Epilogue
Nora
Six months later Jinx and I are standing in front of the club brothers and old ladies as Pastor Hollis asks for the rings.
It’s a beautiful day to get married. Naturally, I chose a long white dress that shows off my very prominent baby bump.
There are fresh flowers picked from the fields surrounding the clubhouse, and simple food and drink.
Jinx pulls out my ring, and I take out the band I bought for him. When the time is right, he slides the wedding band he made for me onto my finger. It’s warm gold to match his grandmother’s wedding band and has a tiny star worked into the front of the band. This is the first time I’ve seen it.
“It’s breathtakingly beautiful, babe. You do really good work.”
“I made it from my grandfather’s gold coin,” he tells me, his voice rough. “I carried it for thirty years for good luck and finally found a better use for it.”
“I’ll be your good luck charm now,” I tell him quietly.
His eyes tear up, but he presses on. “I melted it down and worked a star into the design because you’re like the star that points true north for me.”
At this point, I’m a total goner. Jinx has never been actually romantic.
Words come hard for him but this, this is everything.
Even Queenie’s crying, and she never gets emotional.
When I glance at Jinx’s best friend, Striker is sitting in his seat looking like the cat who ate the canary.
He’s got his arms crossed and one hand comes up to tug at his bottom lip.
He looks pensive and delighted that we ended up together.
When it’s my turn, the pastor has to call my name twice because I’m so deep in thought. I pull out the black tungsten band I bought with my own money from a jewelry store in town. It’s heavy-duty and designed to last for a man who works with his hands.
“You’ve spent your whole life making rings for everybody else,” I tell him. “In case nobody ever gave you one of your own, I’m fixing that today.” I slide it onto his finger.
“Read the inside later, when you get a chance.”
He immediately works it back off and holds it up to the light. I watch as he catches the inscription.
“It says, PROPERTY OF NORA in capital letters,” he announces out loud.
A laugh bubbles up before he can stop it and he crams it back onto his finger. The guests all think the inscription is hilarious as well. When the laughter dies down, he takes my hand and we wait patiently as the minister pronounces us man and wife.
Pastor Hollis clears his throat, pronouncing loudly, “By the power vested in me by the state of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride, Jinx.”
My man doesn’t need to be told twice. He takes my face in both hands and kisses me over and over again. We can hear the sound of their engines revving in celebration. I laugh against his mouth, because I’m happily married to the man I adore. Life doesn’t get any better than this.
Our first dance is slow under the string lights. Jinx wraps his arms around me, and we sway to the music looking into each other’s eyes. Yeah, we’re happy fools but I love that he shows me how he feels. That was a big no-no in my father’s club, where they saw emotional displays as weakness.
Near the end of the song, Jinx sinks down onto his knees right there in the grass to have a little talk with our unborn child. He does this from time to time.
He puts both hands on my belly and leans in close.
“Hey, little one,” he says, low enough that only I can hear.
“It’s your old man. I married your mama today, in case you were wonderin’ what all the noise was about.
” His thumbs move slowly over my baby bump.
“You’re gonna grow up bein’ so loved. You’re gonna have a mama who’s the strongest lady I ever met, a father that kicks ass, and a whole clubhouse full of uncles who’ll spoil you rotten.
” He presses a kiss to my belly through my dress.
“Nobody’s ever gonna try to tell you what you’re worth.
Because you’re ours, and you’re free, and I ain’t gonna let nobody disrespect you. ”
I put my hands in his hair and hold on, because it’s either that or collapse, and collapsing in a wedding dress would be embarrassing.
The cake is a magnificent three-tiered confection with a little motorcycle topper, and when Jinx wraps his hand around mine on the knife, I brace for the cake smash, which was a longstanding tradition in my father’s club, but of course Jinx is too much of a gentleman to do something like that.
Instead, he lifts a bite to my mouth as careful as anything, his thumb catching a crumb at the corner of my lips, and when I feed him the same way, I love this man so much it’s hard to breathe sometimes.
This day is everything I thought it would be and more.
And I can’t take my eyes off the man who made it all possible.
This is truly the first day of the rest of my life.
If today is any indication, it’s shaping up to be a good one.
The End.
Thank you for reading!