Chapter 21 – Meggie
Although the priest didn’t sound as if he liked the idea of Meggie and Rebel visiting Rule, he told her Tuesday was best because Rule had lessons to complete as well as an appointment with his psychiatrist, his dietician, and his therapist. In other words, her son had a very full day.
“Please call before you come, so I can confirm Rule’s schedule, Mrs. Caldwell,” Father Wilkins said. “He may have appointments that has slipped my mind.”
“Well—”
“And only if it’s legitimate.” Her tone brooked no resistance.
She meant business. “I have talked to Rule almost daily, Father Wilkins. He is open to seeing me and anxious to see Rebel. I wanted to surprise him because he is receptive. Please do not test my desire to see my son against your schemes. You will lose.”
Father Wilkins cleared his throat. “I see.”
“Let’s hope you do,” she said evenly. “Christopher and I haven’t discussed the funds we will allocate for your personal losses, in addition to the insurance claim. Your cash from us depends on my happiness.”
“We will see you at eleven,” he said, and disconnected.
Meggie didn’t bother mentioning the call to Christopher.
She wanted to focus on positives not manipulative little men with a god complexes.
She could’ve talked to her husband for hours.
However, they both had a full day ahead, so she ended their conversation before calling Bunny and talking to Gunner, then calling Ryder, Ransom, CJ, and Diesel individually.
They were all fine. They missed her, Rebel, and Axel, and couldn’t wait until they were home.
Once she called the hospital and checked on Jo, she dialed Kendall for their morning check-in but it went to voicemail. She’d try her later, although she left a message just as she did for Roxy and Zoann.
Before braiding her hair and heading to the shower, she also called Jana, though their conversation didn’t last long because Jana didn’t have much to say.
Looking at the makeup on the pillowcase, Meggie groaned. She’d change the sheets…no, Xanders wouldn’t be pleased. She’d ask him to have one of the cleaners do it for her.
She was so used to starting her day at 6AM—sometimes earlier—she was in the shower and scrubbing herself by 8:30. She wouldn’t make up her face today. Once again not wanting to deal with the blow dryer, she twisted her hair into a messy bun and headed downstairs.
Seeing no sign of Xanders or any of the staff, Meggie scampered to the kitchen, finding Axel sitting at the breakfast bar, quite pleased with himself. For unknown reasons, which alarmed Meggie to no end.
His boot hit the cabinet door. He was swinging his leg back and forth, unconcerned at possible scuff marks.
Meggie cleared her throat.
Axel froze for a minute, then swiveled slowly around and smiled broadly. “Hey, Mom. I got to text Reb. She said to let her know when you came down.”
He looked like Axel and sounded like Axel, but something was off.
“What did you do, son?”
“Uh, me?” he squeaked, snapping his brows together before smiling again. “You’re the beautifulest girl I ever saw, Mom.”
“Thank you, now confess.”
“Uh—”
Kaia’s arrival interrupted Axel. His missing eyebrows registered first, along with his reversed mohawk because a swath straight down the middle had no hair.
Axel slid to his feet. “I forgot. Reb said to come and get her,” he said, rushing past Meggie.
She grabbed a handful of shirt and jeans, halting him.
“Why?”
“It’s not my fault the motherfucker didn’t wake up, Mom,” Axel declared.
Meggie released him, then turned him to face her. “Why did you target Kaia?” As far as she knew, Axel disliked his poetry. He’d already made his displeasure known with his slingshot and a Styrofoam ball. “He hasn’t done you anything.”
“Yeah, but the motherfucker did it to Rebel,” Axel told her.
Kaia cleared his throat. “He overheard our conversation.”
“I came down when he left the room to ask him if he wanted me to save one of my juice boxes for him since I only had two,” Axel said sullenly, cutting his eyes at Kaia.
“But that motherfucker has lost his fucking mind. I think you need to kill Fia at the least. Let that motherfucker suffer the rest of his fucking life.” Drawing in a breath, he lifted his gaze to Meggie.
“I know we can’t tell Reb, but suppose she finds out.
That’ll make her sad and you, too. Then, you’ll be mad at Dad again cuz him and CJ got this motherfucker for Reb.
” He bowed his head. “Then, you’ll leave again.
I know you won’t keep taking me. Besides, I’d have to decide between you and my men.
And Dad, I guess, although I’d make that motherfucker suffer for the rest of his fucking life.
CJ, too. I’d run against him and become Prez and banish him to where polar bears live.
I’d never let him eat again. I’d use a paintbrush to put acid on his lips. I’d—”
“Okay!” Meggie said. “I get the point, son.”
“Sweet Pea.”
“Sweet Pea,” Meggie conceded, then hugged him. “I wish I could take your pain and fear away, sweetheart. I’m so sorry the problems your daddy and I had affected you.”
“We’re a family, though. Dad always says something makes him and you sad, then it makes us sad, too.”
“He doesn’t say that,” Meggie said gently. “He says if one of us is happy, then all of us are.”
“His senileness strikes again,” Axel said with a long-suffering sigh.
“Cuz, Mom, we are different people. We might feel different stuffs. Look at Reb. She can’t wait to see Rule and she misses him just like I do.
But I don’t want to see him. And even if I got the saying wrong, I just turned it upside down.
If all of us are happy cuz of stuffs, then that means if one of us is sad, we’re all sad. ”
Meggie nodded. “You’re right. I didn’t leave home this time for any other reason than Reb. I miss your dad and your brothers and sister a lot.”
“You got to be honest about stuffs, Mom,” Axel said indignantly. “That motherfucker fucked with you again over those pills that stops babies. He’s lucky I’m here and he’s there.”
“I’m sure he is,” Kaia mumbled.
Axel jerked his head up and narrowed his eyes at Kaia. “Do not interfere when I’m talking to the Blonde Warrior. I will shave your face with a dull razor.”
Umkay, then. Meggie took Axel’s precious little face between her hands. “You shouldn’t have done anything to Kaia, love. That wasn’t right.”
“My motto is do a crime, suffer the time. And time could be anything.”
“If Kaia was a different person, he could’ve gotten very angry.”
“Kaia got that much sense, Mom. He knows Diesel wants to cut something off him and watch him bleed to death. If he crashed out toward me, Diesel would make him suffer.”
“Diesel isn’t here.”
“Diesel is a phone call away,” he retorted.
Meggie dropped her hands, realizing when Axel was talking about his punishments he hadn’t included Diesel. “You know Diesel knew what CJ and your daddy did by setting Kaia and Rebel up.”
“Yeah, but Diesel didn’t like it. He still don’t.”
For completely different reasons.
“Perv, but he acts like Reb’s big brother,” Axel continued.
“Not a stalker freak and creep. Actually, that was Reb. Until she met that motherfucker.” He jabbed a finger in Kaia’s direction.
“Then, she started liking him. How the fuck did he pay her back? And there’s Jana there now, so what happens when Kaia dies? ”
“He isn’t dying!”
“He don’t seem like he want to fucking live. And I’ll tell you what happens. Reb’s a kid—”
“Like you, son.”
Axel gave her a disapproving look, folded his arms and sniffed.
Meggie lifted a brow.
“You win, but any other motherfucker call me a kid and I’m kicking them. Back to what I was saying. Diesel’s an old motherfucker, but he’s stupid. His brain’s bigger than Kaia’s, though. He knows law stuffs, Medieval stuffs, and killing stuffs. Kaia don’t know nothing.”
Wincing, Meggie glanced over her shoulder and threw Kaia an apologetic look. He shrugged.
“Words can hurt people, Axel,” Meggie said. “You have to respect other people’s feelings.”
Axel cocked his head to the side. “You told CJ that?”
“At some point, I’m sure I did.”
“He listened. I’m not, cuz respect got to be earned.
That motherfucker needs his feelings squished like a fucking bug.
Going with Fia is the same as being friends with Uncle Johnnie.
They’re against all of us, some of us, or one of us.
They are traitors and traitors die. So, no, I’m never respecting nobody that hurts us.
I love you, Mom, but that’s my final decision. ”
Maybe he was right. All her lectures about respect and consideration fundamentally changed CJ, and left him floundering.
“Apologize to Kaia,” Meggie said.
Axel started to shake his head.
“For Rebel.”
“Why?” he asked suspiciously. “I shaved his eyebrows and hair for her anyway.”
“Can you tell her the reason why?” Meggie asked. “You can’t, right? That means you had no good reason to do what you did.”
“We could…we could say I-I insulted her,” Kaia said hesitantly. “And Axel took exception to that.”
Axel lifted his brows. “You actually came up with a cool idea. Did that get in your brain or did you Google how to be a not-as-bad shiesty motherfucker and they made you think that?”
Kaia rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought it, Axel,” he said tiredly.
After a moment’s consideration, Axel nodded. “Don’t fucking care. I still don’t like you,” he declared and stomped out.
***
Rebel accepted Kaia’s explanation, scolded Axel gently, then hugged him, thanked him for watching out for her, and told him he was a great brother. She didn’t ask about the insult, so no one offered details.
Instead of finding the cook, Meggie called for a car service. They went to a local café, where Axel and Kaia ate hashbrowns, sausage, and eggs, while Meggie and Rebel dined on Eggs Benedict and avocado toast. The fresh squeezed juice was delicious as was the coffee.
Meggie, Rebel, and Axel snapped photos and sent texts. Rebel to Mattie, Axel to Diesel and his ‘men’, and Meggie to Christopher and CJ. Kaia looked a little lost because he wasn’t as enthused. He didn’t pick up his phone once.
Rebel paid attention to him more than Meggie realized because she said, “Text Kayce. He’ll like photos. Oh, and I told CJ you’d send him photos.”
He smiled at her, then did as she instructed, his tension easing at the responses.
Once Meggie paid the tab and they were loaded back in the car, Rebel talked more than she had in days, which pleased Meggie.
It wasn’t a secret how much Rebel loved to shop, but the sheer amount of clothes, jewelry, shoes, and accessories she chose impressed even Meggie. Kaia and Axel tapped out at about three and went to a coffee shop to wait until Meggie and Rebel finished.
Back at Mortician’s estate, Xanders greeted them and sent the staff to help with all the packages.
Meggie actually was having some things delivered because they couldn’t fit everything into the Escalade.
Even with the empty suitcases they’d brought, she had to ask Xanders to order additional ones for her and Rebel, which he was more than happy to do.
Her next request was a gamble, but Rebel needed to get back into the water as soon as possible. Although Rule knocked Rebel out and then dragged her into the pool, Meggie thought if Rebel learned underwater defense strategies, she would feel safe in the water again.
Meggie wanted to spend as much time with Rule tomorrow and then come back to the house and pack. Before she hired someone to train Rebel for more than one hour on a random Monday evening, Meggie wanted to make sure her daughter would participate. Or at least try.
Xanders also helped Meggie secure dinner reservations for her and Rebel, whether the pool lesson took place or not. They needed time to talk, which was the main purpose of the trip.
Rebel was in her bedroom while the boys were outside when Phillip arrived. Meggie wore a sarong but was already in her bathing suit, so she asked Xanders to serve the swimming coach some refreshments and went to convince Rebel.
“Do I have to, Momma?” she asked when Meggie explained the situation.
“Of course not, love,” Meggie told her, sitting next to her on the sofa where she’d been texting Mattie. “But I’d like you to try. If it’s too much for you, I’ll send Phillip away and we’ll try again some other time.”
Rebel sat her phone aside and bowed her head. “Have you been back in the water?”
“I have. At home. In the natatorium.”
“You have?”
“Axel wanted me to swim with him, sweetheart.”
“Did you feel weird in the natatorium?”
“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, Reb.”
Rebel thought for a moment, heaved in a sigh, then got to her feet. “If you can do it, then so can I.”