Page 27 of Night Blind

Mustang offered a soft smile to her, “Rebecca nearly drowned when she was 12. Pops and Michael were too far away, and I had just learned to swim. I gave it everything I had and pulled her from the water. I did CPR and cracked her rib because I didn’t know what I was doing, but I saved her life.”

Helen was frowning. “So you thought you were Jesus bringing Mark’s 12-year-old daughter Rebecca back from the dead?”

“No, Jairus had faith in Jesus, Helen. Mark and Ruth were teaching me about the power of faith, and although I couldn’t swim well, I had faith that I could help Rebecca and make a difference. I gave all I had in that belief, and in my faith, I saved Rebecca’s life. In my faith in getting away from my terrible parents, I was given a home with the Nearys and treated and loved as their own child. I could not and would not on that day have them lose a daughter,” he said. “Slow’s faith in me to find you is why I was sent to help Cherry. I come through, Helen. Every single time, I come through.”

Helen pressed her hand to her chest, seeing him in a new light. His gaze was intense as he rose from the table. All six feet two and a half inches of pure masculine energy hovered over her.

“As I said, all you have to do is ask me for what you need, and I shall come through for you, Helen,” he said, excusing himself from the table.

Everyone was quiet. Cherry was staring at her cousin, wondering what was going through her mind. Helen said it aloud, not meaning to as her eyes widened in disbelief, “I just felt my ovary release an egg for him to fertilize. I can’t even have children, but if I could, I would make that man into a Daddy on this very day,” she said pressing her hands over her nipples.

Slow stood up, and said, “Yeah, I need to be anywhere but here. Vaginas, nipples, ovaries, what has happened to my life?”

****

Outside, staring at the pile of firewood, Slow was joined by Mustang. They stood side by side. The home in the rear of the property was new. He pointed to it.

“Gabriel put it there for Helen to have her own space,” he said.

“Hmmph,” Mustang replied. “A lot has changed for you. You’re happy and deserve it, but do you think she is going to be able to get this done?”

He looked at the stack of firewood, evenly split and stacked. Helen had cut the wood in the time allotted. She was sore but didn’t complain. Her hands had blisters which she doctored and didn’t complain. Amid the chaos, she could be found sitting still, simply observing, which is what he assumed the woman had also taught his daughter- sit and observe. She was not a complainer. She’d been abused and didn’t complain.

“I think that woman is going to do things that will surprise us all,” Slow told Mustang. “Just get her home safe. You as well.”

“When the assignment is done, so am I. I’m headed to my home in Oregon when she is finished,” he said. “Maybe you and the fam should come for a visit. It has been a minute; I’ve upgraded the place.”

“We will, once the dust settles,” Slow said. “However, you offered to get Helen a truck. Where did that come from? Are you serious about it?”

“Yeah, I see something in her I once saw in myself, and having someone to believe in you means a lot. If all she is asking for is a truck, I can come through with it if it’s truly what she needs,” he said. “Is it what she needs?”

“There are days I’m not sure what she needs, Jay,” Slow confessed. “Maybe I’m too close to it to see the obvious, so I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry, I got this,” he said, winking.

“Take it easy with her; she is hard and fragile at the same time,” Slow told him. “I’m worried about the woman inside.”

“Brother, the woman inside of her is responding to all this man in front of her, and it’s not about sex, that’s not what she needs, but I hear you, and I got this,” he said, patting Slow on the back. “You know I always come through.”

“Yeah, and that’s what worries me,” Slow said.

Chapter 10 - Position

They stood on the front porch watching the black Mustang drive off as if their daughter were headed to prom with the star football player. Words escaped them both as the taillights disappeared into the night and a sense of dread filled them both. A yucky feeling sat in her gut as she looked at her husband.

Slow spoke first, “I don’t think I will be ready when it’s time for Naomi to go on her first date or even to the Senior Prom.”

“Yeah, you know, in the end, someone is usually going to get fucked, and you just pray it’s not your baby,” Cherry said. “What have we done, Michael? We chose this life; she didn’t! She is going out there to right the wrongs in the world armed with a false sense of hope, security, and that man.”

“That man is my brother,” he gently reminded her.

“That man also has a working dick,” she reminded him, “and you remember the mental high after your first takedown. The adrenalin, the need to either kill something else or fuck until you pass out. She’s not ready for this. She’s not ready for him.”

“He can handle whatever she needs,” Slow said, looking over at her, “Jay was one of our best camp counselors. People respond to him in ways I’ve never seen, and he understands women on an almost poetic level, which is why he stays single. He thinks women are scary.”

“I’m scared,” she told him.

“Can she get the job done?”

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