“The house? What you mean?”
“It’s the constant revving of the motorcycles. It’s the brothers in and out with their loud voices. It’s the weekly parties with the music, the yelling, the laughter. That’s all too much for her nervous system. She needs quiet. She needs calm, peace.”
He started to speak, but I stopped him. “I know. I know. She needs protection. Covering. And you worry about her.” I released the huge sigh that had been building. “She told me what was going on, and without even thinking about it, or talking to you first, I offered her my extra bedroom.”
Relief was not the expression I expected to see on his face, but there it was. “Shit.” He exhaled. “Okay. If she can’t be with me, you know you’re the only other person I would trust to look after her. And your house is quiet as hell. It’s the perfect solution.” He laughed. “Did she say when she was thinking about doing this?”
“Nah. Honesty, I think she was nervous about talking to you about it. I told her I would talk to you.”
“Well, I’m with it. I’ll let her know that we can make this happen as soon as possible.” He paused. “I don’t want it to seem like I’m excited to get her out. You know how I feel about East. That’s my baby. I love that girl. But watching her slowly deteriorate is killing me on the inside. You’re the chaplain, B.You’ve got that pipeline to God. Hopefully, between you and Him, y’all can help bring my little sister back to life.”
I chuckled. “I don’t know about me being able to bring her back to life, but I’ll definitely give her someplace quiet and peaceful where she can lay her head.”
He embraced me. “Thanks, bro.”
Sunday morning, I started the day in the garden. I had a small flower garden where I grew peonies, roses, ranunculus, marigolds, and a few other flowers.
Growing up, my grandparents owned a small floral business. They didn’t own a brick-and-mortar store in their southern Kentucky hometown, but they owned a nice sized garden. Their neighbors came to them for flowers for every occasion, from weddings to funerals. They provided corsages, boutonnieres, bouquets, and everything else in between, all from a small stand my grandfather built by hand. When I visited during the summers, I would be put to work.
When I met Teagan, she was intrigued by the thought of a big, burly guy like me having hands gentle enough to handle flowers without destroying them. She said hands like that made her feel safe because she knew, no matter what, I would always handle her with care. She thought it was sexy. It blew my ego up that she found that shit sexy, so I never told her that flowers didn’t really require that much gentle of a touch. They were hardier than most people thought.
I picked a quick selection and prepared them for later in the day. After a shower and a bowl of cereal, I headed to church.
I left Sunday service and went straight to the cemetery. It was my Sunday ritual. I parked in the lot, then grabbed the bucket of supplies and the flowers I’d prepared from the passenger seat of my pickup. The cemetery was a popular Sunday pastime in and around Sweet Jackson. After church, it almost looked like the park. Some families set up whole picnic spreads and spent the afternoon with their departed loved ones.
I wasn’t on that. When I reached Teagan’s final resting place, I started cleaning. I swept grass and foliage from around the headstone.
“What’s good, beautiful?” I asked into the wind. “First of all, I miss you. It’s hard as hell down here without you. Second of all, thank you for watching over me and for going to God on my behalf. They say time heals all wounds, but that ain’t really true. I’m not healed, but I’m pushing. Every day I’m pushing to keep being the person doing the work. I’m still teaching the kids self-control and self-defense. Still teaching the women self-defense and self-protection. I’m still being the sounding board for the club. Things are good, . . . but at the same time, they suck. I wish you were here living this life with me. Walking this mile with me. I know it ain’t possible. God called you back to Him.” I huffed out a frustrated sigh that was steeped in helplessness. “Here’s your flowers.” I took the wilted ones from the holder and replaced them with the fresh ones. “I love you and miss you forever and always.” With that, I kissed my fingers and placed them on her headstone, then walked back toward the parking lot.
When I left the cemetery, I considered going straight home, even though I didn’t have anything pressing to do. Still, I was surprised when my truck made a right-hand turn and headed toward the part of town where KD lived.
I parked in his driveway alongside about fifteen bikes. I could feel myself getting annoyed, as I imagined just how manybrothers were in the house and what the volume inside the house was. Eastley was probably in there, and it was probably loud as hell, although KD and I had talked the day before about how badly she was struggling.
I took the porch stairs two at a time. I knocked a few times, knowing they couldn’t hear me over the talking and laughter. When I tried the knob, the door opened. I stepped inside and saw brothers spread out all over the living room. There were brothers on the sofa, on the loveseat, and on the floor. They were doing what the brothers did: laughing, smoking, talking, joking, and vibing.
There was nothing wrong with the brothers enjoying themselves . . . except that my eyes found Eastley. She stood next to Asia, arranging the food that would be served. But her eyes? The defeated, fearful . . . strangled look in them made the need to protect her almost overtake me. Hadn’t I just talked to KD about Eastley needing peace?
The brothers greeted me. I pulled my attention from Eastley and put it on them, trying to calm my pounding heart.
“Yo, your ears must’ve been burning,” KD joked. “We were just talking about you. Actually, we were talking about the Heritage Ride.”
The brothers were riding to the sight of one of the most significant Civil Wars battles to celebrate the Union Army getting the victory on the Saturday before Memorial Day. It would be my first club ride since the ride where I got the call about Teagan.
I nodded my acknowledgment.
“You’re still doing the blessing of the bikes, right?” the club’s new road captain, Avery Green, asked.
“Hell yeah,” I commented, making everybody chuckle. I had definitely pulled back from the club after I lost my wife, and I stayed to myself for a good minute. But now that I was back, andas the chaplain, no less, there was no way in hell I was letting my brothers ride without praying a blessing over them. “If I don’t do shit else, I’m blessing the bikes.”
“Good to hear,” KD said, nodding his head.
“I didn’t come to interrupt your meeting. I came to grab Eastley. I wanna show her the spot. Make some arrangements.”
KD gave another nod.
I left them in the living room and joined the women in the kitchen. “What’s up, Miss Asia?”
She gave me a grin. “Hey, Bishop. Shouldn’t you be in the living room with the brothers?”
