Epilogue - Savannah
Eight Years Later
"Mama! Mama! Ruby won't give me Mr. Whiskers!"
I look up from packing the last of our suitcases to find my daughter Lily standing in the doorway of our bedroom, her dark hair sticking up in every direction, her amber eyes filled with righteous indignation.
"Ruby has her own stuffed animal," Lily continues, crossing her arms in a gesture she definitely learned from her father. "She doesn't need mine too!"
"Ruby!" I call down the hallway. "Bring your sister her cat, please!"
"But Mama!" Ruby's voice drifts back, identical to her twin's in every way. "Mr. Whiskers wants to play with Princess Sparkle!"
I suppress a smile. They're five years old and already experts at negotiating. I blame Ryan for that. He's been teaching them how to argue their case since they could talk.
"Girls," I say, walking into the hallway where both twins are now standing, glaring at each other. "We're leaving for the airport in two hours. If you can't share nicely, neither of you gets to bring stuffed animals to Paris."
"No!" Both voices ring out in unison, identical expressions of horror on their faces.
"Then figure it out. Together. Like we've talked about."
I leave them to work it out and head back to the bedroom. Ryan is sitting on the edge of our bed, watching me with those sharp blue eyes that still make my stomach flip even after eight years.
"You're too hard on them," he says, but he's smiling.
"And you spoil them rotten. We balance each other out."
"Fair point." He stands and crosses to me, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. "You almost done packing?"
"Almost. Just need to add their last-minute stuff." I lean back against his chest. "Are you sure the club can spare you for two weeks?"
"Pope insisted. Said I've been working too hard and the girls deserve to see Disneyland Paris." His hands spread across my stomach, and I feel him smile against my neck. "Plus, Bones owes me for covering his ass last month. He can handle things while I'm gone."
Ryan's still a fully patched member of the Steel Sinners, still works security at the casino, still has that same fierce loyalty to his brothers that he had the night we met. But things have changed too. He's a father now. A husband. A man with responsibilities beyond the club.
Pope made sure the club understood that Ryan's family came first. And the brothers, every single one of them, treats our girls like they're club princesses.
Which they absolutely are.
"The girls are so excited," I say, turning in his arms. "Lily's been counting down the days for months."
"Ruby too. She made me promise we'd meet every single Disney princess."
"That's a lot of princesses."
"I'm aware." He grins. "But I'll do it. Anything for my girls."
My girls. He says it with such certainty, such ownership, like there was never any question that they're his in every way that matters.
We got married six months after that night in the casino. Small ceremony at the clubhouse with just the brothers and their families. Pope officiated. Ghost was Ryan's best man. I had no family there, had cut them off completely by then, but I didn't need them. The club became my family.
The twins came two years later. A surprise pregnancy that terrified both of us until the moment we saw them on the ultrasound. Two tiny heartbeats. Two perfect little girls who would grow up knowing they were wanted, chosen, loved unconditionally.
We named them Ruby and Lily. Gemstones and flowers. Beautiful things that grow in unexpected places.
They have Ryan's sharp intelligence and my stubbornness. His protective instincts and my empathy. They're perfect, and I still can't believe they're ours.
"What are you thinking about?" Ryan asks, reading my expression like he always does.
"How lucky I am. How different my life could have been if I hadn't run that night."
"You would have figured it out eventually."
"Maybe. But I'm glad I didn't have to." I reach up and cup his face, feeling the familiar scratch of his beard against my palm. "I'm glad I found you instead."
"Found me?" He raises an eyebrow. "Pretty sure I found you. Sitting in my casino in a wedding dress, looking like you'd been through hell."
"And you helped me. Even though you didn't have to. Even though it broke club rules."
"Best rule I ever broke." He kisses me, the kind of kiss that still makes my toes curl after eight years. "No regrets, baby. Not a single one."
I believe him. Because in eight years, he's never once made me feel like I was a burden. Never complained about the baggage I brought into his life. Never looked at me with anything but love and desire and fierce protectiveness.
He's the opposite of Derek in every possible way.
Derek. I haven't thought about him in years. After that first week, when the Steel Sinners made it very clear that I was under their protection and anyone who came looking for me would regret it, he disappeared from my life completely.
I heard through the grapevine that he married someone else six months later. Some society woman his family approved of. I felt sorry for her but I didn't reach out. That wasn't my responsibility anymore.
My family was harder to let go of.
For the first year, I ignored their calls and messages. Blocked numbers, deleted emails, refused to engage. But they were persistent. My mother especially.
Finally, three years ago, I agreed to meet them. Neutral location, Ryan by my side, just to see if maybe, possibly, they'd realized what they'd done.
They hadn't.
My mother spent an hour telling me I'd made a mistake. That I'd chosen the wrong life. That I could still fix things if I just apologized to Derek and came home. My sisters nodded along, agreeing with everything she said. My father sat silent, like he always did, letting my mother speak for him.
Not once did they ask if I was happy. Not once did they acknowledge that Derek had hurt me. Not once did they apologize for choosing him over me.
I remember Ryan's hand tightening on mine under the table. Remember the muscle ticking in his jaw as he listened to them tear apart the life we'd built together. Remember making the conscious decision not to defend myself, not to argue, not to try to make them understand.
Because they didn't want to understand. They wanted me to be small and quiet and grateful again. Wanted me to fit back into the box they'd built for me.
And I was done being small.
"Thank you for coming," I said when my mother finally stopped talking. "But I won't be doing this again. This is my life. These are my choices. And I'm happy with both."
"Savannah—" my mother started.
"I'm done." I stood up, Ryan standing with me. "I hope you have good lives. But they won't include me."
We walked out together, and I haven't spoken to them since.
I cried that night. Sobbed in Ryan's arms while he held me and told me I did the right thing, that I deserved better, that their loss was his gain. And when I was done crying, I felt lighter. Free.
That was the last time I cried over them.
Now, standing in the bedroom of the house we bought together, preparing to take our daughters to Paris, I feel nothing but peace.
This is my family. Ryan and Ruby and Lily. The Steel Sinners and their families. The parents who bring their kids to my daycare and trust me with their most precious treasures.
This is my life. The one I chose. The one I fought for. The one I built from the ashes of everything I left behind.
"Mama!" Both twins come running into the room, Ruby clutching Mr. Whiskers and Lily holding Princess Sparkle. "We figured it out!"
"Oh yeah? What's the solution?"
"They're going to sit together on the plane," Ruby announces. "So, they can be friends."
"That way everyone's happy," Lily adds.
I look at Ryan and smile. "See? They're learning to compromise."
"Or they're learning to gang up on us. Could go either way."
The girls giggle and throw themselves at Ryan, who catches them easily and swings them up, one in each arm. They squeal with delight, tiny hands gripping his shoulders.
"Daddy, will Disneyland have real princesses?" Ruby asks.
"Real as they get, baby girl."
"And rides? Lots of rides?"
"So many rides you'll get sick of them."
"I won't get sick of them," Lily declares. "I'm going to ride everything twice."
"That's my girl." Ryan sets them down. "Now go make sure you packed your princess dresses. We need to look fancy for the castle."
They run off, already arguing about which dresses to bring, and Ryan turns back to me.
"You ready for two weeks of princess everything?"
"I married a biker. I can handle Disney princesses."
He laughs and pulls me close again. "Fair point."
My phone buzzes on the dresser. A text from Marie, one of the mothers who uses my daycare.
**Marie: Have an amazing trip! The kids will miss Miss Savannah, but we'll be here when you get back!**
I smile and type back a response. The daycare was my dream, the thing I'd always wanted to do but never thought I could. Ryan made it happen. Found the perfect location, helped me get the licensing, and supported me through every step of building my business.
Now I have twelve kids who come five days a week, and I love every single one of them. Love watching them learn and grow. Love being the safe space their parents need. Love building something that's entirely mine.
"Business stuff?" Ryan asks.
"Just Marie wishing us a good trip." I set the phone down. "I'm going to miss the kids."
"They'll be fine for two weeks. And you deserve a break. You work too hard."
"Says the man who pulled a double shift last week."
"That was different. We had a situation."
"There's always a situation at the casino."
"True." He grins. "But Pope promised. No calls, no emergencies, nothing that can't wait until we're back. This trip is just us and the girls. Family time."
Family time. Eight years ago, I didn't have a family. Now I have more than I ever dreamed possible.
"I love you," I tell him, and I mean it with every fiber of my being. "Thank you for giving me this life."
"Baby, you gave yourself this life. You're the one who ran. The one who chose to fight instead of staying. The one who built all of this." He gestures around our bedroom, at the life we've created together. "I just helped along the way."
"You did more than help."
"Maybe. But you did the hard part. You survived. Everything else is just details."
The twins come running back, dragging their small suitcases behind them.
"We're ready!" Ruby announces.
"Can we go now?" Lily asks.
"Not for another two hours, remember?" I tell them. "We need to eat lunch first."
"But I'm not hungry," Ruby protests.
"You're always hungry," Lily counters.
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Girls." Ryan's voice cuts through their argument. "How about we make sandwiches together? Then we can eat and be ready to go right on time."
"Okay!" They chorus together and run toward the kitchen.
Ryan and I follow at a slower pace, his hand finding mine..
"Think we forgot anything?" I ask.
"Probably. But that's what gift shops are for."
We make sandwiches together, all four of us crowded in the kitchen that's seen countless family meals. The twins chatter non-stop about everything they want to see and do. Ryan listens patiently, promising to take them everywhere they want to go.
I watch them together and feel my chest tighten with emotion. This man who grew up without a family, who spent his childhood unwanted and unchosen, is the best father I could have imagined for my daughters. He's patient and playful and protective in all the ways that matter.
He shows them every single day that they're wanted. That they're chosen. That they're loved unconditionally.
And they adore him for it.
After lunch, we load the car with our suitcases. The twins buckle themselves into their car seats, still chattering excitedly. Ryan checks everything three times. The doors are locked, the lights are off, the security system is armed.
"Ready?" he asks, sliding into the driver's seat.
"Ready," I confirm from the passenger seat.
"Disneyland Paris, here we come!" the twins shout from the back.
As we pull out of the driveway, I look back at our house. The home we've built together. Three bedrooms, a yard where the girls play, a garage full of Ryan's motorcycle gear, a kitchen where we make family dinners.
It's everything I never knew I wanted. Everything I didn't think I deserved.
And it's mine.
Eight years ago, I ran from a wedding in a blood-stained dress with nowhere to go and no plan beyond surviving. I walked into a casino looking for shelter and found a man with scarred knuckles and sharp eyes who saw me when I felt invisible.
He gave me safety. Protection. A chance to rebuild.
But more than that, he gave me a family. A home. A life worth living.
And in return, I gave him the same thing.
We saved each other that night. Two broken people finding wholeness in the most unexpected place.
"What are you thinking about?" Ryan asks, glancing at me as he drives.
"Just how far we've come. How different everything is."
"Good different?"
"The best different." I reach over and take his hand. "I wouldn't change a single thing."
"Not even the part where Pope found you naked in my bed?"
I laugh. "Okay, maybe I'd change that part. That was mortifying."
"Worth it though."
"Definitely worth it."
The twins start singing in the back seat. Some song about princesses and castles that they learned at daycare. Ruby's slightly off-key, Lily's making up half the words, and it's absolutely perfect.
This is my family. This is my life. This is everything I fought for, everything I dreamed of, and everything I deserve.
And I'm never letting it go.
Thank you for reading it!