Epilogue
Della
“Do you want me to fix you something to eat?” I asked.
“What about a pillow? I could grab you one,” Josie offered.
“A drink?” Low mentioned.
Nary clicked her fingers together. “A blanket.”
“Are you cold?” Mena queried, while holding Koda in her arms.
Elvis groaned, running a hand over his face. His head went back, eyes to the ceiling. “Fuck me to hell and back,” he grumbled, then straightened to look at us all. “For the millionth time, I’m fine. I just want to sit here and have a drink with my brothers.”
I hummed under my breath. “Should you be drinking?”
“I got shot four months ago, and I’m totally healed. I can drink, fuck, and ride all I want.”
“Straining could cause problems. I think—” Josie started.
“Shut it,” he bellowed and then sighed. After glancing up to us women standing over him as he sat on the couch beside Dive and Dodge, he looked to his brothers. “Please, for the love of Harleys, control your overbearing bitches.”
Dodge snorted. “Like they’d listen.”
Dive shrugged. “I think it’s sweet.” He winked at Mena.
“I’ll steal one away,” came Finn’s voice from behind us. My body shivered in desire as his arms wrapped around my chest, tugging me back against him before one hand moved down to cover my baby bump.
Elvis glared up at him. “Your woman is the worst. It’s like she’s practicing her motherly instinct on me, following me around to make sure I’m okay. Brother, please tell me you’re moving out, and soon.”
Finn chuckled. “The builders are nearly finished. Only a month or so to go.”
“Christ.” Elvis groaned, but I didn’t miss his lips twitch. He didn’t mind my fawning all over him to make sure he wasn’t overdoing things. I knew it had been four months and he was probably healed, but he, like all the brothers, was important to us women. It didn’t go unnoticed how hard they worked at keeping us safe, so we wanted to make sure we helped in any way we could. Maybe we were going a little overboard with Elvis, but he’d been shot and had nearly died for crying out loud. That was major.
Glancing over my shoulder, I asked, “Where are we going?”
“Lunch.”
“I can get you something in the kitchen.”
“Nope, gonna take my woman out.”
Something I saw in his eyes had me turning around to face him, but it was gone quickly. Was Finn hiding something from me?
“Trust, darlin’.”
He was asking for it, so of course, I was going to give it to him. He’d been nothing but amazing in the last four months. Not every day could be fantastic, though. We still bumped heads every now and then, but the thing was, we worked it out. Nothing would stand in our way. Finn made sure he attended every appointment for the baby, and even when he worked late, he was still by my side when I woke. We hadn’t slept a night apart since the day we found out about the baby, and I loved I had this with Finn, with the father of my baby and the man I loved completely.
We said a quick goodbye, and Finn drove me to a bakery not far from the compound. We’d been staying at the compound more than Melissa and Dallas’s place. Finn said he’d started having nightmares about hearing his brother doing his woman in their bedroom. Even though they were in their master bedroom, they were still noisy when making love. Really, I couldn’t wait until we moved into the three-bedroom home, near Low and Mena’s that was getting built. Everything was happening fast, but I knew Finn was my forever.
I waited in the car while Finn got out and walked around to open my door. He always made sure to take care of me in all ways. Especially the bedroom.
With my hand in his, he led us to the bakery door and opened it, holding it for me as I walked past him with a smile.
The heavenly scent of fresh bread hit me, and my stomach grumbled. Rubbing the roundness, I glared up at Finn. “I’m sure I’ve got the appetite of ten men. It must be from your side.”
He chuckled, placing his arm around my shoulders and kissing my temple. “Mum used to say I ate her out of house and home.”
“Great,” I moaned. “You’ll have to help me lose all the weight I’m gaining.”
He snorted. “No way in hell. Love your body.”
Grinning up at him, I said, “There you go, knowing exactly the right thing to say.”
“Just know and love my woman.”
“Mardella?”
I tensed. My eyes flared up at Finn. He leaned in, kissed my lips and said, “Trust, baby.”
My man. My superman wanted me to not only have a new family, but he also wanted me to have my old. He wanted me to have it all.
I turned with tears already in my eyes. “Mum.”
Mum burst into tears. Her hands covered her face, and in seconds, I was at her side taking her in my arms. She wrapped her own around me tightly.
“Careful,” Finn stated after a few moments.
We both looked up to him. He didn’t say anything straight away, not until he had my arm and gently pulled me into him. “She’s pregnant, so careful.”
My eyes widened. I couldn’t believe he’d just blurted it out. Yes, I had a baby bump, but it was hidden by the jacket I was wearing.
By the look of my mum, she couldn’t believe it either.
“You can’t just say it like that,” I snapped, waving my hand, indicating my shocked, frozen mum.
His lips twitched, and he raised a brow. “You’re knocked up. Is that better?”
“No,” I hissed low.
Mum came unstuck, and in doing so, she burst into another loud sob. Curling my arm around her shoulders, I patted her arm and glared up at my man.
“Why would you just say it like that?”
“Darlin’,” he practically purred. “She was holdin’ you tight, too tight for my liking. You’re my woman who’s growing our kid inside you. I’m not gonna stand back and let it happen when I can stop it.”
“I-I-I like him for you,” Mum cried, then sniffed and took a deep shuddering breath before pulling a tissue from her sleeve to wipe under her eyes and blow her nose.
“How about we grab a table?” Finn suggested.
We led Mum to a booth in the back of the bakery. There were quite a few tables to pick from since it wasn’t busy, but Finn picked the middle one, making sure he faced the door while Mum and I sat next to each other.
She took my hand in hers and faced me. “I’m so very, very sorry about everything. We hadn’t been in a good space, but that’s no excuse. None at all for the way we treated our daughter.”
My bottom lip trembled, tears filled my eyes. “I thought you… I didn’t think… I never thought I would see you again.”
“I know, and I’m so sorry for the wait. When your young man called me, I had just had time off so I couldn’t get any more until now….” She trailed off, noticing my gaze had spun to Finn.
“Darlin’.” He smiled.
“You called her?”
“Yeah.”
“For me?”
“Course, baby.”
“I love you.”
“Love you more, sweetheart.” Smiling softly, I looked back to Mum and said, “Let’s forget what was said. None of us were in good places back then. It’s time to move on, and I’d like to do it with you still by my side and be able to give our baby grandparents.”
She sniffed. “I’d like that very much.”
“But where’s Dad?”
“Shit,” Finn hissed.
Mum bit her bottom lip, and I could tell she wanted to look to Finn but fought it, so I did instead. “You told him not to come.”
“He hurt you, Del. Gutted you.”
Smiling sadly, I nodded. “He did.”
Dad’s words bombarded me from the last time: You went after him, not caring how we would react when you didn’t come back to us. It’s been three months, Mardella. Three months. We didn’t know if you were alive or dead. So don’t say you cared. You didn’t. We lost both our daughters the day we lost Ashley. You should have stayed away. You only worried about yourself and look at what’s happened to you. Should never have adopted you. You brought us more pain after losing our only child.
Finn took my hand, dragging me from those memories I would finally let free. I was stronger. He caught my gaze and promised, “I don’t want that to happen again, so I made sure it wouldn’t by keepin’ him away.”
I smiled softly. “Like I said, I love you, but life is learning about forgiving those you love, who in the heat of the moment take out their pain on you. Dad did that. But I have it in me, since I have you and so much to look forward to, to forgive him.”
“Can’t say I would.”
“I won’t ask you to.”
“Fuck, baby. You’re too good.”
I snorted. “I doubt you think that when we argue.”
“I’ll always think it.” He smiled. “Just won’t admit to it when you’re giving me hell about somethin’ you know I’m right about.”
Scoffing, I shook my head, but I did it grinning. “Please. You’re hardly ever right.”
“This is beautiful.” Mum sighed happily. I caught her eyes, and she blew me away with her next words. “You’re back. You’re you, our Mardella before losing Ashley. Actually, I think you’re more… changed in a good way.” She rubbed her chest and turned to Finn. “Thank you.” Being the badarse biker he was, he gave her a chin lift. She giggled and faced me once again, her hand reaching up and trailing her fingers down from my temple to cheek. “It’s good to see you, my girl.”
With a shaky smile, I nodded and sniffed. “It’s good to see you, Mum.” I hugged her close. “Is Dad here?”
“He’s out in the car.”
He’d come, even though he was warned away from my biker man. It meant a lot to risk the wrath of Handle. Because Dad had taken the risk, I, with Mum, and a fuming Finn, walked out of the bakery and onto the main street. My hungry stomach could wait a while longer.
They hadn’t parked in the car park provided by the bakery; instead, their car was down the road. With my arm curled into the crook of Mum’s, we walked down the road with Finn just behind us, grumbling under his breath.
“He’s a dick, I’m getting you outta here,” he clipped.
“Okay, babe.”
“Mean it.”
“I know.” I smiled over my shoulder.
He glared and then, “Good.”
Dad had been looking out his window, so he didn’t notice our approach until we were nearly upon the car. When he did, he froze. There was no expression, no movement, but when he reacted, he took a deep breath and then opened his door, walking around the front of it. There he stopped and stared. His eyes widened on my baby bump before flicking up and over my shoulder, where I knew Finn would be scowling at him with his arms crossed.
Dad’s eyes came back to me and then I saw, I saw it all, the emotions hitting him. His body jerked. His eyes welled with tears and even as he wiped a hand over his face, more appeared.
He heaved a breath, opened his mouth and then closed it. Never, not once had I seen my dad cry, until then.
He kept swallowing before his throat caught on a raspy noise from deep within, and then he ripped his hands into his hair and cried, “I’m sorry, so fuckin’ sorry, Mardella.” He cleared the thickness in his voice. “I didn’t mean it… hurting you like that. What I said I’ll regret and will have to live with seeing the pain on your face for the rest of my life. I’m so Goddamn sorry. I’ll apologise until the day I die, but I don’t want to lose you. Not you, our only girl left in the world.”
Stepping forward, my own tears fell freely. I shook my head. “I don’t want an apology every day, Dad. All I need is to have you and Mum back in my life, to make it full. It’s already whole, with Finn and”—I glanced down, my hand covering my belly—“our baby, but I want you and Mum to be a part of our family.”
“Anything, I’ll do anything to be a part of your life. God…” He sniffed. “…a baby.”
“Yes. A grandchild.” I smiled.
“Just because she’s forgiven you doesn’t mean I will.”
“Finn,” I scolded. However I couldn’t be too upset by what he said since he was only saying it to protect me.
“No, he’s right.” Dad nodded.
“You messed her up. She trusted me to get her out, and we’ve done it together, so I won’t let anything or anyone, no matter who they are to her, screw with her again.”
“Okay. I understand.”
Going to Finn’s side, I curled my hands around his arm and leaned in. “He’s a bit protective.”
“Understandable and I’m glad for it,” Dad admitted. “But I won’t ever do anything like that again.”
“We’ll see,” Finn bit out.
To cool the tenseness, I suggested, “Um, how about we meet you both back in the bakery. I was hungry before, so I’m extra hungry now.”
Dad braved it once again and came towards me. He leaned in and kissed my temple. “I’ll prove myself. I promise.”
His words spread warmth through me. “I know, Dad,” I whispered. He nodded once again and then took Mum’s hand. She was still crying silently as we went to the bakery.
Turning into Finn, I wrapped my arms around his neck. It took a few beats before his body relaxed, but when he did, his arms came around me.
“Trust me?” I asked.
“I do, but not him.”
“Then let him win your trust back. For me.”
“Anything for you, darlin’. You know this.”
“I do, Finnegan Kaidion. Thank you for beating back my demons and showing me life is worth living.”
“Baby, I wasn’t living until I saw you sitting on a hotel bed in Sydney.”
God, this man. My man.
“Love you.”
“Love you, Del. Always.”
“Good.” I smiled. “Now let’s go eat with my parents, and try to refrain from thinking murderous thoughts.”
“You ask the impossible, baby. But for you, I’ll try.” With a kiss, his arm came around my shoulders.
“You know, if we have a girl, I hate to see you when she starts dating.”
I felt him tense with my arm around his waist. “Simple. She won’t date.”
I couldn’t wait to see what the future held for Finn and me. At least I knew it would be filled with a lot of love. Never again would I question whether happiness existed for me. It did, and my happiness was by my side. Always.
I hope you’re happy up there, Ashely, because I finally am. Miss you always, sister.
More from the Hawks MC: Caroline Springs Charter coming in 2018 with Fallout,
Fang and Poppy’s story.