33
EVERLY
We spend the next week at the clubhouse so Rowan can heal without having to worry about keeping us safe. I know that he would rather be at home, but this was what was best for everyone.
I was waiting on Rowan hand and foot the first two days we got home and then he snapped.
We had our first real fight. It wasn’t because of anything either of us had done, it was because I was hovering over him.
Even though he told me that we were okay and that he wasn’t upset with me about going to see my mother, I couldn’t let it go.
His snapping at me made me realize that I had to. I couldn’t let something like this destroy our relationship. Rowan isn’t Travis. He doesn’t keep things from me. He doesn’t hide his feelings or lie. If he says he’s not mad; he’s not mad.
Rowan tried to have make-sex with me, but I put a stop to it, much to his chagrin. The man has road rash and a concussion, but he wants to have sex every day. He’ll survive without until his wounds heal a little more.
Luckily, things have been quiet. Almost too quiet. After Jennifer’s murder, it’s like the Devil’s Knights dropped off the face of the Earth. No one has seen them around town or on the outskirts.
The same goes for my mother. She tucked tail and ran when the club showed up to that abandoned parking lot. Who knows where she went or if she’ll come back. I’d be fine never seeing her face again, though.
I have six more weeks on my maternity leave and I can’t believe that Hazel is already six weeks old.
Part of me is dreading going back to teaching, but the other part is so excited.
I get to make a difference in kids’ lives every day and this world needs that now more than ever.
Especially this town after the last few months .
Silver Springs means more to me than I ever thought it would. This town and the club welcomed me when I was at my lowest. I didn’t know how to keep going. I thought everything had been taken from me, but the truth is, the world was waiting at my feet.
I walk into our bathroom and find Rowan pulling the bandage away from his leg. It took the brunt of the damage when his bike crashed.
“It looks like it’s healing up nicely,” I say as I move to stand by his side.
He looks up at me with a smirk. “Nice enough for you to fuck me?”
I shove him playfully and help him clean and redress the wound.
The doctor said that he only needs to wear the bandages for a week after he repeatedly told Rowan how lucky he was that it wasn’t worse.
I had to convince him to see a doctor after he left the hospital in such a rush but that was a fight that I wasn’t going to lose.
I leave him to finish getting dressed when I hear Hazel start to cry from next door. I walk into her room and over to her crib, smiling when I look down at her. Her dark has stands on end, like she slept like a rock.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I murmur as I pick her up and rock her gently. “Are you hungry?”
I take a seat on the bed and pull my breast from my shirt, adjusting Hazel so she can eat. She latches on immediately and sucks down her breakfast, making sweet sounds while she does. I could watch her like this for hours.
Rowan walks into the room and leans against the doorframe, watching as Hazel finishes her meal. I move her to my shoulder and pat her until she burps.
“I’ll get her ready so you can finish,” Rowan offers.
I stand and pass her over to him. He leans down and gives me a kiss before I go back into our room to get ready. When I’m done getting dressed, I walk into the living room to join Rowan and Hazel and then we walk downstairs to get breakfast as a family.
The clubhouse has been packed for the last few days because everyone close to the club is staying here. The guys had to bring in a few tables, so everyone had somewhere to sit when we ate. Chef has been busting his ass in the kitchen, and the club girls have been a huge help to him.
I didn’t know how I would feel about Ana, Lacey, and Lucy when I first met them, but they’re actually great girls.
They don’t cause any trouble for the guys who aren’t single and they’re nice to the kids and to the women.
Even though they’re called “club sluts,” the guys don’t treat them like sluts.
They treat them like they’re part of the family.
Hazel and I take a seat at the table with Grayson, Asher, and a very uncomfortable Sophie while Rowan goes to grab us food.
She feels like she’s ready to pop and doesn’t think that she’ll make it to full-term.
Grayson has been doting on her and it makes me excited to have another baby with Rowan.
One where we can be so open with our affection for one another.
I can’t believe I’m even thinking about another baby when we’ve just had Hazel but seeing them together makes me think of how Rowan and I would be.
Not to mention, Asher has been such a good big brother already.
He helps his mom and constantly asks questions.
I’m so lucky that Hazel is going to grow up in this family.
“How are you feeling today, Soph?” I ask as I take the seat across from her.
“How do I look?” She grumbles.
“Beautiful,” Grayson murmurs with a kiss on her forehead before taking another bite of the eggs on his plate and then shoving it away.
“I agree.”
“Can I hold my niece?” Grayson asks, making a grabbing motion.
“Of course,” I say, passing a sleeping Hazel to Grayson across the table. He cocoons her in his arms as Sophie watches on with hearts in her eyes.
A plate is set down in front of me, full of scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and a banana. I smile up at Rowan and murmur my thanks. He takes the seat beside me. We take advantage of the child free moment and eat our food while Hazel’s aunt and uncle dote on her.
We’re finishing up when Levi walks over to Grayson and kneels down to whisper in his ears. Grayson nods his head and Levi heads back in the direction he came from.
“Lenny and Wren are here. They want to talk to us. Let’s go to church so we have somewhere quiet to talk,” he offers as he stands with Hazel in his arms.
He pulls Sophie’s chair out for her and calls over two other prospects to clear our plates and asks his dad to watch Asher.
Rowan pulls my chair out for me and takes my hand, helping me to stand and then leading me toward church.
Grayson flags down Axel as we walk by and he stops eating and leaves his plate half full of food to follow us.
We walk inside church and find Lenny and Wren inside. We all take our seats and Lenny clears his throat.
“I’ve got news for all of you.”
“Good news, I hope,” Axel mumbles and Wren shoots a glare in his direction, making him purse his lips.
“I think you’ll be happy,” Lenny chuckles.
“I found out from one of my private investigators that Drew is being charged with Jennifer’s murder and the Devil’s Knights caught wind of it.
He was too late to leave town, but the rest of the club scattered.
My PI followed them until they were four towns over.
It looked like they were heading toward the South Carolina border. ”
My shoulders slump in relief. The men who have been stalking me left town and the asshole who was trying to claim me as his own is being charged with murder.
“Fucking hell,” Grayson mutters as he gently rocks Hazel. “Does it sound like the charges will stick?”
“It does,” Wren confirms. “Witnesses saw the two of them together that night and they had a warrant for Drew’s apartment. My contact in the department said they found blood all over and ropes that had DNA that matched Jennifer’s.”
“So, he’s gone for good?” I ask.
“He’s not getting out,” Lenny confirms. “That’s not the only good news I have for you, though. I heard from a colleague that Russel Gibson’s firm is shutting down. Apparently, he was reported to the bar, and they found ethical violations. He’s been disbarred.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” Sophie asks.
“It means he can’t practice law anymore, and even if he could, no clients would trust him,” Wren replies. “Not to mention, the petition for custody was removed.”
“About damn time,” Rowan murmurs.
“I just don’t understand why he was willing to do all of this for my mother when he and his wife have wanted nothing to do with me or Hazel?”
“She might have had something on him,” Wren says.
A knock sounds on the door, and I frown as I look around the room. Axel stands and opens it, talking to whoever is on the other side. He turns around after a moment.
“Everly, your dad is here,” he says.
My heartrate picks up. My dad hasn’t had a chance to come by yet. He hasn’t officially met Hazel, even though he’s seen her over facetime. He didn’t want to come to the club for the lockdown, so he’s been keeping his distance. Hopefully, this doesn’t mean that something is wrong.
“He’s okay,” Axel says after reading my expression. “He just wants to talk to you and Rowan.”
I nod my head and stand, walking over to Grayson to take my baby back.
She needs to meet her grandpa officially.
I walk out of church with Rowan hot on my heels and follow the prospect, Ace, to the front room by the stairs.
My dad is waiting there. He looks older now, like the stress of the last ten months has worn him down.
His dark brown hair has a few more greys in it and his green eyes are surrounded in fine lines. He still wears the same loving smile, though. I walk faster until I reach him, and he wraps his arms around me and Hazel, sighing into my hair.
“I’ve missed you so much, sweet girl.”
“I’ve missed you, too, dad,” I murmur into his chest before pulling back so he can see Hazel.
He smiles down at her and nods at her in question. I smile and offer her to him. He opens his arms and pulls her to his chest. “Hi, Hazel. I’m your grandpa,” he tells her with pride coating every word. “I’m so happy to finally meet you.”
Rowan walks up beside me and wraps his arm around me. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Kincaid.”
My dad looks up and his smile grows. “It’s nice to meet you too, Rowan, but stop with that Mr. Kincaid, shit. Call me Edward or Ed.”
“Okay, Ed,” Rowan concedes. “Is everything okay?”
Dad’s brow furrows and then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out an envelope, handing it over to me.
I take it and turn it over, looking for an address, but there is none.
“It was hand delivered to my new place,” he tells me in answer.
I pull out the papers inside and find a handwritten note. I peel the page open and see my mother’s familiar handwriting. I look up at Rowan with wide eyes and he gives me a nod of encouragement to read it.
Edward,
By now you know what I’ve done. I’m sure that’s why you left me after forty years of marriage. You’re a coward.
I want you to know that I’m leaving North Carolina. I might even leave the country. I tried to do what was best for us and you didn’t appreciate it like you should have.
We could have taken our grandchild and started a new life together. We could have raised her to be better than Everly. We could have raised her to be more.
Russel owed me a favor, and he fucked it up. I had to blackmail him into helping me file for custody because neither he nor Carrie wanted anything to do with our grandchild. They didn’t even think she was really Travis’. Maybe she’s not. Maybe she belongs to that biker thug.
I won’t stand by to watch a motorcycle club corrupt our daughter and steal away our granddaughter. You’re not the man I married if you think Everly can handle this on her own. I’m what’s best for that baby.
I guess eighteen years isn’t too long to have to wait to reach out. I can fix her. You and Everly are lost causes, though.
I hope your lives are miserable.
Laura
“She’s a real bitch,” Rowan mutters from behind me as he reads over my shoulder.
“The woman is a psycho,” dad says as he shakes his head. “I can’t believe it took me this long to see it.”
“I’m just glad you did,” I tell him. “And she’s not getting anywhere near Hazel. Not even in eighteen years,” I mutter before tearing up the letter and stuffing it into the envelope.
“If she knows what’s good for her, she’ll never step foot in Silver Springs again,” Rowan murmurs.
I don’t think she ever will. What would she have waiting for her besides a husband who doesn’t want her anymore, a daughter who despises her, and a granddaughter who is going to learn of what she had planned? No, she won’t show up, and if she does , I’ll be ready for her.