Page 46 of Road to Absolution

CHAPTER 11

To Help his Heart

“Uncle Tucker!” squealed Bailey before leaping into his arms. “My brother is awake!”

I didn’t mean to startle with her being so loud. I seemed to be on edge.

Bailey was now ten, but the size of a seven-year-old—she was still tiny like my mom. Watching her, I thought of Kenny’s Jenny, and how it must have destroyed him to be helpless to save her…

The way Tucker was squeezing her, it was very possible I wasn’t the only one with such thoughts. He and Viola were in love with my sister. I was told they even stayed with her at my mom’s until she was released from the hospital. Bailey could have stayed with them at Diesel’s, where they lived at the time, but my dear friends thought it best to give Bailey as much normalcy as possible.

He beamed at her. “I know!”

She was elated. “Can you believe it?”

Her saying those words had me thinking about how she used to say them after my dad died. “Can you beweive it? Her speech impediment was a nervous tick that intensified when stressed. “He’s trying to eat soup!” she cheered, with no difficulties now.

Tuck observed me with surprise. “And sitting in a chair. How about that?”

The docs wanted me up and moving and dragging around the IV poll. The first steps were scary. The floor was cold on my feet that hadn’t walked in weeks. My muscles trembled, having not been used in just as long. My brain had to work hard to get my body to follow commands… but was quickly remembering how to get it all done.

From the small table in front of me, I grumpily slurped my bland broth. “I have to shit before I get to go home.”

“Maverick,” scolded my mom, who was sitting next to me.

“Sorry. Poo-poo.”

It saddened me that my accident had thrown Mom over the deep end, but I was so proud that she bounced back. She didn’t pop one pill. She hadn’t slipped into a depression like after my dad died. Mom put Bailey first and let our extended family care for me.

Being a mom, and reading a young man well, she went to Tucker. “You okay, honey?”

Now Bailey’s tiny hand was touching his face while her big eyes examined him, wondering what she’d missed. I studied his knuckles, shocked they weren’t bloodied after having the freedom to deal with Kenny.

Bailey squeaked with delight as Tuck playfully tried to bite her hand, making a hungry monster sound. “I love to eat little girls.”

“Mr. Ward,” warned Mom, “somebody needs to talk to me.”

Setting Bailey down, he exhaled. “I went to, uh, visit an old friend.”

She squinted. “Mmhmm.”

Noticing this mother was waiting for more details, he exhaled again, much heavier this time. “I’m just… confused.” There was no way he could tell my mom the truth and pull her into all the illegal aspects of the situation with Kenny, but she was right. He needed to talk.

Mom weighed around a hundred and ten pounds, but she pointed to the couch next to my chair and ordered the two-hundred-pounder, “Sit.”

The smile that crossed his face as he did what he was told had me smiling, too. I joked, “Ain’t gonna argue with her?”

Tucker’s mama died long ago. I think he appreciated this motherly attention. “Hell no. She bites.” As soon as he sat, Bailey crawled into his lap and snuggled to his chest. She looked like a dwarf compared to his long thick legs.

“That’s right, I bite,” said Mom, pulling a chair to sit right in front of him. “So, this friend is no longer a friend?”

He stared at her for a long moment, then… shook his head, his eyes welling.

Bailey didn’t miss his sadness this time and gently touched his face, staying snuggled.

Understandingly, Mom nodded and patted his knee. “And you miss him.”

Tucker forced a swallow. “I shouldn’t. He… hurt someone I love.”