Epilogue
CROW
Six months later…
I wake just as the sun is coming up. Birdie’s bare leg is thrown over both of my thighs.
I run my hands over the smooth skin, and she sighs.
She rolls over and tucks her perfect ass against me, and I settle onto my side so I can hold her close.
I curve my hand around her bare breast, and she giggles sleepily.
“It’s so early.”
I nuzzle my nose into her hair and breathe in every bit of my girl. My Birdie. The smells of sweat and sex from last night.
“I know,” I tell her. “I’m going to go for a run. I’ll be back.”
I kiss her and climb out of bed, then dress quietly so I don’t wake up Mia. I doubt she’s going to get much sleep tonight at Zoey’s, so I don’t want to wake her up too soon. We have a long day ahead of us.
I grab my keys from the hook by the door and lock up the house.
I spend most nights here now, but I still stay in my room back at the compound every so often.
I think it’s important for Mia and Birdie to still have mom-daughter time.
When I’m around, we eat together, watch movies, and do our best to keep the noise to a minimum when we close the door to our bedroom for the night.
But today’s a big day for us, and I want to clear my head.
I bend down outside the front of the house and tighten the laces on my running shoes.
I jog a few blocks to warm up. I still use Morris’s armband, and I’ve tucked my phone and some money into the holster around my bicep. After about a mile, I turn a corner and head into a coffee shop. An older man with dark hair sits peering at a paper through his glasses.
“You know you can read the news on your phone,” I say, walking up to the empty seat beside him.
My father looks at me and just shakes his head. “I hate that device,” he says. “I get my news the old-fashioned way.”
I know he does.
“You want something?” I ask.
He shakes his head, but I know better. I walk over to the counter and order him a plain black coffee and grab a bottle of water for myself, then join him at the table.
“Thank you, son,” he says, eyeing the tattoos on my hands as he takes the coffee. Every time he sees them, I know it’s like the first time. He notices them, wants to say something about them, but then stops himself. Today, he clamps his lips shut and takes the lid off the coffee to let it cool.
Then he goes back to his reading.
I uncap my water and sip it. The cold feels good on my throat, and my chest feels open, alive, despite the tension I still feel about my dad.
He’s been in town for two months, staying at a short-term rental.
He’s planning on staying another month to help Birdie and me get her contracting business off the ground.
She signed a lease to rent an office space in Morris’s strip mall right next to Arrow’s PI shop.
She’s going to be the owner of the business, and I’ll be an officer in the company and her lead contractor.
We’ll have some hurdles to overcome with licensing and things, but we’ve got work lined up, insurance, and now an office, thanks to James Sanderson’s start-up capital.
That’s what Birdie decided to do with the money her father left her.
Birdie’s dad passed away only two weeks after writing her that big check.
She did attend the funeral, and she met all of James’s other kids.
His wife. His other girlfriends. That was awkward and painful but somehow also very healing.
Turns out Birdie’s got one half brother who was working construction too.
He’s been consulting with us on everything from insurance to tools to bonds.
And given all the siblings Birdie’s met through her father, she might form a relationship with some of them.
Oddly enough, James’s widow Gail has been the one who’s stepped up the most after he died.
I look over at my dad, who’s blowing aggressively on his hot coffee, looking completely pissed off that the beverage isn’t drinking temperature. That’s my dad. Just because he’s here doesn’t mean he’s changed. But since he is retired now, he’s here for a while.
After I told him about Birdie and me trying to launch a business, he decided to come down and help us. Tiny put in some of his own start-up money to help, so it looks like the club will stand to gain from the business in more ways than just the rent we’ll pay on the office space.
I’m literally going into business with my woman and my brothers. It’s a cause for celebration.
“Party’s today,” I remind my dad. “You know where to go?”
He peers at me over the rim of his glasses. “I have the address.”
I know Dad’s not thrilled about coming to a party at the compound. He’s got all kinds of preconceived notions about the club, what we do there, what kind of people we are. And that’s okay.
Today, we’re throwing a huge party to celebrate my homecoming, the new business that we hope is going to make the club some real bank in the coming years, and just all the good happening.
Dad’s been getting to know me again, and while it’s not always comfortable, it’s family.
Both sides of my family coming together—my dad and my brothers—this feels like coming home.
“All right, then,” I say. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”
I push the chair back, but my dad stops me.
“I’ve been looking for the right time to give this to you. I think now’s as good as it’s going to get.” He is worrying me with the look on his face.
“What?” I ask, tipping my chin at him.
“You serious about this Bridget and her kid?”
I scowl at him. “Dad, would you just call her Birdie already?”
He nods and has the decency to look a little apologetic. “Sorry. All these nicknames just… I’ll never get used to people calling you Crow.”
“Fair enough. And yes, I love them both.”
He digs into his pocket and pulls out an envelope folded into thirds. “I don’t have a box for this,” he explains. “Took it from the safe-deposit box and just meant to find something better than this for you, but… Maybe you can take care of that. If you decide to use it.”
I grab the envelope from him and tear open the seal. Something small and hard nearly falls out. “Mom’s engagement ring?” I ask. “Dad?”
He goes back to reading his paper. “Your brother’s not going to use it,” he says. “And even if he does get married someday, I feel like your mother would be happy if you had it. You know…for Birdie.”
A sudden rush of emotion clogs my throat and I cough, but I quickly wash the feelings down with water.
“You know we haven’t been together that long,” I say.
Not that I don’t plan on making things official with her.
But between her father dying, us starting a business with the club’s and my dad’s help, her inheriting both money and new relatives…
There’s not been a lot of talk about our future.
A lot of happy nights and blissful days, but we’re still sort of taking it day by day.
My father folds his paper and crosses an ankle over his knee. “Son,” he says, looking me in the eye, “Why are you waiting to start your future? Haven’t you lost enough time already?”
His words stun me, and not in a good way. I clench Mom’s ring in my hands and nod, but Dad quickly reaches across the table and grabs my wrist.
“That didn’t come out the way I meant it,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m not… I’m not nuancing what I think. I’m sorry, Logan.”
He releases my hand and scoots his chair back roughly.
“When you went away, I thought…I felt…” He reaches a finger under his glasses to wipe at his eye.
“I was sure what happened was my fault. Your tattoos, this biker business… It was all reaction to me. The kind of father I was. I blamed you for acting out, but I blamed myself more.”
He looks me in the eye and shocks me by dropping a hand on top of mine. We’re not holding hands, but he’s squeezing the top of my hand, my sparrow covered by his, marked only by age spots and veins.
“Son,” he says. “I’ve made mistakes. You’ve made mistakes. Life is too short to keep paying back debt. She’s a very, very special woman. You deserve her. If you love this girl, take a chance on having it all.”
I look down at Dad’s hand covering mine, and I nod. “Thank you,” I say. “That… It means a lot to hear you say that.”
I get up from the chair and tuck the ring into the armband holster. I don’t want to chance it coming out of my pocket while I’m running.
“Love you, Dad,” I say.
He nods and unfolds his paper. “See you later.”
I jog back home, where the house is already in full swing. Birdie is taking her meds and eating one of the breakfasts she prepped last night.
“Feeling good?” I ask her as I kiss her on the cheek.
It took months of tests and trial and error, but it turns out the doctors are pretty sure that Birdie’s headaches are the result of prediabetes.
Since her dad developed type 2 diabetes around the same age she is now and there’s no other cause that they could find, she’s been trying to control her blood sugar and watch her diet to see if that helps ease the headaches.
“I feel great,” she assures me, turning my face to kiss me on the lips. “But you stink.” She swats my ass.
“Mama, that’s so rude. You can’t tell people they smell like that.”
I ruffle Mia’s hair. “Thanks for protecting me, kiddo, but I definitely stink.” I down a glass of orange juice and get ready for the afternoon.
Once we’re all dressed and ready, Birdie and I drop Mia at Lia and Leo’s, where Zoey and Mia are going to hang out with baby Rider with Tim and Juliette while the rest of us party at the compound.
The girls have become even closer than sisters, and now that Alice is almost due to give Zoey a real sibling, we’re planning on giving Mia bunk beds so she can have her best friend over any time Zoey needs a break from the newborn madness.
Morris has begged for a bed so he can escape the newborn madness when he needs it, but that man is so excited to have a child, it’s almost comical.