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“Raven is actually a really beautiful name,” Vinnie says.
“She’s a beautiful woman. She’s a year younger than Falcon, and she’s had a rough time of it.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. She’s in remission from leukemia.”
His eyes widen. “Oh my God.”
“Yeah. But things look good. And out of three brothers and a sister, only Falcon was a match for a bone marrow transplant. It’s why he was able to get out of prison early.”
He sits down and runs his hands over his beard. “You’re right. There is a lot I don’t know.”
I open the refrigerator. “Well, Vinnie, we’ve got all the time in the world for me to catch you up. I’ll make us a snack, and we’ll start talking.”
23
FALCON
“Hey, Ray.”
Raven rises from the recliner and smiles at me, coming in for a hug. “Christ, Falcon. We’ve all been worried sick.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” I squeeze her tight, so grateful that she’s still on this planet. “I wanted to reach out. I was so happy when your bloodwork came back normal.”
“God, me too. Though, like I said in the hospital, I only felt sick. Not sick sick.”
I nod. I don’t understand what Raven means, and I’m glad I don’t. On the other hand, I’d have gladly gone through the leukemia to spare her.
Raven and Robin are so different. They’re fraternal, not identical twins, though they do look quite a bit alike. But Raven is softer, gentler. Robin followed me around as if she were my little brother rather than my little sister.
But not Raven. She stayed in the house with Mom, learned to do homemaking things from our traditional mother.
She learned to ride a horse, of course, but other than that, ranching wasn’t really her thing.
Not so for Robin.
She never put a dress on until she hit puberty.
“You want an Orange Crush?” I ask.
“Just finished one, but help yourself.”
I grab a water out of the refrigerator behind the bar. Orange Crush tastes like fake flavoring to me, but it’s Raven’s favorite. She always says it tastes like sunshine.
“Is Savannah okay?” she asks when I sit down next to her.
“So far, so good.” I’m not sure how much I’m at liberty to tell Raven. “I had a parole revocation hearing this afternoon.”
“Oh my God…”
“Hey, I’m here, aren’t I? They didn’t revoke my parole.”
She cocks her head and smirks. “How’d you get out of that?”
“Lola. She wrote a script for me to memorize. It was the most obsequious thing you could imagine, but it did the job.” I fiddle with the lapels of the suit jacket I’m wearing. “This is Hawk’s tight-ass Armani suit, plus his shoes. They’re too tight on my canoe feet.” I lift one of my feet.
“Why don’t you take them off?”
