175 - Molly's Goodbye

*We want you to know, you’re not alone. – Blue*

Father and daughter walked inside the building, through the foyer into the chapel and down the long aisle. Friends and family surrounded them. His four other wives sat in the front row with their children. His pretties, little pretties and baby boys. Case and Noel sat in the pew with Jaye and Patch and other Lowery family members.

Priscilla squeezed Molly’s hand before she moved away from her father to sit with the rest of the family. Tammy and Yvonne both placed arms around their oldest. Alicia reached across Tammy and squeezed the teen’s hand. Michaela leaned around Yvonne to look at her and Priscilla gave her a watery smile before brushing away her tears.

Three-year-old Kim crawled up into her oldest sister’s lap. Priscilla hugged her close and deeply breathed in the sweet scent of innocence. Little arms wrapped around Priscilla’s neck and a sloppy kiss was pressed to her hair.

“It otay,” the little girl whispered in that not-so-quiet way of small children.

Smiling, Priscilla pulled back from her sister and nodded at her. “Thank you, little pretty.” She whispered back.

All four of Molly’s wives, fourteen daughters and two sons wore pink. The rest of the room was a sea of pastels, heavy on the pink. Never had he seen so many bikers wearing pink. Not even when they did the breast cancer charity run in October.

But there they were. His club and a few Eagles from Massachusetts. The Cajuns from Louisiana and their sister club, the Texas Renegades. Of course, there were the local Vegas Mongrels. Becks’ best friend was a sister and an old lady to another Mongrel.

This city had been where they had met. It was supposed to be a weekend fling while the Saints were in town for the rally. Sunday rolled around, and in a matter of hours they went from one night stand to husband and wife. Here in this chapel.

He would have it no other way.

Pausing in front of the small memorial that had been created in front of the podium between the two large pictures. The picture on his left was from their original wedding and he had been cropped out of it. She was smiling broadly at the camera, amused at something that he had said as they danced on the makeshift dance floor at the bar.

The other three-foot by five-foot picture was from their vow renewal in September. Her dress had been altered slightly to accommodate her much smaller frame. When they had married, she had worn a size sixteen and he had loved all her luscious curves. At her death, Becks had shrunk down to a size four and he loved every bit of her.

Between the two pictures sat a small shrine that had grown since he had placed her urn and property cut on the table. Smiling through his tears, he reached out and touched the picture of a very pregnant Grandy on the back of a bike. He was pretty certain that it had been Alana who placed it there.

A black strip of cotton material with pink and blue ribbon on either side it tied around the hospital bracelet from when Becks gave birth to Angel. Tammy would be the one to know where it had been quietly stashed away in the nursery. Black and white pictures of all six women with their large pregnant bellies on display with Molly’s cut carefully covering their breasts.

The blanket that had held every baby and had their names embroidered on it was draped on the podium. The quilt that Dixie had made with the entire family listed on it was being used as a table covering.

His eyes fell to the keys that belonged to the little blue Chevy sedan that had been the first car that she had ever driven. His uncle Coon had taught her to drive in that little car. The keys sat next to a Las Vegas shot glass that came from Mary’s collection of touristy items left in the emergency room.

A small replica of Taz’s championship belt had a note attached to it. When he moved the paper to look at the writing inside, he found a few words that indicated the impact of Becks’ life. *Our family is mourning with yours. Riff, Taz and our girls*

Other trinkets filled the table – Viking rune beard beads that several of the Mongrels wore. A small green alligator and LSU Mike the Tiger from the Cajuns. A patch in the shape of Texas with *Lady Renegade* in gold thread across it. An eagle talon from Celt’s dad or Dawg.

A tiny wooden rattle that Sticks made. A squeaky toy from Patch to indicate all the foster dogs that had come through, and all the ones that Becks could not let go. A wooden spurtle that Nessie brought back from Scotland. A tiny plastic toad. Smirking, he considered pocketing the tightly rolled joint.

Molly looked at the picture of first wife from their wedding. She was still just as beautiful as when they were first married all those years ago. Walking over to the picture of her from this past September, he gently touched her pale cheek and pressed his lips to her forehead. “I love you, Rebecca.”

Taking a ragged breath, he walked around the picture and stood behind the podium. A pink sticky note was tacked to the podium with Tammy’s handwriting on it.

*You’ve got this, Big Guy. T*

He smiled and picked up the paper and looked over at his large family. All four of his wives smiled back, not even trying to hold back their tears anymore. The older girls were also crying, but the youngest of their littles were having a hard time understanding what was going on.

Momma Becks had gone to heaven. Tobias asked when she would be back. If they could go see her.

Letting out a shaky breath, Molly adjusted the microphone. He flinched, as did many others, with the high-pitched feedback. He couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped.

“You’ll have to forgive my wife, she threatened to haunt me if she died first. I guess that was her way of saying she’s haunting me now.”

There was soft laughter that rippled through the mourners.

“Rebecca Marie Lowery was born on a day and lived for many years. If you think I’m breaking her vow of silence about her age or birthday, you’re crazy. She really will haunt me then.”

There was another ripple of laughter, and several people agreed with him.

“I met Becks at a bar, not surprising considering my youth. I saw her out on the dance floor with her friends,” he smiled at the memory as it played in his mind’s eye, “and as I walked towards her, the people moved out of my way. She called me Moses because I parted the sea of people. I called her Bible, and she told me that her name was a Bible name.”

He looked at the ring on his left hand that had six stones on it. One for each of his pretties.

“Rebecca seemed too formal, and she didn’t strike me as a Becky. She was my pretty Becks. My… my Becks…”

He tried to get control of himself as he swiped the tears away.

Jaye and Alana both stood up behind the pretties and each briefly rested a hand on the women’s shoulders as they passed.

“We’ve got him,” Jaye said as the two of them stepped out of the pew and made their way to him. Flanking him, they wrapped their arms around him as he hugged them to his sides.

“I’m sorry, I’m trying here….” He whispered to them.

Jaye reached up and tugged on his beard until he looked down at his mother. “You’re doing just fine. Take a breath and tell us about your pretty Becks.”

Closing his eyes, Molly took a deep breath and slowly let it out. With his eyes still closed, he smiled at his memories.

“She asked me for only one thing, a large family. I promised to give her a family so big that she would need a wife of her own.” Opening his eyes he looked at the other wives. “Mission accomplished. And exceeded. It took nearly two years for my Becks to come out of the closet and admit that she was attracted to women. Obviously, she got over that issue.”

“I love all my pretties.” He continued. “And I know that Becks loved you all just as you loved her. If it wasn’t for my – our Becks, we would not have the family that we have.”

‘She had such a large heart; she didn’t know how to turn anyone away. And she always wanted everyone to feel loved. Including all her *other* kids.” His eyes moved to the three teenage boys who sat behind Camille and her Cajuns.