Epilogue
The best murder weapon would be a Tupperware lid. Because no one would ever be able to find it.
—Calli to Jasper
CALLIOPE
Six years later
I was very late.
As in, so late that there was no way that I could make a quiet entrance.
Yet, I tried to anyway as I hurried into the gym.
The metal door slammed, announcing my presence to literally everyone, and people started to turn.
The first one to spot me was, of course, the young girl on stage. A young girl who had her entire life ahead of her.
She waved at me despite the fact that she was giving a valedictorian speech, and continued to speak.
“…never thought I would be here. Years ago, when my family was in rough shape, I used to close my eyes and daydream about what a great life I would have one day. Then my sister met Posy Hicks. And the Truth Tellers MC.”
I smiled at the mention of the baddest ass motorcycle club in the south.
Of course, Anders would go there.
“A group of men, all rough around the edges and scary as can be, rallied around us. Helped us see that there was life beyond the hovel that I grew up in. Posy took me into his home, with my siblings, and helped give us a life that he felt like we deserved. I never once went to bed hungry after he took me in. I never once questioned whether my sisters would be there when I woke up, too busy working several jobs to make ends meet.”
My belly somersaulted when Anders’s eyes met mine across the huge space.
“One of my earliest memories was my sister getting a job at fourteen, buying a fake ID so that she could go work at Starbucks before her first class at school. She’d come to my school after I walked myself there, and used to give me lunch money to make sure that I never went hungry during the day.”
My heart skipped a beat.
I’d hoped that she wouldn’t remember anything like that.
“I can’t say that I didn’t work hard to get here. Because I did. I studied. Sacrificed. Studied some more. But I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that I wouldn’t be standing here today if it wasn’t for my siblings. My big sister, Searcy. My other big sister, Calliope. My big brothers, Kent and Koda. If it wasn’t for them, I’d probably be barely scraping by, wondering when my life was supposed to begin.” She looked around the room. “And so, I’d like to end this speech on a few words of wisdom. They have nothing to do with school or work, and everything to do with how you treat others in life. I want you to remember that words have power. I want you to know that your smile might be the best part of someone’s day. I want you to remember that you may be having a bad day, but someone else is having the worst day of their life. Be kind. Be courteous. Be a friend. Give someone a reason to smile. Because that might be the one thing that someone needs to keep going.”
Anders pulled her papers off the podium, and the entire room exploded in cheers.
I swiped at my eyes and used the distraction of the room to hurry to the spot that my family had chosen.
I tapped Haggard on the shoulder, and he got out of his seat to let me pass.
I was thankful and stopped next to my husband to give him a kiss.
He squeezed my wrist as I all but crawled over Doc to land in Searcy’s lap.
She snorted out a laugh, then guided me to the seat at her side.
I wasn’t supposed to make it.
But my flight had landed early, the traffic in Dallas had for once performed miracles and worked in my favor, and I’d made every light between the DFW Airport and the coliseum that Anders was graduating from today.
Graduating from high school a whole six months early.
It was December nineteenth, and everything was happening all at once.
