7. King
“Son, where’s your head at?” Another night sleeping at the end of Sparrow’s driveway, so my head naturally is a jumbled mess. I’m getting ready to head back over to Sparrow’s, and don’t have the time for this conversation with my dad.
When we moved here, my dad had a hell of a time getting me and my brothers to open up to him. We didn’t trust him, we didn’t know what to think about our new life, and even though I wanted out of Georgia, I thought it would be with Sparrow. Over time, he was able to break through, but it wasn’t any easy feat—we are kind of assholes.
“Pop, my head is a mess. What she’s gone through…what those kids have gone through. I don’t know how she's ever going to forgive me.” Hanging my head, I replay Sparrow’s story. I don’t know how I’m going to get through to her or the kids enough to trust me.
“Not going to sugar coat it; you have your work cut out for you. Sparrow has been through hell, no doubt about that. And she's raising some tough kids, if your daughter’s artwork is any indication.”
No shit.
I envisioned having Sparrow back in my life, but in my head, it was a much happier reunion. I don’t know how to make three people who hate me, like me enough to let me in.
“You going to get a name?”
“Yep.” There's no way that I’m not going to take care of this guy. And if he just so happens to follow her to Chapel Falls, even better. He won’t be leaving here alive, and I won’t have to leave my family.
“Be smart.” With a nod of his head, my dad stands up and leaves the room. He's a man of few words, but I am expecting a longer conversation at some point. I can tell he has things to say, but he is choosing to let me figure it out for now.
I notice he says to be smart , not don’t do anything stupid . He means, don’t get caught.
I won’t.
Deciding to take my truck, just in case Sparrow or the kids need to go somewhere, I pull out of the garage and head towards her rental. I would like to take them out for the day, but I have a feeling that Sparrow will fight me on it.
A few minutes later, I’m pulling up to Sparrow’s, but nerves start to take over when I spot Cam’s cruiser parked out front. Fearing the worst, I run to the door, and let myself in. Cam and Sparrow look up from the table as I barge into the small home.
First thing on the agenda is getting Sparrow to agree to move to my house. There is plenty of room for everyone.
“What the hell, Kingston! You can’t just let yourself in,” Sparrow yells.
“Sorry. I saw Cam here and I thought something happened. I brought breakfast.” I hold out the bag and coffee towards Sparrow, hoping it will soften her anger towards me.
The kids come stumbling down the hallway at the commotion, so Sparrow quickly takes the breakfast out, laying it out on the table for them. Loch’s hair is sticking up in a million different directions, reminding me of a younger Sparrow. That girl would flop around all night until I got her back in my arms.
“Alright, I think this is everything. I’ll get this submitted today. Sparrow, let me know if you need anything at all,” Cam states as he stands from the table and gathers the paperwork. I follow him outside and to his cruiser.
“Are you filing a restraining order?” I bark out while pacing in front of him.
“King…If Sparrow wants you to know, she will tell you.”
My cousin must really want to taste the dirt, because I’m about to lay him out. “Cam, they are my family. It’s my right to know.”
“I feel ya, man. But that information needs to come from her.” With that he climbs into the cruiser and drives off.
Staring at the cruiser’s brake lights, I can’t believe my cousin. He rarely ever follows the rules down to the letter. He’s the type of cop you want on your side if you don’t uphold the law some of the time.
Which I do.
Sometimes.
Taking a look around before going back inside, I start a mental list of what needs to be done here if Sparrow won’t move to my house. Cameras, better locks, security alarms with all the bells and whistles.
Walking back inside, Sparrow and the kids are still at the table, so I sit down next to Loch. She seems more receptive to my presence. Telle hasn’t even looked me in the eyes yet, I can tell I have my work cut out for me with him.
“What’s on our agenda today?” I ask the table, not expecting a response.
“ Our agenda?” Sparrow finally responds.
“I’m going to check in on Ace and River today, thank you for asking. You guys are more than welcome to come with, check out Chapel Falls,” I respond with a smirk.
By the redness of my Bird’s face, I can tell I’m frustrating her. It was so easy to tell when she reached her limit, due to her pale complexion. It’s one of the many things I love about this woman. The years without her have only intensified my need for her.
“That’s nice. Make sure you lock the door on your way out,” Sparrow snaps back.
Oh, she isn’t going to make this easy in the slightest bit. “River has an amazing tattoo studio; he has people come from all over the world to be tattooed by him. It’s just him, and he only works off of appointments.”
That seems to perk at least Loch up, so I continue on, “Ace runs the family’s motel, you probably saw it on your way into town. He actually stays pretty busy with all the people that come up here to hunt, and in the winter, use the snowmobile trails.”
Grabbing a biscuit out of the bag, I sit back down and dig into my breakfast. Patty’s is the only place to get food in town other than my bar, and that woman can cook just about anything. There’s a reason people live in Chapel Falls, and the amenities aren’t it.
You live here to be left alone, and to handle justice how you see fit. There are a lot of places to hide your crime up here.
“Can you show River my drawings?” Loch quietly asks from across the table. How did I know that my daughter would be my way in?
“I can, but I bet he would like it more if you showed it to him. How about you guys come with?”
“Kingston,” Sparrow snaps at me, but right now I’m watching the hope fade from my daughters’ face, and that just won’t do.
Sparrow waves at me to follow her, so I follow her outside like a dog. I’m pretty sure I would follow her anywhere she told me.
Hell, I would gladly let my bird put a collar on me and let her walk me around. I would do absolutely anything to get her back.
“You can’t just say that without talking to me first. I know we have a lot of things to work out, and you getting time with them is one of them. But I…we just got here; they aren’t ready.”
“Listen, Bird. I know you don’t trust easily, and you have every right to doubt me. That little girl wants to go see the studio, but as soon as you spoke, she knew you were going to say no. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will happen to them when they are with me.”
Sparrow stares at me before looking through the window at the kids. She turns back towards me, speaking softly, “If she wants to go, fine. Telle is going to throw a fit because he will want to stay here with me, but also go with his sister to protect her. He is going to be harder to win over.” She leaves me standing on the back porch, while I watch her go off with Loch.
I don’t know how I’m going to win my family over, but there is not a chance in hell that I'm letting them go now. I have been in love with Sparrow since I was fifteen years old and made the dumbest decision of my life when I was seventeen.
I will not fail her again.
Loch is sitting in the backseat, her drawing pads sitting in her lap. Even though she seemed excited when we were leaving, she now is fidgeting like she's nervous. I’m surprised Sparrow let me take her on my own, but I wasn’t going to question it.
I’m stupid, but I’m not that stupid.
“You okay, Loch?” I ask while I watch her in the rearview mirror.
“He’s going to think these are stupid,” Loch softly responds.
“I can guarantee that he won’t think they are stupid. And if he does, I’ll beat him up.” I wink back at her as I park in front of No Limit . Everyone thought my brother was crazy when he said that he wanted to open a tattoo studio up here, but he’s the one laughing now. River makes more money than the rest of us, and we are all doing well.
“Alright, princess. Let’s go blow your uncle’s mind.” My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I ignore it while I help Loch down from my truck. I’m going to need to put runners on my truck now that my family is here.
“Princess?” Loch asks with her face twisted up.
“That’s right. You’re my little girl, so that means you’re my princess.” Using my key, we walk through the front door, Loch stopping dead in her tracks. Looking down, I find her with wide eyes as she takes in the artwork hanging on the walls.
“Pretty cool huh? Riv, come up here!” I yell out.
My youngest brother emerges from the back, wearing only a baggy pair of sweatpants, his fully inked chest on display. “Put a damn shirt on, man. Your niece is here,” I bark out. It looks like I’m going to need to set some ground rules at home too. No more of Ace’s hookups in the common areas will be a big one.
River comes back as my phone starts vibrating again in my pocket. Pulling it out I cringe when I see that I missed messages from Sparrow.
Bird
How’s Loch doing?
Bird
Kingston?
Bird
Kingston, please answer me.
I feel like shit that I missed her texts, and she is clearly now freaking out. I knew when we left that Sparrow was going to check in often. She doesn’t trust many people, and even fewer with the kids.
Hey, sorry. She’s good. We just got to the studio, and she is inspecting every drawing in the lobby. We haven’t made it far.
Bird
River isn’t going to be able to get her to leave. She’s been obsessed with art since she was in preschool.
Riv will put her to work, he won’t mind.
Tuning back in, Loch finally speaks, “King, is this my uncle?" Clenching my hands to reign in my anger, I kneel down next to my daughter. In all of the commotion, I never formally introduced the kids to my family.
“This is my youngest brother, River. You can show him your work; he'll be able to help you with anything you need for art.”
She looks between River and I, before turning back to my brother. “Mom told me about you. Said that I reminded her of you. She said that she loved you like a little brother. Do you want to look at my drawings? They aren’t as good as yours…”
River is quiet while he digests Loch’s words. I see his throat swallow as he chokes down his emotions. It means a lot to both of us that she told the kids about us. But it makes me wonder what she told them about me.
“Of course I want to see them. And don’t worry, I’m sure you will be better than me in no time,” River tells her as he walks her over to the couch. My curiosity gets the better of me, so I pull out my phone again. I discreetly take a picture of River and Loch before going back to my text messages.
insert picture
Bird
Thank you for sending that to me. Is she doing okay?
She’s good, Bird. By the way, what did you really tell the kids about me?
Smooth, real smooth, jackass. I know she’s had to tell them more over the years about me and why I’m not with them.
Bird
Umm…
Bird
That you loved us very much, but you weren’t able to stay with us.
Got it. I’ll check in later.
I don’t know what I wished for her to tell them, but the explanation she gave them makes me sound like a dead-beat dad. Of course they want nothing to do with me. In their eight-year-old minds, I knew about them, and still chose to leave.
The deck is stacked against me, but there is no way I won’t be getting in their good graces.
“You okay, King?” Turning I find my brother standing before me. Looking over my shoulder, I see Loch flipping through one of River’s portfolios.
“Not really.”
“Couldn’t get Telle to come with?”
“My son hates me, so no.” I run my hand over my buzz cut.
“Umm…he doesn’t hate you.”
“Fuck. Loch…Princess, you weren’t supposed to hear that.” I quickly walk across the room and sit down next to her. Loch closes the portfolio and turns towards me. I can’t get over how much she looks like Sparrow, it kills me.
“Telle is tough, he protects us. When the bad man was over, he hid me, and he wouldn’t let me out. He just needs to know you aren’t going to hurt us.”
What do I say to that? I always thought that I wouldn’t have kids because of how I grew up. And then I left Sparrow, and I really told myself that if I wasn’t with Sparrow, I wouldn’t be having kids. Now I find out that I do in fact have kids and they have been growing up the exact way I was afraid of.
If only I hadn’t broken up with Sparrow, I could have been in their lives from the start, and they wouldn’t have had to suffer like they have.
“What do you think I should do to make your brother warm up to me?”
“Hmm…” Loch taps on her chin as she thinks, making River laugh. I know what he is thinking, Sparrow used to do the same thing anytime she had to make a decision on anything.
“Do you like soccer? Telle really wants to play soccer,” Loch informs me as she hops from one foot to the other. I don’t know anything about soccer, but I will by the end of the night. We are surrounded by acres of land, I’ll put up goal posts tonight. River must be thinking the same thing, because he pulls out his phone and starts typing away.
“Uncle River, can you help me with drawing eyes? I think mine look bad,” Loch asks as she stares up at my brother. In return, River is looking down at her like she hung the moon, banishing any thought that my brothers wouldn’t be good with the kids.
After an hour of River and Loch practicing drawing eyes, he needs to get ready for an appointment, and I want to get Loch out of here before his client gets here. Not saying that River’s clients are shady, because to pay his rates you need to have money, but I don’t want strange men I don’t know around my kid.
When we are back in the truck, I start driving towards the motel, but Loch speaks up from the back seat, “I think I should go home. Telle is probably worried. Maybe we can go see the motel another day?”
Of course she wants to go home. She rarely is away from her brother, and we were at the studio for almost three hours. I didn’t think we would be there that long, but once her and River started drawing, they both lost track of time. I didn’t want to make her leave, so I just sat there and watched them connect, wishing that my daughter was giving me this much attention.
“Of course I can bring you home. Just let me know when you want to go to the motel and I’ll take you, princess.” Loch flashes me a smile from the back seat, and we drive back to Sparrow in silence.
Once I drop her off, I need to get to the bar to check in, so I tell Sparrow and the kids that I would be back in the morning with breakfast again. Loch shocks me when she gives me a hug before I leave. She won’t understand this, but something as small as a hug means the world to me.
I’ll do anything to earn my kids’ trust.
To earn Sparrow’s trust.
Anything to be with my family.