Chapter 14
Willow
Sunday morning
“ A re you sure this is okay to wear?” I asked as I turned from side to side, inspecting myself in the mirror behind Dean’s bedroom door.
He walked into the room and was rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt as he looked at me and smiled. “You look beautiful, but I promise, you’re putting more pressure on yourself than necessary.”
I wasn’t sure but had to trust his word. Yesterday, we spent the day at the clubhouse with the Sinners, and it was during my time with the ladies in the kitchen, making brunch for the club, that I learned about Dean’s Sunday schedule.
Paige and I were cutting fruit for a large tray when she asked if I was going to church with Jigsaw, and I nearly cut myself from the shock.
It was only after he explained that he took his Pappy every Sunday and he wanted me to meet him that I began to relax.
It wasn’t that I didn’t believe or have faith, but having not been raised around the church, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
“Do I need a sweater or something to cover my tattoos?” I asked as he adjusted the collar of his shirt before tucking it into his blue jeans.
“Not at all. Pappy’s church is accepting of everyone, and quite a few people have piercings, tattoos, and there’s every race and orientation represented,” he explained as he walked up behind me and placed his hands on my hips.
Seeing us in the mirror, both dressed nicer than we’d ever been in front of the other and knowing this was going to be a part of our lives, was reassuring.
Which was confusing, but I’d decided on the ride out to his house last night that I wasn’t going to question everything.
Life was meant to be lived, and I was tired of watching it pass me by.
Dean placed a soft kiss against the side of my neck, and I exhaled the last bit of worry I’d been holding onto. He’d reassured me that his Pappy was going to love me, so I wasn’t worried about that, but I didn’t want to be judged on appearances.
“Are you almost ready?” he asked from behind me, and I nodded before turning to face him.
When we got here the night before last, he’d carried me into the house and straight to the bedroom.
I laughed as he explained that was what a groom did for his bride when he brought her home the first time, and he spent the rest of the night showing me how much he’d missed me.
Waking up in his arms was amazing, and the fear we were rushing into this was swept away.
Dean took my hand, and we walked out of the master bedroom and down the hallway. There were three other bedrooms, two additional bathrooms besides the one attached to our room, a large living room, a separate dining room, and a kitchen that blew me away.
I could spend hours in there baking and cooking, but all that had to wait. As he guided me into the kitchen, the smell of coffee filled my nostrils. I’d had one cup before taking a shower, but I was tired from the last few days.
“I’ll make us each a cup to go then we can get moving. We don’t have to be there until ten, but it takes a few minutes to get him out of his retirement community,” Dean explained.
He told me last night as we lay naked in each other’s arms how his Pappy took him in when he was a kid and raised him, making sure Dean finished high school and learned a skilled trade.
He was a licensed electrician but didn’t have to work unless he wanted to.
His parents died a few years ago, and he used their life insurance to pay for the house and do the amazing upgrades.
Comet had invested Dean’s money, as well as most of the brothers’ money, so they were all financially secure.
Dean explained that when he wanted to buy something or needed to make a big purchase, he would work a few weeks of long hours to pay for it.
He hated debt, refused to owe anyone, and would pay his own way. His words, not mine.
After handing me a cup of coffee in a travel mug, I followed Dean out the side door and into the garage.
He’d already explained that an extra vehicle was needed here for winter, just like back in Minnesota and Chicago, and he used it to make sure Pappy was safe when he took him somewhere.
He opened the passenger door to the SUV, and I climbed inside before he closed the door.
Walking around the front, he got behind the wheel and cranked the engine as he pressed a button to raise the garage door behind us.
Dean smiled over at me before putting the SUV into reverse and pulling out of the garage.
The door lowered after he pressed the button again, and I sat beside him, watching the landscape pass by.
If this was going to become my home, I needed to start learning my way around, but there would be time for that.
With the tens of thousands of bikers here for the Rally, I was getting turned around, so Dean suggested we wait until the roads weren’t so congested before I learned Rapid City.
“Did your mom go to church?” he asked me as he stopped at a red light and turned his blinker on.
I shook my head and tried to explain without making my mother look bad. “My mom was flighty, and even though she tried her hardest, she didn’t exactly have faith in anything.”
He reached over and took my hand into his, kissing the back as he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up a sensitive subject.”
Not wanting him to think he’d upset me, I asked, “Do you remember that night, we told each other the worst parts of ourselves?” He nodded, so I exhaled and explained.
“Most of the things I told you about, the things I’d witnessed, were from my mom.
” He cut his eyes at me before he turned the truck and continued driving.
“She did the best she could with me, but I always resented that she was the other woman and that Popeye wasn’t around when I needed him.
The drugs, the bad choices with men, were all hers, and my rebelling was a result of me trying to be enough for a father who already had a family. ”
He kissed my hand again before he asked, “And she passed when you were fourteen?” I nodded. “And that’s when you moved in with Popeye and his wife?”
“Ms. Marna.”
“I remember her. She wasn’t exactly motherly material either,” he remarked, and he couldn’t have been more right.
Popeye’s wife hated me, but she hated her own son too.
She was one of those women who shouldn’t have had children but did because she thought that’s what a woman did.
She wasn’t abusive, just neglectful and mean, which was why Popeye gravitated toward my mother.
She was soft, kind, loving, and wanted me more than anything.
Losing her hurt me, and I saw the loss in his eyes.
I think that’s why he was so emphatic about me not being with a biker.
I think he worried about what kind of life I would have, and he never wanted me to be alone again.
Looking at Dean, I knew my father was wrong about us all those years ago, but we had our chance now, and I wasn’t going to do anything to mess it up.
Dean turned into a parking lot, and I saw the retirement facility up ahead. As he parked under the awning at the front door and turned the car off, I looked at him.
“Are you ready to meet Pappy?” he asked.
I nodded with a smile. Anyone who loved Dean as much as the man who took him in and raised him, was wonderful in my book, and I just hoped he would like me.
Dean got out, and I opened my door and stepped out, brushing my skirt down.
He took my hand, and we walked up to the doors, which opened as we got closer.
A woman sitting at a desk looked up and smiled. “Dean, it’s good to see you. Mr. Hamilton just walked back to his room to grab something, but he said he’d be right back.”
“Thanks, Delores,” Dean said and guided me over to some chairs along the side wall.
My leg bounced, and he placed a hand on top, trying to calm me down as a snazzy-looking man walked from the hallway and across the lobby to us. I looked up and found an older version of Dean standing in front of us with a wicked smile on his face.
“You said she was beautiful, Dean, but you didn’t do her justice.
” He winked at me as we stood, then he extended a hand to me.
“Duke Hamilton. You must be Willow.” I shook his hand, and he lifted mine and kissed the back, offering Dean a smirk before releasing his hold.
“If you get tired of this knucklehead, you know where to find me.”
“Pappy,” Dean said with exasperation in his voice, “don’t be a perv.”
Pappy bent his elbow and offered, “May I escort you to the car, Willow?”
I chuckled and draped my arm in the bend as he walked us out of the retirement facility. He didn’t seem like he needed any assistance, and I was curious why he was here instead of living on his own. But that wasn’t my business to ask, so I didn’t.
I could hear Dean mumbling behind us as Pappy opened the door for me.
I got inside, and he wrinkled his nose and smiled at me before closing the door and patting Dean on the shoulder.
He got into the backseat as Dean walked around and got behind the wheel.
After cranking the SUV, Dean looked over at me and sighed with a smile.
The drive across town to Pappy’s church was filled with conversation.
He asked me about my family, though I skimmed over the details and said it was just my brother and me.
He told me about Dean’s crappy parents and how he got the best of two bad apples in his grandson.
I glanced to see Dean smiling from his seat as Pappy went on and on about his accomplishments.
The love they had for each other was clear just from the ride across Rapid City.
Pappy stepped up and took on a grandchild at an older age, and it looked like they were best friends.
I wished I had something like that in my life, and as we pulled into the parking lot of the non-descript building, I realized I did have that.
I had a new group of people who opened their arms to me, welcoming me into their family. I had Dean, who I’d loved for longer than made sense. And as we walked up to the building, I realized I had one more important thing.
I had faith. Faith that whatever life brought our way, Dean and I would be standing together, ready to tackle the toughest obstacles.
THE SERVICE WASN’T anything grandiose or, I’m sorry to say, life changing, but it was nice. We sang a few songs, we listened to a message of love and acceptance, and afterward, we talked to a few people who came up to greet me.
And Dean was right—there was every level of dress, every color of person, and every kind of love imaginable represented in the congregation. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I’d come back if Pappy was okay with me joining them.
Lunch was at one of those cafeteria places that served a variety of food and throughout the meal, we laughed and cut up.
This was a different side of Dean that I’d never seen, and I loved him more because of the day.
He was brining me fully into his life and when we dropped Pappy off at the facility after lunch, he pulled me into a hug, making me promise to come back and visit.
“I promise,” I replied, and he placed a gentle kiss on my cheek before looking at Dean with a smile.
Dean placed his hand onto my lower back as we watched Pappy walk back into the facility with a jovial bounce in his step. I looked at Dean and asked, “Why does he live here, if you don’t mine me prying? Because he seems too chipper to need a retirement home.”
Dean laughed as he placed his arm over my shoulder and turned us back toward the vehicle.
“He got tired of having to drive to meet women, and when he found out this place was cheaper than the upkeep of his house, and the women were right down the hallway and ‘didn’t care who shared who’, according to him, well, he practically ran here. ”
I stopped and looked at him wide-eyed as I asked, “Seriously? He sold his house and moved here so his booty calls were closer?”
Dean laughed and replied, “Basically.”
“Damn,” I remarked as we got back to the vehicle. “I guess there’s hope that sex doesn’t end when you get older.”
Dean opened the door and helped me get inside before he spoke. “From what Pappy said, the urges get stronger when you get older.” My eyes grew wide, and he laughed again as he closed the door and walked around the front to get behind the wheel.
“Let’s get home and get changed so we can get to the clubhouse. Roughstock asked everyone to be there at four for a meeting.”
“Me included?” I asked, and he nodded as he drove across town to his house.
“Brothers and ol’ ladies,” he said, then added, “Don’t overthink it. It’s usually something about a charity ride or one of the other things we do for the community.”
I wasn’t worried, just unsure. Each new thing was like stepping on an uneven floor and I was just waiting to trip and fall. And the Rally only had a few days left, so I worried about what was going to happen when it was over.
No matter how much reassurance he gave me, I worried he would be like my father—here today, gone tomorrow, and maybe back next month.
I couldn’t survive a life like that with Dean, and I just prayed the faith I was carrying spread out far enough to cover his promise to me. I wanted to be his wife, and I wanted to be claimed by him.
And I never thought I’d want to be property or an ol’ lady, but now, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted more.