Sami

IT’S BEEN ABOUT A month since my mom was kidnapped by my dad. Even if it was all a setup by the club. My mom is all healed and there doesn’t seem to be any lasting effects from the attack. That’s something that I’m extremely glad about. A week after the incident, cops showed up at the clubhouse and told my mom that they found my dad and he appeared to have been murdered. They didn’t have any suspects at the time, but they would keep looking into it. That’s all mom and Irish needed in order to get married.

Irish has planned the perfect surprise for my mom. He’s had it in motion for a while but couldn’t do anything about it because of Carl. Now, there’s nothing stopping them from getting married. Or for her to become his old lady. I’ve been helping them get everything ready for the big day. Mom has no idea and I’m loving that we get to surprise her once again.

“Sami, how long until the clubhouse is finished bein’ decorated?” Irish asks me.

“It’s almost done. Bailey and Skylar are putting the finishing touches on it now,” I tell him.

“So, how long before Darcy gets here?” he asks, nervously.

“She’s almost here. I think that she should be here in a few minutes. So, I’m getting Cassidy and we’re going to head over to the house.”

“I’ll walk over with you. I want to give your mom her rag. It finally came in and I need to give it to her along with her ring.”

My excitement level rises as I think of my mom’s reaction to both the rag and her ring. Irish took Bailey and me with him when he chose it. The ring that he liked the best and thought mom would love is absolutely perfect. I had tears in my eyes knowing that he didn’t even need our help. Irish knows my mom so well in such a short period of time and it shows in all of the little details.

Irish walks to the house with Cassidy and I. My mom is sitting on the couch, reading a book when we walk in. She truly has no clue. We haven’t even told her that Darcy is on her way over yet. She should be in the shower getting ready and she’s not looking like she’ll be moving any time soon. But, we’re going to have to get her butt in gear so that at least her shower is over with when the girls show up.

“Babe, can I have your attention for a few minutes?” Irish asks, getting nervous all over again.

“Absolutely!” she says putting her book down and giving her man her full attention.

“Now that your husband is out of the picture, I can do all this. First, I would be honored if you would become my old lady,” Irish says, pulling the box he was carrying out from behind his back.

With tears in her eyes, my mom nods her head yes. Irish helps her open the box and put her rag on. I can see his eyes immediately change, and I clear my throat to remind him that there’s still something he has to do.

“What’s the other thing?” mom asks, relaxing further into the couch again.

“I told you that I was goin’ to marry you as soon as I possibly could. In such a short amount of time, you have brought life back to me. You’ve made my black heart beat again, and I can’t imagine my life without my three girls in it. Would you do me the greatest honor and become my wife?”

Now my mom is full on crying. Once again, she nods her head yes and Irish pulls out the ring he just bought her. She takes one look at it and stares up at Irish. He slips the ring on her finger and pulls her into him. As soon as he lets her go a little bit, she looks at the ring. The diamond isn’t too big, but it’s big enough. Surrounding the diamond is sapphires because that’s her favorite stone. The wedding band has sapphires and diamonds alternating around most of the band. I can see her eyes shining as she looks up at my future stepdad. This is going to be a great day!

“Um, mom, the girls mentioned they were going to be here soon. Why don’t you take a shower before they get here? Darcy wants to come and pamper you a little bit,” I tell her, so that she doesn’t get suspicious.

“Oh. I didn’t know they were planning on coming over today,” she responds.

“It was a last-minute decision. Darcy wants to pamper you before the baby gets here. She knows you won’t really have time afterwards. Plus, they all want to have some girl time. I think grandma is even coming over.”

“That should be fun.”

“You have a dress hanging on the back of the bathroom door to wear. It’s all a part of pampering you,” I tell her.

As soon as she’s in the shower, I head back to the clubhouse to make sure everything is done. There’s still plenty of time before I need to jump in the shower and I can be quick about it. Goose walks me over and tries to tell me again that I should see other people for now. We’ve had this same argument for weeks now. I’m not having it and he should know that. He’ll learn.

Walking into the main room, my jaw drops again. There’s white lights shimmering from the ceiling as the overhead lights will be off. They still put off enough light that everyone will see what they’re doing. Chairs line both sides of the aisle, and a navy runner leads from the stairs to the alter. A few of the guys made it and it’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s solid wood and there’s carvings of motorcycles, roses, and the club colors directly in the center of it. We’ve placed lilies and roses in mason jars around the room. My mom’s bouquet is nothing but lilies. It’s her favorite flower.

Seeing that there’s nothing left for me to do, I make the short walk back home. Goose is still following me even though he doesn’t have to. I don’t know what his problem is these days, but I’m about to find out.

“Listen Goose, if you’ve changed your mind about wanting to be with me, then be a man and just tell me,” I tell him, looking him directly in the face.

“It’s not that Sami and you know it.”

“Do I? I mean, you spend more time trying to convince me to see other people than you do anything else these days. I’ve told you repeatedly there’s no point in doing that so stop pressing the issue.”

“Fine Sami. I’m sorry, I just can’t help but think that you’re goin’ to regret bein’ with me.”

“The only way that’s going to happen is if you don’t shut up about being with someone else.”

Goose hangs his head and I know that he’s going to drop the issue. For now, anyway. Before we can be together, I’m sure that we’ll have this same discussion a few times. But, I’ve been looking into some things and I don’t know that we’re gonna have to wait as long as we think we will.

Entering the house, I can hear laughter coming from the kitchen. Must be the girls are here already. I don’t bother stopping there so that I can hop in the shower though. If mom asks, we’ll just tell her that I’m being included in the pampering. It’s the best we could do, but she seems to be buying it.

We’ve been pampered and are ready to head over to the clubhouse. Bailey sent a message to Irish to let him know. I’ve gotten Cassidy dressed in her little dress and she’s ready to go too. I’m going to carry her down the aisle with the flower basket. Reagan and Zoey are going to help with that part.

“Let’s go to the clubhouse and see what the guys are doing,” Skylar suggests.

“I don’t know if I want to go over there,” mom says, looking at the couch.

“Nope. I want to see Irish drool over you after the big day you had today,” Maddie says.

Mom is choosing to wear her rag over her dress and I don’t think Irish is going to have a problem with that at all. Finally, we all convince my mom to go to the clubhouse with us. For a minute I thought we were going to have to ruin the surprise, but these women can be very convincing. So, we’re now all walking over there and mom is too busy talking and laughing to realize that people from all three clubs are here.

“Now, don’t be alarmed when you walk in the clubhouse,” Bailey tells mom.

“Why? What’s going on?” she asks.

“You’ll know as soon as you see it.”

I open the door and try to keep her from seeing it for as long as I can. Irish is standing inside waiting for us. Well, he was until Joker and Pops ushered him in the kitchen. There’s no way they’re letting him see mom in her dress until she walks over to him. We’re not making her walk down the stairs, she’s going to be walking in from the hallway.

When I hear my mom’s audible gasp, I know that she’s seen the main room. It won’t be long before she knows exactly what’s going on. More tears flood her eyes and I have to hold in my laughter. She never cries this much. Her hormones must be all over the place right now.

“Is this what I think it is?” she asks.

“It is. You ready?” I ask.

“I am. I’m more than ready. Where are you taking me to so we can get this show on the road?” she asks and we all laugh.

We lead her down the hallway and out of the way so that Irish won’t see her before it’s time to. I swear we’re not down the hallway five minutes and the music starts playing to send us all walking down the aisle towards my mom’s future. Since Cassidy and I are set to walk right after Bailey, I have to wait to see Irish’s face. That’s going to be what I’m looking at.

Finally, it’s our turn to walk down the aisle and I can feel eyes on me. I’m still not used to it and it bothers me, but we’re at a wedding and I’m just going to suck it up. My eyes fall on Irish and I know that he’s excited. There’s so much love and pride shining in his eyes already. He’s become my dad in every sense of the word. From the very beginning, he’s been more of a dad to me than my own dad ever was.

As I take my place at the altar, I keep my eyes on Irish while everyone else turns towards the back to see my mom. I think I’m honestly the only one watching him right now. Mainly because I already know what my mom looks like. I want to watch the love fill his features the moment he lays eyes on my mom.

Irish doesn’t disappoint me. There’s nothing but the purest love radiating from him. It fills his face, his eyes, and I can see it in his stance. He doesn’t want to stand there and wait for my mom to make her way to him. But, he makes himself stay still until she makes her way to him.

I look at my mom as she takes her spot next to her man. The same look is on her face and I couldn’t be happier that they found one another. This is going to be so different from our old life. Irish encourages us to go for what we want in life. He’s never going to hold us back and make us do things his way. No, he wants us to learn, grow, and make our own mistakes. He’ll always be there to pick us up when we fall, but he’ll hope like hell he doesn’t need to do that.

Goose

I see my girl watching Irish as her mom makes her way down the makeshift aisle. Everyone else is watching Whitney. I’m watching Sami though. She’s wearing a summer dress in a dark blue. Her toned legs are showing, and I can’t take my eyes off them. I’ve seen her in dresses, shorts, sweats, and jeans. Sami has never looked as gorgeous as she does right now.

In this moment I can’t believe that I once again tried to talk her into seeing other people, getting out and living her life before she becomes tied to me. There’s no way that I can let her do it, no way I can let her go. Sami is going to be mine and I have to stop trying to push her away because I think she’s too good for me.

Throughout the entire ceremony, I don’t hear a single word that’s spoken. My only focus is Sami. She’s standing up for her mom and making sure that Cassidy stays in her arms. There’s been a few times she’s wanted to go to Whitney or Irish, but Sami got her calmed down quickly so the ceremony could get over with.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the justice of the peace says. “You may kiss your bride.”

Everyone starts hooting and hollering as Irish kisses Whitney like it’s the last kiss they’ll ever share. When they finally come up for air, he leads her back down the aisle and out the back door for the reception. I’m surprised he’s not taking her upstairs, but I guess there’s plenty of time for that later on tonight. I know that Sami and Cassidy are staying with Skylar, Joker, and Cage so they’ll have the house to themselves. Hell, I’m even staying in the clubhouse tonight because I don’t want to be in the way.

We all file outside and see that Irish has Whitney sitting in their seats. She must be feeling tired already. I know she gets worn out quick these days since she’s only got a little over a month left. Irish has become even more overprotective of her. It’s funny to watch them fight about things she wants to do. I can’t wait until she starts cleaning the house from top to bottom. I’ve heard the girls talking about doing that when they get close to going into labor.

Everyone has stuffed themselves on all of the amazing food. Whitney and Irish have started thanking everyone for putting their special day together. Now, the music is starting to play, and I know that Whitney and Irish are going to be having their dance towards the beginning of the night. That way, she gets to experience everything before he leads her home for their alone time.

Whitney and Irish dance their first dance to Greatest Love Story by LANCO. Their story truly is one of true love. They’ve both been to hell and back. That’s how I know that they’re going to be strong enough to last through anything that happens to them. I think everyone here knows the same thing is true.

“Hey Goose,” Whitney calls once they’re done dancing. “Come over here.”

I make my way over to them and see her, Irish, Sami, and Cassidy lining up for pictures. I’m not sure why she’s called me over, but I’m here nonetheless. It doesn’t take long for me to realize that she wants to include me in the pictures with them. At first, I refuse to be a part of their family moment. Whitney doesn’t give me a choice though. Before I know it, the picture comes down to just Sami and I. I wrap my arms around her and hold her close to me. She leans in and I know that she’s already forgiven me.

“Will you dance with me?” I ask her.

“Of course I will,” she responds, leading me to the dance floor this time.

As soon as we hit the dance floor, Thinking Out Loud comes on. I’ll never forget the first time we danced to this song at her homecoming dance. I don’t know if it’s meant to be our song or what, but I’m not going to question it. Any chance I have to hold her in my arms I’m going to take it.

We dance for a few minutes and I can see the day taking its toll on her. So, I suggest we go get her stuff so I can get her over to Skylar’s house. When we tell Joker our plans, he tells me that I can hang out and watch a movie with her until they get back over there. I know the only reason that he’s doing this is because he knows Whitney and Irish let us watch movies at night. If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t be allowed to do this. I’m going to take it though. Any time I get to spend with Sami is worth it.