Epilogue 1
Harley
Fifteen Years Later
“Are you sure you want me to teach you, and not your dad?”I question Erick, looking up at him, because he’s now taller than me.
He grins, the one so much like his dad I have to do a double-take.“No matter how good he is on the back of a bike, I think everyone knows you’re better.”
“I wouldn’t say that.He can hold his own, but I’ve been riding longer than him.”
“Exactly,” he runs a hand through his shoulder-length hair.“He can show me how to do all the mechanic shit, but I want you to teach me how to ride.”
I should reprimand him for the curse word, but he hears it so often with the group we hang around.It’d be like telling him not to breathe.“Okay,” I nod.“The first thing I want you to know is you’re going to be wearing a helmet until you’re eighteen and can make your own decision about what you want to do.”
“Mom,” he groans.
“Don’tmomme.It’s what’s going to happen.It’s a right of passage, and you’re going to take it seriously.Otherwise you won’t be riding a bike until you’re eighteen.”
“Okay,” he sighs.
“Let’s make sure this one fits,” I pull one out of the bag I brought with me.“This one was great-grandpa Liam’s,” I say the words with a reverence.“We had it restored, and painted for you.”
On the back, airbrushed is the Heaven Hill MC logo, along with some years.
“Can I go show it to him when we get done?”
“Of course,” I answer, although my throat tightens at the words.
An hour later, he looks at me.“Mom, I’m ready to get out on the main road.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah,” he nods.“I won’t ever know about real-life situations until I’m in them.Isn’t that what you’ve been preaching since I told you I had interest in learning?”
Sometimes he’s too smart for this own good.“It is.Let’s go.You in front of me.”
He starts his bike, and takes off slowly, looking back after a few feet.“I’m with you,” I yell.Starting mine and following him, I glance over at the clubhouse, seeing Dad watching from the door.I give him a wave which he returns with a thumbs up.
*****
We park our bikes on the small asphalt path, leading from the house.Slowly we make the trek up the hill.The one that Meredith and grandma used to run all the time, overlooking the entire compound.
Erick runs in front of me, having a seat in front of the headstone.“Hey grandpa Liam,” he whispers, reaching out to brush his hands over the accumulated grass from mowings up this way.“I wore your helmet today.”
It hits me like it always does up on this hill that my son hasn’t spoken to his great-grandfather in years, but he still comes up here and has conversations like a day hasn’t passed.I listen, tears in my eyes as he explains everything I taught him today.
“Anything you wanna tell him?”Erick asks.
Lost in my own memories, I walk over, having a seat next to him.“Hey gramps.So I taught my boy today, the way you taught me when dad wasn’t watching.”
I giggle, and Erick joins me.“Even let him get up to sixty-five going around that curve in Richardsville…”