Arrow of Time (Marauders)

by Andersson, Lina

  “You're shitting me?”

  “What?”

  “This is where you live? It's a fucking castle.”

  “He lived here before we met.”

  Edie shook her head and got out of the car. As Melanie walked into the house, Edie followed behind, and she was still giggling a little bit.

  “This is a really nice place. Big!” Edie said with a smile and looked around. A very tired smile.

  “Like I said, Brick lived here when we met. So it's still a bit of a man cave.”

  “It's beautiful.” Edie insisted when they were standing in the big hallway with the stairs in front of them.

  It was a big open area; the ceiling in the hallway stretched all the way up to the second floor, with a balcony that held the doors to the bedrooms upstairs. To the right was the kitchen with a door out to a deck that overlooked a nature area, and to the left the living room. Underneath the hallway balcony were two guest rooms, an office and a two bathrooms. The basement was the actual man cave; a den and a bar with a pool table, leftovers from Brick’s life as single, and she didn't mind. But also the two teenage boys’ bedrooms; they wanted them down there. Brick had also given her a room, a study with the beginning of a library. The house was located just outside Greenville with few houses close by. It was all private, since Brick had wanted it like that, private. No one would be able to sneak up on him. She’d redecorated a bit, actually quite a lot, although not too ‘bitchy,’ as he’d put it. He didn’t want it to look like a chick place, and of the two of them, he was actually a lot better at decorating. He knew that stuff. They’d reached an agreement, though, so it was stylish, but neither feminine or masculine.

  She looked back at Edie and this time really looked at her, and she looked like shit. Tired, dirty, her long dreads tied together into a big knot and her clothes beyond filthy.

  “Do you have any clean clothes?”

  “Not clean by your definition,” Edie answered with a laugh. “I'm not as picky anymore. Or rather, even less picky than I used to be.”

  That was saying something. “I'll get you some and I'll wash your stuff while you're sleeping.” She pointed towards the laundry room. “You can drop it off in there.”

  Edie nodded and walked into the room. Melanie went to the kitchen, and by the time Edie got back out she'd made her sandwiches and coffee. She couldn't help herself when Edie sat down, and she stroked her cheek before giving her a hug.

  “I'm so glad to have you back.”

  “It's really good to be back with you.”

  She pointed at a t-shirt, some underwear and a pair of yoga pants. “Take those for now. I'll show you the guestroom. Or, well, guess it’s your room now for as long as you want it.”

  “Think the big guy is okay with that?”

  “The big guy loves me and he knows I love you. He’s okay with that.”

  Brick wouldn’t object; he knew how much Edie meant to her and how much she’d missed her. He was also a guy who valued family, so he’d understand. And they had this big house, not like they didn’t have room for her.

  The guestroom wasn't big, but had an adjoining bathroom and the smile on Edie's face when she turned on the shower made Melanie laugh.

  “Damn, girl. Long time since you took a shower?”

  “A while. And it's been a really fucking long time since I took a shower with hot water.”

  “There's shampoo and soap. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  Still with that smile on her lips, she shook her head. “No, Lanie. This is fucking perfect.” Edie turned to her. “Thank you.”

  “Give me the clothes you’re wearing, and I'll wash them too.”

  When she looked inside the room forty-five minutes later, Edie was sleeping. She stood there for a while, just looking at her, her baby sister who was back home with her. Finally.

  -o0o-

  When I woke up, it took me a few moments to remember why I was so damn comfortable. I was in Lanie’s house. I looked around, and according to the alarm clock, it was seven the morning after. I'd slept for over seventeen hours. I got up and found the yoga pants. They were a bit big, but they weren’t in any danger of sliding off me, so they’d do. I heard voices from the kitchen, and when I got there Brick, two boys in their late teens, a young girl, and finally Lanie were sitting around the table.

  “Hi,” I said and cleared my throat. “Good morning.”

  There was a silence with all of them staring at me until the little girl, Eliza, who I knew had her fourth birthday the month before, opened her mouth.

  “Are you really my aunt?”

  It took me a second and then I laughed. “Yes. I am. And you're Eliza.”

  “Yes. I'm four years old.” She pointed at the two older boys. “That's Marcus and Mitchell, but everyone calls them Mac and Mitch, they're seventeen and fifteen.” I nodded at them and smiled. “That's my mom, she's forty and that's my dad, he's just old.”

  I laughed at her labeling Brick as too old to even have an age, and I wasn't the only one. He rolled his eyes.

  “I'm fifty-one,” he said. “I have an age, baby girl. I'm not 'just old'.”

  “Dawg said that when you're more than fifty you're just old.”

  Brick made an annoyed smiling face as he nodded to his daughter, who wasn't even looking at him. Besides the 'just old' thing, age was apparently very important to Eliza.

  “How old are you?” She asked me.

  “I'm twenty-five.”

  Then Eliza really surprised me when she jumped down form the chair, came up to me and grabbed my hand. Her hair was long and blond, eyes big and blue and she was incredibly pretty.

  “We're having breakfast, do you like breakfast?”

  “Yes.” I followed her to a chair and sat down. “It’s my favorite meal of the day.”

  “Mine too!” She smiled. “And both our names start with E! We're the same.”

  Lanie came over and put a cup of coffee in front of me.

  “If you give me the rest of your clothes, I'll wash those too.”

  “I gave you all my clothes.”

  When she stared at me I knew what was coming. With Lanie being who she was, the amount of clothes I owned was probably gonna shock her half to death. I was right. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish before she was finally able to speak.

  “You gave me two pairs of jeans, some underwear, t-shirts and two hoodies.”

  “Yes.”

  “That's all your clothes?”

  “No,” I said and looked into my coffee cup. “I have a leather jacket as well, but you don't need to clean that one.”

  Brick laughed. “My kinda girl.”

  “We're going shopping,” Lanie said, and judging by the tone of her voice, it wouldn't matter what I said. We were going shopping. I had known that was coming.

  “So,” the oldest of the boys said. Mac, he looked a lot like his dad, long dark hair and brown eyes. “You've been traveling for six years?”

  “Yes.”

  “Cool.”

  “Which country was the best?” Mitch asked.

  That kind of stunned me. “Ehh. Not sure. Most of them were good, just in different ways. And it also depends on where in a country you go.”

  “Tell us about the best things you did,” Mac said while handing me the plate with waffles on.

  -o0o-

  Brick looked at the woman sitting at his table. She looked a lot better clean and rested. She actually looked a lot like a younger version of his wife. Just with brown hair and a little less curves. She wasn't skinny, she had curves, just not the kind Mel had.

  Mel had told him early on about Edie, her baby sister. He'd been pissed at first, thought it was cowardly to just take off and leave your only family behind, but then he got the full story and a better sense of what kind of a person Edie was. Her taking off wasn't just about getting away, running, it was just as much about not being a burden to Mel. At least that was his take on it. Mel had said it was mor
e to find herself. Either way, she’d taken off with the intention to be away for a year.

  Mel had expected Edie to be on her way home by the time he met her, but she wasn't. She just kept on traveling, picking up jobs where she found them. Brick had sometimes wondered if the fact that Mel had settled down had been one of the reasons that Edie kept on searching for whatever the fuck she was looking for. She didn't have much to come home to, and maybe she didn't want to get in their way when they started up a new life. Again, that was all him guessing. He knew she had a lot to deal with, and Mel had said she was the kind of person who wanted to deal with things by herself.

  He didn't know any of it for sure, since he’d only ever had Mel’s version of what Edie was like. The rest were all his own speculations, but he knew Mel was happy to have her back. He'd caught her going into the guestroom more than once the night before, coming out with shiny eyes and mumbling about Edie finally being back.

  And if his Old Lady was happy, he was. Edie was family, so she was welcome to stay. She seemed like a calm person, much more calm and laid back than he'd expected. So far it sure looked like she'd dealt with her issues, most of them at least. He'd seen some pictures of her, but she didn't look anything like that anymore. She looked healthy now, still a bit tired but her eyes had the same shine as Mel's had.

  His two sons had obviously been half knocked out of their chairs when Edie showed up in the kitchen, tight yoga pants and a tank top, looking a lot like his wife which meant she was beautiful, really beautiful. But in a more casual way, which was more their style.

  They'd heard a lot about her, how she traveled the world, the kind of shit all kids that age dreamed about. So not only was she beautiful, she was really fucking cool in their eyes. They were probably both half in love with her already.

  At the moment they were asking her millions of questions about all the things she'd seen, and he had to admit, it was pretty damn interesting. She was good at telling stories and had them all laughing, she included all of them in the conversation, even Eliza, who had ended up in Edie's lap within five minutes. That was his baby girl, always making friend and charming the shit outta people.

  Personally, he was more impressed with Edie's wardrobe. Mel had looked like she was about to faint when she realized that Edie didn't have more clothes than that. It was pretty obvious to him. The girl had been living in a backpack for six years, not like she'd want to drag around on loads of shit. But as much as he loved his woman, she wasn't a practical being.

  -o0o-

  Melanie looked at Edie, who was buying some kind of shampoo made especially for dreads. She was surprised about how different she was now compared to when she left. It wasn't strange that she was, but it was a remarkable difference. The scared teenage girl who used to avoid looking people in the eyes now appeared to be confident. The hesitation and the nervousness that saturated her back then was all gone. She was still calm, not pushy and not sociable in the 'in people's faces' kind of way, just naturally friendly and not avoiding people.

  Edie picked up her worn bag, nodded to the clerk and came walking towards Melanie with a small smile on her lips.

  “Shit, I have to bite my tongue to not start haggling every time I pay.”

  “Guessin’ that’s a habit by now?”

  “Yeah. In some places they get offended if you don’t do it. Not sure that would be the case in the shopping malls around here, though.”

  Melanie laughed and shook her head. “No. So please try to contain that need.”

  “I’ll do my best.” The smile was bigger now. “Really, people got pissed when you didn't do it, and in the beginning I was too shy to try. It felt cheap, and also, I didn't know what anything was worth. Once I got the hang of it, I thought it was fun. And I'm very good at it.”

  “Might have to bring you to some business meetings,” Melanie said and then she carefully stroked one of Edie's dreads. “Why dreads?”

  Edie hadn't had dreads when she left, but Melanie had to admit it suited her, and they seemed well looked after. Actually, they seemed to be the most well groomed part of her, and even if they looked taken care of, it did say more about the rest of her than the dreads.

  “Not like I had the opportunity to wash my hair all the time. This way it's not all that obvious after a couple of weeks. If I just have them looked over now and then they tend to look pretty okay.”

  “Here,” Melanie said and pointed at a clothes store. “You need more clothes.”

  “Really? I bought two pairs of jeans, underwear and t-shirts. I don't need more.”

  “Yes you do. And a dress wouldn't kill you.”

  “No, but I might strangle you with it.”

  That made Melanie laugh. She still hadn't gotten over the fact that her baby sister hardly had any clothes, and more importantly, hardly any other things from her travels. A few pictures, some jewelry, looked like some African stuff in polished wood, and that was pretty much it. No mementos at all, basically. She'd asked about it, but Edie shrugged and said she didn't need things or pictures to remember.

  If Brick hadn't been impressed with Edie before that, he was then. He'd talked a bit while Edie was away to get ready for the shopping. How he thought Edie really had embodied what freedom meant. She owned nothing, just experienced things. She'd done a proper soul searching journey and he respected that. Of course that's what he thought, Melanie had thought with a sigh. All bikers always spoke about finding freedom, living free, experiencing things. As far as she could tell that usually meant getting drunk and fucking as much as possible. She doubted anyone of them would be able to do what Edie had done, but at the same time she understood what her husband meant. And if she'd seen it from his perspective she might've seen the same thing, but her husband didn't know Edie the way she did.

  Edie wasn't just 'soul searching' or trying to be free. She was running away, and in a way even punishing herself.

  And where he saw a girl living in freedom, experiencing the world, Melanie saw a lonely girl all by herself. It was possible the truth was somewhere in the middle of what the two of them saw. Either way, it didn't matter. Edie was back and Melanie wanted her to stay. She didn't want Edie to be alone anymore.

  CHAPTER TWO:

  I'd Even Key It

  -o0o-

  Friday, March 2nd

  I'D BEEN BACK FOR just over a week, and so far, it was nice. Really nice. All of it. Having this big family around me, and it was a great family. Even if I'd had people around me most of the time while I was away, it had been nothing like this. It was strange to immediately be so accepted. The only one who really knew me was Lanie, but it didn't matter to the rest of them. I was family, so they accepted me as one of their own. They were really big on the family thing here.

  I was also already getting used to the comfort with living in a huge-ass house with running water. Still wasn't hooked on the TV, and I wasn't planning on it. Not with a small library in the house.

  At the moment I was on the deck, watching the last of this day's Arizona sun set with a cup of tea and a book. That was when Brick came out and sat down in the chair next to me. We had talked a lot, most of the time out on the deck like this, him drinking beer and me drinking something else. I liked him; most of all I liked how he was with Lanie. He'd mad an effort to get to know me, by doing this, taking time to talk just the two of us. And it wasn't just poking around; he let me get to know him, as well.

  “How are you doing, girl?”

  “Good. Actually starting to feel really good.”

  He nodded and lit a cigarette, offered me one, but I shook my head. He knew I didn’t smoke, but he always offered. Probably out of habit. He looked tired, and after a deep drag on the smoke, and a huge gulp of the beer, he sighed. He redid the braid in his dark brown, slightly gray hair and smoothed out his big mustache before looking at me. Yup, he looked really fucking tired.

  “How are you?” I asked.

  “Ah, you know...” he shook his head. “Had church t
oday. Always some shit at church.”

  Church was the club meeting. Another one of those things Lanie had explained to me in the emails. She'd also told me about the parties they had after church, but considering the time, Brick had apparently skipped that today. I never asked about anything that had to do with club business, the legal parts that I knew about or the illegal parts that I assumed were a part of it. I looked over the railing at the landscape. It usually looked pretty meek, but in the light from the setting sun it looked amazing, it was glowing.

  “She missed you,” he continued.

  It didn't exactly came out of nowhere. The subject of me being away for a long time had been more than mentioned. Also about Lanie missing me, although he'd danced around it a little more before. This was the first time he was this direct.

  “I know,” I said and kept my eyes on the horizon, too embarrassed to look at him.

  I had thought about it now and then while I was on the road, but I hadn't fully understood how much Lanie had missed me. She'd already had a life before I came barging into hers. I didn't think it would make such a big difference when I left. Now, when I knew, I felt bad about staying away for so long. It wasn't fair to Lanie, and I was afraid she might think it was to punish her, which it wasn't. The first two, maybe three, years I hadn't in any way been ready to go home. Even after that, it felt like too much to deal with, and I still hadn't felt done or ready to face the things waiting for me here. To be honest, I wasn't sure I was ready still, but by now I knew that I wouldn't have any big revelations just because I was in a foreign country.

  Facing Lanie had been easier than expected. Part because Lanie was Lanie and was just happy to have me back. I wasn't an idiot; I knew we had things we needed to talk about and we would. When we were both ready. Part because she was just being the big sister she'd always been and cut me a lot of slack.