Page 65 of Choosing My Happiness
“Ok baby, I’m coming. I’m just switching to bluetooth.” I pulled my helmet on and connected it up. “I’m back. You still there?”
I just heard disjointed sobbing. She was still there. I kicked the bike off the stand and roared out down the driveway, toward the highway.
“I’m coming, My Queen. I’m coming. Just hold on and wait for me,” I reminded her.
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Chapter 44: Amber
I took a deep breath and looked at the house that Mom told me about. This was where my aunt and uncle lived. My mother’s twin sister and her big biker husband. Uncle Tinker apparently treated his ol’lady so well that Mom became obsessed with the men in kuttes. Then she found theothertype of biker that was more fun. She tried to hide it from me when I was young, sending me on sleepovers every now and then. But I caught her, and she caught me when I was 14 trying to sneak into a bar. It turned out that we had the same taste in men. We compromised the punishment; she was allowed to bring the men home if she warned me, and when I was legal, I could give it a go, too. Tank became a regular, and then took her as his ol’lady when the cancer was diagnosed. He cared for her until she died. Then he took off on the road and told me to find my family.
I stayed away until I received my college offers, then I leftwith the letter Mom wrote for my aunt, and the name and address for my dad, and I came here. The only stipulation Mom had for my search for my dad was that I had to stay away from Dad’s ol’lady. Apparently, she was crazy. I didn’t see that yesterday at the funeral. She just looked like a sad old lady. I don’t know why Dad chose to stay with her when he could’ve had Mom and me. My half-sister seemed pretty cool, but not ol’lady material. She and Blaze didn’t look right together. Actually, she didn’t look right with any of the guys on the bikes. She was too straight-laced, and no fun at all.
I looked at the house in front of me again. It was at the front of a huge block of land, with massive sheds dotted around a stately home. This was the closest I’d come in all the visits I’d made. I was kinda hoping I’d meet Aunt Maisey and Uncle Tinker at the funeral, but they didn’t attend. I had to do this the hard way. I took another deep breath, took a step, another, and then turned around.I’ll do this another day.This was too scary. I started walking back to Mom’s old car.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?!” a voice boomed out. A big, middle-aged man bristling with animosity came barreling out of the house.
“For two months, you’ve been stalking my house and my wife! What the fuck do you want?” he bellowed as he grabbed my arm with his huge hands. I squeaked and shoved Mom’s letter at him like it was a shield. He grabbed it and glared at it grumpily.
“Maisey!” he roared. “What did this say?” He held the letter out, glaring angrily at me.
I swear it was my mother who ran out of the house to grab the letter. She was absolutely identical. It was like I’d seen a ghost. I made a sound and sank to my knees.
“Stop your nonsense. I’m barely touching you,” he barked at me while she scanned the letter. I noticed her hand going to her mouth.
“Tinker.” The lady grabbed his arm urgently. “Tinker, she’s Lacey’s daughter!”
He looked at her, then back down to me. “You’re Lacey’s daughter?”
I nodded frantically. I felt myself being pulled up into his arms, crushed against his chest.
“I have a niece,” he yelled for the world to hear.
I felt someone pressed against my back as my aunt joined the hug.
“Welcome home, dear, we’ve missed so much,” she murmured against my hair. “You’ll have to tell us everything. How is my sister? And why didn’t she come with you?”
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Chapter 45: Daisy
I was squeezing my eyes shut, concentrating on the sounds coming through my phone as Jim’s breathing and words flowed through the speaker. I had tried to match his breathing. To calm down my panic. But I couldn’t. It felt like my chest was being physically crushed. I could only gasp small incremental gulps of air. I was suffocating, drowning on dry land.
“I found you, Daisy…I’m at your door. Unlock your door,” I heard Jim say. “C’mon Daiz, open the door. I’m right here, My Queen. Please look at me.” Slowly the sound of tapping broke through my dark haze and I opened my eyes. I couldn’t see anything beyond a pinpoint straight ahead.
“Daisy, open the door. I’m here.” Then a tap on the window. I turned my head and he was there. I fumbled with the lock, but before I could open the door, Jim had it open, and his arms reached for me. His body sank into a squat next to my car.I scrambled out of the seat and onto him. One arm wrapped around me as he braced himself, then the other arm slowly gripped me as I felt his lips touch my head.
“I’ve got you,” he repeated to me, his breath in my hair. He lied. I hadhimin a death grip. My fingers tangled in his shirt, my face buried in his neck. My gasps were filled with the taste of leather, soap, coffee, and that unique scent that wassafety. My place to rest.
He scooped me up and lifted me high in his arms. I guessed from the sound of the traffic that he was taking me around the car and off the road further. I just gripped him and fought the blackness at the edges of my vision. I was safe, but I couldn’t convince my body. I still couldn’t breathe. My body wasn’t letting me. Jim sat down on the embankment and rocked me, soothed me. But it wasn’t working. I was still fighting for breath.
I felt him work something out of his pocket. “Bull, I need you. Bring the pickup.” His voice was tight as he gave coordinates and then returned his arm around me. He continued to rock me as I fought the panic, and sobbed, and gasped, and waited.
It was hours, days, of pushing the darkness away until I heard a truck pull up close by. Heavy boots crunched closer as someone walked down. I still had my face buried into Jim.
“What happened?”
“No idea. She sent me a message that said help, and that she was on the side of the road, but nothing else. I found her like this in the car. She’s not improving,” Jim replied. He sounded worried, his voice holding an edge of panic.
