I hear her acknowledge me as the shower starts.
Kierstie
Shane pulls up to the diner and parks just as Jon’s truck pulls in next to us. I can tell Pa, Ma, and the girls are already here. Shane’s helping me out and I see Max pull up with Ry and Nicky in his truck with him. Walking around the truck, Juan helps Jane out. She’s got longer to go, but she’s carrying twins. Thank goodness Shane gave me one at a time.
My dear dumbass, Ry, walks around the truck and yells at us. “Come on, people, let’s get the semen simmerers inside so they can eat, and we can meet our newest sisters.”Semen simmerers?
Juan smacks Ry upside his head, and Rory and Nicky both smack their foreheads in disgust. Jon and Shane look borderline pissed off and Jane looks ready for battle. She’s the first to say something.
“Nicky, Kierstie, let’s go in. Maybe these guys can talk some sense into Ry about why you don’t want to piss off a couple of pregnant women. At the same time, we can find you a man with a few more functioning brain cells.” She loops her arms around mine and Nicky’s and leads us to the doors to the diner. I look back and see my husband and brothers all encircling Ry with Rory taking the lead on this one.
“Little R, I know you’re trying to be funny with your dumbass comments, but a pregnant woman is not someone to be trifled with. You saw Jane. If there wasn’t food waiting on the other side of the door, she’d be tryin’ to kick your ass. I’m sure Sis would be helping her. My woman is getting more and more uncomfortable every day, so take this as a piece of advice, a threat, a promise, whatever the fuck you want to call it. You piss her off again and I’m gonna remind you why I went to prison. I think at least I’ll have Shane helping.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely. I know you’re joking, but if you bring my wife to tears, we’re gonna need more than Ma’s lefse stick to get between us.”
Being nosey, I stayed by the door to listen. What? Can you blame me?
Ry nods. “Yeah, you know me. I was just tryin’ to lighten things up since I could tell y’all were nervous about this breakfast. I’ll stick with picking on you idiots instead.” Ry gives them all a shit-eatin’ grin and heads my way. Max just shakes his head at him.
“He’s gonna end up getting himself in trouble one of these days with that mouth of his, and I ain’t gonna be able to get him out of it. I need coffee and some food.”
Ry walks up to the door as I’m opening it to go inside.
“You know I didn’t mean anything bad by what I said, right, Sis? I couldn’t be happier that you’re giving me a niece to spoil.” I look up at him.
“I know, but you piss off Jane enough and your man may cut off sexy time. You know how he is about her.” I can see the moment that thought dawns on him as we walk to the table. As I get to the table, I can tell the guys must be right behind me ’cause I see both Shandy and Brandy’s eyes get big. I don’t see who asks it, but I can see all the guys smile at it.
“Holy shit, these are the brothers? I wonder what the MC brothers we aren’t related to look like.”
Nicky who’s already sitting at the table chimes in, “Oh, honey, they’re all tall drinks of water. Most of them are single too.”
Pa speaks up, “Sons, don’t forget your manners and introduce yourselves.” Introductions go all around and the waitress brings over menus for everyone. Jane asks for a couple of orders of pancakes for the table. Those sound so good. The waitress asks who wants coffee and everyone but Jane, the girls, and me say yes.
Mads is sitting next to Shandy and asks a question of utmost importance here in the PNW. “Do you two drink coffee?”
Brandy answers, “We do, but not like regular coffee. I like mochas and Shandy likes caramel macchiatos.” This is Mads kind of drink so she starts talking about that fancy coffee stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy that shit too, but give me a strong cup of coffee with a little cream and a good amount of sugar, and I’m a happy gal. It’s something I currently miss very much. I must be daydreaming about my morning cup of coffee longer than I realize, ’cause I’m startled when Shane puts his arm around the back of my chair and pulls me to him slightly, kissing my forehead.
“You thinkin’ hard there, gorgeous. You okay?” I look over at him. His little grin makes him the sexiest man, giving me thoughts I should not be having at a family table. Juan is sitting directly across from me and can never keep his mouth shut, I swear.
“Dude. I know you’re married and all, but that’s still my little sister and I don’t need to see that shit.” Fucktard. What is it with my brothers today?
“You mean like I’ve had to watch you and Jane at just about every family dinner lately? You think you’re sly but when you have to wipe drool and obviously adjust yourself, you ain’t slick, brother. You’re also wrong. He was just askin’ about what I was thinking and I was dreaming about that first cup of coffee.” I was probably about to go on a rant, ’cause it’s always easy to get mad at him, but Pa interrupts.
“That’s why your pa’s always got you, my girl. I just ordered all the young ladies at the table Millie’s hot chocolate. I’ve always got all my girls.” He looks at the two sitting near him, our most recent additions to our family.
“You’ll learn you can count on any of us at this table. My boys may be hardheaded and put their foot in their mouths sometimes, some more often than others, but they’ll always have your back. Family is family. We’re there for each other. Now, like I told you two last night, my brother is another story. He’s burned enough bridges over the years that we don’t speak, but I wouldn’t stop you from tryin’ to find him if you wanted to.”
Brandy waits till the waitress delivers drinks and gets everyone’s orders. As soon as the waitress leaves, she responds to what Pa put out there.
“We haven’t decided one way or another about trying to find him. We didn’t even know our legal last name was Weston till we aged out and got all our paperwork. I think we might have met him once before Mom died, but we were young. I just remember some guy who looked a little like you came over one day and said something about being out. At the time, we didn’t understand what that meant. He and Mom argued, and I remembered her telling him to leave ’cause she got the two only good things he’d ever done.”
Shandy must be remembering that as well. She nods then adds in, “I remember what he said when he was leaving. After she told him that bit about getting the two good things he’d ever done, he said that they’re hardly the only two. Do you think he just meant Kierstie, or could we have more half-siblings?” Well shit, I hadn’t really thought about that. Pa takes a sip of his coffee and leans back, in thought.
“Well, I rightly don’t know. We honestly only knew about my girl, Kierstie, here, ’cause he was living near us and had only gone to jail at that time. He hadn’t served any serious time yet. We still talked then and when he went away for his first sentence, her birth mom knew us and is the one that told us about her. With as much as he’s been in and out of prison, it’s possible, though I highly doubt he’s got a relationship with any of ‘em. My brother’s a cold, dark soul. The last time we had a conversation, let’s just say he said some things that can’t be unsaid or forgotten. That was close to twenty years ago.” I can tell the girls are deep in thought. Jane must be too and realizes the conversation has gotten a little deep for breakfast.
“So, ladies, I know you read ’cause Kierstie messaged me, all excited about that, but what else do you like to do? Were you interested in any of the jobs she mentioned?”
Brandy chimes in first. I think she’s the more naturally outspoken one of the two.
