Raine took a deep breath then opened the door to his bedroom. He found Cricket standing by the window looking outside. Tears ran down her face as she cuddled Max in her arms.

Closing the door behind him, he just stared at her for a moment. Then he had to ask, “What are you thinking about right now?”

“Right this very moment, I’m thinking about how it would feel to kill a man,” she spoke the words softly.

Raine could hear the truth in her statement. “Well, I for one hope you never have to go through that. Taking another man’s life destroys a piece of your soul that you can never get back.”

“I don’t think I would miss that particular piece at the moment. Bane Jessin has destroyed my life in the last day and a half, and he did it deliberately.”

Raine knew a moment of doubt. “How did he destroy your life?”

“He crushed forever any real feelings we might have had.”

“You mean you didn’t want to marry me? You don’t really love me? Is that what you’re saying?” Raine was beginning to get angry, but not at Bane… at his wife.

Cricket frowned and turned to face him. “What the hell are you talking about? Of course, I love you and of course I wanted to marry you but the question is did you want me? Did you really love me enough to make me your wife if he hadn’t pushed me into thinking he was going to kill me tomorrow?”

“How the fuck can you ask me that?” Raine exploded. “Of course I do, I did, whatever.” He rushed toward her wrapping his arms around both her and the dog. Max began to lick his face and Raine gently took him out of Cricket’s arms and put him down of the floor then he wrapped his arms around his wife and held her close. “I have loved you a very long time. Before all this came up, I knew you were the only woman I would ever love and I was planning to ask you to marry me. This just moved up the timetable a bit that’s all.”

Cricket searched his eye for the truth and found it. “You really love me?”

Raine nodded. “Yeah, I really do and yes, I really wanted you to be my wife.”

Cricket leaned forward and rested her forehead on his chest. “That a good thing because I’m not sure I could have let you go anyway. I love you too much.”

“I’m not going anywhere, not without you,” he assured her.

“Then how about we wander over to that big old bed over there and get us some? Then we can take a nap,” she suggested.

Raine chuckled. “Get us some?” he asked.

“Well, we do have a marriage to consummate, don’t we?” She ran her finger up and down his chest. “I mean it might not be legal if we don’t follow through with consummating it.”

Raine grabbed her around the waist and lifted her high in his arms. Laughing all the way over to the bed, he tossed her down on the mattress. “Then by all means let’s go and get us some, wife.”

He fell next to her and began kissing her hungrily. His hands tore off her clothing, tearing the fabric in his hurry to get her naked. When she was bare, he took a moment to get rid of his own clothes. Then he fell on her and his kisses took her breath away.

“Please don’t make me wait, I need you so much.” She whispered.

“I need you more,” Raine told her as he plunged into her waiting core.

His hot hard cock pinned her to the bed and Cricket couldn’t have been happier. She screamed in pleasure and Raine covered her mouth with his own as he began to snap his hips.

The heat between them rose, and sweat beaded on forehead as he pumped his cock into her. Cricket wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him in deeper. “Please…” she moaned. “I’m so close.”

“Come now then, because I can’t wait,’ Raine told her breathlessly as he hammered into her. He could feel her shattering under him. It was enough to carry him over the edge into insanity and he roared her name with pleasure.

Cricket couldn’t catch her breath for a moment. Raine’s weight was like a blanket and when he tried to move, she held him to her. “Stay just for a moment,” she whispered in his ear.

“But I’m too heavy for you,” he protested. He groaned and she slowly let him go. Raine slid off of her but didn’t go far. He settled for her left side and snuggled in.

Cricket knew the moment of truth had come. Now that she didn’t have a sword hanging over her head there was something she had to tell him. Something she hoped he’d be happy about. “Mmm, Raine, I need to tell you something… and I’m not sure how to say it.”

Raine got very still at her side. “Is it something good or something bad? Cuz I don’t know if I can bear to hear something bad right now.”

“Well, that’s just it. I think it’s good news but you might not.” Cricket hedged around telling him.

For a moment, she said nothing then Raine sighed and said, “Just fucking say it.”

“I’m going to have your baby,” Cricket’s words were spoken softly.

“What? What did you say?” Raine exploded, he sat up and turned his head to glare at her. “Say that again.”

“I’m going to have your baby,” Cricket repeated her earlier claim.

Raine just stared at her for a moment then got up and pulled his pants on. Then without saying a word, he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Cricket stared at the door with tears running down her face. Apparently, fatherhood wasn’t something Raine wanted. Her hand drifted to her lower belly and she cradled her slight baby bump. By her figures, she was just over three months along. She knew she couldn’t hide the changes in her body anymore and she had hoped he’d like the idea of becoming a father.

Raine stomped over to the bar and grabbed a bottle of Black Velvet off the shelf.

Several brothers turned to watch as he slammed down three shots in a row.

Bones looked over at Deke then at Mountain.

All three men got to their feet and walked over to where Raine was standing.

“What’s going on here Raine?” Deke asked.

“My wife just told me something.” Raine growled.

“What was that?” Bones asked.

“Apparently, she’s carrying my child.”

“Well hell, boy that’s great news. Isn’t it?” Mountain asked.

“Under normal circumstances it would be, but now I have to wonder if she was going to take this with her to the grave. I mean if Bane was actually going to kill her tomorrow, would she have even told me about the baby?” Raine snarled.

All three men looked at each other then looked back at Raine.

He caught their looks and nodded. “That’s what I thought. You would be pissed too, if she were your woman.”

“But she’s not their woman she’s your woman,” Cassie spoke from behind the men. “And you’d better get your head out of your ass or you’re going to lose her for certain, you big dummy.”

Raine turned to glare at the small woman. “What the hell would you know about it?”

Cassie shook her head. “Are you men really this stupid? Don’t any of you realize just what you all mean to her? The lengths she would go to, to protect this club and this way of life, what she’s already done to get this far?”

“Suppose you tell us.” Raine growled.

He saw from the corner of his eye Deke’s hands curling into fists and he turned to his president. “I don’t mean any disrespect to your woman Pres, but I need to hear what she has to say.” Raine also remembered Cassie’s MC name. Spitfire. He’d heard the stories of the damage she could do, despite how small she looked.

Deke studied him for a moment then nodded at him and turned to his wife. “Tell us.”

“First of all, Cricket loves you Raine. In the short amount of time she’s been here, she’s given you her love and her life. She didn’t do it freely or without thought. She had to learn to trust you first and believe me, she didn’t trust anyone when she first got here. But I can see why it was so hard for her. Growing up with her sister from hell, she never knew what would happen next, what new hell Cordy had in mind for her. Plus, she had Dusty to look out for. She would have put her life on the line for that boy. He meant everything to her and yet, she turned him over to your family without any fuss. Then she brought my babies back to me too. Because it was the right thing to do. Cordy had no right to take them to begin with but Cricket righted that wrong by bringing them back.” Cassie swung her gaze over to Raine and her expression softened. “But you won her over completely. With you, she found her ever after home. She’s been looking for a place to call home all her life. It didn’t matter that it was inside a clubhouse or that it was only a single bedroom. To her, wherever you are that’s home. I found the same thing when I found Deke, so I know where she’s coming from.” Shaking her head, she went on to say, “That girl has so much love to give you and she wants to, but she’s afraid to try. She gave you a pretty big piece of it today when she gave you her father’s ring. That was all she had left of him and she just gave it away to you.”

Raine still felt a bit angry. He couldn’t think straight.

Cassie stepped closer to him. “What did you say to her when she told you she was carrying your child? Did you say anything at all? Or did you just stomp out of the room?”

Raine flinched as he lifted his eyes to the hallway where he could see the door to his bedroom.

“That’s what I thought.” Cassie scorned him. “All you thought about was you. Think about this big man, it would have been hard to lose her if Bane wanted her dead, but it would have been a hell of a lot harder to know he was killing your unborn child along with her. She knew that. Maybe she just didn’t want you to have to carry that memory too.” Cassie turned and walked away leaving the four men feeling like shit.

“Oh fuck, what did I just do?” Raine whispered brokenly.

“You fucked up bad, boy.” Bones shook his head. “Better go see if you can fix this before she doesn’t let you even try.”

Raine took one step then another toward the door where his whole life was waiting for him behind. His heart grew heavier with every step he took. Then the door was right there in front of him. He thought for a moment about what Cassie had said. Shame weighted down his shoulders when he realized she was right. Cricket hadn’t trusted him easily but she did the right thing with Dusty. He leaned his forehead against the wooden panel of the door. And she was right about what she’d said about losing Cricket. That would have been hard enough but knowing he was losing his child too? That would have been something he never would have gotten over. That would have shattered his very soul.

He had so much to make up to her. Reaching for the door knob, he twisted it open and walked inside. He thought at first she was no longer in the room but then he found her. She was wrapped in blanket sitting in the corner of the room. She was cradling the little puppy in her arms, crying quietly.

When she heard the door close, she slowly lifted her head.

Raine could see the path the tears had made down her face and the sight just about broke his heart. Slowly, he moved toward her and when he got close to where she was sitting, he had to freeze.

Cricket watched him get just so close then she couldn’t help it, she began moving away with each step he took forward.

“Don’t run away from me,” he begged her. “I fucked this up so badly. I can’t believe it.” Raine dropped to his knees and stared at her for a long moment. “I am so sorry baby.”

Cricket watched him without saying a word. At the moment, her mind was a complete blank. She knew her heart was beating in her chest but she couldn’t feel it. The agony of his rejection was still too fresh. Her heart was pulsing raw pain instead of blood through her veins and that’s all she could feel right now. She could hear his words and even understand them but she was frozen inside.

“Please give me a second chance. Let me make this right. Today has been a hell of a day for both of us. Our emotions have been all over the place and I fucked everything up. You will never know how sorry I am about that,” Raine told her watching her carefully. “I was only thinking about myself when I should have been thinking about you.” He smiled. “I’m going to be a daddy. We’re going to have a baby. He’ll have some of you and some of me inside him. We can watch him grow up to be the kind of man every parent wants their kid to be. Sweetness, I can’t wait to meet him.”

“It could be a little girl you know,” she whispered faintly. She watched him with suspicious eyes. Just like the day she arrived here, she didn’t know if she could trust him. She wanted to, she really did but he had betrayed her once and she didn’t know if she could trust him now. “Do you want this child?”

“Oh god, yes I want this baby. He’s going to be our child and I can’t wait for him or her to be born.” Raine told her reverently. “He or she will have a whole family waiting to welcome him or her. He or she will grow up to know he or she is welcomed by not only me and my family but the rest of the club.”

Cricket hung her head low. “Do you hate me for not telling you before now?” She waited desperately for his answer. It would break her heart to hear that he didn’t love her anymore but for the sake of her child, she would endure it. She loved her baby and would do anything to make this omission right.

“Sweetness .I could never hate you. I love you with all my heart. I need you like I need the air to breathe.” Then he reached out slowly to touch her cheek.

She flinched a bit but didn’t move away from him. His touch began to thaw her frozen heart. “I can stay then? And be your wife? Be a mother to this child?”

“Dammit.” Raine closed his eyes at the pain and the hopefulness in her voice. “I wouldn’t want you anywhere else but at my side, in my bed and as a wife and mother to my life. My life wouldn’t be worth spit if I didn’t have you beside me.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Yes, oh god yes,” Raine whispered. Tears fell down his face. “I want you so much. I love you baby.”

Cricket had never seen this man cry. She never knew a stronger man. This finally convinced her. “I love you too. I was waiting until today to tell you about the baby. I wanted the timing to mean something so I was waiting until my birthday to tell you. Then Bane came around and I thought I would save you anymore pain.”

Raine laid a finger over her mouth to stop her from talking. “Hush sweetheart. I know why you did what you did. I should have realized that from the start but I was an ass and only thought of myself.”

Cricket tried to hang her head but Raine wouldn’t let her. “I’m a man and therefore a fool. I will do things that will make you angry, and probably make you cry but I hope never to get this close to losing you again. I’m used to taking care of only me, so I’m not used to thinking beyond myself but I’m learning. For a moment, I lost sight of what I had to do.”

“And what did you have to do?”

“I had to think about you. I should have put you first and I didn’t do that.” He told her simply. “If I had I would have known that you didn’t set out to hurt me or cause me pain. I would have known that you were thinking about me. Instead, I was selfish and ended up hurting you.” He shook his head. “I want to ask you to forgive me for any acts of sheer stupid that I know I’ll do in the future.”

“Then maybe I should ask the same thing. I’m bound to make mistakes along the way too.”

Raine lifted her head to see her eyes. “Are you okay? Is the baby okay? I never thought to ask until now.”

Cricket shrugged. “I’m sure we’re fine. I haven’t seen a doctor yet but I think we’re ok.”

“What about the tat you got yesterday?” he asked. “Will that harm the baby?”

Cricket shook her head. “No I don’t think so. Rembrandt used a special ink. It wasn’t as harsh as regular ink would have been.”

“Thank god for that,” he whispered. “I just remembered Cassie couldn’t get any ink while she was carrying their kids.”

Cricket nodded. “She told me that. She told me why she got the ink too. To cover her scars. She’s led a hell of a life huh? And I thought I had it bad. They named her Spitfire here at the club. She really is that too. Her life would have broken me.”

“No kid should have had that life,” he agreed with her.

“I think that’s why Redemption House is so damn important to her. It’s her way of giving back to the people who helped her when she needed it.” Cricket sighed. “I wish I could do something like that.”

Raine shifted his body and slid down the wall next to her. “Yeah? What would you do?”

“I don’t know. There wouldn’t be much I could do, I suppose. I didn’t even go to school, you know.”

Raine closed his eyes. He’d forgotten her life had been so different from his own. Wrapping his arm carefully around her shoulder he told her, “You know you can go back to school online if you want. You could do what Cassie and Peaches did and get a GED. They went to a public library to study. You could at least do it here. If you wanted to that is.”

Cricket snapped her head around to stare at him. “Really? I could do that? You wouldn’t mind?”

“Oh course, I wouldn’t mind! Why would I?” he frowned.

Cricket shrugged. She didn’t want to tell him about that.

Raine hesitated then cupped her chin and brought her face up. “Why do you think I would mind?” he asked her softly.

“After we moved to Maine, my dad was so lost he never noticed if we went to school or not. I know he loved us but without my mom, he had no direction. Cordy never wanted to go, so she kept me home with her so much that I never got the chance to learn anything. I mean I could barely read. I tried to argue with her but she was bigger so she always won those fights. Then after my Dad died and we took off, she told me I couldn’t go the school or I’d lose the only home I had and that was with her. Then she had Dusty and I needed to watch over him because she wasn’t going to.” She shrugged. “I guess I never thought about going to school anymore after that. I was too old for one thing. I did the best I could for Dusty, teaching him what I knew but I probably got a lot of that wrong too.”

Raine shook his head. “But you didn’t get that wrong. Gambler tells me that Dusty is such a smart kid, he’s way ahead of all the other kids in his class. What you did for Dusty was you sparked his mind to want to learn about new stuff. With all your stories and stargazing, you gave him an edge most of the kids now days don’t have.”

“Really? Wow I did not know that. I thought I was just telling him stories.” Cricket wrapped her arm around his waist and curled into his chest.

“We’re going to go see a doctor soon and get both you and the baby figured out,” Raine told her. “Then maybe we can talk to Deke about getting our own house, maybe even build one here on the compound. Would you like that?”

Cricket froze. “Do you mean that? Really, our own house? We could have our own house?”

Raine smiled. “Yeah baby, we can have our own house. If that’s what you want we can get it.” He looked around the room he’d called home for so long. “This place was all I needed when I was single but now we’re married and we need a place we can call home.”

“That sounds so nice. Home.” Cricket snuggled in closer to him. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep. The worry and fuss behind her now. She was starting to feel safe again and in his arms, it felt so good.

Raine felt her relax enough to sleep and he knew she’d forgiven him. He waited a bit longer before he shifted her up into his arms and then he carried her to bed. Lying down beside her, he fell asleep wrapped in her body.

Max jumped up on the bed beside them and found a spot down by their feet then curled up and soon he was sleeping too.