Chapter 55
Reaper
Sitting at the kitchen table in Thor, Dragon, and Half-pint’s house, I take a sip of my beer. All of us guys are in the kitchen while the ladies are in the living room. Levi set the kids up with some movies and popcorn in one of their guest rooms upstairs for now.
Even though the ladies are trying to keep the atmosphere fun, I can tell Lil’ Bit’s forcing her happiness and seems pretty close to breaking down. She’d just gotten the babies’ nursery done the way they wanted a few days ago and she’s been worried sick that it was damaged in this attack.
About ten minutes ago, Timber was told he could go back into their house since the forensic teams were finished, and it took a lot of convincing to get Lil’ Bit to let him take a look at things first. Her gaze has been straying to the door every few seconds despite the ladies trying to distract her.
The front door opens and everyone sits up straight, waiting for the verdict as Timber closes the door. He sets a bag down by it and faces Lil’ Bit.
“Their room is undamaged.”
Mae bursts out crying in relief as she rushes to him and he wraps her in a tight hug.
Quite a few of the ladies dab at their eyes and my throat tightens as I choke up a bit myself. I’ve always been a sucker for little kids and I’m beyond relieved that their room wasn’t damaged.
I clear my throat. “What about the rest of the house?”
Timber blows out a hard breath and Lil’ Bit looks up at him nervously.
“The kitchen and living room took the brunt of it. Our room is damaged some as well, but not nearly as bad as the kitchen and living room. The kitchen will be out of commission until I can get things replaced.” He pauses as he shakes his head.
“We’re lucky as hell that they didn’t hit the stove or the gas line. ”
“Take whichever condo you guys want until your place is fixed up,” Thor says as he gives him a chin lift.
“Thanks, we will.”
I cock my eyebrow at Dragon in question. He grins and nods before clasping Punisher on the shoulder. Punisher stands up, looking kind of shy, which is an odd look on him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this shy before.
“Um, Lil’ Bit. I know you wanted to do this tomorrow, but some of the guys and I thought doing it tonight might be the spin on things you need right now.”
Mae sniffles and wipes her eyes and cheeks as she turns, her forehead creases as she tries to figure out what he means.
Timber leans down and kisses her temple. “Let’s head out back to the back porch for a bit, Sunshine.”
Before we’d done anything, I pulled Timber aside a few hours ago to make sure he was okay with my idea. He agreed and judging by the bag that he’d brought back, he got the clearance to go into the clubhouse to get the rest of the things for the games the ladies had wanted to do.
We head out to the back deck, purposefully trying to block Lil’ Bit’s view for a little bit, but when she finally sees our plan she laughs and bounces on her toes in excitement before leaning up to kiss Timber.
I shiver as I step to the side. It’s cold and there’s a bit of a breeze, but we aren’t going to be out here for long. I pull Lark close to me, protecting her from the breeze as much as I can while we wait.
Axe, Erik, and Dom are standing beside three dirt bikes that we’d warmed up in their garage earlier so that we hopefully won’t have problems starting them. Lil’ Bit had said she wanted to keep Half-pint’s tradition going with using the dirt bikes to reveal the babies’ genders.
A stampede of little feet comes racing through the kitchen and we all grin as the kids search for their parents in the group, all of them just as eager as us to find out what Lil’ Bit’s having.
“Alright, is everyone ready to find out the genders of Lil’ Bit and Timber’s babies?
” Punisher calls out to the crowd and we all loudly cheer ‘yes’, which has Lil’ Bit smiling her first real smile since the attack.
The kids all jump up and down in excitement and I know Punisher’s being a bit more dramatic in an attempt to cheer both Lil’ Bit and the kids up.
Lark pulls out her phone, ready to snap a few pictures, and I hastily grab for my phone, ready to do the same.
“Axe, show us the gender for baby A!”
He grins as he starts up the dirt bike and a plume of blue smoke appears as everyone cheers again.
“Boy, boy, boy,” Lark chants softly, and I chuckle as I realize she’s been brought up to speed about the bet.
Like with the dirt bikes, we kept the betting on the genders going as well.
Only Timber and Mae know the genders of the babies, but that’s because of the shit Carter Johnson and Bruce Martin injected her with when she was kidnapped.
Both of them have been watching each sonogram like a hawk to see if the babies were developing normally or if there was something in those injections that might harm or stunt their growth.
As for the betting, like Lark, my money’s on team boy, all the way.
“Erik, show us the gender for baby B!”
We all cheer as another plume of blue smoke appears.
Punisher rubs his hands together and faces the crowd. “Alright, let’s mix this up a bit before the last reveal and do a show of hands. Who thinks baby C will be a girl?”
About ten hands go up, Thor and Dragon’s included, and I know that they, along with a few others, hope that Timber has a girl so that he’ll also have to deal with a bunch of rowdy teenage boys chasing after his little girl when she gets older.
“Okay, who thinks baby C will be a boy?”
The rest of us put up our hands and I can’t stop my grin as I watch Lil’ Bit soaking up the moment.
“Well, let’s see who’s right. Dom, show us the gender for baby C!”
We cheer even louder as the third plume of smoke reveals the gender.
Boy.
Lil’ Bit and Timber are having three little boys.
“More boys!” Ash and Jordan cheer in unison which has the rest of us laughing along with them.
Smithy steps forward along with Tripp. Normally, Timber would have been the one to handle the Forest Creek winnings since he’s their treasurer, but as he’s the soon-to-be dad, Tripp stepped up to handle it for him.
They dole out the winnings, though I know that most, if not all, of us are just getting a slip of paper in the envelope telling us the amount we would have won, when really, the money is in a different envelope.
Everything that we donated from our winnings went into a manilla envelope that’s going to be presented to Lil’ Bit and Timber as a gift from the clubs so they won’t know how much came from which person.
“And for our momma- and dad-to-be, this is a gift from the club,” Smithy tells them as he hands them the manilla envelope from our club.
“And this is from our club,” Tripp says as he does the same for their club.
Both Timber and Lil’ Bit choke up a bit at the gesture.
“Thank you, everyone, for making this day special for us, and especially for rallying together to keep everything going after the attack. I know it’s not enough, but thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Lil’ Bit says as she wipes away a few more tears.
“Agreed. Thank you doesn’t even begin to describe how grateful we are for your help ever since we found out Sunshine was pregnant. I also want to thank all of you for protecting Mae and helping her after we got her out of those assholes’ clutches.”
As expected, most wave off his thanks for protecting Mae. She’s family and that’s what we do for family.
“A toast!” Punisher calls out and everyone raises their drinks.
We’d already planned to have someone say a toast, so we all made sure to have drinks on hand before coming out here.
“To Lil’ Bit, Timber, and their boys! May the boys continue to grow healthy and strong; may your delivery and recovery go smooth; and may your love for each other grow as your family grows.” He pauses and grins. “Now drink up, you fuckers!”
Everyone laughs and cheers before taking a drink of their drinks. The women converge on Lil’ Bit as they all hug and congratulate her.
I wait my turn and wrap her in a hug when she turns towards me. “Congratulations, Lil’ Bit. You’re going to be a fucking fantastic mom to these boys.”
She laughs and sniffs before wiping her eyes again.
“Thank you. It’s a good thing I didn’t wear any eye makeup today with how much you all are making me cry.
” We both chuckle as she wipes her eyes again.
“I know it’s not the same, but Patch and Mary have been letting us babysit the kiddos a lot as practice.
Levi, Thor, and Dragon have been babysitting, too.
Mary has also offered to be there for both Levi and me once the babies are born as an extra set of hands. Elvira, too.”
She laughs again and puts a hand to her stomach. Then she snags mine and puts it over the same spot and I smile when I feel one of the boys kicking. Squatting down, I set my drink down and place both hands on her stomach as I lean in close.
“Hey there, little ones, it’s your Uncle Reaper. Be good to your mama for me. I can’t wait to meet you three in person.”
We both laugh as all three of them kick.
“I think they like the sound of your voice,” she says, still laughing.
“Well, I’m always happy to talk to them.”
Longing for a child of my own fills me again as I stand and Lil’ Bit hugs me again before tilting her face up at me, a little smirk on her face.
“Well, maybe you guys will be next?” she teases and my gaze jumps to Lark who’s laughing at something Half-pint just said.
“I would be completely okay with that happening.”
Lil’ Bit gasps and then leans in close, her eyes sparkling. “When are you going to ask her the big question?”
I bite my lip and run my hand over the box that’s in my pocket. “I had planned to do it tonight right before midnight. I want my ring on her finger before the ball drops. Privately though. I didn’t really want a big crowd present for it.”