by Faye Parker
I’d never cared about the service before, but since it was Ellie’s and mine, the words were so important, none more so than the vows. I would love her forever - there would be no such thing as death us do part.
We would spend the rest of our lives together, facing a future that was free from the ghosts that haunted us. In killing Denver, not only had I somehow set Cassie’s memory free, I had helped Louise - she knew it had been Denver’s family that killed her father.
Since Robert met his end, Ellie didn’t frown in her sleep anymore.
I watched her sleep each night, ready to soothe her nightmares away.
But with me by her side, she didn’t have any more need for nightmares.
Chapter Forty
I woke up early, with butterflies in my tummy. Today was the day! I was going to become Mrs. Kate Eleanor Anderson… Well, Mrs. Ellie Anderson.
Mrs. Daniel Anderson!
It was 6am, and I really should have another hour's sleep - it would be a long day. Yet, when my eyes sprang open I knew that I couldn't just lie there any longer. The excitement and anticipation had me grinning to myself even as I still lay in bed.
I stretched out in the super king bed; loving the feeling the luxurious Egyptian cotton sheets as they wrapped me in warmth. The bed was far too empty for my liking, but tradition dictated that I did not sleep with Daniel last night. It was a stark change to my recent sleeping habits since I’d never left Daniel’s side since we'd got engaged.
Even though he'd come with me to the hotel last night, insisting he'd check that the room they'd offered me for my last night as an unmarried woman was to his standard. Really, he didn't want to be away from me any more than I did him.
His mum had known exactly what he'd planned to do once we were alone, so she made sure not to be too far away from us, refusing to leave this suite until he went with her.
I hadn't had the opportunity to be nervous before I met Daniel's mother for the first time, it was a day I would never forget. The kitchen-full of mobsters, the attack, the guns, Robert's death. Daniel's proposal.
Life moved fast in these parts, faster than I remembered.
But the life of a mafia wife was ahead of me now. There were responsibilities for me. I was part of a family and I was needed.
Daniel had confessed he had been curious about meeting my grandmother – he'd never really admitted he'd been nervous about it, but I would let him have that.
My grandmother, like his mother, was a strong woman who said exactly what she needed to. All in all, this was probably the one thing that made things easier for Daniel. His expectation for people to say exactly what they thought may have been refreshing, but it was just like my Gran's.
As for Jennifer, Carrick had given her a lot of background about me, and ultimately, she had approved of me before even talking with me. Jennifer had been the previous keeper of the diamond ring that now had pride of place on my left hand. It was the ring Daniel's grandfather had "acquired" to propose to his grandmother - I didn't ask how he'd got it, but I had guessed.
When Carrick was going to propose to Jennifer, his frail mother insisted he used her engagement ring. Now, the third generation along, it was my turn to wear the row of three diamonds with pride: I Love You.
When I first learned of my ring’s heritage I felt so guilty. Giving up your engagement ring had been a huge ask, but when Daniel had reassured me that Jennifer had been the one with the idea, I truly felt like I had been accepted not just by him, but by his whole family.
Blood and Loyalty.
I thought again about the tattoo over Daniel’s heart and what it represented. All the men bore the same tattoo somewhere on their body, some of the women had even adopted the symbol for themselves too.
Perhaps I’d get a tattoo too. I mused.
I stretched in the bed, looking again at the ring and how it sat on my hand. Within all the happiness I felt was a pang of sadness that I would be the last in the line. Unless, I passed my engagement ring on to one of Daniel's younger brothers when their time came, but that felt very wrong to me right now.
I could never give Daniel a child to continue his line.
It would be the one last "gift" from Robert that even his death could not erase.
When the doctors did the emergency cesarean, they had tried to save my daughter's life. I hadn't cared that they'd butchered me to get to her, as the scars across on my belly showed. They were too late though, she hadn't survived the procedure. After I started to recover from the surgery a grey-haired doctor visited. He'd pulled the curtain around my bed for privacy, but I knew that a thin curtain would never dull the words enough. The other women in my ward would hear what he had to say.
The doctor spoke softly told me that, from seeing the shape of my uterus and the damage Robert had caused would mean my body was extremely unlikely to be able to conceive a child again and even less likely to carry a child to full term.
Even in the days and weeks that had passed since my Grandmother's capture, Daniel had never talked about children to me, even though he knew I'd lost my daughter by Robert's hand. But I saw the way he looked at the other Kindred Son's kids.
Carrick had insisted Daniel, my Gran and I went to Chester House every Sunday, where many of the families would gather to eat. As much of an alpha as Daniel was, and as commanding he was with his guys, I saw the look in his eyes as he watched the young children as they tottered around the house.
How he lifted them and twirled them around. As frightening as he was to adults, none of the children feared Daniel. Their chubby little faces light up when they saw him. As did his too.
Please God, if I could only ask of you one thing…
Epilogue
Louise was staying in the adjoining suite, but it was still too early to wake her. She was the only one I had confided in. I'd skipped periods before, for no reason, so I'd put down the first period I'd missed to all the stress and excitement of the last few weeks. I'd been due to come on last week, and that was the second period in a row.
Something felt different this time… Could I…
I’d made myself a promise that I wouldn’t test until after our wedding. If a pregnancy test was negative now, part of me feared it would break my heart.
I had about an hour before everyone would descend into my hotel room to help me prepare.
But I couldn’t wait any longer. I just couldn’t.
I was going to do it, but I’d need to be quick.
I dressed quickly, flinging on the pair of jeans I’d worn the night before. I was impressed that Andy was milling around in the hotel corridor at this time of the morning. He'd obviously taken his duty to keep watch very seriously.
Then again, Daniel had basically already been running the Kindred Sons, now that Carrick was giving more responsibilities to him, Daniel was practically the Boss already.
I greeted him as I walked quickly past, "Morning Andy," I scraped my hair back into a messy ponytail.
"Oh... morning Ellie!" he ran to catch up, "Where're ya goin'?"
I'd already thought of that, "It's my wedding day, the most important day in my life and you're going to ask me where I’m going?" I walked with purpose.
"I… um… I mean I can get whatever you need."
"Great!" I stopped and smiled brightly at him. "I just need your car keys for five minutes." That threw him and I saw the confusion on his face. If I pushed too hard he'd ring Daniel.
Daniel had been overprotective of me ever since the shoot-out since so many of the Doyle's were gone, the remaining ones were unpredictable.
I looked at the indecision on his face and decided to ease it. "Well, that or you can drive me round to the service station."
He relaxed. “You're not surely looking them god-awful pickled onion puffs at this time of the morning?!"
Nope... but now he mentioned it, I could definitely eat some of them yeah.
Only thing I could eat recently.
I pretended to be embarras
sed. "Um... yeah. My appetite has gone a bit weird lately with the nerves. Could you take me around, please?"
Andy was happy to wait in the car for me since the only other person in the shop was the assistant. I made sure to lift a couple of bags of Monster Munch before quickly swiping the real reason I left the hotel. I paid quickly before stuffing the real reason for my visit up into the sleeve of my hoodie as I walked back to the car.
I practically ran away from Andy when we got back to the hotel. I’d always known that the first sample of the day was the best for what I wanted to do and if I didn't get back to privacy now, I would pee myself.
Literally.
I had waited to keep that particular event until I had a stick beneath me.
Once I’d done what I needed, I slipped out of my bathroom, checking again that the inter-room door between my suite and Louise's was firmly locked on my side. After what felt like an age, I went back to check my result.
Then I heard the knock on my suite door and Louise's irritated voice leaking through. "You locked me out!" More rapping. "Let me in, I've got the camera rolling on my phone - I'm documenting the whole day here!"
"Just a minute!" I wrapped the stick up in its plastic and panicked - someone would see it in the bathroom bin, so I took off my trainers and hid it inside one of them, and then stuffed my trainers into the overnight bag.
Louise’s face was flickering between excitement and confusion, “Why’d you lock me out?” The cistern in the bathroom was refilling and the sound helped me come up with my excuse. Daniel would be the first to hear our news so I had to stall her questions.
“I, ah, I had a bit of…” I couldn’t look her in the eye, “An excited tummy. I didn’t want you to, um.” I wasn’t sure quite how to say it.
“Disturb you in the middle of something?” she turned the camera to herself as she exaggerated pinching her nose, relieving me of having to say more to my lie. She turned the camera back to me before pausing the recording.
“Are you alright now?” her eyes assessed me with her usual intense scrutiny. “Do you want some tablets?” She turned to face Andy who had taken a step into the room.
Dammit I thought I’d locked that door.
Had he a spare key? Yeah, probably.
“Can you nip down to the reception and ask for two pints of water, please?”
Clearly uncomfortable at the thought of discussing my bowels, he made a hasty retreat.
Louise marched over to the still blacked-out windows, opening the curtains and the blinds quickly.
“Let’s get a proper look at you. We can’t have you looking anything less than spectacular today! I’ve invested too much effort into your wedding.”
“Do you have any idea how many women would kill for your natural hair color?” She touched my hair. “I’m so glad you dyed it back to blonde again. Brown just didn’t suit you.”
There was a compliment in her words, somewhere.
Louise had taken to the role of chief (and only) bridesmaid with so much gusto I started to suspect she’d had spent a little too much time binge-watching all the wedding reality TV shows she could find. It was a side to her that was as much of a surprise to me as the discovery that she’d been training to be an active part of the Kindred Sons since she was 16.
In fact, whilst living in Manchester, in relative safety and protection away from Londonderry and the Doyle’s, she’d been following the training regimes alone.
I assumed that she'd had a lot of training to become the sharpshooter I now knew she was. But I tried not to think too much about that, as somewhere in the back of my mind was the knowledge she was almost always concealing a gun. Carrying a handgun, concealed or not, was illegal here – even if it was licensed, which I knew hers certainly weren’t.
I had thought that people only carried guns in two situations: in the America that my TV showed me, where it was legal to carry a gun; and with the stereotype mafia guys that most of the Kindred Sons lived up to when they were going on a mission.
A five foot four slimly built woman who normally walked around in six-inch heels did not fit into either bracket. How wrong could I have been? I shook away the idea of where she'd hide her gun today… probably holstered to her leg under the lavender dress we'd chosen for her.
Grandma and Ryan were both staying in the hotel too, and after they’d made their way to me the four of us ate breakfast together in the room.
I had almost called everything off when I found out that Ryan’s trip to the hospital wing had been intentional. Visiting him to see the damage for myself only made me worse. But the reassurances from Daniel and Ryan that the bruises looked worse than they really were eventually eased me – it had been a preventative action. Even Ryan had said so.
The parole hearing had gone ahead and Ryan had been released the week before the wedding. I debated between walking up the aisle alone or with Ryan and when he had offered, I could not refuse the hope in his eyes. It was only after I’d made the decision that I knew it had been the right one.
It felt right that my little brother should play such a big role in opening the next chapter of my life.
All our lives really.
Carrick had taken Ryan into his family every bit as much as either me or my grandmother.
The other guys had welcomed Ryan with open arms, too. Both giving me a feeling of relief and trepidation. Ryan was not a fighter, if he was to be involved with the Kindred Sons, it would have to be on a non-action basis. If at all.
It wasn’t until after the ceremony and the photographs that I could steal a few moments away with my new husband.
His eyes sparkled and the smile on his chiseled face was breath-taking.
I can’t believe he’s married to me!
I kept imaging it was all just a dream. Daniel kissed me deeply, and as I gasped for air I inhaled his cologne.
God, I loved that smell.
Tears overwhelmed me and his eyebrows creased in concern. "Sweetheart?" a strong thumb wiped away the tear that escaped.
I’d never had much reason to shed happy tears before and I didn’t care that Daniel saw them. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
I shook my head, “Nothing’s wrong.” I smiled as I closed my eyes to clear them. “Everything’s perfect.”
“Then why are you crying, pet?”
“They’re happy tears.” I was huddled into a warm embrace.
“Ahh,” he kissed my forehead. “I feel that way too.”
I laughed, “I bet you’re not feeling exactly the way I do.” His breath altered and his voice changed.
“Eh?”
I moved back a little to look into his eyes. We’d barely been apart since the shoot-out, so I’d got to know every little detail of him, and right now, in those beautiful blue eyes with the smallest flicker of grey, I saw fear.
The smile beamed from me and the tears rolled down my cheeks. “I’m so happy, Daniel. This has been the perfect day, but there’s one thing I just haven’t been able to tell you yet.” His body stiffened.
“It’s good,” I tried to reassure him, “In fact, it's the best news ever." I took a deep breath and I could see the vein in the side of his temple pound.
“Daniel, we’re having a baby!”
He lifted me into his arms, and I heard his voice crack. “But I thought you couldn’t…”
“Well,” I chuckled, “Apparently I can, and I very much am.” His laughter matched mine.
“The test says 3+ weeks, which I already thought I might have been, so for it to be positive like that I’d need to be pretty pregnant.”
His lips met mine with a gentle kiss. “You’re everything to me, and you always will be, but somehow I love our baby…” he took a shuddering breath, “Our baby, even more.”
He shook his head in amazement. “My god, you’d already made me the happiest man on earth – now I’m the luckiest too. I already swore I’d be the best husband to you I could, and I mean it, I’ll be the best Da there can be
too.”
We decided not to share our news with anyone else just yet, and every time we could sneak away together through the rest of the celebrations all he could do was kiss me sweetly and grin at my tummy.
The doctors had given the changes of this happening to be less than slim but I refused to do anything but stay positive. I already knew everything would be fine.
I could feel it in my bones.
Daniel, our baby and me: our little family.
About the Author
By day, Faye Parker lives a regular life and has a regular job. It’s not that exciting. But by night, she dreams up wonderful stories bad ass bad boys and the wonderfully strong women they love. Hot, naughty, dirty stories that make her blush even as she writes them.
She’s of the firm belief that every one should be a bit of a bad ass, and that every woman is wonderfully strong in her own way.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24