“How’s that going for you, by the way?” Mallory rolled her eyes at Anna, reaching over the side of the floral couch to plug one of the many fans I had stowed around the house. Jax had been nagging me about the electric bill, but as winter was almost over, and an early and warm spring was beginning to leak through the door, I couldn’t fight the hot flashes.
“Being sub-fertile sure has its perks,” I grumbled, sending her a grateful nod as she pointed it my way. I tugged Freya’s little blanket up and under her chin, not wanting her to get cold.
“Sub-fertile?” Bell raised a brow. It wasn’t a surprise that she didn’t know. When she wasn’t absent, she was glued to her phone or her computer, and we hadn’t gotten as much time to hang out. It was a shame; I liked the girl. It looked like she was going through some things and I, as well as the women, knew that early twenties were hard. Even Kay, who I had been in the care of since our abode had burnt to the ground and we’d been spending our days at the club, said she’d have to figure her own way through it. Kay just wished she wasn’t pissing off as many brothers as she was on her way to enlightenment.
“My womb is a hostile environment for children,” I explained, feeling the bitter memories coming back. Jax had made one too many jokes about my hostility being on the inside and out when we’d visited the doctor. I, on the other hand, had sobbed my heart out and made the nurse kick him out. His attempts to cheer me up weren’t appreciated to say the least. “Hopefully this medication will help with that, and then it might be possible for me to have children.”
“There’s always adoption if that’s not the case.” Anna shrugged, taking her baby out of Bell’s arms. The girl had sunk so far into the couch under Dimitri’s heavy weight that I wasn’t sure she was going to be able to climb back out.
Anna picked him up with ease, tucking the huge boy under one arm. “You can always have mine.”
“Dimitri or the one in the oven?” I crooked an eyebrow her way.
Anna shot it right back. “Ha.” She barked. “My oven is empty, thank you very much.”
“It was a false alarm?” Mallory sat up in her seat. “I’m sor—”
“Don’t be sorry.” Anna waved off the innocent redhead’s concern. “I’m grateful. My hands are full with this one. The worst thing that could happen right now is to be carrying around two of these monsters. I was happy for it to be a false alarm.”
“It won’t be next time.” Wolf’s deep Russian grumble came through the door.
I’d gotten somewhat used to this man after living in the same building as him the last few months. Even though he had a house he went back to at nighttime, between the hours of dawn and dusk, he skulked around the clubhouse somewhere or other.
His ability to hide his presence, however, was something I’d never be able to adjust to. He was as silent as a ghost, appearing only when he wanted to be noticed.
He stepped through the doorframe, suffocating our small space. The newly rebuilt house had only a few rooms furnished, with the second floor and third barren except for the bedroom (which was just a mattress). The structure of the house had been completed only a few weeks prior, thus, we hadn’t had time to furnish it. Jax had wanted to get on with rebuilding the barn and a shed on the other end of the property that would be used as a distillery for his moonshine. How the club made a business of it this far north surprised me. Not many folks outside of the south liked their drink that potent.
Of the few complete rooms, one was the living area, and as much as I loved the old style of the house before, I went for something a little more modern in terms of furniture. The treated leather couches were a little misplaced with the wooden floors and the white washed walls, but the cooled material was the only thing that wasn’t irritating my hot skin, and it was my haven while I was taking these medications.
I sunk deeper into the cushion, taking little Freya in with me. She was snuggled under one breast and her little hands were clinging to the material, little mouth beginning to chew on the edge of my shirt. “I think someone is hungry,” I mused, feeling her saliva begin to paste over my skin.
Wolf moved to help take the little girl out of my hands, and I passed over the tiny pea, watching her be swallowed by his two palms. “Thanks,” I grunted. Wolf gave me a nod before shifting the baby over to her mother.
Freya cried up a storm before Mallory pulled a towel out of her bag to cover her chest before giving the little girl what she was demanding.
“Hiding those is a sin,” a voice popped out from nowhere. No one had to guess who it was.
“You’re back already?” I grunted as my large, dirt-covered princess dropped down on the couch next to me. I bounced, my body aching at the movement.
“Bastard,” I hissed.
“Sorry, babe,” Jax smirked, leaning over to press a kiss on my forehead.
“You’re boiling, get away,” I grumbled, shoving at his hot, sweaty body. He was a furnace on normal days, but with the medication, he might as well have been a boiling volcano. I glared at him, but it didn’t last long, as my gaze gravitated upward like it always did.
I frowned, and it was followed by Jax’s short laugh as he caught my expression.
“It’ll grow back soon enough.” Jax referred to his hair.
I missed the feeling of it brushing my face whenever he gave me a kiss, and now the short, cropped mass on the top of his head was mocking me at how slow it was growing. He had it shaved after the fire, and it had looked awful for the first months until his baldness disappeared, restoring the thick, lush head of hair. Now his fringe was just touching the midsection of his forehead, months after the fire.
I hated it.
“Never.” Jax leaned over my body, pressing yet another soft kiss to my wet forehead. It wasn’t until he pulled away that I noticed my head wasn’t being swept away.
“My fan!” I whined, turning to see that the bastard had turned it off.
“We’re on a meter, darling.” Jax gave me a sympathetic smile. “Can’t keep having these fans on all the time or the rest of the farm isn’t going to be rebuilt.”
“It’s my money,” I grumbled, looking away from the bastard.
“It was mine first.” Jax shrugged.
“So, what!” I growled. “I inherited it. It’s in my name now.”
Jax raised his palms in surrender, dropping the argument.
After Jacob had been declared missing for six months, all his assets were signed over to me as his legal wife. The farm, the race business, everything had been passed on to me. There had been an investigation for a few months and police officers came to my house. Even the club members had been questioned. But it wasn’t until the police became aware of Jacob’s dealings with Russian mercenaries that they legally declared him dead. I was a widow, and I had everything he had worked to steal.
I didn’t question Jax or Wolf or any of the other brothers on what had happened to him. I didn’t even entertain the possibilities. All Jax had said was that it was taken care of. That was all.
And that was all it would be.
The relief I felt in knowing that Jacob wouldn’t be a problem anymore was more than any guilt I felt over what had happened to him. Even if I couldn’t be sure.
It was possible he was still alive.
I doubted it.
“You feeling okay?” Jax’s graveled voice whispered in my ear, a hot palm pressed against my forehead.
“Hm?” I turned to see everyone staring at me.
“You dazed off a little there.” Jax brought his other palm to his forehead, as if he would be an accurate way to measure a fever. The man was hyperthermic twenty-four hours of the day.
“I’m a little tired,” I grumbled, feeling the sudden urge for a nap overtake me. I didn’t feel tired a moment ago, but my head was lolling onto Jax’s shoulder and I knew I had exhausted myself.
“Come on then. Let’s get you to bed,” Jax murmured, hands going under my knees and around my back. I didn’t fight him as h
e lifted me into his arms, tucking my head snug under his chest.
I heard voices murmuring around me, but I didn’t care to listen as I was carried from the room.
The sounds of construction came through the open door, and the slight chilled breeze felt nice over my skin. I heard the brothers shouting at each, and once again wondered if it was a good idea to let the brothers build everything. They weren’t engineers or builders, and although I knew they were handy in a pinch, building a house, a distillery for moonshine (Jax insisted), and a rehabilitating barn full of expensive horse equipment may be a little out of their expertise as handy men.
After selling the farm, the business, and then the remaining land to my father where our old house still sat, we had splurged on things for opening a rehabilitation center in Max’s honor—much to Jax’s chagrin. But I was paying so I had the right to name the center. It wouldn’t be operational until sometime next year, but it had near enough emptied both mine and Jax’s wallets. Not to mention the price of my fertility treatment.
“You know,” Jax’s voice pulled me out of my own mind as he tucked the bed covers up to my chin.
I am in bed? When did we get up here? When did we get a bed?
“If this medication is too hard for you, then we can put it off.” Jax’s cheeky smile had faded from his face, replaced by a concerned frown, his rough palm brushing through my short hair.
“I’m halfway there,” I mumbled, my hand reaching to touch his free hand. His let me have it and I pulled it up onto my chest, my fingers rubbing against the scars wrapped around his wrists. It had become an unconscious habit to touch them.
It was like a masochistic punishment for me. Reminding me of what I had almost lost, and how fragile life was. How fragile Jax was. As strong and wild as he appeared to be, even he had almost burned to death. I had almost lost him.
“It might not even work anyway,” I grumbled, pulling myself back to the conversation. “If I can’t have children, I’d like to know sooner.”
Jax pulled his hand from mine, covering my smaller ones in his palms instead. His fingers brushed over my knuckles, my eyes drifting with every smooth swipe. “We’ll have our own kids one day, Ronnie. Whether we adopt or not. There’s always plenty of family to go around at the club.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “If Wolf had his way, your family would have been a little army by now.”
“Our family,” Jax corrected, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead.
I smiled, but it soon faded as I felt sleep beginning to grasp the edges of my unconsciousness.
“We’ll get our happy ever after, Ronnie.” Jax pressed a kiss to my lips. “I promise.”
“I love you,” I whispered. “I’ll love you forever.”
“And I’ll love you,” Jax replied. “Til death do us part.”
He rubbed his hand across the ring on my finger, and although we had waited a whole twenty-four hours after I was declared a widow to be married, it was the perfect, simple wedding. Although it wasn’t the most expensive wedding or the most extravagant, it was ours.
Our perfect day.
Our perfect happily ever after.
Happily, Ever After
Jax: Black Angels MC, #3 Page 35