Redemption Duet (Aces High MC - Cedar Falls Book 0)

by Christine Michelle

  “Oh, God, something’s happening down there,” I told the nurse through gritted teeth.

  She just smiled at me and waved off my words. “It’s a bit too early for all that. I’ll be checking you in just a few minutes when the doctor comes in. She glanced down at the little tablet in her hand and nodded her head as if she needed to agree with herself. “Yep, it says here that your nurse prior to shift change just checked you about 45 minutes ago.”

  A screeched words out through pain level 20-gazillion. “There is a head coming out of my body, and it burns like a motherfucker.”

  Smoke moved over some and went to take a look between my legs only to get a knee to the face when I jerked in reaction the excruciating pain that was burning through me. As soon as he shook off the blow he continued on with what he was doing as if nothing happened, and glanced down between my spread-wide legs. “There’s a head, get the goddamn doctor in here, now!”

  The nurse jumped into action, running to the bottom of the bed, and dropping the end portion out from under my feet. She caught one and Smoke caught the other, bringing them up to perch on the edge, while my legs stayed splayed apart gifting everyone in the room a clear shot at my vag being stretched by the demon child who couldn’t wait to be born.

  “Shit! I did not need to see that!” Chief yelled before running from the room. I heard him calling out to someone. “I just saw the head, someone better get my sister’s doctor in there now!” There was a clanging sound as someone came running through the door, and before the man could bend down and take a look between my legs I heard my brother yell from the hallway again. “Anyone have some whiskey? Jesus, I can’t un-see that shit.”

  Great! I’d never hear the end of his trauma after this. Never mind that I’m the one pushing a baby out of my body. “Oh-dear-lord-sweet-baby-jesus-take-the-wheel!” I screamed out in a jumble of nonsense as the burning sensation in my poor lady parts had me nearly coming off the bed. I bared down and pushed for all I was worth, despite the nurse frantically yelling at me not to push. Screw that. I wasn’t on her time frame and neither was this baby. Obviously.

  “Please, you have to stop pushing, because the doctor isn’t here yet.”

  “Are you fucking insane?” I screamed at her. “Get out! Get the hell out of here. My husband can deliver our baby, because it isn’t waiting!”

  “Whoa, now, honey. We’ll get you there. If you need to push, you push.”

  Just then the doctor came bounding into the room, took one look at the scene, and jumped into the action pushing the shell-shocked nurse out of the way. “Get her out!” I yelled again.

  The nurse sputtered a moment before the doctor quickly turned an evil eye on her. “You heard the patient. Send someone else in, right now.”

  She took off in a flurry, tears noticeable, and I did not give one single fuck, because “Ahhhh!” I was pushing again, and this time both Smoke and the doctor were cheering me on and telling me what a good job I was doing. For one fleeting moment I couldn’t believe I had been trying to do this on purpose for years. What had I been thinking? Who signed up for this kind of torture? No one, that’s who! Not a single damn person who knows what’s coming signs up to do this all over again!

  “One more good push, and we’ll be handing your baby over to you, Poppy!” The doctor ordered, and I gladly made it happen. I felt the instant relief when the baby finally came out and was placed bloody and squirming on my chest. The new nurse reached in immediately and suctioned then the most beautiful noise I’d ever heard erupted throughout the room. My sweet baby was screaming…”

  “It’s a girl!” The doctor called out.

  My sweet baby girl was screaming her head off and I couldn’t be any happier than I was in that moment. I didn’t care that there was still a strange man doing things between my legs. I’ll be honest, I probably didn’t want to know what he was still doing down there. I shivered at the thought and then finally realized Smoke was now beside me again, looking down at our daughter with the most elated expression on his handsome face.

  “A baby girl,” he spoke in an awed hush as our daughter stilled and seemed to attempt to turn in the direction of her father’s voice.

  “You want to do the honors and cut the cord?” The doctor asked him, breaking Smoke’s trance momentarily. He shook his head, no while placing his finger in our little girl’s hand and watching as she clamped down on it, holding him right back. Tears welled up in his eyes at that moment and it was all I could do to keep my heart inside my chest. I knew it was too full in that moment to be contained.

  “Do you have a name for her?” The nurse asked.

  “Sophie,” Smoke spoke on an emotion-filled rasp.

  “Layla,” I said a moment later.

  “Lewis,” he finished for us.

  “Sophie Layla Lewis?” The nurse confirmed the name, and we both agreed while watching our daughter. “That’s a beautiful name.” She continued about her business, writing things down, and then came to us with a blanket in her hand. “I need to get this little one cleaned up for you real quick. I promise I’ll bring her back quickly.”

  Panic ensued, and Smoke stood straight, looking suddenly angry with the nurse.

  “Calm down, daddy. You can come and watch her get her first bath. She never has to leave your sight.” Smoke looked equal parts relieved and conflicted at having to leave me behind.

  “I’d rather you stay with her,” I told him. He nodded and followed the nurse out into the hall. My brother came back into the room then. I was now covered up and whatever the doctor had been doing while I was lost in my family had been finished.

  “Sophie Layla Lewis, huh?” He asked as he swiped at a tear that went rolling down his cheek.

  “Yeah,” I started to say, wondering if I’d overstepped by not asking how he’d feel about me using our sister’s name.

  “I think that’s the most beautiful thing I’ve heard all day, next to that little girl screaming when she came into this world. Our sister and his will always be looking over her, they’ll be a part of her, forever.” My brother leaned in then and hugged me gently before placing a kiss on my forehead. “Proud of you, Sis.”

  “Thank you for coming to get me, Chief.” If it hadn’t been for my brother coming to take me away from Sierra High, I would still be there wallowing in my own misery instead of living my dream. I yawned, suddenly tired beyond anything I’d ever felt before. That didn’t stop me from hearing my brother’s response though.

  “I will always be there for you, Sis. Always!”

  We took a week to get used to our new family dynamic before we allowed anyone to come over. It was a week full of blessings, because it gave us all time to bond as a family. Brant was taking his big brother duties seriously, even disposing of dirty diapers while gagging, and telling Sophie how pretty she was the entire time. That kid was born to be a big brother. Smoke was heaven sent too though, so it must have been in their genes. It didn’t matter that Smoke would argue that fact since his own father had walked out on his family, but he was bound and determined not to be the same man his own father was. If I was up at night feeding Sophie, then so was he. He would sit there, talking to me while stroking the fine little reddish brown hairs on our daughter’s head.

  My world had come full circle from a place where I used to dread getting up in the morning straight into the dreams I’d once had for how I saw my life going. I had the best of men by my side, the sweetest little boy, and the most darling baby girl ever. My life was complete here in Cedar Falls.

  A knocking on the door was about to reiterate just how complete my life actually was. Bubba moved himself to stand in front of the bassinet we had set up in the living room. The one that currently held a sweetly sleeping baby girl and where a big brother stood watch, waiting for her to wake. I moved to answer the door, but Smoke came down the stairs and beat me to it. Dear, sweet lord, he was trying his best to get me to make another baby with him already. He was still somewhat dripping fro
m his shower, shirt off, and jeans on but not buttoned up yet, and bare feet padding across the wooden floors. I licked my lips, and the fool caught me, giving me his sexy-beast grin that told me he knew exactly where my naughty mind had just gone. Straight to the baby making process that I had foresworn only a week ago. So that was how women ended up going through the fresh hell that was childbirth again and again. Damn our hormones and the sexy men in the world who incited a riot inside our bodies!

  When Smoke finally opened the door it was to my brother’s disgruntled ass fussing at him. “Go put some damn clothes on. No one wants to see that shit!”

  “I do,” I stated loudly. I definitely didn’t want my man covering up all that perfection when I was finally awake enough to appreciate it. Again, Smoke just grinned at me as the house started filling up with people. My brother dove to the head of the line, waiting to get some sweet baby love only to be stopped in his tracks by a growl from Bubba.

  “Good boy, Bubba!” I praised my dog and then turned to my brother. “Go wash your damn hands, and do not even think of kissing my baby on her face, no matter how cute she is. That goes for all of you!” Maybe I was being neurotic or overprotective, but I didn’t want my baby girl exposed to any more germs than necessary while she was still so tiny. My brother’s eyes were saucer wide, but he still listened and went to the kitchen to wash his hands. Suddenly, a line formed behind him with all the women who had come in waiting to do the same thing.

  Ghost chuckled. “You sound like Leanne did after the girls were born. Jesus, times have changed. I remember when Jamie was born, we didn’t even think about things like that.” Jamie was Ghost’s adult daughter, Angel Girl, the one who ran Sierra High Evermore MC back in my hometown in Georgia. Since she was into her thirties now I figured he had a point. Times had changed, but that’s because someone learned the hard way so the rest of us could be more careful.

  My brother was the first back to the baby, and of course he had her cradled in his arms in no time flat. This time Bubba allowed the invasion into his little human’s space. I swear that dog knew things no dog should be capable of.

  “How are you doing?” Leanna asked as she moved in beside me to watch my brother coo at the baby in his arms.

  “I’m doing well. Tired, but otherwise I feel fine.” Then I glanced down at the sweat pants and t-shirt I was wearing. “I’ll be glad when this jelly-belly thing goes away. I never knew!”

  Leanne laughed. “It is definitely a weird feeling until it goes back to normal, that’s for certain.” She glanced over at Smoke who was in the middle of pulling a shirt over his head while Brant clung to his legs. “How’s he handling daddy duty?”

  I beamed over at her, which was probably answer enough. “He’s perfect. If I’m up with Sophie so is Smoke. He gets Brant up, makes him breakfast, and then makes sure I get something to eat too while he takes care of getting her ready for the day.” I turned to face Leanne. “He’s perfect and there are moments where I don’t think this is all real. Like, maybe I cracked all to pieces back in that house in Georgia, and I’m sitting there locked inside this fantasy, you know?”

  Her sweet smile came just before her arms wrapped around my middle. “Welcome to your life, Poppy! It’s fabulous now, and you deserve nothing less.”

  The End

  July 12, 2018

  I can’t believe this is happening!” I breathed the words out through clenched teeth as another contraction hit me. “They still have a couple weeks before they’re due. It’s storming. Not on this day…”

  “Calm down, babe, everything will be just fine.” Smoke was the epitome of a calm in the storm. He literally put my mind at ease, if not my body. There was no putting that at ease until our boys made their way into this world. Even if my water hadn’t just broken I would know that there was no stopping them now. They were going to be relentless, just like their dad.

  “But, this day?” I whined out the semi-question. “Why this day? Why during a storm? You know what this has meant to me in the past.”

  “Shh,” Smoke offered up on a whisper against the side of my head as he buckled me into my car. “We’re going to the hospital so you can deliver our boys, and everything is going to be just fine, I promise.” He turned to look over his shoulder then at my brother who stood there with grim concern written all over his chiseled features. “You got them?”

  He meant our boy Brantley and our daughter Sophie, of course. Chief nodded his head, then allowed himself to smile. “I’ll bring them by to meet their brothers as soon as you give me a heads up.”

  “See you soon,” Smoke called to my brother as he tucked himself into my car. “Fuckin’ cages,” he mumbled, making me chuckle before the next contraction hit me full force and I had to grab on to the oh-shit handle on the side of the door. “Easy, baby. Breathe through it, you can do it.”

  “Shut up and drive!” I grumbled through the pain. He did just that, and had us at the hospital in no time, despite the horrid weather slowing us down a bit.

  We managed to get inside, have me changed into a hospital gown, wired up with monitors, and settled into a room about five minutes before the doctor came by to check on me. “Looks like those kiddos didn’t want to wait around another couple weeks after all, huh?” He announced as he came through the door grinning at me like a loon. Smoke stiffened a bit, because he wasn’t fond of the doctor we had this time around. That probably had something to do with the fact that he was in his early thirties and very handsome. Not that he held a candle to Smoke, but who was I to judge why men became territorial?

  “Nope,” I stated quickly just before another contraction sent pain wrapping around my waistline. “Ouch,” I managed to whimper out as I felt a tear slip free of my eye and fall down my cheek.

  “Okay, let’s get you laid back so I can check your progress.” As the doctor peered between my legs Smoke grabbed hold of my hand and started smoothing my hair back from my hairline with his other. He was attempting to comfort me, but I thought maybe he was doing it a little for himself at that moment too. “Hmm,” Doc’s voice caught my attention immediately.

  “Hmm? What is hmmm?” I asked in a panicky state.

  “Hmm means these boys are ready to get the show on the road. You’re at a solid nine centimeters already. I’m going to have Libby start breaking down the bottom half of the bed so we can get you closer to the edge. You remember the drill from last time, I presume?”

  Last time I had a horrible nurse and a no-show doctor until the baby was almost out of me. It had been a nightmare. This time, I was happy to hear my doctor talking me through things. “I’m not sure I can do this. Last time I was so exhausted after Sophie,” I lamented. “This time, I have to keep going for baby number two.”

  “That’s the plan, and you will do just fine, I have no doubts.”

  “Well, that’s good, because one of us should be sure of things,” I stated simply before attempting to breathe through the jolting pain in my belly.

  “I believe in you too, honey. You’ve got this. I’ll be here to help you through it, just like last time.”

  “Last time, you ended up with a black eye,” I reminded him. Smoke just chuckled.

  “That’s how I know you’ll do just fine this time too, honey. You’re a fighter, and our boys are impatient. So, let’s do this. The sooner you get them here, the better you’ll feel.”

  I sighed at that, because I remembered how much better I did feel once Sophie had been placed in my arms. The difference between labor and holding my little nugget in my arms had been night and day.

  “Okay, but what if… there’s the storm, and this is the day…” I started to say before Smoke cut me off.

  “Babe, no. This day is different. This is redemption weather, come to wipe the slate clean and set things right. Those storms took too much from you before, now it’s time to give back. Your family is giving over our boys to us, and this storm is their way of blessing them. Don’t ever allow yourself to think any dif
ferent.”

  Tears trailed down my face, and this time it had nothing to do with the physical pain and everything to do with my heart, the man standing before me, reassuring me, and all I could do was believe every word he uttered as the doctor yelled for me to push. That push and all the others to follow gave way for the birth of our boys, Decker and Devon Lewis. I may have lost a lot to the storms, but I had gained so much more in Brantley, Sophie, the twins, and the man who loved me so well I never had to question anything. I just knew. His love surrounded all of us – day in and day out – without fail. I couldn’t have asked for more. He was right. This was our time, and our growing family was blessed beyond measure.

  Smoke and the Flame

  Aces High MC – Cedar Falls book 3

  Christine Michelle

  Chapter 1

  Six months earlier

  I didn’t know who to be angrier with as I stared between my brother and the woman I’d spent the last five years of my life with. My eyes widened in surprise as my brother finally came clean. Then I found myself turning a wicked glare on the woman in question. I couldn’t even see her as the same woman I’d spent the past five years of my life with. He had to be kidding. The thought ran through my head on a loop as I tried to process the words my brother just spat out at me when I showed up on his doorstep with my long-time girlfriend in tow. Granted, I showed with her on a whim to get this confrontation out of the way once and for all.

  He had liked her in the beginning and then something changed. No one would explain it to me, but every time I tried to go visit my brother, he would be too busy if I were bringing Julie along. Now I knew why, and even though it was ridiculously hard to believe that was the reason, I could see from the guilt written on her face that what he spoke was the truth.