“And I love you. Today, tomorrow, and always.”
EPILOGUE
Billy
Six Years Later
“Did you get it done?”
“Don’t I always?”
“Yeah, but you know I gotta make sure.”
One of Viper’s girls had run into some trouble and needed to disappear. Knowing I had the means to make that happen, Viper had me take care of it. Normally, something like this would only take me a couple of days, but this girl had a child, and that complicated things. “Yeah, I know... I got them set up in a little place in Denver. Got them both new ids and doctor records, just like you asked. I’ll bring everything over in the morning.”
“Perfect. I really appreciate it, brother.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
“You and Everleigh making it okay?”
“Yeah, we’re hanging in.” I chuckled as I told him, “But I gotta tell ya, these kids don’t make it easy.”
“They never do.”
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Sounds good.”
As I hung up the phone, I remembered I was supposed to be keeping an eye on the kids. I felt certain they were both fine, but I’d better check on them. Since he was most likely into something he shouldn’t be, I started with my son’s room. I eased his door open, then immediately closed it. I couldn’t believe what I’d seen, so I called out for reinforcements.“Everleigh...Everleigh!”
“What!” Everleigh fussed from the bedroom. “I’m still getting dressed.”
“You’ve gotta come and see this!”
“Come see what?”
“This!”
Over the past few years, I’d had to make some adjustments to my lifestyle and had to learn how to live with someone again. I’d always been a bit OCD with my cleanliness, but I’d had to come to terms with the fact that not everyone feels the need to organize their canned goods by making sure the labels face the front. I’d also had to come to terms with the fact that it’s okay if the laundry doesn’t always get done or dishes get washed.
Those were things that happen when kids come into the picture, and now that we had two, I was just living in survival mode, especially when it came to Colby—our five-year-old with a mind of his own. He was something else, and with his green eyes and blond, curly hair, he was the spitting image of his mother. And unlike his younger sister, Mary Catherine, he was always into something.
And that something usually involved a mess of some sort, like digging for crawdads or chasing the goats. It was something we’d grown to expect, but on this particular day, he’d taken things to a whole new level, and it was making my OCD hit overdrive. I took several deep breaths as I stood by his bedroom door and waited until his mother appeared in the hall.
When she saw that I was standing next to his room, she asked, “What has he done now?”
“Just come and see.”
“Is it bad?”
I didn’t respond. I simply opened his door and let her see the chaos for herself. She stepped over to me, and her mouth fell open the second she saw our precious son sitting on the floor with at least fifteen of our baby ducklings running around him. He had filled several bowls of water and had them sporadically placed throughout the room for the ducklings to swim in, which hadn’t gone unnoticed by his mother. “Are those my good Tupperware bowls?”
“Afraid so.”
“Oh, good grief.” Everleigh eased by and entered our son’s room with a huff. “Colby! What is all this?”
“I’m playing with ‘da ducks.”