Wicked Whiskey Love

by Melissa Foster

“No,” Crystal and Sarah said in unison.

  “Why would it feel weird?” Crystal asked. “It’s not like you can get drunk from secondhand beer fumes. Otherwise Dixie would be drunk all the time.”

  They glanced across the room at Dixie, who was pointing to something out the window with Isabel, Quincy, Jed, and Penny. Scott approached from behind, put an arm around Dixie, and said something that made Dixie say, “Ha! In your dreams!”

  Red strode out of the kitchen and announced, “The Whiskey boys and our surrogate Whiskey, Tru, are in the garage in case you’re looking for them.” She looked beautiful in a pair of black slacks and a black sweater with a chunky green, red, and gold necklace. She scooped Lincoln up as he toddled toward the kitchen and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You are not big enough to play with motorcycles.” She set him on his feet, and he toddled back toward the other kids by the Christmas tree.

  “Come on, Linc. Bradley’s teaching us how to make bike helmets.” Kennedy patted the floor beside her. She looked cute with her hair in pigtails and wearing a Christmas Princess dress Crystal had made for her.

  “Look,” Finlay said from behind her hand.

  Bradley was dragging a bag of diapers down the steps. Sarah and the kids hadn’t officially moved in with Bones, but they’d been staying there since the day after the awful night with Lewis. She was pretty sure Scott was glad to have his bachelor pad mostly to himself. He’d been hanging out with Dixie a lot more lately, making Sarah wonder if there was something brewing between them, but he’d brought her kids treats from Cassie’s bakery twice in the last week, which made her curious about the two of them, too. She was just happy he was spending time with women. He was too good a man to be alone.

  “Look.” Finlay nudged her, nodding toward Bradley again as he tugged the diaper bag beside the tree and squatted on his heels beside it. “He’s so determined.”

  Bradley took out several diapers and said, “Everybody needs one.” He opened a diaper and set it on Lila’s head, making the other kids giggle, and said, “One.” Then he opened another diaper and plopped it on Lincoln’s head. “Two.”

  Red touched the sleeve of Sarah’s blouse. “Oh my goodness, Sarah. Look at that little darling.”

  Lincoln took the diaper off his head.

  “Linc, you need a helmet or you can’t ride the motorcycle.” Kennedy set the diaper on his head, and Lincoln looked at Lila as if she could fix his bossy sister.

  Bradley placed a diaper on Kennedy’s head and said, “Three.” Then he scooted Lila behind Lincoln and said, “Kennedy you sit behind Lila.”

  “Good idea. Then she won’t fall off,” Kennedy said.

  The kids held the adults’ rapt attention as they whispered about the cuteness playing out before them.

  Bradley plopped down in front of Lincoln. He put a diaper on his own head and said, “Four.” Then he held his hands up, as if he were holding handlebars, and began making motorcycle-engine noises.

  Sarah grabbed her phone and took pictures, as the kids all joined in making engine noises and swaying whichever way Bradley did. She texted a picture to Bones with the caption I think you have a mini-me.

  “I think I’m going to cry,” Finlay said. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Gemma put her arm around Finlay and said, “I think you have baby fever. You should borrow Lincoln sometime when he’s overtired. It might cure you of it.”

  “Don’t believe her,” Red said with a shake of her head. “Once you have the baby bug, you can’t escape it until you’ve got your own little one in your arms.”

  Sarah’s phone vibrated with a response from Bones. Good boy, taking charge of the pack. Think anyone would notice if I carried you upstairs for another lovefest? Before she could reply, she heard the guys coming through the garage door. They headed straight for the refrigerator, with Tinkerbell trotting beside Bullet. Sarah was still stuffed from Christmas dinner, but she’d learned a lot about Bones by staying at his place every night. He ate a lot. He had to. The man worked out six days a week. He had a gym in the basement and another at the office. When he couldn’t work out before work, he worked out at lunchtime. It was no wonder he looked so good. And she loved watching him work out. Her very own eye candy.

  “I think Dixie was right about you on Halloween,” Gemma said. “The way you’re looking at Bones, you definitely have Whiskey fever.”

  “That I do,” she admitted happily. It was wonderful to be so in love, and she had no intention of hiding it.

  Crystal glanced at the men, who were heading back out to the garage with beers and a plate of leftover turkey. “Sarah, you seem really good. Are you? I mean, is it true? Because we’re here for you if you need to talk.”

  “I know you are, but it is real. I’m happy.” Her therapist had suggested she tell her closest friends the truth about what she’d gone through, to build a support network, move past the shame that had plagued her, and to focus on the way she’d grown and become stronger from what she’d gone through. Although she still couldn’t go to the shelter, and Camille and Ebony had gone to stay with relatives, she’d kept in touch with the girls, and she’d told them first, because they had all been through something similar. And then she and Bones told his family. They told each couple separately, and every time she told her story, it got a little easier to talk about. When she shared her story with Bear and Crystal, Crystal told her how she’d been raped in college. They’d talked for hours, and it had brought them even closer.

  “My therapist suggested I put my story into the blessing bags at the shelter. Bones arranged it with Sunny, and we’re using one of the pictures Hawk took of me and the kids on the front of the booklet, and on the last page, there’s a picture of all of us, including Bones. Bones delivered a bunch to the shelter last week.” She secretly hoped Josie would see it.

  “That’s wonderful,” Crystal said. “You’ll probably help a lot of women see that they can get past whatever they’ve been through.”

  “How does it feel?” Gemma asked.

  “It felt funny at first to have me and the kids on the cover. But while From Homeless to Happy started out as my story, it became their story, too. And even though it felt a little presumptuous to have Bones in there, since we’re not married or anything, he’s a big, important part of our lives that neither of us wanted to leave out.”

  “Wayne gave me one of the booklets, and I’ve never seen my son so proud to be included in anything.” Red hugged her and said, “He never seemed content with where he was in life until he found you and the kids. It’s a miracle.”

  The guys came back into the kitchen, and Sarah glanced over, catching Bones watching her. He winked and mouthed, I love you.

  “No, Red,” Sarah said dreamily. “He’s our miracle.”

  “WHAT DO YOU think the sweethearts are talking about?” Bullet leaned on the kitchen counter, eyeing the girls in the living room.

  “Kids,” Truman said.

  Bear scoffed. “Sex.”

  “How hot we are, obviously,” Bones joked.

  Bullet chuckled and took a swig of his beer. “How’s your girl holding up, Bones?”

  “She’s great.” The more Bones and Sarah talked about what she’d been through, the easier it seemed to be for her. “The therapist is helping a lot. I’m thinking about going to see him.”

  “What’s going on?” Bear asked.

  “I’ve got issues, man.” Bones watched Sarah laughing with the girls and said, “I can’t stop thinking about taking vengeance on that fuckface and hunting down the assholes who hurt her.” He met Bullet’s uneasy gaze. “I want to destroy them the way they tried to destroy her. I want to humiliate them, torture them, and—”

  “Stop,” Truman said. “I’ve been to prison. You don’t want to go there, man.”

  “He’s not going to prison,” Bullet said, locking a death stare on Bones. “You’re not doing shit, you understand?”

  “It’s eating away at me, B. I
’m trying to channel it into other things, but I fucked up. I should have forced him to sign those papers.”

  “Go see the therapist,” Truman urged. “Talk this shit out. Get it out of your system. We’ll find another way to get the papers signed.”

  Bullet clenched his jaw, standing up to his full height, as if trying to intimidate Bones into agreeing to back off.

  “I don’t want that baby born without those papers signed,” Bones said. “Sarah and her kids need protection.”

  “They have it,” Bear reminded him. “There isn’t a Knight around who hasn’t taken a turn patrolling town, watching out for that asshole. One wrong move and we’ll take him down. But you can’t do it like you did. You’re lucky he didn’t press charges.”

  “Not that he’d win, because I saw that fucker come at you with a knife.” Bullet nodded with a wink and a wry grin. “We’ve got your back.”

  “Too bad having my back can’t clear my head.” Bones headed toward the living room.

  “Bones.” His father’s deep voice stopped him in his tracks. Biggs sidled up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, gazing into the living room. “You see those children? That pretty blonde with the baby in her belly?”

  “Yeah, I see them, old man. Hell, I feel them even when they’re not around.” Sarah and the kids were not only part of his life, they’d become a part of him. They’d become his world.

  The other guys brushed past them on their way into the living room. Bullet mouthed, Everything cool? and Bones nodded.

  “You got your vengeance,” Biggs reminded him. “You got away with it, and you kept the woman and children you love safe. If you go to prison, what happens to that little sweetheart who makes your heart feel like it’s on speed? The one who was strong enough to live through hell time and time again.” He shook his head, took a drink, and then he said, “There are different types of hell, son. Seeing the person you love behind bars? Taking your children to prison to visit the man who made all sorts of promises and can’t fulfill them? That’s the worst kind of hell there is, and there’s no guarantee she’ll be waiting for you when you get out. Remember that the next time you want to take that fucker’s life.”

  Bones had struggled with this very debate his whole life, and he was unable to hold in his frustration for a second longer. “How can you say that, when you’re the one who taught us to do whatever it takes to make things right? You confuse the hell out of me.”

  His father’s beard twitched, like he was trying to smile but couldn’t quite finish it. “You’re confused because you don’t realize you’ve already done the right thing, son. I didn’t raise killers. You catch a man in the act, you do whatever it takes to end it and to keep it from ever happening again. It leads wherever it leads. But after the fact is a whole different situation.”

  “And what about this anger? How do I fix that so it doesn’t eat me alive?”

  Biggs glanced at Bullet, who had his arms around Finlay and a goofy grin on his face. “Seems to me you knew just what to do when Bullet came back from overseas with PTSD.”

  Bullet had returned to the States more than six years ago unsure if he’d live or die. Lying in a military hospital, he’d confided in Bones and asked him not to tell anyone he was there. He hadn’t wanted their family to worry over him. Bones had kept his secret, and he had hooked Bullet up with a therapist who, in time, had done wonders for his PTSD. But Bullet had still seemed filled with rage, and Bones had worried about him right up until the time he’d fallen in love with Finlay. After that all of Bullet’s demons seemed to be laid to rest. They’d found out only recently that Biggs had known about Bullet’s brush with death the whole time. Bones was still shocked that their father wasn’t pissed at him for keeping Bullet’s secret.

  “I know your heart has led you every step of the way with Sarah, and I know that’s been strange and new for you. Exciting as fuck, I’m sure,” Biggs said with a wink. “But this time you’ve got to lead with your head. Go see that therapist so you can be the father those babies deserve and the man Sarah and I both know you to be.”

  Biggs limped toward Red as if he hadn’t just made Bones feel like he finally understood his father a little better—and proved he fit in after all.

  Sarah glanced over, flashing the sweet smile he saw in his dreams. She always looked beautiful, but against the backdrop of the Christmas tree, with her blond hair framing her face, she looked angelic. Dixie said something, and Sarah turned that smile on her. The din of his family and friends mixed with the Christmas music someone must have just turned on. He stepped into the living room and decided his father was right. He’d make an appointment with the therapist, because there was no way in hell he wanted anything but happiness for Sarah and the children.

  “Dadada,” Lila babbled as she toddled across the room, reaching for Bones with one hand and holding the last unopened Christmas present—the one he’d hung by its bow on the bottom of the tree for later. “Dadadada.”

  Silence fell over the room, and all eyes locked on Lila and Bones. He didn’t think it was possible for his heart to be fuller than it was right then.

  “Dadadada,” Lila repeated as Bones lifted her into his arms and glanced at Sarah, whose mouth was hanging open.

  Dixie was taking a picture. Red had tears in her eyes.

  “Dada!” Lila patted his cheek.

  He looked at Sarah and said, “It’s your call, darlin’. Is this okay with you, or should I correct her?”

  “It’s perfect,” Sarah said a little breathlessly.

  “Thank God, because if it wasn’t, I’d be worried about doing this.” He dropped down to one knee, and Bradley ran to his side, yelling, “Yay!”

  Sarah’s eyes filled with tears as Bones took her trembling hand in his. The charm bracelet he’d given her for Christmas slid down her wrist, the little pink and blue charms, one for each child, shimmering beneath the lights.

  “Hurry! Give her the ring!” Bradley grabbed the box from Lila’s hand, causing her to shriek. He shoved it back in Lila’s hand, scrambled away, picked up Lila’s new doll, and shoved it toward her. “Trade?”

  Lila dropped the box in lieu of the toy, and Bones caught it midair, making everyone laugh—and Sarah cry. Bones handed the box to Bradley, trying his hardest not to skip their plan and rush to say what he’d been dying to for weeks.

  Bradley opened the box, and Bones said, “Sarah, from the moment—”

  “Isn’t it pretty, Mommy? I helped pick it out while you were at work!” Bradley thrust the box with the elegant two-carat diamond ring at her.

  She laughed, which brought more tears. “It is beautiful.”

  “This isn’t really going as planned,” Bones said with a smile.

  “Does anything with children?” Gemma said softly.

  Bear pulled Crystal against his side and said, “I can’t wait to find out.”

  Bones rose to his feet with Lila in his arms, gazing deeply into Sarah’s eyes, and said, “I had a whole speech planned, but, darlin’, now I can’t remember most of it. Sarah, I want sleepless nights—because of our lovin’ and because of the children. I want baby barf on my shirts and our best-laid plans ruined because the kids are too excited to wait.”

  “Put the ring on, Mommy!” Bradley yelled.

  “Dadadada!” Lila rested her cheek on Bones’s shoulder.

  This was…heaven. “Darlin’, it’s you. It’s been you since the moment I set eyes on you.”

  Sarah gasped. “That’s it! Our baby’s name! Maggie Rose, after our first dance at Bullet and Fin’s wedding.”

  He chuckled, thinking he’d never get the proposal out, and then he realized she said our baby. “That’s perfect,” he choked out.

  “I’m sorry! I’m just so happy!” She pressed her lips together, but her smile broke free.

  “Me too, Mommy!” Bradley shouted. “We’re gonna get married!”

  “Uncle Boney is getting mawied?” Kennedy squealed and clapped her hands.
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  Bear nudged Bones. “Dude, hurry up.”

  “Sarah, you are, and always will be, my one and only love,” he said as fast as he could. “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes,” she said in a half laugh, half cry. She threw one arm around his neck, the other around Lila, pushed up on her toes, and they sealed their promises with a kiss, while Bradley tugged on her shirt and everyone cheered and clapped.

  When their lips parted, Red took Lila from his arms. He slipped the ring on Sarah’s finger, and then he cradled her face between his hands and brushed her tears away. “I love you, Sarah. I have loved you from the very moment I met you, which could have turned out really bad if you were married.” That earned him a sweet laugh. “I’ll always make sure you have safe foods to eat, and if we find out you’re no longer allergic, we’ll take the kids to the best restaurants and find all your new favorites. Darlin’, I want to give you the world. I love you more with every passing second, and I will love you well beyond our natural lives.”

  Her smile lit up the room as she said, “I love you, too. So, so much!”

  Everyone crowded in, hugging and congratulating them at once.

  Dixie hugged Bones and said, “Can it be my turn now?”

  “Dix, there’s nothing I want more for you than happiness. But it’s not me you have to worry about.” He glanced at Bullet, who was hugging Sarah, and said, “Good luck with that.”

  Eventually the kids went back to their toys, and Sarah finally landed back in Bones’s arms. “Hello, my beautiful future wife. I missed you.”

  “Not half as much as I missed you.” She went up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. “I have one last present for you, too.” She handed him an envelope.

  “What’s this?” He opened the envelope and scanned the voluntary termination of parental rights form, which was signed by Lewis, witnessed by Bullet, and notarized. Holy shit. “You went back there?”

  “No. I promise,” she said quickly. “I was afraid to ask you to go back and try again because I worried that seeing him might flip a switch that was better off left unflipped. So I did the next best thing. I called Bullet.”