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I couldn’t believe in that second just how much my heart soared.
“You know it’s his?” Chelsea questioned on a small sniff as she tried to fight off her emotions and hormones.
Piper chuckled, wiping at her tears with the back of her hand before Chelsea plucked the box of tissues—that she had put there due to her regular emotional breakdowns—from my desk and handed them to her.
Piper nodded. “He’s been the only one in a long time. I know you might believe me, or you might not. I just wanted to let you all know that he wasn’t completely gone.”
Silence filled the room as I contemplated the impact of this. This woman, she seemed sincere and honest. I didn’t get the feeling she was lying or that she wanted to hurt us in any way. But it was still a shock.
I cleared my throat. “The club will help and support you in any way possible.”
Piper was already shaking her head before I’d even finished my sentence. “No. I didn’t come here to ask for handouts or help. I’m sorry if that’s how this has come across.”
“It’s actually quite the opposite,” Chelsea broke in, looking at me for a second before turning her body toward Piper and taking the woman’s hand. “Honestly, I think I can speak for both Optimus and myself when I say us offering to help isn’t because the club feels obligated. Slider meant a lot to us… we loved him… he was family. That makes you family now too, and if there’s one thing that this club doesn’t do it’s turn its back on family.”
Piper relaxed back into the chair, breathing deeply. “I’m okay. I have my job which the doctor’s office has assured me that I can come back to after having the baby. I have really supportive parents and friends around me that won’t let me go through this alone.”
“That’s good to hear,” I told her honestly. “But if you’d let us, we would still like to be very much involved. Slider’s life was taken too soon and it’s brought a huge shadow over the club. Knowing that there’s a small part of him still with us… you have no idea what that would mean to my men and the women here.”
Piper chewed on her lip. I knew this was all a lot for her to take in. I wasn’t sure what she had expected from us, but obviously, she never thought that we might offer to be a part of her child’s life.
“He didn’t speak about parents or anything like that,” she finally said. “He only ever talked about the club, so I wasn’t sure if there was anyone else I needed to reach out to.”
Chelsea looked at me sadly. “He was a foster kid. Spent his life in the system.”
“Oh…”
“He has a sister, though. We managed to find her after he died. They hadn’t seen each other since they were kids. I know how much this would mean to her.”
I nodded. “She lives in Seattle with her man and two children. They’re also part of an MC, but I can promise you they’re amazing people.”
Her face brightened a little, and I began to wonder if she really had as much support and backing as she’d said. I’m not sure why she would feel the need to lie about that kind of thing. Maybe she was scared of the club, or maybe she just didn’t want to look like she was out searching for a handout. Either way though, I didn’t question her story.
“Took a lot of guts for you to come here today,” I complimented her.
She laughed softly, looking up to meet my eyes. “It’s taken me a few months. At first, I just wanted to get through the first trimester and make sure the baby was healthy. Then I wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do. Slider and I were far from in a relationship, it was just a fling, something that happened unexpectedly. But then I kept thinking about how highly he talked about you all and I realized I was being an idiot. He would want you all to know that you couldn’t get rid of him that easy.”
Booming laughter left my mouth. “That right there proves you knew our boy pretty damn well. That’s exactly how he would have felt.”
She grinned at me. “He was one of a kind.”
“That’s the truth,” Chelsea agreed with a broad smile.
“I’m sorry, I need to get to work,” she said, still smiling but standing to her feet awkwardly.
I moved around my desk and took Chelsea’s hand, helping to pull her out of the chair she’d settled into. “Come on, we’ll walk you out.”
Piper nodded, and we headed for the door.
“How far along are you?” Chelsea asked curiously as we walked out the front doors of the clubhouse and into the parking area.
“Close to six months,” she responded with a little excitement in her voice.
Chelsea groaned, and I had to laugh. She swatted me with the back of her hand. “I’m a little over six months, but this one here implanted me with twins.”
I wrapped my arm around my woman’s shoulders and pulled her against me as we stopped at the front gates where Piper had left her car. Ham was still there, leaning against the fence and watching our interaction curiously.
Piper smiled brightly at Chelsea. “My sister had twins, two little girls. By the time she got to like thirty-six weeks, they had to induce her because she could barely even stand any longer, let alone walk anywhere.”
