Page 35 of Night Blind

“She’s fine. She asked about you,” Cherry said, taking a seat.

“I can’t wait to see her and give her hugs,” Helen replied, smiling at Cherry. “That girl is growing so fast, and call me sad if you want, but I am looking forward to hearing about her day. She does the recap so well about her macaroni art.”

Helen was smiling.

Helen didn’t smile.

On a good day, she watched people with mild contempt, but she didn’t smile. Something had happened, and Cherry needed to know what it was. Her husband may like to move Slow, but she didn’t. She blurted out, “You slept with Mustang, didn’t you?”

“The first night, yes, I slept next to him,” Helen said. “That come down is rough after an assignment. Seeing the red splotches when you close your eyes, I wasn’t prepared for that bit, and it rocked me.”

Cherry’s lips were tight, “And the second night?”

“Was it three nights?”

“Helen, stop playing with me and dish the deets. He didn’t coerce you or force you, did he?” Cherry said, watching her cousin pour tea as if the Duchess was coming over for crumpets.

“No, he didn’t, and I actually initiated intimacy with him. I’m late getting back because round three took a little longer,” she said, bugging out her eyes.

“Round three! You had three rounds of sex with that man? How are you even sitting down right now?”

“Well, he made me a tub of water to soak in when we were done with the first session of me reconnecting with my faith in the Lord because I called out for Him often. I think toward the end of that first round, I was bordering on blasphemy,” she said. “Girl, it was so good, he couldn’t wait for me to get out of the tub for the second one. There was water every damned where, and the third one, well, my footprints are all over that shower wall. My God, what a man! That is prime manhood right there, so powerful, yet thoughtful and gentle at the same time.”

She sat down at the table, and in several rapid hand motions, broke down both weapons to clean. Cherry had taught her how, and watching her work was almost poetic. It was then that a thought hit.

Cherry asked, “You’re going to replace me, aren’t you?”

She looked up, the bottle of gun oil in her fingers, “Replace you?”

“Yeah, my broken foot means I can’t work, and if I conceive, I can’t work,” she said. “Would you be willing to replace me?”

Helen leaned across the table and took her hand. “No one can replace the Cherry On Top. I will do what is needed for our family, Abi. You’ve taken care of me for so many years, and if this is what is needed to take care of you, then I will do what is needed; nothing more, nothing less.”

“You seem…different,” Cherry said, still dumbfounded by the arrival of Helen McDaniel. The careful Shenita was truly no more and Helen had taken charge of her cousin. Cherry didn’t know if she liked Helen.

“Bitch, I killed two people, shot the man who held me captive− twice, then freed his other captives along with a ten-year-old white boy child and made wild, reckless love to a man named after a fast horse, who is also hung like one,” Helen said. “How can I not be different after three days of that insanity? Plus, Italy, one of the women I called myself freeing, is the legal wife of The Collector. She helped her husband collect his dolls to satisfy his weird sexual appetites, and, might I add again for the people in the cheap seats, he had the ten-year-old boy in a closet with no light. So yeah, I’m different.”

Cherry burst into laughter. “I don’t know what to react to first in all of what you said; that is a lot to unpack.”

“Well, Mustang wouldn’t let me kill that bastard, and Italy was trying to stop him from bleeding out while still wearing a fucking dog collar with a little flag of Italy like some sort of Sicilian sheepdog!”

Her cousin was still. Helen picked up on the change in the energy. Cherry knew something she was not saying.

“Spill it, Abi,” Helen said.

“The Collector, he’s dead,” Cherry said. “He tried to escape at the hospital and fell down several flights of stairs, breaking his neck.”

“See, the universe is listening,” Helen said and burst into laughter. She started to clap. She looked at the teacup, pushed it aside, and went to the pantry for a bottle of wine. “This calls for hearty red with some white cheese.”

Tears were forming in Cherry’s eyes again. “It is so good to see you laugh, Helen.”

“Honey, after that first forty-five-minute ride on the Mustang, I felt like Harley Quinn, thinking, ‘hmm, I love that Joker!’” She laughed harder. “I didn’t know that is what sex was supposed to feel like. Whew! I might have to dip out once a month and fly to Oregon for a bottle of Pinot and ride on dick-o.”

“Good grief,” Cherry said. “Let’s get these weapons cleaned and prepare dinner for when Michael and Noami get home.”

She looked at her cousin and smiled. They had come so far, been through so much, and were still together. Moreover, the love between them sustained a friendship and understanding neither spoke about but clearly understood.

“Oh, I wanted you to know the bonus you received and payment for the second job was distributed among three accounts to lessen the tax liability,” Cherry said to Helen.

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