“So what happened to Maddie when her mother died?” I asked through my sniffles. The thought of her alone at such a young age made my heart cry for her. No one deserved that. She was just a child.
“Frankie had custody of her. When he went to jail, she became club property. She mostly lived at the clubhouse and we all took turns making sure she had everything she needed. She is like a little sister to us all. We don’t talk about Frankie or Rebecca much. Frankie was never really around when Maddie was growing up. He was usually with the club or in and out of jail, so he wasn’t much of a father figure. He was all she had though, which complicates things now. She is the only reason that he is still breathing. I just don’t have the heart to kill him. She has already lost so much, ya know?” I did know. I had a sister and despite the unusual and unfortunate circumstances, a small flicker of hope bloomed in my chest.
“I want to talk to her,” I said, playing with the buttons on my shirt. Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea right now, but I had so many questions to ask.
“Let’s just enjoy tonight. Tomorrow the guys are going hunting and you will have all the time in the world. She needs some space right now and you need time to process all of this.”
Luke was right, as always. Now was not the best time to try and start a relationship with a potential enemy who just so happened to be my sister. His advice to me was to clean myself up and re-join the party. He promised that the events from earlier would not be brought up again and the club was very understanding of the situation. That didn’t surprise me, considering they had known this for some time.
I washed my face and re-applied my makeup. I decided to try and put the situation from earlier in the back of my mind with the help of some booze, loud music, and hopefully the strip show Linda would be giving tonight. It didn’t take much persuasion from Luke to let me go. I figured right now I could get just about anything out of him. Who would have thought that the problems I had anticipated were not problems at all. I actually enjoyed all the ladies at the clubhouse and was anxious to get back out there to them. My real problems consisted of a sister I didn’t know I had, who just so happened to hate me.
I walked into the living room in search of Luke, but instead I found something sweeter-and I didn’t think that was possible. The sweetest, most precious little boy was flipping over the large leather sectional in an attempt to land on his feet on the other side, and failing.
“Hey man,” I said to him, walking up and taking a seat on the arm.
“Hey woman,” he replied, making me laugh. His blonde hair was long and fell over his forehead and into his eyes. He looked to be about five or six.
“What are ya doin’?” I asked, as I watched him make another loop around the couch and try the somersault again.
“I’m gonna be a ninja when I grow up, but first I have to learn how to flip over furniture.” He stopped and stared at me once he was in the starting position, a serious look crossing his face. “Don’t tell Uncle Luke though.”
“I won’t,” I promised, trying to contain my smile.
“Pinky promise?” he asked, sticking his little finger out to me. I place my pinky in his and leaned closer to him.
“Pinky promise,” I whispered.
“Logan!” yelled a voice from the kitchen. The little boy, that I presumed was Logan, quickly slid from the back of the couch and sat down next to me in an upright position.
“What were you doing?” Maddie asked, coming through the door. She shot a glance at me, then narrowed her eyes at Logan. “Were you flipping over the furniture again?” she asked, while picking up toys that littered the floor in the living room. I tried to find resemblances between us, but she kept her back to me.
“No ma’am,” Logan answered.
“She was,” he said, pointing a finger at me. That little shit.
“Me? I was not,” I said, surprised he could accuse me so convincingly. I had forgotten that I was a twenty-six year old grown woman and was ready to plead my case to Maddie and convince her it wasn’t me.
“Logan, don’t lie,” Maddie said scolding him.
“I’m not, mama!” If he said anything else, I missed it. Mama. Logan was Maddie’s son and that made Logan, my nephew. I looked at him with new eyes. He was perfect. From his fine, blonde hair to his golden tanned skin. I looked up to see Maddie staring at me.