Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

Chapter 79

Erika sat outside in the barn on a hay bale. She let out a few slow breaths as she watched her father arguing with her mother. Her grandparents had just left after a disagreement Amelia had with Aryanna. They screamed and yelled at each other until they couldn't anymore and eventually both Nick and Abigail had to get between the two of them. It almost got physical. Arthur was pacing out back at the time and came inside just as Amelia was about to throw a punch at her mother.

Sebastian eventually dragged Aryanna out of the house and Arthur back to his and Amelia's room. John ushered the two kids out to the barn while him and Abigail headed home. Nick was tending to Bourbon when he looked over at his sister. He set down the horse brush and walked over, sitting on the hay bale next to her. He let out a sigh as he looked over at her.

"Are you okay, Erika?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Worried." She replied honestly. "I thought that would go smoother than what it did. I dreamed about it for weeks. How it would go between Momma and her parents when we met them, but it didn't go as well as I hoped it would."

"Well," Nick sat up straight, "sometimes things don't go as planned."

"I know," she replied, leaning on her knees, "I just wanted this one thing to go right. Just this one thing. I thought that maybe Momma would be happier, and we would actually have some blood grandparents. I love Hosea, Richard, and Irina, but I would've hoped to have met Momma's parents too."

"Well, we did meet them," he nudged her, "before of course, Momma started throwing insults and then her mother fighting right back. But we still met them."

Erika laughed a little. "Yeah, I guess so." She sat up straight. "Do you-" she paused, "-think that maybe Momma wasn't wanting this type of life? I mean, she used to do a lot of bounty work and kill people. Pa too, but not like Ma did."

Nick took in a breath. "To be honest, I don't know a lot about what Ma and Pa used to do before we were born. They don't talk about it a lot."

"I know," she stood, "but do you ever wonder what may have happened if they never left the gang?" She looked over at Nick. "Like what if Ma and Pa had us while they were still with the gang? Do you think that maybe our lives would've been different?"

"It definitely would've been different," he leaned back on his arms, "the way I hear Grandpa Hosea and Uncle John talk about it, kind of seems like they were sad to leave the gang. But they also talk about it like they had no other choice but to leave it."

Erika paced for a few minutes before looking back over at her brother. "I wanna find out more about it."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "How you mean?"

"I wanna find out about what the gang was like. How many people were in it, what they did, and the code. That outlaw code that Pa used to talk about. Uncle Lenny still mentions it from time to time, and so does Uncle John. I wanna find out about it, figure out what it means."

"Erika, I don't think it's a good idea to be learning about Ma and Pa's past. They don't talk about it for a reason."

"But what they lived before we were born is just so interesting! You can't tell me you've never wanted to learn about that gang they were in."

"Of course I do," he sat back up, "but Pa says-"

"It doesn't matter what Pa says, Nick," Erika began pacing again, "those were the days. Of outlaws, gunslingers, thieves, murderers, all of it. I wanna learn about it, find out what that code meant."

"Erika, this really ain't a wise idea-"

"Please Nick?" She sat back down next to him. "You're gonna be leaving soon, and I wanna do this with my big brother."