by Debra Kayn
She hugged the kitten to her chest. "I have to go pick up Nikki from school but will you both come over and give her the cat, so she knows it's from Thorn? It'll only take me a half hour to get to the apartment."
Johanna smiled, taking the kitten from her. "Better yet, we'll come over at five o'clock. We have a few more things we'll be bringing."
"Do you have a birthday cake yet?" asked Jackie.
With her hands empty, she shrugged, feeling as if she'd failed as a mother. Her child never had a pet or a cake. Well, she had a cake on her first and second birthday that went uneaten. "Nikki has always preferred cookies over cake. Until recently, she never had much of an appetite, so that worked for her. I never even thought to change things up and see if she'd want cake instead."
"I asked because Thorn had mom order one. Purple and pink, any girl would love it," blurted Jackie. "We're supposed to pick up ice cream and candles, too."
"Oh, okay." She pointed to her car. "I really need to get going. I can't be late picking Nikki up."
"Go ahead. We'll see you later." Johanna stepped back and together with her daughter walked down the street.
Jessy slid into the car. The tension in her shoulder increased. Maybe she should've made a bigger deal out of Nikki's birthday. She looked in her rearview mirror at the six balloons tied to the door handle and floating in the air that she'd bought on her last break.
Money was always tight, but she'd scrimped and saved some of her tips over the last month to do what she could to make today special.
Starting the car and entering traffic, she blew out her breath. Thankfully, she'd bought Nikki a Barbie house for her present. The thought that Nikki would enjoy taking her dolls to the new house would occupy her daughter when she was busy painting and trying to get the carpet off the floors to see what kind of condition the hardwood was in underneath.
At the school, she pulled to a stop and waved, excitedly. Nikki dragged the aid by the hand to the car and scrambled into the back, laughing and hitting at the balloons taking up most of the room.
"Hey, birthday girl. Are you ready to go back to the apartment and open your presents?" As she asked, she also knew that once Nikki received the cat, the dollhouse would be ignored for a while in preference of the four-legged furball Thorn was giving her.
"My birthday." Nikki held up her fingers. "Six."
"Yes, it is." She waved to the aid as she shut the door.
Singing Happy Birthday all the way home through the laughter filling the car because Nikki had to battle the balloons getting in her way, she pulled in front of the apartment. She waved to Cash parked down the block, got Nikki out of the car, tied the balloons to her wrist, and carried the cookies into the house.
Inside, Nikki let her arm float up by the helium. "Off."
"Okay." She kneeled on the floor. "Come here."
She untied the loose knot. "Just be careful they don't hit the light fixture in the kitchen, or they'll pop."
Nikki kicked off her shoes. Jessy picked up the sneakers, knowing company was coming in a couple of hours. Wanting to spend time with her daughter alone, she stood. "How about you open one of your presents now?"
"Yes." Nikki stopped jumping for the strings of the balloons. "Where is it?"
Joy exploded in her. She danced around the room with her daughter, not only celebrating her birthday but the new question she spoke out loud.
"Mommy." Nikki grabbed her. "Present?"
"Okay, okay." She tapped her chin. "Where did I put it?"
Nikki's eyes widened, and she looked around the room.
"Oh, I remember." She held her hand out. "It's out on the patio. Let's go."
Together, they went out the sliding door. Nikki sat down and unwrapped the box of sidewalk chalk. After showing her daughter what she could do with them, Jessy stood back and let Nikki have the whole concrete slab for her artwork.
Time passed, and when the knock came at five o'clock, she looked at Nikki in fake surprise. "I wonder who that could be coming here on your birthday?"
"Bee?" said Nikki, standing from the patio.
"Hm, let's go see." Together, they went inside and answered the door.
Sydney and Kylie leaned down and wished Nikki a Happy Birthday before escorting Gunnar, Cora, Arick, and Chee inside, followed by Jett carrying an armful of presents. "Where's the big girl?"
Nikki raised her arm, bouncing on her feet. "Me."
Olin came inside next, moving his armload of presents to the side and chucking Nikki under her chin. "Happy birthday, cutie."
Ashley came in carrying baby Linnea and tugging Trik inside. "It's such a special day to turn six years old."
Jessy smiled at them all, speechless. Her daughter had more words than her at the rush of people coming inside the small apartment.
Chief, Johanna, Jackie, and Stassi came in last carrying sacks and boxes. Jessy pressed a hand to her chest, overwhelmed. This couldn't possibly all be for Nikki.
Johanna leaned toward her. "The girls and I will take care of everything in the kitchen. We have cake, ice cream, and pop for after we eat dinner. Thorn said she likes nuggets with mustard, so we bought her a Happy Meal. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, of course. I can't believe...thank you." She squeezed the other woman's hand. "I can't believe you'd do this for her."
"Thorn wanted her day to be special, and of course, she's family now." Johanna's smile softened. "Though Jackie's holding a present that probably should be opened soon."
"Oh, okay." She found Nikki playing with Chee in the corner of the room and approached her.
Up until eight months ago, Nikki would've been overwhelmed with people around her and the excitement in the room. Today, because of Thorn, she flourished.
Those surrounding her had never hurt her. They accepted her, even when she refused to talk. They provided friendship in the form of Chee and the other kids.
"Nikki." She leaned over. "Thorn sent a special birthday gift to you. Do you want to open it?"
"Thorn?" Nikki looked around the room, her eyes landed on Chief, and she frowned. "Thorn will call. I'm six."
"Yes, he'll call you for your birthday, but he gave you a present to open here." She guided her daughter to Jackie.
Thorn's sister sat down on the floor and put the box in front of her. "This is for you, from Thorn. You can open it."
"Go on, sweetie," whispered Jessy.
Nikki peeled back the paper and leaned over the open-topped box. The talk in the room stopped. The kitten meowed. Nikki gasped, staring at the cat.
Jackie lifted the kitten out and held it up for Nikki's inspection. "It's a little girl kitten, and she's yours to take care of. You'll have to be gentle with her and give her a name."
Nikki patted her chest and looked up at her mom.
Jessy smiled, knowing her daughter wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with a pet, especially one so small. "Why don't you sit down by Jackie and she can put the kitty on your lap and show you how to pet her."
The women went to the kitchen, smiling at each other. Jessy stepped back, letting Nikki have some quiet time with her new pet. There wasn't an empty spot in the apartment that wasn't taken up by people or presents or the bed Thorn bought for them and remained empty.
She couldn't sleep in it by herself without thinking of him and preferred to use the couch instead.
The scene in front of her blurred. There was one important person missing.
Thorn's absence was all her fault. Because of her, he couldn't be here with Nikki and his family celebrating something good.
A hand squeezed her shoulder. She looked to her left and found Chief gazing at her with his head tilted. That familiar stance undid her.
She excused herself and went into the bathroom. Her whole body shook, and the tears came. She was happy Nikki had so many people in her life. And, she was sad that Thorn couldn't be here to spend it with her.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Jessy sat at the table in the visiting r
oom of the prison, clutching an envelope. Thorn's chest constricted. She wore her hair up in a messy bun, no makeup, and her well-worn clothes were splattered with white paint.
She'd never looked more beautiful to him.
He took a seat across from her. "Glad you got my message."
It'd been three months since he'd seen her face to face. Punished for participating in a riot when six Sparrows members decided to bash the three Brikken members while out in the yard, his privileges were taken away. He'd come out of the attack with a broken nose, fourteen days locked in his cell and the satisfaction of putting two Sparrows in Ad Seg after they returned from the hospital.
None of the punishments meant shit to him, except having visitations and phone calls stripped from him for ninety days.
"Your face. Are people fighting you in here?" She flinched. "Does it hurt?"
"Nah. It's no big deal." He ran two fingers down the scar across his nose. "It'll fade once I get out in the sun."
"I wish I could take you home, take care of you." Her lower lip popped out, and she softly said, "This kills me."
"It shouldn't." He thrummed his thumb against the table. "Fuck, you look good."
She touched the hair piled on her head. "I was working at the house when Jett called and told me to get right over here. I probably look like a giant mess, but I was too excited to see you and didn't want to be late and go longer without you."
"Where's Nikki?"
"Sydney picked her up and took her and all her kids over to the clubhouse so they could play together in the daycare room."
"Good." He curled his fingers and made a fist. Unable to touch her, he fought against fucking all the rules and taking her in his arms. "Did you have a good birthday?"
The riot happened the day after Jessy turned twenty-two years old. Without any contact to the outside, he had to rely on speaking with his dad and brothers since the only access to the outside was by the throwaway phone he had hidden in his cell. With all the talk about club business taking up the charge on his battery, he hadn't asked how things were going on the house or how Jessy liked her presents.
Her gaze softened and a sweet smile lit up her face. "You did too much. I couldn't even stop to breathe all day because someone was delivering a package or a surprise."
Thanks to Chief and Johanna, he was able to have flowers, a dress, some sweatshirts that he knew she was fond of, and all the building material for the dream bathroom she discussed with him on the phone, and never thought was possible, delivered. On top of that, he had Brikken give her a party, much like a Family Day, so as not to scare her away with anything rowdier.
Despite it all and her politeness with the others, she still kept herself separate from the members of Brikken.
"Next year, I'll be there for your birthday." His gaze dropped to her breasts pushing out against her tight T-shirt. With nine months left to serve on his sentence, he wanted back in her bed and away from the hellhole of prison.
Her nipples peaked. "Don't," she whispered, her skin blushing.
He chuckled. "You have no idea what I'm thinking about."
"Yeah, I do." She snorted, looking away trying to hide her pleasure. "You're going to get in trouble, and then I won't see you again."
His cock hardened under the table. Needing to change the topic, he said, "How much longer until you can move into the house?"
She sighed. "I think we should wait until you're released. Then, we can all move in together."
"I want you in there sooner." He braced his elbows on the table. "You've got one of the bedrooms done. The kitchen is—"
"No, Jett is sending back the counters. Something was wrong with them."
"What?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. He accepted the delivery while I was at work and called me unhappy with how the granite looked."
"I'll call and have a crew from Brikken come out and finish Nikki's room." He swept his hair back. "The bathroom will be done in a couple of weeks. After that, you can move in. The flooring in the other rooms and the family room can come afterward."
"I almost forgot." She thrust the envelope across the table. "Here are the pictures of what's been done so far on the house. Kylie printed them off for me at the clubhouse from my phone."
He flipped through the pictures, taking his time on the ones with her or Nikki posing in them. Glancing up, he held a particularly sexy one where she leaned against the wall by the window.
"I was tired, and Jackie was there helping out." She rolled her eyes. "We were goofing off and..."
"I like it." He put all the pictures back in the envelope. "I can't keep them."
"Sure you can. I got them approved at the desk."
He tapped his hand on the table. "Too risky. I don't want anyone else seeing them or knowing what is mine. It's enough that I allow you to come here to see me."
"Oh," she said softly, looking at his nose. "Is it dangerous inside?"
She'd never asked before. He nodded. "It's nowhere that I want my family to be."
"I don't want you here." Her gaze dulled. "I wish—"
"So, you're getting to know my sister, huh?" He changed the subject not wanting her to feel guilty.
"Jackie's really nice. I haven't had someone around my age to hang out with since before I got pregnant." She paused. "I think she likes stopping by the new house because I talk about what we want for the house and she misses you. Last weekend, she came over to the apartment, and we had facials and tried make-up on like I found in a magazine, even Nikki had fun."
He scratched his jaw through his beard. Knowing Jackie was raised knowing what to expect when family members went off to prison, and the years that would pass before being reunited, he highly doubted that his sister hung around Jessy because of him.
"My sister would make a good friend," he said. "She's loyal."
She nodded. "I know. Everyone, really, has been so nice. I feel ashamed for thinking that all bikers were bad people."
He chuckled in amusement, knowing he was a biker and he sat in prison. Sometimes the things she said were spoken with such innocence that her age was apparent. Other times, he forgot all about how short of life she'd lived.
"Nikki did okay during the time I couldn't contact her?" His leg bounced under the table.
He'd worried most of all that his punishment would hurt Nikki the most. Her vocabulary had been growing every day. She was comfortable talking to him on the phone, and her progress took him by surprise every single night, up to when he couldn't call her.
"I explained how you were busy and thinking about her every day. We started a "Thorn time" right before bed where we talked about you." Jessy's brows lowered. "She misses you, but she's still talking."
He rubbed his hand over his face. While shut in his cell, he'd figured out the connection he had with Nikki. He understood why her cries for all those years tormented him. They were more alike than even he realized.
While his wounds from his childhood were scarred over and buried, he remembered the terror.
Shaking his head, he pushed his past out of his head. "That's good."
Jessy held up her finger and stood before walking away. He craned his neck, watching her go to the guard station and then the vending machines. The difference in her since the first prison visit apparent in the way she held her body. She ignored the others and focused on him.
He inhaled deeply. It was time to push things forward. He needed her in the house and surrounded by everything Brikken. That way, she'd accept his way of life. The choices. The chances.
Chapter Thirty
"Nikki, it's time to come inside and wash your hands. Chee and the other kids will be here any minute." She left the back door open, spotting her daughter running toward the house from the stand of trees in the corner of the backyard.
Going into the kitchen, she checked the clock on the new oven and figured out she had enough time to make the special juice Nikki enjoyed. She wasn't sure what Jett and Sydney's kids liked to dri
nk and eat, but Bee assured her that juice and cookies from the diner would be perfect.
"Mommy?" yelled Nikki.
"In the kitchen."
Nikki ran into the room. "I hear a car."
She smiled. Nobody today would believe that her daughter spent over two years—the most formative years— in silence, and suffered four years of neglect.
"Are you excited?" She got out the wooden spoon and stirred the juice.
It was the first time Nikki ever had friends over to play. Since moving into the house a week ago, all her daughter wanted was to show Chee her room. To be polite, Jessy invited all of Jett and Sydney's kids over for a playdate.
The doorbell rang. Nikki squealed, tugging on the hem of Jessy's shirt. Putting the spoon in the dishwasher, she hurried to the door with her daughter, caught up in the excitement.
Sydney stood surrounded by kids, holding a plastic container above their heads and out of reach.
Jessy laughed. "Come on in."
The kids rushed inside. She turned and said, "Nikki, remember nobody can go in the three bedrooms that are still being worked on and don't let anyone go on the swing set in the back. It's all rusty, and I don't want anyone getting hurt."
Nikki grabbed Chee's hand. "Come to my room."
Jessy turned around, shaking her head. "I probably sound like the strict mom."
"No, you don't." Sydney held out her arms. "Take the container. I brought cupcakes. If nothing else, I can get all my kids hyped up on sugar, and hopefully, they all sleep tonight after running wild in your backyard."
She took the treat and found a wrapped gift underneath that Sydney still held. "What's this?"
"A housewarming gift." Sydney followed her into the kitchen and gasped. "Oh, my god. Look at your kitchen. Jett said it was spectacular, but I had to see for myself. Did you do all this by yourself?"
"No." She laughed. "Your husband had a crew over here working on the house. I only painted. Oh, and I put the tile up behind the counter."
"You go, girl. That's more than I could do." Sydney set the present on the counter. "This is beautiful. I love the white cabinets and the black granite. You're going to love having a farm-style kitchen."