Otis (Selected Sinners MC #3)

by Scott Hildreth

  The sound stopped.

  Disappointed, I gazed at the top of the hill as I clutched the knife. After a period of time I was incapable of measuring, a figure appeared at the top of the hill. I stared, feeling as if it truly was a dream, and the figure was an angel – the answer to my problems hanging on her lips – sure to come as soon as she reached the bottom of the hill.

  I blinked.

  The figure began to come down the hill. As it grew closer, I realized it was either Otis, or I was losing my mind. As the distance narrowed, I knew it was either Otis or I had gone completely batty. Using what little strength I had left, I reached up and tossed the knife over my shoulder and into the tall weeds behind me.

  “Sam,” his voice was soft and soothing.

  I blinked my eyes and smiled.

  “Sam, are you alright?” he asked.

  I nodded my head and tried to stand. As I stood, my weak legs shook, almost causing me to fall. I realized as he reached out to support me I had been sitting for hours and my legs had fallen asleep.

  “Did you take something, Sam? Are you on anything?” he asked.

  I shook my head, “Legs fell asleep.”

  “What’s going on, Sam? Is there something you need to tell me?” he asked.

  I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing what to say. I loved him more than anything, and losing him was more than I could bear to imagine.

  “Sam. I love you. Whatever it is, no matter what it is, you and I will be fine. You need to know that. I mean it. No matter what,” he assured me as he held my shoulders in his hands.

  “But,” I sighed.

  I wanted to tell him. I desperately wanted to, but I couldn’t muster the courage. After studying him for a few moments, I pulled away, bent down, and picked up my purse. Clutching it tightly and holding it to my chest, I glanced up and I nodded my head.

  “Just say it, Sam. Whatever it is that’s got you worried,” he breathed.

  “I’m pregnant,” the words escaped my lips before I had a chance to stop them.

  Fearful, embarrassed, and waiting for the wrath of God to come down upon me, I clutched my purse and waited.

  “You sure?” he asked.

  I held my purse to my chest and nodded my head.

  “Good,” he said, “That’s what I was hoping.”

  I glanced up, and as hard as I tried, couldn’t fight back the tears.

  “You’re not…mad?” I sobbed.

  He shook his head as he reached into the side pockets of his cut, “Mad? No Sam, I’m not mad. I love you.”

  I sighed and continued to clutch my purse.

  As he dug in his pockets, he continued, “I’m not proud of it, but as a Sinner, I’ve played a part – a first-hand part – in seeing many lives leave this earth. Death has become a part of who I am, Sam. To think I could share something as special as bringing a life into this earth, and doing it with you?”

  He pulled two pieces of cloth from his cut. As he straightened the fabric and let it hang from his fingers, it was clear what they were. Standing in front of me, holding two rompers – one blue and one pink – he began to softly cry.

  “I didn’t know what color to get, so I got one of each,” he shrugged.

  I released my grasp from my purse, reached inside, and pulled the pregnancy test from inside. As I held it up for him to see, he grinned.

  “This just says I’m pregnant, it doesn’t give a sex,” I grinned as I began to cry again.

  “Either way, as long as you two are both healthy, I’ll be happy as fuck,” he said as he turned his head and wiped his tears on his shoulder.

  “How’d you know?” I blubbered.

  “I didn’t. I just hoped,” he responded.

  “So you want this?” I asked, wanting as much confirmation as possible.

  “More than anything,” he nodded.

  “How’d you know where I was?”

  “Really Sam? You lost your virginity at this tree. Damned thing’s been here as the biggest tree in the state for over a hundred years. We used to spend a lot of time here. This was our sacred tree. Meet me at the big tree. How many times did you hear that?” he asked.

  “Not near enough,” I sobbed as I put the pregnancy test back into my purse.

  He dropped the rompers beside where he stood and opened his arms. And, as the happiest woman in the world, I dropped my purse, embraced him in a hug, and held him in my arms. As we stood under our sacred tree and held each other, my heart filled with gratitude for Otis and for everything we shared as a couple.

  I guess the Sinners are right.

  The devil looks after his own.

  EPILOGUE

  The small room, fitted with two chairs, one medical examination bed, and an Aplio 500 ultrasound machine had three occupants. A pregnant woman, lying on the examination bed, had her gown lifted to the bottom of her swollen breasts. The man, seated beside her and holding her hand in his, stared anxiously at the display screen.

  The Physician’s Assistant moved the wand carefully along the woman’s stomach as she gazed at the screen.

  “There’s the head,” she said as she touched a button on the keyboard, taking a still photo of the image.

  “And the legs. Hold on a minute and we’ll see if…” she said as she moved the wand up and down slightly.

  “This will be cold,” she said as she squirted lubricant onto the woman’s stomach.

  After repositioning the wand, pressing it into the bottom of the woman’s stomach, she gazed at the screen.

  “If you don’t want to know the sex, don’t look,” she grinned.

  “We do, Mrs. Buckly,” the woman responded as she glanced at the man as he nodded his head eagerly.

  “Call me Debi,” she said.

  “We do Debi,” they said in unison.

  “Well, see this?” she said as she motioned to the screen with her free hand.

  The man and woman nodded their heads.

  “Hips,” Debi said.

  “And this,” she sighed, “His penis.”

  “Boy?” the man said as he shifted his eyes from the screen to his wife.

  “He’s definitely a boy. No two ways about it,” Debi chuckled as she pressed the button to take another still image of the screen.

  “Sam?” the man sighed as he wiped tears from his eyes.

  “We’re having a little boy,” he said, “I can’t wait to tell my parents.”

  His wife nodded her head as she gazed at three dimensional depiction of her son on the screen.

  Down the hallway, on the other side of the entrance to the small clinic, four men stood anxiously talking. Dressed in jeans, boots, and leather vests adorned with the patch of the motorcycle club they represented, they stood out in clear contrast amongst the women in the lobby. After a few moments the large man with a beard turned, grasped the door handle, and opened the door slightly.

  “Can we come in?” he asked the receptionist seated a fifteen feet away at the admissions desk.

  After a moment with no response from the receptionist, he cleared his throat and repeated the question.

  “Hey you. Behind the desk. Can we come in?” he asked.

  She shook her head and forced a smile, “I’m sorry. The ultrasound area is reserved for the husband, wife, and the immediate family,” she explained.

  He turned toward the other three men, “Family only.”

  The tall muscular man with olive colored skin shrugged his shoulders, “Well open the fucking door, Biscuit. We’re her brothers.”

  The bearded man opened the door enough to fit his head between the door and the frame.

  “We’re her brothers,” he whispered.

  The receptionist peered through the opening and shook her head in disbelief. The three men, other than sharing the same taste in clothes, appeared to be from four different regions of the world. As she studied the men, the bearded man opened the door a little more, giving her an unobstructed view of the men standing behind him.


  She tapped her pencil against the desk as she studied the four men, “Brothers?”

  “And the name of your sister?” she asked.

  The bearded man turned around and consulted with his friends for a moment. After a short discussion, he turned toward the receptionist.

  “Steve and Sam Milner,” he responded.

  The receptionist shook her head, “I don’t know. We’re forced to adhere to the policy. Family only.”

  “Otis!” the bearded man screamed into the vacant corridor.

  After a few seconds he screamed again, “Otis!”

  The man, still seated beside his wife, turned his head away from the monitor.

  “Did you hear someone scream my name?” he asked.

  His wife nodded and tilted her head toward the door.

  The man stood and opened the door slightly, peering through the crack and down the hallway as he did so.

  “What are we havin’?” the bearded man screamed.

  “Boy,” the man whispered in response.

  “What?” the bearded man shouted again.

  “Boy!” the man responded in a more distinct tone.

  “A fucking boy? Did you say we’re havin’ a boy?” the bearded man hollered excitedly.

  “Yes,” the man whispered in response through the opening.

  The bearded man turned to face the other three men.

  “Pay up motherfuckers. We’ve got us a boy,” he grinned.

  As the bearded man turned toward the door once again, he opened it entirely and stood in the opening. The three men behind him each reached for their wallets.

  “We all wanna see him. Gal here won’t let us come down there. Tell her it’s okay,” he shouted.

  The man extended his raised index finger and turned to face the exam room.

  “Fellas are down there. They want to come in and see our baby boy,” he grinned toward his wife.

  Debi turned to face the man as she furrowed her brow slightly.

  “I’m sorry, we can only allow family,” she sighed.

  The woman glanced up from the exam table and gazed at her leather vest hanging on the hook beside the door. On the back, a Selected Sinners patch with two ribbons, clearly stating her designation with the club.

  Property of Otis.

  “They’re my brothers,” the woman stated.

  “How many?” Debi asked.

  “Here? Four,” the woman grinned in response.

  Debi nodded her head, “Have them come down. I’ll call the desk.”

  The man peered through the door and waved his arm toward the bearded man, “Come on down.”

  The bearded man swung the door open and waved toward the men standing anxiously behind him, “Come on fellas, uncle Biscuit’s having him a baby boy.”

  As the men stormed down the hallway, Debi gazed over her shoulder toward the pregnant woman.

  “So you have four brothers?” Debi asked.

  The pregnant woman glanced up at her leather vest and shook her head.

  “No,” she responded.

  “I have thirty three.”