You Are My Sunshine

Chapter 75 - The New Normal

"It is both a blessing and a curse to feel everything so very deeply." - Unknown

"Maelynn," Opie knocked on the bathroom door, sweat rolling down his face and chest. "Mae baby, come on."

"I don't feel well," she whined as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. "Where?"

Closing his eyes Opie sighed heavily, so heavy that she could hear him through the door, and leaned against the door frame. "We dumped him," he mumbled. "Jax went through his shit, he was scamming all over SanWa. He worked at TM, cops ain't gonna look at us, they're gonna look at everyone else." He shrugged a little although Mae could see, and twirled the ends of his beard as he listened for her reaction.

"And he was my dad," she added spitefully. "Where did you...put him?"

Opie cringed. "Off by the utility shed at that construction site."

"They'll find him," she whimpered.

"Yeah, that's the point," he admitted. "Guy had a lot of enemies. When he's found and it hits the news whoever he pissed off is gonna hear, they'll leave it and won't come to you looking for him. I wanted to make sure you were safe, that none of his bullshit blew back on you."

"Okay," she sat on the edge of the tub.

"Mae," Opie whined. "I did that for you."

"It was...overzealous, Ope. You didn't have to shoot him, you didn't have to do that." Mae's voice faltered before she began to cry. "He was my dad and he sucked, I know, but he didn't deserve a bullet."

"Mine didn't either," he said defensively.

"Charlie was involved," Mae sniffled. "I admit that, he had a role, but he didn't kill your dad. I'm sorry you're hurting but that doesn't make this right."

Opie's jaw jutted out to the side as he listened to her crying quietly. With a grunt and heavy footsteps he left the hall and headed back downstairs.

"She alright?" Jax asked as he continued the task of erasing every speck of evidence from the home.

"No," he rolled his eyes as if he wasn't feeling almost the exact way Mae was at the moment. "She'll be fine."

"Tara wants me to see the kid," Jax knew Opie well enough to see how desperate he was to change the subject. "Said since I'm here I should visit him."

"Still think he ain't yours?" Opie asked as he picked up where he left off.

"Yeah," he sighed. "And if your damn sister ever comes the fuck home I got some shy she can test."

Opie's eyebrows rose in interest. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Jax was offended he would even ask despite the jovial tone Opie used. "Kid had a bandaid on his foot from some hospital shit so I took it."

"Blood?" Opie asked enthusiastically. "Shit, she can test that. Meels will be happy to shove that shit in Tara's face."

"Or the kid is mine and she'll beat the shit outta me."

Opie nodded. "Yeah, that's a possibility." The ceiling creaked above them as Mae moved from the bathroom to the bedroom.

"She gonna come back with you?" It was Jax's indirect way of asking Opie if he thought Mae would leave him or if she already did.