Chapter 7
Angel
Iwake to the sound of something clinking on the nightstand.
The delicious aroma of fresh coffee permeates the room.
Stretching, I groan as my aching body protests the movement.
I ache all over, but in a good way. I guess twenty-four hours of making love would do that to you.
Turning, I open my eyes and look straight into Garret’s bright blue eyes.
He’s crouched beside the bed, watching me, looking almost too good to be real. My gaze drifts from his eyes down over the planes of his bare, muscular chest. It’s a wonderful sight to wake up to. Reaching out, I trace a slow line down his chest, murmuring, “Morning.”
His face lights up with a smile. Leaning forward, he kisses my forehead. “Morning, baby. Brought you some coffee.”
“Thanks,” I reply, scooting up in the bed, dragging the bedsheets with me and tucking them under my arms until I can rest my back against the headboard. Taking the mug, he holds out to me. I take a sip, closing my eyes with a hum and a thankful sigh. “Oh, that’s so good.”
Garret chuckles. I open my eyes when the bed compresses as he gets in next to me with his own cup. He lifts an arm and I scoot closer, sighing with contentment as I rest my head on his shoulder.
I feel like I’m living in a dream world. It may have taken twenty-eight years, but somehow, we found our way back to each other.
He kisses my head, “Finish your coffee, baby. Then I’m going to hold you as you tell me everything. From the day I left you until we met again at the diner.”
My throat tightens, but I nod. He’s right. No matter how much I’m dreading it, he deserves to know everything. He has every right to hate me for giving up Honor, but I hope he’ll understand that I had little choice.
I nod. “Okay,” I whisper.
“Hey,” he puts his mug back on the nightstand and tips my face up to his. “It’s going to be okay.”
“You say that now,” my eyes fill with tears. “But you don’t know what I did.”
He wipes at my cheek, “You’ll tell me, and we’ll handle it.
Nothing you tell me is going to change what I feel for you.
I’ve looked for you for twenty-eight years Angel.
I’m not throwing this away because of something that happened back then.
Now, what you tell me might make me angry, but I won’t throw this away. ”
“Okay,” I clear my throat and sit up, draining my coffee. Turning back to him, I swipe at the tears on my cheeks. “I’ll tell you it all. Let me get it all out before you say anything okay?”
“I’ll wait,” he promises.
Reaching to the end of the bed, I snag his shirt and slip it over my head. I don’t want to have this conversation while I’m naked. Turning, I cross my legs so that I can face him. Taking his hand, I start my story.
“I didn’t know it, but we were in witness protection.”
His eyes widen in shock, and he opens his mouth to say something, but I shake my head and press a finger to his lips. “Let me finish, okay?”
I wait for him to nod. “My dad was an accountant for the Irish mob. I was a baby when he turned on them, and we had to enter witness protection.”
I told him about my dad’s photo getting out because he was an idiot and the mob coming after us, the years on the run and how lonely I’d been.
My dad being killed, my mum dying, and all the times I’d had to change my name.
I’d had four other names since I’d last seen him, with Fiona Monde being my last.
“Jesus, baby. No wonder I couldn’t find you,” he mutters.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “It wasn’t a good time for me.”
“I bet, but why didn’t you look for me? Your foster dad Jake was a Marshal, he could have found me.” I hear the hurt in his voice, and I hate it.
“I was ashamed,” I admit, squeezing his hand.
“What?” He looks surprised, and not a little shocked. “Why the hell would you feel ashamed? This was all on your dad, not you.”
“I know,” I whisper, lowering my eyes. “That’s not what I’m ashamed about.”
I lift my eyes to his confused ones. “Please, don’t hate me. I did what I thought was right at the time.”
His eyes soften for a second, like he wants to pull me into his arms, but he stops himself.
Taking a deep breath, I continue with my story, “We’d been on the run for four months when I found out I was pregnant.”
“Fuck,” he hisses. I squeeze his hand tighter, as if he can keep me grounded. “Tell me.”
I ignore the tears that are threatening. How can this hurt so much, so many years later? But it does; the memory of the baby I’d handed over still haunts me.
“We had a little girl,” I whisper, completely ignoring the tears streaming down my cheeks, lost in the memories.
“She was so beautiful. The marshals gave me a choice. I keep her, and she stays on the run with us for however long it was needed. Bearing in mind that if the mob got hold of her, she’d more than likely either be killed or trafficked in some way.
My other choice was to give her up for adoption.
For me it wasn’t a choice; I’d move heaven and earth to make sure she was safe. ”
Inhaling a shaky breath before I continue to tell him about our daughter and what I did.
“So I had Jake find me a family, someone he knew was trustworthy. Someone that could keep her safe. One of his colleagues and wife had been trying for years and were unable to have children. They didn’t qualify for legal adoption, so Jake did what marshals do and made it look like Hannah had a baby.
” I wipe my cheeks. “They called her Honor, because I told them that’s the name you and I’d picked when we’d discussed having children. ”
I lift my eyes to his. Lifting a hand, I cover my mouth, holding back a sob at the devastation in his gaze. “Her name is Honor Hannah Gilbert.” Her name comes out on a wail as I break like I haven’t broken since I placed Honor with the Gilberts.
“Ah fuck, baby, come here,” he gathers me to him, pulling me onto his lap and cradling me. I stuff my face against his neck, sobbing like my heart is breaking, because it is.
“It still hurts like it was yesterday.” I whimper. “It should have gotten better, shouldn’t it? The pain, the guilt of giving her away even though I know she’s had a good life, with good people as her parents.”
“I’m so sorry, Angel.” Garret whispers, kissing my forehead. “I’m so sorry. My heart hurts for you, that you had to make that decision.”
We sit like that, taking comfort from each other when he asks, “How do you know she’s been happy?”
“I had Jake check on her,” I admit. Lifting his shirt, I wipe my face.
“After my dad was killed and mom died. We had to wait to see if there was any chatter about me. There was a little, but not enough for me to stay in witness protection. Jake wasn’t happy about that.
He didn’t feel right sending me out into the world on my own. ”
Letting out a shaky sigh, I sniff back my tears.
“He’d basically been a part-time dad to me while we were on the run.
It’s because of him that I made it out the other side after I gave Honor up.
He’d drag me out of bed and make me train with him.
Pretty soon, the other Marshals did too.
They taught me everything; hand to hand, how to shoot, how to use a knife.
How to disappear if I needed to. He sat me down one day and offered me a life with his family as his niece with a new identity, and he’d arrange for me to see Honor if I wanted. ”
“But…” I tilt my head up and look into his eyes.
“I knew I wouldn’t be able to see her just once, and that wasn’t fair on her or the Gilberts.
They’d had her for five years. She was their daughter, and I was a stranger.
Plus, we weren’t sure if I’d have to go into witness protection again anyway.
The case they’d been building wasn’t over yet. ”
My voice breaks and I wipe at my eyes. “So, I asked him to check on her to make sure she was okay and happy, but that’s all. He did that for me every year on her birthday until she turned twenty-one. Then I said he should stop.”
Inhaling a shaky breath, I continue my gaze never leaving his.
I feel like I’ve been talking for hours my throat is so dry.
“When he gave me the choice, I took it. I moved into the room above their garage, and never left. Fern, his wife became my surrogate mom and Siera and Stone my siblings. When Siera’s husband died unexpectedly from an aneurism a year after she had the twins, we took the business that Fern had started and grew it into the garden centre, coffee, and gift shop you see today.
They’re my family.” I trail off wondering what he’s thinking. I don’t have to wait long.
“Jesus, baby. I’m not sure what to say, or even where to start.
It will take me some time to think about everything.
I’m sorry you had to go through all that by yourself.
” He tilts my chin up with his finger. “I’m not angry at you.
You did what you had to do to protect her, and that’s all any good parent would do. ”
“Thank you, Garret,” I whisper. “I’m sorry though for not trying harder to find you, maybe you could have taken her.”
Garret sighs, his chest lifting and falling under my ear.
“You did the right thing Angel. I did send for you, but it wouldn’t have been easy.
I was living on the move, going from town to town, city to city picking up work where I could.
Until I met Roman and prospected for the Saint’s Outlaws, I didn’t have a home.
That would have been no way to bring up a baby.
” He squeezes me. “No, sweetheart, you did the right thing.”
“Okay,” I sigh, gratified that he’s not angry right now, although once he’s had things to think through, he may still get mad at me. “Tell me about your club and brothers. Do you like being in an MC?”
Garret chuckles. “Surprisingly, I love being in a brotherhood. I run the garage for them. It’s good to have brothers at our back whenever you need them. They all rode out yesterday when I took off to get to you after Lala messaged me. They came not knowing what they were getting into.”
“I’m sorry that I didn’t greet them properly. I’ll apologise to your President if I see him.”
Garret grins down at me. “Don’t worry about it, Angel. As a President, Maverick’s pretty chill. He understands. They all know about you. I carry our picture around with me and ask if anyone’s seen you whenever I get the chance. It’s how Lala knew to message me.”
God, this man. My heart fills with love until I feel fit to burst. “You never forgot me,” I breathed.
“Never, baby. You were in my heart always, and now that I’ve got you here, I’m never letting you go,” he promises me.
“Oh, Garret. I love you. Always have, always will,” I murmur, reaching up to kiss him.
“And thank fuck for that,” he rumbles, taking my mouth in a hard kiss, not letting me up until we have no choice and only because his phone is ringing off the hook.
“Fuck’s sake. Sorry, baby, they wouldn’t keep calling if it wasn’t important,” Garret mutters, reaching behind me for his phone on the nightstand.
I settle on the bed next to him as he reads it with a scowl on his face. He sighs, then types in a reply before throwing it on the nightstand next to him.
“I have to go into work. There’s some issue that only I can sort,” he frowns grumpily when he turns back to me.
Laughing, I run a finger over the furrow in his brow. “It’s okay. I have to get back to the garden centre anyway.”
“Not yet,” he says, lunging for me and pulling me down the bed as he settles over me. “We’ve got a bit of time.” He rumbles, nipping at my lips.
“Yeah?” I ask, tilting my head, a teasing smile playing on my lips. “Are you sure?”
He gives me a wicked grin as his hands tunnel under my shirt and lifts it off over my head.
My boobs bounce at the action and he mutters a guttural, “Fuck, yes I am.” It makes me laugh, and I’m still laughing as he fits a condom on his hard cock before sliding into me.
Guess we needed to have a conversation about safe sex next.
An hour later, he’s kissing me at his front door. One of the younger brothers is waiting for me in a vehicle with the SOMC Garage and Tow on the side to give me a ride back to the garden centre.
“Here,” he says when he finally lets me up for air. He holds a key between his fingers. “For tonight. I want you in my bed.”
“You could come to mine,” I say, taking the key from him.
“Baby.” He smirks, one brow lifting. “We’re going to fuck tonight, and sweetheart, you’re loud. You really want your sister and nieces hearing that?”
“Oh.” I laugh, blushing as I lean forward and press my forehead to his chest. Tilting my head back to look up at him, I shake my head. “No … maybe not. I’ll come here.”
“Good,” he replies, taking my hand and leading me down the steps to the waiting vehicle, helping me in. “Make sure she gets home safe and sound, Giggles.”
“Giggles,” I mouth at Garrett, trying not to laugh. He grins at me but doesn’t say anything. Leaning into the window, he kisses me one more time, reminding me, “Tonight, my home, my bed.”
“Okay,” I laugh, pulling the seatbelt across me. “I’ll see you tonight. Will you let them know at the gate?”
“Yeah, baby I will,” he assures me. Tapping the side of the vehicle, he steps back, allowing the prospect driving me to back up onto the road.
My eyes cling to his as I leave. A little bit of me is worried that he’ll disappear again.
I’m sure he’s feeling the same way. I wonder how he’s going to feel, having my campervan in his driveway. I guess we’ll find out tonight.
A smile curls my lips. I’m glad the prospect doesn’t talk. I’m happy alone with my thoughts as we make the quick journey home to the garden centre. I know that as soon as they see me, my family is going to want to know everything.