Chapter Two
The day of Scars’ and Zoe’s wedding dawned bright-gold and violet and pink. The late-November chill was refreshing and crisp as opposed to freezing, and the sky was a clear blue that went on as far as the eye could see.
Zoe stood on the cabin front porch at Open Skies Ranch, clutching a cup of coffee and staring up at the Rockies. As always, they both humbled and inspired her. She’d left Denver for years, and she had missed exactly two things when she’d done so: her childhood friend, confidant and champion Wolf Connor, and the mountains. As far as she’d been concerned, the rest of the city and its inhabitants could just get flattened in a damned avalanche.
Coming back four years ago to work for Wolf had been, hands-down, the best decision that she’d made in ages. Giving Scars Innis a chance had been yet another smart move… and asking him to marry her was her personal watershed Einstein moment. She’d made her fair share of mistakes with Scars, mostly because she’d stubbornly refused to see him as a good man– but she’d learned her lesson at long last.
And thank God she had, because now here she was, on her wedding day.
“Mommy!”
Zoe glanced down at her beautiful, shining daughter, standing there in her unicorn pyjamas and thick purple socks. They’d spent the night together at Open Skies so that they could get ready right on-site and save some travel time, and Keira was utterly beside herself at all the adventure going on. Bonus points for her adorable flower girl dress and little tiara, both of which made her look and feel like a princess.
“Hey, little flower,” Zoe said, scooping her up off the wooden porch. “Aren’t you cold?”
“Nope.” Keira wriggled in her mother’s arms, turning to look at the horses in the field far below. “Willa gave me hot chocolate.”
“ Did she now?”
“I sure did.” Willa Moore appeared in the open doorway, her gorgeous auburn hair spilling over her oversized pink hoodie, her gorgeous blue eyes sparkling. “In this weather, up here in the mountains, hot chocolate is the only way to go. I’m having some myself, actually.”
Zoe smiled at her friend, feeling the usual rush of gratitude that she was such a huge part of Zoe’s life. Back in Fargo, when she’d been barely scraping by as a sudden mother to her murdered sister’s child, Zoe had depended on Willa to provide childcare, and to cover a few bills when Zoe’s hours at the tattoo parlour had been cut. Willa had taken Keira to doctor’s appointments, filled the fridge unasked, handed over money to keep the heat on. She’d been a true, real friend, and when Zoe had decided to return to Denver to pursue a better life, both for herself and Keira, she’d been devastated about leaving the woman who was like a sister to her.
But her gratitude wasn’t just about Willa’s unwavering love and support. It was also about the fact that Willa was here at all .
It still gave Zoe chills to think about Willa being taken by Gil Purdie, Keira’s father and Zoe’s sister’s murderer. He’d grabbed Willa up, sent text messages from her phone to everyone to make them think that all was OK – and then she’d been tortured and questioned over and over for information about Zoe’s new life in Denver. Gil had even cut off the middle finger on Willa’s right hand and then dropped it off at The Road Devils bar, as a warning. Nobody knew then that it was Willa’s finger in that box – but they’d been put on high alert anyway.
Well. Not high enough, as it turned out, because Gil managed to get into the tattoo parlour and blow it to hell, in an attempt to kidnap his daughter. Thank Christ something had gone wrong – maybe the timer on the bomb had malfunctioned, or maybe Gil had accidentally set it off early – but the end result was that the fucking idiot had killed himself in the blast. And good riddance, to be honest.
With zero hesitation, Scars had bolted straight into the fire and rescued Keira, at great cost to himself. Zoe had stood by him through his physical recovery, and his emotional roller coaster, and soon after, she’d proposed. It was nothing but stupid luck that he’d seen beyond all her bullshit, and he loved her and Keira with every bit of his good heart.
As for Willa, she’d managed to get herself to a cabin after Gil had beaten and abandoned her, and then she’d called for help. Zoe still remembered the shock of seeing her best friend in that hospital bed. Pale, bruised, thin… and missing a finger.
God , the guilt that she’d felt. For Willa being permanently maimed, for Scars being badly burned again , for Keira being in the ICU for smoke inhalation. For everything and everyone who’d been dragged into the whole sad and sordid mess.
So the fact that Willa had flown in for Zoe’s wedding was a small mercy; the fact that she was standing here on this porch and sipping hot chocolate was nothing but a fucking miracle. She was going to be Zoe’s maid-of-honor, and if Zoe was being honest here, the honor was actually all hers .
“So!” Willa said brightly, and Zoe’s green eyes moved from her friend’s disfigured hand to her beautiful face. “What do you say that we start getting ready, Keira? We can get your bath done for sure before the hair stylist gets here.”
“Yes!” Keira squealed and Zoe laughed at her daughter’s eagerness for something that was normally a Battle Royale. “Bath and then pancakes!”
“Oh, well,” Zoe said, walking into the cabin still holding Keira. “In that case… maybe pancakes with maple syrup first , then the bath, huh?”
“Yes!” Keira chirped, clearly ready to agree to anything at all on this magical day. “Food and then bath!”
“So,” Willa said, closing the door against the autumn chill. “Looking at all that blue sky, I’m guessing that it’ll be an outdoor wedding?”
“For sure.” Zoe gave Keira a kiss on her shining blonde curls, set her down next to the round dining room table. “No rain in sight for the whole day.” She looked down at her daughter. “You know what that means?”
“What what means?” Keira said as she clambered onto the chair.
“The wedding being outside instead of in the hotel restaurant means that we’ll need to stay warm. We’ll be in that heated marquee thing, but still… we’re way up in the mountains, remember.”
“Ohhhhhh.” Keira brown eyes – so much like her mother Hailey’s that it sometimes made Zoe catch her breath – sparkled. “I get to wear the fur over my princess dress!”
“You sure do,” Willa said, bringing Zoe another coffee and Keira another hot chocolate. “You’ll look fantastic.”
“And what will you wear, Mommy?” Keira sipped daintily at her sweet chocolate. “Over your dress?”
“Ah, well.” Zoe shrugged as she deposited her butt in the chair next to Keira. “I just planned to wear my favorite, beat-up jean jacket. Keep it casual.”
Her best friend and her daughter stared at her, and then at each other, totally non-plussed. Zoe hid her smile behind her cup, watched as Keira’s face got all scrunched up in that way that it did when she was trying hard to hold her words back. However, she was as outspoken as her mother – both of her mothers, Hailey and Zoe – and it was a battle that she’d never won, not once in her five years on earth.
“ But ,” Keira began now. “But noooo . You can’t wear an old thing over your dress! It’s so pretty ! It will be ruined !”
Zoe grinned at her daughter’s outraged expression. “I know, little flower. I was just teasing you.”
Keira’s indignation relaxed a fraction. “So – you have a thing to wear? A not ugly thing?”
“I do. Do you want to see it?”
“ Yes !”
Keira and Willa spoke in stereo and Zoe laughed as she got up from the table. She went down the hallway, past the guest room that Willa was occupying – just temporarily, as Zoe and Scars were going to honeymoon at the cabin after the wedding – and down to the larger room that Zoe and Keira had shared the night before. Like every room in the cabin, it boasted incredible views of the mountains in vibrant autumn color. Zoe paused, admiring yet again the blazing golds, the fiery reds, the brilliant yellows, the crackling oranges, then she went over to the closet, plucked the item from the back where she’d hidden it.
“Ohhhhh-kay,” she said, entering the open kitchen and dining area again. She held the emerald green wrap up for inspection. “What do you think?”
“Oh, wow,” Willa murmured, taking in the softness, the jewel tone, the sweeping elegance. “That is gorgeous , Zee.”
“It matches your eyes!” Keira blurted, clearly delighted. “It matches exactly !”
“It does,” her mother agreed. “Do you want to try it on?”
“Yes!” Keira repeated, shooting off the chair and almost upending her cup. “Yes, please !”
Zoe stepped forward, wrapped the thick cashmere around Keira’s slim shoulders, and the little girl instinctively clutched the open ends together in her hands. The material fell over her body in a green waterfall, fell all the way to the floor. Zoe smiled, then showed Keira the fastening at the throat.
“Here,” Zoe said gently as she attached the silver hook to the shining eye. “You can let go now. The wrap will stay on.”
Keira dropped her hands with a look of trepidation on her face, then grinned.
“It’s staying up!” She looked over at the living room mirror, blinked at her reflection. “I’m wearing a princess cape!”
“You sure are,” Willa said, biting back a laugh at the never-ending royalty theme. “It’s beautiful on you. Maybe a tad long.”
Keira looked at the material pooling over her feet. “Yes. A little tad.”
The women laughed, then Zoe carefully unfastened the hook and lifted the wrap off her daughter.
“So,” she said, folding the thick material over her forearm. “Will this do? I can wear it over my wedding dress?”
“ Yes ,” Keira said emphatically. “It’s perfect.” She paused, looked at the wrap again. “It might be more pretty than your dress. Maybe just a bit .”
Zoe laughed again, tousled her daughter’s hair. “You have breakfast with Willa, OK? I’m going to go have a shower and get ready for Melissa to come and do our hair and makeup.”
“Can I wear some makeup, Mommy? Please?” Keira wheedled, this last battle still to be won; her mother had not been receptive to it, but the day before Melissa had shown Zoe the cosmetics for kids, and they were surprisingly subtle and delicate. “Just for today?”
“Yes, you can.” Zoe winked at Willa, knowing that Keira had been dying to wear some pink lipstick. “A tiny little bit, OK?”
“OK!” Keira kissed her mother, then bounded back into her chair and picked up her cup again. “Thank you!”
“I won’t be too long,” Zoe said to Willa, who was already melting butter in the frying pan for pancakes. “Maybe ten minutes.”
Willa flapped the spatula at her. “Take your time, Zoe. It’s your wedding day.”
“It is ,” Zoe said quietly, as the wonder of it all just rolled over her yet again in a wave of total love and disbelief. “It really is.”
**
Four hours later, Zoe was standing behind the flower arch with Wolf, watching Keira walk sedately down the aisle, throwing handfuls of wildflower petals left and right. Her daughter’s dress was a pale, shimmering pink and the white faux fur scarf threaded with gold was so large that it covered her throat and most of her upper body for warmth. Her cheeks were glowing with a dash of blush, and her little rosebud mouth had a whisper of pink gloss. Her hair had been rolled into a loose twist at the nape of her neck, and the tiny gold tiara was proudly placed on her shining head, picking up the gold flecks in her brown eyes. Keira had been absolutely beside herself with it all, and Zoe had to admit that the excitement had been contagious.
She’d handed herself over to Melissa that morning with a carte blanche and without any major expectations of what the woman would or even could do in terms of making Zoe look very different. Zoe had always been pretty comfortable with her appearance: she knew that she wasn’t classically beautiful at all, but she was totally OK with that. She was unusually tall for a woman, with full hips and an ass that was never going to be referred to as ‘small’. She very much liked her wavy blonde hair – hair that Hailey and Keira also both had – and if pressed, Zoe would say that she thought her eyes were probably her best feature.
She was prepared for Melissa to tame her wild curls a bit, make them sleek and smooth, and she’d surrendered herself to wearing far more dramatic makeup than her usual brown eye liner and pink lipstick. It was a special day, after all, so why not push out the boat a bit?
Truly, all that Zoe cared about was marrying Scars. She figured that he knew what she looked like, and he liked it, and so a bit of extra polish was occasion appropriate but hardly earth-shattering. After all, how different could Zoe look, after seeing her own face in the mirror for over thirty-five years?
So when Melissa had finally stepped back, narrowed her eyes at Zoe, rearranged her hair a bit, whisked the protective cover off her dress, and then invited Zoe to take a look in the mirror… well. It had been one hell of a massive shock for Zoe to see herself. For a few seconds, she’d actually been struck dumb as she’d gazed at the woman standing there in a bright patch of autumn sunlight.
Her hair was loose and wild and warm, spilling golden fire over her shoulders. Instead of smoothing down her curls, Melissa had somehow made them more obvious, but she’d controlled them in some way, so they were glossy and perfect, almost like an ocean wave. Zoe’s green eyes were lined with a bold gold pencil, and the color made them just jump right out of her face; she resolved then and there to throw out her usual boring brown. Her cheeks were framed with a soft apricot, her lips tinged with a dramatic burnt orange, and the whole effect was so unlike herself as she usually was, Zoe just stood and blinked and stared and blinked some more.
If the Rockies outside were bright and blazing, so was she. She truly looked like a bit of the mountains’s autumn colour had stepped away for a few moments and attached itself to her: she was all gold and orange and green. She looked like the season itself, and she was astonished to feel emotional at the thought.
“Zoe,” Willa whispered. “You look spectacular.”
“I – I can’t believe it.” Zoe turned to the side, saw how her hair fell over the back of her dress, picking up the delicate gold threading of the bodice in the front. “I – I think I finally see myself how Scars says that he always sees me. He says that –” Her throat closed up over the words.
“Ah ah,” Melissa said gently. “No tears, Zoe, or I have to redo your eyes.”
“Shit,” she muttered, blinking harder now to force the waterworks to stop. “Good point.”
“Mommy,” Keira reproved her. “You said a swear!”
“I did.” Zoe tipped her head back, wondering if that might keep the tears held back. “I’m sorry, little flower.”
“Are you crying because you think you look awful?” Her daughter looked worried, standing there in her perfect little dress and tiara, clutching her little basket of flower petals. “Because you don’t. You look the prettiest ever .”
“That’s why I’m crying a bit.” Zoe took a deep breath as she collected herself. “I’m just so happy.”
“Happy that you can look this pretty?”
“Partly,” Zoe said, picking up her bouquet of wildflowers in an attempt to distract herself. “But mostly I’m happy to be marrying Scars. Happy that Willa’s here, happy that you’re here. That Wolf’s here.”
“ Everyone’s here,” Keira pointed out. “They came for the wedding . You invited them.”
The three women laughed, and Keira looked a bit taken aback. She hadn’t thought that she’d said anything funny, just stated the obvious, but then again, grownups laughed at weird things sometimes.
“Exactly,” Willa said now, patting her own loose French twist, checking that it was still in place. “And they’re all waiting, Zee, so let’s get our gorgeous butts out there.”
“You look very pretty too, Auntie Willa,” Keira said, clearly worried that her favorite aunt might be feeling neglected. “I like the green dress with your hair.”
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Willa said, dropping a quick kiss on Keira’s head. “Your Mommy chose the colors well, didn’t she?”
And Zoe realized then that she actually had : she was in white with gold and green, Keira was in light pink with gold and white, Willa was in forest green with gold thread shot through and wearing amazing long white gloves. Somehow it all worked together, the different outfits echoing each other and making the wearer shine that much brighter. She’d been so focussed on making Keira and Willa look good, she’d kind of forgotten about herself… though she loved her dress. She’d never really thought that she’d be the type to go for the full-on, long white wedding dress thing, but damned if she hadn’t when it came right down to it.
Willa and Keira had gone out first, standing at the top of the marquee to give the harp player the nod to begin, and that was when Wolf had come to Zoe, collecting her so that he could walk her down the aisle. Zoe’s father was a full-blown alcoholic and she hadn’t spoken to him in over twenty years, and after he’d abandoned the family when Zoe was barely thirteen, her Mom had gone the same boozy route. Zoe and Scars’ mountain wedding was small and intimate, and she was happy to have it that way.
Although it did have to be said that Zoe was saddened for her fiancé that his parents couldn’t attend. They’d died in a horrible car accident when Scars was just nineteen, and it was him desperately trying to free them from the burning vehicle that had put the scars on his body: his face, his hands, his forearms, his chest. She barely saw them anymore, but they were there. They would always be.
Wolf had entered the cabin, seen Zoe standing there in all of her bridal glory, and he’d stopped dead in his tracks. She’d looked right back at him, shocked at just how much hotter the man could look in a suit.
From time to time it occurred to her how odd and insane it was that this man was her oldest friend. They’d met when Zoe was ten and Wolf was thirteen, over twenty-five years ago now, and they’d grown up in the same shit neighborhood, they’d both dealt with alcoholics fathers, they’d both hidden out under Wolf’s back porch when things got especially bad in their homes. They’d survived the drive-by shootings on their street every other week, they’d survived their parents, they’d survived the gangs and drugs. They’d made it through, and they’d done it together. He was her brother, her savior and protector. He was a good man – despite actively being very good at being a very bad man – and she trusted him with her life, and with Keira’s. He was the reason that she’d moved back to Denver… he was the reason that she’d met Scars.
Another amazing thing was that Zoe and Wolf had never hooked up. Not once. God, they’d never even kissed , and seeing as they’d gotten drunk together countless times, it still kind of stunned them both that a bit of fooling around had never happened.
It’s not like Wolf wasn’t attractive to her. She was a woman, after all, and he was probably the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on – at least until she’d met Scars. But Wolf was tall and muscled, broad and strong, with wolf-gray eyes and dark hair that always seemed to need flattening. He moved with a lithe, rangy grace that could turn menacing with a single step, and his voice was smoldering and sexy. Zoe suspected that if it was possible for any man to raise the dead from their graves with a single sentence, Wolf Connor could do it with that his dark-honey growl. She’d seen women literally throw themselves at him when he’d given them that slow grin and muttered a few hot words. He was irresistible and she wasn’t at all sure how she’d actually resisted; her only working theory was that their friendship was so important to them, neither wanted to risk it for a few quick fucks. Not even for a temporary boyfriend/girlfriend thing – the man didn’t do commitment, and he’d never made that a secret.
But if she’d thought that Wolf was sex-on-legs whilst wearing jeans and a t-shirt and his MC cut, she was not at all prepared for how he looked in a dark suit, the crisp white dress shirt unbuttoned a bit to show off the tattoos and hair on his chest. His eyes were their usual stormy gray, his hair begged for someone to run a comb through it, his model-perfect face was all sharp angles and full lips. It was weird, but the conservative restraints of the suit only highlighted his feral, untamed nature – and made him all the sexier for it.
“Wow,” he’d said, still staring at her, those wolf eyes raking over her, from the top of her golden head to the tips of her high heels spun with golden thread. “You look fuckin’ amazin ’, baby girl.”
Right away, Zoe blushed. “You think?”
“Hell yeah , I think.” He examined her dress more closely now, took in the tiny details, nodding at the simple, classic cut and the sleek satin. “Seems a shame to cover this up at all, but we don’t want you freezin’ to death out there when you say ‘I do’.”
“Right?” she said, warm and snug in her wrap. “I’m happy to do this outside, though. I know it’s what Scars really wanted.”
“Me too.” Wolf smiled at her, extended his hand. “So. You think I can I have the honor of escortin’ you to your future husband?”
“Hell, yeah , I think,” Zoe said, putting her hand in his. “I can’t wait, actually.”
So here they stood, waiting for Keira to reach the front of the marquee, where Scars and Willa were waiting, along with Scars’ best man, Silver Bennett. Wolf would normally have been his first choice, of course, but Scars had wanted Zoe to be walked down the aisle by the man who was the closest thing to a male family member that she had anymore.
In the four years that she’d been back in Denver, The Road Devils had become her family, of course, the family that she'd never had, not even before Hailey had died. These hard, rough, dangerous men had become her brothers, become Keira’s uncles, and had loved both of them fiercely. They’d surprised Zoe over and over again with their open and generous spirits, with their eagerness to make her feel happy and safe and wanted. Zoe still got teary when she remembered how Jinx, Kansas and Ice had gone to Ikea to get Keira’s crib and changing table – and had turned up with a surprise mobile too, to hang over the crib and play music.
“OK,” Wolf said now, catching the minister’s nod. “It’s show time, baby girl.”
“Oh, my God.” Zoe was suddenly breathless. “It’s actually happening… I’m actually getting married!”
“You’re goddamn right it’s happenin’,” Wolf said, tucking her hand into the crook of his arm, a surprisingly gallant move that almost knocked her over backwards with its sweetness. “Let’s get goin’, Zee. The best man that either of us have ever known is waitin’ to make you his wife. Let’s not give him a chance to come to his senses and go runnin’ off into the Rockies, never to return.”
She laughed, and just like that, all of her nerves were gone, replaced by the sense of utter rightness of what was going on here. She was walking down the aisle to Scars Innis, the man who’d claimed her body and heart and soul, right from the very first night that they’d met. He’d withstood her bullshit and moronic back-and-forth with patience and fortitude; he’d put her in her place and set firm boundaries when she’d gone too far and been an utter bitch. When she’d finally seen his good, pure heart and she’d gone to him to explain and apologize for her behavior, he’d listened, and he’d forgiven her.
He was it , for her. He was everything .
The harpist started to play The Wedding March, and as one, the guests stood and turned to look at Zoe and Wolf as they emerged from behind the arch. There were gasps and murmurs, and she felt tears burning her eyes again as she saw The Road Devils in their best suits, standing shoulder to shoulder to witness the happiest day of her life. God , Cowboy had even swept his cowboy hat off his blond head as he’d stood up, though she suspected that as soon as the ceremony was over, it’d be firmly returned back to its usual place.
She walked down the petal-strewn aisle, smiling at the hulking, gorgeous MC boys, at Jo and Elle, both looking radiant with happiness for her, at Willa’s own fiancé Jimmy, at Scars’ younger brother Sam, and his wife Annie and daughter Cindy. Almost every single person who had come to mean so much to her over the past few years was here, and she was humbled and delighted in equal measure. The only people missing were Dux and Drake Keeler and Briley Cross: she’d had the babies four days before, so travel was out for them.
And then Scars turned around to look at her too, and suddenly all of her attention was on him: everyone else just disappeared as she met his gaze.
Those eyes blazed out of his hard, scarred face and they held her whole and complete; they always had. For about the millionth time, she mused at those little patches of perfect blue in a heart-achingly damaged face, and she realized that his eyes were the exact color of the horizon over the mountains. It was like a piece of sky had just fallen to earth, and landed on Scars’ face, as bright and beautiful as the view in front of her. The man was a miracle in so many ways, and the way that he looked at her was just one of them, maybe her favorite.
She reached Scars, and turned to Wolf briefly. He kissed her on her cheek, then shook Scars’ hand and handed her over to his best friend, his closest confidant. His Acting-President.
As the minister started the ceremony, Zoe smiled up at Scars, loving the fact that in less than half an hour, she was going to be his. His alone and forever.
In this perfect glowing moment, standing there with the only man that she’d ever loved, feeling so blessed and lucky, Zoe had no idea about the approaching nightmare, nor how close she was to almost losing her happily-ever-after, to losing everything.
How close they all were.