Darcie
Darcie
FIVE YEARS LATER
“Thank you so much for your donation. This will go a long way to helping the center,” I said, shaking the woman’s hand.
“I’m glad. I love the work you’re doing, Darcie. You’re changing our community.”
“Oh, thank you. I don’t know about all that?—”
“You are.” The city councilwoman smiled at me and lifted her brows. It was a look I knew well, one I often gave to my kids when they were testing limits. It dared you to try your best, but you weren’t going to succeed. Unlike my kids, I knew when I was beaten.
“I look forward to working with the city. The center is grateful for your recognition. Please stop by anytime; you’re a huge inspiration to all the women there.”
“I’ll do that. We’ll be in touch.” The councilwoman stood and shook my hand before leaving the center and striding with her staff.
I turned to Cindy, my assistant, and widened my eyes. “Did that really just happen?”
“Yep.” She grinned and handed me my bag. “Now, go. You’ve got Grayson’s birthday dinner to get to. I’ve got things covered here.”
Before I could protest, she pushed me out the doors and into the parking lot. I blinked, turning back to look at the building. Live Like A Queen had grown over the past five years. We’d gone from our small office in a strip mall to taking over a closed daycare. With our new space, we had more room to grow and more training and resources on sight. LLAQ had blossomed, and I’d hired staff, unable to maintain it on my own any longer.
That and I kept getting pregnant. It was hard to run a business when you were pregnant half the time. But after my last pregnancy, we’d decided we were done making babies and wanted to open our home up to older foster kids. Brooks had started volunteering as a mentor and had met a few kids he wished he could’ve done more for.
It was an easy decision for all of us. So, after a minor setback in getting our foster license, we opened our home to others. In addition to our five kids—yep, those bastards got me pregnant twice more—we currently had two fosters.
Sometimes, they stayed for short periods; others, it was longer. We weren’t always the right fit, which was hard to digest initially. How could a loving family not be the right fit? It had been all Brooks had wanted. But we’d been na?ve in believing love was the only thing we needed. Our life was a chaotic and beautiful mess of wonderfulness with kids and animals, but that wasn’t the perfect fit for everyone. So, we learned to meet kids where they were, and things worked out better.
The two kids we currently had were about to graduate high school, and we’d offered them a permanent home with us. I wanted them to have a place to come back to if they wanted. Brooks told me not to get my hopes up, but it was hard. They were both so great and fit into our family so well.
Waving bye to the people on the jungle gym, I strode to my car and checked my phone. Cindy had been right. I did need to leave, or I’d miss Grayson’s surprise. He turned forty next week and had refused to let any of us do anything, stating that he was mature now and didn’t need to be the center of attention. Which, of course, meant we went against his wishes and planned a surprise party. Secretly, I believed he wanted a big deal made, but was too embarrassed to ask.
We’d rented out the family fun center for the night, where he could play laser tag, ride go-karts, play arcade games, or putt-putt. The food was his favorite, and we’d invited all our friends and family. After a few hours, the kids would leave us, and Lennox, Slade, Simon, and Thane headed out to Nashville for the night. My dad, Becca and her husband, and Lennox’s parents were watching our ever-growing brood together, giving us the night off for the first time in years.
The drive to the place was quick, and I parked around back so Grayson wouldn’t spot my car. I missed riding my bike to work, but between all of the kids’ sports and activities, it wasn’t practical anymore, considering there was nowhere to put a car seat.
Hurrying inside, I spotted Lennox and Becca. They both waved at me, and I rushed over.
“Hey. Any word?” Simon and Brooks were responsible for getting him here. Mostly because Grayson wouldn’t ever expect Brooks to hide anything, and Simon could use the excuse of doing something to piss Slade off as a reason to be here. It wasn’t the strongest plan, but it was all we had.
“They’re enroute. Simon said he’d text when they pull up.”
“Perfect.”
“How did the meeting go?” Lennox asked.
“It went great. She wants to donate and has big plans for us moving forward.”
“That’s amazing, Darcie,” Becca said, wrapping her arm around me.
“I know. I still can’t believe how far the center has come.”
“I can. You’re amazing,” Lennox said, smiling. Her phone pinged, and she held it up. “They’re here.” She turned and shouted to all the other guests. Maddox spotted me and made a beeline for me, our youngest two—Josh and Lily—on each of his hips.
“Mama,” Lily said, reaching for me. I took her, kissed her cheek, and bent down to kiss Josh.
“Hey, sweetie. How was your lesson?” I asked.
While Charlie, Grace, and Hannah loved horses, poor Josh had been allergic. He’d discovered his love of music one afternoon at Lennox’s and had started piano lessons. I didn’t want to brag, but the kid was amazing. We weren’t making a big deal out of it so he wouldn’t feel pressured, but we were one hundred percent behind him if he wanted to pursue it.
“Good. I got to learn a new song,” he said, smiling wide.
“I can’t wait to hear it. You’ll have to play it for me tomorrow,” I said, just as Lennox told everyone to hide.
We crouched down behind the arcade machines. Lily giggled, covering her mouth in excitement just as we heard voices.
“I think the place is closed, Si. Let’s go get pizza?—”
“One, two, three,” I whispered, and everyone jumped out. “Surprise!”
“AH!” Grayson shouted, jumping back and clutching his heart. “What the fudge,” he corrected at the last minute when he saw the kids.
“Happy birthday, Daddy!” Lily said, climbing out of my arms and running to Grayson. Grayson melted, bending down to catch her. “I kept a surprise,” she said, whispering.
“That you did. I can’t believe you surprised me,” he said, standing and staring at everyone.
“Happy birthday, Laws.” I kissed him, loving that we’d shocked him.
“Thanks, Sunflower. I’m stunned. You guys did this for me?” he asked, looking around at everyone. Customers from the shop, friends we’d made over the years, our kids, friends, families, and even some of our MC family had driven up.
“We all love you, Laws.”
He nodded, smiled, and said hello to people as we walked through the crowd. Josh, Charlie, Hannah, and Grace joined Lily in hugging and kissing Daddy Grayson for his birthday and the gifts they made for him. Once he’d gotten through everyone, I clapped my hands.
“Okay, who wants to race Grayson first? The winner gets first dibs on the cake!” Hands went up, and we ran to the go-karts.
“Hey! It’s my cake. I get the first slice, Sunflower. That’s the rule,” he yelled, chasing me.
I laughed, promising to crush him as I slid into my car and strapped in. Spoiler alert: I did not. But I had fun all the same.
Over the next two hours, we moved from each activity, laughing and having a good time. We ate until our stomachs were full, and Grayson did get the first slice of cake. Granted, I shoved it in his face, but it counted.
“Are you having a good birthday?” I asked later after the kids had dropped off and been on the party bus.
“The best.” He smiled, pulling me closer.
“I’m just mad I didn’t get that girlie scream recorded,” Slade grumped.
“You wish,” Grayson shot back.
“Oh, I did,” Bubba said. Grayson spun and tackled Bubba.
“Give it to me, Old man. No one needs to see that.” Bubba shoved Grayson away, laughing as he tried to grab his phone.
“Madd, help me out,” Grayson pouted.
“Nah. I remember you telling me I’d never be as pretty as you last night, so I think I’ll sit this one out.” He pulled me into his lap, sticking his tongue out at Grayson. It didn’t matter how old we were; they still acted like teenagers sometimes.
“Fine. Brooks! You owe me for lying about the party.”
He crossed his arms. “I didn’t lie. You asked if Darcie was planning anything. She wasn’t. That was all me.” He smiled wide, and Grayson’s jaw dropped.
“Traitor! Also, I finally found the first problem being in a fivesome.”
“What’s that?” I asked around a laugh.
“Too many witnesses,” he said, trying to grab Bubba’s phone one more time. Everyone laughed, and he took his seat. “Fine. Just you wait. Those of you who haven’t turned forty, I’ll get you so good!”
“The first rule of taking someone by surprise is not to tell them you’re taking them by surprise,” Lennox said.
“It’s because he’s old now. He’s senile,” Thane said.
“Hey! You’re thirty-nine.”
“Still not forty,” Slade said, smirking.
“Give it up, Pretty Boy. We’re the old guys here; it just means we’ll get the senior discount before they will. Then they’ll want to be our friends again,” Bubba teased.
Grayson laughed, letting us all know he wasn’t bothered. Despite being forty, the man didn’t look it. He was still hot and had all the other moms drooling over him. Climbing into his lap, I kissed his cheek and settled back into his arms for the drive.
I didn’t care about getting older because I knew I’d get to do it with this crowd. In fact, I couldn’t wait until we were causing mischief at the senior center, and all of our kids thought we were losing it.
Through all the agony, I found beauty. Despite all the envy, I found love. And in the face of betrayal, I found a united strength. My life went completely off course, but it brought me here—to four men who loved me, to amazing kids who called me mom, and to friends we got to do life with.
The past twelve years had been the best ride of my life, and we weren’t even halfway done, yet.
Ride or die until the very end.
The End