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“Welcome to the club, kid.” She nods at the newborn baby girl before shoving the doors open with both her hands and making her exit.
Grace and Brax get swamped by all the girls, Ella being first in line as Brax helps Grace over to one of the more comfortable chairs in the clubhouse.
“She’s so tiny.” Shaniya coos over the baby when Brax places her car seat on the table so everyone can take a look at her.
“She didn’t feel very tiny when she was coming out.” Grace looks up at Brax and smiles.
“Well, it was a good job I was there.” Squealer stands up from the stool he’s been perched on by the bar as he makes his way over to join the crowd.
“Are we ever gonna hear the end of that?” Alex chases after one of the twin boys who escapes his stroller and is toddling after his dad.
“Credit where it’s due, darlin’, the whole thing would have been a shit show without me.” Squealer scoops his little boy up in his arms and balances him on his hip, angling him over the table so he can take a look at the new edition. “Take a look there, Cohen, that right there could be your future old lady. I wonder how many other men can say they delivered their daughter-in-law?”
Brax takes a step forward and his brother Nyx quickly eases him back.
“Ignore him.” He throws Squealer a warning look, lightening things up when he takes the car seat and turns it around so he can get a good look at his newborn niece. “Don’t worry, baby girl, Uncle Nyx will protect you. You and your cousin ain’t gonna be havin’ no boyfriends until you’re at least thirty.”
“You got me outta the shit earlier, so I’m gonna let you have that one for free, Cody Harrison.” Brax’s eyes remain fixed on Squealer’s. “But if I hear any more suggestions like that, I swear to God I will—”
“Come on, let’s not ruin the moment.” Maddy steps in, taking her turn to fuss over the baby.
“What do you expect to happen, Brax? You can’t keep her locked inside your cabin and never let her date.” Squealer laughs.
“She can date…” Brax eases up a bit, unstrapping his little girl from her car seat and taking her out carefully. “A priest,” he adds, placing a kiss on her head before he passes her to her mom.
“A priest?” Squealer laughs at him.
“Yeah, Squeal, a priest, because I’m tellin’ you now, any guy who thinks he’s gonna lay a finger on my daughter better have a direct link to fuckin’ God that he can rely on,” he warns, and when everyone around him laughs, he remains deadly serious.
“Can I go meet the new baby, Mama?” Charlie looks up at me at the same time that Skid steps through the doors. He’s got his overalls stripped down to his waist and the tight white tee he’s wearing on top is covered in oil.
“‘Course you can, sweetie.” I smile at Charlie before he rushes off to join everyone.
“Thought I’d come and see what all the fuss was about.” Skid leans in and places a kiss on my cheek. “Is Grace all good?” He looks over to the table where everyone is gathered.
“Seems to be.” I nod back, feeling awful for knowing something so huge and keeping it from him.
“Brax with a daughter.” Skid shakes his head. “He’s gonna have a heart attack before she reaches her sixteenth birthday.” He laughs to himself.
“Skid,” I say his name, having no idea what I’m going to back it up with.
He looks at me, waiting for whatever it is I have to say. I could rip off the Band-Aid and tell him right now. Get it out in the open, but that wouldn’t be right, not here.
“I didn’t say sorry,” I jib. “This morning, back at the house, I didn’t say sorry for storming out on you the way I did.”
“You didn’t need to say sorry, darlin’.” Skid kisses me again before heading over to join his friends. The way he lifts Charlie up onto his shoulders so he can see the baby in Grace’s arms over all the heads makes my stomach flip. And I smile for the first time since I saw those two pink lines in Rogue’s bathroom last night, excited by the idea of having his baby.
* * *
Grace and Brax don’t stay at the club for too long, Grace is clearly exhausted and Brax seems eager to get his new family home. I help Maddy and Ella clear everything away and hang out with them while Dylan and Charlie play.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve come to really like the girls here. They don’t treat me like an outsider, they’ve welcomed me and my son like family, and I can see the positive effect it’s having on him. We could be happy here, this could be the start of something really good for us. But every time I start to see some light, I think about the man who is out there, waiting to drag us back to Hell.
“You okay? You seem distant,” Maddy asks, closing up her laptop and looking at me strangely.
“I’m fine, just tired. I didn’t sleep much last night.”
“Never knew Skid had it in him,” Ella leans over the table and whispers so the boys don’t hear, and I smile back at her.
