52. Epilogue
Jesse rolls away from me on her chair, grabbing a new roll of paper towels from the counter.
“I’m sorry. Okay? How many times do I have to say it?”
“I’m not mad, Jess.”
She wipes over my chest before going back to torturing me with her needle. “She needed him.”
I don’t say anything.
“Do you remember the day Lily tried to jump off the dock and my dad stopped her?”
“Jess, we don’t need to do this. I’m fine with the way things worked out.”
She bites her lip, her brows pulling together in concentration as she puts the finishing touches on the sunflower she’s tattooing in tribute to my mother.
“Bill knew she needed you that day.”
“Goddammit, little girl, I’m going to turn you over my knee if you don’t stop.”
“Little girl?” She laughs at this.
“Okay, you’re not a little girl anymore, but you’re making me regret giving you this chair.”
“Oh, this chair was mine from the day I stepped foot in your shop back in Trap.”
My head falls back. “Yeah, yeah.”
“Kelsie needed him, Dan. Going against your wishes was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Well, maybe not the hardest, but you know what I mean.”
“It’s all good, Jess.”
She rests her fist on my chest, staring at it. “I never wanted to betray your trust.”
This has been weighing heavy on her. “It’s okay. I’ve never told you this, but Billie Rose came to me … when she thought she might be pregnant.”
I stop, waiting for her wrath. But at least she will quit beating herself up over taking Kelsie to Tank.
A smirk pulls at the corner of her mouth, and she goes back to work.
“You’re not going to say anything about that?”
Her eyebrow arches high on her face, and she looks me dead in the eye. “I sent Billie Rose to you.”
Okay, I clearly don’t understand women. Especially this one.
She waves a gloved hand at me. “You helped me. I knew you’d help her, so I told her the story, you know, about how you helped me. I was hoping if she needed to, she would go to you.”
“So, you’ve known this whole time?”
“Dan, I’m happy you were there for my daughter.”
Aw, now we’re getting somewhere.Finally, I can put her guilt to rest. I take her hand in mine and look her in the eye. “And I’m glad you were there for mine.”
This makes her blush. She pulls away from me, letting her hair fall over her face.
“So, what made you change your mind? Why did you ask Jackson to let him back into the club?”
“Who says it was me?”
Jesse completely ignores my denial. “Tank thinks it was me, you know?”
“And that’s how we’re keeping it.”
She rolls her eyes, just like she did when she was a little girl. “Seriously?”
“He doesn’t need to know it was me.”
“I’ll only keep your little secret if you tell me.”
“Blackmail, huh?” Jesse will always hold a special place in my heart, but that doesn’t mean she’s any less a pain in my ass.
She just shrugs and goes back to working on my tattoo. “Whatever it takes, because I want to know what or who changed the big guy’s mind.”
I shake my head. “Fine. It was his ex.”
This makes her stop completely, setting the gun down on the tray. “What?”
“She called me. Said she got my number from JD.”
Jesse shakes her head in confusion.
I agree. “Don’t ask me. I don’t know what that’s all about. But anyway, she told me that Kelsie was someone special. Fuck, she wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t know.”
“And …?”
“And then she said Tank was someone who would cherish that. Nurture it, even.”
Jesse and I look at each other for a long time before she speaks. “A compliment coming from an ex is …”
“The raw truth.”
“Man, that had to be hard for her. Do you think she’s still interested in him?”
“Would I have encouraged all this if I thought that?”
“No, I suppose not.”
“It was the wake up call I needed. It made me take a step back. I looked at Kelsie as someone other than my daughter. Once I did that, I noticed the way her smile changed when she read his letters. I saw her in a different light.”
Jesse stands up and hugs me. “It’s okay, big guy. She’ll always be your little girl.”
“That’s the thing. She wasn’t mine when she was little. I wasn’t there to protect her back then, and I’m determined to make up for that.”
A tear runs down her cheek. “Do you think Bill felt the same with me?”
“I know he did.”
She nods.
The door opens, and we both turn toward it. Kelsie rushes over the threshold, her smile brightening the whole damn shop, sending ghosts of the past to the far corners of the room.
“Is it done?” she asks excitedly. Kelsie looks at my chest, holding her hand over hers. “Oh, Grandma would love it.”
“She sure would, baby,” Jesse agrees, wrapping her arm around her. She gives me a warning glance when Tank follows my daughter in.
His gaze flits over the area, looking for anything that might threaten his girl’s, my daughter’s, peace. When he sees everything is good, he relaxes in a chair by the door, stretching his long legs in front of him. He nods at me before resting his eyes back on Kelsie.
I still don’t know that I trust him, but I’m not going to live forever, and I need someone to help me look after her. Maybe that’s why Bill gave in and let Dirk marry Jesse. Perhaps that’s why all dads eventually walk their daughters down the aisle.
I narrow my eyes on Tank.
I’m not there yet.