Derek said:
“He never told me he was proud of me.”
Graham looked toward him.
Cassie remained frozen in the doorway.
Derek continued.
“Not once.”
“I joined because I thought maybe he’d finally see me as…”
He stopped.
Tommy asked gently:
“As what?”
Derek stared at the motorcycle.
“Enough.”
Graham’s face softened.
“Bull didn’t know how to say things.”
“That’s convenient.”
“No.”
Graham shook his head.
“It hurt people.”
“Your mother.”
“You.”
“Tommy.”
“Me.”
He paused.
“But some men came home from war with half their emotional vocabulary burned out.”
“That explains it.”
“It doesn’t excuse it.”
Derek looked at him.
Graham continued.
“If you needed to hear it, you deserved to hear it.”
Derek swallowed.
Tommy said:
“Then say it to the people after you.”
“What?”
“What Bull couldn’t.”
Derek looked between them.
“Tell somebody you’re proud.”
“Tell somebody you’re scared.”
“Tell somebody you need help.”
“Be different on purpose.”
That conversation never appeared word for word in Cassie’s final project.
She summarized it.
Some things belonged to the people who said them.
The night before the memorial ride, Maria called Cassie.
“Come to the clubhouse.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
Cassie arrived at seven.
The core members were waiting.
Graham.
Hank.
Maria.
Tommy.
Derek.
On the center table lay Graham’s old leather cut.
Not the one he wore daily now.
The original.
The leather was cracked at the shoulders.
The lining had been repaired.
A faded Iron Wolves emblem covered the back.
FOUNDING MEMBER — 1971.
Cassie looked at her father.
“What is this?”
Graham touched the leather.
“I wore this on the first official ride.”
Cassie stared.
“You never showed me.”
“You never asked.”
“I asked about the club a thousand times.”
“You asked questions I didn’t want to answer.”
Tommy laughed.
“Accurate.”
Graham lifted the cut.
“This has been hanging in my closet for twenty years.”
Cassie looked confused.
“Okay.”
Maria said:
“We’ve been talking.”
Cassie immediately became suspicious.
“That’s never good.”
Hank smiled.
Maria continued.
“You came here as an observer.”
Derek said:
“A very annoying observer.”
Cassie looked at him.
“Thank you.”
He nodded.
Maria continued.
“You kept showing up.”
“You worked.”
“You listened.”
“You didn’t publish things people asked you to keep private.”
“You brought Tommy back without meaning to.”
Tommy said:
“I came back myself.”
Maria gave him a look.
“You needed a reason.”
Tommy accepted that.
Maria looked at Cassie.
“You helped this club talk about things it had avoided longer than you’ve been alive.”
Cassie felt heat rising behind her eyes.
Graham held out the cut.
“I want you to have this.”
Cassie stepped backward.
“No.”
Her father frowned.
“No?”
“I can’t take that.”
“Why?”
“It’s yours.”
“That’s why I can give it.”
“Dad.”