Chapter Eighteen
Pru
I head back into the nursery with a smile on my face. Thankfully, the doctor gave me the green light to have sex. Hack has been keeping me satisfied. His fingers and mouth are amazing, but I miss having him inside me. Just the thought has a wave of heat hitting my face.
“Do I even have to ask what that little smile on your face means?” Addy laughs as I walk across the room to check on Scarlett.
“It means she’s gonna be getting her some,” Trix says with a laugh.
Her words have me looking around the room to see if the kids heard her. I blow out a relieved breath when I see Cam sleeping in the baby bed and Parker playing a video game with a pair of headphones on his head.
I look at them both and my smile grows. “I got the all clear.”
“Like I said, the fucking is about to commence,” Trix says, sending me a wink.
I wink back then look down at my sleeping daughter. “I know I should be taking advantage of her sleeping all the time, but I really wish she would wake up for more than to just eat.”
“Normally, they start waking up a bit more around six weeks,” Gidget says as she steps beside me to reach down and rub a hand over Scarlett’s head. “Since she was a preemie, I’m sure it will be later for her. Expect it about six weeks from her due date.”
“Her due date isn’t for another week,” I tell her, leaning down and pressing a kiss against my daughter’s forehead.
“Fucking hell!” Trix says in a near shout, drawing my attention.
“What?” Addy asks, but Trix’s eyes are locked on me when she says, “I’ve gotta tell you something, Pru. Should’ve told you, when you told me about Scarlett coming early. Didn’t want to then. Don’t want to now, but I have no choice.”
“Okay,” I say walking over and taking a seat on the carpet.
She watches me sit down then looks across the room to the wall that separates the nursery from the room Hack and I share. “I need to get Boz to tear down that wall and make this room bigger. We could finally bring in some damn chairs so we don’t have to sit on the floor all the fucking time.”
“Is that what you needed to tell me?” I ask, smiling at her.
She doesn’t smile back; instead, she looks toward the floor. “You’ve gotta understand, a lot of women would do anything to hook one of the Grim Bastards.”
I’m so surprised at the quick change of topic that I can only respond with a nod.
“Stupid chicks think being with a brother is like living a fairytale. They ride Harleys instead of horses. They wear leather instead of shining armor. Still, there are crazy bitches out there who seem to think they are all Prince Charming.”
“It’s always been that way,” Gidget states with a nod. “Women were always throwing themselves at my dad and brother. Believe me, neither of them were a good catch.”
Addy nods her head in agreement and says, “Even the prospects have to beat the girls off with a stick.”
“Okay,” I say, wondering why we are talking about this.
Trix finally looks up at me, her eyes glassy. “You have to believe me; I didn’t say anything to anyone else.”
Reaching over to grab her hand, I give it a squeeze. “Honey, I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“I went to Hack and asked him if he was sure the baby was his.” She says it so fast that it takes my brain a second to decipher the words.
“Uh huh,” I mumble, trying to figure out if I should be mad at her for getting into our business or glad she’s watching Hack’s back.
She pushes a stray lock of hair behind her ear before looking my way. “I should have told you when you told us about Scarlett’s birth. I was too much of a chicken shit, afraid you would be mad at me.”
“I wouldn’t have been mad,” I reply, not sure if my words are a lie or the truth.
“The time frame just kept running through my mind, and it didn’t add up in a way that made sense,” she explains then adds, “With as tiny as Scarlett is, I should have realized she was a preemie, but the only other newborn I had ever seen was Cam, and he was tiny, too.”
“I understand,” I reply, still not quite sure how I should feel.
My brain keeps telling me that I should be glad Hack had someone looking out for him. My heart, on the other hand, is hurt she didn’t come to me first. If she would have asked, I would have told her the truth. Taking in a deep breath, I force myself to remember that Trix had just met me and had no reason to bring her suspicions to me.
“No, you don’t,” she says as she pushes herself off the carpet and walks over to the closet to pull out a bottle of water.
Trix opens the bottle and starts drinking it, not even looking in my direction. The minutes tick by as she drinks her water, staring off into space. I move my eyes to Gidget and Addy, and they both shrug to let me know they are as clueless as I am.
She finally turns to look at me and says, “If it had been any of the other brothers, I wouldn’t have said a word. I would have left them to deal with it on their own. But Hack, he reminds me of my dad.”
Addy’s quick gasp lets me know that whatever Trix is going to tell me won’t be good. Right now, after everything that has happened since Hack walked out on me, I’m not sure I can handle anything more. Still, I sit and listen to what she has to say.
“My mom died when I was a girl. She was a wonderful old lady and amazing mother. She was everything I hoped to be someday,” she says, tossing the half-empty bottle in the trash. “Losing her tore me to pieces, but it damn near destroyed my dad. Even after all these years, I still see his pain every time I look in his eyes.”
“Trix,” I interrupt, planning to tell her she doesn’t need to say anything else, but she cuts me off with a quick shake of her head.
She looks at me and says, “The first time I met Hack, I saw the same pain in his deep blue eyes. I had no idea what his story was, but I knew he had lost the woman he loved.”
I close my eyes, a flash of jealousy for the love Hack felt for his wife hitting so hard that I nearly cry out in pain. Guilt comes close on its heels, filling me with an even worse pain. I push both feelings away, knowing that I would do anything for Hack. Even though it would hurt like hell, I would walk away from him today if it meant he could have Holly back.
Trix walks over and sits down beside me. “When Hack found out about the baby, that look of pain started to fade. Then, he brought you and Scarlett here, and all I could see in his dark eyes was hope.”
I blink at her words, feeling warmth fill my heart. “Really?”
“Yes,” she replies with a nod. “When I realized the time frame wasn’t a nice and tidy nine months, I started freaking out. I was afraid if that hope kept growing and he found out the baby wasn’t his, he would…”
She stops mid-sentence and looks back down at the carpet. “I heard my dad telling one of his brothers he would have driven his bike off a cliff when he lost Mom if it hadn’t been for me. If Hack got attached to Scarlett and found out she wasn’t his, I was afraid he would end up doing what my dad didn’t.”
She looks up and whispers, “I wanted to stop it from happening. I would rather him hurt now than die later.”
Any question of whether I should be mad or glad fades in an instant. The next second, I am pulling Trix in my arms as she cries on my shoulder. I rock our bodies from side to side, murmuring comforting words into her ear.
“I’m so sorry, Pru,” she says when she finally calms down enough to speak. “Can you forgive me?”
I pull my arms from around her, leaving them resting on her arms. “There’s nothing to forgive.”
A choked sob reaches my ear, and I look across the room to see Addy standing beside the baby bed with her hand on Cam’s chest. She is crying so hard her body is shaking. Gidget has a few tears falling down her cheeks, but she is holding it together a bit better than the rest of us.
“Why are you crying?” Parker asks in a shout, drawing our attention to him.
He is standing up now, no headphones on his head. His feet are spread apart, and his arms are crossed over his little chest. A scowl is on his face as he narrows his eyes at his mother. He looks every inch the little biker.
He doesn’t give Gidget a chance to respond, just stomps to the door, throws it open, and shouts, “Smoke, Mommy’s crying. You need to come up here and hit someone.”
We women look at each other for a second then burst out laughing.