“There you are,” Josie calls, waving us over to the big table surrounded by our closest friends. “Did you get something to eat, baby?”
I think she’s talking to me, but her eyes are cut over my shoulder at Trenton, and the pride I have in my wife swells.
“Not yet,” he answers, taking in the loud group at the table.
None of them pays us any mind, too busy enjoying each other’s company. Haley’s chatting away with Sienna, a plate of cookies between them, while they flip through a couple of coloring books. Pierce and Lexi are huddled over a sleeping figure tucked in a stroller, and Si and Harlow are whispering to themselves at the opposite end.
“Let me go get you something.” Josie offers, motioning for us to sit.
“Me too?” I ask.
She shoots me a withering glare over her shoulder as she slips through the crowd.
“I didn’t expect to see you two here. How’s parenthood going the second time around?” I ask Pierce across the table.
His tired smile could power a damn lighthouse. “I could ask you the same thing.” He nods toward Trenton, who’s been pulled into something with our girls.
“We’re figuring things out as they come,” I answer honestly, and he nods in understanding. “This mean you’re finally ready to come back? Let your woman breathe for a bit.”
Lexi snaps her attention in my direction. “Yes, please take him. Get him out of the house.”
“Princess.”
“No, don’t princess me. You’ve been home for months. The club needs you back.”
“You need me.”
“I think I’ve got it, big guy.” She pats him placatingly on the chest. “And if not, that’s what Harlow’s for.”
“Yeah, leave the poor girl alone and let me finally spend some time with my favorite nephew,” Harlow pipes in.
“Actually, Axe Man is looking for some extra help in thegarage. You up for working on some bikes and whatnot for a while? Your other skills are on ice for a bit.”
“Yeah, whatever you need, I guess,” he answers, but his eyes are on his wife.
“Look who I found, wandering around like a lost lamb,” Josie announces, her hands full with plates laden down with food.
“Charlie!” Lexi and Harlow chant at the same time.
A plate drops in the space before me, before Josie perches herself in my lap, as Charlie finds a spot on the other side of the girls.
“She does still love me after all,” I whisper in her ear.
Warm arms wrap around my shoulders, her lips ghosting against mine, as a sinful smile perks her right cheek.
“Today anyway,” she teases.
“A toast.” Blaze appears, a tray of dark shots balancing on his palm. He passes them around until everyone has their own.
“To what?” Harlow asks.
“New beginnings,” I call out at the same time Josie says, “Family.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Si says.
Glasses clink and tap the table, before we shoot them back. Josie shifts the full shot still between her fingers.
“Want mine?” She offers an unsteady smile, fighting for space on her beautiful face.
“You’re sure?” I whisper, the room disappearing around us as I pluck the shot from her grasp and set it on the table.
She nods, tears lining her lashes, as I crash my lips against hers. Puffs of laughter press into my mouth, but it doesn’t keep me from claiming her until she finally gives in and kisses me back with the same enthusiasm.
I pull back, gazing down at the woman who makes every day on this planet worth living. When everything shatters around us, she’s the one to piece it back together, no matter the splinters and cuts along the way. She’s my strength, my center, my calm in the storm. And without her, life is simply a dull reality I don’t want.
Pulling her tighter against me, my lips find her ear, before I softly murmur, “To our family and loving you every day for the rest of our lives, mama.”
