Finding Redemption

by Emilia Finn

  Bobby shrugs, but he doesn’t take his eyes off his wife. “Dunno, Jim. The couch cushions have exploded and we have fake flower carnage and book pages everywhere inside.”

  “Puppy!”

  Evie’s voice is loud and excited and my eyes follow her wildly flailing pointer finger. She’s pointing toward Kit and Bobby’s house, toward the upstairs bedroom windows, and I almost fall down and laugh at the giant black dog with its snout pressed to the window. Her breath is steaming up the glass and it’s big dopey tongue lolls out to the side.

  I think I know what happened to Kit’s stuff now, and I don’t think she’s scared at all. I think maybe she’s just dumber than a rock. She watches Jack through the glass, as though she were genuinely in love with him and I swear her mouth is in the shape of a smile.

  “Ah, Jack.”

  Jack’s eyes snap from Bobby’s to mine, then I nod toward his bedroom window. His face transforms quickly through that same totally devoted love that the dog wears to ‘oh shit, my sister’s going to kill me’ in half a beat.

  “Where’d you get a dog?” Jimmy’s laughter cuts through the tension Kit’s tears create.

  “A dog?” Kit’s voice turns back to a high pitched screech as she pushes away from Jack and turns to the upstairs window. “Why is there a dog in my house? That’s not my dog!”

  “She’s mine.”

  “Where’d you get a dog?”

  “I found her.”

  Jim laughs. “You can’t just keep someone’s dog, Jack. You need to take her to get scanned and taken back to her owners.”

  “No, I know.” Jack turns. “She was hurt, Kit. She was hit by a car and I found her.”

  I frown. “Jack, if she was hit by a car, she needs to go to the vet. You can’t just hide a hurt dog in your bedroom.”

  “Oh yeah,” Jack shrugs. “I already took her to the vet. She’s good now. Annie!” Jack whistles loudly and the dog’s ears snap up to attention. One second she’s in the window, then the next she’s gone. I literally hear the thump-thump-thump as she runs down the stairs, then she emerges into the front yard excited and jumping in circles.

  “Puppy!”

  My eyes flare wide at her missing limb. “She has three legs, Jack.”

  “What kind dog is it?”

  “Yeah, I told you, she was hit by a car,” Jack answers me, then he turns to Aiden. “She’s a Labrador cross.”

  “Crossed with a giant black bear,” I argue. “And she’s missing a leg.”

  “She looks fine to me,” Tina comments. “Running around pretty happy for a dog who got hit by a car.”

  “Oh, yeah. She got hit ages ago. Like, two months ago at least. She had surgery and they took her leg, but she’s mostly better now.” Jack crouches down and makes out with his dog. Well, she makes out with him, he just hugs her. “She’s all better now, aren’t you Annie girl? All better. Such a good girl.”

  “She was hit two months ago?” Kit’s voice takes on a dangerous tone again. “How long has she been here?”

  Jack gulps as he detaches himself from the black bear. “Like, six weeks maybe.”

  “You’ve had a giant dog in my house for over a month? How did you sneak her in? How have you fed her?” Kit stops as her eyes glare. “How did you pay for her surgery?”

  “With my money. It’s cool, I’ve been saving, I have heaps left over.”

  “Heaps left over? What money? You don’t have any money!”

  Oh shit.

  “The guys pay me, Kit, relax.”

  Jimmy looks across the yard to me as his mouth pulls up. We’re in so much trouble.

  Kit turns to Bobby. “You pay him? Since when?”

  “Of course we pay him, baby. He’s there as much as we are now.”

  “You never told me you pay my brother a living wage!”

  “I didn’t know it was something that had to be discussed. He works, he gets paid.”

  The dog scampers away from Kit’s voice, though she doesn’t look scared, she’s just psyched when she spots Evie in my arms.

  “Puppy! Put me down, Unca Jon.”

  Jim steps toward us. “Is she safe?”

  “Oh yeah,” Jack answers as he gladly steps away from his sister. “You can put Bean’s skull in her mouth and you’re good.”

  “Um, I’d rather we didn’t do that,” Sissy murmurs as she steps closer.

  “Her name’s Annie?” I squat down with Evie in my arms and we both slowly put our hands out for Annie to sniff. Jack says she’s safe, but I don’t know her and Evie’s smaller than the dog. I’m not just letting her go.

  “I promise, she’s a good girl.”

  “When does she go back to her family?” Kit asks.

  Jack’s head snaps back to her. “She is home. She’s mine.”

  “Jack--”

  “She’s mine, Kit. I’m not letting her go.”

  “You didn’t even ask, Jack. You can’t just bring a giant dog into my house.”

  “I’m sorry. I would have asked, but you would have said no. But she’s mine. I’ll sleep with her in my house if you want, in Lindsi’s old place, but I won’t give her up.”

  “We have a baby on the way,” Kit murmurs as she rubs her stomach. “What if she hurts it? We don’t know that dog.”

  Annie licks Evie from hand to elbow and Evie giggles and flails wildly, then she trots toward Bean and Sissy. I keep my eyes peeled, waiting to snatch them away, but Annie simply sniffs and licks and bounces around on her three legs.

  She walks around to each of us, introducing herself with a kiss and a painful whip of the tail.

  Jack shakes his head. “I know her, Kit. I trust her.”

  “I guess we have a new dog now then, huh?” Aiden’s smile is large as he hugs Tina to his side, but his eyes don’t leave Evie in my arms. “She is kinda cute.”

  “Cute?” Bobby asks skeptically. “She only has three legs!”

  “She was hurt real bad,” Jack says sadly. “I found her and fixed her up.”

  “So Annie is what happened to your flowers and stuff?” Jim asks, dropping Jack back in the shit and reminding Kit.

  Kit’s eyes narrow again.

  “We’ll fix them, Kit. I swear. That’s the first time she’s gone silly. I don’t know what happened, but she’s a really good girl. We’ve been working on training. She knows all of your smells already. She already knows you.” Jack stops and catches Kit’s eyes with his. “I trust her.”

  Just as Jack’s final words leave his mouth, Annie starts growling menacingly from her spot in front of Bean and Izzy. Our group moves as one, though I’m the fastest as I jump up with Evie tucked under one arm, then I grab Sissy and Bean under my other.

  I step in front of the growling dog, ready to kick her down to keep her away, but her snapping teeth turn with her face and she steps in front of us and growls toward the estate entrance. As a group, we all look toward the older couple as they peer through the bars of the gates.

  The gates sit at the end of our driveway, about ninety feet from where we stand and I can tell the couple is a man and a woman, both older than us, maybe even a little older than Nell.

  They cup their hands over the faces, like they’re using their hands as binoculars, then the man cups his mouth.

  “Sarah!”

  Our group draws our breaths collectively. We know who Sarah is, but not many other people do.

  “Oh my god--”

  “Peaches, who is that?”

  Tina’s body trembles as Aiden holds her tight. “That’s my mom and dad.”

  My eyes snap to hers. “They sold you to Sean? They chose money over you?”

  Tina’s eyes turn to Aiden, then back to mine. “Well--”

  “Yes or no, Tina.”

  “Yeah,” she swallows. “Pretty much.”

  “Right.” I pass Evie to Tina then I settle Sissy and Bean back on their feet.

  “Jon,” Bobby snaps his hand over my shoulder. “No.”

  �
�Time to earn your place in our family, Tripod. Let’s go.”

  Annie’s lips stay drawn over her lips, her hackles high on her back, her large rib cage brushing my thigh as she walks forward with me.

  Aiden, Jim, Bobby and Jack fall into step behind us and we stalk to the gates. Tina’s parents watch us warily, and I can’t even blame the several steps they take back at our approach.

  I don’t release the gates. I don’t trust myself to have that kind of access to these people.

  “Hi,” the man’s voice shakes as he takes another step back. “We’re here to see our daughter.”

  “Nope.”

  The woman’s face blanches. “No?”

  “No.” Aiden confirms my snapped words. “No, you’re not going to see her.”

  The man’s face turns red. “I don’t know who you are--”

  Annie lets out a snapping growl, drawing the man’s terrified eyes to her drooling and frothy mouth. The piece of shit actually moves back another step, cowardly angling his body behind his wife’s. “We’re here to see Sarah. We don’t have any business with you.”

  “Correct, you have no business with us,” Aiden spits out on his own low growl. “You have no business here at all. Sarah doesn’t live here. Leave before we open the gates.”

  “We saw our daughter,” the lady says, braver than her pussy husband. “We saw her and our granddaughter too. We have the right to see them.”

  “You have zero rights to them,” Aiden snaps out. Bobby’s hands come down on Aiden’s biceps to stop his forward momentum. “Zero! You lost your rights when you chose Sean and money over those girls. Sarah and Katie no longer exist. Get the fuck off our property before we let the dog out.”

  Annie rips out another perfectly timed snapping growl and the couple jump in place. “We’ll call animal control.”

  “You can try,” Jack dares. “I bet she rips your arms off before you get your phones out. I saw her rip Sean’s face off only a few weeks ago.”

  Well that’s not true, but the threat remains the same.

  “We’ll call the police.”

  I smile big and unrestrained as I think of my new buddy, Deputy Turner of the local police department. “Call them, lady. Ask for Alex. Tell him I sent you. In the meantime, get your raping, money hungry piece of shit asses off our property before I take a stick and show you what you did to your daughter.”

  The man’s eyes flare again, but one more snapping growl from our bear has them turning and skittering to their car.

  “Jon.” Aiden growls, turning and shoving me after we watch their taillights speed away. “I get what you did, I get that you helped, but if you ever paint a picture like that again, with my girl and a stick, I might kill you. I wanna fucking vomit now.”

  I let out a shaky breath, feeling my own overwhelming nausea as the adrenaline slams around my body, making my hands shake from the power of my coursing blood. “I’m sorry Aido.” I try to shake it off. I’m seeing my own images rolling through my mind, like a horror movie the world refuses to switch off. “I’m sorry.”

  Annie’s growls drop away immediately as her tail starts wagging happily. She cozies up against Jack’s thigh and Jack’s hand comes down absentmindedly to scratch her ears.

  “Annie.” Her happy face pops up instantly at my words then she waddles her way to my legs. I bend down and hug her. “Welcome to the family, girl. Best money Jack ever spent.”

  Twenty Three

  Tink

  Korean Elvis

  “With the power vested in me by this great state, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Aiden, buddy,” Korean Elvis’s voice drawls as his luscious dark hair whips over his lightly sweating forehead and his hips thrust toward the couple in an entirely ridiculous way. “You may kiss your bride.”

  I smile as Aiden smooshes Tina to his chest, then as he bends her back to front and mostly upside down as he dips her and kisses her almost as indecently as Korean Elvis’s hip thrusting.

  Despite the fact Jon is standing beside me and trying to catch my little finger with his, despite the fact he keeps asking to talk to me, despite the fact I’ve seen him only a handful of times in the last month and my heart still bleeds for him, I smile because I’m so happy for Tina and Aiden that I can forget the rest for a minute.

  They’ve been through a lot of shit but seeing them here now, making out with a lot of tongue though they hide it from their daughter standing a few feet away in Gramma Nelly’s arms, I can feel their happiness.

  I want to be that happy someday.

  After our epic, friendship ending, heart shattering fight in the parking lot, I went home and I hid out for a long time. I worked and I researched. Eventually Lacey pulled me aside at work and metaphorically slapped my face. “Stop moping. Stop thinking of the negatives. Positive thinking brings positive results.” She was right. I’d spent the previous couple years pining over something I couldn’t have. I was pathetic and annoying myself. So I stopped obsessing about what I don’t have and started thinking about what I want.

  I want to be happy. I want my forever. And no matter how much he hurts me, I really, really want Jon to be happy too.

  I’ve spent the better part of the last month hiding out in my apartment and having the girls over for dessert and movies. I feel bad because the group is kind of split. The guys aren’t coming over, just the girls and although it hurts to see Jon, I do miss the antics of the group as a whole. When we’re all together, there’s just this ultimate group chemistry. As a whole, we make a funny as hell combination, and being together makes me feel really good, even if I’m at the butt of most of Jimmy’s jokes.

  I’ve been working on me. I need to find the old me again, the me before Jon. I think I’m on the right track. Maybe.

  Probably not, since I’ve spent the whole month researching child sexual abuse cases and trying to understand the statute of limitations and whether he can do something about it.

  I have no clue if Jon wants justice for what happened to him, but I’ve compiled a folder full of old cases where the victim reported the cases decades after it happened. In our state, from what I’ve read, he can actually report up to thirty years after the fact. I’ve found cases where the victim was successful in having their attackers prosecuted and sent away.

  I’ll do this for Jon, because I love him. Even if grown up Jon doesn’t want to revisit this stuff, the young brutalized boy deserves justice.

  But all in all, I won’t push him to do anything. I don’t have that right anymore. I have zero rights when it comes to him, so I’ve simply compiled the folder, I’ve collated lists of the best lawyers that specialize in these cases, and I’ll give him the information.

  He can do with it what he wants.

  I just want him to be happy, and I think him facing this head on might help. He’ll probably get pissed at me for assuming, but whatever. Jon’s always pissed at me about one thing or another. And when he’s not, that usually means I’m pissed at him for something. It’s our cycle.

  I snatch my hand away again as his pinky finger snags mine and his lips move toward my ear to whisper more ‘we need to talk’ messages, then I take a step closer to Kit, a step away from Jon. I need distance; he smells too damn good.

  We all smile and clap as Aiden finally lets his brand new wife up for air, then we hug it out as the women giggle and cry and the men slap each other’s backs.

  Nelly steps up to Aiden and Tina last as she keeps Evie’s hand clasped in hers and Bean’s stroller just beside her leg. “I’m so proud of you both.” She kisses Tina’s cheek. “I love you.” She kisses Aiden. “I’ve got the babies. You guys have the entire night to party.”

  Aiden hugs her tight against his broad chest. “Thank you Mama.”

  “You’re so welcome, honey. You know which room we’re in and I’ll keep my phone on, but don’t worry.” Nelly takes Izzy’s hand in her spare. “You too. I’ve got them, you guys have fun.”

  “Thank you.”

 
; “You’re welcome, sweetheart. I’d tell you all not to do anything stupid, but most of you are already married or pregnant, so I figure the damage is already done. Have fun, text me pictures of the really dumb stuff.”

  Jimmy laughs as he hugs his mom. “We’re definitely not texting you anything, Mom. That’s just weird. Take care of my girls. I hope they sleep for you.”

  Aiden elbows Jim in the ribs. “Your girls? That’s my girl.” He picks Evie up for a bear hug and he nuzzles his spiky chin against her neck as she giggles and flails wildly. “I love you, Smalls.”

  “I wuv you Biggie.”

  “You have fun with Gramma, okay?”

  “K.” Evie wiggles to be put down then Tina squats down in front of her. “I wuv you, Mommy.”

  “I love you too, baby. Sleep well and I’ll see you at breakfast.”

  “We have pancakes?”

  “We’re at a buffet, baby. You can have a million pancakes.”

  “K! Let’s go, Gramma.”

  We watch as the three pack up their overflowing diaper bag paraphernalia, then as Jack says his sulky goodbyes since he’s years away from being old enough to party, then he grabs the heavy bag and picks Evie up and he follows the stroller and Nell out of the cheesy chapel.

  Jim claps his hands together gleefully. “Bubs, we’re out of here!”

  Aiden picks Tina up, sweeping her feet out from under her and catching her in his arms. “We’re going to our room.”

  “Lame.” I roll my eyes at his horny ass, but then Bobby throws his arm over Kit’s shoulder and turns her toward the door.

  “We’re going to see how they make twins.”

  Jim pulls Izzy into his side but he flips his leg out and kicks Bobby in the back. “That’s not how that works, dumbass. You obviously didn’t pay attention in Mrs. Burns’ sex ed class.”

  “No shit I didn’t pay attention. She was a seventy year old crotchety bitch who always had lipstick on her teeth and smelled like dead roses.”

  Aiden laughs at his brother. “Did you ever stop to think she was purposely placed as a kind of subconscious birth control tactic? I mean, I sure as shit couldn’t muster a boner on any day I had to see her.”