“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Sissy argued.
“It’s not her battle to be fought,” Rose defended herself.
Hurt crossed Sissy’s face, which confused Rose greatly. “Thenyou clearly don’t understand what it’s like to be a part of a club, and with that mindset, you’ll never fit in with either.”
Her piece stated, Sissy got up and headed under the stairs towards the hallway where the club apartments were. Though Harper and Lucky had a house on property, Sissy and Scissors had been staying in a vacant apartment rather than with her dad, his wife, and their three kids. Since they were here for several funerals, Rose could understand the need for privacy. She wished she had some now.
Tally tilted her head slightly, her unmoving prosthetic eyes not exactly facing Rose but close enough to be impressive. “Give her time. She comes from a family who moved mountains for each other. It’ll take her a bit to understand what it’s like to have a dysfunctional family. Until two years ago, I wouldn’t have understood either.”
Rose appreciated the support, but didn’t know what to say in response.
“You sound like her,” Tally continued. “Poison, I mean. It’s in the cadence of your speech patterns.”
Well, that was certainly an odd thing to note, but then again, this was Tally. “We grew up in the same house,” Rose explained, like she had to offer Tally a reason. “For a while, at least. She moved out when I was seven or eight.”
Tally nodded, “I was an only child. I would have loved a sibling, regardless of the age difference.”
For some reason, that statement made Rose stiffen. “Yeah, well, ‘dysfunctional’ was an understatement to describe our family when I was a kid.”
“I’m not saying that to offend,” Tally told her steadily. “I’m saying that family, blood, isn’t the be-all, end-all. I loved my dad. I never would have thought him capable of such despair and destruction because he hid that side of himself from me. But the moment I learned he’d threatened Scar, took him captive? Well, I never even hesitated. You have your reasons for what you did,and I’m sure every single one of them were made with that little boy in mind.”
The mention of Oscar had her head turning in his direction, where her son was teaching all the non-dinosaur toys the correct Latin pronunciations for all the dinosaur toys with absolute authority.
“Keys has been different this past year.” Rose turned back to the women to see Louisa leaning forward slightly from her place on the loveseat by Abby, her daughter-in-law. “Lighter. Even when things were hard, there was something steadier about him.” The older woman held Rose’s gaze. “Now I understand why.”
Rose wished she had something to hold onto in front of her, like a shield. She was not used to being the center of attention, and it was making her feel antsy and judged. With nothing else in arm’s reach, Rose lifted the throw pillow she’d been sitting against and brought it against her chest.
“He’s been that for me, too,” she said honestly. “More than I knew how to handle for a long time.”
Louisa gave her an approving nod. “I’m not going to ask you if you love him. From what we all just saw, that answer is obvious. I know meeting everyone can be trying and nerve-wracking. We’re loud, and that doesn’t even include when the kids and extended family are around. Just know that you have us. No matter what comes, we’re here for you.”
* * *
“You rana live interrogation near club property,” Bulldog accused, looking like a pot about to boil.
Keys nodded, “Yes.”
“With real bullets.”
“It wouldn’t have been as effective with rubber ones,” he shrugged, not knowing what else to say.
“That’s…” Bulldog stopped. Jaw tight. “That’s not the point, Keys.”
“I know.”
“The point,” Lucky said, leaning forward, “is that you had all of this going on and none of us knew. You’ve been sitting in Church with us twice a week, had a woman and a kid living across the street from us, and you saidnothing.”
The weight of that accusation held more weight than Bulldog’s had. Keys nodded once, “Yes.”
“Why?” Lucky demanded.
“Because Rose asked me not to.” Keys kept his voice even. “She’s been invisible for six years, guys. She built that invisibility herself, from nothing, to keep her son alive. The more people who knew, the more exposed she was. I made a call.”
“You made the wrong call,” Bulldog snapped, his fist slamming down on the table. “You didn’t make a call to help Rose, you made a call not to trust us! Your family! Your club.”
Keys swallowed hard. “I can understand why you would see it that way, but I see it as choosing to honor the woman I love’s wishes.” His eyes flicked to all the married men in the room. “What would you have done in my shoes?”
The room erupted.
