CHAPTER EIGHT #3
“Brother, them drinking ain’t the problem.
It’s how they get at the end of the night.
I’m beginning to think Ma and Anna do this shit on purpose.
Last time they day drank to the level of excess that I’m thinking is going to happen, both Jane and Kierstie ended up finding out they were pregnant six weeks later.
It does something to them, man. I’m not complaining, but they can go for a good long time.
My problem is that she passes out for like eight hours, and I have two little ones who are as quiet as their mama on a good day.
” I don’t even try to hide my laugh. Shane grumbles into the phone something about me being a fucker.
“Well, I don’t have that yet, so I’ll just be prepared to take my woman home with me and let her ravish me as she sees fit.
” Shane doesn’t hide his grumble this time.
“You really are a fucker. I’m taking the kids over to Grant and Erik’s.
They said they would watch them so I could come help corral our women.
Can you stop and get some more alcohol? Mick and Rory are gonna pick up some pizzas on their way over.
” I tell him I’ll stop and get alcohol and some soda pops too, in case any of them want to pace themselves more.
He laughs at that, and I just hang up on the fucker. I mean, how bad could they really get?
***********
So I was wrong. The women are having a blast, but they are whatever is past three sheets to the wind. I’m sitting outside by the bonfire with most of the guys, all of us having retreated from the chaos going on in the clubroom.
I take a sip of my bottled water and hear when the door to the clubroom opens. I hear Anna’s voice above everyone else.
“Draw four, motherfucker!” Loud laughter follows, then the door closes, and Asher and Jeremiah both walk toward the fire, shaking their heads.
I decided to leave the room shortly after the UNO cards came out, and they were trying to explain the rules of the game to Mary and Christy. That’s when my sister, Madison, not Kierstie, chimed in, with only a slight slurring of her words.
“The only time family means nothing is in UNO. That’s every person for themselves, and karma does come to play.
You gotta be ruthless cause these bitches will give you every draw four in the deck if you let them.
” Romona, looking at Madison, held up her margarita glass and smiled that kind of smile that says they’re guilty but don’t care.
You know the kind I mean. Anyway, she looked at Madison, took a sip, and then, with a smile the Cheshire cat would be jealous of, uttered, “I’d do it again in a heartbeat, bitch.
All’s fair in love and war, and UNO is motherfucking war. ”
Asher sits down across from me and takes a sip of his beer as he shakes his head. “I swear Mom playing games sober is bad enough, drunk like they are? That’s when she gets downright evil, I swear.”
Wyatt shakes his head at Asher. “Son, she’s always evil when it comes to board games.
Most people ban Monopoly from their homes.
We had to ban Sorry and Hungry, Hungry, Hippo.
She’s cutthroat when it comes to games.” Jackson glares at Wyatt.
“That’s because you’re the same fucking way and the two of you turn Battleship into World War III. ”
Knowing this can break out into an actual fight, Mayson speaks up and asks me a question. “So are you really ready to get married, tie yourself down to one person?” I don’t even have to think about my answer. “Abso-fucking-lutley I am. I’d marry her right now if I could.”
Jeremiah leans forward in his chair and looks over at me, along with the older generation who are sitting with us. “How do you know for sure that she’s the one? Like she’s not just someone you have a physical connection with, but that there’s something more.”
I shrug my shoulders as I think of how to put my thoughts into words.
“I think part of it was the first time our eyes met, I felt something inside of me change, and I knew that she was going to be important in my life in some way, but I think it’s not one big thing, it’s a million little things.
When she looks at me and gives me the smile she only gives to me, it’s like the rest of the world falls away, and it’s just us.
It’s us spending a Sunday morning together on the couch, both reading and just enjoying being with each other. It’s..”
Mick interrupts me. “It’s like Max said, it’s a million little things, but it’s also just a couple of questions that if you hesitate in your answer, then that person isn’t your forever.”
Mayson, who’s listening as intently as Jeremiah, asks. “What are those questions and what are the right answers?”
Mick smiles and answers Mayson. “The answers should be evident from the questions. The first question is, do you see the person's faults as something to overcome or just a quirk of their personality?” I see some confused faces, so I throw out an example.
“Like Christy’s clumsiness. To some, it might be annoying, but I think it’s cute, and it doesn’t bug me. I just hope for no serious injuries to her.”
Shane chimes in. “Like what people call Kierstie’s anger. To me, it’s passion about something she cares deeply about, but to her brothers, it’s definitely anger.” Fuck yeah it is.
Mick nods and continues. “The next one is, do you want to spend all your free time with them? Like you genuinely enjoy their presence and would have them with you all the time if you could.” He adds one caveat, and Rory and Jon both nod emphatically.
“The one exception is during pregnancy, especially toward the end. That is not the same woman you pledged to love for the rest of your life, and sometimes survival means not being in the same room as them.”
Pa speaks for the first time in a while. “The biggest thing is when you look at your future, can you picture it without her? If you can, then she ain’t the one. From the day I claimed Linnea as mine, every moment of my future included her in it.”
Asher nods and adds his two cents. “We all know that I was the last one who planned to settle down. I was gonna be single forever and had never even looked twice at a guy. The day I met Logan, I was pretty sure I had a tumor or something because I didn’t get why I was drawn to him.
Well, we all know what happened, but there was a day just a couple weeks before everything went down with his mom and shit…
I was sitting here, in fact, listening to Dad, Pops, Pa, Grant, Jon, Rory, and Juan talk about the loves of their lives, and it hit me.
It was actually Juan who said something that made everything else crystal clear. ”
Mayson looks at his brother, who is not known for being the most patient, especially with Asher, and speaks up. “What did he say?”
“He had just had another argument with Jane about something mundane, and I asked him why he was with her if they argued like that all the time. He told me that it was almost foreplay for them. At the end of the day, there was no one on this planet that he wanted to argue with more for the rest of his life. When you look at your person, you know you want to be with them through all the highs and lows life brings. I can’t imagine not waking up next to Logan for the rest of my life.
I know he’s going to be the one who, if we decide to have kids, will go on that journey with me.
I know when we’re older that we’re going to have to lean on each other when loved ones inevitably pass away.
He’s the one I want to be stuck at home with during a snowstorm.
He’s the one I want yelling at me to get my fucking socks in the hamper.
I know without a doubt that there’s no one on this planet who’s better for me than him, and you couldn’t convince me even if you had millions of dollars. ”
“For once, I couldn’t agree more with Asher.
When I look at my future, Christy’s a part of it all.
She’s the person I want to have a family with, the person I want to go through all the parts of life with.
She makes me smile daily and helps me not take myself too seriously.
We may have different histories, especially the way we grew up, but we both believe that the family we’re building comes first, as it should. ”
Rory, who’s more often to talk through his guitar strings than with actual words, speaks up.
“There’s no magic answer. If there were, there wouldn’t be millions of songs written about it.
There will be people who spout prolifically like they’re a modern-day Shakespeare, but in reality haven’t a clue what true love is.
What everyone has said here tonight is true, but we can spout similar things all night.
What a lot of people don’t get is that love and being in love are different for every person.
My relationship with and how I feel about Jane are different from Jon's or Juan’s.
None of them is right, and the others are wrong.
We all have to figure that out for ourselves, what our love for our person looks like.
The moment you figure that out, you become one of the richest men on earth.
I know I did the day I realized that with Jane.
The most wealthy people on this planet might only have thirty dollars in their pocket, but if they have a love like I’m talking about?
That’s the wealth that fucking matters.” The look Jeremiah has on his face makes me think he’s thinking about someone in particular, and my nosy ass wants to know, but I’ll wait till we don’t have such an audience.
My guess is that Paramedic Girl might have left her mark on him.
We sit out by the fire for another hour or so before the door to the clubhouse opens, and we all look over to see the women spill out, none of them walking straight. All of us get up to go help the women of our family.