Page 296 of Fearless

Maggie hummed to herself as she pulled an extra package of bacon from the fridge and peeled it open in the bright early sunlight of morning. Yesterday morning, Mercy had come to the breakfast table without his brace, eaten two bowls of oatmeal and then looked disappointed that there hadn’t been any more. Maggie and Ava had exchanged a startled, excited look. He was eating again. He was back.

“Shit, if that’s all it took, I’d have told himIwas pregnant,” Ghost had grumbled, and Maggie had swatted his arm.

“Stop. And pick me up an extra pack of ground beef on your way home. If he’s going to come back to life, I’m going to feed him, damn it.”

This morning was a big day on two accounts. Ava was going to sort her school situation. And Mercy was getting back on his bike for the first time, going back to his first church meeting at the clubhouse. The boys had to vote in a new Vice President, and Ghost had waited until Merc was ready to sit at table again.

They did love each other, those boys, even if they fucked it up most of the time.

The sound of a bike heralded Aidan’s arrival before he entered through the back door. It felt good for things to be back to normal, without all the constantly locked doors and prospect escorts. They could all breathe again.

“Hi, sweetie,” she greeted as Aidan dropped a kiss into her hair and gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Breakfast?”

“Yeah, that’d be good.” He sounded tired and dull as he took a seat at the table. He’d been sounding that way a lot, lately.

“Did you come for Mercy’s first ride?” she asked, deciding to press on with her brightness as she laid the bacon in the skillet with a hiss.

“Yeah.” He reached to fiddle with the salt and pepper shakers, frowning to himself.

Maggie toweled off her hands and said, “Aidan, is everything alright?”

He glanced over, expression guarded. “Yeah. Why?”

Now she frowned. “No reason.”

Footfalls heralded Mercy’s arrival and she thought there was a certain air of a nervous kid on his first day of school about him, as he stood in the threshold a moment, without his brace, hair tidily knotted back, his flannel shirt looking a lot like Ava had ironed it.

Maggie tried to keep her smile small. “Morning.”

“Morning.” He went to the table with only the tiniest trace of a limp and exchanged a palm-slide with Aidan. “What’s up?”

Aidan grinned. “I hear you got your mommy to sign your permission slip so you can get back on two wheels again.”

“He doesn’t need permission to kick your ass, douche,” Ava said as she breezed into the room with a swirling of her knee-length sweater coat and a clicking of boot heels. She paused to kiss Mercy on top of the head which made him blush and didn’t help the whole mommy comparison.

“Where are you going?” Aidan asked her. “Dressed like a yuppie?”

“School.” She went for the coffee pot then retracted her hand, frowning.

“It’s decaf,” Maggie assured, passing over a mug.

Ava nodded, lower lip trembling in a small show of nerves.

“Are they going to take you back?” Aidan wanted to know. “After you dropped out?”

“I withdrew, I didn’t drop out,” she corrected. “So I hope so, yeah.”

“You’re taking your new story, right?” Mercy asked her.

“Yeah.” She sipped the coffee, made a face, and then set it aside. “Ugh. Maybe ginger ale instead.”

“Who did I hear throwing up earlier?” Ghost asked, joining them and completing the family portrait.

Ava raised a weak hand as she went to the fridge.

“Oh, right. Morning sickness.” He made a face that was part-concerned father, part-angry-father-in-law, and ultimately useless. “You still going to school?”

“I have to. I made an appointment. I’ll just…puke in a trash can, if I have to.”

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