by Bijou Hunter
Thirty Nine - Daisy
Camden’s condo doesn’t feel like home even weeks after the move. My stuff easily fits in the master bedroom. The cats take over the spare room and hide under the guest bed for nearly a week after the move. Even with all of my belongings in the condo, I still view the place as Camden’s bachelor pad invaded by furballs and their antsy owner.
Those days after the Lincoln attack, Camden treats me like a queen while I heal up from the bruises and a torn ligament in my left shoulder. I suspect this injury came from picking up my old TV.
“I need to learn how to fight,” I tell him again one night as we rest in bed after sex.
Stretched out on his back, Camden glances at me and smiles.
“I’ll make sure no one hurts you again.”
“Do you plan to follow me around constantly?”
“I would if I could, but I have to leave you occasionally. I’ll have someone act as your bodyguard.”
“I don’t like that.”
“I know, but life is full of compromises.”
Rolling on my side, I caress his sweaty arm. “I know you’re the big man, and I’m your little wife so what you say goes. Still, there’s no way a butt nugget is following me around every day. You’ll need to find a better plan.”
Camden reaches around to pat my butt. “I can’t be with you every moment.”
“Teach me how to use a gun. If I shoot a few people, I’ll get a reputation.”
Camden laughs loudly, startling the cats from the room. My hubby loves the idea of me playing Dirty Harry in Hickory Creek.
“Man, would I get a load of whining from Mojo and Howler if my woman took shots at assholes.”
I take his hand and press the palm against my cheek. “I don’t want to hide or have a sweaty man following me around. I know you’re scared of me getting hurt, but I’m scared for you too. Can I pay a douche to follow you around?”
“Why do you assume I’d get a sweaty douche to guard you? He might be a great guy, and you’d enjoy his company.”
“What if I fall in love with him and leave you?” I ask, knowing I won’t have to flash a boob to win this argument.
Camden narrows his eyes, and I feel his temper boiling. I struggle not to laugh at his angry reaction to my ridiculous scenario.
“No go. I’ll hire a woman.”
“What if I fall in love with her?” I ask, finally laughing. “I’m a very passionate woman.”
Camden rolls over and wraps me against him. “Stop pushing my buttons.”
“If I lost you for whatever reason, I’d return to Lush Gardens and live with my family there forever. No men, no dating, minimal masturbation. I’d never want to settle when I’d already enjoyed the best.”
“I like that,” he says, nuzzling my forehead.
“Would you replace me if you lost me for whatever reason?”
“There’s no replacing Bourbon Babe.”
“Why?”
“You’re you. When you smile, my life is good. When you frown, nothing matters more than making you happy again. I can’t explain it any better than to say you own me. Nothing more complicated than that.”
Camden covers my mouth with his and insists on more sex since I dared to mention loving imaginary people.
The nights are the easiest times for me. Whether we’re at home or if we go out, Camden is always at my side. I don’t miss my sisters, Sally, or Lush Gardens. I laugh easier. I don’t worry so much about my new job. I’m comfortable in a way I’m not when Camden isn’t nearby.
My mind often returns to the fight in my trailer. I imagine different scenarios where Ruby and I escape or we kill Lincoln quickly. When my nerves get the better of me, I even think about Ruby dying.
Camden and I never talk about what happened to the loser. I didn’t want to know. I was banged up and scared, but also invigorated from surviving my first fight. As time passed and the bruises on Ruby and me faded, I am curious Lincoln’s fate.
I fear to ask Camden about the asshole. When we’re together, he’s relaxed. When he’s dealing with his club lately, he gets pissed. Mentioning Lincoln can’t help, but the need to know nags at me.
“Where is Lincoln now?” I finally ask one night after crawling into his lap on the couch.
“Where he can’t hurt anyone again.”
“The entire town knows he attacked me.”
“Fuck the town.”
“You know what would be hardcore?” I whisper, kissing his jaw. “If we named our first son after him.”
Camden looks at me as if I’m nuts. “How do you figure?”
“Rather than us being upset over what happened, we see it as a badge of honor.”
“You have a strange view of the world.”
“No, not really. Think about how everyone would know we gave our son the same name as the guy I survived and the one you handled. We didn’t flinch. We won. He lost.”
Camden studies me and then rolls his eyes. “You just like the name Lincoln.”
“Well, there’s that too.”
“People would think I was a royal asshole for naming my kid after that guy. They’d also think I was a little crazy. Couldn’t hurt long term to have that reputation.”
“Fear keeps you safer, and I want you to be with me until we’re gray and saggy.”
Camden kisses my neck. “Man, you’ll make a sexy old chick.”
“We’re going to break so many hips together,” I say, straddling him.
Camden kisses me for a long time before suddenly stopping. I worry my rolling hips injured something vital that’ll make having a Lincoln difficult.
“I’ll teach you to shoot a gun. Show you a few fight moves, but we’re not pretending you’re a badass. Believing a lie will get you hurt.”
Smiling at how he’s bowed to my will, I cup his face. “You’re the badass in the family. I’m the voice of reason. I’m also the whiny one.”
“I’m the nag.”
“Oh, hell, yes, you are!” I cry, and Camden laughs. “If you weren’t a boob man, I’d never win an argument ever.”
Camden smiles at me, looking peaceful. Life outside our condo isn’t simple. Here together with only the cats to break up our sexy times, Camden and I are the best we’ve ever been.
Forty - Camden
Lincoln swears he never told JJ about his plan to attack Daisy. As much as I want revenge for what he did to Daisy and Ruby, there’s only so much beating on a man I can do before I end up pitying him. Lincoln eventually begs me to put him out of his misery, and I do him the favor.
The entire time Dayton helps me dig Lincoln’s grave, he says nothing, and I realize we’ve become strangers. I don’t know how we reached this point in our twenty-nine years together. A part of me doesn’t care about the how. I’m more interested in how to fix what’s broken.
“JJ told his guys to head back to Birmingham. He’s staying here. They’ll run their business without him.”
“What exactly was that business?” I ask, standing over the now covered grave.
“Nickel and dime shit. Don’t worry about it.”
Studying Dayton, I consider mentioning our current tensions. We could talk out shit and hug and go back to how things were once.
Except we’re different men now. I’m a husband. I have babies on the brain. I plan to take over the club, and no one is getting in my way.
Dayton is different too, but I don’t know exactly how. He wants something out of reach. All of his life, he’s played the entertaining brother, but now he isn't any fucking fun. He’s someone else, and I don’t like this guy. Not only because he’s up JJ’s ass. I just don’t like how he looks at me as if I’m the interloper in his life.
“Thanks for the help,” I tell Dayton.
He studies me like I did him. I wonder if he’s thinking about mentioning what I’m thinking about mentioning. We were once not so different. It’s possible we still aren’t.
Like me, Dayton chooses to let the topic
die before uttering a word. We go our separate ways that day. I only see him in passing for weeks until De Campo’s Pizza Shop burns down.
Standing across the street from the destroyed business, I assume the owner, Mickey, will likely take the insurance money and leave town. He isn’t stupid and knows the club wants him out. Now he’s out.
“Was this you?” I ask Dayton when he appears next to me.
“Mojo said to leave the business alone.”
“What did Howler say?”
Dayton shrugs. “He talks a lot. Hard to keep it all straight.”
“You know, one could view this fire as an attack on the club. We protected Mickey and his shop. Someone burned it down even knowing we protect Mickey and his shop.”
“I heard,” Dayton says, scratching his new beard, “and this is just what I heard, but I heard the fire was electrical.”
“Oh, you heard that, did you? The place’s still smoking, and you already got a cause. Someone is pretty fucking psychic.”
“That’s only what I heard,” he says, smirking. “We’ll see what the cops say.”
Rolling my eyes, I walk away from Dayton. We both know how the local cops work. If they think the club burned down the shop, the cops will protect us. If they think our enemies burned down the shop, they’ll look the other way so we can get payback. Either way, the cause of the fire will be ruled electrical. I don’t care what the cops say. I know someone burned down the pizza shop, and only one person in town would have the balls to shit on Mojo’s orders. Sooner or later, I also knew that guy would end up in a grave near his buddy, Lincoln.
My father still runs the club. Until he hands over control, I can’t do what needs to be done. So I walk the line, follow orders, and watch my back.
Married life proves to be a welcome distraction from club drama. Daisy moves into my condo and starts her new job. We settle into our new life together, and everything happens easily. I never feel crowded by having her in my place. Even her cats don’t bother me, but the condo does feel like my home rather than ours.
During the school's fall break, Daisy pukes up a hamburger, and I instantly know she’s pregnant. I think she knows too, but we don’t mention the obvious for nearly a month.
“Lincoln if it’s a boy,” she announces. “Layla for a girl.”
“I’m a man of potent sperm,” I say, spinning her around.
“You’ll make me puke.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
Daisy laughs even though I don’t think she’s kidding about her nausea.
“My Bourbon Babe is having my baby,” I say, kneeling in front of her to kiss her tummy.
“Promise our baby can do whatever he wants for his future. I know you love the club, but promise you’ll let Lincoln or Layla own their lives.”
Looking up at her from my spot kissing her belly button, I smile. “My kids can do any fucking thing they want.”
Daisy runs her fingers through my hair that night while I nuzzle her belly. Most evenings, I talk to the growing baby bump, and she plays with my hair. Every time I catch her gaze, I see the kind of love that strips me to my core.
Epilogue - Daisy
Working at the school, I finally have a career. I’m a professional woman with a skill set and respect from my colleagues. I love working with the kids, and the schedule allows me plenty of potty time when I’m pregnant with Lincoln. I thank Camden every day for getting me the job. Well, until he asks me to stop because his ego is getting too big.
“Can’t have that.”
Camden’s confidence takes a big hit when the baby is born, and he realizes he’s terrified of infants. Every time Lincoln cries, he gets pawned off on someone. Like with women's tears, Camden can’t handle our child’s cries. He can change diapers and get up in the middle of the night for feedings. Crying though turns him into a panicked child himself.
By the time Lincoln is nearly a year, Camden is an ace father. He loves having a mobile kid rather than a living doll. Once our son can walk, Camden wants to teach him sports. I’m more interested in dressing up Lincoln.
My first born does a fantastic impression of Billy Idol’s snarl. Harmony notices this fact when Lincoln is six months, and I begin styling his hair into a faux-hawk. Camden thinks I’m weird, and he tries to sway our boy to the classic from the 1970’s.
I hate leaving Lincoln to return to work. At first, I have a nanny in our place, but Camden doesn’t like the woman and fires her one day.
“She was casing the place,” he claims.
We try having Charlie watch Lincoln even though Camden swears our son comes home from Lush Gardens smelling like rednecks. I juggle the working mother routine for as long as I can. I love my job so much, but Camden wants me to stay home with Lincoln. He even promises I can teach both him and our son Spanish so my skills will stay sharp.
I give into his nagging once Lennox comes along. While our second boy lacks a Billy Idol snarl, he does scream in horror whenever The Rolling Stones come on. Camden only sighs and claims he’ll teach them about good music once they’re old enough to appreciate it.
Two boys keep us busy, but I get them on a solid schedule to allow plenty of alone time for Camden and me. My sisters and Sally babysit a lot. Clara also takes the boys every Friday so I can enjoy karaoke while Camden trains with Erik and Hudson.
Somehow, our last baby comes along without throwing our routine into chaos. Layla fits comfortably into our family. She’s so mellow that Mojo regular claims she might not be “all there.” Like any good mother, I sic my boys on their grandfather. Lincoln and Lennox think they’re giving him love, but I know their little feet will always land in his crotch. Hell, Mojo even accuses me of training them to nail his balls.
“So, what are you going to do about it?” I ask, challenging him.
Camden watches our bickering, and I know his tongue will reward me later.
Layla isn’t slow, but she is quiet. Her daddy says she takes after his brother, Hudson. Our little girl creeps around the house, scaring the shit out of people. Lincoln and Lennox learn early on to watch themselves around their sneaky sister. After all, her feet tend to nail them in the same spots as they nail their grandfather.
I often find myself amazed by how fast everything changed for me. One day, my car wouldn’t start, and I ended up relenting to Camden’s nagging for a ride. With a blink of an eye, I married the hottest, coolest man I’d ever met. Suddenly, we were blessed with three kids who took after daddy in the looks department and their mom when it came to musical taste.
I’m an indecisive woman, and I doubt I would have chosen this life. If left up to my wavering nature, I’d still live with my cats while pining over a man I nearly de-ball in a bathroom.
Fortunately, Camden takes what he wants in life and refused to take no for an answer.
Epilogue - Camden
I’m not a patient man, so as soon as Daisy heals up from Lincoln, I want another kid. Spreading the babies out never occurs to me. I always had Dayton at my side growing up, and I guess I want my kids to know that closeness.
Lincoln does fine at the condo until he begins walking. Our balcony goes from a luxury to a hazard. The once spacious condo feels cramp with all his toys and kid crap. With a second boy on the way, we need to find a house, and I have a few in mind.
Except Daisy doesn’t like the expansive ranch house I find. She also dislikes the split-level and a two-story with a big backyard. I don’t know what Daisy’s looking for until she stumbles upon it one day during a drive. That’s when I’m forced to make a big decision.
How much do I love this woman?
Daisy falls head over heels in love with the ugliest fucking house I’ve ever seen. Okay, maybe a few abandoned houses in Hickory Creek look worse, but I’ve never seen a well-kept home as hideous as the one my woman creams herself over.
“Why?” I ask in horror.
“It’s very 1980’s,” she says of the blocky, brown contemporary eyesore.
“Exactly.”
Her brokenhearted expression ends the discussion. This monstrosity is our new home.
All sharp edges outside and unsightly 1980’s touches inside, the house fits us in a weird way. I do like the space, and the fenced yard allows Lincoln to run himself into exhaustion.
Daisy agrees to change the wood siding from a shit brown color to a dark blue. Otherwise, she insists on keeping the current character, especially the two-story stone fireplace atrocity.
Once we move in my furniture and her décor, the house makes sense. I don’t even see the things I hate by the time Lennox is born. Soon, our life falls into a comfortably hectic routine with kids, cats, and even a dog.
Every morning, I run errands for the club. Daisy always sees me off while Lincoln rests on her hip, waving and giving me a snarl. The kid has a definite rocker vibe even if his taste in music suffers from listening to Duran Duran for nine months in utero.
A year later, Lennox takes his brother’s place on her hip as they see me off in the mornings. By the time Layla comes along to claim Daisy’s hip, I contend with sons begging to ride with me plus our new mutt barking at the squealing boys.
This is my life now. The club is my job, but this is my real family and the only ones I’m truly loyal to anymore. Needing them to be safe and happy, I refuse to do anything to lose them. That includes allowing the Hallstead wandering eye to distract me from the only woman I can ever love.
The night at Hannah’s party, my impatience nearly cost me Daisy. I assumed she was any other girl and should do what any other girl did when I wanted her. I assumed wrong, and she was well worth learning my lesson.
About Bijou
Living in Indiana with my three sweet sons, three wacky cats, one super mom (and her ugly dog), I love writing, cats, Denny's, 1970's rock, Beanie Boos, and sitcoms cancelled before their time.