Chapter 16 #2
But Mary didn’t heed the barked order. “You want me to shut up? How ’bout you come over here and shut me up? You can’t, can you?”
“Ma-reeee!”
The woman ignored the drawn-out growl. “Because you’re afraid you pissed yourself again. Am I right?”
“Gawddammit, Mary!”
Sabrina’s brain took a minute to process. “What? Why? What’s going on?”
Mary’s mouth pressed into a grim line. “He’s had diabetes for decades and never paid attention or took care of himself very well. Now he’s got kidney disease and is too bullheaded to tell anyone.”
“That’s my fucking business!” Scrap snarled.
But Mary did not back down. “It’s not just your business. It’s my business. It’s Titus’s business. It’s the club’s business.” She pointed at Sabrina. “Most of all, it’s her business. She needs something from you that will bring her peace. I do not understand how you, of all people, can’t see that.”
Scrap spluttered. “How do you know all this shit?”
“I’ve been married to Titus for fifty-three years.
Yinz know we talk to each other. He’s really worried about you and the club.
Mostly about you.” She moved to stand over Scrap and put her hands on her generous hips.
“You are so alone, Walter. You rattle around this house or that damn bar like a zombie just waiting to die. Now you have a chance to regain some family, and you’re pissing it away.
Take the damn DNA test and confirm what we already know. ”
“No!”
“Why not?”
“I fucking said no!”
“And I fucking asked why not?”
Scrap lost it. “Because, if I am her father, that means I abandoned my only gawddamn child!”
Silence grew thick after the older man’s roar. Sabrina’s ears rang, and once again she found herself processing new information. “I never learned about you until my dad, Ernie, passed away. Did… um… did you know about me?”
Scrap seemed to shrink and age. In a matter of seconds, his face morphed from a raging beet red to a remorseful pale white.
“Raquel sent me pictures every time she called to ask for money. I gave her some ’cause I thought there was a chance.
Then I found out she did the same thing to three other men.
Claimed you were theirs and wanted child support.
She was playing a fucking game with all of us, including Ernie.
So I stopped playing and told her to fuck off. ”
Sabrina swallowed. “She fucked with both of us, then. She left not too long after I was born. Ernie got full custody of me before I turned one. To my knowledge, she never paid him a dime. If she collected child support from anyone, it was a money thing for herself.” She held up both hands and spread her fingers.
“I can count on my hands the times I’ve seen her during my life.
She’s a shit parent ’cause she chose to be one.
I’m thinking now that same choice was made for you, not by you. Am I close?”
Scrap breathed hard and deep, the air sawing out of his nose in long wheezes. His lips were twitching, as if he was trying to hold himself back. Mary openly cried and pulled a tissue from her pocket.
Sabrina fought her throat closing up. She didn’t want to cry.
Not yet, and not in front of this man. “I don’t blame you for not believing Raquel.
I’m not surprised at all by what she did to you and others.
I’m still gonna say I… no, we need to find out the truth.
I think I deserve it. I think you do too. ”
There ya go, Scrap. I lobbed the ball in your court. It’s up to you if you want to be a shit father or not.
He swallowed and coughed several times, sniffing and clearing. Sabrina noticed when he raised a hand to brush away some moisture that had gathered under his eyes. He muttered something in his rumbling voice.
Mary leaned forward. “What did you say?”
“I said I’d take the fucking test.”
Sabrina left Scrap’s house, but instead of going back to Cam’s place, she decided to walk for a bit. Thoughts and scenarios filled her head with possibilities, and it was giving her a major headache. A dull pain pulsed behind her eyes as she meandered through the narrow streets.
He’s gonna take the test.
What if I’m not his daughter after all?
What if I am?
Is he dying?
Her phone rang. The area code was from Florida, and she answered the unknown number, thinking it might be important.
Instead, she got an earful of Spanish cussing.
“Qué te pasa? Estupida!” (“What’s wrong with you? Stupid!”)
“Well, hello to you, too, Rosa.” Anger flashed through Sabrina’s body with enough force that she started to sweat. The last person she wanted to deal with on this fucked-up day was her estranged aunt.
“Rodrigo has papers for you to sign.”
“Congratulations.”
“This is no joke. They must be signed soon.”
Sabrina stood on the sidewalk and looked around, seeing how far she’d gone in the unfamiliar neighborhood. “Y’all need me to sign something? I’ll tell you the same thing I told Rodrigo: Bring them to me or mail them.”
“No, you must come here and sign them. Immediately!”
With the stress from keeping her job, her current living arrangement, an unfamiliar state, a big question mark on her personal life with Cam, and the discovery of Scrap’s failing health, Sabrina had reached her emotional limit.
She opened her mouth and let loose. “You know what, Tia? I have no fucks left to give about you or Rodrigo or the whole fucking family. I’m in fucking Pennsylvania, trying to find a new life and get the truth from a man who’s got kidney disease and might be dying.
I don’t have money or time to come to Florida.
Y’all wanted me out, remember? I’m fucking out.
If you want my signature on anything at all, you or Rodrigo needs to bring your happy asses up here. Otherwise, I’m. Fucking. Done!”
She hung up and blocked the number. Only then did she start to shake.
She brought her arms up to hug herself as she observed her surroundings.
Old run-down row houses that hadn’t seen any updates or even a coat of paint stood on either side of the rough, broken street.
This was the type of place where cops seldom came.
There were very few people out and about this late afternoon, but those who were eyed her with either suspicion or speculation.
She turned to go back the way she came and find Scrap’s house again but got twisted up even further.
Shit, I do not need to be here. Angry tears formed in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
There’s a map on your phone, dummy. Use it to figure out where you are and how to get back to where you need to be.
Of course, her phone showed the red line of death. Three percent power left on 5G meant shutdown was imminent. Thinking quickly, she dialed Cam.
“What’s up?”
At his voice, her throat closed and whatever bravado she had vanished. “I don’t know where I am.” That was all she could say.
“Shit. Can you see a street sign?”
She squinted at the corner. “Lowrie is the only name I can see.”
“Can you stay where you are? It’s gonna take me about twenty minutes to get there and find you.”
“I… I don’t know. My phone is almost dead.”
“There’s a cemetery on that road. Find it and wait there. No one should bother you if you’re sitting at someone’s grave.”
“Okay.”
“Sabrina, hang in there. I’m on my way.”
She hung up just before the screen went dead.
“I’m on my way.”
His words acted like a balm to her nerves. She found the cemetery. It was small and not particularly maintained, but there was a bench facing the old headstones. She sat and did some relaxing breaths, concentrating on releasing the tension from her body.
Scrap has diabetes and kidney disease. What does that mean for me? Should I feel sorry for him? Should I not care at all?
The elaborate gravestone in front of her had no answers.
Scrap’s attitude toward her sucked, but she vividly remembered his words. The tone and the volatile emotion behind them.
“If I am her father, that means I abandoned my only gawddamn child!”
Ernie had been her anchor and the only person who ever truly cared for her. Scrap was a mean, cantankerous asshole, but perhaps, just perhaps, there might be a tiny bit of redeeming quality somewhere. It was probably a futile hope, but at this point, she’d take anything she could get.
The cloudy sky darkened more, and the wind picked up a bit. The squirrely weather mentioned possible showers tonight. Hopefully, Cam would get her soon. Was there more than one cemetery on this street?
Her thoughts wandered to Cam. He would be happy that Scrap agreed to the test at last, but what about the other stuff? Should she tell him?
A few raindrops splattered onto the rough granite in front of her. Great. Just fucking great. She sighed and placed a hand over her eyes to peer at the sky. Can you please hold off just a little while longer?
The answer came back as bigger, more frequent drops. The only missing part to make her day worse would be a call from Rodrigo once her phone was charged.
She did wonder about her aunt’s insistence to sign whatever papers Rodrigo had. What exactly were they trying to pull, and why was her signature so important?
A familiar rumble came to her ears, and she spotted Cam coming slowly down the street. He stopped in front of the gated area and dismounted in one fluid motion. “Are you okay?”
“It seems like you’re always coming to my rescue.”
“And I always will.”
He folded her in his arms, and his mouth came down to hers. The kiss wasn’t sexual, more of a confirmation. It said “I’m here” in a way that bore an intimacy outweighing sex. He tasted strongly of mint, and she guessed he had a box of Altoids in his pocket.
The skies opened up and rain poured over them, but neither made a move to run.
Even in a storm, he had her back. She felt solid, whole in this connection.
If there was ever any question or doubt, it was gone.
Cam belonged to her and she to him. The realization was thrilling, terrifying, and satisfying all at the same time.
“Sorry it took me so long,” he murmured into her ear. “I grabbed your helmet before I came.”
“You’re here now, and that’s all that matters,” she breathed. The cold rain continued to douse them both, but warmth filled her inside. No, that was heat. Real heat. “Take me home.”