rt screaming and Bethany laughed. “She has a sick sense of humor,” he said, smiling. He loved to hear his daughter laugh.
“I better feed him.” They swapped children and Bethany started to play with his patches on his jacket.
“You’re not mad anymore, are you?”
“No, I’m not mad.”
“Good. I don’t want you to be mad.” She cupped his cheek. “I love you.”
When the ink on the base of her back finally healed, he would see the name had been covered with a nice, deep red rose. Above it, his name was curved around the rose. The symbolism wasn’t lost on him.
Epilogue Two
Fourteen years later
“You got sent home today for beating a kid to a bloody pulp.”
“He deserved it,” Caleb Junior said. “I wanted to kill him, but I didn’t. I let him live.”
“Do you want to tell me why you decided to beat a kid up?” Preacher sat on the end of his son’s bed.
Caleb Junior was growing up so fast. Fourteen years old and not a day went by that he didn’t worry about him, about any of his children. All five of them, six if he included Bishop.
His firstborn son had never left town. In fact, against all odds, he’d become the handyman to the town. If anyone needed a repair, Bishop became the most reliable, cost-effective guy. He’d been able to build a business and a family. Five years after Caleb Junior’s birth, he and Bishop had a sit-down and were able in some way to mend the damage they had both caused. They’d never be close, Preacher knew that, and the truth was, he didn’t want to be.
Bishop and Robin had also become good friends, or at least, she’d become good friends with his wife, but that was a whole other interesting development. For now, he was more interested in his younger son’s very bad behavior.
“Look, there’s this girl, okay?” Caleb said. His fourteen-year-old face started to go red.
“A girl?”
“Dad, please. It’s not like that. She’s different from others. He was calling her names. She has to wear braces and she’s on the chubby side, and well, she’s nice.” Caleb shrugged. “Her parents moved here not that long ago and she’s having a hard time at school. Benji is a prick.”
“Don’t let your mother catch you saying such things.”
“He is though. A really big one. He’s worse than any kind of pussy and he likes to hurt her. I don’t like him and he was saying all kinds of bad things to her. But today he told her he was going to gut her and see what her insides look like. I know that’s fucking weird.”
“Language.”
“And so I let him know that she would never be alone. That if he wants to ever, and I mean ever hurt her, he’s going to have to come through me.”
“So you’re telling me you’ve been sent home because you like a girl and were defending her?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying, but I don’t like, like her like her. It’s complicated.”
“You should have told a teacher.”
“But what if what he’s saying is true?” Caleb Junior asked. “What if he would hurt her? Should I let it go?”
“No, you should have told a teacher. That’s what people do, Caleb Junior.”
“I’m not a normal person. I’m going to be like you one day, Dad. I’m going to run the club and no one’s ever going to be able to threaten women again. I’ll take care of them, like you do for Mom.”
Preacher smiled. “First, you’ve got to find a woman you love as much as I love your mother.” He sighed.
“Am I in trouble?”
“You’ve got homework. Your mother went back to the school and demanded you be given a chance. So she got you like a month’s worth of homework.”