by Sam Crescent
He noticed her cheeks heated.
“I don’t know why I even said that.”
“I missed you too.”
“Oh, good. I mean, I think that’s good. I hope it is.”
He stared at her, wanting to ask her so many questions.
“Bishop was here when I woke up. He took me for a walk and then he was there with me in therapy. It was hard with him there.”
“It was?”
“Yeah, he’s very … encouraging. I don’t know. My physical therapist has been telling me to take my own pace, you know, gradually build up until I’m ready.”
“You need to listen to your therapist.”
“I know. With Bishop there, I feel he wants me to get better as soon as possible. If you guys visiting me at the hospital is a great inconvenience—”
“It’s not.”
“If it ever is, I would understand. You could tell me and I can deal with it. I hope.”
“You’re always going to have someone with you, Robin. You won’t be alone again, I promise.”
“I believe you.” She tucked some hair behind her ear. “So he was with me through therapy and stayed for my lunch. Now you’re here. He’d only told me about the beer pool story.”
“It was a fun story.”
“I don’t know. I bet we really annoyed you when we were kids.”
“Nah, it was good to have you around.”
She licked her lips and glanced around the room.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I don’t suppose … no, forget it.”
“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what it is. I’ve got more chance of being able to give you what you want.”
“I want to go home. I know I need to do therapy and everything the doctor has ordered, but I don’t know where home is. Do you think I could go home?”
“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea,” Bishop said, joining them. “You can come back to my place. I’ll be able to help you. I’ll get you to all the necessary appointments.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said.
“Don’t know what?” Bear asked, arriving.
Preacher was pissed off. He’d wanted to have the morning to himself and instead, he was sharing her with Bishop and Bear. Now his son was trying to get her to move in with him.
“I want to go home. I really appreciate all the staff and the hospital, but I don’t want to stay here, not for longer than I have to. It’s not that I’m ungrateful or anything.”
“You can have your old room,” Bear said.
“No, she can stay with me. She’s my wife.”
“Bishop, you know that’s not a good enough reason for her to stay with you,” Bear said. “You’re rarely around and she’s going to need someone to take care of her.”
“I’m fine, really,” she said.
“And I can take care of her. I have all this spare time on my hands now. I don’t need to answer to anyone. I’m my own man.”
“Really, I don’t want to put anyone out,” she said.
“Let’s take this outside,” Preacher said, getting to his feet.
“I honestly don’t want to cause an argument.”
“You won’t. I’ll handle this.” He gripped Bishop’s shoulders and forced him out of the room, closing the door behind him.
“Let’s not have this conversation here.” Preacher spotted Randall.
He signaled the doctor toward him.
“How can I help?” Randall asked.
“Can Robin go home? To any home she chooses?” Preacher asked.
“So long as she keeps up her physical therapy, rests, and takes it easy, she can do whatever she likes. Make sure she doesn’t overdo it. I trust you’ll keep her safe, Preacher.”
“Awesome. You talk to her about the kind of activity she can do while us boys talk about her living arrangements.”
He shoved them toward the bathroom, which was empty. If it hadn’t been, he’d have kicked out whoever was there out. He was tired of playing these bullshit games.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Bishop asked, pulling away.
Bear leaned up against the sink while Preacher stared at his son.
“I’m trying to find out what game you’re playing.”
“Yeah, I’d like that as well. You’re not a member of the club, nor do you live close by. My daughter needs someone who’s a lot more attentive than you. The moment you want to get your dick hard, everyone else fails to exist in your world. Why the fuck would I trust her with you?”
“Like you’d trust her with my dad?”
Bear said, “He’s not trying to manipulate her.”
“Oh, please, he’s not showing her his true colors. She doesn’t know he’s a cold-blooded killer.”
“You want me to show her your rotting corpse when I’m through with it?” Preacher said. “You’re playing into a lie.”
“What? About her being my wife? Last time I checked, she was my wife, or do you want me to forget about that tiny detail? She’s my wife and I should be the one taking care of her, not you.”
Preacher shook his head about to speak but Bear got there first.
“No matter how much you try, Bishop, you can’t rewrite the past. Robin didn’t love you. Her feelings for you weren’t there. You can try to fight it all you want but it’s not going to change the fact it didn’t happen. She wanted Preacher.”
“Yeah, and you don’t think that’s a little sick? He’s the same age as you. You and Robin never should’ve been together.”
“You’re right. Between me and Robin, it shouldn’t have worked. We’re complete opposites, but it doesn’t change the fact we happened. Robin picked me.”
“Why weren’t you with her that night, Dad? Oh, that’s right, you were too busy killing a cop.”
“You keep speaking up, I’m going to have to cut out your tongue,” he said.
“Go ahead. It will only mean she’ll know what you’re really like.”
Bear sighed. “Robin knew what he was really like, Bishop. You’re acting like a child and I’m not going to let my little girl go with you. In fact, she’s not going to go with either of you. I’m going to take her home with me. That’s final. You can fight with me all you want.”
“What about Rebecca? What are you going to tell her about that?” Bishop asked.
“Your son is a pain in the ass.”
Preacher had heard enough. He left the bathroom and walked down the long corridor to find Randall talking to Robin. She was smiling. He must have told a joke. She was so beautiful. Staring at her, it made him ache to hold her once again.
She looked up toward him and lifted her hand, waving.
Randall got up and came out toward him. “Did you decide on anything?”
“She’s going to live with Bear.”
“It’s probably a good thing. I was talking to one of the brain surgeons. Robin has experienced a trauma before the amnesia, and she also has the loss of her unborn child. He believes both traumas, unless unleashed separately, could have an adverse effect within her body.”
“He wants time.”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Everyone always wants time to explore.” He rubbed at his eyes, feeling the beginning of a headache. “Is there a chance anything could go back to normal?”
“You know I can never give you guarantees.”
“I know.”
“I can only hope for you.” Randall looked back into the room. “I’ve seen the x-rays, the scars on her body. I know she’s been through a great deal in the last two years. Her body is all the evidence you need to tell you a tale. She didn’t have it easy.”
“I gathered.”
“She needs you, Preacher. I know you’re having a hard time and Bishop’s trying to insert himself as part of her life, but it’s all lies and you need to recognize it.”
“Oh, I do, believe me, I do. I’m going to take care of my son. Don’t worry about him.”
Preacher watched him leave but he didn’t feel convinced. With Reaper still out there, she would never be safe. With Reaper at large, he’d never trust her alone.
Bishop stormed past him, sporting a bleeding nose, and Bear joined him at the window.
“Do I want to know what happened there?”
“If you’re going to punish me for putting your boy in line, then no, you don’t need to know.”
“Did he deserve it?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
“I don’t want him alone around her,” Bear said. “He’s got an agenda. I don’t know what it is and I don’t like it.”
“It’s simple. He wants me away from her because he believes I manipulated her into belonging to me, instead of seeing the truth.”
“And what’s the truth?”
“Robin picked me, not him, and no matter how hard it is for him, he can’t stand to think about how he lost.” He shrugged. This wasn’t gloating or taunting. Until Robin confessed her love to Bishop or even to him, there was no game over.
****
“This is your room,” Bear said.
After struggling up the stairs, Robin had hoped to see her room and to have every single memory come crashing back over her.
Nothing.
Her room was bare.
“Where’s my stuff?” she asked.
“Oh, I’m getting Preacher to gather some of our things and drop it back over. You took a lot of it with you when you went to stay with him.”
“Oh, I went to stay with him?”
“Well, you lived with him and Bishop.”
“Wouldn’t Bishop have taken my stuff when he moved?”
“You and Bishop didn’t share a room.”
“Because we were so young?”
Bear paused for a second. “Something like that.”
“Why does it feel like you’re not giving me the whole story?”
“I’m giving you what you need to know,” he said. “It’s complicated.”
She moved into the room. Holding the crutches in one hand, she lowered herself to the bed. “Complicated seems to be an understatement. I moved everything out.”
“What you didn’t take with you, your mother sold or threw out.”
“Was I close to my mom?”
“No. You hated the bitch.”
“Bitch? I guess you weren’t exactly friends with her.”
“Your mother and I, we had a … complicated relationship.”
“Like Bishop and me?”
“No. You were the best of friends.”
“And we married each other. Why would we marry?”
“How about we just accept that you guys are married and it wasn’t always easy. It’s not easy.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and nodded. “Not easy. Got it.” She blew out a breath. “I like the room.”
“Good. It’s gone through a lot of changes. When you were first born, I painted the walls yellow.”
“Yellow?”
“We thought you were going to be a boy.”
“Wow, that must have been a bit of a disappointment.”
“Nah, not really. I loved you from the moment I held you. You’ve been my little girl and always will be.” He sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her. “It changed to this pastel pink when you were a girl. You wanted to be a princess and this was your castle. Of course in your eyes, I was always the fierce knight who protected you.”
She chuckled. “I like the sounds of these memories. They sound nice.”
“They are. We didn’t always have a good time, Robin, but I tried.”
She rested her head against his shoulder. “I can imagine you did a whole lot of the time, and I really do appreciate it. All of it.”
He laughed. “Even if you don’t remember it all?”
She smiled. “I wish I did.”
“I wasn’t the best dad, though. When you do get your memories back, you’re not going to like some of what you remember.”
She glanced down at her jeans- and shirt-covered body. “I’ve got a feeling there’s going to be a lot I eventually remember you’re not going to know about.”
Bear held her hand, but the cast was in the way. Instead, he put his arm across her shoulders once again, and this time, he kissed the top of her head. “Just know whatever the memory, I’m here for you. Me and Preacher.”
“Not Bishop?”
“Preacher’s the one I trust.”
She closed her eyes and the doorbell rang.
“I’m guessing it’s the man himself. You stay here. I’ll have him bring up the box or boxes. You want something to eat?”
“I’d love something. Anything. I’m starving.”
“Food is coming right up.” He kissed her head again and she watched him go.
Just another moment in a whole list of them to confuse her.
Running her hand down her thigh, she stared at the ink, the chain wrapped around her wrist. Bishop had told her she didn’t have any ink on her body when she left. Not only did she have the ink around her wrist, but there was also a rose trailing up her waist, and across her back was the name Reaper’s Bitch.
The moment she caught sight of the ink at the base of her back, she’d been overcome with a wave of sickness unlike anything she’d ever experienced. She didn’t know if she should tell anyone.
When she showed it to Randall, asking him if it had been a joke, he’d told her it was in part of her memories where he wasn’t in her life.
The two years she’d been taken, where her body showed the evidence of the abuse that her mind couldn’t. She rubbed at her temple, wanting nothing more than to cry. It would be so much easier to give up. Everyone kept looking at her as if she was some kind of strong woman or something. The truth was, she was close to falling apart, holding on by a thread.
“Are you okay?” Preacher asked.
She lifted her head and sighed. “I don’t know.” She sniffled. “Do you like my room?”
He carried a large brown box. “It’ll look better with some of this.” He put the box on the floor in front of her.
“Please, don’t go,” she said. “I don’t want to be alone.”
“Do you want me to take you back to the hospital?”
“Hell, no. I’m sorry. I mean no, I don’t want to go to the hospital.”
“Will you be okay here?”
“I think so.”
“Any memories?”
“Nothing. Not even an inkling of one. It’s more like … a feeling. I do know this place. It’s right there but not close enough for me to be entirely sure what I’m looking at. I know, I’m going completely crazy, aren’t I?”
“You’re not going crazy at all.”
“I feel like it. This is my bedroom. Apparently, my mom hated my guts and sold everything I didn’t take with me.”
“There’s a lot of stuff in the box for you to see. It might help.”
“Or leave me in a never-ending pit of despair.”
“This is new,” he said.
“What?”
“You being negative all the time. I’m not used to it. It’s not a good look for you.”
She chuckled. “I wonder how you’d feel about losing all of your memories and not getting anything back. With everyone constantly looking at you and expecting there to be a spark. Some kind of magical button that will awaken you from this deep sleep.” She pressed her lips firmly together.
“No magical button?”
“I’ve got nothing to be able to wake me up. It … sucks.” She shrugged. “It could be worse, I suppose. I could be staying with my husband who I don’t know and everything feels odd with. Sorry. I will start to think more positively.”
“You can have your meltdown, it’s fine.”
“Is it, though? I feel insan
e.”
Preacher reached out, putting a curl behind her ear. “It is what it is. I’m grateful you’re alive, and I can see you.”
“There you go, saying all the nicest things.”
He chuckled.
“I guess I better look and see what I was all about.” She opened the brown cardboard box. The first item was a pillow. It had a dog on it, a cocker spaniel, she believed. “I like it.”
“It’s your favorite dog.”
“Do I have a dog?”
“No. You never asked for one.”
“So if I asked, I’d get it?”
“I tended to make sure you got everything you wanted.”
She paused as she reached into the box. He was talking about him being the one to give her things, not Bishop. If Bishop was supposed to be her husband, why was it Preacher making her life easier? None of it made any sense. Rather than ask him about it, seeing as he liked to be very secretive, she went back into the box.
There was a small jewelry box. Each item she took out, he put in the places she asked him to. When she got to the final item, it was a photograph album.
She rested it on her lap and Preacher sat beside her. “Do you want to open it?”
“I don’t know. Do I?”
“Remember, there is no rush to know everything. This is all for you. You can take your time.”
She nodded her head, but she didn’t believe it. She didn’t know why she was so freaking nervous about all of this, only it felt important to her to remember everything.
Opening the book, she frowned as a picture fell out.
Bending down, she picked it up. “Is this an ultrasound photo?”
“Yes.”
“Is this me?” She tilted her head to look at the picture and something twisted in her gut. “It must be me.” She put the image back into the book and started to look at some of the other pictures. Instantly, she saw most of the photographs were of her and Bishop.
“I guess we were really close, huh?”
Preacher didn’t say anything.
The sound of the door opening again interrupted her thoughts. There were none of her and Preacher in the book, which made her sad. She thought they were friends at least.
“Dinner’s here,” Bear said.
She snapped the book closed and placed it on her bed. “I’m starving. Are you staying for dinner?”
“Yeah, of course.”
She got to her feet and nearly plunged forward. Preacher grabbed her and she held on to his body, staring up into his blue eyes. They were really beautiful.