by L. B. Dunbar
Smiling up at me, she nods.
“You look beautiful,” I tell her as she tugs at the skirt of her pink dress.
“Mom looks beautiful, too,” she says, and I can’t wait to see my bride. Soon.
“You still okay with me marrying your mom?” It isn’t going to change much if she isn’t pleased, but I want her blessing all the same.
“Yes,” she offers with confidence, and I smile.
“I have something for you.” Leaning over my footboard, I pick up the small box and hold it out to her. “Your mother is giving Lucy something similar,” I tell her before she opens it. I allow her to unwrap it and then lower to my haunches before her as she tips open the box. “It’s a puzzle piece. Yours and your mother’s link, and Lucy and mine link, and then the four of ours clasp together, like those friend heart necklaces.” I actually didn’t know anything about such jewelry until Janessa came up with this idea. Then I hold up my wrist.
“Mine is on this leather band while your mother’s is on a bracelet. We bought you and Lucy ones on a necklace, hoping you might wear them often.”
Vega hesitantly looks up at me, and I wonder what she’s thinking behind those eyes that match her mother’s. So much has happened so quickly for her: moving, separating from her father, the loss of her grandfather, and now this. While I’ve pushed for a hasty wedding date, I’ve tried to keep in perspective the rush might be too much for a child of ten years old. Janessa assures me Vega is handling it all in stride.
“Will you wear this today?” I ask, reaching for the necklace, and Vega nods. I take it from the box and then fumble with the tiny clasp. My fingers shake for some reason. This is a big step. It’s more than joining Janessa and myself but blending families. As Lucy and I have been alone for a long time, it’s going to be an adjustment, but with the time we’ve spent together so far as a unit of four, I’m hoping it won’t take much for us to link like the pieces of puzzle jewelry.
Once I have the jewelry on her, another knock comes to the door. “Daddy, can Sadie take a picture?”
Mati opens the door wider, and my daughter and niece enter.
“First, just you and Vega,” Lucy directs, and I kneel beside her, putting my arm around her waist. To my surprise, she leans into me, and I risk a kiss to her temple. When she looks up at me, I know I have an audience, but I have something to say to this child.
“I’m not going to try to replace your father, but I want to be a dad to you in every way I can.” Not knowing if she understands my meaning, she nods again, lowering her head, and then I see a tear. She’s sensitive, I’ve learned, and I pull her to me, hugging tight until Lucy wanders over and wraps an arm around both of us. I wish Janessa could see us and be a part of this, but our time will come soon enough.
When I feel Vega pull back, I ask, “Who’s ready to get married?”
“Me,” Lucy cheers, but I look at Vega.
“Me too,” she says, holding the puzzle charm in her palm as the necklace rests on her neck.
“Then let’s get married,” I tease, and Sadie snaps a few pictures of the girls and me while my sister, Mati, swipes at her eyes before winking at me.
As I near her before exiting my room, she stops me with a hand on my arm. “You’re so good, Charlie.” And for once, I take it as a true compliment.
+ + +
I patiently stand at the end of the dock, waiting for my future wife, and then I’m not so patient when I see her appear. Even though her brother offered to give her away, she walks alone down the dock. She told him she was giving herself away this time—wholeheartedly, as well as in body and spirit. Zander might have mentioned that was too much information, but from what I’ve learned of him, he’d like the same thing. Janessa’s mother cries tears of joy, but I assume sadness mixes in as Henri isn’t present to see his daughter’s happiness.
And Janessa is happy, as am I.
“Hi,” she softly says to me as she meets me at the end of the decking.
“Hi,” I whisper back to her. The preacher stands before us while only our family and the closest of friends gather on the yard near the water’s edge.
While he begins in typical fashion, and we both know the ceremony will be short, I’m ready to share with Janessa something I’ve wanted to tell her.
“Janessa, with this ring, I give you my love and devotion. I promise to be faithful, honest, and true to you, believe in you, and support you.” I reach for the engagement ring I gave her and continue. “With this ring, I gave you a treasure, valued in my family as the engagement ring from my grandfather to my grandmother. He liked to say it never mattered who was first because the winner was the last. The last person you kiss. The last person you bed. That’s the person you see with the light of a new day and at the end of one, and that person lasts the rest of your life. I look forward to you wearing this ring…” I pause as I begin to slip the formal gold band down her finger. “Representing the most important love in my life and keeping it here forever.” I finish slipping the wedding band on her finger to butt up against the engagement ring.
Janessa curls her fingers into mine and then holds up a gold band for me.
“While I don’t have something of equal sentimental value, what I do have for you is my heart, my body, and my soul, all for you. I look forward to a partnership, a friendship, and most importantly, the love relationship we share now and will continue to share in the future. This is the start of a new adventure, a great adventure, and I’m so happy to have you at my side for it. You are the diamond in my life. The solid rock I plan to lean on but also hold up, and together, we will be invincible.”
She squeezes my fingers, and I forget to wait. I lean forward and kiss her. It’s soft and too brief before the preacher clears his throat.
“Just a few more lines, and then you can kiss her,” he teasingly warns.
While I hear the words, and my brain processes them, none of them need to register. I know how I feel about this woman whose eyes are latched onto mine, and we sheepishly smile at one another, the heat radiating between us. If the preacher wasn’t present and the family wasn’t gathered, the best way to solidify our vows and commitment would be in another manner. Janessa must sense my thoughts because she squeezes my fingers, hinting at later.
Later.
Like the rest of our lives together.
Epilogue
Wet Reception
[Janessa]
When the short ceremony finishes, Charlie leads me from the dock to the pool patio where we plan to host a small dinner. His brothers, however, are eager for pictures.
“Step back a little bit,” Billy calls out as his daughter is situated to take our photo near the pool.
“Just one little more,” Giant encourages as Charlie holds me and shuffles us backward. My heel clips on the edge, but Charlie tugs me into him.
“Almost,” Billy states.
“That’s enough,” Charlie calls out and then stomps his foot. Only, his own hard-soled shoe catches on the edge of the pool, and he tips. Gripping me, he tilts, and within seconds, we’re going over.
When the water hits me, I scream under it, my dress instantly plastered to me. Charlie drags me upward, and I’m certain between my makeup and hair, I’m a mess. Charlie’s suit is soaked, and my dress is ruined.
“Goddammit,” Charlie calls out, pushing at the water to splash his brothers who bend over laughing. “You’d think they’d grow up.”
“Never,” Billy bellows, still laughing his ass off. “You’ll always be the kid brother. Welcome to the family, Janessa.”
“William, what did you do?” Elaina Harrington cries out, coming to the edge of the pool and staring down at us.
“Why’s it always me?” Billy snorts.
“That’s the same question I ask myself,” their mother retorts, and I can’t help myself. I start to laugh as well. With everything ruined, there isn’t much else to do, and Charlie looks at me. His lips slowly curl.
“You didn’t p
lan to ever wear that again, did you?”
“Never,” I whisper about my beautiful dress. Charlie reaches out for me, and in the middle of the pool, he kisses me hard.
“You’re going to wear only this tonight,” he playfully warns, pressing at the rings on my finger.
“Promises, promises,” I tease.
“Can we come in?” Both girls stand on the edge of the pool, primed to jump with their pretty dresses and fancy shoes.
“No,” Charlie and I say in unison. Then Charlie pushes back his hair. “Bathing suits first.”
The girls look at one another and run for the house, and I glance at Charlie. “Well, as long as I’m already wet, might as well stay in.” He shrugs off his jacket and walks it to the side of the pool. Lowering for each shoe, he tosses them onto the concrete. Then he removes his socks and helps me to a seat on the edge of the pool.
“You’re a good man, Charlie,” I tell him, looking down at him in his soaked dress shirt and ruined suit pants. I recall the day his child ran to him, waterlogged in her bathing suit, and he lifted her like he didn’t have another care in the world than to catch his daughter. He’s caught me as well. The gold band glitters on his finger as he covers my knee with his hand and tips up for another kiss.
“I might be good for you, but you know I love to be bad with you.”
I smile, as I do know how bad he can be.
We hear whoops and hollers as the girls run to the pool, dropping towels and things as they near it and then leap. That’s how I feel about my life. It’s been a big leap. The move to Blue Ridge. The faith in myself. The job with Parks and Recreation, and my love for this man.
And it’s one jump I’d take all over again.
Watching Charlie splash the girls and toss them around the pool, with a party celebrating our happiness on the pool deck, I never thought I’d be so happy myself, and I realize I’m right where I was always meant to be.
With Charlie.
+ + +
Want more Harrington brothers? Up next. Silver Biker.
Learn about the Harringtons from the beginning in Second Chance.
Or start at the beginning of all my sexy silver foxes with After Care.
+ + +
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More by L.B. Dunbar
Sexy Silver Foxes
When sexy silver foxes meet the women of their dreams.
After Care
Midlife Crisis
Restored Dreams
Second Chance
Wine&Dine
The Silver Foxes of Blue Ridge
More sexy silver foxes in the mountain community of Blue Ridge
Silver Brewer
Silver Player (2020)
Silver Mayor (2020)
Silver Biker (2020)
Collision novellas
A spin-off from After Care – the younger set/rock stars
Collide
Caught – a short story
Smartypants Romance (an imprint of Penny Reid)
Tales of the Winters sisters set in Penny Reid’s Green Valley.
Love in Due Time
Love in Deed (2020)
Love in a Pickle (2021)
Rom-com for the over 40
The Sex Education of M.E.
The Heart Collection
Small town, sweet and sexy stories of family and love.
Speak from the Heart
Read with your Heart
Look with your Heart
Fight from the Heart
View with your Heart
Spin-off Standalone
The History in Us
The Legendary Rock Star Series
Rock star mayhem in the tradition of King Arthur.
A classic tale with a modern twist of romance and suspense
The Legend of Arturo King
The Story of Lansing Lotte
The Quest of Perkins Vale
The Truth of Tristan Lyons
The Trials of Guinevere DeGrance
The Island Duet
The island knows what you’ve done.
Redemption Island
Return to the Island
Paradise Stories
Abel
Cain
Modern Descendants – writing as elda lore
Modern myths of Greek gods.
Hades
Solis
Heph
+ + +
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A sip of Silver Biker
As I sit in the Ridged Edge, a biker bar just outside town, my vision glazes over. I’ve had one too many again tonight. I’m loose limbed and spineless but not past the point of remembering who I am. I can’t forget myself although most days I wish I could.
James Harrington.
That’s my name, my birth right, and my curse. I didn’t always hate being a Harrington. At one time, I took it as a privilege. I used it to my advantage. But a name doesn’t stop you from losing everything.
“Why the scowl, honey?”
The biker bitch on my lap cups my chin and forces me to look at her. I’m not about to tell her my woes. Few people know the truth and that’s the way I like it.
Trixie. Trudy. Tabby. I can’t remember her name and I tug at her hip. She’s wearing the shortest of short skirts in black leather and a white top cut so low her red bra hangs out. Her thick ass presses into my thigh. She’s unfamiliar in so many ways. She isn’t the woman I thought would be sitting on my legs at my age. By forty-eight, I believed my life would be many things. None of them hold true. What a fucker I was back in my twenties. My thoughts want to wander to the past, but I refuse to let memory traipse there. There’s no point in pulling up history.
“Thinking about how’d I get so lucky,” I mock of myself, letting her believe it has to do with her on my lap. She’s a brunette with brown eyes and it’s all wrong. I need to keep it that way if I want to make it through the night with her. I don’t, actually—want to spend the night with her. I’m not happy being with other woman, but I am a man. I have needs and I try to give what I take. The tongue works wonders. Fingers too. But there’s a part of me that doesn’t belong to anyone else but one woman.
And she’s gone, fucker.
It’s all my fault.
“We should get out of here,” the babe whispers in my ear. Her voice is wrong. Smoky and rough, she sounds as tough as she probably is. It’s a hard life being a bitch to a set of bikers. Rebels Edge. We aren’t the worst bunch out there. We aren’t one-percenters although the club had been at that level long before me. Something happened along the way and it whittled down to more a group of lost souls finding one another. We ride. We drink. We fornicate.
Such is my life now. The life I didn’t think I’d ever be living. However, I love my brothers-on-bikes.
“Not quite yet, honey,” I tell her as she licks the shell of my ear. I’m being hosed down by the saliva and lapped like the kisses my pouch Silver gives me. A lick from my Siberian Husky might actually feel better.
“Ranger.” The call of my biker name from Justice, the president of our club, and one of my best friends forces me to look up. “I think this one’s for you.”
His silver topped head tips toward the front door of the bar and I squint. The brightness of blonde hair from yards away beckons to me like a beacon across a lake, but I can’t make out the rest of her body as she stands before the front door of the bar like she isn’t certain she should be here. Perhaps she’s wondering how she got here.
Join the club sister.
Then again, don’t. Whoever she is, from this distance, I can tell she doesn’t have a stitch of biker babe in he
r. Something just doesn’t feel right about her and tells me I’m correct in my assessment.
“Nope. Not my type,” I say to my old friend, turning my gaze back to him and then offering a kiss to the jaw of the woman on my lap. Justice snorts and shakes his head side to side. His arms cross over his solid body. He’s been acting all kinds of weird the last few months. Now that he’s getting his dick dipped on the regular to one woman in particular, he’s mellowing. I’d tease him it’s old age, but I know the real source of his content. He’s in love.
I shiver with the thought. I’d been there once—only once—then I lost it all.
Maybe the chick by the door is lost. Happens on occasion. Someone’s driving toward Blue Ridge, up here in the Smoky Mountains of Georgia, and she gets lost. She hasn’t quite made it to town and doesn’t realize she’s only fifteen minutes outside of it.
Keep going, honey, I want to holler. You’ll get wherever you’re going soon enough.
Blue Ridge is my hometown. Born and bred here, I knew I’d spend my entire life near this town. After what happened here, I’ll never leave. Never.
“Wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Justice states, chuckling to himself and pulling me back to the present. The lost woman finally walks to the edge of the bar and pauses at the structure. It spans the length of one wall. The rest of the room has tables scattered here and there. I’m sitting near the pool tables toward the back of the place. I’d just won a game and somehow the woman on my lap is my prize.
I’m not getting laid, but I’ll be getting long overdue head.
“What do you know?” I snap at my leader although it comes out more a slur. I’m feeling so good, really relaxed. I’d like to think the ease will allow me to stick my dick in someone random, but I know it won’t. This bird on my lap could sing pretty, smell sweet, and tease me in all the right ways, and I still won’t being going where I can’t bring myself to go.