Epilogue
Four Years Later
Tucker
Sitting beside Hadley’s hospital bed, I look around the room and smile. Everyone that means anything to me is inside this room. My two oldest boys, Trevor and Tate, are asleep in my lap, and my youngest, Tyler, is held securely in his mother’s arms. My wife of four years looks tired but still as beautiful as ever.
My brothers, Major and Gunnar, are standing by the back wall, bickering over the Tennessee-Kentucky basketball game that went into double overtime last night. Tanya is busy clicking pictures of her favorite cousin and her newest child while Willow is sitting in a chair pulling something out of a bag.
“Are you gonna let Ty-Ty wear this home?” Willow asks, putting the bag down on the floor and holding up a bright orange Tennessee Volunteers onesie.
I am so caught off guard by the fucked-up nickname she gave my son that I don’t reply. Instead, I shoot daggers her way and shake my head. She also shortened my other sons’ names to Trev and Tay, both of which I hate. No one seems to give a shit about my opinion because half our family calls them by their nicknames.
“My nephew is not wearing that shit,” Major says.
Tanya adds, “Do I need to remind you that you went to the University of Kentucky?”
Gunnar steps forward and pats Willow on the head. “Low did go there, but she saw the light and realizes that the Vols are the best team in the SEC.”
Before it can turn into an all-out brawl, my phone starts to ring. Everyone goes quiet, wanting to know who is calling. I gently move my boys enough to get it out of my pocket and look at the screen. When I see Mom flash across the screen, I close my eyes and pull in a calming breath. Fuck!
When my eyes open, everyone is looking at me. I can see the tension written all over their faces. This isn’t our first rodeo. We all know, when a child is born into the Brady family, my mother comes out of the woodwork. Each time is more unpleasant than the last. At this point, only the fact she gave me life is keeping me from putting a restraining order on her ass.
Even after I moved Mom to Florida, Hadley didn’t tell me what all Mom had put her through. Right before our first son was born was when she decided to finally start opening up. The only reason she told me anything is because Mom had moved back to Kentucky by that time, getting an apartment in Bowling Green. Where she got the money, Major and I have no fucking clue. We quit giving her an allowance once she crossed the state line.
Hadley made it clear, she didn’t mind if Trevor got to know his grandmother, but she wouldn’t allow her to move back in with us. Then, she told me why. Some of the things my mother said to her made me want to kill the bitch, even more than I already did. Again, the blood tie is the only thing that stopped my hand.
Sucking in another deep breath, I lift my chin to Tanya and ask, “Can you take Tate for me?”
A second later, she is lifting my two-year-old son out of my lap, and I’m standing up. I place a still sleeping Trevor in the seat I just vacated and walk to the head of the bed. When my eyes meet Hadley’s, I can see both irritation and fear in the brown depths.
“I’m gonna go take care of this.” I do my best to soothe her, placing a soft kiss on her lips. “I’ll be right back.”
Using her free hand, she reaches out and grabs my arm. “Maybe we can call the nurse, and she can take the baby to the nursery. Then, your mom could get a quick peek at him.”
“Not gonna happen,” I reply, brushing a kiss over Tyler’s head and turning away. “Love you, darlin’.”
I wait for her reply then look to my brothers and nod my head to the door. We walk out of the room, shutting the door behind us. I lead them down the hall a bit, not wanting the women to hear us talking.
“I want you to stay and watch the door,” I say, lifting my chin to Gunnar. “I don’t care what you have to do, but keep that bitch out of the room.”
“Is she already here?” Major asks, fisting his hands by his side.
My brother has had his own problems with Mom over the years. They weren’t the same as mine, but no less fucked up. Unlike me, it didn’t take nearly losing his wife to get him to turn his back on the bitch that gave us life.
I shake my head, reaching up to run a frustrated hand through my hair. “I don’t know, but if she’s calling, she’s not too far away.”
As if my words conjured her, the elevator dings and Mom steps through its doors. As soon as she sees me, a fake smile spreads across her face. She rushes toward me, attempting to wrap her arms around my waist. I step back and place my hand out to hold her back. A quick shake of my head has the smile falling from her lips.
I look back to Gunnar and nod my head toward Hadley’s room. “Go take care of my family, brother.”
Not bothering to see if he listened, I turn back to my mother. “What in the hell are you doing here?”
“I came to see my new grandson,” she says with a slight shrug of her shoulders. “Since I’ve never even seen his brothers, I was hoping you would let me see this one.”
The fact she even knew he had been born is enough to piss me off. To already know he is a boy is enough to have my anger at its boiling point. With Trevor and Tate, I figured she found out about their births through Facebook. With Tyler’s birth, we put a lock down on that shit, and only the people I trusted the most knew when Hadley came to the hospital.
“How the fuck did you know we were here?” I ask, my teeth clenched so tight my jaw is already starting to ache.
“Oh, I just heard it through the grapevine,” she answers with another shrug. “It’s a grandmother’s right to know when her grandchild is born.”
Major steps between us and crosses his arms over his chest. “Answer the fucking question, Mother. If you don’t answer it right now, I’m gonna drag you by the hair of your head all the way out of this damn hospital.”
She huffs, taking a step back. “One of my friends works in labor and delivery. Unlike the two of you, she thinks a grandmother should be part of her grandchildren’s lives.”
Major keeps questioning her until he gets a name. Then, his eyes come to me for a second before he is stomping down the hall. I watch him until I see he is talking to the nurse, and I turn back to the woman I used to adore.
“You could be part of their lives if you didn’t treat their mother like shit. We gave you plenty of chances, but you always found a way to fuck it up,” I force out, trying to get a hold on my temper. “I’m done trying.”
Over the years, we have given her chance after chance. Well, Hadley has; I was just along for the ride. As my wife asked, I never considered letting Mom move back to the farm, but we did meet her in Bowling Green a couple times to eat dinner. The first time was two weeks before Trevor was born.
It was nearly as bad as the days when she still lived in our house. She kept saying shit to my wife. First, she said the dress Hadley was wearing was too short. Then, she went on to add that my woman had gained so much weight that she’d never get her figure back. On and on it went, until I stood up and tossed some money on the table. A few minutes later, Hadley and I were headed back to White Chapel.
The second time was when Trevor was eleven months old. She had been calling and calling, begging me to let her come to his first birthday party. I kept saying no, so she finally called the house phone and talked to my wife. That’s when Hadley said we should try giving her one last chance. I agreed, even though I didn’t want to, but I refused to have her around our son until I knew she would treat my wife better.
We met in Bowling Green again. She started her shit before we even got in the door. By the time our waitress gave us the menu, she was accusing my wife of keeping her away from her grandchild. I wanted to leave right then, but Hadley wouldn’t let me. Our meals had just arrived when she made a comment about Lacey, calling her the woman I should have married. Again, I tossed some money on the table and dragged my woman out the door. Other than showing up at the hospital when Tate was born, I haven’t seen her since.
Mom takes a step closer to me and pastes on a fake smile. “I promise, I’ll do better. Just let me see the baby, please, Tucker.”
For a split second, guilt eats at my gut. “I can’t let you hurt my woman again.”
“You should have never married that girl. She isn’t good enough for you,” she says with a shake of her head. “But, I’ll do my best to be nice to her.”
My guilt is gone in a flash as I reach out and grab her arm. “You’re out of here, right fucking now.”
She tries to fight my hold, but I march her to the elevator and push the button. As soon as the door dings open, I pull her inside and hit the lobby button. She continues to try to pull away from me, whining the entire time. I do my best to ignore her as the floors pass by. When the door finally opens, I drag her out the front door of the hospital.
As soon as we step outside, I let her go and say, “This is the last time I ever want to see you, Mom. I don’t want you calling. Don’t try to contact me at all.”
I’ve said those words before, but this is the first time I truly mean them. I don’t know if it was the fear I saw earlier in my woman’s eyes, or the realization that the mother I loved was gone and the bitch she had become was never gonna change. Either way, I am done.
“Tucker…” she starts, but I cut her off with a shake of my head.
“You are dead to me, woman,” I say, ignoring the pain flashing in her eyes. “In fact, the next time I see you, you’ll be lying in a casket.”
She takes a step back, bringing her hand up to cover her heart, as if my words caused her physical pain. “You don’t mean that, son.”
I look her right in the eye, trying to find a hint of the woman who raised Major and me. Like a fist to the gut, it hits me. This is the woman who raised us. The only difference is I’m no longer the boy that she attempted to mold into her perfect little man.
“My family is in there waiting for me.” I lift a finger and point to the hospital. “I don’t have time to waste on a dead woman.”
With that, I turn away and head back inside to the only family I have left, the only family I will ever need. Not bothering to wait for the elevator, I run up the stairs and walk straight into Hadley’s room. As soon as she sees me, a sad smile crosses her face.
I go right to her, bending down to place my forehead against hers. “Fuck, woman. How did I get so lucky to find you at the Dairy Dip?”
Her dark eyes light up as she says, “The same way I was lucky enough to find you.”
The End