Chapter Fifty
Grace
Uncle Stephen was my father.
I should have known. I was so fucking stupid to trust her. She fucking lied to me! She swore it wasn’t him. Every time I asked who my father was, I asked if it was him.
And she said no.
“You okay, Grace?”
“No,” I sighed as I stared out the window.
“What’d he do now?”
I smiled at my reflection. “It wasn’t him this time.”
This time, he chose me. Not the club. Not the rules. This was his out. With Uncle Stephen here, he could have walked away. He had the chance to leave, to find someone who wasn’t broken. Someone who wasn’t dirty. But he chose me.
We pulled up in front of the house, and I climbed out. Maureen was waiting on the porch, and I rushed up the stairs and threw my arms around her.
“Whatever he did, he’ll fix it,” she said against my hair.
I couldn’t talk; I just sobbed against her chest. I’d needed a mom for so long. All this time I’d missed mine. Believed her to be a good mom, a good person. Now I didn’t know what to believe.
I didn’t know who she was anymore. Maybe I never knew.
“She said it wasn’t him this time.” The sheriff’s voice went over my head, and I felt the surprise in Maureen. I sobbed out a laugh and lifted my head.
“It wasn’t him.”
“Let’s go inside and we can talk.”
Maureen led me inside, and Colleen sat on the couch holding baby Bennett. There were also two men I didn’t recognize.
“Grace, are you okay?” Colleen asked as she stood up and handed the baby to one of the men.
“What are you doing?” the man asked, staring at the baby like he was a bomb.
“You need the practice, Ducky.”
This was Duncan, King’s uncle. Was the other man King’s father? He didn’t look like King with his dark red hair.
“Grace, this is my brother-in-law, Duncan. And that’s Mac.”
“This is King’s girl, Grace.
I started to protest, then remembered the cut I wore. I really was his girl. I lifted my hand in a wave, afraid to speak. Neither man looked friendly.
The man named Mac stood from his place on the couch and moved to stand by the fireplace. Maureen and Colleen led me over and sat on either side of me. I felt everyone staring at me.
“I’m sorry, I told King I wanted to go upstairs, but he didn’t want me to be alone.”
“What happened, Grace? I know King had some kind of meeting tonight.” I opened my mouth, and the sheriff held up his hand. “I’m not asking what it was about; I don’t want to know. I just want to know what has you so upset.”
“I met my father.” I heard Maureen’s soft inhale. “Well, actually, I already knew him.” I looked up at Maureen. “He’s my uncle Stephen.”
“Oh, Grace.” She pulled me against her and the tears started up again. God, I was so tired of crying. I didn’t know how I wasn’t completely dehydrated after the sheer volume of tears that had left my body over the past week or so.
I’d talked with Maureen a little about my uncle Stephen. About how he used to be there. How much he loved me and spent time with me. And how one day he was just gone. She’d suggested asking Nav to help me find him. But I guess I didn’t need to now.
The sheriff’s phone rang and when he answered it, I knew it was King.
“What for?” he asked as he looked at me. Then he looked at his phone and growled, “The little shit hung up on me.”
“What did he call for?” I asked.
“I need to go back to the clubhouse.”
“Why?” Maureen asked. The sheriff shrugged.
“You want us to come with you?” Mac asked, straightening from his place against the mantel.
“Nah, he told me to come alone.”
“Is that safe?” Duncan asked. “Sal went over there.”
“Well, since King called Dec, and Sal didn’t call you, Dunc, I can only assume King shot the motherfucker.” I gasped, and Mac chuckled. “I’m kidding, sweetheart. King would have called us if he’d killed Sal, not Mr. Upstanding Sheriff over here.”
“Fuck off, Mac,” the sheriff growled. Mac must not have thought there was any real heat behind it because he threw his head back and laughed, startling the baby in Duncan’s arms.
Bennett let his displeasure known and cried. “Someone come get him.”
Colleen huffed and stood up. “Wait until I tell Freyja how you reacted to holding your nephew. Did you act this way when I was a baby too?”
“He didn’t hold you until you could talk.” Maureen laughed.
“I don’t think your wife will let you out of that shit,” Mac informed.
I stared at the door as Colleen and the two men bantered back and forth about Duncan’s upcoming status change, wondering why King called him back so soon. Had something happened to him? To Uncle Stephen?
I might be angry, but seeing Uncle Stephen standing in front of me, pulling me into his arms, fixed something inside me. Something that was broken a long time ago. Something only a father could fix.
There were a lot of questions I needed answers to. Some answers even he might not have. But he was here. And he was happy to see me.
“What happened, Grace? How did you know he was your father?” Maureen asked, pulling my attention from the door.
“King told me.”
“He knew?”
“I don’t think so. At least not before tonight.”
Did he? Had King known who my father was? Was that why he wanted to get a license and have Matlock marry us so quickly? I didn’t know what to think or even believe anymore. My head was spinning with so many questions. Questions I wouldn’t get answers to here.
“I need to go back to the clubhouse.”
“King will come get you when he’s done,” Maureen assured me.
“But what if something happens? What if he and Uncle Stephen fight? What if he kicks Uncle Stephen out and he leaves?”
I was spiraling. I knew it. My breathing sped up, and I rubbed at a pain in my chest.
“Grace, calm down, honey. Breathe with me.”
Maureen’s voice felt far away. I squeezed her hand, knowing she was right beside me, but I could barely hear her over the roaring sound inside my head.
I needed to go back. I had to talk to Uncle Stephen.
I had to talk to King. He was so angry at him when I left.
Would he tell him what happened? Would Uncle Stephen know what they did to me?
Would he care? Would he leave when he found out?
“Grace, Grace!”
I closed my eyes tightly as the memories came rushing back. Uncle Stephen fighting with my mom. His storming out that last time. Freeway showing up and dragging my mom down the hall. Steele coming to the house, ignoring me as he too dragged my mother to the bedroom.
Then I was in the bakery. Johnny standing beside me just before the bullet sank into his chest. I watched him fall again.
Like it was happening in real time. The men grabbing at me, pulling me through to the back.
Waking up in the van. Karlyn being hit. Skinner above me.
His men laughing and playing with themselves while he raped me.
Whispering in my ear, telling me it was all King’s fault.
Standing by the waterfall. Then flying. Praying for death as I hit the water.
Sinking below the surface, letting the water fill my lungs.
That was when I saw her.
My mother.
“It’s okay, baby. Let go. Come with me, Grace.”
I was weightless, suspended in the water, my mother calling out to me, encouraging me to join her. To let go. She was still so beautiful. Her long blonde hair rippled in the water, as it spread out around her. Her arms were open wide, bewitching me into death with a promise of her love.
“It’s so peaceful here, Grace. No more pain. No more lies. No more secrets.”
“I don’t want to go. I’m not ready, Mom.”
“Of course you are, baby.”
“King wants me. I can’t leave him. He needs me.”
“I need you, baby. You’re all I have, Grace. The only good thing I did in my life.”
“I can’t go. He needs me. I need him. I love him.”
“Love isn’t real, Grace. Love is a fairytale. They always leave. Some just take longer than others.”
I closed my eyes against her words. I didn’t want to hear them. Didn’t want to believe them. But maybe she was right. They all left her. Uncle Stephen, Steele, and even Freeway stopped coming.
Would King leave too? After what happened, why would he stay? Who’d want a woman used by so many men?
“He’ll stay for a little while. But not forever, Grace. Here we can have forever, baby. You and me. My little Stephanie Grace. The only good thing I ever did.”
I shook my head. “No,” I cried.
My mother took my hand and pulled me toward a blinding light. I let her. She was my mother; I trusted her. I believed her. She loved me. She protected me.
But I wanted him. I wanted a life. I wanted a family. Babies. Friends. I tried to pull my hand back, but my mother held on tight.
“Grace!” she called. I shook my head.
“No! I have to stay!”
“Grace, come back!”
“GRACE!”
“Grace, honey. Come back to me, sweetheart.”
I gasped out a breath, and my eyes fluttered open. Maureen’s worried face towered over me. I looked around, unsure where I was until I saw Duncan. King’s uncle. I moved to sit up.
“Easy, sweetheart. Take it slow,” Duncan said, as one of his hands held mine while the other was on my back.
“What happened?”
“You passed out, honey. Your body couldn’t handle the stress and knew you needed a break.” Maureen sat by my side; Colleen held the baby a few feet away, a terrified look on her face.
“I’m sorry.”
“Nonsense,” Maureen chided. “You’ve had a lot going on. You’ve been stuck in fight mode. It was only a matter of time before your body took flight.”
“Is the sheriff back yet?”
“Not yet. He should be soon,” Colleen answered. She came over and sat beside me. “Here.” She placed the baby in my arms. “Smell his head.” I laughed and looked at her. “It’s scientific. Babies give off relaxing pheromones from their heads. It’s supposed to act like a Valium for moms.”
“I’m not his mom.” I chuckled.
“Still works. Put him up on your shoulder and smell him.” I gave her a look that made her roll her eyes. “Just trust me.”
Shaking my head, I propped Bennett onto my shoulder. I turned my head and inhaled deeply. If there was even the slightest chance this would work, I wanted to take full advantage of it.
Colleen was right. I immediately felt my body relax. I breathed in again, my nose pushing into the baby’s hair. I closed my eyes and just sat there, breathing deeply.
“See, it works,” Colleen laughed.
“It does,” I murmured against the baby’s head. “It really does.”
I didn’t know how long I sat there, lost in Bennett’s calming scent, but the front door opened, and the sheriff walked in.
He looked at me and said, “Could you put the baby in the bassinet?”
“Why?” Maureen asked.
I didn’t hesitate. This was their baby. I laid him in the little basket and waited.
“I have someone with me, and I don’t need my son dropped on the floor,” the sheriff said as he took a step to the side, and a beautiful older woman stepped inside.
Maureen gasped.
Mac cursed.
But Duncan was quiet. I watched him as his eyes filled with tears and he slowly walked forward. He pulled the woman into his arms and whispered, “Big sister.”