Bits of Saint #3
She stared at him for a moment then said, “I’ve also never lied to you, not about who I was or what I was forced to do.
I hate liars but that comes from my whole life being a lie.
All my mom could do time after time was lie to me, she’d say if I gave her another chance she would straighten up her life and get off the drugs.
For a while, she would get clean, then some guy would come along and she’d be back on the crap and her life would be in the toilet again.
It got to the point where I expected nothing else from her and I threatened to walk out of her life but I just couldn’t.
She was my mom, you know? Even if she wasn’t much of a mother, she was all I had. ”
Saint shook his head. “Well, she’s gone now but you have a whole other family now, Pink. You got me and the boys, Lucifer and Jessie. You got all of us now.”
“Maybe but I don’t think Lucifer trusts me too much.” Erika shook her head. “When he heard I was transporting drugs for Mack, you could almost see a veil of distrust drop over his eyes. Now every time I go to see Jessie or the baby, I can feel him watching me.”
Saint nodded. “I’ve noticed and so have my men and believe me, they don’t like it much either.” Shaking his head, he added, “That’s another reason we need our own place.” He paused, then asked, “Are you sure you want to finance that for us?”
Erika nodded. “I go where you go, remember? If you and your men are leaving here then I have no reason to stay here. Besides, this is going to be my home too, and that’s one thing I never had before, a place to call home.”
“So... you're gonna marry me then?” Saint finally asked, then he paused. “Damn it...” He went over to the dresser and his sock drawer. He dug around in it. Turning, he grabbed her hand and led her to a chair, setting her down.
Erika drew her brows together. “What the...?”
He bent down on one knee in front of her.
“I aim to do this right. See, I already got the ring. I just waited to see if we were gonna even stay here. I did plan to marry you, Pink. I just handled it all wrong.” He cleared his throat, and spoke, “Erika ‘Pink’ Grant, will you be my wife? Please marry me?”
Erika stared down at him as her eyes filled with tears. “Yes, you did it right, Mr. Saint. I want to be your wife more than anything in my life!”
Saint took her hand and slipped the ring onto her finger. “I knew I would marry you. I just forgot to tell you.” He laughed. “And I decided this before I ever knew about the baby, Sweet Pink. The baby is just icing on the Pink cake.”
Erika laughed through her tears.
A month later...
“How are you affording the farm next door?” Lucifer asked. “That place is going to cost a fortune.”
Saint shrugged and told him, “We got it covered.”
“How?” Lucifer snarled. “How do you have it covered?”
“I offered it to them,” Erika told him finally.
“How the hell does someone like you have that kind of stash?” Lucifer sneered. “Oh yeah, I forgot you worked for a drug lord, didn’t you?”
Saint surged to his feet. “Get out. Just get out of my house!”
Lucifer got up and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.
Saint sat back down and looked over at Erika. He growled at the sight of her tears. Gathering her up in his arms, he just held her while she sobbed.
When she slowed her tears and swiped them away from her cheeks, she looked up at him. “I can prove it’s not drug money.”
“You don’t have to prove anything, baby girl.” Saint shook his head. “Lucifer can be an asshole at times but that was low, even for him.”
Erika shook her head. “No, I want to tell you where the money is from. I never want you to doubt me in any way and I would have told him about it but you tossed his dumb ass out before I could.” She reached for her coffee and made a face because it was cold, but then she turned to him and said, “I started working when I was twelve years old. Mostly, because my mom was so high all the time, she couldn’t keep a job.
I also learned the hard way not to bring my money home, or at least not all of it.
I would put half my check in a bank account that only I knew about.
” She shrugged. “I found I could manage money that way and over time, that money began building until it was a fairly decent amount.”
“Pink, you do not have to—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips as she paused then took a deep breath and went on, “Then when I was seventeen, I met a man. In fact, he made a point of looking for me. He told me he was my father but that when my mom told him about me, he wasn’t ready to be a father yet and he didn’t want to be one with her.
I was upset about the meeting because he told me he still wasn’t ready to be a father and he thought he could just offer me money to go away. ”
Reaching out, Saint took her hands into his.
“I refused it. I felt like I was being bought off, you know? The money I have is all mine from working then rest is from an insurance policy my mom had taken out and I was surprised in the end that she remembered to pay the premium but she did.”
“It is okay, baby girl. It doesn’t matter to me.”
“Well, it does to me.” Erika looked up at him.
“Not one penny of that money is drug money. Micky never paid me a dime, he said he was paying the rent and buying the food and what I was doing was paying off my mom’s bill.
Lord, I hated that man. I really hated him.
I think the world is a better place without him in it. ”
Saint shook his head. “I don’t care about any of your past and I know you would never have kept any drug money. Lucifer is blowing smoke up his ass and I’m glad I won’t have to put up with him much longer.”
“Well, I don’t want you to... resent each other,” Erkia told him. “I never had siblings and you two are lucky to be brothers. I really hope you both will settle this soon.”