“Would you please put that down before Ethan kicks my ass?” Ryan asked, yanking the box out of Amelia’s hands. “Go sit in the shade like a lady, okay?”
“There’s nothing in it except for pillows,” Amelia protested.
“Yeah, but he’s irrational,” Jimmy pointed out. “Stop trying to be helpful and just sit down and look pretty.”
“Sorry, that’s taken,” Penelope said, fluffing her hair with the hand that sported the diamond Taylor had bought her the week before.
She did almost everything left-handed these days, hoping people would notice and make admiring comments. Most of them did, but only because it was so obviously what she wanted them to do. Her enthusiasm was too cute for anyone to want to harsh her buzz.
There wasn’t a sparkler on Amelia’s left ring finger. Not yet, anyway. She and Ethan had talked about it and decided to put their money toward the house they’d found to rent and for baby things. There would be a lifetime to find a ring and a stable start to their family was at the top of the priority list at the moment. But Amelia made a point of pointing Penelope’s ring out every time she saw it sparkle or flash.
“Wait,” she said, letting her mouth drop open in exaggerated shock. “Are you reallyengaged?!”
Penelope grinned and thrust the ring under Amelia’s nose. “I didn’t tell you?” she said, continuing the joke.
“I think I might have heard something about it,” Ethan said as he walked by with a stack of boxes. “Maybe seven or eight hundred times, or something. Give or take.”
Penelope flipped him off and he laughed.
“You’re going to hurt your back,” Amelia said. “Or your shoulder.” His shoulder had healed well, but it would always hurt. She usually rubbed it at night for him and, even though he never complained about pain through the day, she could tell he appreciated it.
He put the boxes in the truck. “Nah, I’ve got another twenty good years.”
“And think how much more you’d have if you lifted with your legs,” Amelia replied.
He slung his arm around her shoulders, dropped a kiss onto her hair, and walked back into the house for the next set of boxes.
“I can’t believe you’re really leaving,” Penelope said. “You’re gonna come back for the wedding, though, right?”
“If you don’t go ahead and ask me to be a bridesmaid, I’ll cry all the way to Texas,” Amelia said, only half kidding. The latter stages of her pregnancy were making her even more emotional than she’d been before.
Penelope laughed, her face lighting up the way it always did when she talked about the upcoming ceremony. “I’ve been wanting to ask, but I wasn’t sure you’d want to do it. It’s not going to be too fancy, you know. It’s not gonna be the kind of wedding you’re used to.”
“Yeah, you two actually like each other,” Amelia said. “I’d be honored, Penelope.”
Penelope flung her arms around her and Amelia laughed, returning the hug.
“Take it easy,” Ethan cautioned from under behind the boxes he was carrying now.
“Ethan!” Amelia exclaimed. “It’s just one hug. And you’re about to drop--”
Ryan dove and caught the box that teetered off of the top of the pile. “Now that’s teamwork, boss.”
“What’d you call him?” William asked from his place in the truck. He was organizing the boxes the others were putting in.
“Former boss,” Ryan corrected himself. “Sorry, current boss.”
“I guess I can let you slide this once,” William said magnanimously. “How much more shit do you have anyway?” he went on, addressing Ethan this time.
“Not a lot,” he answered. “And if you can’t handle loading a truck, how the hell are you gonna handle running this club?”
“Hey, this truck is loaded perfectly,” William shot back.
Amelia rolled her eyes.
“I saw that,” William said.
“I did it so you would,” Amelia returned, making everyone within earshot laugh.
Eventually, the last boxes were carried out, loaded up, and the truck closed. They all sat down on the small front porch, some of them on the steps when the porch got too crowded. Everyone but Ethan and Amelia opened a beer and they all sat in silence for a few moments.
“Gonna be weird without you around, man,” Taylor said. “Can’t believe you’re ditching to be a cowboy.”
Ethan snorted. “I’m repairing equipment on a ranch. Trust me, I’m not gonna be rounding up anything but parts and tools. And I expect y’all to keep that new building looking good.”
“We’re gonna trash the place the minute your back’s turned,” Ryan said. “We’re gonna be the party chapter of The Angel’s Keepers.”
William reached out and clipped him across the back of the head. “You still thinking of starting a chapter down there?” He asked Ethan.
“Yeah,” Ethan said. “I’m gonna feel the place out, see what the local scene’s like, but I’m gonna give it a shot once the kid gets here.”
“And when do you start your job, Amelia?” Penelope asked.
“A week from now,” Amelia said, unable to keep from grinning. “I’ll work right up ‘til I have the baby. Then I’ll take a little bit of maternity leave and then go back to it.”
“What are you gonna do about a babysitter?” Penelope asked. “Are you still going to be able to swing it?”
“I can actually take the baby to work with me,” Amelia said happily. “They have a little employee daycare that I’m going to use for nap times and things like that. It’s a really family friendly place to work.”
“It was cool of Aubrey to put in a good word for you,” Penelope said.
“It was, but she didn’t need it,” Ethan replied, linking his fingers through Amelia’s. “She had that director wrapped around her little finger.”
Amelia grinned, proud of herself and not afraid to show it. “I kind of did.”
“That’s what happens when you know your stuff,” Jimmy said, holding up his fist for her to bump.
He would know. He’d helped her prepare for the interview and he’d proofread the countless résumés she’d sent out. In return, Amelia had introduced him to Aubrey. The two of them talked almost nightly now and Amelia’s hopes were high. She’d never been a matchmaker before, but from the way Jimmy grinned when Aubrey’s name was mentioned, she thought her first try could be counted a success.
“Have you heard anything more about the investigation?” Taylor asked.
“We’ll have to be around for the trial,” Ethan said. “But we don’t qualify as a flight risk, so it was okay to go ahead and move. We’ll just have to come back. It’ll be a good vacation.”
“Glad they locked Miller and Brewer up,” William said.
“Yeah,” Ethan agreed. “Not even their lawyer could get them out of it once Michael squealed. And they’re the fucking definition of flight risk.”
“That Bear guy turned on ‘em, too, didn’t he?” Ryan asked.
Ethan nodded. “He wasn’t too happy with the way they treated him after he did everything they wanted.”
“Everything except actually kill you,” Taylor said.
Ethan grinned. “Yeah, that was kind of the important part. But he could back me up about the drugs, so thank God Brewer’s paranoia got a little out of hand on that one.”
Amelia nodded, but she didn’t speak. Bear had been missing two fingers when the police found him in one of Brewer’s hiding places. Even though he’d been a horrible person, willing to kill for an insultingly low ten thousand dollars, she would not have wished that on him. She wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
“Have you heard from your dad at all?” Penelope asked.
Amelia shook her head, brought back to the conversation going on around her. “No, not since he was charged. He’s out on his own recognizance, but he wouldn’t even see me when I went to get my stuff.”
“Really?” Ryan stared at her. “That’s seriously fucked up. You nearly lost the baby because of his bullshit!”
Amelia shrugged sadly. “I called him right after he was released and he said if I would rather throw my life away than do what was right, there wasn’t anything he could do.”
William snorted. “Yeah, ‘cause roasting me and Ethan alive was the right thing to do.”
“And putting you through so much stress that you could have lost the baby,” Penelope said. “That was right, too, of course. What does he consider ‘right’?”
“He wants me to recant my statement,” Amelia said. “And say he was coerced into working with Miller and Brewer. The thing is...I don’t believe it for a second. He took the deal with them to be able to keep his seat as the Nevada State Representative and he let everything else fall by the wayside. Pretty soon, he didn’t care about anything but winning. He would have covered for them if they’d managed to kill Ethan.”
She reached out as if to make sure that he was still beside her and whole. He draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side.
“What a jackass,” Penelope said. “And he still expects you to do what he says. He doesn’t even care that he’s not going to see his grandchild?”
“He said the baby won’t be legitimate. That it’s not his grandchild.”
“Fuckhead,” Taylor said. “You’re better off without him.”
“I hate it that he doesn’t care,” Amelia admitted. “But I’m trying to focus on all the people who do.”
She looked around. The Angel’s Keepers had been an amazing support system and she was really going to miss them. But the thought of living near her best friend had its perks, too. Especially if Jimmy fell in love with her and came to live in Texas too so she could truly feel like a matchmaker.
A good job was waiting for her, and a better job waited for Ethan, as well. And they wouldn’t be “The Ex-State Representative's Daughter” and “That Biker Guy Who Helped Bring Down a Crime Boss.” Even though it was true, and they had, they wanted to be known for what they could bring to the world rather than what they were born into or what they’d fallen into.
“Ready to go?” Ethan asked, seeming to pick up on her thoughts.
“Ready,” she answered, letting him pull her to her feet. At seven months, getting up wasn’t exactly her strong suit. Along with sleeping through the night, peeing less than twenty times a day, and eating only three balanced meals.
“Hey, hang on,” Ryan said. “You can’t go yet.”
“Why not?” Ethan asked.
“Because we got you a present,” Penelope said, jumping up and running over to her car.
She handed over a smallish box and said, “Since you won’t tell us whether it’s going to be a boy or a girl, we went with a unisex present.”
Amelia ripped the silver paper off eagerly. She didn’t really care much about receiving presents for herself, but baby gear was her new obsession. She laughed through tears when she held up a small black leather jacket.
“Turn it around,” Taylor said with a grin.
When she flipped it around, The Angel’s Keepers’ colors flashed up at her. Ethan ran his fingers over them. There was a small patch on the sleeve, too.
“This one was one of dad’s,” he said.
William nodded. “Yeah, I had that one on my jacket after your old man died. I figured it’d go to better use this way.”
Amelia glanced up at Ethan in time to see him swallow hard. “Can we tell them?” she asked.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, might as well,” he said, his voice gruff, but not annoyed.
Amelia put her hands on her stomach. “It’s a boy,” she said.
Penelope pumped her fist in the air. “I knew it!”
Everyone gathered around, punching Ethan on the uninjured shoulder or slapping him on the back, while giving Amelia hugs that would have led people to believe that she was made of glass.
“Name?” Penelope asked.
“Marcus,” Amelia said. “Marcus William Billings.”
William stared at her. “Say what?”
“You heard me,” Amelia said, keeping her tone practical. “And we expect a ride organized to come see him when he gets here”
“Yeah,” William said, his own voice rough now. “Yeah, we can probably do that.”
“We’d better hit the road,” Ethan said, looking into the sun. “I wanna get a good way there before we stop for the night.” He didn’t nurse any illusions of Amelia making the trip in one go.
“Let us know when you get there,” Jimmy said, ever practical.
“Don’t forget to turn the keys to the truck in at the box,” Kenny said, even more practical.
“Stop in at that burger place right when you cross over the Texas state line,” Taylor advised. “Best burgers I’ve ever had.”
“Call me later,” Penelope said, rolling her eyes at Taylor and then grinning.
“Watch that left front tire,” Ryan said. “Looks just a little low. Check at when you stop for gas.”
“Thanks,” William said simply. “Good luck to you both.”
As the members of The Angel’s Keepers walked away, Amelia glanced up at Ethan. Now that it was really happening, how would he take it?
Ethan brushed his hand over her rounded stomach and smiled down at her. “Can’t wait to get home with you, baby,” he said.
She stood on tiptoe, stretching to meet his kiss. It had all the promise she needed to give her the strength to leave the old life behind and walk into the new one with him.
THE END
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