Just before I reach the turn off to her house, I see a ‘For Sale by Owner’ sign in front of a farmhouse that I’ve admired for years. I take a chance and pull in to see if I can get any information. Parking my truck, I get out and stride up the walkway to the steps that lead to a wrap-around porch. There’s someone sitting in one of the rocking chairs and I hope it’s the homeowner. “Hello, I saw the sign out front and thought I’d stop,” I say to the old farmer sitting there, sipping on a longneck bottle of beer.
“I know you, young man,” he states, holding out his hand. “You’re that fella that has a construction company with that biker club, ain’tcha?”
“Yes, sir,” I reply.
“Come and sit while I tell you about the house,” he commands. Even knowing that I don’t have a lot of time, I still take a seat. Being single, I’ve lived at the clubhouse since I joined the Black Tuxedos. But I know I’ll need a place for Mandie and the kids, and I want to give her something that has no memories of the past she shared with her ex.
“Did you just decide to sell it?” I question. I know I haven’t seen that sign out previously and I wonder if it’s destiny that today of all days, I noticed it.
“Yep, just last night. Getting to be too big for an old man like me to keep up with now that my wife has passed and the kids are grown and gone.”
“I’m sorry about your wife,” I say. My folks had one of those marriages and shortly after my father died, my mother did as well. Hardest fucking thing I ever went through because it was during the time I was recuperating from my injuries.
“Me and Bessie had fifty-five years together, son. We had a good life, but I guess the good Lord needed her to wrangle that kitchen up in Heaven,” he replies, chuckling. “Anyhow, I’m moving to Florida near my kids. They’ve got one of them tiny houses or some shit on their property waiting for me so I can have my own space, but not worry about all the upkeep or something like that. At least that’s what my daughter says. I can fish every day and maybe teach my grandkids a thing or two before I leave this here Earth.”
“How big is the house?” I ask. From the outside, it looks massive, but never having seen it, I don’t know whether the inside matches or not.
“Got five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a huge ass formal living room and dining room, a family room, a good-sized kitchen, a laundry room, a room my Bessie used for her crafting, and of course, the garage which I had a covered walkway added so she wouldn’t get wet when it rained. It’s out back,” he states, seeing the look on my face. “All on five acres. Used to have a garden back there, but I don’t have the green thumb like my Bessie did. Got a few sheds out there as well, all have electricity to them so if you’re the kind of man who likes to tinker around, you’d have your own space.”
This almost sounds too good to be true. I’ve got the money since all of our businesses are doing so well and I have minimal expenses. My truck, while a newer model, is paid for, as is my Harley. While I’ve got a credit card with a pretty decent balance available to me, I seldom use it and when I do, I pay it off when the bill comes. “I’m almost afraid to ask how much you’re wanting,” I admit.
He sighs while rubbing his hand down his face. “Son, honestly, if one of my kids wanted it, I wouldn’t be selling. But they’re all about the modern looking houses and don’t want one that has stone fireplaces and hardwood floors. Not looking to make a killing quite frankly. That’s not my style. I’m thinking one hundred and fifty thousand should be plenty.”
I feel like my jaw just hit my chest. Thanks to my military pension I get every month plus what I make with the club, what he’s asking for is literally chump change for me. I could buy it outright and still have more than enough to get it outfitted the way a house should be. “You sure that’s enough? I’m not about fucking anyone over.”
He starts chuckling, then looks me dead in the eye. “Son, I can tell you ain’t like that. Now, you want to go on inside and take a look around? Me and Bessie did a bunch of updating to the kitchen about a year before she passed. Since I don’t cook, it’s as clean as a whistle.”
“How do you eat if you don’t cook?”
“Oh, I can make me some eggs and bacon, and got that coffee habit down pat. But when it comes to regular food, I either go to The Steakhouse, hit up the diner, or allow Widow Jones to ply me with her casseroles she’s constantly making for me. I can still work a microwave pretty damn good.”
For some reason, knowing he’s eating makes me feel better, so I nod to him as I stand up and reply, “Yeah, I’d like to check it out.”
“Go on in, son. Take a look, take some pictures. I’ve got a good feeling.”
I step to the front door and walk inside and am immediately blown away. Doing what I do for a living, there’s not much I haven’t seen with regard to a house, but the attention to detail that is evident is phenomenal. The rooms are painted in soft, soothing colors, with glossy white trim. I can see me living here with Mandie, the kids running around and playing. I continue my perusal, taking pictures to show her, as I make my way through the first floor. The room that the old man said was for his wife’s crafting is the perfect size to set up an office for both Mandie as well as myself.
Typically, I work out of a construction trailer on whatever job site I’m at, but I still have paperwork and shit that I don’t like to leave unattended. Having a dedicated office would mean that the invoices and stuff would be protected against prying eyes. So far, I’ve seen nothing during my tour that needs updating or repairing, which means it would be easy to move in and start living as a family.
Dumbass, you need to see if she’s gonna be on board with that first. I shake my head to clear my thoughts as I make my way upstairs. Everything is neat as a pin and the bedrooms are spacious. When I come to the master bedroom, I can’t help the moan that breaks free. There’s a stone fireplace off to one side with a sitting area and I can see Mandie curled up with me on a plush sofa as we watch the fire and talk about our day.
As I make my way back downstairs and outside, I’m already figuring out the particulars to make this happen sooner rather than later. “Well, son, what’d you think?” the old man asks as I sit down once again.
“I like it, I want it,” I inform him. “I’m sure we’ve got paperwork to do, so if you let me know where and when, I’ll be there.”
“Well, that’s fantastic. I’m sure your wife will love it as much as my Bessie did.”
I clear my throat before I say, “I’m not married. Yet.”
“Ah, I see. Well, I’m sure the two of you will be happy here. I’ll call my banker and get something set up, how’s that?”
I hand him one of my business cards and reply, “Here’s my information, just call me when it’s set up.”
“Will do, son, will do,” he says, taking my card and putting it into the bib of his overalls.
At Mandie’s, I make quick work of packing things for her and Aria, my heart breaking. The kids have everything they need and then some, but my woman? It’s obvious that she’s made do with what she has to have in order to make sure that her kids don’t go without.
No more, I silently promise as I carry the bags out to the truck. Once that’s done, I go back inside and check the fridge to make sure she has nothing that will spoil while she’s with Aria at the hospital, then go ahead and take out the trash. Nothing worse than coming home and dealing with spoiled food or rotting trash and since it’s within my power to take care of it for her, I do so. Then, I check all the windows and make sure everything is locked up tight before I head back to the hospital.
First, though, a trip to the big box department store is needed. I pull in, her sizes in my head, and make quick work of buying her some new clothes from the skin out. She may get pissed at me for doing it, but no woman should have to wear undergarments where the elastic is nearly in shreds. On my way to the register to check out, I spy a portable DVD player as well as some kid movies. Seeing the character on one of the cases that looks l
ike the doll Aria has, I grab that as well as two others I think she’ll like.
With everything paid for, I haul it out to my truck and grin. She’s going to kill me, most likely, but at least if she does, she’ll have new clothes to do it in, right?
Mandie
They took Aria down for another chest X-ray because the doctor wanted to make sure what he was hearing was accurate, so I’m sitting here, twiddling my thumbs, when Shayla and Corrie walk into the room. “Hey, y’all. What are you doing here?”
“Matt called and told Reese what happened. How is she? Where is she?” Corrie asks, glancing at the empty bed.
“She’s getting another X-ray,” I reply.
“You couldn’t go with her?” Shayla questions, sitting in one of the other chairs.
“She was still somewhat sedated from her blood gas test, so they promised to hurry,” I say.
“How are you holding up?” Corrie asks.
I sigh. “This isn’t our first rodeo, but it’s been the worst one so far. She’s got pneumonia and I don’t know if the asthma exacerbated that or vice versa,” I admit. “I’m exhausted and scared out of my mind. She finally has insurance through the state, but I just know it’s not going to cover everything and that means that I’ll need to put in more hours to make a dent in what’s left.”
“What do you mean it won’t cover everything?” Shayla questions. “I thought that Texas had a good Medicaid program.”
“They do and if I had filled out the forms correctly to begin with, last year’s visit, as well as Beau’s birth, would have been covered. But she had a few bad episodes, plus with him being a newborn, I had my hands full. By the time I looked at the paperwork and realized I had done something wrong and fixed it, the appeal period had lapsed. They’re letting me pay off the balances, but I’m positive that this hospital visit will have ‘something’ they won’t cover that’ll end up adding to what I owe them.” I feel my shoulders slump, my excitement over the slight windfall I got after my last semester tuition was paid fading fast. “I’ll be working until I’m ninety.”
“No, you won’t.” Matt’s voice is firm and unyielding. I glance up to see him standing in the doorway, his arms laden with bags.
“What do you mean?” I stammer out, watching as he sets the bags down that he carried into the room. I see him pull out a portable DVD player and put it on the table tray, then lay three movies alongside it. “What did you do, Matt?” I question, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Just picked a few things up is all,” he replies.
“Looks like more than a few things,” I admonish, glaring at him then the bags that are from the local department store. “I don’t remember anything on my list coming from there.”
He walks closer to me and leans down before he whispers, “Sweetheart, you needed some things and I wanted you to have them.” Shame engulfs me at his words. I have one good bra left, which I happen to be wearing and it never crossed my mind when he went to get the stuff for me and Aria that he would see my stuff. Stupid, stupid, stupid. “Get whatever’s in your head out of there, Mandie,” he demands.
“Okay,” I reply, my voice small. Alistair’s voice is ringing in my head again.
You’re such a fucking failure, Mandie. But you’ve always been one, so why should now be any different?
With no fanfare, he gives Corrie and Shayla a look and I hear them say, “Let us know if y’all need anything. We’ll uh just go now as it looks like y’all need to talk.” He picks me up, sits down, then puts me back in his lap.
“Mandie, look at me,” he instructs. I shake my head, too overcome with emotion to look at him. He gently tilts my head so that I’m forced to meet his eyes and what I see in his has tears flowing. “Go ahead, sweetheart, you need to get it all out before our girl gets back.”
Our girl? Questions whirl in my head as I give in to the fear and terror that has held me captive since I saw my daughter’s blue-tinged lips. He never says anything, just rocks me as his hands move soothingly over my back.
Finally, long minutes later, I pull back slightly and start wiping at my face. I’m not a pretty crier so I know my eyes are now swollen, my nose is red, and my cheeks are blotchy. “I’m sorry.”
“For what? Being human? Fuck, Mandie, not sure how much more I can emphasize this to you, but you’re a helluva good mom and breaking down is nothing to be ashamed about. I know how scared I was when I heard Aria was in the hospital. You lived it, sweetheart,” he says, wiping my face of the tears I missed. Leaning closer so our lips are nearly touching, he whispers, “And you’re still the prettiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen, sweetheart.”
“How do you do that?” I question. It’s as if he read my mind or something because I feel like something the dog dragged in after a bad storm, all bedraggled and pitiful.
He grins down at me before kissing my nose. “It’s a gift, but it’s only ever gonna work where you’re concerned.”
I shrug because I’m okay with that, if I honestly examine my feelings. “So, back to what you said earlier, what exactly did you mean?”
“You’re not going to run yourself into the ground to pay off anything left after her insurance pays,” he replies, his tone unyielding.
“Matt, I’m still paying off last winter’s hospital bills,” I whisper. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful that I’ve got them on the state’s Medicaid for kids, but even with the deductions taken by the financial aid office because of my ‘hardship status’, I still have an ugly balance left because I can only send them twenty-five dollars a month. With an ambulance ride, plus her actually being admitted, I know what I’ll owe will be probably ridiculous.
“Okay, let’s discuss this,” he says. “First, let me talk and explain a few things.” I nod, unsure of where he’s going with everything. Aria is my responsibility, which brings to mind him calling her ‘our girl’ a few minutes ago, before my monumental breakdown. “I have a proposal for you.” I give him a look as if to say, ‘go on’ but I don’t verbally say a word since he said he wanted to talk first. It’s then that I see a look cross his face that I can’t quite decipher. He looks almost nervous, only as long as I’ve known him and admittedly, it’s not like we’re besties or anything, he’s always given off an air of confident authority. I’m sure the books I read would call him an alpha, but he has a streak of gentleness and kindness in him that probably isn’t part of the alpha code.
At that thought, I giggle a bit. Here he is trying to have a serious conversation with me and I’m off in my head considering whether or not he’s an alpha. “You okay, sweetheart?” he questions.
“Yeah, I’m sorry,” I reply. “Carry on,” I advise, waving my hand. He takes it in his and kisses my palm and I melt.
“I bought a house today on the way back to the hospital.” I feel my brows raise to my hairline and he shakes his head. “Well, I’m waiting to hear from the man, but that farmhouse not too far from where you live now went up for sale and after I went through it a few hours ago, I decided it was perfect for us.” He pulls out his phone and opens up his photos, then thumbs to the beginning before he holds it in front of me. “Here, look.”
I take the phone and start slowly looking at the pictures he took. The house is humongous, and I can’t understand why Matt would want to rattle around in something that huge all by himself. “It’s beautiful,” I murmur, my finger touching what is apparently the master bedroom. I can see a stone fireplace and imagine myself curled up with my e-reader and something warm to drink while a fire flickers behind the fire screen.
“I bought it for us; you, me, the kids.”
Now my jaw is practically on the floor. “You what?” I look around the room to see if there are any hidden cameras, just waiting for someone to jump out and tell me I’m being punked.
“Well, you know I live at the clubhouse now and it’s not appropriate for little kids to grow up there. Sure, it’ll be okay if there’s a late night or something like that, but not as
a full-time home.”
“Matt, I have a house,” I state. I mean, he just fixed and upgraded my damn deck, for fuck’s sake.
“That you lived in with that fucker, the one who hurt you. This place would be ours, sweetheart, where we can make memories for our family.”
“Our family?” I swear, if the Twilight Zone music or the theme song from that other show I used to watch as a kid, The Outer Limits, starts playing, I will walk my ass to information and commit myself to the psych ward.
“Our family,” he repeats, his voice soft, but still no less firm than it was a few minutes ago. “You and I are happening. I get that we don’t know each other all that well, but we’ve got plenty of time to get there. What I’m proposing is that as soon as Aria gets released from the hospital, we get married so I can put y’all on my insurance with the club. I know you’re probably not ready for a physical relationship with any man just yet, and there are things I need to share with you, but this way, you won’t work yourself into an early grave.”
“So, a marriage of convenience?” I ask. I’m not sure how I feel about it, but I know that sometimes, the couple actually falls for one another. Old tauntings of Alistair’s try to surface but I squash them down. This isn’t about him; it’s about me and Matt. “How is that fair to you, Matt?”
“I get a beautiful woman as my wife and old lady, and two adorable kids that I’ll raise as if they were my own.”
“What about more kids? Would you want more, someday?”
He rakes one of his hands through his hair and says, “I’ve got some things to tell you, but would rather wait until we had a bit more privacy. That’s not off the table, but I get that initially, we’ll kind of be doing shit backwards. Most people meet, date, decide they want each other and jump into bed, then either live together for a while or just get married. We’d be getting married and then learning more about each other.”
Matt - The Black Tuxedos MC Page 8