Page 84 of Marlin's Faith

“Can we call Charity? I mean, can she come home?” I asked. I’d talked to my younger sister more and more over the intervening weeks; the stronger I’d begun to feel, the more outgoing I’d begun to feel too. Hope had the shine of tears in her eyes and pulled me into a tight hug.

“Yeah Bubbles, It’s time I had both my girls home,” she said. I couldn’t disagree with Hope. This was home, or Ft. Royal was anyways and she was right, I wanted all of us together again. It was past time.

“So we can call her? Do you think she’ll be able to leave?”

“Bubbles, this is Blossom we’re talking about here, you think anything is going to stop her? She’ll just outsmart them.”

I nodded and hugged Hope again, and it felt like I was me, like we were a family again. Marlin smiled at me, pleased, from behind my sister’s back as he clasped hands with Cutter and pulled him in for a hug. Something passed between the two men in that enigmatic way that was between two brothers of the MC. As soon as he and Cutter had their bromantic moment, Marlin moved to greet the rest of the men… the rest of my extended new family.

I smiled and couldn’t think of a time that I had ever truly felt like I was a part of something before, but it was true… This is where I belonged. Safe, happy, and loved.

Epilogue

Charity…

“Ack! God fucking damn it!” I went diving over the edge of my bed in my dorm room and snatched my buzzing phone off the nightstand.

“Hello?”

“Blossom!” My two sisters crowed into the phone and I held the phone away from my ear to keep from going deaf in it.

“What?” I asked, laughing back.Faith is laughing…It’d been so long since I had heard that laugh. I missed my sister,bothmy sisters, with a fierce ache in the center of my chest.

“When are you coming home?” Faith demanded, like she hadn’t been the one keeping me away. I rolled my eyes exasperated.Some things never change.

I looked around my dorm room. I had six weeks of class left, but Ireallywanted to go. I did some quick math and sighed out.

“I can be there in three, maybe four weeks?” I hazarded.

“Will you be graduated?” Hope asked suspiciously.

“Close enough, I’ll have all my classes done, all my credits in, and will just be waiting on my diploma in the mail.”

“Charity…”

“Oh, whatever Corporal Badass! I don’t need to walk down some stupid aisle and across some fucking stage, in front of a bunch of gawking people I don’t know, to feel like I accomplished what I did.”

I heard a male voice that could have been Cutter or Marlin say “Damn!” on the other end of the line and Hope and Faith dissolved into peals of laughter, which made me laugh too.

“By my estimation you have six weeks of classes left,” Hope said and I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, so what? I can do them in the time frame I gave you.”

“Charity –“

“I do what I want!” I said in a mock tough-guy tone; more laughter ensued. I’d never been one to take my oldest sister too seriously, Faith did and then some, covering us both on that front.

“Fine, you do what you want and get your ass down here,withyour diploma or I’m kickin’ your ass!” Hope said.

“Aye, aye, Captain tight wad!” I crowed and I heard Cutter in the background say, “Hey! Watch it now.”

It took a few minutes for the laughter to subside and for the three of us to get a grip and say goodbye. I smiled after I ended the call and breathed in deep and let it out.

It was time for the three of us girls to inhabit the same space again… I couldn’t wait.

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