Epilogue
Jesse
Six years later…
“Daddy, can I have a cupcake?”
Bella tugs on my leather jacket and looks up at me with big round eyes. They’re the same green as her mother’s and just as irresistible.
“Please Daddy…”
Lily and Gina spent hours arranging those cupcakes into a three tiered birthday cake. But I’m sure they won’t miss one…
“Just one.” I select a cupcake from the back of the display and hand it to my eager daughter. “Don't tell Mommy okay.”
She nods solemnly and takes off with her treasure.
Lily will kill me if she knows I'm handing out cupcakes from the cake display. But it's Bella's birthday, and whatever my little girl wants, my little girl gets.
Bruno was right. Now that I have a daughter, I understand how he feels.
I’ll do anything to protect my little girl, and I don't even want to think about what will happen when the time comes to hand her over to another man. At the moment, I’m the main man in her life, and I want it to stay that way for as long as it can.
The other love of my life comes waddling through the door. Even at nine months pregnant, Lily still takes my breath away.
Pregnancy suits her and her wide frame handles it well, but at this late stage, she's red-faced and sweating. It doesn't help that she's got Ajax on her hip, wiggling around, full of energy now that he's just woken up from his nap.
I hurry to take our son off her, and his little hands cling to my neck.
Lily’s been up too late planning this party, and even with help from the other women, it’s been exhausting for her. Gina and Valentine baked the cakes, Willow and Scarlett set up the room, and Cleo booked the entertainment. That’s how it is here. Everyone helps each other out anyway they can.
“You need to sit down.”
I pull out a chair for her, and she sinks into it gratefully, giving a sigh of relief. Lily slips her shoes off and rests them on another chair, wriggling her swollen ankles.
“I’m disgusting when I'm pregnant, aren't I?”
She looks forlorn. But to me, she's still the most beautiful woman in the world.
“Not at all.”
I set Ajax down, and he toddles off to find the other children. “You’re beautiful to me.” I run my hand over her round belly and feel a kick. We stare at each other in wonder. It won't be long now until we meet our next child.
I love Lily when she's pregnant, and I try to breed her as often as I can. The new baby will make three, and I don't think we’ll stop until we've got half a dozen, maybe more.
A gaggle of children run into the clubhouse, chasing each other around the room.
“Watch the table!” Lily calls as they race around the cupcake tower.
Gina’s two wild boys lead the pack, followed by Lyle’s oldest girl, her wild hair streaming behind her as blonde as her father’s. A trail of younger kids chase after them trying to keep up.
There's a wail as one of the toddlers falls over, but Quinn scoops him up, tossing him into the air, and he's soon laughing at his daddy.
Bella comes running up to Lily, telltale chocolate smudged all over her face. Lily gives me a stern look.
“Did you give her a cupcake?”
I hold my hands up. “Guilty.”
Lily laughs. She knows how much I dote on my little girl, on our whole family.
She wipes the chocolate off Bella’s face, and the little girl scampers off. She heads straight to Bruno. He's got a child of his own on one hip, but he still scoops Bella up with no effort.
It took him a while to come around to the idea of me and Lily, but once he saw how much I loved her and how good we were together, he soon softened.
We bought ourselves a little house, and we're filling it with children and laughter. But our real home is here at the clubhouse, and this is our family.
A few years ago, we were all gruff, old, lonely bastards, but here we are with women and children. Even Pans seems happy, his arms wrapped protectively around Willow’s pregnant belly.
It's amazing what love can do to a man. And when you get a bunch of hard-ass men falling in love together . . . wow, it could just about change the world.
Having a family changed things for me in the same way it did for Bruno.
We got out of every illegal business deal that we had.
Everything we do now is above board. We make our money in legitimate ways.
We might not be as rich, but there are other ways for a man to be rich.
And if you count your wealth in blessings, then I’m the wealthiest bastard around.