to the halter, she quickly tossed the rope over the spooked animal's neck, knotted it quickly for a set of reins. With a handful of rope and mane she launched her self onto the animals back and set off in pursuit, just as Hutch reached the barn door.
"Ali!" he hollered. "Stop!" But his horse was flying at top speed after the other.
"Damn!" he yelled, turning to run for his pick up. Within a matter of minutes he was roaring off in hot pursuit, barely making out the two figures angling across the pasture. He cut hard at the irrigation ditch, hoping fervently he could cut them off on the ditch road. Further down the main road a deputies bronco, lights flashing, raced to their place.
Hutch struggled with the truck, fighting the steering wheel as he bounced off the ruts and holes from the seldom used ditch riders track, also trying to keep an eye on the fleeing horses in the dark. He could see that whoever was in the lead was going to try and crash the electric fence to jump the ditch. Even worse, the other horse was eating up the ground and distance at an alarming rate due to the lightness of the rider.
"Don't do it!" Hutch muttered, catching the pair in his high beams. "Don't do it!"
He watched as Ali's quarter horse hit the electric fence, being ruthlessly pushed by a big man crouched low over it's neck. The horse squealed forced onward and gathered itself for the jump. Almost behind him came his own horse, Ali glued to his bare back, preparing to make the jump the other had successfully made. Hutch slammed on the brakes desperately hoping he wouldn't hit the horse. By scant inches the horse abruptly braked, skidding on it's hindquarters, and loosing the rider on it's back. Unceremoniously Ali fell off, as the horse wheeled to avoid the truck. Clouds of dirt and dust blew up all around them. Hutch piled out of the truck as his horse cantered, riderless, away from them.
Momentarily stunned from the fall, Ali shook herself as Hutch approached. He reached her just as she scrambled back onto her feet. He could see a funny blank look in her eyes.
"Ali!" he snapped, reaching out to catch her arm.
"That's my horse!" she shouted, moving unconsciously as his hand caught her arm. Hutch abruptly felt himself being pulled off balance as Ali's subconscious reacted to being handled with the dormant aikido training buried inside. Sensing it, Hutch jerked back, and with his far longer reach, gripped Ali by the back of her shirt, dancing quickly out of the way of her feet, and pulled her off balance. He swept his own leg around hers and sent her crashing back into the dirt. Still holding onto her shirt, he also added his knee to the small of her back, pinning her to the ground. Ali struggled like a wildcat.
"He's stealing my horse!" she shouted.
"Better the damn horse, then killing you!" he shouted back, bent low over her. The adrenalin surging through her gave him a bit of a struggle as he kept her down. "Ali!" he snapped. "Let it go!" For a moment she struggle some more than gave it up, panting in frustration and rage. Hutch didn't move from his position. He waited until she caught her breath.
"Okay okay..." she gasped, and relaxed. Hutch heaved a sigh. Her whole voice sounded different. Cautiously he sat down next to her, as she shoved herself up onto her hands and knees. Sitting back on her legs she looked at him as the dust continued to settle around them. He was dead quiet, watching her like a hawk, his eyes cold. Ali slumped, turning her gaze away, her entire body reflecting defeat. Hutch watched her face pale in the dim light cast by the truck. She knew what was coming next.
"You've got to stop and think!" he vented, through his clenched teeth. "You can't go off half cocked, Ali! You know that you don't know how you'll react!"
"I know!" she snapped defensively.
"You don't know!" he nearly shouted. "That's the whole point! You react with things you don't even remember! Dammit Ali! You were a cop! You could kill somebody when you do this crap!" He bit back the next remark, about how she almost had.
Ali cringed, under his words. She could see it in his eyes. The spectre of David Starsky surfaced between them. Ali jerked her head away, unable to look at him.
"He was stealing the horse." she said lamely.
"To hell with the horse!" Hutch snapped, still angry. "You can't do this stuff!"
"What did you expect me to do!?" she cried back, "Let him walk?"
"Yes!" he nearly hollered. "I'd rather he take the damn horse than you ending up dead! I won't loose you again, Ali!"
"Well he's succeeded!" she snapped back, defensively. She scrambled to her feet, and turned, hearing the noise of a siren far off. She looked around confused. Hutch climbed to own feet, brushing himself down.
"I'd rather he succeeded, Ali!" he snapped at her, trying to rein in his anger and his fear. Ali was beginning to shake from the adrenalin withdrawal, and the bitter cold seeping in. She was looking everywhere, but at him.
"What is going on?" she demanded, spying the vehicle coming up their way, and trying to steer the conversation away from their problem.
"Somebody has killed Sandy Bingham!" Hutch snapped at her. "And you took off after them, with out knowing why! You've got to make your self stop and think before you do things like this, Ali! He could have killed you!"
"Killed Sandy..." Ali exclaimed finally looking at him in shock.
"How'd..."
"Doug called just as you left the house!"
"I heard somebody in the barn, I didn't hear the phone..."
"Precisely Ali! You didn't think. Remember what I asked you do to if you thought something suspicious was going on?'"
"Wake you up." she replied lamely, pulling her hair off her face in frustration.
"So why didn't you?" he asked acidly. Ali heaved a sigh, shaking her head, looking for all the world like she wanted to hit something.
"I'm sorry!" she snapped finally, then paused and muttered. "I'm sorry." More contrite. Hutch just looked disgusted a moment, gauging her reaction.
"Sometimes Ali, sorry isn't enough. You have got to learn to stop and think." he said more calmly.
"Don't rub THAT in!" she snapped at him, her icy blue eyes blazing at him.
"I'm not rubbing it in! It's the past, it's happened, and it's over
with. I just want you to fully understand that you can't simply
react anymore. You've got to think!"
"All right, all right!" she muttered wrapping her arms around her self, unable to argue with him. The deputy's bronco was turning onto the ditch track. Hutch eyed his wife a little bit longer than relented.
"C'mon, Ali." he said gently. "Doug wants me at the Bingham place."
"I'll walk back." she muttered, turning away from him. "Besides, I need to catch your horse." She started walking away.
"Ali!?" Hutch called. She just waved an arm at him. He heaved a sigh
and swore. Sometimes the heat of an argument made you say things you instantly
regret. Theirs were no different.