The Brocade Baby (Rewrite) Chapter 12

 

Chapter 12: Questions

12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

Romans 12:12

 

If there was any other word to describe this type of situation, it would be "urgent" and Miranda was no stranger to that word. She and Barnim quickly drove the injured man to the clinic while Timotheos, Audrey, Ambroise and the Larues followed them in their own vehicle. The sight of the injured man was enough to make the usually calm and somewhat unflappable Dr. Fuchs become shocked, with the other nurses and Charlotte gasping at the sight of the injured man. While Timotheos and Audrey stayed with Barnim, Julien and Brielle (with Timotheos holding Ambroise on his lap) in the waiting room, Miranda got to work with Dr. Fuchs and the other nurses. Charlotte stayed in the waiting room with them in case any other unexpected patients appeared.

When I said that I wanted something exciting to happen in Amable, this is NOT what I meant! Charlotte thought to herself with annoyance and concern. She became worried that she somehow caused this whole mess to happen all because she wanted more excitement in Amable. Seeing the 2 families along with the baby sitting in their chairs with worried and fearful expressions made Charlotte anxious as she tried to ease the tension as much as she could.

"Don't worry everyone," Charlotte began. "I'm sure Miranda and the others know what they're doing in there. They've handled these kinds of unexpected emergencies before."

"That's great to hear," Timotheos replied. "But that's not why we're worried."

"It's not?" Charlotte asked in confusion.

"No, it's because of the fact that we're dealing with a stranger here that we've never seen before!" Audrey explained as she stood up from her seat. "First someone dies in the Forest of Shadows then we find some beaten up stranger wearing what looks like a mafia suit standing outside the door before passing out from gunshot wounds. All in a single day!"

"Audrey, please keep your voice down." Brielle said as she tried to calm her daughter down by holding onto her arm while motioning to Ambroise, who was currently fast asleep. Ambroise was still wearing the lavender blanket that seemed to be his favorite nowadays.

"Right, sorry mama," Audrey said as she sat back down and tried not to worry about the situation.

"Hey Audrey," Timotheos began. "I'm sure things will ultimately turn out alright. We just need to stay calm and focus on getting through today." He placed a comforting hand on her other hand, making Audrey blush a bit but smile as she realized that he was right. I love this man so much! She thought to herself happily.

Suddenly, the doctor came into the room along with Miranda, making everyone stand up in surprise and expectancy.

"Well, what is it doctor?" Barnim asked.

"The patient will be fine..." the doctor replied with an uncertain expression. "But..."

"But what?" Julien asked with worry in his tone.

"He has requested that we all meet him in the patient room as he has an important message to give us," Miranda explained. This surprised everyone in the room as neither of them expected something like this to happen, especially after what happened earlier today.

"Bring us to him," Barnim stated with absolute seriousness in his tone. Seeing how this was no laughing matter for anyone, the doctor and Miranda led the others to the patient room where they saw the injured man sitting up on the bed looking down at the floor. He had his coat and shirt taken off, leaving him wrapped in bandages around his chest, arms and shoulders. His hat was taken off so his face could be seen more clearly and it was shown that he had a scar on his right cheek. His hair and beard were black while his eyes were a deep dark brown. It seemed as though only his upper body was injured while his legs were perfectly fine as he still had his shoes and pants on. His skin was slightly tan and it seemed as though he was quite fit physically speaking, something that Miranda couldn't help but notice and admire. Once everyone was in the room, including the nurses and Charlotte, the mysterious man finally looked up but not before giving them what appeared to be a hard glare. Timotheos and Audrey hid behind Barnim, with Timotheos still holding the baby, while Barnim stood his ground and glared right back at him.

After a few minutes of tense silence, the mysterious man took a look at the baby before finally speaking.

"I know you have lots of questions for me but there is one thing I am going to say and that is this," the man said. "I'm not going to hurt any of you."

The others gave him a weirded-out look but reluctantly accepted his answer as he seemed genuine in his statement.

"Okay then," Miranda replied. "Tell us, who are you and what happened to you?"

"That, signora, is a long story that will probably take up too much time," the man replied. "But if you bring me back to your home, I will be more than happy to tell you everything."

This shocked the others as they never expected the man to make such a bold request, especially since he looked rather shady and suspicious. Barnim quickly brought Miranda outside of the room to discuss on what they should do with him. The others stayed behind while an awkward silence filled the air as they all struggled on what to do. Ambroise was the only one who didn't seem to notice or care as he was too busy gnawing on his fingers and drooling.

"This is madness!" Barnim whispered with caution. "We can't let some random stranger into your home. How do we know if he's even trustworthy?"

"Well, what choice do we have, papa?" Miranda replied. "We need answers out of him but it doesn't look like he's going to provide us with anything if we don't do as he says."

"But to bring him home and put the kids at risk is not something we want to do right now, especially after what happened earlier."

"Even so, we have no choice. He clearly has something important to tell us and seemed honest when he said he wasn't going to hurt us."

"Still, what if he DOES try to attack us when our guard is down?"

"Call it intuition or a gut feeling if you want, but I don't think he will. Besides, he doesn't seem that dangerous to me..."

Barnim thought about this as he didn't know whether to trust this man or not. But Miranda usually had a good judge of character when it came to certain people, which helped her in life as she could tell when someone was lying to her face. How was anyone's question though Barnim believed that she inherited that ability from her mother, Frieda Dirk, as she too had sharp senses when it came to people who she deemed trustworthy. Seeing that his daughter was not one to take this situation lightly, he decided to trust her and give the man a chance.

"Very well then," Barnim began. "I trust you but don't think that I'll to go easy on him because if he tries anything... well you know what will happen."

"Understood," Miranda replied before they went back into the room. As the 2 adults came back into the room, the others waited for their answer and became tense. The man sat up straight the moment they arrived and gave them an unreadable stare as he waited for their answer.

"Everyone," Barnim began. "We've decided to bring the man back to our home for the night so we can get some answers out of him."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Brielle asked nervously. "I mean, sure he said that he's not going to hurt us but we don't know whether we can trust him or not."

"Don't worry Brielle," Miranda explained. "I know what I'm doing and I know that's it's difficult to accept this but we need answers from him and complying with his demands is the only way to get it out of him."

"Shouldn't we at least take him to the police first?" Julien suggested. "Not that he's dangerous or anything, but if he has some important message to tell you shouldn't we take this up with law enforcement as a precaution?"

"No," the man suddenly stated. "It's best that I tell the Blumenthals first along with your family as you all deserve to know the truth about what's been going on these past couple of weeks."

"Wait a minute, how do you know our family surname?" Timotheos asked.

"I learned it after spending some time in Amable, watching you all as you went about your days with the baby," the man replied.

"So you were stalking us this whole time?" Barnim asked while raising one of his eyebrows in suspicion.

"I wouldn't say stalking but rather, I was trying to ensure that you and the townspeople were safe."

"Safe? Safe from what?" Miranda asked with concern.

"That... I can't tell you," the man replied with slight embarrassment in his tone. It was clear that what he had just said was meant to be kept a secret. "But what I will tell you is that it's not safe for me to say it here as I don't want too many witnesses. No offense, doctor."

"Eh, none taken," Dr. Fuchs said dryly. "If it's that much of a secret and you really want only the Blumenthals and Larues to know about what you have to say then you're free to go. This medical procedure is on me so don't worry about paying."

"Thank you doctor," Miranda replied as she and Barnim helped the man up while the others stood aside to let them pass. They all bid farewell to Dr. Fuchs, Charlotte and the other nurses as they left the clinic.

"Just so we're clear," Barnim warned the man in a surprisingly dark tone. "If you try anything funny with us or even think of attacking us behind our back, well... let's just say I have plenty of hunting rifles back at the house and would gladly use them on you." Seeing that the old man wasn't kidding, the man could only nod in agreement.

"I... will keep that in mind," the man replied as they continued to carry him to the car. Despite not showing it on his face, Miranda could tell that the man was feeling somewhat unnerved by the threat as she could feel him tense up a bit.

They carefully brought him to their car, as he couldn't walk properly yet, while Timotheos and Audrey along with Ambroise went with the Larues in their car back to the Blumenthal residence. As the group arrived back at the house, they quickly got inside while making sure that nobody followed them (as it was pretty late by the time they came back). They all sat in the living room while the man sat on one of the dining room chairs.

"Would you like a drink before we start talking?" Miranda asked.

"Y-Yes," the man replied. "Some water would be nice."

"Alright then," Miranda replied as she quickly got up from the couch and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Once she handed it to him and saw as he drank it all in one gulp, he placed the glass down on the table before finally talking.

"As you all know, I have been here for a while but only because I've been trying to protect you," the man explained.

"Yes, you mentioned that earlier," Miranda replied. "But what exactly were you trying to protect us from?"

"Yeah, and what does the town along with Ambroise have to do with anything?" Timotheos pointed out. "You said that you've been watching us since we had him so you must know who he is and where he came from?"

"Indeed I do," the man replied. "Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me. *Ahem* My name is Elio and I was sent here to watch over the baby along with the foster family."

This surprised everyone as they didn't expect something like this to happen. As it turns out, Elio was no threat to them at all but rather he was trying to help them this whole time.

"So what are you? Some kind of bodyguard?" Audrey asked.

"Something like that," Elio replied. "Though I don't usually take up this kind of job due to my reputation."

"And what would that be exactly?" Barnim asked.

"That, I will get into later. For now, let me tell you this: You are all in grave danger."

"WAS?!" Miranda, Barnim and Timotheos shouted in German.

"QUOI?!" Brielle, Julien and Audrey shouted in French at the same time as the Blumenthals.

"That's right," Elio continued in a grim and serious tone with an expression matching it. "There is someone out there who wants you all dead and will stop at nothing to achieve it. He especially wants Ambroise dead too."

"T-That's... that's HORRIBLE!" Audrey shouted in shock and anger. "WHY WOULD SOMEONE DO SUCH A THING?!"

"Because he believes that the baby will be a threat to his future plans and has sent countless hitmen, assassins, crooked mercenaries and other money-grubbing scumbags to come after him. He won't stop until he has killed the infant even if it means taking out innocent lives in the process."

"That's beyond unforgivable," Barnim growled as he narrowed his eyes and felt a deep-seated anger start to grow in the pit of his stomach. The fact that these criminals were being hired to murder an innocent child along with various others was enough to anger him. "Who is this man that dared to commit such a heinous crime against someone like Ambroise?"

"His name is..." Elio began before he suddenly heard barking sounds along with the sound of someone howling in agony.

This caused everyone to get up in surprise and concern over who was causing that noise. The dogs were all in the backyard for one last potty emergency but it seemed as though they caught something or rather someone. Everyone immediately approached the backyard door but did so as cautiously as they could as they didn't want anyone to attack them from outside. As they got closer to the door, they could make out some words from the person who was being attacked by the dogs.

"AAAHHHH! GET THESE STUPID MUTTS OFF ME! OW MY LEG! MY ARM! SOMEONE MAKE THEM STOOOOP!!!"

Barnim quickly opened the door, with his knife in hand, only to be shocked at the sight of all of the dogs biting into the man's limbs, with Schnell merely tearing at one of the man's pant leg. The others were bewildered by the sight of the dogs attacking the man, who had short choppy brown hair, fair skin, brown eyes, a somewhat lanky build and a dark brown shirt along with matching trousers. He also had black loafers, though one of them had been slipped off by Angus who proceeded to chew on it as if it were a toy.

"HEY! THAT'S MY FAVORITE SHOE YOU DUMB DOG!" the man shouted in anger.

"Ahem," Barnim said as he caught the man's attention. The man looked up in happiness at what appeared to be his savior.

"Oh thank goodness you're here!" He cried out in relief. "These mutts have been attacking me for no reason when I was only trying too-"

He suddenly stopped when he noticed Timotheos holding onto the baby and immediately changed his tune. Before anyone could do anything, he pulled out a knife from the back pocket of his pants and managed to get up so he could attack them. Timotheos turned away as he held onto the baby as tightly as he could so Ambroise wouldn't be hurt by him. The others tried to stop the man only for Barnim to immediately punch the guy by the side of his head. The force and impact was so hard that the guy was knocked out completely and dropped his knife in the process. As the guy fell on his side, Barnim stood over him with his fists clenched in pure rage while the others watched on in awe and fear. The fact that this fool thought he could attack his grandson and a baby right in front of him and his family was enough to make Barnim resort to knocking him out. Audrey and Miranda went to check up on Timotheos and Ambroise if they were okay and were relieved to see that the man did not in fact lay a hand on either of them. Seeing that the situation was getting dire and this was what Elio was talking about, Barnim decided to take the lead.

"Let's bring him inside," Barnim stated with a rather tense and intimidating tone. "I want some answers from him whether he likes it or not."