Epilogue
One Month Later
“Are you ready?” Taylynn opened the door to Raven’s office, which he’d loaned to Tania to get dressed. “Everyone’s waiting. They’re eager to get the party started.”
Tania looked down at herself, then up at her friend.
“I think I made a mistake.”
“Oh, honey.” Taylynn stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. “Are you having second thoughts about Smokey? I can tell he’s head over heels for you just by the two of you. I don’t know that you’ll ever find anyone who will take better care of you and Carter.”
Tania shook her head.
“Not that. I know Smokey’s the one. I’ll never have to worry about being hit again, that wasn’t what I was talking about.” She looked down at herself again. “I think I screwed up with this dress. It’s not me.”
“Oh.” Taylynn straightened. “That’s an entirely different issue. Give me a second, I think I know what to do. Do you trust me?”
Tania looked up from the white lace gown she had chosen for today.
It was what she’d wanted when she’d married Rod, but she’d caved into her mother’s preference with what would fit with the theme of the wedding, which her mother and his had planned.
But that was all over now. She met Taylynn’s gaze. “Of course.”
“Give me a minute, I’ve got to talk to someone. I have an idea.”
Tania nodded and watched as her new best friend left the room. While she waited, Tania thought back over all the changes that had happened in the last several weeks.
She’d been legally divorced, and the judge had ordered that she didn’t have to pay Rod the settlement amount lined out in the prenup.
To everyone’s surprise, he’d agreed that he’d already gotten more than the hundred thousand that he would have been paid.
Smokey now had full parental rights for Carter, and Rod’s had been stripped since he wasn’t the father.
Less than a week after her divorce had been final, Rod and his father had been arrested.
They were even now in jail, she didn’t know where and didn’t care, while they awaited trial on federal money laundering charges.
Somehow, they were involved with organized crime.
And there had been something about a missing woman that had turned up dead.
She was still stunned by how she’d lived with Rod for over a year and had no clue what he was into.
Tania couldn’t help but be glad she’d gotten away before it had gotten worse.
Tania had seen her parents once since she’d left Rod.
She’d confronted them about hiding her inheritance, told them to enjoy what they’d gotten so far, because it was the last thing they’d be getting from her, then informed them she was cutting contact.
Maybe, in the future, she would reconsider but for now, she needed time to process it all, and she couldn’t do that if they were harping in her ear about what they wanted.
Not that it mattered much, she suspected they would disown her after they found out what was happening here today.
She was marrying the one person who had cared enough to help her.
The person she should have married in the first place.
“Here we are,” Taylynn came back into the room, closing the door behind her. “If we had more time, there are other things we could do, but I think this will be enough.” She pulled something from behind her back and it took Tania a moment to realize the folded black leather was her property cut.
“How?” she asked with a frown.
“I got David to go get it for you.”
Tania scowled for a moment as she wondered why send the prospect instead of just asking Smokey, but she soon dismissed the thought as Taylynn approached and held up the vest for her.
Tania slipped her arms into it and settled the leather onto her shoulders before turning and checking her reflection in the full-length mirror that had brought in for the day.
The leather vest didn’t match anything on the dress, but Tania thought it was perfect.
A blend of her past and her present in a way she didn’t think she could have managed if she’d tried.
“It’s perfect!” Tania turned and hugged her new friend, “I’m ready.” She turned back to the mirror and tugged down the hem on her vest, settling it about her hips where it belonged. A moment later a deep voice drew her attention.
“I hear you’re ready?”
She turned to find Raven standing inside, watching her.
“I am.”
“I want to thank you again. I’m honored to do this for you.” He wore a black button-up shirt under his cut, along with a new, dark pair of jeans and his motorcycle boots. There was a small fake sprig of Holly tucked into his right breast pocket.
“With everything I’ve been through, you’re the only one I want to do it.” She stepped in and gave him a brief hug before stepping back and looking up at him. “Let’s do this.”
The door opened again, revealing Taylynn.
“We’re ready,” she said before disappearing, leaving the door open.
She heard the opening notes of “Wanted Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi and couldn’t help but smile at how appropriate it was.
She wasn’t going to walk down the aisle to this.
No. This was one part of the party she and Smokey had planned and insisted on.
This was him. Smokey before she was a daily part of his life.
When she was ready and stepped out into the hallway, the music would change.
Raven held out one arm. Tania took his arm, took a deep breath and straightened her back.
“Let’s go.”
Raven led her to the door, then turned them sideways to go through so he she wouldn’t have to release him, then took the few steps to the opening of the hallway.
As soon as they could be seen by the rest of the room, the music changed.
A short span of instrumental was soon broken by piano and then the vocals.
Someone handed Carter to Raven and slowly, they walked through the empty space created through the middle of rows of chairs to “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith.
Tania let her gaze skim the room, taking in a number of unfamiliar faces, but that didn’t surprise her.
The Angels had invited a couple of allied clubs to celebrate and spend the holiday with them.
She stopped looking as her gaze landed on Smokey.
He stood next to Saint, who she had met a couple of hours before.
Saint was part of one of those allied clubs and a legal preacher, which was part of why they invited the whole club.
Smokey was dressed very similar to Raven, down to the sprig of fake holly in his pocket.
Someone had tried to convince them to go with real holly but they’d refused.
Carter put everything in his mouth and the last thing they needed was to wear something poisonous for him to put in his mouth.
Since he was just as much a part of this as she and Smokey, they’d insisted on fake.
Smokey’s hair had been styled and something added to it so it stayed out of his face, and his beard had been trimmed, leaving Tania wanting to run her fingers through his hair and mess it up.
He would scowl and she would laugh even louder.
“Ready?” Raven whispered beside her, making her remember she was supposed to be doing something.
“More than,” she whispered back. She ran through the mental check list Taylynn had given her.
Smile. Head up. Back straight. Step. Pause. Smile. Back straight. Look at Smokey. Step. Pause.
After the third round, she dropped the smile reminder, because each time she ran the mental check, she found she was already smiling. She didn’t think she’d stop any time soon.
When they reached the bottom of the dais where Smokey and Saint stood waiting, Raven paused and waited while Tania lifted her hem to step up the two stairs until she stood facing Smokey.
“Want him too?” Raven leaned toward Smokey, offering Carter. Smokey reached for the baby but Carter had different ideas. He clung on to Raven. Smokey shook his head and chuckled.
“You mind keeping him for a bit?” Smokey asked.
“Not at all,” Raven said, straightening. He nodded to Saint then carried Carter over to take his seat beside Taylynn in the front row.
“We are gathered here today...” Saint began. Tania stared up at Smokey as Saint’s words faded away. All that she saw was the man who would stand between her and any danger that came their way. That was all she needed.
Later, after the ceremony all the chairs had been pushed out of the way, someone picked up the mike and announced they would be starting the dancing but first would be the newlywed’s first dance.
Tania turned to Smokey, eyes wide with panic.
She hadn’t planned on a first dance. She hadn’t chosen a song.
What was going on? Smokey stood and held out one hand.
She stared up at him, noticing he was calm and didn’t look surprised in the least. He had planned this.
She laid her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet.
She followed him out onto the dance floor as the opening strains of another classic rock song started.
He pulled her into his arms and led her into a dance she couldn’t name but had no difficulty following Smokey’s lead as “Every Breath You Take” by The Police played.
When that song was over she tried to pull away but Smokey held her tight.
“One more,” he whispered against her ear.
The music changed to a slow guitar lead in.
“Listen close to this one.” He hugged her against him and swayed side to side as she listened to something she’d never heard before.
The longer it played the more she wondered where the song had come from and how on earth it was their story, almost exactly?
Tingles covered her body as she heard a line about a secret and eyes.
“What is this?” she whispered.
“It’s ‘Water at a Wedding’ by Greylan James. I heard it a few weeks ago and knew we had to play it.”
Smokey waited until the very end, then still holding her close, he whispered so only she would hear, “It might not have been ideal, but as long as you ended up right here, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Tears pooled in her eyes as she stared up at him for a moment.
“Me neither.”
This was it. This was what her first wedding day should have been.
She hadn’t known it then, but she did now and now she would never settle for less.
Not for her, not for any of her family. She would give everything she had to make sure of it.
She glanced around the room, noticing the one empty chair that would remain empty for a while longer.
Still, they’d kept one just for him. She could only hope Spider recovered enough to come home.
Maybe it was time to make a few calls. She knew someone who might be able to help him.
The End