Epilogue
NOVA
Current Time
This time when an emergency church session was called, I’m in town and able to be in attendance.
It’s a much different experience being here in person versus being linked in via satellite connection.
When Riptide bangs his gavel on the plank, all backs in the room stiffen as we lean in and listen to what he has on the agenda.
“As you recall, the interrogation we had with Zoey’s parents has led us to believe the clubhouse will be ambushed two weeks before Christmas by the Onyx Dragons.
We’ve run into one problem after another trying to get others here to have our backs.
It seems like every club in the Kings stronghold is having one issue or another they’re dealing with in their own houses.
So I’m going to make a suggestion that pisses me off,” he says, seething.
“But it’s something that needs to be voted on.
Majority will rule because I don’t think we’re all going to be on the same page this go around. ”
Slayer, noticing that Riptide is having a hard time getting the words out, picks up the conversation. “We have contacts inside the Feds. A new alliance has begun with an agent who’s new to town. Her itinerary is to clean up the police and sheriff department as well as the city council.”
“Are we talking about Van’s boss’s wife?” I ask for clarification because it’s the only new person we’ve initiated an alliance with that I’m aware of.
“You all know how I feel about bringing in law enforcement of any kind and inviting them into King’s business.
We did that once with Nova, and none of us liked it because we had to hand over Jennings instead of doling out our own brand of justice.
But right now, our hands are tied. We don’t have the manpower to take them on ourselves and not come out with substantial losses.
We have enough information to give her to put them behind bars.
It won’t stop them from coming after us, but it will stall them until we have all of our shit together and our allies here.
We will be going to war with them, it just isn’t feasible right now. ”
“We only did that with Jennings because the Feds are the ones who hired us. It would’ve drawn too much attention to us and put a target on our backs if we didn’t handle it the way we did.
Besides the leg injury he sustained, that caused him to have the delusion he could grab the girls, allowing us to have some fun with him,” I add, saying my piece.
“Even if it was short and ended far too quickly for our liking.”
Truthfully, I hope that fucker spends the rest of his miserable life wondering if today will be the day he’s killed.
Not that we’ve ordered that—we voted and decided that he needed to suffer for all the horrific acts he committed.
Thankfully, we have allies who have brothers who are behind bars who are assisting us in ensuring he never really breathes easy again.
Last we heard from Booker, he spent a month in the infirmary recovering from a beatdown he got while in the yard.
Sucks to be him as far as I’m concerned.
“Yes,” Riptide answers. “It’s her. So far, during our communications, she’s willing to join our cause as long as it’s not brought to her superiors’ attention.”
I roll my eyes, thinking, “here we go again.” I did that shit with Marsten, and it wasn’t my finest moment. I have many regrets when it comes to him and being reminded of it is like steel settling in my gut.
“I don’t like it,” Icer huffs out. “I don’t want to be indebted to anyone carrying a badge. Our lives don’t mix. They have morals. I don’t.”
“No, but we all have codes we live by,” Slayer inserts. “And this time, the end result is the same. We want them out of our hair and none of us want them lurking around the old ladies and kids. I say we keep our hands clean until we are ready to initiate war.”
“Freyja’s due Christmas Day, so I’m going to vote yes on this so that I don’t have to miss the birth of our first kid.”
“I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around you having two women,” Indiana muses. “I have a helluva time keeping one woman satisfied.”
“That’s because you’re a pussy,” I tease. “I have the best of both worlds. A wife who keeps my house warm, and an old lady who is as loyal as any brother would be.”
“He has his cake and can eat it too without worrying about getting his dick chopped off,” LoneStar says, a sly grin on his face.
I flip him off and turn back to our pres and VP.
I don’t banter with that brother too often, he has the innate ability to piss me off and I’d rather avoid going toe to toe with him because our skill level is the same.
We’d both end up beaten to a bloody pulp and I have too much pride to not leave any fight the victor.
In the end, after a bunch of arguing and whining, we voted yes to letting the Feds step in and arrest our adversaries.
We have too much at stake to go into a fight with them.
Our hands are basically tied behind our backs.
But like Riptide stated, we will eventually get our pound of flesh, so that helped tame most of our beasts.
Riptide makes the call to the agent and concludes the meeting.
Heading home, I let all the weight fall off my shoulders.
My girls are there waiting for me, and that’s the most important thing right now.
It’s an odd feeling. Once upon a time, the club and my profession made life worth living, but now, everything revolves around them.
I didn’t lie to my brothers when I said I had the best of both worlds, and that’s all on account of them and their infinite love for me and our family.
Christmas Morning
Late Christmas Eve night, Freyja went into labor. It didn’t become active until early this morning. As Freyja pushes, bringing new life into the world, Chaney and I are there at her side like we will be until the end of time.
“One more push,” Splicer tells her. “He’s crowning, he has a head full of dark hair.”
She opted out of a hospital birth and chose a home birth, which didn’t surprise any of us who know her, with Splicer and a midwife in attendance.
The woman Splicer chose, after interviewing several applicants, stands off to the side getting things prepped and ready for our son when he makes his grand entrance.
“Ah!” Freyja screams as she bares down. “It burns!”
My wife, she’s been a trooper during this process.
She didn’t have any drugs to aid her, which I have to admit, made me nervous.
But she swore up and down that she didn’t want anything to get in the way or numb her while birthing our child.
I had to bite my tongue instead of arguing with her because it’s her body and she has the right to decide what she wants to do with it.
Chaney, nervous about her sister’s proclamation asks the midwife if she should get an ice pack to put on her sister’s nether region.
Splicer laughed when he heard that but shook his head.
“It’s almost over and then we’ll get her taken care of.
All the pain and burning is about to be a thing of the past.”
“Don’t make me punch you, Doc,” Chaney suggests. And that’s exactly what it is—a suggestion because if Chaney is one thing, it’s protective. Over me and over her sister. Nobody fucks with either of us without earning themselves a knuckle sandwich.
A baby’s squalling echoes through the room as Splicer calls me over to him with a nod of his head. “Congratulations to the three of you! He’s got a set of lungs on him. Would you like to cut the cord, Dad?”
I look at Freyja for permission, and when she smiles at me and nods her head, I grab the scissors from his hands once he clamps the cord. The second our son is no longer reliant on his mom for each breath, he’s laid on her stomach where the midwife uses a towel to dry him off.
After he’s been weighed and tests have been run, he’s swaddled in my arms as I look down on him in awe. “What are we naming him, Freyja?”
“I want something strong, Nordic like mine. I was thinking Gunter for his first name, and Arn for his middle name. What do you think?”
“I like it. What’s it mean?” I ask.
“War army and eagle. He’s going to rule and soar while doing it,” she dreamily answers.
“Oh,” Chaney chuckles. “He’s going to rule alright, for about eighteen years.”
“And many years after that,” I reply before turning my attention to my wife. “Isn’t that right, Momma?”
“Yes,” Freyja giggles. “And he’s the first of more to come.”
“As long as y’all don’t expect me to carry them or birth any of them, I’m all in,” Chaney says, with all the seriousness she can muster, reaching out and holding her sister’s hand.
“No, that’s my job,” Freyja teases her sister. “Your job is to protect us alongside Nova. I have my dream and you have yours.”
I tuck my son on my chest and lean back in the recliner, dozing to the sound of my girls as they map out our future. This is the best Christmas of my life thanks to two women who entered my life like a tornado and made the earth spin.
I hope everyone else’s Christmas is just as memorable and special as mine has been.
The End