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“Let me tell you, Raider, Billie doesn’t play games. She doesn’t keep score on who has done what. She’s a straight-forward girl like I’ve said. What you see is what you get from her. She’s doesn’t lie or sugarcoat anything. She would rather deal with things and get them straight instead of letting them fester. When she says she forgives you, then she means it. My girl doesn’t know how to play games the way other women do. That’s not how we raised her. I know because of these things, someone could crush her reality if they wanted to. I will tell you, I would hunt down any man and treat him like the cur dog he is and put him in the ground if he hurts my baby. My children may also use some old sayings that they heard from William and myself. We heard them from our parents. Cut them some slack on that.” My eyes never leave his. He never blinks nor do I.
“I understand you, ma’am. I hope one day, I’ll have this experience for my daughter. I will remember every word you’ve said. I hope to give that young man the same words. I want that daughter with Billie. Billie and I have just met but I know she’s the only woman I will ever love. I don’t even understand it, but it’s true.” Raider stops and looks around. “Billie was mad at me earlier. I hurt her.” I stiffen in my chair. “It’s not that I wanted to, but I think it’s the best for Billie. The Brotherhood gang in town has been causing a lot of trouble. I don’t think anything about old sayings. I’ve heard them from my mom growing up.”
“I know all about the gang, Raider. I work at the hospital where those teenagers are sent when they overdose. The gunshot victims are right there along with the teenagers or even younger than that. Those drugs they push are killing the children of our town,” I tell him. If I could, I would shoot up each of those gang members with their own drugs.
“My club is trying to push that gang out of our town. That puts a target on every club member and their families. I don’t want to put Billie in their crosshairs. I don’t want to put any of your family in danger.” I get it now. Raider thinks he can push Billie away to protect her. He doesn’t know our family.
“What did Billie say to that? You know she backs down from no one when it comes to people she cares about,” I ask him.
“Billie said she would never be my weakness and we’re stronger together. I still won’t bring this to Billie or your family.” Raider’s heart is in the right place, but he’s going about this the wrong way. To be young again.
“Has Billie told you that she and this gang have already butted heads before over Ryan?” I ask him.
“No, she hasn’t,” Raider answers and we both take a drink of our tea. I put my glass back down.
“My William served in the military and he believed in the rights to bear arms. We have a small arsenal of our own. William taught me and then Billie and Ryan the safety precautions and how to use every weapon we own and how to clean each one. We have since taught Maggie to shoot some of the smaller weapons. We also taught her all the safety measures. We have a big farm in a county that has two cops who would rather be drinking in the town over. There’s no one to protect us way out here. The ranch hands are here, but we can’t ask our workers to protect us if we can’t protect our own. I have been criticized by many people for letting my children use guns or even learn the safety measures for one. I call bullshit. I have never lived in a house that didn’t have some kind of gun in it. We don’t live in cities where there’s concrete and asphalt everywhere. We have poisonous snakes in and around our farm, not to mention the animals we’re forced to put down because they’ve hurt themselves or become ill. There is a gang that lives in our closest town and no law to take care of them. I won’t leave my children in this house without protection when I work at night. Like I said, it’s bullshit.” I am passionate about this subject. Let the government take the weapons away from the criminals and not law-abiding citizens.
“You’re preaching to the choir here. I’m on your side.” I relax a little. “What happened with Billie, Ryan, and the Brotherhood?” Raider asks me. I did get carried away a little bit. I hate the idea of anyone thinking I’m a bad mom or William was a bad dad.
“A few months ago, Ryan came in drunk. He had been riding with his friend, Dylan, who only had a driver’s permit and not a license yet. Billie handled Ryan. She took that boy to the woodshed out back, grounded him until he could show some responsibility, and told him he would not receive a truck until she trusted him again. That girl is one mama bear when it comes to her siblings’ safety.” I take another drink of my tea and give myself a minute. “The next day, she went to Dylan’s house, and she called his parents out for providing alcohol for the two boys. The parents denied it all and Dylan spilled his guts about him and Ryan hanging out with that gang. It was the gang members who supplied them with alcohol. They also offered them drugs. Billie was pissed off, and she went after that gang with a damn baseball bat. When she told me what happened, I lost ten years off my life. She knows it was crazy going after the three members of the gang but I couldn’t be mad at her. I would have done the same thing, maybe even worst.”
“She was the crazy lady who hit David and Phoenix with a bat? Damn, that woman doesn’t know they’re two of the worst members of the Brotherhood. She’s lucky they didn’t kill her.” Raider shakes his head.
“You see, our family isn’t weak. We take care of our own, even if we don’t think it out first. Do you care about my daughter?” I wait for an answer.
“I do and have since I first saw her a few days ago. I formally introduced myself yesterday but I have been fascinated by Billie for a while. I know there’s an age difference but ten years from now, that won’t matter as much. I want to get to know her, but I know she’s mine. She is my forever.” I look at him closely and I see no signs of deceit.
“She’s young in years but she became an adult the day William died. She still listens to me, but she is over eighteen now and has been another parent to her siblings. I think in some ways, you will find her your age now. She’s not some flighty girl. She’s a woman to take home to your mom. I will tell you she is a virgin and when it comes to an intimate relationship, you will need to let her go at her pace. Don’t try to make that decision for her. If you promise me this, then I give you permission to pursue Billie. She’ll know when the time is right for her. She has a good head on her shoulders and knows how to use the word no.” I stop and leave this to Raider. He only thinks for a few moments.
“I give you my word that I will never rush Billie on anything except staying away from the Brotherhood.” I look Raider up and down.
“You have my blessing, Raider,” I tell him. “Now let’s get inside before they come looking for us. I have monopolized enough of your time.”
“Anytime you want to talk Frannie, I’m here to listen.” I look at Raider again. Billie has chosen well. Raider is a good match for Billie. I just hope their courtship moves along before either of their tempers flare. I know Raider has a temper he’s hiding. It’s in his eyes.
8
Raider…
I had to get away for a little bit to get my thoughts together I had already screwed up once this morning. Billie is a lot more complicated than I first thought. It doesn’t matter to me, but I’m determined to keep her and her family safe. They’re going to be my family eventually. I’m trying to handle Billie like the simple girl I thought she was, but I know I’m going to need to treat her with kid gloves like I do my mom. In fact, Billie reminds me a lot of my mom. After talking to Frannie, I know where she gets it. Just like I know I get my bad temper from my mom.
Billie and I are brand new. I have no right to tell Billie what to do. I need to proceed with caution until I talk to Mom. She’ll know the right way to handle Billie. Do I want to handle Billie? Our club respects women and I’m the one who made sure that we passed that bylaw. I need to practice what I preach. I also can’t become a damn pussy since I have a woman. I need to protect what’s mine and Billie is mine.
To say I’m a bit confused would be right. Then the answer comes to me. The answer to all this is to run the damn Brotherhood out of this town and protect everyone in the damn town and county. We’ve been facing this situation like all others we’ve faced in the past. There is no trying to talk things out when the other side is only concerned with what they want. It’s time to take off the kid gloves and deal out some of that karma that the Brotherhood has been needing for a while. My mind is made up. I’m the one who has dragged my feet on this because I didn’t want any of my brothers to need to cross any lines they aren’t ready for. It’s time to put this to a vote and let everyone decide for themselves. I’m going to make this a pressing issue for the good of the entire community.
I think of my other problem. Now I not only have my mom going to this signing but Billie will be going there too. Frannie didn’t say those exact words but I got the jist of it. I’ll have two women to worry about. My head clears and I know my plan.
“We’re about ready to eat, brother,” Buzz tells me. “Did Frannie lay down the law to you about Billie?”
“No, she just let me know if I hurt Billie, she will put me in the ground,” I tell him. “I also know how the Brotherhood are sucking these kids in from the schools.”
“Do tell. Who did you hear it from?” Buzz asks me in his smartass way.
“I heard it from Frannie because they tried recruiting Ryan and his friend Dylan. They give them booze first. I would almost bet that they laced it with a little bit of the drugs to try to addict them. I didn’t tell Frannie my suspicions yet. If Dylan is ever caught at the Brotherhood, have him arrested. Have them keep him for about a week and we’ll see if he goes through withdrawals.” I have something at the back of my head but it hasn’t formed yet. Having the lazy cops in our community in our pockets helps sometimes.
“I’ve been with Ryan most of the morning and he doesn’t seem like a strung-out druggie. Just a normal teenager with raging hormones,” Buzz tells me. “Did you know when the kids in this house get to the age were their hormones go wild, they explain to them to rub one out? My parents would have had a heart attack trying to explain that to me.” I raise my eyebrows at that. “The thing is, Frannie gave Ryan a medical phablet to show him and then Billie went in there later. She gave him a girlie magazine and some Vaseline and told him to choke his chicken. I laughed so hard I cried. I can’t imagine miss innocent telling her younger brother that.” I can’t imagine it either.
“This family is that way. They’re open and honest with each other. They love and respect each other. They had a dad who died too soon but he loved his children. Frannie is a hard-working woman, and she provides for her family. She loves them dearly. This is the kind of family kids are lucky to have. My mom worked her ass off to provide for us and she did a great job, but I never had the dad I always wanted. That’s taking nothing away from what Mom did or how she loved me or all of us,” I say to Buzz.
