***
“You let your daughter take that to sleep?” Mina whispered from the doorway.
I looked up to find her standing with one shoulder leaning against the wall just inside the door.
“It was the only way she’d stay asleep. I’ve been trying for over an hour now to get her to sleep,” I said.
Her smile was soft as I watched my girl hang on to the t-shirt I’d been wearing up until I’d somehow maneuvered her, and my shirt, off to get her into bed.
“Well, hurry up. Let’s not wake her up with our talking.”
She turned to go, and I walked up behind her and scooped her up into my arms.
“You check on our other girl?” I asked.
She nodded.
“I did,” she said. “I walked in, and she was asleep like usual—with one arm and one leg hanging off the bed.”
I grinned.
That was how I slept, too.
It wasn’t because the bed was too small, either, it was just how I, and obviously now Sienna, slept.
“So we have two sleeping children?” I clarified as I passed through our bedroom door and kicked it closed.
Mina caught it before it could slam, closing it quietly from her perch in the protection of my arms.
“We do,” Mina confirmed. “Now what are you going to do about it?”
I groaned. “We can’t do anything.”
She sighed and threw her head back to look at me. “We didn’t follow the six-week rule with Sienna, why are we doing it now?”
I pushed her back onto the bed and followed her down.
“Because with Sienna, we were young and stupid and had no idea of the consequences of having sex before you were fully healed. Now, you’re a nurse, and we know better.”
She grunted.
“I have to go back to work in six weeks. Do you think Tommy will give me another two weeks off?”
She rolled over onto her side, and I pulled her in close to me, dropping a kiss on her forehead.
“Yeah,” I said. “But you told me just yesterday that you were ready to go back.”
She grimaced. “That was when they had a busy day, and it was a moment of weakness.”
I grunted in amusement.
“Have we decided what we’re going to do with Gianna yet?” I questioned.
“Actually,” she said. “I do have an idea about that.”
“What?” I pushed.
“I was thinking that, since we have a lot of kids here, all under the age of four, that we could see if everyone wanted to hire a full-time nanny who would watch them all day while everyone was at work. That way no one has to take their kids to a daycare,” she started. “But I don’t know how to broach the subject with the others.”
“Just ask Tally,” I said. “Or Imogen. Or…”
She started to laugh. “I know, I know.”
Grinning, I reached over to the lamp and plunged the room into darkness.
“We better go to bed now, or we’re going to hate ourselves in an hour when she wakes up.”
Mina yawned. “You aren’t kidding.”
With that, Mina shifted again, this time underneath the covers, and then rolled until her face was resting on my bicep.
I slowly stroked her hair, thankful that she was growing it out again for me, and wasn’t surprised when she fell asleep within a few minutes.
That was normal for an exhausted woman who had an infant and an active eight-year-old, though.
She slept when she could, or she suffered the consequences later.
As my eyes drifted closed, and I thought about how much my life had changed, I realized that my dear old dad had done something right.
He’d hired that cleaning lady all those years ago, the one with the beautiful daughter.
And in the process, he’d changed my life.
Though my daughters would never know their grandparents, I knew that they would never miss that love. They had so many aunts and uncles and cousins that they would never feel that hit.
Would never feel the pain that my parents had almost caused them.
Would never know the hatefulness of Mina’s parents.
Maybe someday they would know that my parents were both serving life sentences for their crimes, but that’s as far as it would ever get.
As for Mina’s parents? Well, they weren’t even in the picture. We didn’t care, and it was obvious that neither did they.
And to be honest, we didn’t miss them.
How could we with the amount of love that swirled through the hearts of every single member of the Dixie Wardens MC? Not to mention the protection of the Joker, who struck fear in the hearts of nearly every criminal in three states?
My kids would never know what it was like to not be loved. I’d make sure of it.
And six hours later, when my daughter woke up, screaming at the top of her lungs, to sate her hunger, I could do nothing but smile.
My smile grew when I brought her into our room to find Sienna and Mina snuggled up in my recently vacated spot.
“Is that how it’s going to be?” I asked her.
Mina smiled.
Sienna patted the bed beside her, and I took her up on the offer.
“You know,” I said as I passed the baby to her. “This would be a lot more fun if you would feed her.”
Mina started to laugh as she gently placed Gianna in her arms. “Yeah, I’m sure it would be.”
I was right. It was.
With Mina nursing our daughter and Sienna telling me what she wanted to be when she grew up, I finally felt at peace.
My heart was full.
I had the love of my life in my arms, and our kids in our bed. My club—both of them—at my back.
It was a long, painful road back to this point. I’d never take any of this for granted because life just didn’t get any better than this.