Chapter 9- Edify
Michael Isaac Neary was an early riser out of habit, not necessity. He’d never been one to sleep in unless ill or too sore to get out of bed; either way, he would still move. This morning, before everyone was awake in the house, he rose to make a pot of coffee, have a bagel, and think through the last 48 hours of his ever-changing life. In the kitchen, he stood at the sink, looking out over his land when the final drop of black attitude changer hit the glass carafe. He poured two cups and walked over to the couch to hand the second cup to Mustang, who he knew was awake the moment he entered the kitchen.
“Mustang,” he said, passing the cup.
“Mr. Slow,” he replied, accepting the mug. His long, muscular legs swung from the couch, bringing him to an upright sitting position. He sniffed at the chicory coffee his adopted brother loved to make, sipping and allowing the dark brew to slide down his throat. “Married with a kid, huh? And I didn’t even get an invite for either. The kid is what, about five?”
“All of this is new, I mean like five months or so new,” Slow told him.
“Secret baby?”
“Real secret; found out when the cousin went missing,” he said.
“The marriage?”
“Gabriel…,” Slow replied.
“Explains a great deal of why you called me to help,” Mustang said. “I just happened to be in Michigan for the conference.”
“I know, and you are the best tracker out there,” he said.
The silence between them wasn’t thick with the unresolved drama between brothers. Mustang had taken a job with the State Troopers after college, taking his first assignment in Michigan, where he also went to college. A conference on the West Coast took him to Oregon where he fell in love with the vibe of the state and opted to stay. A special task force put together to locate and find missing women and children arose, and as one of the best trackers on the force, he was attached to the group to help out. In his free time while on the assignment, he’d taken it upon himself to track and find The Collector.
“Speaking of that, you know I don’t like to fire my weapon,” he said, cutting his eyes at Slow. “How is Helen, is that her name, going to handle this assignment she’s volunteered us for? I mean, if she gets cold feet, I’m not going to complete the job.”
“The anger in her is enough to complete the task; my fear is that she will like it,” Slow said. “You know how The Company feels about people who enjoy the job.”
“Yeah, I do,” he said. “Azreal is a tough cookie.”
“Says the man who works for Belial, the Angel of Lawlessness,” Slow said, almost smiling.
Mustang drew back in horror. His face contorted as he looked at Slow. “Dear Jesus! Was that a smile? Were you smiling? I need to go get Pops. I think you might be ill,” he said shivering.
Slow gave him a playful punch in the arm as they heard a set of heavy footfalls entering the space. Mark Neary was awake. He went first to the bathroom, returning to pour himself a cup of coffee and join his sons. Mug in hand, he sat across from them in the recliner taking his first morning sip. “Morning, my sons,” he said.
“Dad,” Slow replied.
“Pops,” Mustang said.
Mark leaned back in the seat, his eyes on both of the men. There were issues on his heart and weighing heavily in his mind. Now was the time to discuss it.
“Listen, we are outnumbered and about to be overrun,” he told his sons. “We need more Neary men, particularly from the two of you.”
Slow said nothing as Mustang looked around, trying to figure out who Mark was talking to because he didn’t think it was him. Sons meant a home and a steady woman in his life who wanted to talk about her feelings and the bloating in her belly from drinking cow milk. He had tried it once, and he didn’t like dirty panties on the floor of the bathroom, so living with a woman wasn’t on his planner for the next decade.
“I’m talking to both of you,” Mark said, reaching over to thump Mustang on the ear. “My brother Joe has his first grandson from Bleu. Zeke’s wife is expecting a boy, and I think Gabriel’s wife is having one as well. That’s three Nearys for Joe, and no Neary boys to carry on my line.”
“Dad, I’m working on it,” Slow said, smiling again. Mustang looked at him and shuddered once more.
“See that’s why I’m not trying to make no babies and sit around smiling like this joker. Dude, you’re grinning like a gas ball was freed from your colon,” he said. “Pops, I’m not trying to get tied down and have any babies any time soon. I don’t even think I want kids.”
On cue, small feet were heard coming down the hall. Naomi was awake. She didn’t bother to stop at the bathroom but made a beeline for her father. The soft black curls sat askew on her head and the ears protruded, giving her the appearance of a cute little Munchkin.
“Morning, Daddy. Morning, Grandpa Man,” she said, looking at Mustang. “Daddy, who is that? I seent him last night, but Auntie made us go to bed before I could ask him name.”
“This is my brother, Jairus. We call him Jay, so you can call him Uncle Jay,” he told his daughter.
Her little face registered confusion as she gawked at Mustang. “Your brother? Him is black, but you are pink.”
“I am white, and yes he is a black man, but his name is Jairus Paul Neary, and he is my brother, which makes him your uncle,” he explained. “We call him Jay. He is your Uncle Jay.”
Her little eyes wandered to Mark, “Grandpa Man, did you make a black baby with another lady that wasn’t Grandma?”
Mustang burst into laughter. “I like her,” he said. “She’s sharp.”
Mark didn’t think it was funny. “No, I did not, Miss Smarty Pants, and stop calling me Grandpa Man. I am Grandpa,” he said.
Naomi wouldn’t let it go so easily. Her little eyes were homed in on the man who said he was her daddy’s brother. The man had kind eyes, but that didn’t change what she was thinking. She felt they all needed to hear her tiny opinion.
“Well, where did you get him? Uncle Jay did Grandma make you with a black boyfriend that Grandpa Man didn’t know about?” she asked to their shocked faces. “Auntie had a black boyfriend that my Mama didn’t know about, and when my Mommy went to work, sometimes Auntie’s black boyfriend would come over to the house, and they would be on the couch kissing and making funny noises. I didn’t want to see any of that, so I would close my door.”
“Good grief child,” Slow said, “let’s make you some breakfast. If food is in your little mouth, you can’t traumatize people.”
Mustang watched them walk away, Slow carrying his daughter to the kitchen over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He was still smiling as the child sat at the dining room table. Her small eyes drifted back to Mustang. He waved at her, hoping to break the way she stared at him mutherfuckingly, looking more and more like her father. She sat in silence as if she were dissecting him on a molecular level, which somewhat unnerved him. He turned his head to look at Mark, who was also looking at the child who was still quietly staring at Mustang.
“You love her a lot, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but the first time I tried to kiss her cute little cheeks, she punched me in the mouth,” Mark said. He and Mustang burst into laughter. “She is not one to mess with, that one. We played paintball, and you know, she got me. She shot me by playing possum and I fell for it. I was wounded. Still am. Slippery When Wet is all dried out.”
Mustang shook his head, ignoring the handle his adopted father had given himself that didn’t exist, commenting, “Michael seems different. This home feels different,”
“Jay, having someone to come home to each day makes a man different,” Mark told him. “The lone stallion looks good in the field, but he is happier with a herd. It’s time to find you a filly and create your own family.”
“I hear you, Pops, but I know I’m not ready,” he explained. “When the time comes, I shall take it as it arises.”
“Good enough. Let’s get the day moving,” he said softly before rising from the chair.
Incrementally, the family appeared as food came from the kitchen onto the table. Helen arrived along with Zeke, Tameka, and Azreal, after having had breakfast at her home. After breakfast, the family would depart.
The Doc with his wife and son were the first to leave after checking on Cherry. Her foot, broken in two places rested immobile in a cast for the next six to eight weeks. This also meant she would be unable to work for nearly two months, which made Azreal a bit of a bear this morning. She too was departing for home, after finding out what she needed to know. Their work life had morphed into a waiting game.
Mark and Ruth left with Rebecca. Zeke, Michelle, and Tameka departed as well, leaving Mustang, Cherry, Helen, and Slow seated in the living room. Cherry’s eyes were on Mustang, after also observing the way Ruth and Mark acted with him as well as Rebecca. He was more than a Technician. She waited for her husband, who spoke nothing of the connection to the man.
Mustang picked up on it, easing the awkwardness. “Michael, I tell you what. Pops has a nerve commanding we make more Neary’s to carry on his line. He said it as if we are going to mass-produce boys so he can teach them to fish and hunt like he did us.”
Cherry arched one eyebrow. “You’re a Neary as well?”
Naomi, who didn’t want to be left out of the conversation, added, “Mommy, he is Daddy’s black brother. I want a brother. Daddy likes him a lot, I seent him smiling at Uncle Jay.”
“Brother?” Helen said, looking at Mustang.
“Legally, at least that’s what my paperwork said when I was adopted at 16,” he told them.
“Okay,” Helen said.
“Okay,” Cherry said, “that explains a lot.”
“What does it explain, Mommy? I don’t think I understand,” Naomi said, looking at the large black man.
“It means that when your Aunt was in trouble, and I went to find her, your Daddy asked his brother to help me find the one person in the world who means as much to me as you do, my beautiful child, and that is Helen,” she said. “He asked his brother to help me. He is going to help us again because he loves us.”
“I don’t know about all of that,” Mustang said, averting his eyes from the child who continued to stare at him as if he’d eaten the last cookie in the canister.
“Daddy, do you love Uncle Jay as much as Mommy loves me and Aunt Helen?”
Slow sat quietly, not knowing where she was going with her new line of inquiry, but the squishy feeling had returned to his chest. His wife’s broken foot meant she couldn’t work the job he truly didn’t want her to have in the first place, and fate had intervened on his behalf, leaving him grateful. He was grateful the injury was only a broken foot.
“I do, Naomi. I love him with everything in me, and I will fight a bear if need be to protect any one of you,” he said, feeling more emotional than was warranted. His eyes burned with the start of tears, and he was shocked at the purity of the emotions behind the words. He missed Mustang more than he realized, and having him home, for however long he would be here, was also a blessing he hadn’t known he needed.
“Daddy,” she said, scrambling down and walking over to Mustang. She pulled on her new Uncle’s arm, making him lean down. On his cheek, she planted four small kisses and gave him a hug around his neck with her small arms. “If you love him, then I will love him too.”
“Well, wow,” Mustang said, looking over to Helen, who was shaking her head no. He held up his hands to her as if he were asking her to explain.
“I’m not kissing you and telling you I love you,” she said, getting up from the table.
Mustang sat looking at his brother, a man slow to anger. Michael Isaac Neary always kept his emotions close to his chest, but today, Mustang saw a different side of him. His brother had a family that he loved. The little girl had also gotten to him, and a weird feeling sat in the pit of his stomach.
Suddenly the desire to buy her pony hit him along with wanting to have tea with her as he’d done with Rebecca when they were younger. He had a niece. She’d given him four germ-filled, bacteria-ridden kisses, and he liked it. He scowled in utter disdain at how much he appreciated her nasty little virus-carrying slob-filled points of affection.
Slow asked him, “Why are you frowning?”
“Because them slobbery, germ-laced kisses make me want to go buy her little ass a pony,” he said, frowning more.
Helen didn’t miss a beat; she came from the kitchen, leaned over him, and kissed his other cheek four or five times. “If that’s the case, I could use a pickup truck, Big Guy.”
She burst into laughter as she patted his shoulder. Mustang was also quick on the uptake but chose his wording carefully. His eyes focused on hers when he spoke.
“I could take my response in more directions than one, but let’s get through this assignment, get the payout, and see the next steps,” Mustang said, “and just so you know, if that’s what you truly need, all you have to do is ask, and I shall provide.”
“Fine, Uncle Jay, is that your name? Mr. Neary? I could use a pickup truck so I can give Mark back his loaner to me and have my own wheels,” she said. “Working part-time for Rebecca and going to school for accounting is not going to offer the funding I need to purchase a reliable vehicle that is my own.”
Her eyes were sparkling when she spoke to him. She had a spark in her he hadn’t noticed before, and the man in him nearly responded to it, but the Technician in him didn’t have the time. However, she was family and he would see her more often than he needed to, which is what prompted what he said next, “Jairus Paul Neary.”
“Jairus…the man who came to Jesus…wait, what did he want from Jesus?”
“He was the synagogue leader whose twelve-year-old daughter was ill,” Mustang explained. “Jesus raised his daughter from the dead.”
Cherry was fascinated by him. “Is this your birth name?”
“No, it is the name I chose when I was adopted,” he said.
“Any particular reason why? I mean that is not your average name,” Cherry said.
Mustang offered a soft smile to her, “Rebecca nearly drowned when she was 12. Pops and Michael were too far away, and I had just learned to swim. I gave it everything I had and pulled her from the water. I did CPR and cracked her rib because I didn’t know what I was doing, but I saved her life.”
Helen was frowning. “So you thought you were Jesus bringing Mark’s 12-year-old daughter Rebecca back from the dead?”
“No, Jairus had faith in Jesus, Helen. Mark and Ruth were teaching me about the power of faith, and although I couldn’t swim well, I had faith that I could help Rebecca and make a difference. I gave all I had in that belief, and in my faith, I saved Rebecca’s life. In my faith in getting away from my terrible parents, I was given a home with the Nearys and treated and loved as their own child. I could not and would not on that day have them lose a daughter,” he said. “Slow’s faith in me to find you is why I was sent to help Cherry. I come through, Helen. Every single time, I come through.”
Helen pressed her hand to her chest, seeing him in a new light. His gaze was intense as he rose from the table. All six feet two and a half inches of pure masculine energy hovered over her.
“As I said, all you have to do is ask me for what you need, and I shall come through for you, Helen,” he said, excusing himself from the table.
Everyone was quiet. Cherry was staring at her cousin, wondering what was going through her mind. Helen said it aloud, not meaning to as her eyes widened in disbelief, “I just felt my ovary release an egg for him to fertilize. I can’t even have children, but if I could, I would make that man into a Daddy on this very day,” she said pressing her hands over her nipples.
Slow stood up, and said, “Yeah, I need to be anywhere but here. Vaginas, nipples, ovaries, what has happened to my life?”
****
Outside, staring at the pile of firewood, Slow was joined by Mustang. They stood side by side. The home in the rear of the property was new. He pointed to it.
“Gabriel put it there for Helen to have her own space,” he said.
“Hmmph,” Mustang replied. “A lot has changed for you. You’re happy and deserve it, but do you think she is going to be able to get this done?”
He looked at the stack of firewood, evenly split and stacked. Helen had cut the wood in the time allotted. She was sore but didn’t complain. Her hands had blisters which she doctored and didn’t complain. Amid the chaos, she could be found sitting still, simply observing, which is what he assumed the woman had also taught his daughter- sit and observe. She was not a complainer. She’d been abused and didn’t complain.
“I think that woman is going to do things that will surprise us all,” Slow told Mustang. “Just get her home safe. You as well.”
“When the assignment is done, so am I. I’m headed to my home in Oregon when she is finished,” he said. “Maybe you and the fam should come for a visit. It has been a minute; I’ve upgraded the place.”
“We will, once the dust settles,” Slow said. “However, you offered to get Helen a truck. Where did that come from? Are you serious about it?”
“Yeah, I see something in her I once saw in myself, and having someone to believe in you means a lot. If all she is asking for is a truck, I can come through with it if it’s truly what she needs,” he said. “Is it what she needs?”
“There are days I’m not sure what she needs, Jay,” Slow confessed. “Maybe I’m too close to it to see the obvious, so I don’t know.”
“Don’t worry, I got this,” he said, winking.
“Take it easy with her; she is hard and fragile at the same time,” Slow told him. “I’m worried about the woman inside.”
“Brother, the woman inside of her is responding to all this man in front of her, and it’s not about sex, that’s not what she needs, but I hear you, and I got this,” he said, patting Slow on the back. “You know I always come through.”
“Yeah, and that’s what worries me,” Slow said.