by K. J. Dahlen
~* * * *~
In the silence that followed his escape, everyone heard his engine start and his pipes roar before he excelled out of the parking lot.
Melora sat down again but wouldn’t cry.
Izzy wrapped her arms around Melora’s shoulders.
“It doesn’t make any difference,” Deke finally told her.
“Oh, I think it does,” Melora replied. “I won’t stand between him and this club. He belongs here, I don’t.”
“The hell you don’t.” Cassie swore. “Sam’s a big boy, he can leave if he wants to, but you’re having a baby! It’s gonna be hard enough without worrying about where you’re going to be staying and who’s taking care of you. At least here, you’ll have family close enough.”
“I still have to call Mountain and tell him about the baby. I have a feeling he’ll be around as well,” Melora informed them.
“Good, the more in your support group the better.” Cassie nodded.
“Just don’t think about leaving,” Deke warned her. “Sam can be an ass but you’re family now, whether you want to be or not. Whether Mountain says so or not. I will find you and bring you back here. That’s my brother or sister you have in your belly and I don’t bail on family.”
“Yeah, I have no idea what he’s gonna do.” Melora shrugged. “He might not be happy with Sam.”
“Bones is a grown man.” Gator snorted. “Don’t worry about him, he can take care of himself. He always has.”
“Yeah, but Mountain told him he’d come after him if he ever hurt me,” Melora warned them in a whisper.
“Maybe Texas is a safer place for Mountain at the moment,” Izzy spoke up.
“Maybe, but do you really think he’ll stay there once he knows about the baby?” Cassie countered.
Melora shrugged. “Probably not, but I don’t want blood shed over this either.” She paused, then added, “Sam will either step up or he won’t. I’m going to prepare for the worst and go from there. He’s already walked away.” She got to her feet and turning to Deke asked, “Can I have our old room? I don’t want to go back to Sam’s tonight and suddenly, I’m tired.”
Deke nodded. “Honey, you can stay as long as you like.”
“Izzy and I will find a place in town as soon as we can. This is Sam’s club.” Shaking her head, she said, “I’m a big girl and can take care of myself.”
They watched as she walked down the hall. When the door closed behind her Izzy turned to Deke. “Your father sucks.”
“Yeah well, he can’t run forever and I won’t back off.” Deke nodded at the closed door. “She’s only part of this. He has another daughter that needs our help too.”
Charlie came back in the clubhouse, came over to the table and sat down. “I’m sorry I stormed out like a brat. I just couldn’t be in the same room as him.”
Deke turned and stared at Charlie. “So tell me about our sister.”
Charlie grinned. “She’s a lot like Mom. I know you never knew Junie but she was great. She had a way of making you feel like you belonged in her world. I know that sounds weird but it’s true. If she liked you, you became part of her family.”
Gator chuckled. “That’s our Junie. I think that’s what drew Sam into her world. She gave him a taste of what it felt like to belong somewhere. And to a man like Sam that meant something. I don’t think he ever felt that way before.”
Charlie stared at the table for a moment then looked up at Deke. “Mom never said the words but I think she loved Sam all this time. Every time she looked at Quinn, I would see a look come into her eyes almost as if she were reliving the past and there was so much love in her eyes. Oh, I knew she loved me but there was just something special about Quinn.”
“You said the anemia finally got her, what did you mean?” Cassie asked.
“Mom got real sick when she was pregnant with Quinn. The doctors told her then it was aplastic anemia and they would have to give her harsh drugs to combat the illness. The drugs might cause a miscarriage, especially if the baby had a different blood type. Mom never considered the treatment because of the baby. She wouldn’t risk her baby’s health. So, she put off treatment until after Quinn was born. By then the anemia had damaged her organs and the whole time we were growing up Quinn took care of us and Mom. The doctors monitored Quinn most of her life as well. The anemia was in her bloodstream but it was dormant this whole time. About a year ago, Mom got sick again. With the damage that had already been done, her body couldn’t stand up to the disease and the drugs wouldn’t work as well as they had the first time. Finally, she couldn’t stand the pain anymore and she just gave up.”
Everyone at the table remained quiet as they listened.
“Quinn wore herself out trying to take care of Mom. Quinn couldn’t work anymore and still take care of Mom, so she quit her job. I tried to help as much as I could but one of us had to work. I took care of the bills and she took care of mom. Then Quinn got sick and I wasn’t going to go through that again. When Dr. Bright tested her blood and found it a rare type, I knew I had to contact you to see if you could donate the marrow she needed. It was a selfish idea but I would do it again, if it meant a way to save my sister.”
“I’d like to meet her, this time in person.” Deke said. Looking over at Charlie he also suggested, “I want you and Quinn to consider moving up here. She’ll need a place to recover and we have cabins you could live in. If you need a job I can give you work.”
“I’ll talk to Quinn and see if we can work it out.” Charlie nodded. “I think she’s as curious about you as you are about her.” Shrugging, he admitted, “Maybe it’s time for her to meet her father too.”
~* * * *~
A few hours later, Melora opened the door and walked back to the main room.
Izzy, Reva, Cassie and Gator were still sitting there. When she sat down Izzy asked, “Are you okay?”
Melora nodded. “Just a head’s up, Mountain will be here in a couple of days.”
“And how did he take the news?” Gator asked the question that all of them were thinking.
Melora shrugged. “He was stunned but I think he was okay once he had time to think about it.” She hesitated then added, “He did threaten to cut off Sam’s balls and make them into dangly earrings. He said he would even pay to dip them in chrome while they were still attached. I made him promise not to shed blood if he came up here.”
Gator chuckled. “I might even pay to see that.”
“I wouldn’t.” Melora snorted. “If Sam doesn’t want this baby that’s on him. He’s going to have to deal with that. I mean it’s not the first time he’s walked away from his child but I want this baby and that’s all that matters.”
“So when is the baby due?” Reva asked.
Melora shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess I should find a doctor first.”
“You can see my doctor,” Cassie suggested. “He’s wonderful. In fact, we can go together, but first we have to get through this Quinn deal.”
~* * * *~
Charlie walked down the hall of the hospital to his sister’s room. When he got to the door, he pushed it open and saw her laying on the bed.
She looked pale and appeared worn out. Her long dark hair lacked the luster it once had. He knew if she were awake, he would see that her deep green eyes would look bleary and tired too.
His heart sank as he watched the monitors beeping. The numbers on display were very low.
Making his way over to the nearest chair, he sat down and reached for her hand. Quinn didn’t stir and it broke Charlie’s heart. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers gently. “I hope you don’t kill me, but I couldn’t watch you die too.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Cassie and Deke walked down the hospital corridor. The sun was barely up but the hospital was busy. Charlie was waiting for them down the hall and when they got closer, Cassie could see he appeared nervous.
When they all took
their seats, Charlie fidgeted in his seat. “I want to thank you for doing this.”
“Hey, she’s my sister too.” Deke shrugged. “I just wish I knew her before this. Neither one of you had to go through this alone.”
“But Sam is your dad. He never would have allowed you to meet us before this.”
Deke snorted. “Sam may be a lot of things but he’s not my master. I’ve been on my own for a while now. I’m my own man and as such, he can’t tell me who I can see and who I can’t see. If I’d known Quinn was my sister, you can bet your life she would have been around, Sam or no Sam.”
“I wish I had known that,” Charlie whispered.
“Well, you know it now,” Deke whispered back.
They all watched as Dr. Bright came down the hall. He stopped by the waiting room and motioned for them to join him. He led them to a treatment room and motioned for Deke to sit on the table.
Cassie came to stand behind him and Charlie lounged beside him.
Dr. Bright gazed at Deke and asked, “Are you ready?”
Deke nodded.
“Good, let’s do this.” Handing him a paper gown he told the other man, “Strip and put this on. My nurse will join us and we’ll go in and take the marrow. It’s going to hurt a bit, we have to burrow into your hip bone to get to the bit we want to extract.”
“How long after you take the marrow can you give it to Quinn?” Cassie asked.
“Not long. What will take the time is how quickly Quinn’s body absorbs the new marrow.”
“How bad is she right now?” Deke wanted to know.
“She’s not bad right now but without this marrow, she’s going to fade fast. With the treatment, she could bounce back quickly. She’ll be weak for some time but her body will get stronger and with the proper medication, she can get back almost to her old self.”
“Then let’s do this.” Deke began unbuttoning his shirt.
Charlie coughed and said, “I’ll just go check on Quinn. I don’t need to be here for this.”
Cassie chuckled and held out her hand for Deke’s clothes. She giggled when he put the paper gown on.
Deke gave her a glare.
When Dr. Bright had him lay down on the table and bare his left hip, Cassie took his hand and focused her eyes on his. She never let his hand go throughout the procedure and even after the doctor pulled the large bore needle out of his hip, she held on.
When the nurse left the room with the vile of bone marrow, Cassie leaned forward and rested her forehead on Deke’s. “I love you, Big Man,” she whispered.
Deke closed his eyes and whispered back, “I love you too, Baby Girl.”
Dr. Bright wrapped a bandage around the wound and told him, “You’ll likely be sore a day or so, but you’ll do just fine. I’ll let you know how Quinn is getting along.”
Cassie looked up at the doctor. “Can we see her?”
“I think I’d wait a day or two,” Ethan advised. “Let the serum take hold. She’ll be stronger then.”
“Does she know what happened here today?” Cassie asked. “Does she know about Deke?”
Ethan shook his head. “No, she doesn’t. Charlie and I thought it would be better to wait until she was stronger.”
“What can you tell us about her?” Cassie asked.
He smiled. “I’ve known Quinn since before she was born. I met Junie Blackman when she was pregnant with her. Junie had gotten sick at work. She worked in the chemical plant in Catskill. That’s where they lived. I worked in the hospital in Hudson at the time. When I moved to Albany, Junie came to see me here.”
“And Quinn, what kind of woman is she?” Deke asked.
Ethan smiled. “She’s one of the best. She taught the third grade and her students loved her. There’s just something special about a woman who loves kids, you know?”
Cassie grinned. “Yeah, we know.”
Ethan slapped his hands down on his thighs. “Well, I’m going to administer the serum and see how well it works. I’ll call you in a day or so, and let you know how it went.”
Deke nodded and reached for his clothes. When the doctor left the room he suggested, “Why don’t you go and see if you can find Charlie. I’d like to see this woman and I don’t want to wait a couple of days.”
“I agree.” Cassie leaned toward him. “I want to see her too.”
Deke shook his head. “I still can’t believe it. I’ve had a sister most of my life and never knew it.”
“Didn’t Sam ever say anything?” Cassie asked. “I mean he had to know about her.”
“From his reaction to the news I wonder if maybe he did know about me all along too. Seems he has a habit of leaving the women carrying his children behind. He claims we met for the first time when I was twelve. All I know is that he took me away from my mother, the only parent I knew until then. We were living in Rome, New York and when he went home to Bangor, Maine, he took me with him. The next five years or so were hell for both of us, right up until the day I left him. I didn’t look back and the first time he came looking for me again, as you know was the day we were supposed to get married.”
Cassie patted his leg. “Let’s go find your sister. Maybe when she’s stronger, you both can commiserate about your father together.”
Deke rolled his eyes. “Commiserate…Yeah, if that’s what you want to call, Spitfire. There might be a whole lot of final commiserating for my old man, all right.”
~* * * *~
Melora stood at the bedroom window and looked out over the compound. She hardly slept last night and her body was tired. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She heard the door open but she didn’t bother turning to see who was there. She knew who it was. “What do you want here Sam?”
“I want to know if it’s true, are you really pregnant?”
“Yeah, I’m going to have your baby.”
“So what do you plan to do about it?”
She turned and stared at him. “I’m keeping the baby. I don’t care what you do but this baby is mine and it’s going to have a chance to live.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Sam let out a sigh. “Do you expect me to marry you or what?”
“I don’t expect anything from you. I’ve been taking care of myself most of my life and I can take care of my baby too.” She paused then added, “Mountain is coming back to help out. I asked him to leave you be but he’s my father and he might not listen to what I want.”
“I’m not worried about Mountain.”
“You might want to watch your balls, he wants to chrome them and make dangly earrings out of them.”
Sam grinned slightly. “Thanks for the warning.”
“You have a habit of running away from your kids. I think that’s sad. You ran when Deke was born and you ran when Quinn was born, I don’t know why but you don’t need to run this time. I don’t expect anything from you but I’m staying here. Deke said the baby was family and he wants to watch over it. Me and Izzy will find a place in town and I won’t interfere with your club. Maybe next time you get a woman, you might want to invest in some condoms.”
“I hate condoms.” Sam growled. “I thought most women were on birth control nowadays.”
“Yeah well, I’ve never had a lover before you, so I didn’t have to worry about it. Besides, I was on the run for two years, when would I have time to get birth control?”
Sam ran his fingers through his hair. “I can’t believe this is happening to me, yet again.”
“Third time’s a charm, they say.”
“It would be, but this is the fourth time, not the third.”
“The fourth time?” she asked while feeling stunned.
“Yeah, I have another daughter. She’s about fourteen. Her name is Adriana.”
Melora was surprised. “Well, this is news. Do any of your other children know about this one?”
Sam shook his head.
“Well, you are a man of many sur
prises aren’t you? You do realize Deke is gonna kill you for this don’t you?”
“I didn’t know about him until he was twelve, like I said. I can’t say the same about Quinn. I knew about her from the beginning. But back then, I was young and stupid and I wasn’t ready to be a father yet. I told Junie that and she was ok with it. All she asked was that I leave her and the baby alone. She didn’t want me coming and going in the kids’ life. She said it would be too confusing for the baby. So, I tried to stay away. I really did but every few years or so, I’d go for a ride and come see them. I never told Junie I was there but I watched over them. I got the chance to see her grow up. Then I found my son and I wasn’t going to miss out on his life anymore. I took him with me and made both our lives hell.”
Melora sat very still and listened to this rare sharing of his past.
“After he left, I met Stacy and shortly after that, she got pregnant with Adriana. She didn’t even give me a choice, she left me. My mistake was that I let her go without a fight. I thought I was too old to be a father again.” Sam rubbed his forehead. “Then I met you and it began all over again. I guess I’m too old to start all over. Christ, I’m fifty two years old, I have a son who’s thirty three, a daughter who’s twenty nine another daughter fourteen and now I’m having a newborn? On top of that, I have two grandkids.”
“Make that three, Cassie’s also pregnant,” Melora informed him.
Sam went over to the bed and sat down hard. “Damn.” He swore softly. After a moment, he looked up at her. “So now what? Are you going to tell me to stay out of the kids’ life too?”
Melora shook her head. “No I don’t want that but you have to understand something here. There will be other men in his or her life. Deke, Mountain and everyone else around here. I won’t let you hurt my kid but I’m not going to ask you to stay away either.”
“I can deal with that.”
“I’ll be by your place and collect my things sometime today. Deke said I could stay here until Izzy and I find a place in town. I won’t bother you anymore.”