I raised an eyebrow when Sam introduced his wife to me.He brought her to the clubhouse one evening and knocked politely on the door.
It was the early nineteen-seventies.I was in the last years of my Shadow cycle, but I still ruled Landslide with an iron fist.
My deathless body was the same as it is now, but my hair was long, black, and matted, hanging around my face like a dark rag.My beard grew thick down to my chest.Sometimes when I rode, I would knot a bandana around my head.We had denim cuts then, before leather became easier to get and plentiful enough for me to cut the sleeves off my leather jacket.
“Meet Shadow Sylva, Laura.He’s president of the MC.”Sam looked so proud to have paired off.
But Laura had shot me an evil eye, her mouth pulling down as she sulked.“So you’re the big cheese around here?Where are all the hangouts, Daddy-oh?It gets damn boring staring at ol’ Sam across the table most nights.”
I was so tempted to pay her a little visit one night, to show her how exciting Landslide could be, but Laura was already pregnant, so I abstained.
“Wait until summer and then go visit the mainland for all your thrills and spills.”My reply was dismissive.I disliked Laura Aherne from the get-go.Red hair teased into a sky-high beehive.Black eyeliner painted on her eyelids with a heavy hand.Thick pink lipstick caked around her mouth.I’m no Goddamn artist, but I thought all the makeup made her look like a tuppenny ho.
Pointing at the small bulge under her ribcage, Laura made an impatient sound and rolled her eyes.“You dope.I won’t be able to go anywhere soon.I’ll have the baby to worry about.”
I should have known right then that it wasn’t going to work out between Laura and Sam.
Tempest’s mother split before her baby was old enough to walk.
By the time we thought it would be wise to find out what happened to Laura Aherne on the mainland, she had already disappeared into the ether.
Now I know how she did it.She found some other sad sack schmo to marry, which changed her last name.She must have fallen pregnant again and had Luna’s mother before the ink had time to dry on the Ahernes’ divorce papers.
I’ll never forget the first time Sam dropped Tempest off at the Heiners for them to babysit his little girl.Loping over to the general store at dusk to pretend to buy some groceries, I found a much younger, newly married Celia Heiner showing Tempest how to tally the receipts.The red-haired girl took after her daddy—lanky and loose-limbed with the same bright green eyes.Looking up when I came in, she gave me a long stare as I stuck random stuff into the handbasket.
After a while, I thought of an item Harry always kept in the basement which caused Celia to go down and look for it.
“Be a good girl, Tempest, and guard the till for me.”
Being new on the island, Celia had yet to learn to trust a down and dirty biker when cash money was involved.
Wasting no time, I confronted Tempest.“Why are you staring at me like that?”
She came straight out and said it.“If you shaved off your beard and cut your hair, Mister, I reckon you would look mighty fine.”
Checking to see that Celia wasn’t coming up the ladder, I lowered my voice.“I’m an elderly man, Tempest.I dye my hair black to hide the gray, that’s all.”
There is no dye, of course.Our glamorous façade simply fades and darkens over time, that’s all.Every time there is a new generation of Landsliders, we polish ourselves to be bright and shiny and new again, the same way one does to a silver dollar.
Shaking her head so hard her ponytail flicked out, Tempest denied my claim.“Nuh-uh.And why aren’t you hungry for food?I see folks come in here, and they always lick their chops at the candy.But you don’t like any of that stuff in your basket, I can tell.”
We stayed looking at one another in silence—with Tempest casually kicking her feet under her chair and chewing the end of her ponytail—until Celia came back up the ladder.“Here it is, Mr.Sylva.And it ain’t expired yet.”
I took the can, paid for the groceries, and left with Tempest’s eyes following my every move.
The next day, Tempest walked all the way from the house to the club and sat outside the door waiting.
Rousing ourselves that evening, we caught a whiff of cotton socks, apple-scented shampoo, and laundry detergent loitering outside the door.She hadn’t been starving herself, either.The trace of cookie crumbs and soda pop lingered in the air.
I did not need to open the door to know who was there.
“What are you doing here, Tempest?”I tried sounding gruff, but there was no denying the smile in my eyes.
And so it started.The questions, the constant visits—and the lifelong friendship.
“Why didn’t you answer my knocks?Where were you?What are your names?”
It wasn’t long before the MC agreed to rejuvenate everyone’s appearances.It might not look like such an anomaly if Tempest chose to hang out with a bunch of young bikers.So Shadow’s son, Dante, made an appearance.
