At Last

by Sarah Zolton Arthur

  “Thank you, Chief.”

  He gives his is arm around my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “For what?”

  In the following silence, listening to him breathe, I can almost forget about the evils of the world outside the compound.

  “For taking care of me,” I say, finally settling on an answer. “I’ve not had a man take care of me since my father when I was a girl.”

  “Not even Peaches’ father?”

  “Especially not him.”

  His arm squeezes me again, but this time tight. It feels more out of surprise. “Explain,” he orders.

  The last thing I want is for Duke to learn how foolish I’d been when I was younger, but he deserves to know about the woman he’s sharing his bed with.

  I suck in a lungful of air, let it out slowly, and explain. “We met when I was in medical school. He was going for his Ph.D. in research virology. So a few of our science classes overlapped, in the sense that he was the one teaching the classes on virology.

  “I thought he was smart, funny and charming, those qualities made him handsome in my eyes. Plus, he was from Ireland, grew up only a county over from where I spent my summers growing up…”

  Duke bends down to kiss the top of my head. A sweet gesture to let me know he’s listening and once again, that it’s safe to go on.

  “We had a fling for the last semester he was in our country. He told me if I found myself in the old country, to look him up. Well a couple years later, my grandmother got sick and I arranged to do my residency program over there, so I could take care of her, too.

  “I looked him up. And we fell back in to how we’d been pretty quickly. But this time, my schedule kept me from being the doting girlfriend I’d been when I was a new med student. Apparently he wanted a doting girlfriend, someone who took care of him. I guess the two-way street concept was foreign to him. I could be on a twenty-four hour rotation and get bitched at because I didn’t have dinner on the table for him and he had no clean socks.”

  “Doc.”

  Whatever he’s about to say, I cut him off because it feels too good to get this off my chest. “Forget about when I was pregnant. They had me working nights in the ER at a class-one trauma center and I was sicker than I’d ever been in my life. I couldn’t keep food down, and survived on PediaSure.

  “The smell of food kicked in my gag reflex and I’d get home dragging, and have to make him breakfast before I went to sleep. He seemed to love Jade, though, when she was born. He doted on her. Right up until the day he told me he just wasn’t ready for domesticity. He needed Aiden time. He needed someone to give all her attention to him. And that he’d met that woman online, and he was moving to Australia.

  “Oh, I forgot to add, my grandmother had taken a turn for the worse and passed away two days before he left us.” I laugh, though none of this is funny.

  “Jesus, Doc. Good thing he lives in Australia because I’d kill that motherfucker for treating you the way he did. But then I’d give thanks over his dead body because he was stupid and threw away the best thing to ever happen to him, and I got Peaches down the hall and you in my bed. Jesus,” he repeats himself, then bends to kiss my head again.

  I’m so overcome by his words, and at too high a risk of blurting out something neither he nor I am ready for me to say, that I force myself to change the subject completely. “Will you take me on your bike?”

  “Honey, this weekend. You and me are going on the bike.”

  “What about Jade?”

  “I’ll figure something. And Caitlin, don’t you worry.”

  Don’t worry. If it were only that easy.

  13.

  Duke

  My fucking phone rings, or at least I think it rings. I sit bolt-upright for some reason. My woman hasn’t moved in her sleep, still turned toward me, half on her pillow and half on mine. I blink my eyes and look at the clock. Three-thirty in the morning. Her vanilla smell fills my nose, and rub my hands over my face, using my fingers to swipe my hair back.

  Then I hear it, my cell. It rings and lights up.

  I get up, tuck the covers around Doc, and answer it.

  “Better be good,” I say into the line.

  Tommy answers. “Sorry, Duke. I just got a call on Caity’s break in. They found some photo albums, things she wouldn’t have thought to look through. One of them is a baby book. Says ‘My First Five Years’ on the cover. It’s Jade’s book, and several pictures from the back of the book are missing.”

  “Missing?”

  “Missing,” he repeats.

  “What the fuck does that mean?” I whisper, so not to disturb Caitlin.

  “It means he has more than just one photo, and we don’t know what he wants them for. So keep diligent.”

  Christ, gotta fight Houdini on two separate fronts now. Can’t call and let my VP, Elise’s fucking husband, in on any ’a it until we locate Liv because he’s gotta keep Chaos from going off the rails worrying over her. Add to that, the Horde have kept low these past several months, and I don’t trust it one bit. The fuse is lit—explosion is imminent. I just wish I knew how long the damn thing ran.

  I sigh into the line. “I’ll keep diligent.”

  “You gonna tell her?” he asks.

  “Don’t know. Keep this between us for now.”

  “Will do. ’Night Duke.”

  “Same,” I say, and end the call.

  I set the phone down on the nightstand, walk to the closet where I pull a pair of sweats off the shelf to shrug on, then I leave the bedroom, stopping to check on Peaches before I make my way back over to the coffee table where I’d left my cigarettes earlier today. I grab up the pack and my lighter then walk out back.

  It’s a warm night, black sky full of stars. Don’t see that too often. I lean against the porch railing, pull a smoke from the pack and light it.

  The clubhouse is lit up and the dregs of loud music reach me. Soft enough not to wake up my girls. Poor Elise and Trish. The boys must be partying tonight. I’ll talk to ’em tomorrow. With each drag on my cigarette, I feel myself get a little calmer.

  Why the fuck does Houdini need photos of my Peaches? What’s he got up his sleeve?

  A burst of laughter disturbs the quiet when a piece and one of the brothers stumble outside. I can’t see ’em, but after a couple minutes, I begin to hear the grunts and moans of early sex noise.

  Even though I’d love to have Caitlin let loose with me at a club party, what I had tonight, one on one time with Peaches and then a different kind of one on one, fantastic one on one, with her mama, was one of the best nights of my life. Higher on the list than the night we spent together in Nashville.

  As the sex noises get louder from outside the clubhouse, I take the final drags from my smoke, snuff the still bright butt in the sand of my outside ashtray and walk back inside. I lock the door, check on Peaches once more, then head back to the bed and my woman.

  When I slide in, she readjusts and groggily asks, “Everything okay? Phone call, then you left.”

  “Sorry I woke you. Call was club business. And I left for a smoke.”

  She yawns. “Okay, Chief. You’d tell me is something was wrong, right?”

  My body gets tight, even though I don’t mean it to. “What do you mean?”

  “Just that you listen to me, but I’m a good listener, too. You can trust me. I want you to know that, that you can trust me with anything.”

  “Know that, honey. Nothing to trust you with right now, though.”

  “Okay,” she says, the corners of her mouth drop, she sounds almost hurt. Fuck I gotta give her something, but I can’t tell her ’bout the photos yet, not ’til we know more. Got Peaches covered. She’s safe, no need for her to worry unnecessarily.

  So I tell her something else, something I thought on out there on the porch. “I was never gonna have a family.” I give.

  Caitlin rolls to her side, elbow to the bed, chin to her hand, she waits patiently.

  “Married Dawna knowing th
at would never happen for us. But you know, I had her, so I had enough. Loved her, Doc. She needed me, I stepped in and took care ’a everything for her. Then one day, I didn’t have her.”

  “Dawna was your family,” she whispers.

  “Yeah. She was, mean kids. After she left this world, I knew aside from my club, I was destined to be alone. And then I meet you. Maybe you’ll think it’s too soon for me to feel this way, and maybe it’ll scare the crap outta you, but honey, with you and Peaches, I got my family.”

  She bursts out crying. Did not expect that reaction. She launches herself at me, her arms around my neck, she takes my mouth. I feel her tears, taste her tears.

  “We’re… your family… Chief.” She stutters through her crying.

  Giving her that, right thing to do. I hold her, her head resting on my chest and hand to my belly. Hold her the rest of the night. Neither of us speaks, and eventually, we both fall back to sleep.

  The next few days go as the first. We eat breakfast together, Doc and Jesse drop Peaches off at school, I head to work, then pick her up by six. Feed her, feed Doc when she gets home and then we end up naked in bed.

  Peaches loves playing out on her jungle gym. Several kids come to play with her.

  Since it wasn’t getting any use sitting in a backyard without a family, Peaches and I drove the truck over to their place to load up the patio set, then moved it back to my back patio. And because now we had this patio set, Peaches and I drove to the home store about half an hour away where she and I picked out a gas grill with an attached wood smoker. Huge. Burners and a prep station. Then we stopped at the store to grab some steaks, corn on the cob and a few other groceries for dinner. Finally we headed home.

  Now she’s swinging from one of the swings next to a little girl named Teeny. Her dad, Brutus, got out ’a the joint two years ago. His old lady has the other two kids up at the singlewide. Twins born nine months after his release.

  “Another?” I ask Brutus, shaking my empty beer bottle so he knows what I mean, and stretch over to the outdoor fridge Peaches and I also picked up.

  “Sounds good,” he says in his slow drawl, and twists the cap from the full one I hand him. He takes a pull, swallows, then pauses. “This is the life.” Brutus keeps watching his daughter play. She’s seven now. Only a baby when he got sent up. “Rex was a good man, but I like where you’ve led the club.”

  Well shit. This comes from left field. But maybe not, when he goes on. He sounds like a man who’s done a helluva lot ’a thinking.

  “I can’t go back. Missed the first five years of my girl’s life. Made my wife a single mother all that time. Now I know the club kicked in financially, but I promised her, she sticks with me, never again. Was gonna quit the club when I got out.”

  Hell. My brows furrow. “What stopped you?” I ask, then take a swig from my own beer.

  “You. Boss. Chaos. Brothers taking us legit with real businesses. I fix cars. I’m proud of what I do. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m giving my girl a good role model. Boss is married with a kid. Sneak’s got one on the way. And now you, the man at the top. Hooked yourself a doctor, and with that comes the privilege of playing daddy to that little girl.” He pauses to take another pull. “The wife and I talked just last night. She’s going to school to be a medical assistant. Something she really wants to do. So long as you keep our noses clean, we’re staying. Just thought you should know.”

  “Glad to hear it, brother.”

  “You gonna adopt her?” He points the neck of his bottle toward Peaches.

  “Adopt her? Never thought about it.”

  “Well here’s a little something for you to chew on then. I were you, I’d get my ring on the doctor’s finger. Adopt that sweet little girl, then give her a brother or sister and sit back and finally enjoy the good life you’ve created for all of us.” Then he yells, “Come on, Teeny. It’s getting late. We gotta go spend some quality time with your mom before you gotta go to bed.”

  “Awe, Daddy…” The little girl whines.

  “We can come back another day.”

  He sets his empty bottle down on the table, pats my shoulder, then takes his girl’s hand when she runs up to him. They walk out through the grass to the trailer they’re staying in for the time being.

  Dusk turns twilight and the first stars begin to show. I set my beer on the table and walk around the perimeter of the yard, lighting each citronella candle, twenty-four in total. Then pull my steaks from the outdoor fridge and get those on the grill.

  Adopt Peaches.

  The corn, I pull from the water they boiled in and toss them on the grill, too. Give ’em some nice marks.

  Live the good life.

  “What’s all this?” Her melodic voice asks. And I turn to see that sexy woman, my sexy woman, leaning against the corner of the house, watching us. A peaceful, if not tired, look crosses her face.

  And in this moment, I know Brutus was right. Don’t matter we don’t got a lot ’a time under our belts. This is my family, dammit.

  “What are you still doing up?” she asks Peaches.

  “It’s Fwiday, Mama. I’m eating wiff you and Duke.”

  “Lips.” I order her, no hello.

  She smiles, shakes her head, but walks over to give me those lips. Slow and sweet. Fuck, she tastes like strawberries again. Holding my face as she brings the kiss to its conclusion and rests her forehead to mine. She breathes out. I wrap her tighter in my arms.

  “Missed you today,” she says. “A patient went into labor. That’s what took me so long.”

  It’s like the woman can read my mind. Though, her showing up home wearing scrubs and a lab coat, of course I’d ask.

  “Why don’t you go inside and change. Then come join us.”

  Doc don’t answer, but drags herself inside and closes the door.

  “Okay, Peaches. Wash your hands. It’s dinner time.” She runs inside, much faster than her poor mama, to wash up.

  After a few minutes, mother and daughter stroll out together, hands locked, arms swinging, matching smiles which reach a set of matching, twinkling eyes that take my breath away.

  Fuck if I ain’t the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet. I shake off the thought and clap my hands together. “Alright. Let’s get this dinner started.” Then I turn to them. “Only my girls get to sit at the table, so if you’re my girl, sit.”

  Both my girls race to the table, a blur ’a red hair, as each ’a their ass’s glide onto a patio chair.

  I pull the bowl of salad from the outdoor fridge along with couple dressings Doc made. The creamy cucumber for Peaches and the blue cheese for us, and place ’em on the table.

  Two ribeye and a filet for the squirt hit the plates. Corn next. Then I deliver three to the glass-top.

  Without thinking twice about it, she proves why she’s the best mom in the world. Before ever taking a bite off her own steak. Even knowing how hungry she’s gotta be. Doc reaches over to cut up Peaches filet into tiny chunks perfect for little fingers to pick up, and dunk not in ketchup, but more ’a that creamy cucumber dressing.

  Put a ring on her finger and live the good life. Fuck if that ain’t the best advice I’ve received in years.

  After making sure her girl was set, only then does she saw off a hunk of ribeye and tear it from her fork. She sighs, and rightly so. I’m a man who knows how to cook a steak.

  Peaches’ little legs kick back and forth underneath her chair, I know this because her foot makes contact with my shin several times.

  “Boys finished your backdoor, but honey, since we brought the other families in, I need you to stay here. Now before—”

  “Okay,” she cuts me off.

  “Okay?” I ask. “That’s it?”

  “Yeah, okay. Families are here. Houdini is a lunatic. We stay.”

  We keep eating, Peaches almost has her plate cleared when she face-plants into what’s left of her dressing.

  “If Peaches would be more comfortab
le with her room painted pink, do it. Do what you gotta do to feel comfortable.”

  14.

  Caitlin

  There’s a knock on the front door.

  I lay the roller down on the tray to rest in the rich, almost copper-hued tan paint the home store labeled “suede”. A flat color, it looks like suede as it dries. And I pull the rag tucked into the waistband of my old sweatpants to wipe what wet paint I can from my hands while I move to answer.

  Why would one of the brothers or their old ladies use the front? From the time Jade and I started staying here all our guests use the side entrance. That first dinner party we threw being the only exception, and really, that one is on me. I greeted our guests from the front, holding the door open to welcome them.

  Paint had already dried in my hair and dried in patches on my face, seeing as before I started on the living room, I gave Jade back her pink, princess bedroom just as Duke had decreed.

  Yesterday couldn’t have been anymore special. I woke up to my first Saturday in Duke’s house naked with him holding me, different from the rest of the mornings since we’d been here because on those days, I woke up naked and alone in bed. Those days he’d gotten up with my daughter to make her breakfast.

  I stretched then snuggled even closer to him when I felt his eyes on me. Tilting my head to look at him, his silver-gray eyes smiled with crinkled lines around the corners as he ordered, “Lips.”

  To which I happily obliged. Long, sweet and even tinged with morning breath—delicious.

  After I pulled back he bizarrely ordered, “Mouth.”

  Mouth? But I’d just given him that.

  “Huh?” I asked, blinking several times.

  “I ain’t had your mouth on me since Nashville. My dick is hard and twitching, and I need you to suck me Doc. Suck me like you did that night.”

  So I did. But unlike Nashville, he gave me mine while I was giving him his.

  When we finished, he kissed me deep again. Duke, I found, liked to kiss. And he was good at it. So good. Incredibly good. “Best I ever had,” he whispered against my cheek, lips moved to press there.