“What I’m sayin’ is, that means I have a long fuckin’ time of remembering what Snake sacrificed for Lilah and me, a long fuckin’ time to be grateful for it, and a long fuckin’ time to honor that memory.”
Yes, my Abel was good at this.
Dad’s throat convulsed, but he said no words in reply, just nodded.
“You want time with your girl?” Abel asked.
Dad swallowed, cleared his throat, and answered, “If you mean alone, no. You don’t have to leave. But I want time with my girl.”
“You got it,” Abel murmured, looked down at me and shared, “Gotta shower, bao bei.”
“Okay, honey.”
When he bent this time, he touched his mouth to mine.
Then he went to take a shower.
And I sat in my chair with my eyes to my dad, who was watching the sea, mourning his friend and doing it being with me.
* * * * *
“How’s Jabber?” Chen asked.
I was sitting by the hospital bed they set up for him in one of the downstairs rooms, Abel standing behind me.
And I was worried. Chen looked pale and tired even though Abel told me he’d slept most of the day.
“Worse than you but bitchin’ about not getting a cigarette even though he has a punctured lung, so I reckon he’ll make it.”
Chen gave a truncated chuckle that ended in a wince.
I reached out and grabbed his hand.
He stopped wincing and looked at me. He then looked at Abel.
Then he smiled a cheeky smile. “Destined to save the world, hunh?”
“That’s what they’re telling us,” Abel confirmed.
“Action shot in my Wikipedia entry, once we take care of that shit,” Chen declared.
I didn’t know what Abel did because I burst out laughing.
It was surprising. I didn’t think I could laugh. Not that day. Not the next. Not for a while.
But I did.
And I did because Chen was funny.
And I did because, with his words, I knew he was going to be okay.
* * * * *
“I need to find Abel,” I murmured late that evening, rising from the couch in one of the downstairs living rooms (I’d peeked in a few, there seemed to be about ten of them), my eyes moving from Leah to Sonia.
We’d had a family dinner in Jabber’s room, mostly to give him targets for his orneriness, to which he took aim and shot copiously.
Talk had drifted to biker so Jian-Li and I decided to leave them be. We found another space and Leah and Sonia found us. We shot the shit and I got the sense that the other two female parts of The Three found us just so they could take our pulse. Conversation was light but not lighthearted.
But now I needed my man.
“And I need to check in on Chen,” Jian-Li added, rising with me.
“Okay, ladies. We’ll see you tomorrow,” Sonia said.
“’Night,” I replied.
“’Night, Lilah. ’Night, Jian-Li,” Leah returned.
“Good night,” Jian-Li said.
We moved to the door, and as we did, Jian-Li tucked her hand in my elbow.
I brought it close to my side and covered it with my other hand.
Out in the hall, I asked, “You okay?”
“I’ve had days that were better,” she answered.
“Mm-hmm,” I murmured.
“Though, today was a great deal better than yesterday, so I’ll take it.”
“I hear you,” I replied on a squeeze of her hand.
We kept walking toward Chen’s room. We did this silently, but it was a long way so the silence didn’t last.
“We’re prepared, Lilah,” she told me.
I looked down at her.
“You know about Abel’s dreams?” she asked.
I nodded. I did. He’d mentioned them before, but he gave me the full briefing that morning about his dreams, the dreams I was having and not remembering, and Leah and Sonia dreaming.
“We’re prepared,” she said firmly.
“I think I got that yesterday when all your boys kicked ass.”
She smiled. It was small, but it was proud.
“What you’re saying is, all this new stuff, it’s no surprise to you,” I remarked.
“Oh, it’s a surprise. My Abel and his fated partner saving the world, that’s a surprise. But yes, in a way, you’re right. We knew it would be something. I would have picked something less enormous, but there are a great number of things in life you can’t choose.”
“I hear that too,” I muttered.
“But sometimes fate smiles down on us, giving us bounty instead of challenge.” Her hand curled tighter on my arm. “That’s what she gave us with you.”
That felt so good, I stopped walking.
She had no choice but to do it with me, and when I looked down at her, she was looking up at me.
“You’re making Abel very happy.”
“God, I hope so,” I whispered.
She gave me another smile, still small, but this one happy.
“You are.”
“I like him,” I told her, and her smile got less small.
“That’s good, since he likes you too. A great deal.”
I grinned. “I noticed that.”
She looked forward and started us walking again.
Then she commenced in destroying my world.
“I cannot say what it means, my delight at what he’s found in you, that he has what he’s been yearning for, even in the short time you’ll be with him as you live your mortal life. It will give him much to cherish as he continues his immortal one when you’re gone.”
I kept walking but said nothing, made no sound, carefully regulated my breathing.