Page 26 of Night Blind

Mustang picked up on it, easing the awkwardness. “Michael, I tell you what. Pops has a nerve commanding we make more Neary’s to carry on his line. He said it as if we are going to mass-produce boys so he can teach them to fish and hunt like he did us.”

Cherry arched one eyebrow. “You’re a Neary as well?”

Naomi, who didn’t want to be left out of the conversation, added, “Mommy, he is Daddy’s black brother. I want a brother. Daddy likes him a lot, Iseenthim smiling at Uncle Jay.”

“Brother?” Helen said, looking at Mustang.

“Legally, at least that’s what my paperwork said when I was adopted at 16,” he told them.

“Okay,” Helen said.

“Okay,” Cherry said, “that explains a lot.”

“What does it explain, Mommy? I don’t think I understand,” Naomi said, looking at the large black man.

“It means that when your Aunt was in trouble, and I went to find her, your Daddy asked his brother to help me find the one person in the world who means as much to me as you do, my beautiful child, and that is Helen,” she said. “He asked his brother to help me. He is going to help us again because he loves us.”

“I don’t know about all of that,” Mustang said, averting his eyes from the child who continued to stare at him as if he’d eaten the last cookie in the canister.

“Daddy, do you love Uncle Jay as much as Mommy loves me and Aunt Helen?”

Slow sat quietly, not knowing where she was going with her new line of inquiry, but the squishy feeling had returned to hischest. His wife’s broken foot meant she couldn’t work the job he truly didn’t want her to have in the first place, and fate had intervened on his behalf, leaving him grateful. He was grateful the injury was only a broken foot.

“I do, Naomi. I love him with everything in me, and I will fight a bear if need be to protect any one of you,” he said, feeling more emotional than was warranted. His eyes burned with the start of tears, and he was shocked at the purity of the emotions behind the words. He missed Mustang more than he realized, and having him home, for however long he would be here, was also a blessing he hadn’t known he needed.

“Daddy,” she said, scrambling down and walking over to Mustang. She pulled on her new Uncle’s arm, making him lean down. On his cheek, she planted four small kisses and gave him a hug around his neck with her small arms. “If you love him, then I will love him too.”

“Well, wow,” Mustang said, looking over to Helen, who was shaking her head no. He held up his hands to her as if he were asking her to explain.

“I’m not kissing you and telling you I love you,” she said, getting up from the table.

Mustang sat looking at his brother, a man slow to anger. Michael Isaac Neary always kept his emotions close to his chest, but today, Mustang saw a different side of him. His brother had a family that he loved. The little girl had also gotten to him, and a weird feeling sat in the pit of his stomach.

Suddenly the desire to buy her pony hit him along with wanting to have tea with her as he’d done with Rebecca when they were younger. He had a niece. She’d given him four germ-filled, bacteria-ridden kisses, and he liked it. He scowled in utter disdain at how much he appreciated her nasty little virus-carrying slob-filled points of affection.

Slow asked him, “Why are you frowning?”

“Because them slobbery, germ-laced kisses make me want to go buy her little ass a pony,” he said, frowning more.

Helen didn’t miss a beat; she came from the kitchen, leaned over him, and kissed his other cheek four or five times. “If that’s the case, I could use a pickup truck, Big Guy.”

She burst into laughter as she patted his shoulder. Mustang was also quick on the uptake but chose his wording carefully. His eyes focused on hers when he spoke.

“I could take my response in more directions than one, but let’s get through this assignment, get the payout, and see the next steps,” Mustang said, “and just so you know, if that’s what you truly need, all you have to do is ask, and I shall provide.”

“Fine, Uncle Jay, is that your name? Mr. Neary? I could use a pickup truck so I can give Mark back his loaner to me and have my own wheels,” she said. “Working part-time for Rebecca and going to school for accounting is not going to offer the funding I need to purchase a reliable vehicle that is my own.”

Her eyes were sparkling when she spoke to him. She had a spark in her he hadn’t noticed before, and the man in him nearly responded to it, but the Technician in him didn’t have the time. However, she was family and he would see her more often than he needed to, which is what prompted what he said next, “Jairus Paul Neary.”

“Jairus…the man who came to Jesus…wait, what did he want from Jesus?”

“He was the synagogue leader whose twelve-year-old daughter was ill,” Mustang explained. “Jesus raised his daughter from the dead.”

Cherry was fascinated by him. “Is this your birth name?”

“No, it is the name I chose when I was adopted,” he said.

“Any particular reason why? I mean that is not your average name,” Cherry said.

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