Epilogue #2
Drew glanced up, a soft smile in place. It was a part of him now. The smile I used to long to see more of had brightened up his face more than ever before, making him even sexier than I ever thought he could be.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
“Better than okay,” I admitted, smiling back at him. “Just have to keep reminding myself this is real life.”
“Pretty special, ain’t it?”
“You, sir, are looking at the luckiest woman alive.”
“Damn right.” He smirked. “I’m a catch.”
I let off a small laugh and dropped my hand to where Harriet was gripping his thumb with a white fist, my finger gently stroking her knuckles.
“You also give good sperm. Just look at her. She’s gorgeous.”
Drew immediately propped himself up on his elbow, attempting to cover Harriet’s tiny ears with his huge hands as he looked up at me. “Ayda! We don’t talk about the S. P. E. R. M in front of my daughter. I don’t want her to know what that is until she’s at least a hundred and eight.”
I playfully rolled my eyes and dropped my head lower, pressing my lips to her chubby little cheek. “She doesn’t know what I’m saying. Do you, sugar?”
Harriet gurgled again, kicking out both of her legs as her eyes moved about the ceiling, occasionally darting to me when I gave her more kisses. I was addicted to the baby smell of her. It was so unique and clean.
“How many more do you think you would want?” I asked, suddenly curious. I’d been a mother less than a week, and I wasn’t willing to give up these little moments yet. The thought of her growing up was almost soul-crushing. “Babies, I mean.”
“Right now, I feel like I’ve got so much love inside of me, I could father a hundred tiny babies.
” His hand glided over her delicate little tummy.
“Seeing you as a mom is, without a doubt, the sexiest thing in the world to me. I don’t know how many I want or how many we’ll have.
All I know is that this isn’t the last time.
I already want to do this again with you, if that’s what you want, too. ”
“I really, really do,” I said gently. “Life’s funny, isn’t it?
Two years ago, I wasn’t even sure I wanted kids.
Now…?” I glanced down at Harriet. “A week, and I can’t imagine life without her.
” When I glanced up and found his eyes again, all I could see was love there.
“And you… seeing you with her is possibly the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life, Drew.
I feel so happy sometimes, I think I’m losing my mind.
You, this house Harry gave us, Harriet… all I need now is a dog and a pony. ”
He looked at me for a moment, his eyes searching mine.
“I used to think that what goes around comes back around, you know. I believed that, so in a way, I think I had my whole life mapped out in my head when I walked out of those prison doors. I’d come back to Babylon, cause more trouble, make a stand, and live my life chasing my own ass all over the place.
Now I’m starting to think it doesn’t work that way.
What goes around doesn’t have to come back to you.
Sometimes it just goes because it needs to go.
It needs to get out of here so you can live a better life.
Every day since we got married, I wake up next to you, and I feel that this is how life is meant to be.
The last year with you has been the only year I’ve truly lived, and if you’re losing your mind, I’m right there with you, Ayda.
I may still be the president of The Hounds, but I’m more than that now.
I’m a different version of Drew Tucker. I can’t wait to get home to you and Harriet.
I can’t wait to go to bed… sober. Everything I once loved is insignificant, replaced by things I never knew I could crave.
” He reached over to trail a finger up and down my bicep.
“So, if my girl wants a dog and a pony, I’ll find a way to get her them, because I need you to feel full like I do.
” He smiled. “But you’re picking up their sh…
” He trailed off, glancing down at Harriet.
I started to laugh, unable to help myself.
This man, who had always dropped his expletives so freely, now watched every word he said in front of a week-old baby.
It was possibly the most adorable thing I’d ever seen, but I didn’t say that aloud.
Instead, I scooped Harriet up and laid her face down on his chest before wriggling under his arm.
When she’d been born, she’d almost looked like a little old lady, all wrinkles and frowns.
Now she was coming into her own, and I loved seeing the parts of her that belonged to Drew.
When they were laid together, Harriet on his chest like this, it was a double-Drew stare.
She had the same shaped eyes as him, the same dark hair, and when she had gas, she looked like she had his signature smirk.
“Right now,” I said gently, resting my head on his shoulder. “I just want to stay like this. Imprint it all into my memory.”
Drew ran his hand down Harriet’s back, his other arm wrapping around me as he kissed the top of her head and rested his mouth there. “Then let’s stay like this a little while longer,” he whispered.
I didn’t fear the future anymore, and I didn’t worry about the unknown. Life would always test us, but with Drew by my side, I knew I was ready to take it all on. I was ready to fight because I’d had a taste of happiness, and I wasn’t ever going to let it go.
Drew was my forever, and maybe every forever that followed.
DREW
One Last Round
“Who the hell are you, and what the fuck are you doing with my brother?”
Those were the first words Ayda ever said to me.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going? Hey, we’re not finished here, dude.”
“Yeah, we are, sweetheart.”
“Do not walk away from me!”
“You have no idea who I am, do you?”
“That’s Drew Tucker, Ayda. Shut the fuck up.”
The memory made me smile every time I thought about it. Her smart mouth mixed with my bad attitude had equaled one hell of a life.
“We have some fantastic humble pie, or apple if you’d prefer.”
I remembered her face that day in the diner so clearly. She was tired, a little broken, and I was a fucked-up mess who’d decided I needed to feed off those who were suffering more than I was.
A petty man. A man I no longer recognized as I drove our Ford Explorer toward The Hut with Harriet strapped up in her car seat, the two of us heading to meet Ayda who had been instructed to take a girly day with Autumn and the others.
She’d left us that morning in our home away from The Hounds.
It was a home I never expected to have. A private space among the trees with a wraparound porch and plenty of land for me to convert into play space for Harriet and any other kids we may be graced with.
Ayda loved it, saying it reminded her of a more secluded version of her parents’ home—a place she hadn’t realized she’d missed as much as she had until Harry had gifted us with his generosity, even in death.
I’d kissed her goodbye that morning, assuring her that I’d be fine with our daughter.
The two of us would miss her, sure, but she needed to remember who she was besides a mother and a wife.
With her hair thrown up in a messy bun, a loose white tank, and a pair of light blue jeans, she’d walked out of that house looking sexier than ever.
She was barely recognizable from the woman I’d first stumbled upon thanks to her brother.
She seemed freer, like she was where she was always meant to be.
Now, I was taking Harriet to see her many uncles and grandpa—a group of big, burly men who turned to mush the moment she looked up at them with her sparkling blue-green eyes.
Eric had taken a room at The Hut permanently, and Tate had insisted he stay with the men, knowing full well that Ayda and I would be living in both homes on and off whenever the mood struck us.
My room, bathroom, and office were still ours and ours alone, and no one batted an eyelid when we’d carried a bunch of baby things in there to make it Harriet’s as much as ours.
We may not have been a conventional family, but I dared anyone to tell us there was a family out there who loved harder than we loved.
I pulled into the yard, chuckling to myself when I saw Deeks and Eric tussling on the top step of the porch the minute they saw us, each desperate to get to Harriet first.
She was the princess of a king, and boy, was she going to use that to her advantage when she was old enough.
For now, though, at just five months old, she took it all in her stride, loving each and every man who let her grab hold of their beard so she could yank away at it as much as she wished.
“Me. No, it’s my turn. Get out of here, you old fool,” Eric said as he opened the back door, pushing Deeks out of the way with his ass, his face coming to life the minute he saw his granddaughter kicking away in her chair in front of him.
“Hello, baby girl,” he cooed, using the most ridiculous voice I’d heard a grown man use.
“Goddammit, Tucker, you—”
“Hey!” Eric cut him off, pulling Harriet out of her chair and propping her up in his arms as he turned back to Deeks. “Remember what Ayda said. There’ll be no bad language in front of the baby.”
Deeks was practically bursting with anger by the time I’d gotten out of my car, walked around it, and slapped him on the back.
“Don’t worry, Deeks. She needs her diaper changing soon. We both know Eric can’t handle that S. H. I. T.”
Deeks grumbled something that sounded like a cuss word before he shook it off and stepped closer to Harriet, his eyes alive as he lifted a finger to her tummy and greeted her with a tickle.
I watched them walking her toward The Hut, and I found myself turning around to the gates of the yard when a tourist bike flew down the road, the thunderous sound of the engine grabbing my attention.