STACEY
That night was the turning point in our lives. At first, it was slow, as if he knew that I didn’t want to be rushed. Until it wasn’t.
Roman still came to the diner every time I was on shift. Sometimes, he’d bring Cash or one of the other brothers; other times, he’d come by himself. Slowly, over the next month or so, Rosie and I started spending more and more time at his house.
I understood why we didn’t stay at the house I’d lived in for most of my life, the same house I’d brought my babies home from the hospital to.
Roman didn’t want to spend time as a couple in the house I’d bought and lived in with another man. Especially as it was a man he had no respect or liking for.
I’d known from the start that I’d fall in love with him because I’d been halfway there even before our first date. But what cemented it was the way he treated my girl. Grudge had basically ignored her; he hadn’t been much better with Kyle, but as he was a boy, he’d at least tried with him.
As I was thinking about my girl, there she was along with Opal, Tin’s daughter, and Cash and Lizzie’s eldest daughter, Maura, named after Cash’s mother. Looking at my watch, I noted that school was out already. We’d been pretty quiet this afternoon, and with all my tables seen to, I decided to treat the girls to a milkshake.
Walking behind the counter, I got the ingredients out of the fridge and freezers. Setting them up, I waited as they came in through the door, chatting seriously about something. Well, Opal and Maura were talking while my girl was listening. I could see straight away that something was bothering her.
“Hi, girls,” I called out with a smile of welcome as they came up to the counter. “Grab that table over there,” I pointed to the table reserved for the club. “I’ll bring some milkshakes over. Any particular flavour or just your usual?”
“My usual, please,” Opal replied, and as the other girls nodded, I guessed they were good with their usual flavours. Rosie lingered, though, as the other girls went and sat down at the table I’d pointed at.
Walking back around the counter, I pushed her hair back from her face, tilting her head to look at me. “Are you okay, baby girl?”
Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around me, sinking into me. I frowned in concern; it had been a long time since she’d sought comfort like this. Not since Grudge and I split. Still, I knew my girl; she’d tell me eventually. All I could do for her now was hug her back and let her know she was loved.
Pressing a kiss to her head, I whispered, “Love you so much, baby girl.”
With a last squeeze to my waist, she lifted her head from my shoulder, kissing my cheek, “Love you too, Momma. Thank you for making us milkshakes.”
Lifting her bag from the floor where she’d dropped it to hug me, I watched as she walked over to the table where the girls were sitting. Shifting my gaze from my girl, who was obviously upset about something, to the windows, I found Maestro looking into the diner, a frown on his face, but his gaze wasn’t on me, no, it was on Rosie.
He'd come in when he was ready. Going back around the counter, I made the girls their shakes and poured Roman a cup of coffee.
The door went again. Looking up, I smiled at my man. He wasted no time in coming to the counter and kissing me. “Hi, honey, you’re early today,” I greeted him, handing him his cup of coffee and picking up the tray holding the milkshakes. Stopping me, he added his cup of coffee to the tray, “I’ll take this, baby. Go see if Jenny will come out and cover for you so we can find out what’s going on with our girl.”
Blinking back the tears that suddenly pricked at my eyes at his words, I said, “You noticed then.”
His eyes shot to mine, “Of course I did, why wouldn’t I?” He stopped before continuing, “Actually, no, don’t tell me because it will just piss me off. I swear to God, if that man wasn’t in prison, I’d beat the shit out of him again for not taking care of the gifts he was given. Go get Jenny, baby.”
Doing as he requested, I walked to the kitchen and stuck my head in.
“Hey Jen, I’m sorry; I know you’re on break, but would you mind holding the fort for me? Maestro wants me at the table with the girls.”
“Is everything okay?” Jenny asked, already standing up and adding her plate to the dishwasher.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. Rosie came from school a bit off, Maestro’s not happy and wants to find out what’s going on.”
Taking her apron from her hook, she slipped it on, pushing me gently out the door. “Go find out what’s going on. I’ll handle the front. It’s nearly time to clear up for the evening shift to come in anyway.”
Squeezing her hand in thanks, I walked over to the table where the girls and Roman were sat. I found them all chatting happily, telling him about their day. It didn’t surprise me that Opal and Maura were comfortable with him. He was Maura’s godfather as well as her uncle and had been in her life since she was born. Much the same with Opal as her godfather had been his older brother, Chains.
Sitting down next to Roman, I picked up his cup and took a sip of coffee, making a face at the bitterness of it, forgetting that the man drank it black with no sugar.
“Here, Mom,” Rosie said with a small laugh, pushing her milkshake towards me. “You always forget that Maestro drinks his coffee without sugar. You can finish mine. I’m going to go to the bathroom, then I’m going to head home to do homework.”
No sooner had Rosie disappeared into the bathrooms than Roman was around the table so that he could look at the other girls, “What’s going on with Rosie? And don’t bullshit me, girls. It’s not like her to be upset.”
The two girls, both a little younger than my Rosie, shared a look before they made a decision.
“If we tell you, Uncle Roman, you can’t go off half-cocked; you have to speak to Rosie first. As it is, we’re breaking girl code. She’s been putting up with bullies at school, and today they pushed things too far,” Maura says earnestly.
My breath caught in my chest. How had I not known about her being bullied? Roman’s hand enclosed mine as if he knew what I was thinking.
“I can’t promise I won’t lose it, Maura, but I’ll do my best to get all the information first.”
“So, there’s this guy at school spreading rumours about Rosie being loose and sleeping around. Those of us that know Rosie know that is absolutely not true. She’s never even kissed a boy,” Maura assures him.
“Okay, so he’s a little dipshit.”
“Well, yeah,” Opal agrees. “He is, but he’s also captain of the football team and in the same classes as Rosie. He’s been trying to get with her for over a year, but she keeps turning him down. He didn’t take that well, and he has a girlfriend already. When she found out, rather than blaming him, she went after Rosie instead. It’s typical high school drama, you know. This guy really didn’t like that Rosie told him no. But it’s been getting worse and worse the last month. Enough that Maura and I are worried; we try and stay together as a group as much as possible, but Rosie’s older, so our timetables don’t always line up.”
“I’m glad you girls are sticking together; that makes me feel better. What happened today to upset her?” Roman asks.
Again, the girls shared a look. “It was pretty bad,” Maura continued. “When she wasn’t at our meeting spot at the end of school, we didn’t have a good feeling, so we went looking for her. We found her in the boys’ changing rooms fighting off three boys who had her down on the ground. The fourth was the captain of the football team, but Ford had him handled. We managed to get them off her. She wasn’t raped, but if Ford hadn’t happened to be in there trying to stop it, and we hadn’t arrived, I’m not sure what would have happened.
“She didn’t want us to say anything or make a big deal out of it, but we insisted she had to come to the diner because I know that if it was my mom, she’d want to know.”
I’d not realised I’d made a noise until Rosie said, “Momma.”
Lifting my eyes to hers, I found them swimming in tears, and I went to stand, “Oh, baby.”
It wasn’t me who made it to her first, though; it was Maestro who took her in his arms and held her tight. Jenny, realising whatever was happening wasn’t good, closed and locked the door, turning the sign around to ‘CLOSED.’
I took Rosie from Roman when he handed her to me; his jaw was clenched as he listened to Rosie sob in my arms.
He sat back down at the table, “Thank you, girls, not only for having Rosie’s back but also for knowing this isn’t something you can deal with yourselves. I’m so proud of you both. Now, I’m going to need names because if they did this to Rosie, then I’m sure they’ve done it before. I’ll also need to know who Ford is, then I’m going to call your dads to come and get you.”
“We’ll give you their names because I think you’re right, Uncle Roman; it’s not the first time. There were rumours last year and the year before that before it all went quiet. Ford isn’t part of this group, though.
“In fact, he hates them because they’re rich and he comes from the trailer park. He’s also a better football player than them and should have been captain, but Oliver’s dad—that’s the dickhead’s name, by the way… anyway, his dad donated a tonne of money to the sports side of the school last year,” Maura blurted out before taking a deep breath. “So, the three who had Rosie pinned and were trying to get her jeans down were George, Leo, and Oscar. Ford was fighting Oliver, and he was winning. Ford’s a good guy.”
Leaning over the table, Roman kisses their foreheads, “Thank you, girls. Always remember you can come to us with anything, and if not us men, then your moms, they’re all-good, strong women. But just know I’m proud of you. I’ll touch base with Ford and get his measure. I’m going to have you stay home for the next few days until we’ve sorted everything out, okay? Now let me call your dads to come and get you and to tell them they’ve raised some pretty phenomenal girls.”
Both girls sat up straighter at those words as Roman pushed his chair back, stood and walked towards us. Running a hand over Rosie’s head, he pushed her hair away from her face until he could see her eyes. “Hey, sweetheart,” he said softly. “Do we need to take you to the hospital?”
She shook her head, “No, they didn’t get to touch me. I fought them off just like Kyle showed me.”
“Good girl. I’ll have to thank Kyle for making sure you could take care of yourself. Proud of you.” He pressed a kiss to her head before turning on his heel and storming out the door to make his phone calls.
“Oh, those boys don’t know what they’ve unleashed,” Maura muttered. “Uncle Roman’s on the warpath.”
“I don’t understand,” Rosie muttered softly, turning towards the two girls. “I thought he’d be mad that I was causing problems for the club. My dad would have blamed me.”
“Oh, baby,” I whispered, but she wasn’t wrong; he would have, and it would have been up to me to make sure she was safe in any way that I could.
“Well, it’s a good thing you have Uncle Roman now,” Maura stated matter-of-factly, “and if you have him, then you have my dad and Opal’s dad too.”
“But I’m nothing to him. I’m just the daughter of the woman he’s seeing.”
Tilting my head back, I cursed myself for staying with Grudge so long. He’d really done a number on my baby girl’s self-esteem. Unbeknownst to her, Roman had come back in and heard her words.
“Rosie,” Roman spoke softly, “turn around, sweet girl.”
Rosie stiffened in my arms but turned as he asked and waited for what I’m sure she thought was going to be a telling off, but I knew Roman better than that. I guess, with everything being so new, we’d forgotten to clue Rosie in on how he felt about her.
Only when she was turned around and her attention was focused on him did he continue, “I’m sorry if I haven’t made it clear how I feel about you and your mom. I don’t know if you know our history, but I’ve loved your mom for over twenty years. I can’t tell you how it makes me feel to finally call her mine.
“Now, you are your mom’s. A package deal; I’ve always known that. Which means that you’re mine now. Not just because of your mom but because of who you are as a person. In the time I’ve been with your mom, I’ve found you to be funny, sweet, and an all-round genuinely amazing girl who only wants the best for those around her. Never rocking the boat and taking what she needs for herself.
“Sweet girl, I like you because you are your mom’s and how could I not like someone that she had a hand in making? But, I came to love you for who you are.
“Now, I’m not looking to take your dad’s place, but I’m here if you ever need anything, and I’ll look out for you always because you’re mine.
“I don’t want you to worry about what happened today. I’m going to fix it. I want you and your mom at my house for the next few weeks. Nobody’s going to get to you behind the club fence. I’ve got a prospect coming, and he’s going to follow you and your mom to your house to pack enough for a month. Hell, pack it all and just move in; that would suit me better, then I’d never have to worry about you being alone.”
Rosie laughed softly before stumbling forward to wrap her arms around Roman. “I wish you were my dad,” she said on a choked sob.
“Oh, baby girl, me too, but I’m happy to act as your dad now if you want me to,” Roman assured her. The tears were streaming down my face as I watched and listened to them. He didn’t know how much I wished she was his too.
“Come here, baby,” Roman held out his arm towards me and I fell into him. “Come here, girls,” he ordered Opal and Maura. Before I knew it, we were surrounded and held in the arms of the one man we all knew would protect us come hell or high water.
“You ladies have made me so proud today.”
The sound of more than one bike could be heard coming down the road. With one last squeeze, Roman let us go and went to organise his brothers and let them know the bare basics. He’d call for Church to discuss the rest.
Tinman and Cash scooped up their girls and took them home, but not before I’d hugged and thanked them.
It didn’t take long for us to get to my house, where Rosie and I packed most of our belongings and handed them to the prospect who packed my car and followed us to Roman’s house.
I don’t think I breathed easy until we were behind the clubhouse fence. Looking across the car to Rosie, I knew we’d have to have a long talk about today. I hated that this happened to her, but I was also proud of her for fighting back, “You doing okay, sweet girl?”
Rolling her head against the seat of the car, she turned to look at me with big, sad eyes. “Not really, Momma, but I will be.” She turned to look back out the window and was quiet until I parked our car and switched it off. Not looking at me, she asked, “Do you think he’d mind if I called him Dad? He’s done more for me in a month than my real dad did my whole life.”
Resting my hand on her leg, I didn’t know how to answer because I was so mad at Grudge for not just the hell he’d put me through but also because of how he’d treated our daughter.
Clearing my throat once I was sure I could speak around the lump in my throat, I said, “Why don’t you ask him, baby girl? I think you’ll be surprised at what he says. Now, how about we get this car unpacked and see what snacks there are? The guys are going to be at Church. What do you say we see if Opal, Maura, and their moms want to come over for a movie and snacks?”
“Okay,” Rosie agreed, and I was glad to see a small spark back in her eyes.
It didn’t take long to unpack. I called Lizzie and Maggie once I was done. They were both fully aware of what had happened and were happy to come and keep us company.
I’d not even thought about how Roman would feel about me taking over his house like I had, inviting people in, even if they were Old Ladies of the club.
From his reaction when he walked in late that night to find teenage girls fast asleep on various pieces of furniture in his living room and three Old Ladies, I’d invited Jenny over as she’d been there when it had all gone down. Plus, me being a little tipsy from the amount of wine we’d consumed, I didn’t think he really minded, not with the way he kissed me, making me forget we had a houseful of people. That was until Lizzie had to poke at her big brother, teasing him about letting me up for air.
It had been good to laugh after a really shitty day, and it was even better to go to sleep wrapped in his arms.