Tethered Souls

by Beth Flynn

  It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. I'd spent the morning at church with Aunt Christy, Daisy, and Abby while Christian and his father puttered in our garage.

  We were now home, and while Uncle Anthony was inside helping Daisy with homework she'd brought with her, Aunt Christy was fixing a snack for Abby. In the few short months that we'd had custody of Abby she'd transitioned full-time into our home without a hiccup.

  Even though Autumn didn’t want to pursue a relationship with Abby, didn't mean that her mother didn't want one with her granddaughter. We included Abby's maternal grandmother in as many family gatherings as possible. Christian would be leaving soon to pick up Autumn's mother, but there was still enough time to enjoy each other's company beforehand.

  We strolled hand in hand and enjoyed the warm breeze rolling off the lake as we made our way around it.

  "I'm so glad we decided to buy this house. It fits us perfectly, don't you think?" I asked him.

  "I like it too, but like I told you before, Mimi, home for me is wherever you are." He raised my hand to his mouth and softly kissed it.

  "Do you miss it? Do you miss them?" I was talking about the club, the lifestyle, and the friends Christian had so easily dismissed.

  "I have you. I have my daughter." He stopped walking and looked thoughtful. "And I have my motorcycle. Don't need anything else," he said with a dazzling smile.

  I stepped in front of him and wrapped my arms around his neck. I gave him a crooked grin and said, "Marriage and fatherhood suit you." I raised up on my tiptoes and playfully nipped at his chin.

  His face grew serious as he took mine between his hands and said, "Marriage and motherhood suit you too, Mimi. Should we tell them today or wait to see if it works?" He kissed the tip of my nose before letting his hands fall away.

  "If an opportunity presents itself, we say something. If not, we don't. Let’s wait and see how it goes," I told him.

  I slowly brushed my hand over his shirt, and asked, "Is it still sore?" I was referring to the tattoo he'd gotten. It was a chest piece that boasted Dreamy Mimi.

  "Nah," he teased. “It hurt more when it wasn't there. When you weren't there."

  I tilted my head sideways, an invitation for him to explain.

  "When you were missing from my life, it hurt more"—he thumped his fist against his chest—"than the sting of a tattoo needle."

  I was pretty sure I sighed. My husband may have been an alpha male with a mean streak, but he was also the most romantic man I'd ever met.

  We resumed our walk and reflected on our decision not to open up a motorcycle repair shop with Glen and Susan. It had nothing to do with them. They were still our best friends. After hearing that both men were considering opening up their own businesses, Axel made them an offer they couldn't refuse. He made Christian and Glen co-managers for the motorcycle repairs and their new responsibilities also came with hefty raises.

  "I feel relieved that we're not opening up our own shop," I blurted out. "Owning a business comes with a lot of responsibility. I think it would take time away from us."

  He nodded his agreement.

  "The new neighbors seem nice," I added, changing the subject. "But, their teenage son looks like he might be a problem."

  "Not for us," Christian scoffed.

  I gave him a sideways glance.

  "I had his number from day one. Already set him straight." I recognized the rigid line of his jaw and smiled. Just like my father had told me, I would need a champion. I'd never felt so safe, so cherished, so loved in my entire life. And Christian had been right about that .38 Special song. I was back where I belonged.

  We walked the rest of the way in silence and came upon Aunt Christy and Abby coming out of the house.

  Christian still had time before he had to pick up Autumn's mother, so Aunt Christy and I sat on the grass and watched Christian push Abby on the solitary swing that hung from a huge shade tree that almost swallowed up our back yard. The sun was glistening off the lake as a family of ducks slowly quacked their way past us.

  "Can you believe we're finally going to meet Bevin today?" Aunt Christy whispered. She looked at her watch in anticipation.

  "Yes!" I replied a little too loudly. "I'm looking forward to meeting the woman who has mesmerized Slade for so long."

  "Me too," Aunt Christy said with a hopeful grin. "I hope we're not too much for her. I hope she'll feel welcome."

  I knew that Aunt Christy was more than excited at the prospect of Slade finding someone, but she had reservations about Bevin's mother disapproving of Slade because of Uncle Anthony and Christian's criminal histories.

  "We'll make her feel like family," I assured her.

  Her answer was a worried smile so I decided to share something that I thought would cheer her up.

  "Christian and I have talked about it and decided we want to try and put a baby in Rachelle's belly."

  Her scream caused the ducks to scatter and Christian to give us a questioning look. "You told her?" he asked me over Abby's head.

  I nodded as Aunt Christy pulled me into a rough hug. I explained that there were no guarantees, but she ignored me and said she couldn't wait to witness the birth of her second grandchild. Sadly, Autumn hadn't allowed her to be part of Abby's birth. When Christian and I told Rachelle that we wanted to accept her offer, her only stipulation was that Christian couldn't look at her privates. "He can be in the room and cut the cord, but no peeking at my lady parts," she told me in her smooth Southern drawl. We didn't have a problem with that request, and I was certain Rachelle wouldn't have an issue with Aunt Christy being there.

  "There are a lot of ifs, and we're getting ahead of ourselves, but we're going to be optimistic," I told Aunt Christy as she broke from the hug to wipe her eyes.

  After she composed herself our conversation circled back to the decision to buy our home. Aunt Christy was surprised that I wanted to live here despite Dennis's secret home invasions.

  "I guess I'm shocked that you're not freaked out about it or spooked," she admitted while gazing at Christian and Abby.

  I explained that I was never one to be spooked or superstitious. I went by feelings, and my gut told me this was our home.

  "I'm glad." She gave me a wide smile, and then her expression changed. "There was something I don't remember asking you."

  "About?" I asked while fiddling with a blade of grass.

  "Back to Debbie. So, I can understand how she'd managed to pilfer your spare set of keys and the chess piece the few times she was at your house."

  "Yeah, it's how she got into my locked car at the museum. When she hung the white queen from my rearview mirror."

  "But what was the significance of the white queen?" she asked, cocking her head to one side. "Debbie knew Abby had been swiping the pieces, but why did she target that one specifically?"

  "I'd told her a story," I replied. I looked up at my husband who winked at me. "I guess she was holding onto it in case she felt the need to bring out the big guns. Which she obviously did after Christian started showing back up at The Alibi after Thanksgiving."

  "What story?" Her brows crinkled with curiosity.

  "The story about one of our weddings," I answered with a cheesy smile.

  "One of your weddings?" Uncle Anthony asked. He and Daisy had walked up behind us. Apparently they'd finished Daisy's homework.

  "Yeah, the most important one," Christian answered without taking his eyes from mine.

  "Do tell," Aunt Christy suggested, her eyes wide with curiosity.

  "I'm sure you'll remember some of it," I told her with a smile. "You were there."

  Epilogue

  Naples, Florida 1990

  "I'll push you on the swings, Mimi. C'mon!" Christian ran toward the swing set, his black braid swaying behind him. He was enjoying every minute of his play date with Mimi and fantasizing about being her hero. He would push her as high as she could go because it would be the perfect opportunity to show off his muscles. There weren't any kids o
n the swings so he would have her all to himself. He couldn't stop grinning.

  Mimi glanced at her mother, and after receiving a smiling nod of approval, she bounded happily to her best friend.

  "You have to promise not to push me too high, Christian!" Mimi called out as she excitedly trotted behind him toward the swing set.

  "I promise, Mimi," Christian yelled back at her.

  When they tired of the swings they happily made their way hand in hand to the huge slide structure.

  "Mimi, do you want to get married again?" Christian asked as they followed each other through the maze of jungle gym tunnels. He stopped crawling and turned around, accidentally kicking Mimi in the face. She looked startled but not hurt.

  "I'm sorry, Mimi! I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" he cried as he tried to wiggle closer to her in the small space.

  She gave him a wide grin and said, "Yeah, it kind of hurt, but not bad."

  Christian looked relieved and started to turn back around when she answered his earlier question, "I forgot to bring my ring with me. I didn't know if you wanted to play wedding again."

  Christian had given Mimi a plastic ring that he'd won at a carnival and she'd worn it every time they saw each other.

  "That's okay," he told her as they ventured out of the maze and were now standing in a small cube-shaped part of the structure that had open windows. He proudly pulled something out of his right front pocket. "I got this one for you out of the claw machine. It has a bigger diamond!"

  Mimi's eyes got wide as she gazed at the new ring, the big blue artificial stone overshadowing the tiny plastic gold band it was attached to.

  "It's so beautiful, Christian," she cooed. "Did you get it because it matches the color of your eyes?" she asked adoringly.

  "No," he answered matter-of-factly. "I got it 'cause it was the only one in the claw machine."

  "Let's get married by the water fountain this time," Mimi told him.

  "Why?" he asked as he returned the ring to his pocket and scooted into the tube that would eventually deliver them to the ground.

  "Because I'm thirsty," she told him as she gave him a shove and jumped in behind him.

  After taking turns at the fountain, they made their way to a small shaded area, waving to their mothers as they went. Still within their protective view, Christian yanked his white T-shirt over his head and handed it to Mimi. The first time they had played wedding, they got some help from Christy who showed them how they could turn a shirt into a makeshift bridal veil. He purposely selected a white one that morning when getting dressed for their play date.

  While Mimi tucked her hair up under Christian's shirt, he picked some flowers that may or may not have been weeds.

  The wedding preparations were complete, and it was time to take their vows.

  Mimi looked at Christian adoringly and said, "I will always wear my ring and be your bestest friend ever. And I will be your wife and live with you when we get older, and we get jobs, and you make us a house." Mimi paused while she contemplated her next words. "And if we go to the doctor and he puts a baby in my belly, I will be the mommy, and you will be the daddy when the baby comes out."

  She smiled big at Christian and waited expectantly for his response.

  He took a deep breath and said, "I will always win more rings for you. I will win ten hundred rings with different colored diamonds, and you can have one for every day. I will be your husband, and I will make you a house, and I will eat soup every day if that's all you can cook. And if the doctor doesn't put a baby in your belly, then I will put one there. I don't know how, but that's how I think babies get in the mommies’ stomachs. The daddies put them there. That's what Slade told me, but he didn't know how either." He paused before shyly adding, "And you’ll belong to me, and I will love you forever, just like my daddy tells my mommy.”

  He started to reach into his pocket to retrieve the ring when they heard a voice say, "It's called screwing, you idiots."

  They both looked over to where the snide remark came from and realized they had an audience. A boy who seemed to be a few years older than they were had stopped to observe them on his way to the water fountain.

  "So, are you and your squaw gonna live in a teepee?" the intruder sneered while swiping at his sweaty face with his arm. "Wait, she can't be your squaw. She's a pale face, and you're too dark."

  Mimi looked back at Christian with a puzzled expression. He was staring hard at the older boy when Mimi asked, "What's a squaw?"

  "It's a dirty injun's wife," the boy laughed. “You are an injun, right?” he sneered at Christian. “You have a long braid and dark skin. Where do you keep your bows and arrows?”

  Christian broke his gaze from the bully to gauge Mimi's reaction to the taunt. It wasn't the first time he was singled out due to the color of his skin. Whenever his mother, a striking blonde with light skin, took him and his brother, Slade, out in public, the stares were obvious. Most people weren't rude, but they were curious. Slade favored Christy. He didn't have her white-blond hair, but he did have her lighter skin tone. Whereas Christian had his father's straight jet-black hair and dark skin. The only thing he'd inherited from his mother was her intense blue eyes. He'd once heard a classmate's mother ask Christy how old he was when she adopted him. He was the only dark-skinned student in his class and had already been in several lunchroom and recess fights. Just because he was different.

  And even though the bullying he experienced was only verbal, he was the one getting into trouble because he responded physically. Like he was going to now.

  From across the other side of the playground, Christy knew the minute Christian was going to strike. She and Ginny had spoken for a few moments with the harried woman who had earlier unloaded her three children out of a minivan. She introduced herself as Linda and explained to Ginny and Christy that they were on vacation from Illinois and visiting her parents. Her boys were getting antsy, so she brought them to the playground to let them tire themselves out. "I had to get my boys outside to play because that one," she nodded toward the boy talking to Mimi and Christian, "can be a pistol and needs to run off some of that wild energy. He's nothing but trouble when he's not exhausted.”

  Christy had no way of knowing what Linda's son was saying to Mimi and Christian, but when she saw Christian's hands clenched at his sides, she stood up to walk toward them. When Christian rushed at the boy and knocked him over, Christy started running.

  A very pregnant Ginny looked at Linda and clumsily stood up from the bench, a worried expression on her face. The woman waved off her concern, saying, "I don't know what my kid said to her kid, but I'm sure my boy is getting what he deserves. He's rotten to his little brothers too, so I have no doubt he's the one who started it."

  A short time later, Christian followed his mother to their car and kicked at the asphalt as she unlocked it. Ginny had explained that she was getting tired, so she decided it was time to head back to their home on the other side of the Alley. Christian was torn between his conflicting emotions. Feeling guilty for disappointing his mother and cutting the play date short, and elated over Mimi's confession about her secret game. He now sat in the back seat as Christy headed for home.

  Christian thought about how his mother had pulled him off the bully. How the bully's mother never even came over to see if her son was okay, and how Christy had walked the boy to the water fountain and helped him clean up his bloody nose. Christian noticed when Ginny started slowly making her way over to them. He looked up and saw that Mimi was staring at him.

  She must have dropped her bouquet while he was fighting. Mimi was now removing his T-shirt that served as a veil and held it out to him. He took it from her and pulled it over his head, realizing that he felt the need to cover his dark skin. All of a sudden, he wanted to try and hide it from her.

  As if sensing his discomfort and remembering the bully's cruel taunts Mimi quietly told him, "I like your dark tan, Christian. It reminds me of the black king."

  He blinked at
her, the curiosity in his eyes prompting her to continue.

  "My mommy and daddy have a special board game in their bedroom. Daddy is teaching me to play it. It's called chess. And there are different pieces, and they're different colors. There's a black king and queen and a white king and queen. Sometimes I go in their room when I'm not supposed to, and I play with the game, but I don't play the game Daddy is teaching me. I made up a different one."

  She shyly looked at the ground before continuing. "I give all the pieces names. The black king's name is Christian, and the white queen's name is Mimi. And I play wedding with them. And all the other pieces in the game are their family."

  She looked at him then, the gentleness, kindness and innocence of a five-year-old girl immediately warming and comforting his angry and bruised six-year-old heart.

  Smiling now in the back of his mother's car, Christian reached into his front pocket and pulled out the ring he'd forgotten to give Mimi. He would hold on to it until he saw her again. Then he would marry her and do like he said at their wedding that had been so rudely interrupted. He would love her forever and she would belong to him.

  Christy mistook his quietness for melancholy. "Don't be so upset, honey," came her soothing voice from the front seat. "Aunt Ginny just got too tired to stay and they have a long drive home."

  He tucked the ring back in his pocket before asking his mother, "Do you think Mimi will marry me again?"

  "Of course she will, Christian. You're best friends." Her words were comforting. "If you asked her to marry you a hundred times I bet she’d always say yes."

  "How do you know, Mommy?" he asked.

  "Well." She hesitated while trying to think of an explanation that would reassure him. "You and Mimi are..." She paused and thought carefully. "Tethered souls," she offered and immediately realized he wouldn't understand. She was right.

  "What does that mean?"

  "It means that your hearts are connected to each other," she softly said.

  He sat a little higher so he could see his mother's face in the rearview mirror. "You mean stuck together? Like with handcuffs?"