by Nikki Ash
With Kinsley calling me Dad, and the fact we’re planning a wedding, we decided to move in together. I’m still keeping the condo for Declan, but I’m now one hundred percent living in the townhouse with my girls. My girls. Just the thought has me grinning like a damn fool. We’ve hired an attorney to handle the adoption papers for me to adopt Kinsley, and once we’re married, he’ll submit them to the courthouse to make everything legal. We’re aware of Jacquelyn’s threat to seek visitation-slash-custody of Kinsley, but we haven’t discussed it. However, just because we haven’t discussed it, doesn’t mean I’m not handling shit. I have no doubt that woman won’t try to take Quinn to court, but I’m going to make sure it doesn’t come to that.
It’s Christmas morning, and my birthday, and I’m lying in bed alone. I can hear the girls downstairs, though. Quinn is telling Kinsley she can pour the chocolate chips into the batter, and Kinsley is questioning why she can’t eat the batter if she can eat cookie dough.
Laughing at how adorable she is, I get out of bed so I can join them. There’s a massive Christmas tree in the living room. Santa came last night. As Quinn and I put together several gifts so Kinsley would have them ready to go this morning, she kept apologizing for keeping me up until the crack of dawn, especially since it’s my birthday. By the third time, I told her it was enough. What we’re doing here means everything to me.
When Kinsley sees me approaching, she yells, “Merry Christmas! Santa came!”
“I see that! So when do we open presents?”
Kinsley pouts. “Mommy said after we eat breakfast.” Then she perks up. “Oh! Happy Birthday!” She jumps off the stool and gives me a hug.
“Thank you,” I tell her. Then I walk over to Quinn, who’s standing in front of the stove, waiting to flip the pancakes. Pressing the front of my body against her back, I lean down and give her a kiss to her neck. “Merry Christmas, beautiful.”
“Merry Christmas,” she says through a smile. “And Happy Birthday.”
After we eat and do the dishes, we spend the rest of the morning opening gifts. Kinsley squeals and shrieks in excitement over every gift. Quinn and I exchange gifts as well. I bought her a necklace with a mini camera on it, and she got me a new tattoo kit I’d mentioned wanting.
“I also got you something for your birthday,” she says nonchalantly, but when her cheeks and neck turn pink, I wonder what it is she got me.
“Where is it?” I look around at all the ripped up paper and abandoned boxes. Kinsley is currently running each of her toys up to her room.
“In our room.” She smiles sheepishly. What’s she up to?
An hour later, Kinsley has conked out for a nap, and I’ve texted my mom to let them know we’ll be coming over once she wakes up. We’re doing lunch at my parents’ place and dinner at Jase and Celeste’s.
“Can I get my birthday gift now?” I ask Quinn, curious. She laughs and nods, pulling a square box out of the closet.
Setting it on the bed, I open the top to find what looks like a photo album. I take it out of the box and flip to the first page. It’s a professionally photographed picture of Quinn. She’s lying on her stomach, and her sexy ass is slightly in the air. She’s wearing lingerie I’ve never seen before. And she looks fucking stunning. Slowly, I flip through page after page. Different poses, some in the same lingerie, some different, all fucking gorgeous. And not just because every image shows off her perfect tits or curvy hips. But because in every single picture she looks so damn confident and secure about herself.
“Quinn, these are perfect. You’re so damn beautiful.” I flip through the final pages, each one a tad more risqué than the last, but all tastefully done.
“It’s because of you I was able to have this done,” she admits.
“No, baby, it’s because of you.” I close the book and pull her into my arms. “Nobody can make you feel any way but yourself.” I’m using the words her therapist has said to her several times.
“I know, but it was through your eyes, I was able to finally see that I’m enough. That’s the tattoo I want to get. On my collarbone. I want you to tattoo it on me.”
And without even meaning to, she just made this the best birthday ever. Because from those words alone, I know Quinn finally trusts me.
Epilogue
Lachlan
Three Months Later
I read over the papers Salazar has given to me. While he runs my family’s distillery, in another life, he was in the Irish mafia and his connections reach far.
“Got you, bitch.” I nod my head a few times, then thank Salazar. “I owe you. Whatever you need…”
“Your family took a chance on an ex-mafia fresh out of jail. You don’t owe me anything.” He shakes my hand. “The papers have already been submitted, so she will most likely be served any day.”
I noticed that. I’m hoping I’ll either get to them before they have her served, or we’ll be out of the country. Either way, nothing will come of them, but I’d rather Quinn not be stressed unnecessarily.
Once Salazar leaves, I seek out Jase and Jax. Knowing I might need their backup, I’ve kept them informed of my plan.
“I got what we need.” I hold up the papers, explaining to them what Salazar was able to find out.
“So why would they seek visitation or custody then?” Jase asks.
“My guess is they have no clue, but they’re about to find out.” I smirk. “I’m heading over there now.”
“Let’s go,” Jax says, just as my cell phone begins to ring in my pocket. It’s Quinn.
“Hey baby.”
“Lach,” she whispers, “I need you to come to the hospital.” The hair on the back of my neck rises. Why the fuck is she in the hospital? Is Kinsley okay? When I left this morning, Quinn was packing and Kinsley was getting ready for her last day of school before spring break.
“What’s wrong?” I’m already heading to the front door when I remember I need to let her brothers know.
“I’m okay… Rick’s parents served me this morning, and I-I kind of broke down and Kinsley called nine-one-one.” She sobs into the phone. “Sky has Kinsley.” Damn it! We were so close.
“I’ll be right there.” I hang up and tell her brothers what’s happened.
“You go to my sister. She needs you. We’ll give those pieces-of-shit a visit,” Jax hisses, taking the folder from me.
Fuck! I wanted to see the look on their faces when they realized they were fucked, but Jax is right, Quinn needs me more.
* * *
Quinn
Two hours ago
I’m rushing around my room trying to finish packing. We leave in two days to Ireland for our wedding! After falling in love with the country, and getting engaged there, we decided to get married there. My brothers and their families will be coming, as well as Lachlan’s family. We’ll be there for a week since the kids are all on spring break, and my brothers can leave Evan and Gage to run the shop while we’re gone. The latest receptionist is still going strong.
The doorbell chimes, and Kinsley yells up the stairs to let me know someone is here since she’s not allowed to open the door. I check the clock. It’s ten to eight. It’s probably Skyla. She offered to take Kinsley to school for me this morning so I can get everything done.
I jog down the stairs and swing the door open without checking to see who it is, and standing there on my doorstep is a police officer.
“Quinn Crawford?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been served.”
With shaky hands, I sign my name and take the envelope from the officer. I barely remember closing my door or opening the document. And everything after I open the flap and read “Notice to seek custody” is all a blur. I vaguely remember feeling like I was having a heart attack, and Kinsley yelling for me. My ears begin to ring and my vision goes blurry. My first thought is I’m going to die, and my second is Rick’s parents will get Kinsley because Lachlan hasn’t officially adopted her yet. Once again, from the god
damned grave, my ex-husband is destroying another piece of me.
* * *
I come to in the ambulance, where the EMT tells me my daughter called for help. When I ask where she is, he says her aunt showed up and showed proper identification, so they let her take her. Once I arrive at the hospital, I’m checked-in. Without my cell phone, I can’t call Lachlan. Thankfully, Skyla shows up a little while later, while the nurse is drawing blood, and gives it to me, letting me know she dropped off Kinsley with Celeste on her way here. She was too upset to go to school. I call Lachlan, and he tells me he’s on his way.
Once he shows up, I tell Skyla she can go. I’ll be here for a while, waiting for the test results to come back, but I’m almost positive I just had an anxiety attack.
“Kenneth and Jacquelyn petitioned for joint custody of Kinsley,” I tell Lachlan once he’s sitting next to me by my bed.
“They will be recanting that petition,” he states matter-of-factly. His fingers glide over my newest tattoo. The one he inked on me the day after Christmas. You are enough.
“How do you know?”
“Because after she threatened you, I had Salazar start digging for dirt on them.” He smiles apologetically. I’m assuming for hiding it, not for actually doing it. “I didn’t want you to stress over all this, Quinn.” He brushes his knuckles down my cheek.
“Did he find anything?”
“He did, and your brothers are delivering the information to the Thompsons as we speak.”
“What did you—”
“Good morning, Miss Crawford.” A young gentleman, maybe in his late twenties, strides in. “I’m Dr. Fields.” He extends his hand to shake mine, and I take it.
Then he extends his hand to Lachlan, who eyes him up and down like he’s some sort of competition. I snort in amusement. “This is my fiancé, Lachlan,” I tell the doctor.
“Are you old enough to be a doctor?” Lachlan asks.
“Lach!” I exclaim.
“I am,” Dr. Fields says with a grin. Luckily, he doesn’t seem offended. “We got your results back, and everything appears to be good. When you were brought in, your heartrate and blood pressure were both elevated, so we ran an EKG, and it came back negative, which leads us to believe your passing out was stress related.
“I did notice, though, you marked not pregnant on the nurse’s questionnaire, but your HCG levels are significantly peaked, indicating you are pregnant. We would like to do an ultrasound just to confirm and make sure everything is okay. I’ve put the order in and a tech will be by to take you to do the ultrasound. Once we get the results, and if everything looks good, we can let you go.”
There is so much he just said. I’m pregnant…holy shit! I. Am. Pregnant. How is that even possible? Well, of course it’s possible. I never got on birth control. But I didn’t really believe I would get pregnant. But was I hoping to? My hand goes to my stomach, already feeling protective of the possible baby growing inside me. My gaze goes to Lachlan, who thanks the doctor, since I’m not able to speak, and closes the curtain behind him. My lips curl into a smile, and Lachlan’s shoulders visibly slump.
“We…we might be having a baby,” I breathe.
He leans over the rail of the bed and kisses my belly, then comes up to my face and kisses my lips. “I heard.”
* * *
The tech wheels me in for the ultrasound and confirms I am ten weeks pregnant. I had no idea. I haven’t felt sick or anything. When I convey my concern, she simply says every pregnancy is different but everything looks good. She lets us listen to the heartbeat for a minute and then prints out a grey image of what looks like a tiny bean, but is actually our baby.
Our baby. Lachlan’s and mine. We’re having a baby!
When we get back to the room, Jax and Jase are both waiting for us with small smiles splayed upon their faces. I’m not sure what they’re about to tell me, but I take a few calming breaths. I’m pregnant and I’m not going to allow myself to stress out. I’ve passed out twice recently from the stress, and I need to make sure to put this baby first.
“I’m pregnant,” I tell them both before they can speak. “So, if it’s something bad, can we talk about it later? I can’t let Rick or his family ruin this moment.” Tears prick my eyes. “I’ll deal with it, whatever it is, but not yet.” I feel Lachlan entwine his fingers with mine, and I’m grateful for it. I know with Lachlan by my side, we’ll get through anything that comes our way.
“You’re pregnant?” Jase grins, then pulls me to him for a hug. “Congratulations, sis.”
“Congratulations,” Jax says. “And we have good news. Jacquelyn has already called her attorney to remove her petition for custody. She and her husband will also be signing an agreement that they will never petition again, nor will they contact you or Kinsley.”
“Wow,” I murmur. “Whatever you found must be bad.”
“There’s only one thing those people love,” Lachlan says with disgust. “Money.”
“You paid them off?” But they’re worth millions.
“No.” Lachlan scoffs. “When I had Salazar dig, I wasn’t sure what we were looking for. I was hoping to find something to blackmail them with.” When I give him a disapproving look, he just shrugs. “I’m not even sure why Salazar thought to read your ex’s will, but he did, and in it, it states if he has an heir, he, or she, will receive his percentage of the company along with all of his assets.
Holy shit! That would mean Kinsley would own fifty percent of the company and all the business accounts. She would be a millionaire, which would mean Rick’s parents would have less.
“We didn’t even have to threaten them,” Jax says. “Apparently because there weren’t any known heirs at the time the will was read, the attorney didn’t mention it, and your parents never thought to ask. The second we brought it to their attention, they agreed to do whatever we wanted.”
“They chose the company over their granddaughter,” I say softly.
“They don’t deserve to call her their granddaughter,” Lachlan says. “Remember what I told you before. Blood doesn’t make a family. Love does. Now let’s get you the hell out of here and go get our daughter, so we can finally make us a family, legally.”
Extended Epilogue
Lachlan
Sixteen Years Later
“Dad won’t know if you tattoo me. It’s not as if he looks at my back,” I hear my fifteen year old daughter, Kaylee, murmur from my office at Forbidden Ink. With Jase retired and traveling the world with his wife, and Jax and Willow retired and enjoying the quiet life, naturally it meant I would take over the family business. I wasn’t supposed to come in this morning, since Barrett, my fourteen year old son, has a soccer game this afternoon, but I needed to place a quick order, since I forgot to do it last night before I left. And now I’m damn glad I did…
“It’s not happening, Kay,” Kinsley chides. I can’t help the grin that forms. “Dad would kill me. You know his rule. No tattoos until you’re eighteen.”
“You’re such a downer,” Kaylee whines.
“Trust me, you’ll thank me later for not doing it.”
“Doubtful,” Kaylee grumbles.
“Look at the bright side, I just saved a unicorn from being killed.” Kinsley cackles.
“Whatever.”
I should probably make my presence known, but I don’t. It’s obvious Kinsley has this under control. She’s been officially apprenticing with me for the last three years since she graduated from high school, and this weekend is her first time taking clients on her own. I’m so damn proud of her.
A memory surfaces from the past, when Kinsley was six years old and decided she wanted to become a tattoo artist.
“Dad! Look what I drew.” I’ll never get tired of hearing that three letter word come out of her mouth. She hands me a drawing of two stick figures with the words Dad and Kinsley over them. They’re holding hands.
“Where’s your mom and Kaylee?” I ask.
“At home. This i
s me and you.” She points to the square behind us. “And that’s Forbidden Ink. My teacher told us to draw what we want to be when we get bigger. I want to tattoo people like you.” Kinsley beams up at me with pride, and my heart expands. “When I’m bigger, will you show me how?”
Her eyes are wide with hope, as if there’s even a small chance I won’t give her anything she wants.
“How about I show you now?”
She gasps. “Really?”
“Sure.”
Kinsley’s spending the day with me at the shop because there’s no school and her mom is home with Kaylee. She’s only four weeks old and sleeps a lot, and Kinsley gets bored hanging out at home, so occasionally she comes in with me while I tattoo. She’s a great little assistant.
I grab my gun and hand her gloves to put on. Grabbing the black ink, I open the cap. I place my arm on the counter and Kinsley climbs onto the chair.
“You’re going to let me tattoo you?” she squeals.
“Yep! But you can’t tattoo anyone else until you’re licensed.”
“Okay!”
I walk her through how to hold the gun, turn it on and off a few times so she can see how it feels, then let her try it for herself. When she tells me she’s ready, I point to a small spot on my arm. “Go ahead and give it a go.”
“What should I tattoo?” she asks, her voice full of excitement. “A skull or a soccer ball?”
“How about we start small,” I suggest. Anything too big will probably leave a hole in my arm.
“Okay,” she says softly, “I’ll draw a heart because I love you.”
She presses the button to start the gun and dips the tip into the black ink. Slowly, she draws a heart on my skin. Tiny beads of red surface. When she’s done, she jumps down and grabs a paper towel, wetting it with water and soap, like she’s seen us do a million times. She drags the paper towel across my skin, exposing the new black heart tattoo.