Shifting up onto his elbow he gently rolled me onto my back. “You’re certain you want to be with me now?” he asked, his eyes searching my face as his tone hinted of his excitement.
“If you’ll have me… we don’t have to get married, but maybe live between both places or something.”
“Haven’t we been doing that already?” he asked in a humorous tone, but his gorgeous hazel eyes were suspicious as he searched mine for any doubts.
“If you say I’m yours then I am,” I said simply. My heart was full.
Dropping his forehead to mine, he smiled so wide I thought his face would split. Slowly his smile died, and his gaze intensified as his thoughts grew deeper. He sighed.
“Damn, I’m good.” He chuckled. “Hands up. The time for total honesty has come. I was talking shit a few minutes ago.” His eyes darkened but there was still a hint of playfulness in them. “Do you honestly think I’d stand aside for any other hairy-assed fucker who came sniffing around you? As you know Gibson has huge balls when his territory’s threatened, but you ain’t seen nothing if anyone fucks with my girl,” he stated, frankly.
“Oh, my very own caveman, how original,” I teased and laughed softly.
“Damn straight, maybe I better get that ring on your finger after all; we don’t want to give them false hope,” he mused. Scooping me up in his arms, he rolled onto his back, taking me with him.
“Is that a poor excuse for a proposal?”
“What would you say if I asked?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. I guess I’d have to go with my gut if the moment presented itself.”
Impulsively, Simon shoved me off of him, stood up off the bed, bodily lifted me and sat me at the edge of the bed with my feet on the floor. Buck naked, he dropped down on one knee in front of me.
“Marry me. I mean… Piper, what do you say? I have no elaborate romantic words or sparkly expensive ring that would do what I’m asking justice to you, but I’m here,” he held out his hands to show me his body, “In all my naked glory… as are you; sensational look by the way.”
Stopping for a moment, his eyes widened like he had only just realized what he was doing and he swallowed roughly.
A wave of emotion swept up from my throat, and tears sprang from my eyes. Quickly, I swiped them away as I stared back at the blurry image of the man I felt would shape my future.
My heart pounded wildly in my chest as I absorbed the enormity of the moment and I found I didn’t need to think about my answer.
“Piper, Princess, would you do me the greatest honor of being my wife?”
For a few seconds I reminded myself of who he was and wondered if this was real. My breath hitched. The feeling of suffocation Simon had spoken of was inside my chest and it wasn’t because I felt trapped, it was because the love I felt for him was so overwhelming I had forgotten how to breathe.
Emotion closed my throat so tight I couldn’t speak at first. I stared totally mesmerized by the occasion then nodded. When Simon exhaled, I realized he had been holding his breath too.
“Yes,” I said in a small shaky voice. Clearing my throat, I tried again, “Yes,” I repeated. The second time my voice was far more decisive and committed. “With one condition.”
His hesitant smile turned to a frown in a heartbeat. “Which is?”
“You stop calling me Princess.” Simon chuckled and give me a wicked grin as he sat quietly for a moment taking me in.
Then he nodded. “Deal,” he replied, jumping up off the floor. Shoving me back on the bed he climbed on top, surrounded me with his limbs and pressed his lips to mine.
Our kiss was charged with emotion and love and when he tore his lips away from mine, he stared at me with determination. “Thank you, My Queen,” he said, and chuckled as I immediately swiped at his chest and rolled my eyes.
We both laughed harder before Simon tucked me into his chest and heaved another deep breath.
“Damn. I can’t believe I just did that… and you said, yes. Fuck.” He murmured then fell silent. I had thought for a second the enormity of his question was too quick, and he’d wanted to take it back when he sighed. “We’re really going to do this, huh?” he asked playfully.
“Think we are,” I confirmed, and felt relieved he wasn’t changing his mind. We let a pause happen in our conversation and were content to lay absorbing the decision we’d made until I felt Simon’s body stiffen like something was wrong. A chill ran down my spine and I glanced up at him.
“What? I questioned.
“Just wondering… who’s telling Gibson?” A wicked smirk passed over his lips and I laughed.
“Hmm… usually the guy asks the father, doesn’t he?” I replied and chuckled at the twisted facial expression he made.
“Ah, well, shit, I’ll take it back… maybe we’ll just live in sin for a while… or how good are you at keeping secrets?” he asked, stalling for a moment before we both stared at each other, pondered his question then chuckled again. Then I had another thought.
“Would this make you Gibson’s son-in-law?”
Simon burst out laughing then continued laughing until there was no air left in his lungs. As I watched his body jerk hysterically, I knew he’d use the opportunity to his full advantage.
I also knew that whatever the future held for us, I was convinced with someone like my rock star, Simon, life would never be dull.
Epilogue
Three years later.
“That should have come with a warning,” Petra snapped like she was disgusted, nodding at the old string hammock nestled by the side of the pool house.
Kerr, his wife Louisa, and the rest of my band had been invited over for a last minute barbecue since Gibson, Chloe, and Melody, were down from Colorado for a few days.
Following Petra’s gaze, a slow, smug smile crept over my lips. My heart instantly swelled with pride and love when I saw my husband Simon fast asleep in our old string hammock. On his bare chest lay our tiny precious newborn bundle of joy, Olivia.
Dressed only in a diaper, our Simon’s new little princess was now my main competition for the love of my life’s affections, and considering I was looking on, she appeared to be winning. Even in sleep, Simon’s hand spread protectively across her back, holding her in place.
At only five days old, with her dad’s dark-brown hair and hazel eyes, Olivia Patricia Chloe McLennan had already stolen Simon’s heart, and mine. My eyes lingered as I thought of how amazing Simon had been since the moment she’d been born.
“Excuse me?” I asked, my voice rising with inflection, and I turned back to Petra with narrowed eyes. Pretending I was miffed, I raised an eyebrow and jabbed a hand on my hip like I was annoyed.
“Hot as fuck tattooed guys and tiny newborn babies,” she muttered and sighed. “I know he’s yours but my ovaries ache like hell looking at that scene over there.”
Louisa chuckled after she too looked over at them and bashfully nodded in agreement. “A word of warning, please don’t ever let him out with Olivia on their own. There’s a good chance you’ll never see either of them again, they’d be kidnapped in a heartbeat.” She sniggered.
Austin’s girl, Maria said nothing, and I wondered what she made of us. She was a new addition to the raucous clan. I felt for her because she still hadn’t mastered the banter from the serious chat.
If anyone else apart from Petra and Louisa had made a leering remark like that about my man, I’d have been royally ticked, but Petra had Isiah, and Kerr had married Louisa a few months after Simon and were married.
Ronnie Silvers bit back a grin and shook his head at Petra. Yes, Ronnie was as good as his word when he had said he’d buy my album and look me up. Since then he had turned out to be one of the best friends I ever had.
The people around the table were my little tribe and since marrying Kerr, Louisa had given up her job to travel around with us. She was found to be a brilliant marketing manager and I hired her as my personal PR and mouthpiece.
What
was most exciting of all, was Louisa was also pregnant with a girl, and I was so over the moon for her and Kerr, but even more so for Olivia, because she’d have a friend.
When I first found out I was pregnant, I’m not going to lie, I was worried. The huge revelation about Jenna Mitchell and her twins had given me plenty to think about.
Hearing Simon say he thought he never wanted kids as a teenager, I had sworn to myself to be damned sure that had changed before I ever brought a child into the world. However, it was he who brought the subject up one night, saying we should think about planning for children because he was already in his thirties.
Little did he or I know when we spoke that night, there was no longer anything to decide. Olivia wasn’t planned but when I saw Simon’s reaction I knew he was honestly thrilled.
Receiving the news about parenthood shifted Simon’s focus immediately and suddenly our security was his highest priority. As he had explained 'we had to take care of ourselves because we were responsible for another life'. It was cute how ‘Gibson-like’ he became about our safety.
As Olivia was five days old and we’d settled down at home, Simon had invited everyone over for the day because he said he wasn’t having our home turned into Disneyworld with queues of people arriving at the door to play with Olivia.
Since the day Olivia had been born, Simon’s parents, Lorna and Michael, had been staying next door with Stevie. I couldn’t have wished for better in-laws and it felt weird to have another set of ‘Olds’ to think about.
Obviously, they were much older than Gibson and Chloe and more reserved, but Lorna’s gentle ways and Michael’s smart mouth were a fabulous combination and they had accepted me as a daughter from the moment we met.
Unfortunately, Olivia arrived the week Melody had important school tests in Colorado and after having a short discussion everyone agreed we didn’t want our youngest family member to be left out of the Barclay’s initial introductions to the newest member of the family.
Gibson and Chloe stayed home at our insistence and we Skype called daily until Chloe and Melody finally arrived on day four post Olivia’s birth; the day before Gibson. Chloe cried when she held her granddaughter for the first time and my heart immediately ached for her.
Given the Barclay’s history it must have been very difficult for her. Not that she showed it of course. I made a fuss of her new position and promised Chloe she’d be the most important female in Olivia’s life after myself.
Fortunately, Melody interrupted the awkward moment and dragged me away by my hand to negotiate another hold for herself until Chloe tried to tamp her enthusiasm by reminding Melody baby Olivia wasn’t a toy.
Melody pressed on regardless of Chloe’s warning, gaining plenty of practice at being an aunt as we gathered to share our new baby girl with those closest to Simon and I.
It had taken us five full days to arrange for everyone we loved to get together in one place and they were all the most important people in our lives. But despite the small smiling crowd my heart still wasn’t contented because a prior commitment of Gibson’s had meant we’d had to wait until late in the day before he could join us.
My feeling of the scene being incomplete instantly vanished when Gibson suddenly appeared, with Jonny and Jerry carrying yet more fresh flowers and balloons.
With wide arms he grabbed me, stroked my back, and put his mouth close to my ear. “Very proud of you, Piper. Olivia is as gorgeous as her mom. Congratulations, sweetheart.”
Glancing around the patio, I knew he was searching for Chloe and Melody. “Chloe, okay?” he asked, and I knew exactly what his concern was.
Nodding, I said, “She’s doing okay.” Shrugging, he scratched the back of his head in a gesture of helplessness, looked choked and hugged me again.
Breaking away from me he immediately went and sought his wife and daughter out. I watched them closely and my heart swelled to see Chloe’s beaming smile when she saw him.
Chloe looked happy as she chatted with him and Melody. Eventually, she chuckled and nodded toward the pool house and I knew Gibson had asked where Simon was.
Looking over in the direction of Simon, Gibson spun on his heels and wandered slowly toward the hammock. Melody went to go after him, but Chloe caught her hand and distracted her. I suspected Chloe figured Gibson wanted a moment alone with my man.
Stopping when he reached the hammock, I had expected Gibson to wake Simon up. When he didn’t, I was drawn toward him with a vibe that something was wrong.
Moving over beside him I stood shoulder to shoulder with Gibson, but he didn’t look at me even though he knew I was there.
“You okay?” I asked in a soft tone.
“Yeah, I was only thinking.”
“About?”
“Mel. I missed all of this. All her baby and toddler years… everything.” He sighed, heavily. “All these important early days, this… skin to skin bonding stuff,” his voice was thick with emotion and he shrugged helplessly again then cleared his throat. I’d never seen Gibson vulnerable before.
“Melody loves you so much, Gibson… and Chloe. What both you and Chloe have gone through…” my voice trailed away because I couldn’t begin to imagine not having a child of my own or missing this part of Olivia’s life.
Breathing in deeply, he exhaled and ran his fingers through his hair. He glanced at me with hurt in his eyes and gave me a small sad smile. “Shit we deal with makes us stronger, yeah?” he offered. I nodded.
“How is Chloe with this? I mean really?” I asked.
“Over the moon. We have a new baby in the family. She’s stoked… as am I,” he said, taking a moment to grin at me.
I sighed, “I’m taking a year off. The last two and a half have been grueling. I won’t get this time again with Olivia,” I informed him, decisively.
Simon stirred and opened his eyes, his hand immediately stroking the soft skin on our tiny sleeping daughter’s back.
Clearing his throat, he grinned, “Ah, thank God you’re here, Gramps.”
“Oy, she’s calling me Gibson,” he corrected, and Simon laughed.
“We’ll see,” he smirked, “Gorgeous, isn’t she?” Simon said proudly, “But for someone who looks so perfect, she behaves like she’s pig ugly. If she’s not hogging my wife’s tits, she’s shitting up a storm. She can turn the house into a sty in five minutes flat and nowhere in those instruction books did it say she was an entirely nocturnal creature.”
Gibson chuckled and stuck his hands in his jeans pockets. I knew instinctively it was to help him resist overstepping and reaching out to pick her up off of Simon.
Simon’s eyes Gibson’s hands just like mine had, and he stretched lazily in the hammock again.
“Do me a favor, buddy. Can you grab hold of her in case I drop her getting out of this thing?”
Gibson’s face brightened immediately, his hands swiftly leaving his pockets, and he slid one between Simon’s chest and Olivia’s belly effectively peeling her away from him.
“Damn she’s sweaty,” he chuckled, his eyes full of awe as he maneuvered her carefully over his shoulder.
“Jesus, take that rough shirt off if you’re going to hold her like that,” Simon instructed. My eyes flicked to Simon’s and he immediately dropped his gaze which told me he’d heard our conversation.
Handing Olivia to me, Gibson did as Simon instructed and I handed my baby back. Expertly, Gibson placed her back over his shoulder, and as he cradled her tiny head, he inhaled her new baby scent.
“She’s absolutely perfect,” he said in his rich low tone, his thumb strumming over her back.
“Glad you think so, because as her Gramps you’ll be in that position frequently when you and Grandma have her at weekends. I mean when Piper and I need alone time.
“Gramps? Are you fu…”
“Ah, not in front of the children,” Simon interjected, cutting him off before Gibson cussed.
Nursing Olivia with slightly bended knees, I saw Gibson’s hea
rt melt. “This baby is a true blessing, but I’ll put her straight from an early age on the name,” Gibson said before he winced in pain.
Glancing at his chest it was clear Olivia had grabbed a fistful of chest hair close to his skin.
“Doubt that, Gibson, she’s just like Melody and this one here,” Simon said gesturing at me, “You’d do anything for them and you know it, so the sooner you stop fighting it the better.” Chuckling heartily, Gibson began to head back in the direction of the others.
“That’s right, Simon, and you’d do well to remember that. Upset any of my women or refer to me as Gramps and there will be hell to pay.”
As I stood watching the banter between them, I couldn’t help feeling grateful beyond words for all the Barclays had done, but the biggest joy they brought me was to know my daughter would grow up surrounded by these men in a world free from suppression.
Thanks to God, and Gibson, I’d never have to look over my shoulder again in fear. Colin had been sentenced to seven years and died in a prison fight less than three months later. None of us grieved for him.
Five years before, my mom and I had arrived in Colorado in the middle of the night, finally escaping a life of manipulations, control, and violence.
We thought we’d fled a tyrant and looked forward to building a better life. No one could have predicted then there was a greater blow to come.
On my knees at seventeen, my world turned upside down. But for the kindness and unlikely love of two generous people with the biggest hearts, I would most definitely have sunk.
In the beginning they gave me shelter and protection, held my hand when I cried and gave me time to grieve.
Gradually, through their consistent love and trust, I slowly learned to breathe again in a whole new life full of everything I could have wished for. Most importantly I learned who I was meant to be, and Gibson encouraged me to follow my dream.
Piper: A Last Score Spin Off Page 34