“Please, do not hold it against us, but the safety of our child and our lives depended on my wife remaining quiet and off the grid until that sting operation was complete,” he told them. “You will have no issues from this day forward hearing from either of us. Rooms are being added to the cabin, and we are excited to have you in our home for frequent visits.”
“What! Those men were trying to kill you! A whole damned year Aisha! A whole year. Connie was worried sick. Connie fretting at night over your safety and now I find this out!” Nelson said with a snarl on his lips. “I’m not happy about this, or how it was handled by either of you. I’m so mad right now I could spit!”
“I’m sorry for being a pain in your ass as a kid with my mood swings and now this as an adult,” Tameka said. “I wanted to call so many times. I wanted to tell you I was okay, but I couldn’t risk putting either of you in harm's way. I can speak freely now and tell you both, thanks and to let you know I love you both so much. More importantly, I’m a mother now and I want Michelle to love you as much as I do.”
Constance, who was never one to cry and mess up her makeup, had no intention of messing it up on this day, but Michelle got to her. The bundle of warmth Tameka shoved in her arms made the perfectly lined eye tear when she looked down at the adorable infant. “She I beautiful Aisha,” Constance said.
“Tameka,” she whispered. “I had to change my name because of all that on the news. I am Tameka Neary now.”
“Do I want to know?” Nelson asked.
“No, probably not,” Tameka replied.
“Tameka huh?” Nelson said.
She nodded.
“Then Tameka it is,” Nelson said pressing his lips together. He had more question and he knew that girl well enough to read her face and know she was leaving something out. His stomach was making itself known to the group and it ws taking a priority over the scent of bullshit being shoveled into his hands by the two of them. She was safe. That is what mattered. Her husband seemed okay. Later. He would dig into it later in the evening when their guards were down. Smiling he said, “This man is hungry. Hey Josiah, talk to me about this whole Grandpa thing, since we are going to be sharing grandchildren.”
“I plan to teach them to fish, hunt and ride a horse,” Joe said. “That’s about all I got and candy canes here and there. The rest is up to their parents.”
“Works for me,” Nelson said, taking a seat at the table. “Come on before the food gets cold. A man needs to eat.”
“Coming, Daddy, let’s get you fed,” Cabrina said, looking at her husband who was looking at Zeke who was looking at Tameka. Isiah was the only one with something to say.
“They took it better than I thought,” he said. “I’m with him. Let’s eat.”
THE SATURDAY MORNING buzzed and hummed like bees making honey as small groups of parents and children broke, with Joe and Mary to reassembled, and break out again like conference goers in jam sessions. The brothers milled about talking amongst themselves, filling the room with small clusters of conversational groups, shifting topics like getting to know you sessions for in-laws and modern mail order brides. DeShondra was the only one not moving. Several times she checked her phone, took a few calls, responded to emails, but mainly, her butt remained affixed to the couch with the exception of the frequent need to urinate. As she sat watching parents with their children, in some ways, the desire to have her parents in the fray gnawed at her, but then she realized, in less than three weeks, all these people would be in her and Isiah’s home. The farmhouse.
Let’s see. Joe and Mary in the downstairs bedroom. Zeke and Tameka in the nursery with the Murphy bed. Cabrina and Gabe in the back bedroom. My parents won’t need to stay, but if they do, the couch lets out into a bed. Maybe the Bourbon room should have a pullout too, just in case, so there is privacy. Then there is my brother and the five hell spawns, running all over the damned house. And the ducks. He also said chickens. Where in the hell were the chickens? I hope he doesn’t expect me to go out every morning before work and collect any fucking eggs.
“Penny for those thoughts,” Mary said.
“No, thank you, my thoughts are my own,” DeShondra replied.
“Then come to walk with me to stretch your legs. I have something I want to show you,” Mary said, taking her by the hand and pulling her from the couch. She continued to hold her hand as they walked out of the back door, past the chicken coops, which to her surprise, didn’t reek of chicken shit. Past the coops they came to an opening with a small white gate that Mary opened, leading them into a private garden.
“My mother made this garden as her private retreat,” Mary said. “Her marriage to my father was illegal at the time, which didn’t leave them a substantial number of options for socializing.”
“It must have been a difficult life for her living here,” DeShondra said.
“Quite the opposite actually,” Mary added. “My grandfather was a member of the Amish community and pretty much stayed to himself. When my father left for the war, he returned with my mother, married and expecting my brother. They lived a quiet life filled with love, and I really enjoyed growing up here.”
“I enjoy the peace and quiet, but this may be too much for anyone,” DeShondra replied.
“For some yes, others, not so much. There is a contentment that comes when you find the one you want to share your life with and being away from others allows a man and wife to bond and rely on each other,” Mary said.
“Are you concerned that I won’t make a good wife for your son?”
“On the contrary, I think you are perfect for him,” Mary said with a warm smile. “Isiah, unlike my other two sons, is an academic, although he doesn’t come across as one. He is off the charts smart but has always been unable to find his place or anyone who can think at his speed. My youngest child quotes Shakespeare as if he’d written the words himself, can psychoanalyze a person in less than six minutes and has a weird thing for grass. He is almost obsessive about it.”
“So I have learned,” she said softly. “Is that what you brought me out here to say?”
“No, I brought you out here to pick the flowers for your veil and bouquet,” Mary said. “I can take any flowers from this garden you choose and dry them to make a lifelong bouquet for you to keep as well as one to throw. It will be gorgeous to have the bouquet match the flowers on your veil.”
“Oh, okay,” she said, feeling stupid for assuming the woman wanted to lecture her about marriage.
“See, you thought I was going to give you some life lessons on being married a long time or how to raise my grandchild, didn’t you?” Mary said, chuckling. “That is not my way. Your marriage to my son is for the two of you to figure out. I just have to figure out how often you will let me visit before you get tired of me spoiling that baby.”
“You may have to fight my mother for it,” she said laughing herself. “This is a single child. Unlike my brother’s children who came in sets, my mom never had a chance to bond with them individually.”
“What do you mean, in sets?”
“My brother, who is my twin, has a set of triplets and a set of twins,” she said moving to the yellow roses, “They are horrible children.”
“I take it you didn’t bond with them either?”
“Mrs. Neary, I was busy building an empire. Children were not on my radar or my list of things to do. I provide gifts for birthdays and Christmas with hugs and attend dance recitals, soccer matches, or any other event when my schedule permits,” DeShondra told her.
“Will it be the same for your child?”
“No,” she said. “I have a wonderful mother that I never fully appreciated until I found myself in the situation where I am to be a mother myself. Granted, I can’t be the mother to our child that she was to me because she didn’t work, but this child will always know that she is loved, wanted, and cherished by me.”
“Odd. You seemed so standoffish about Michelle. It surprises me to hear you say that.”
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br /> “Michelle is not my child. She is Tameka’s. I will do the same for her as I do for my nieces and nephews, but I’m not about to gush and fawn over an infant that’s not mine,” she said.
“Understood,” Mary said.
“Good,” DeShondra replied.
Mary started to laugh for no apparent reason, leaving DeShondra dumbfounded at the joke inside of the woman’s head, which she felt was at her expense.
“Are you laughing at me?” DeShondra asked.
“Of course I am,” Mary replied. “You talk all of this tough talk but when that doctor lays that baby upon your belly, and she responds to the sound of your voice, everything you think is going to change. The desire to sit crib side and watch her sleep is going to be far more pressing to you than working on your next listing and commission.”
“Maybe so,” she said. “Time is an equalizer for all things. In less than five months, I will either break speed limits to get away or shift everything in my world to have her ride shotgun. However, I must first deal with my mother, who will probably never give either of us a moment of peace.”
“I can’t wait to meet her,” Mary said.
“That reminds me, I need to give you her number,” DeShondra said. “She and Pookie Jenkins are putting their heads together to create A Midsummer’s Night Dream wedding.”
“You do know that is Isiah’s favorite work of Shakespeare?”
“I guess the mechanicals will be Bleu’s Crew and my brothers-in-law and friends make up the four Athenian lovers, which makes me Hippolyta,” DeShondra replied. “Heaven help me on the fairies.”
Mary burst into laughter again. “You are well versed in Shakespeare, I see.”
“Now that is the truly odd thing. I never realized how much I knew about his plays until recently. An offhand remark by Isiah and now this...really odd,” DeShondra said.
“No, my dear, it is more than perfect. Come on, let’s pick out your flowers,” Mary said. “This bouquet is going to be the envy of every woman in your church.”
“I hope not since they already don’t like me,” DeShondra said with tight lips.
“Then they will just have to get over it, won’t they?”
MARY ENTERED THROUGH the back door to find her husband waiting impatiently just inside the opening with an anxious look on his face as he grabbed her smartly by the arm and ushered her back outside. She knew this response and the man had a burr under his saddle.
“Joe, my word, what is wrong? I was only gone for twenty minutes,” Mary said, pulling her arm away to face her husband.
“That man! Shit on a stick, that man!” Josiah said between gritted teeth.
“What man, Joe? Cabrina’s father?”
“Yes, Nelson the Inquisitor! I kid you not, he has asked Zeke in five different ways the same damned question. No matter how many times our son has explained to him why they didn’t hear from that girl, he would ask the same gosh damn question repeatedly. Finally, I just handed him one of her shit-making blueberry muffins to shut him up,” Joe said in exasperation.
Trying to console her husband, she placed her hand on his chest, hoping to still his racing heart. “Joe, you remember when we first met Cabrina, how she handled us? Now you see why,” she said, patting his chest.
“Yeah, whatever. I hope the other one’s Daddy ain’t like that man. I don’t care if we will share grandkids, he irritates the snot out of me. All controlling and shit. He ain’t in control of nothing in my sons’ homes,” Joe said emphatically.
“Our sons are grown men, capable of handling any situation. They can handle their fathers-in-law,” Mary said trying to convince him.
Josiah stood with his legs spread shoulder width apart, the sturdy strong arms which held her on nights when she was cold or afraid, were folded across his chest in a silent defiance, scowling as if he wanted to snap a neck or two. Then he remembered why he came outside in the second place. The first place was to get away from Nelson. The second was to inquire about Isiah’s baby mama. “Well, how was she?”
“Just as I expected. She prepared herself mentally for me to come at her with a talk on marriage and motherhood,” Mary offered. “That is one tough cookie. Smart. Savvy. And she knows Shakespeare. I love that she is willing to stand her ground but acknowledging that life may and can change her perspective.”
“So, they are a perfect match then?”
“There is no such thing a perfect match, Josiah Neary, but he’s got the right one for a wife,” Mary said leaning into his strength. He sighed deeply, thinking over his youngest sporadic love life. A thought hit him.
“Hey, what happened to that one, you know, a few years back that he mooned over for six months. Did anything ever come of that?”
Mary smiled at her husband. “Yes, he found her and he’s going to marry her,” she said grinning from ear to ear.
“Well, slap my face and call me Roger. You don’t say! That is the same woman?”
Mary gently slapped his face, providing him with a light kiss. “One and the same, Roger. Now, get that grill going so we can have some supper,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist and settling into his strength.
Pleased wasn’t the right descriptor an English teacher would use to describe the feeling of happiness which radiated through her. The boys who had run her ragged as children had grown into fine men and had found solid, smart women to make their wives. She’d always wanted daughters and now she had three, plus one grandchild and another on the way. It would be several more months before Josiah officially left the Bureau, but that didn’t mean she could go on ahead to Kentucky and get the house settled. She wanted to be closer to her children, especially since the rowdiest of the lot was about to be somebody’s daddy.
Chapter 19 – Home Sweet Home
Mary didn’t want them to leave. She hugged and kissed on Isiah as if she wouldn’t see him again for five years. The lovefest also extended to DeShondra, and she nearly squeezed the fetus out of her as Mary held on tightly. Joe, on the other hand, held on to his assessment of the young woman as if he were waiting for the jury to return with a verdict.
He offered her a handshake instead of a hug. DeShondra, looking into the same blue eyes that her fiancé inherited from the man, let down her guard and smacked his hand away to throw her arms around his midsection for an equally large squeeze.
“It was such a pleasure to spend time in your light,” she told him, providing a feathery light kiss to his cheek. “We have a pond at the farmhouse that Ray-Ray, one of the toothless ‘mechanicals’, added more fish to. I look forward to you catching some fish and sitting on that deck with my father.”
“I look forward to meeting him,” Joe said, looking over his shoulder at Nelson, who had opted to stay the entire weekend, much to Joe’s chagrin.
“He is nothing like that,” she whispered.
“Oh, thank God,” Joe said, offering her a huge grin.
“You two will get along well,” she said, passing out warm hugs to her friends and brothers-in-law to be. All in all, she had enjoyed the weekend, listening to her friends’ plans to start new ventures in their lives. Cabrina, pleased as punch over the new outbuilding in the front yard that would be her new scrapbooking workshop and the places she held classes, had dragged both she and Tameka out to the building, hoping to rope Tameka into designing the space for her purposes.
Tameka spent most of the weekend talking about baby poop, her kiln, and making new plates, dishes, and canning techniques. As enjoyable as the three days were, DeShondra had passed the point of ready to get the hell out of Smallville.
“Why are you leaving so soon? I thought you guys would at least stay until lunch,” Mary pleaded.
“Can’t, Mom. My wife has a company to run. She took a few days off to come up and meet everyone, but I must get my stuff moved out of the house. Jacob’s trailer is getting moved tomorrow, along with the livestock. I start my new job in less than a week, and a week after that, we are getting married,”
Isiah said. “We will see you guys in two weeks.”
“Is there anything we need to know about the wedding preparations?” Zeke asked.
“Maya, DeShondra’s mom, will be in touch to coordinate everything with you, Mom, and we go from there,” he said to his brothers, whom he play-boxed with before heading to the SUV.
With goodbye waves and two toots of the horn, DeShondra and Isiah were on their way back to Louisville. DeShondra sat quietly in the passenger seat, watching the trees zoom by and trying to stave off the tears. She failed as they rolled down her cheeks. Everything in Isiah wanted to pull over on the side of the road and hold her, but the emotions needed to process themselves through.
In silence, they rode for an hour while the tears continued to stream down her cheeks. Finally, he spoke up. “Our lives will be nothing like any of theirs,” he said softly.
“You promise?” she said, looking at him with reddened eyes.
“I promise. We will make our own path, which won’t resemble anything like what they are morphing into. They are happy, though, and I’m happy for them as well,” he told her.
“Don’t get me wrong, Isiah. I am so happy for my friends, I truly am. However, they are my worst fear,” she confessed.
“DeShondra, are you worried that I’m going to try and domesticate you?”
“I’m not a fucking feral cat, Isiah! Yeesh, but I don’t want to spend an entire afternoon with anyone talking about our child’s shitty diapers or the color of her poop! I sure as hell don’t want to plan my meals around which set of dishes go with the cuisine, or little matching napkins, or which sets of silverware for breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner. It is insane,” she said, wiping her nose on a tissue.
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