Shake the Spirit by Hunter Bijou

Author:Hunter, Bijou [Hunter, Bijou]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Women's Fiction, romantic comedy, bikers
Amazon: B0C6XCKSVP
Goodreads: 171674005
Publisher: Bijou Hunter
Published: 2023-06-23T07:00:00+00:00

OANA, AKA THE HUGGING NOVICE

After sharing a meal with his family, I understand how Ike became so patient and loving. There’s a warmth in this place that I never felt growing up.

Everyone was always trying to catch each other in a sin to prove their own righteousness. My older sisters were eagerly submissive. They married as soon as they reached eighteen and gave birth to one kid after another without complaint. At family dinners, they sat quietly, disappearing into the background as if they were mere pieces of furniture.

My mother was never as good at being submissive. Deep down, she wanted to break free and sin. Her hostility toward me makes more sense now. The woman’s just bitter over her own lot in life. When I look at Journey, I imagine what my mom could have been if she grew up in a different family or met her own Ike.

After a great dinner, I help Ike wash dishes in the country-style kitchen. Never so happy to do chores, I can’t stop smiling. Ike steals kisses whenever he hands me a dish for the washer.

We soon sit on the back deck and look over the homestead. I imagine how my older sisters would react to this place. Tuesday runs around in tiny shorts and a clingy tank top. She’s chasing West with a water gun. Poppy cheers on her kids. Suddenly, Val joins the battle, sliding on the wet grass so he can take down both siblings.

“I wish I could have been that way with my brothers and sisters,” I admit out loud after watching the fun.

Only the last three kids in our family ever seemed to realize anything was wrong with the way we lived. My brother eventually got browbeat into submitting. I see him from time to time, looking like his life is a living hell. I think he might hate his wife, and I’ve never seen him smile at his kids. His behavior reminds me of our mother.

As I watch the homestead move to its carefree beat, I start to wonder if it’s not a fluke that the three youngest in my family are the wildest. Maybe my mother’s bitterness and hate for her own life gave her no energy to force her youngest three into submission. It’s also why she took such a strong dislike to us. Our disobedient ways were a reminder of how she’d prefer to live.

Meanwhile, my father coasts through life, indifferent toward everything. He does his prayers, goes to his job, and acts like the other Trinity Church dads. He doesn’t even seem to notice the passing of time anymore.

In contrast, Donovan isn’t sleepwalking through life. He holds himself in the same casually confident way Ike does. The men offer no apologies for enjoying their lives.

Journey owns a rough outer layer that Edith mimics. Yet, when they’re not focused on my presence, the women mellow and get loud. Journey yells at her sisters who scream back from their own decks.

“Don’t get goaded into their crap,” Journey warns her kids.

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