Chapter Seventeen. #2
I nodded as I winded the baby and patted his diaper. It was soaked through. I checked the bag and found a couple of clean ones. I undressed him as his eyes watched me solemnly and cleaned him up quickly. After redressing, I handed him over to Vortex.
“You’ve got a problem. That’s not a ‘him’,” I said.
“What?” Vortex asked, looking down, confused.
“This is a girl.”
“Shit! No wonder Marker threw her away so easily. Women have no power in his world.”
“Well, I guess we’re starting with a ready-made family. Hey, less than a month together and we’ve got two kids. Who’d have thought it!” I quipped lightly, even though my stomach was churning.
Vortex held my gaze. “We don’t have to take her. Amy, we can give her up.”
“How could we look at each other, knowing we’d done that? Sooner or later, one of us would resent the other. She deserves a good home, Vortex. While this isn’t what we planned, it’s life. Surviving a zeppelin crash wasn’t on my bucket list either,” I said.
“If you change—”
“No. No changing minds. We do this or not.”
“Okay, Mistress Yoda,” Vortex teased.
“Will you be able to love her, Vortex? She’s Kyleah’s child, she’ll remind you of Kyleah daily.”
“No. She’s not Kyleah’s, she’s ours.”
“Will we tell her the truth?”
“One day, yes. But for now, she doesn’t need to know. Damnit, what’s her name? We can’t keep calling her she.”
I pulled out a crumpled birth certificate and scanned it. “Well, Kyleah gave her a pretty name. Arabella.” I stared at the certificate. “Your name is Easton Sterling?”
“Mouthful, ain’t it?” Vortex quipped, and I laughed.
“You’re not an Easton, that’s for sure. Nope, sorry, that doesn’t feel right at all. Arabella Sterling, Kyleah, gave her your surname,” I said.
“I wonder if that was because she was hopeful I’d take her back, or because she wanted Arabella to have a security blanket in case something happened. Kyleah must have understood what Marker was and what stealing would bring.”
I nodded, because I couldn’t disagree. I’d not known Kyleah like Vortex had, but he had some idea of her motives.
“It’s mid-afternoon already. The general store will have diapers, cream, wipes, and milk. But she’s got nothing else. We need an emergency run,” I murmured, distracted by prioritising Arabella’s needs.
“Let’s go make a list. The club will help,” Vortex said.
“We can also let them know there’s a new addition,” I added.
I was surprised when we headed back down to find every brother there, apart from Gravey.
“What’s the plan?” Inglorious inquired.
“Meet your new niece. We need baby shit,” Vortex said.
Everyone exchanged glances, but something struck me as odd.
“No bets? You guys bet on everything,” I stated.
“Not on this. We guessed what you’d do,” Inglorious replied.
“Oh, we’re that predictable?” I asked.
“No. You’re good people who’d never leave a kid who needed you. By the way, if you want the kindergarten job, it’s yours,” Inglorious casually threw out.
“Just like that?” I laughed.
“Yeah, we’ll discuss wages later. Nanci’s going to show you a few pictures to get an idea of your taste, and then they’ll hit Rapid City,” Inglorious said and walked over to Vortex. He peered at Arabella and then took her.
“Hey!” Vortex exclaimed.
“Come to Uncle Inglorious, kidda. I’ve got some shit to teach you.
But welcome to the family, you’re gonna have a big brother soon, and you’ve got a cousin called Kya.
She enjoys looking like a scary clown and frightening your mom.
How about you and I discuss all the ways you’re going to be a brat while being my princess? ”
To my amusement, the big man walked away with Arabella, cooing and talking to her.
“Come and take a quick peek. If you like them, I know what I’m buying,” Nanci ordered me. Daisy-Duke was already on the laptop and researching bassinets. I joined them and started selecting choices.
Vortex
Inglorious thumped the gavel as everyone broke out arguing. I’d guessed it had been coming ever since we’d begun to grow. There were now enough of us to redistribute the businesses we owned. Although some of the brothers didn’t appear happy.
“Bitch all you want, but this needs better organisation. We’ve been chasing our tails for months, trying to juggle everything, so let’s sort this out.
Bow and Doc are out of the running. Doc is busy with the clinic, and Bow is usually arresting drunks.
Gravey also refuses to have anything to do with the town, but he’s maintaining the church and cemetery, and he watches over the petting zoo. ”
“Damn asshole nearly shot me the other day,” Moon complained, and I held back a laugh. Gravey really didn’t like people.
“The home moving business is booked in advance; my hands are full managing that,” Razor stated.
Inglorious nodded. “That remains yours. Hercules, I want you to manage the hardware store and equipment hire place. Tracker, you’ve got the stables outside of town where we house the privately owned horses and the stables here.”
“We’re keeping both?” Tracker asked.
“Yeah, it makes a small fortune, and we’ve got good people there,” Inglorious replied.
Tracker nodded.
“Chill, you’ve the toy store, post office, and the chocolate shop.”
Chill sighed. The post office in itself was a full-time job.
“Moon, liquor store, and saloon. King, you’ve the restaurant, chicken takeaway, and pizza restaurant.
Oil and Lasher, you need to get that tattoo parlour equipped and ready to go.
You requested it, you’ve got it, now make it work.
Bow is going to manage the coaching inn and check the fire equipment.
Sabre, you’re the proud boss of the HVAC and vending machine refilling businesses.
Vortex is taking the Silver Dollar Hotel.
“Nanci is running her dance studio as soon as the barn is converted behind the sheriff’s office.
Daisy-Duke has offered to step up and help with the Grand Hotel.
Once we get more brothers, we can shed the load again.
We’ve got Joe and Rory, and they’re shaping up, but Rory is maintaining the grounds around here, and that’s a full-time job.
Joe helps where he can,” Inglorious said.
“On top of those, we also have the blacksmith, cigar shop, laundry, theatre, and now the new pet project of period clothing hire,” I reminded everyone. “As soon as they’re restored, they’ll need managing.”
“I’m going to manage the shop and property rentals until we can find someone else.
Each business has a manager. Work fuckin’ closely with them.
Check the books yourself. I don’t want to discover we’ve been ripped off again because we were distracted.
The managers have all been thoroughly vetted by Leila and Nigel from the Juno Group.
But people with clean backgrounds can develop sticky fingers. Questions?”
“Have we tracked any other brothers or legacies down?” Lasher asked.
“Yes and no. Nanci is tracking a few, but the majority have arrived, taken their loved ones’ belongings, and gone. There are still a few we hope to recruit,” Inglorious replied.
“What’s happening with this situation with Stefan Marker? I don’t like the fact he believed he could shoot a woman in the head and walk away,” Hercules stated.
“None of us liked that. I reached out to Washington, who, in turn, contacted Clive Salisbury. We’ve heard of the drama Salisbury’s recently experienced, and he thinks Marker is testing the waters.
Salisbury is sending a very strong message in reply to Marker.
We’re watching that situation. I’ve let Salisbury know if Marker steps foot in Lawrence and Penington counties again, he better have permission, or we’ll view it as war,” Inglorious added.
“Nice. The asshole was arrogant,” Tracker responded.
“Yeah, what’s the betting he thought we were weak?” Lasher asked.
“Sure bet. I ain’t taking it,” I replied.
“Next thing. Initial reports and feedback from the businesses are great. Footfall is yet to drop, but that’s because we’re a novelty and new.
Money’s pouring in, and reviews are fantastic.
Drew and Bow are becoming social media sensations, with tourists loving to snap pictures of them.
But they’re constantly being stopped for shit.
“Drew’s suggested hiring a figurehead mayor. We won’t give him any powers, but we’ll dress him up and let him answer the questions. He’d be employed by us,” I said and glanced around.
“Honestly, that’s a fuckin’ great idea,” Doc replied. “I keep getting interrupted when I’m out and about. Visitors spot the cut and stop me.”
“Vote on it,” Inglorious ordered and went round the table. We all agreed, and Chill made a note to start looking for someone.
“Next item up. This announcement by Winslow. It’s preying on everyone’s mind. I’ve contacted his office to see if any of the sites were near us. We need to be prepared in case they are,” Inglorious said.
“On top of the zeppelin crash, we’re hitting the public for the wrong reasons,” I remarked.
“Hate to say it, but those nosy fucks who wanna stare at us so they can brag to their friends. If they’re spending, let them come. They ain’t got the guts to speak to us,” Chill growled out.
“Do we want them here?” I asked.
“Who the fuck cares? Let them spend their money. They don’t matter,” Bow agreed.
I glanced at Razor and Inglorious. They seemed in agreement.
“As they stay away from the graveyard and church. That ain’t open to nosy fucks,” Hercules added.
“Any word from Rage?” Sabre inquired.
“None. Drake took Winslow’s report, and rumours say Rage has pulled back into the clubhouse and isn’t public right now.
Drake’s gotta be hurting from that report.
Rage didn’t handle Fury correctly, and they know it.
That mistake will have cost thousands of lives when this wraps up,” Inglorious said.
“Why is it their fault? They weren’t aware of what Fury was doing,” Doc demanded.
“It is and it ain’t. Fury was a Rage founder, which makes them responsible for his actions.
He wasn’t kicked, and Rage thought, but wasn’t sure, that he was dead.
That’s the mistake. They should have traced Fury.
And when he came to light, Rage should have moved and taken him out; instead, they delayed.
Amongst all that is Ghost, he was close to Fury and could have taken the kill shot, but didn’t,” I explained.
“Rage had several shots at Fury and failed to take any. Fifty per cent of the blame falls on their shoulders for those who died. For someone like Drake Michaelson, that’s hard to swallow.
Sure, the FBI fucked up. Other law enforcement screwed the pooch, too, but for men like us, what happened with Fury will haunt Drake.
It’s tragic and sad, but the truth. Drake will lick his wounds before popping back up.
Rage is too strong to fall,” Inglorious said.
I hoped so because Rage was a vital ally. Although if they fell, we’d survive. We’d already proved that once.