Epilogue
Grace
Weeks later...
Today was the day.
Life in Nebraska the past few weeks hadn’t been easy. The second attack on the clubhouse hit us harder than the first. Lives lost, men wounded. It felt like it would never end.
The war was still brewing. Battles were being fought all over the area. Some of the men had finally come home from the hospital. Others were still there, hanging on by a thread. Caught between this life and the next. Everyone was on edge, not knowing when and where the next attack would happen.
Especially King.
I hadn’t told him I’d had the test done. He didn’t know the results were coming in today. Our relationship had only gotten stronger as the weeks went by, despite the turmoil surrounding the clubs. I wanted to spare him the anxiety of waiting to learn our fate.
“Grace?”
“Hi, Kytten.”
I stepped inside the infirmary downstairs. She had been helping more and more down here, and with her certification as an EMT, it was greatly appreciated.
“Have you looked?” I asked nervously.
“No, I wanted to wait for you. Still haven’t told him, have you?”
I shook my head. “No, I wanted to wait until we knew. He’s under so much stress right now, I didn’t want him thinking about this too. Once I know for sure, I’ll tell him.”
“Okay, let’s find out.”
She sat down at the computer while I paced. The sound of keys clicking echoed in the room as I struggled with my own sense of impending doom.
I’d tried so hard to be positive and optimistic as we waited for this baby to grow big enough to discover who his father was. But it hadn’t been easy.
King and I didn’t talk about the baby specifically, but in more general terms of when we started a family. We talked about building a house out back. Ryder and Ellie’s house was just about finished. Cash and Kytten’s was next.
She’d found out recently that she was in fact having twins. Cash had been gloating ever since, while Kytten pouted, in between her bouts of panic at being able to carry two babies inside her small frame.
“Here they are.”
I stopped pacing, my back to the computer. I took a deep breath and turned around. When I stood behind her, she lifted her finger and directed me to the results.
I inhaled sharply and closed my eyes. Tears slipped out and fell down my cheeks.
“Do you want me to go with you?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I can do this.”
She stood up and wrapped her arms around me. Her belly pressed against mine, and I blew out a breath. “We’ve got you, Grace. All of us—the men and especially the women.”
“Thank you.”
I closed the door of the infirmary and placed my hand against the wall. I was a little lightheaded, but I steeled my resolve and pushed myself forward. When I made it up the stairs, I began my search for King.
I found him in his office with Cash. They both looked up and saw the tears. Cash nodded and left without a word, pausing to kiss the top of my head. He knew what today was, even though his president didn’t.
“Grace, what’s wrong?” He moved around the desk until he was in front of me. Holding my face in his hands, he used his thumbs to wipe away the tears. “What happened, Grace? Is it the baby?”
I nodded. “I had Kytten run the test.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I wanted to be there for you, baby.” He pulled me against his chest. “Do you know?”
I nodded against him, and he hugged me tighter.
“Whatever it said, we handle it together. Nothing has changed.”
“Everything has changed, King.”
He pushed me back and looked down at me. The smile on my face told him everything. He smiled back and whispered, “I’m a dad?”
“You’re a dad. We’re having a baby, King. You and me.”
He lifted me off the ground, spun me around, and kissed me hard before setting me back down.
“Fuck, you know what this means?”
His voice was so serious I began to get nervous; was he not happy like he said he would be?
“I’ll never get rid of Sal now. And forget Popeye ever going home.”
I sobbed out a laugh and laid my head on his shoulder. “We’ll just have to learn to deal with them both.”
“You, you’ll need to learn to deal with them. I’m not the one they’ll be hovering over.”
“They can’t be any worse than you,” I argued.
After the second attack, King’s controlling nature had skyrocketed. Not just with me, but all the women. Hell, all the men, too. No one was allowed out alone; he’d ordered a mandatory four-man team, more if one of the women had to go somewhere.
He wasn’t taking any chances. He said he refused to lose anyone else. I agreed with him. Other than visiting Johnny and Maureen at the hospital, I hadn’t left the compound since we came back from the waterfall. There was nothing outside these walls more important to me than my family.
And now, the child I carried.
Our child.