Epilogue #3
A flash of Ayda walking through those gates all those times she came to clean our club’s shit up to pay a debt to me she didn’t really owe, and the defiance she wore every time she did it had my face falling.
I’d treated her like shit because I feared what she could become, but, like she always did, Ayda had managed to break into my iron heart without me even realizing it, her quick one-liners and her beautiful eyes making me weak for her.
“You’re quite the confusing creature, Ayda Hanagan.”
“Me?”
“You.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m the bleakest person around. I’m an open book.”
“Is that really how you see yourself?”
I shook away the idea of her not knowing who she was and what she was capable of, the warmth of even those early memories making me smile in disbelief as I walked through the yard, up the steps of the porch, and I pushed open the door to The Hut.
Inside, Harriet was circled, with Eric holding her proudly while Slater, Jedd, Rubin, Kenny, Moose, Ben, Deeks, and yes, Howard Sutton, all cooed around her, their voices high pitched as they made her smile grow, each of them laughing when she laughed—happy because she was happy, too
Tate was soon walking out of the corridor, wearing nothing more than his gray sweats as he waltzed forward, a cocky, arrogant son of a bitch now.
His body had grown even more, the muscles of his chest and shoulders expanding to make him appear manlier than he’d ever been.
He may have been a moody teenager, but the minute he saw his niece, his face lit up, and he was in among the men, removing her from Eric’s arms and claiming her in his own.
I watched him as he bounced her up and down, asking her who her favorite uncle was, while Rubin chipped in with a witty comeback.
I’d never grow tired of seeing them this way.
Sutton caught me staring with a stupid grin on my face, and he stepped out from the circle, walking over to me in his uniform like the old cowboy he used to be.
“You’ll never have to look too long and hard for a babysitter,” he said, coming to a stop in front of me.
“I think the real problem will be keeping these lot away when we want some privacy.”
“That too.” He laughed, looking back at them all as the noise of Harriet’s laughter grew before he turned back to me. “So, I have some news for you that I thought you might wanna hear.”
“Yeah?”
“Come on.” He tilted his head toward the door and began to walk out onto the porch. I followed him, walking over to the railing and leaning against it, the same way Sutton had done.
The two of us looked over the yard as the Texas sun beat down on our land.
“Thought you should know that Walsh has messed up on the inside already.”
I frowned, turning to study Sutton’s face. He seemed lighter these days, too. More settled in his skin and less likely to start firing at random targets just to prove a point. “What do you mean?”
“Rumor has it that he tried to cut some deals. Bribed a few officers. Tried to play some gangs off against one another. Got caught in the middle of it all and—”
“Shit,” I whistled, imagining the trouble he’d gotten into.
Sutton nodded slowly, glancing down at his hand on the rail as he twisted it around the wood and leaned back, rocking on his heels.
“Turns out he’s had another few years added to his sentence.
He won’t be out for a long time.” When he turned to look at me, there was a small smile hiding under his tash.
“The Navs that got sent down won’t be around either.
Especially not since they got caught smuggling drugs inside. ”
“Drugs?” I asked, my eyes widening. “You’d have thought they’d have learned their lesson with that shit already.”
Sutton shrugged a shoulder. “They may have. That didn’t stop me getting someone to plant that shit on them to make sure they weren’t out any time soon.”
I stared at him, my mouth falling open, and my eyes practically popping from their sockets. “Are you… are you serious?”
Turning back to the yard, Sutton raised his chin and sniffed the air, looking at the clear blue sky above. “You looked after me and my girls when I wasn’t so nice to you. I decided I could do something to look after you and yours. We’re even now.”
I studied him, this new friend of mine, like a younger father figure who I wanted to go to when I was troubled. One who I trusted with my life and knew would always be in it for the rest of my days.
There were many things I could have said and argued, but instead, I simply slapped his back once, leaned over the railing, and said two words.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
The Hut door slammed open, and out rushed Tate with Harriet in his arms, holding her to me with a look of disgust on his face.
“Dude, I think she needs her diaper changing.”
With a roll of my eyes, I laughed and took her from him, shaking my head as he walked back inside, groaning like a chump.
“I’ll go see if he’s all right.” Sutton chuckled, walking away and leaving me to stand on the porch with my baby girl in my arms.
Looking down at Harriet, I grinned widely, holding her close to my chest.
“Did you do that on purpose so Uncle Tate would stop bouncing you up and down, princess?”
Harriet looked up at me, her eyes bright and her mischievous smile making my heart melt as she lifted a finger and pointed it right at the end of my nose.
“You don’t stink that bad.” I laughed, pulling her close.
I was about to take her inside when I heard a car drive through the yard, the stones kicking up dust as the tires ran over them. The minute I saw Autumn driving, I knew who was about to charge toward us.
Ayda wasted no time, acting like she’d been away from us for weeks, not hours, as she jumped out of the front passenger seat, slammed the door closed and jogged over.
“Look at Mommy, Harry,” I whispered in her ear. “Isn’t she gorgeous?”
Harriet gurgled something that I told myself was abso-fuckin-lutely, Daddy, and I waited for Ayda to come closer so I could kiss her already.
“I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”
“Then don’t ask me to leave.”
“I won’t. I can’t.”
Her smile grew as she got closer, the hair falling loose from the bouncing bun on top of her head.
I couldn’t imagine a time where I’d ever have found a reason to ask her to leave when now all I ever needed her to do was stay. Her absence made me ache. Her smile was what I lived for. She’d been a little piece of Heaven in the palms of my hands, and I’d somehow held on tight through it all.
“How are my two favorite people?” Ayda asked breathlessly, swooping in to kiss Harriet’s cheek before rising and pressing her lips firmly against mine. “I missed y’all.”
“We’re better now you’re here.” I grinned, pulling her into my other arm and holding her tight. I gestured to Harriet’s diaper, bouncing her in my arm. “Little Tucker has a present for you.”
Ayda laughed and swept Harriet away from me, swinging her into the air and sticking her face close to the diaper with an exaggerated gagging noise as she brought our daughter back to eye level with a bright smile.
“You know, sugar, you still smell better than The Hut’s toilets when I used to clean them.
Don’t let these men make you feel bad. Let's go and get you smelling good again.”
Pressing her lips to mine again, Ayda grinned and headed toward the door.
“Be right back, and then our little princess will be reset and ready to torture the boys.”
I watched her as she danced toward the door, her attention solely on entertaining her daughter. Everything I felt for her swelled in my chest to the point of it being painful. It turns out being happy can fucking hurt, but this would always be a pain I would welcome.
“I think, deep down, I always knew I’d get you to stand at the end of my bed, half naked.”
“That’s because you’re Drew Tucker.”
“Damn right, I am. I always get what I want one way or another. I just like to go the long way around sometimes.”
“Ayda?”
She spun, the action making Harriet chuckle out loud and brightening Ayda’s smile in turn. “Yeah, Drew?”
I smiled brightly at them both, finally feeling nothing but permanent warmth in a world that had once felt bitter and ice-cold.
“I really love ya, darlin’. More than you’ll ever know.”
Her smile turned into a grin, before she whisked my daughter inside with a flourish, leaving me standing there, soaking up the warmth in my life with a satisfaction that made my chest and cheeks ache.
With one last glance at the Texan sun beating down around me, I turned and stared at the porch steps.
And I swear, for one single moment, I saw Pete and Harry sitting on top of them, both glaring at me with their arms resting over their knees and their eyes tight from smiling.
“It’s only just begun, son,” Harry whispered.
“See you at the end of a fucking good life, brother,” said Pete.
No sooner had they arrived, I blinked, and they’d disappeared, leaving me to look up at the sky as two birds flew by.
A fucking good life, I smiled to myself.
Yeah.
I liked the sound of that.