Chapter 6
JEANIE
As I stare at the screen where the heartbeat of our baby flutters, I can’t quite believe how everything has fallen into place.
And as I watch the awe on the face of the man who is gripping my hand tight with all his attention on the screen in front of him, I can’t help but think it is a Christmas miracle.
We met on the saddest day for him, the anniversary of what should have been his first baby’s birthday. We clicked right away, and even though we did everything right in preventing pregnancy, somehow, it still happened.
Fate definitely stepped in because the little heartbeat fluttering on the screen was conceived on the same day that its sibling should have been born. And this baby is so wanted by both its parents. Once my family finds out, they’ll be just as thrilled as Bolt’s family is.
When I look away from the screen and back to Bolt, my heart hurts when I see the tears on his cheeks.
“Hey…” I squeeze his hand gently. Immediately, he brings his gaze to meet mine. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he chuckles wetly, wiping at his cheeks before bringing my hand up to his mouth and kissing my knuckles, and my belly flutters a little at the move. His eyes dart to the technician, who is doing a great job of ignoring us while we have our moment. “Thank you,” he whispers.
“No thanks necessary,” I assure him. “I’m happy and I believe what’s meant to be, will be. And our baby was meant to be.” I hold his gaze for a beat longer until the technician clears her throat, and we both look at her.
She removes the transducer from within me and disposes of it before stripping off her gloves.
The memory of the look on Bolt’s face when she brought it out has me biting back a chuckle.
I knew they’d have to do an internal scan, as I’m not that far along.
He didn’t, and I think the length of the wand shocked the hell out of him.
“Everything looks wonderful, and your dates match what I could see. I’ll let you get dressed, and I’ll have the images and the link for the digital report ready for you at the reception desk when you leave.” She smiles at us. “Congratulations to you both.”
“Thank you,” I reply because Bolt still looks choked up, but he nods his thanks. She leaves us, and I sit up, taking the hand that Bolt holds out to me. I swing my legs over the bed and go to hop down, only for him to stop me.
“Stay, sweetness,” he murmurs as he gathers my clothes from the chair where I left them. He slips my panties on first, then my jeans. Then, he helps me down from the bed. He pulls them up, fastens them, and finally sinks to his knees to ease my boots on.
Men who care for their women and put them first aren’t foreign to me. After all, I’m an O’Shea. I grew up and lived with men who put their women first and treated them like queens.
But it hits you differently when it’s the man that you are hoping will be yours doing it for you. Tears prick my eyes, and I sniffle a little.
Bolt lifts his head from his task of putting my boots on for me. He takes one look at my face and rises to cup my cheeks in his palms. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I laugh, choking back a sob. “It just hit me that I’d hoped that I’d meet a man who would treat me the way my dad treats my mum and my uncles their wives.
The way that Sam is with Ally, and then you did.
I’m not sure why it’s made me want to cry.
I guess I never thought it would happen for me. ”
Bolt’s face softens as he looks into my eyes.
“Ah, sweetness. I’m a Tin. We don’t know how to treat our women any different.
When we meet the one who we know is ours, she’s treated like the queen she is and, baby, you are a queen from the top of your head to your toes.
I promise, that while you are with me, you’ll always be treated as one. ”
‘Ugh this man. He is perfect for me in every way even if he makes me cry with his sweetness.’
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I rest my head on his chest as he hugs me to him.
“Thank you,” I say with a small, happy sigh as he presses his lips to my head.
“No thanks necessary, baby.”
We stay wrapped in each other’s arms for a moment, holding on, drawing comfort from one another, before he asks, “What do you want to do next?”
Tilting my head back, I look at him with a small grimace. “I guess we have to tell my parents.”
“We do,” he agrees. “I know your family, Jeanie, and I’ve met your dad. He’s a scary fucker, and he may not be thrilled at how the baby happened, but he’ll still support you. It’s me he may kill.”
I laugh because he’s not wrong. Dad is scary, but he won’t want to kill Bolt. He’ll know just from the way he treats me he’s the one I’ve been waiting for.
“Ally and I have a plan,” I tell him. “Her and Sam are also expecting, and we’re going to hit him with a double whammy.”
“Ah fuck me,” Bolt groans, wiping a hand over his face. “I’m not sure if that will be any better, but at least Sam will take some of the heat. Although, he at least made your sister an old lady and married her before he knocked her up.”
“It will be fine,” I assure him, taking his hand and walking out of the room with him to the desk to pick up our scan and the link for the digital report. I stop in surprise when I see Ally and Sam at the desk picking up what looks to be their own scans and information.
“What are you doing here?” I ask going straight to my sister and hugging her, looking at my brother-in-law over her shoulder. He smiles at me before teasing me. “Jeanie, fancy meeting you here.”
“Shut it.” I laugh, slapping his shoulder while still holding my sister in a one-armed hug. Releasing her, I turn towards Bolt, who is standing hands in his pockets, watching us. Holding out my hand for him to take, I tug him towards us for introductions.
“Bolt, I’m not sure if you know Sam and my sister, Ally?”
“I don’t know Ally, but I know Sam from his short stint in the US before we moved here,” he replies, holding out his hand towards Sam first, then bends to buss a kiss to Ally’s cheek.
“Well now, you know both of them. I’d forgotten Sam had been to your MC while in the states,” I say with a smile before asking Ally, “Are we doing dinner tonight at the compound?”
“Yep.” Ally smirks, holding up her envelope. “Thought we’d join you in telling the family tonight and act as a buffer for you.”
“Thanks, sissy,” I say and glare at Sam when he snickers and eyes Bolt. “I’m fucking glad you knocked Jeanie up, man. Takes some of the pressure off me.”
“Jesus, you’re being ridiculous. Dad’s not an ogre,” I grumble, taking the envelope the receptionist hands me. “Thank you,” I tell her before continuing. “It will be fine.” I side-eye Ally, who is looking way too happy for my liking about our impending dinner with our parents.
“Sure,” she agrees, laughing as I slap at her, and she dodges out of the way, hiding behind Sam.
“Sisters,” I grumble, wrapping my arm around Bolt’s. He’s looking at us with amusement at the two of us carrying on. “Who needs them?”
I don’t mean it. I love my sister. We’ve always been close, and we always will be. That we are having our first babies together means so much to me.
It doesn’t take long to get to the car park. Turning to Ally and Sam, I say, “We’ll see you at the compound.”
“Okay, sissy.” Ally hugs me tight. “I know I tease, but it will be fine; you’ll see.”
“I know,” I whisper my reply. “How could it not be? He’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for. He’s the other part of my soul.”
I didn’t have to say more. Ally knows what I mean.
Letting her go, I watch as she and Sam walk towards their vehicle before turning to Bolt.
“Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” He smiles, opening my door for me and helping me in.
He takes his cut and leather jacket with the Queens Wraiths patch off, and folds it, laying it on the back seat along with his cut before he gets into the vehicle.
This isn’t unusual. I’ve been around guys from MCs before, and they all do this when they aren’t on their bikes.
A few cars down, I watch as Sam does the same thing.
Bolt gets into the driver’s side and finds the compound address in his saved GPS addresses without me having to tell him what it is. This surprises me. Not many know where we live.
“Blue goes out to your family’s place once a month. Sometimes he uses my vehicle if it’s raining. He hasn’t bought his own yet,” Bolt explains when he sees my look of surprise.
“Ah, it makes sense now.” I smile. “It’s strange that our families are intertwined in different ways and yet we’d never met until that night.”
Bolt answers, his fingers laced through mine on the console between us.
“I don’t think so. I think everything happened exactly how it should have.
It gave me a chance to grow up and take some responsibility instead of partying and behaving like I didn’t have a care in the world.
Our move to the UK helped with that; I’ve grown up a lot.
You wouldn’t have liked me two years ago. I’m not the same man that I was then.”
“Well, I very much like the man you are now,” I tell him.
“I’m glad, sweetness.” He presses another kiss to my knuckles, and my stomach does that little flutter again. I’m sure he doesn’t realise how that simple move makes me feel loved and wanted. Sighing a happy sigh, I sink back into my seat for the ride home.