by Cee Bowerman
“I see that Bird’s idea is going to happen today.” Martha said from beside me.
“His idea?”
“For the slide.”
“A slide?”
“You know. For the boys to get down the stairs.”
“For what?” I realized my voice had risen, and I took a breath through my nose. “Sorry. What?”
Martha chuckled. “So, he didn’t tell you.”
“No. Apparently not.”
“He’s having Bear put in a slide for the boys. There will be some sort of padding at the bottom. Bird and the boys were talking about it last night while you and Smokey were outside. I didn’t realize that Bird was serious.”
“He’s going to ruin this beautiful staircase with a slide.”
“He’s going to install a slide so that the boys can just go down easily, rather than risk the little ones rushing down the stairs and falling.”
“Oh. Well, when you put it that way, it makes sense.” I shook my head as I turned to look back down the stairs. “That’s crazy, but smart. The boys are going to shit.”
Martha laughed. “Of course they are. You’re moving them into a house with room to run around like wild heathens, a slide to use at their leisure and a pool in the back. Once the dogs get here, they will be the happiest boys on the planet.”
“Dogs. Here.”
“Oh, shit.”
“I think that maybe you should leave the laundry to me and go have a chat with my son.”
“You think so? Is it considered domestic violence if we aren’t married yet?”
Martha laughed out loud.
“I’m not going to kill him. Just maim him.” I dumped the basket on the bed and started to furiously sort the baby’s clothing. “I have to remind myself that this is new to him. Not only with me living with him in his bedroom, but the baby and my boys underfoot all the time. It’s just so much.”
“It worries you?”
“It terrifies me.”
“Good. I would worry if you weren’t scared. This is huge.” Martha was sorting the little tops to their matching pants, and then folding them together. “I remember how I felt when Smokey convinced me to move in. I kind of fell into it. All four of the boys came down with the chicken pox. He was going stir crazy in his house with his two cranky little ones, I was going stir crazy in mine with my own cranky boys. He finally asked if he could send someone to come get us so he and I could combine forces.”
“That’s actually a good idea, I guess.”
“By the time the boys were well, all of our clothes were at Smokey’s house, and he convinced me not to leave. It had been a month since our first date.”
“Wow.”
“It was hard for Smokey and me. His wife had died suddenly, and he was just getting adjusted to being alone. I had left an abusive relationship, and I was just waiting on Smokey to lose his temper and hit me. I rat holed money back every chance I got and kept it in a bag with some of mine and my boy’s things in case we had to run in the middle of the night. I kept that bag for almost ten years, Summer.”
“But you never ran?”
“He never gave me a reason to. He taught all four of our boys, and me, how a man is supposed to treat a woman. How to respect her, make her happy, work with her instead of against her in all things that come their way. Kale is practicing what his father taught him. Now, it’s Bird’s turn. I have complete faith in him.” Martha reached over and put her hand on my arm. “You just have to learn to have faith too. But if it helps, just like I was with Smokey when we first started, you know you’re strong enough to live without him. In ten years, you and I can sit down together and laugh about this conversation.”
By this time, I was crying. Martha had brought all my worries and fears to the forefront of this conversation and laid them out for me to analyze. I realized she was right.
“Summer, you’re strong enough to take care of your babies on your own. Be strong enough to show them how to take a chance and be happy.”
I looked up to see that Martha had tears in her eyes. Without thinking, I threw myself at her and she caught me up in a hug.
“I want you to meet my Mom, Martha. You’re as smart as she is. I think that the two of you could rule the world together.”
“I am sure I will have plenty of opportunities to meet your Mama, sweetheart. We will be sharing our grandkids with each other. You’ll be lucky if you get any time with them by yourself.”
At that moment, Lark decided to let us know she was awake. I felt Martha pull away and look toward the door.
“You want to get her?” I asked, a little too late. Martha was already at the bedroom door on the way to the nursery. “I take that as a yes.”
I sat on the edge of the bed, laundry piled around me, and listened to Martha talk to her first grand baby. I could hear her adjusting Lark’s diaper, and then talking to her as she got the baby dressed again. I found myself staring at the baby monitor, listening intently to Martha telling Lark how much she looked like her Daddy when he was a baby. Something moved at the edge of my vision, and I turned my head to see Bird leaning against the door frame of the bedroom.
“Did my Mama make you cry on purpose?” He asked softly.
“Oh, no. She was reassuring me that I am doing the right thing. That you are a good and decent man, and I can trust you.” I stood up and walked to Bird, my bare feet making me much shorter than him. “I believe I can, Mr. Bird. We can make this work, you and me.”
“Ms. Summer, I know we can.” Bird leaned down and kissed me softly. “I think we’re ready to get the stuff from your house. I’ve got a crew of men, a shit ton of boxes and five trucks. All I need you to do is stand there and point, we’ll take care of the rest. Mama is going to watch Lark for us at her house.”
“Are you installing a slide on the staircase?”
“Yes. On both, actually.”
“Really?”
Bird just stared at me in answer.
“And a dog? Bird. Come on. We have to talk about shit like this before you just up and buy a dog. I don’t have time to train a dog. I can’t do it.” I leaned my head down on his chest as I put my arms around his waist. “We have to discuss shit like this before any decisions are made.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. In the future, I’ll make sure to talk to you about things first. Doesn’t mean I’ll back off, but I’ll listen to your side first. I promise. But the dogs...”
“More than one?” I jerked my head back to look at him, already getting angry.
“Yes, Sunshine. There are two. They will come to us fully trained to be best friends and protectors for you and the kiddos. Kale’s friend is working right now to find the perfect fit. He does this shit for a living. By the time he gets them to us, they’ll be able to load the dishwasher and watch the kids while we go on date night.”
I chuckled. He really had thought the dog thing through, rather than bringing home some cute puppy that was going to pee everywhere and eat the furniture.
“Oh, and next Tuesday the contractor will be here to work on a play area connecting our house to Mom and Dads. If that’s okay with you. A big fenced in area that the boys can run and play in safely. We’ll have a fort and a swing set, plant a few trees, get some sod laid down to start a good lawn, put a concrete track around the outside edge for them to race and ride bikes. There will be a gate to get into Mom and Dad’s yard from ours. Lark and I talked about it last night while we had our bottles by the pool. I would have included you, but you were sleeping like the dead.”
“You’ve planned out a lot of things, Bird.” I leaned up to kiss him again. “My boys are going to love it here. However, I don’t think a racetrack is necessary in the backyard.”
“Okay. No racetrack. We’ll call it a sidewalk. I hope they love it here. I hope their Mom loves it here too.”
“I think she will.” I laid my head on his chest. “And if she starts to doubt things, she can think about all those metal pieces that
touch her in all the right spots while she’s naked.”
“And that’s our cue to leave, little bird.” I heard Martha’s voice from the bedroom door. I couldn’t say anything else. I was praying for a hole in the earth to swallow me up, so I didn’t have to face my future mother-in-law again.
~*~
Bird and I walked out of the courthouse hand in hand. We had just registered for our marriage license, and now had to go and direct the guys on what to move at my house.
“Do you want to stop for some food on the way, Sunshine?”
“I want to go and get this done! We can eat later.”
Once I was seated behind Bird on his motorcycle, he pulled onto the street. He took the side streets, and meandered his way to my house, giving us time to relax on the bike ride. When he turned down my street, I could see that there were quite a few trucks parked up and down my street. Six motorcycles were parked on the sidewalk in front of my house.
“My boys are going to be so excited to be around all of these motorcycles. You’re honestly going to be their superhero.”
“I can’t leap buildings in a single bound, but I can introduce them to all sorts of guy things. Motorcycles, cars, trucks, engines, when they get a little older, I’ll tell them about women.”
“Oh, no you won’t, Mr. Bird. My boys are going to be sweet little boys forever, no woman is going to get their hooks into them until they are well into their fifties and I’m too old to fight it.”
Bird laughed out loud as he parked the bike up on the sidewalk next to the others.
“You’re not going to have a choice when they get old enough to start dating. They’ll bring home a girl, or hell a boy for that matter, and you’ll do your best to be nice. It’s just your nature.”
“I’m not emotionally prepared to think of any of them dating.”
Bird grabbed my hand as he walked beside me. “I’ll talk you through it, Sunshine. You and Mama can sit at the table and plot against whoever they bring home, I’m sure.”
I smiled at the thought. I bet Martha could come up with a good scenario or two to get rid of someone that broke her grandson’s heart. My Mother would just run them over with a car and then try and give them part of her aloe-vera plant to help with scarring.
“Is it okay that Clem and Fain are planning to help?”
“Oh, yeah. Heat has died down, I think. Someone shot a known drug dealer. I’m sure that’s not one of their top priorities in the crime solving world.”
“I thought that police were supposed to be impartial.”
“I’m sure they are. But, if you had to choose between helping someone who really deserved it, or helping someone who makes it their life’s mission to break the law and hurt people, who would get more of your attention? It’s human nature.”
Bird opened the screen door of my house and held it for me to walk in ahead of him. The inside of my house was controlled chaos.
Brenda was standing in the hallway telling men what to do. She looked relieved to see me and rushed toward us as we came inside.
I was anxious to talk to her about the pregnancy news they had found out yesterday, but I didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag in front of all the people in my house.
“I have about fifty questions for you!” She took my hand and pulled me to walk behind her. “Start with the kitchen. If you want it, set it on the counter. If you don’t, leave it in the cabinet or drawer. Do that all over the house. Once you’ve finished, we’ll take all that you don’t want and sell it or give it to Kari for her apartments. I’ve got the girls in your room packing up your clothes and shoes.”
I heard a voice I didn’t recognize call out from the back of my house, “Ask her where she got these black boots!”
“They aren’t really doing a fucking thing in there but trying on your shoes.” Brenda drug me from the kitchen down the hall, and we walked into my bedroom. “Have any of you done a single fucking thing?”
I recognized Carlie from Bird’s house the other day. She was leaning against the headboard of my bed, her bare feet out in front of her. Another woman with a halo of white-blonde curls was lying on my bed next to Carlie with her legs in the air. She had a different shoe on each foot and was staring at them up above her.
“I can’t decide which ones I like better.” The blonde woman said as she turned to Brenda. “Hi, I’m Lisa. Your shoes are awesome. I can’t walk in them at all, but they are cool to look at. I’m loving these purple ones.”
“Hi.” I put my hand up to wave at Lisa and saw a young girl come out of my closet. She was wearing an orange, Harley Davidson tank top with a pair of denim cut off shorts. My five-inch, stiletto heeled, black boots on her feet.
“I am so glad you are going to be my sister. We have the same size feet, and I think that black dress in there will fit me.” The young woman walked toward me; her hand stuck out. “I’m Jenna, Bird’s little sister.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” I shook her hand and looked behind her as Terra came out of my closet trying to walk in a pair of platform sandals.
“Hey girl, I don’t know how you fucking do this.” Terra wobbled to the edge of the bed, holding onto furniture as she made her way across the room. “This is bullshit.”
“That’s why you do it like this.” Lisa was still on the bed with her legs in the air, admiring the two different shoes she was wearing. “I’d break something trying to walk in these.”
“That reminds me, do you ever get rid of any purses? There are about ten in there that I can’t live without. Can I, like, rent them from you?” Brenda walked past Jenna and went into my closet. A few seconds later I heard her call out, “I really like this one. Oh, shit! I didn’t see these boots!”
“Sorry, we took over your closet. I promise we are really here to help.” Carlie had moved to sit up on the edge of the bed, her bare feet on the floor.
“Yeah. She’s right.” Jenna was standing on one foot, taking my boots off her feet. “We suck. But you have some awesome shit. I can’t wait to shop with you.”
“You just want to shop in her closet.” Brenda walked out, a pair of boots on her feet and a purse in each hand. “So do I.”
“I am not opposed to sharing.” I leaned against the door frame and smiled. “I promise.”
“We can doll you up like a biker chick with the shit we have. Your stuff is way classier.” Jenna had the boots in her hand now and was walking past Brenda into the closet.
“When the guys get all your stuff to Bird’s house, can I organize your closet? I live for things like that.” Lisa had her legs down now, the shoes in her hand. She hopped off the bed and came closer to me. I realized when she didn’t stop walking that she was coming in for a hug. “It’s so nice to meet you!”
I hugged her back. “Oh, that would be awesome!”
Since I moved to Rojo, I had a very small group of friends in my life. My Mom, my sister Willow and Drea were the only women I had a close relationship with. Now, with Bird, I was going to have an extended family full of women. I was positive that Bird was getting the short stick by falling for me. He had so many people to share with me, his life was full, and now mine would be too.
“Holy shit! Brenda did you see the shoes she has on?” Jenna was staring at my feet as she spoke, and Brenda walked around the end of the bed to get a good look. “You know, I always wanted a big sister.”
13.
“When I think about you, I touch myself. Meaning I rub my temples, because you give me a fucking migraine.”
Drea to Bird
BIRD
I set the grocery bags on the island in the kitchen and looked around the living room. So many things had changed in the last twenty-four hours, my house looked completely different.
Bear had made good progress with the staircase slides, the forms were in place on both sets of stairs, now just waiting for the polished wood to be attached on top of each one.
Over at the side of the room, where the pool table and shuff
leboard were sitting just a few days ago, was now a toy area. A few smaller bookshelves filled with toys and games, some baskets that contained all sorts of smaller toys, two bean bag chairs and a rocking horse all took up that space.
The library in the corner was a little more condensed, the bottom shelves had all the breakables removed, and there were children’s books stacked where they could easily be reached.
At the dining room table, there was a highchair for Lark, the seat tilted back until she got a little older, and three booster seats attached to dining chairs. In front of the booster chairs were place mats that had pictures of superheroes on them. Spider Man seemed to be the main theme.
