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Van is a lot like Ike and Donovan. He’s quiet and watches people. At first, he seems like a sad child. He doesn’t say much and always wants to be in my arms. When he’s really wound up, only Princess Meemaw Journey will do.
She’s the one who reassures me about my son’s moodiness. “Ike seemed overly shy for a long time. But he was a tough little guy, too. Don’t worry. The world can’t be filled with only loudmouthed showoffs. Someone needs to be quiet and pay attention. For every West, there needs to be an Ike.”
Journey’s wisdom keeps me grounded when motherhood overwhelms me. I want to do everything right to avoid becoming my mom. That’s why I’m afraid to discipline the kids. If I get frustrated, I hear my mother’s voice.
Whenever I get rattled as the kids start screaming at the same time during a homestead party, Journey takes over. I listen to her words and how she speaks. Later that night, I practice my discipline voice with Ike. He never makes fun of me for needing to learn things other people already know.
My moonshine man’s big heart always offers me patience, acceptance, and enough love to last a lifetime.
IKE’S EPILOGUE, AKA HAPPILY EVER AFTER
Before meeting my dreamgirl, I was mostly directionless. I loved my jobs, family, and place in the world. I never saw any reason to add more to my life when it was fine just the way it was.
I admittedly sulked a lot during the nearly twelve months after meeting my ghost. I felt like I had something perfect in the palm of my hand, but I’d managed to ruin my future. A day didn’t go by without me wishing to redo that night.
Once Oana was on the back of my motorcycle, I didn’t care if we were strangers and she was a Trinity Church fundie. I knew the rest of my life just got supercharged. There was no more waiting or hiding in the background. I had to be the man I promised my ghost I was when the moonshine made me fearless.
After Val decides to make a play to be the next Blood-Red Suns’ president, I make clear how I’m gunning for VP when my pa retires. For the next few years, I shadow him during meetings and tasks.
“I always knew this was going to happen,” Pa-Donovan announces one day when we stop for lunch at a burger stand. “Not necessarily the part with Val, but I knew you’d be a better VP than him. I just didn’t say anything since no one, including you, would have believed me.”
I’m not surprised by his words. Pa-Donovan has always understood how I tick. I hope to have the same talent with my own kids.
After I move into my new house, Otto returns to Tumbling Rock with Betty and her mom. He often rides with Pa-Donovan and me when we want the locals to be reminded of the club’s presence.
He also helps me build my back deck, so I can sit out there and be obnoxious like the rest of the homestead families.
“Though I look forward to being an uncle,” he tells me as we stain the deck, “I will never babysit.”
Otto keeps his word, refusing to watch my kids alone at his house for even twenty minutes.
“If you’re horny, ask our parents to watch them,” he insists. “That’s a grandparent’s main purpose.”
Despite his hardline on babysitting, Otto does love to spoil his niece and nephew. As they get older and are capable of doing more than filling their diapers, he’ll come over and help them shoot balls in their toddler basketball hoop.
“I remember when he did that with me when I was little,” I tell Oana as we watch them play.
