Devil's Saints: Mia

What’s the line? If there’s a prize for rotten judgement, I’ve won it. Can I get a sash and crown? – Mia

Damia Lowery, simply known as Mia to her friends and family, was beautiful, smart, and witty. She had trophies, sashes, and crowns to prove it. More importantly, after four years, she had a college education, teaching certificate, and no debt.

She never tried for the national pageants. Her goal was to have fun and win the scholarships. Where else could you dance with fire and get your college paid for?

Of course, there was the bad that went with the good. She had battled with anorexia since she was in high school. There were still daily phone calls from her family, usually her cousin Molly, to make sure that she was eating. The battle had not been as bad lately.

Mia attributed a lot of that to the man in the seat next to her. Donald Grigsby was her long-term boyfriend.

He had first been drawn to her when he filled in for his boss as a judge at the Miss New England competition. Her long black hair had wavy curls down to her mid back. Her blue eyes sparkled and drew him to her.

He always bought her things to accent her blue eyes and pageant queen figure. As long as she was doing pageants, she had never gotten a tattoo. She wanted one to celebrate graduation. Her cousins had already drawn it out and she planned to get it over the weekend.

Donald had other plans to celebrate. The Friday after Mia graduated, the two of them were flying to Las Vegas to celebrate.

As the plane began its descent, he turned and smiled at her. Placing his hand over hers, he gave it a light squeeze.

“This is going to be a great weekend.” He said as the pilot gave the weather.

Leaning over, she gave him a kiss. “It’s going to be the best.”

They were only here for two nights, Donald had to be back at Montgomery Enterprises on Monday. They carried their bags off the airplane and then out of the airport. A town car sat outside with the driver holding a sign with GRIGSBY on it.

Mia was watching the hotels and casinos whizz by as they made their way down the strip. She wondered where they would be staying. When she had been here with the motorcycle club that most of her family was in, they stayed at a hotel just off the strip.

The town car turned and pulled up in front of a wedding chapel.

“Donald?”

“Come on, future Mrs. Grigsby.”

Before they had even left Massachusetts, he obviously had everything planned. A woman whisked Mia into a private room. She was given a beautiful cream colored skirt suit with a pale pink lace shell.

It was beautiful, but it certainly was not what she would have chosen to get married in. She would have preferred her mothers wedding dress at the family farm.

The ring that he put on her finger was large and gaudy. The large marquise cut sapphire was surrounded by tiny diamonds and set in a large gold band.

It was not at all how she pictured her wedding. But she was excited to marry the man who she loved.

When they returned home, they moved into a house that his parents bought. It was in a gated community with her new in-laws only a few doors away.

Mia had always dreamed of a large sprawling modern farm house out on the family farm.

Dreams could change for the one you loved. Donald returned to work on Monday and Mia found a teaching position at the local parochial school.

He was nearly ten years her senior and was already established in his career. She was just getting hers going. While she was in school, he always bragged about her grades and field of study.

Once they were married, her teaching degree was nothing more than window dressing to him. Donald didn’t see why she wouldn’t want to stay home and have babies. Mia didn’t understand why he thought that’s all that women wanted.

Granted, his mother was the perfect 1950s wife and mother. But the family on a whole was a lie. All the men drank too much. All the women tolerated their mistresses.

Mia did not learn about this until it was too late. She was not going to share her husband. He made it clear that she would, or he would ruin her.

After the twins were born, she could take it no longer. Her brothers were all deployed overseas with the military. Mia called her cousin who came and got her and the babies. She left everything.

The only thing that she took was a digital camera that her cousin brought.

“Pops said to take pictures of everything. Your clothes, your jewelry, the furniture, everything for the twins. Everything.”

She was still confused when Brighton showed up. Suddenly everything that Molly was telling her made sense.

“Molly.” The detective shook the large man’s hand. “Mia.”

Instinctively, she recoiled slightly when he held out his hand to her.

“It’s OK. I’m just here as a witness.” He smiled and pulled his hand back. “Pops said that you don’t want to take anything. Is that right?”

“I would only be accused of stealing.” She mumbled.

“Have you already filed for divorce?”

“Yes.” She told the detective. “He’ll be served this afternoon. Courts listed me as primary custodian since the twins are still breast-feeding.”

“Let’s get everything documented and get you out of here.”

“Won’t the neighbors see your car?”

“I drove my personal car. It’s a 67 Impala. The guy at the gate just asked if I was coming to see you. They see lots of classic cars over here."

“That’s true.”

They walked through the house and both Mia and Brighton took pictures. She even changed the twins into clothes that Molly brought. Then she changed into a pair of sweats, t-shirt and old shoes she had borrowed from her mom. She took nothing but the twins.

That night, as Mia sat in an upstairs bedroom crying, her husband banged on her grandfather’s door. The man might be in his seventies, but he was still a motorcycle club president. At this point, it was more in name than anything else. When he came upstairs carrying a shotgun, Mia knew that he wasn’t playing around.

Her brother, Werewolf, had recently started a security company. His first job had been in Kandahar with the military. He had a few employees here in the tri-city area. Mia learned this when she got up the next morning. Two Wolf Pack Security guards stayed at the house until the divorce was final.

Before she moved into the house that her grandfather built for her, Werewolf installed the first generation alarm system. In fact, it was the first alarm system that the Wolf Pack did. As technology improved over the years, Mia’s house was always the beta test. This would become very important years later in ways that no one in the Lowery family could have ever imagined.